Number 13 for the year was The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab, which was another Tiktok recommendation but I have many books by Schwab in my amazon wish lists so I was quite excited to finally get to this one.

An attempt at summarising

‘don’t pray to the God’s that come out after dark’.

Addie LaRue makes the mistake of praying to the old, dark God’s in the woods. She doesn’t want to live the ordinary life of the people in her village, who rarely go beyond its’ borders and live and die in the same place as their ancestors.

He gifts her with an extended life but curses her to remain forgotten, she cannot write her name, nor leave a mark upon the world. The moment Addie leaves someones sight, she is forgotten. Cursed to wander the world like a ghost, Addie has grown used to this life of impermanence and still hasn’t tired of it after over three hundred years. The dark God who cursed her returns every year on the anniversary of the date she made her deal to offer her a release from this life but, even after all this time, Addie knows there’s so much beauty in life to live for.

The story line jumps between Addie’s life in modern day New York and various glimpses into her life over the last three hundred year and her run ins with the dark God she nicknames ‘Luc’. Suddenly, in a small Brooklyn bookstore Addie meets a man who remembers her, a troubled, sweet man, called Henry. Henry appears to hold a mysterious sway over the people he meets, they love him and Addie is puzzled by how much he seems to hate the attention he receives. Addie finds herself caught between these two men, the dark God she has grown closer to as the only constant in her life and the man she is learning to love.

My thoughts

I liked this book, the ending isn’t quite what you think it will be and it’s definitely not the one my soppy little romantic heart would vote for. I will say that it is a little slow and it doesn’t really get going until about halfway through the book, so it’s something you need to be prepared to persevere through because it is worth it.

The book explores the wonders of life, of beauty art and people. It’s a very uplifting book overall, with a dreamlike, nostalgic quality throughout.

So, overall, I’m glad I read it, I’m not sure it’s one I will want to re-read over and over but I’m definitely looking forward to some off the other books I have by this author!

You’re nearly caught up now on my recent reads, so the regularly scheduled chaos of random posts will resume shortly!