The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

A Curse of Freedom: Addie LaRue’s Lonely Immortality

The following ratings are out of 5:
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: 😛😁😎☺️
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Solo Narration

🎧 Audiobook Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Author: V.E. Schwab
Genre: Fantasy / Romance
Narrator(s): Julia Whelan

📚 Character Background & Plot Dynamics

Adeline LaRue’s story begins in 1714, with a young woman running for her life from a wedding she never wanted. As a child, Addie was told her seven freckles represented the seven lives she would live and the seven loves she would know. Yet at twenty‑three, she has known none of them, and the walls of her small village are closing in. With no time left and no choices she can live with, she flees.

Years later, Addie drifts through the world under borrowed names, slipping into the arms and homes of strangers who forget her the moment she steps out of sight. She stays with them until morning, savoring the illusion of connection, even though dawn always brings the same heartbreak: they don’t remember her, their night together, or even her face. Still, she clings to a fragile hope that one day, someone might.

The night she escaped her wedding; Addie made a desperate bargain. She grew up on her father’s stories of the world—stories that fueled her hunger for freedom—and learned to read despite her mother’s insistence on propriety. Estelle, the eccentric village woman who still worshipped the old gods, taught Addie how to pray but warned her never to call upon the gods who answer after dark.

But Addie does. And one answers.

Cornered into a marriage she cannot bear, she prays past dusk, and a dark god appears. She asks for freedom, for time, for a life that is her own. In exchange, she offers her soul when she is finished with it. The wish is granted—but the consequences are immediate and devastating. Her parents no longer recognize her. She cannot speak her own name. She is forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins her long, lonely immortality.

🌟 Strengths

• Addie’s clever navigation of her curse leads to surprisingly fun moments—especially her shopping trips. Because no one remembers her, she can walk out in a new outfit, and the shopgirls have no idea anything is missing.
• V.E. Schwab’s world‑building and character development are exceptional. Addie’s centuries‑long journey is richly textured, and the emotional weight of being forgotten by everyone—family, lovers, strangers—is explored with nuance and empathy.
• The relationship between Addie and the darkness, whom she names Luc (for Lucifer), is one of the book’s most compelling threads. Their dynamic is twisted, intimate, antagonistic, and strangely tender. Luc expects her to break quickly under the bargain he crafted, but Addie is stubborn, resilient, and determined to live on her own terms.

💔 Limitations

• The beginning felt disjointed and confusing. Going in blind, I wanted a more linear introduction before the story began shifting through time.
• The LGBTQ elements weren’t mentioned in the descriptions I saw beforehand. Both main characters are bisexual, which wasn’t an issue for me, but I prefer knowing that going in.
• The story relies heavily on flashbacks. While they’re a valid narrative device, I’m not a fan of how frequently they were used here. Aside from the initial scenes of Addie becoming immortal, many flashbacks felt repetitive rather than revelatory.
• This is a major BookTok favorite, and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it to the level of the hype. It was good—just not life‑changing for me.

🎙️ Narration

The audiobook is performed in Addie’s point of view by Julia Whelan, whose soft, feminine voice suits the character beautifully. She delivers the narration with a natural, effortless quality that never feels like reading. Her French accent is especially well done. Still, I would have preferred a duet narration, with a male narrator voicing the male characters to add more texture and contrast.

💬 Final Assessment

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a beautifully written, atmospheric novel with a haunting premise and a protagonist whose resilience is easy to admire. The world‑building is lush, the emotional beats are strong, and the relationship between Addie and Luc adds a deliciously dark tension, while her relationship with Henry is emotionally heavy. However, the nonlinear structure, heavy reliance on flashbacks, and early confusion kept me from fully loving it. Overall, it’s a thoughtful, imaginative story that I’m glad I experienced—especially in audio—but it didn’t quite reach the life‑altering heights that its hype promised.

If you enjoy character‑driven fantasy with lyrical prose and a touch of melancholy, this one is worth a listen.

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