This book quickly jumped to my Top 3 Favorites when I started it and, after finishing it, it is still there, despite it ripping my heart out and crumbling it in front of me.
Adeline LaRue is not like most girls. In fact, she isn't like most people. Adeline is over 300 years old. Adeline has seen history happen before her eyes.
Adeline is a ghost, a witch, a muse, an inspiration. Most of all, Adeline is invisible.
In her small town of Villion, France, she prayed "to the gods who answer after dark." Estelle, the old woman in the village, warned her against such prayers, yet she didn't listen for fear of living the life she always dreaded. On her wedding night, she says a prayer, makes an offering...just as the sun goes down.
300 years later, Addie remembers everybody she's met even though her deal with Luc made it so nobody ever remembers her. She is used to the morning after, when her partner for the night wakes up with no recollection of who this mysterious, intriguing, seven-freckled girl is; the girl with the constellation across her nose.
But Addie knows the life of not being remembered is better than no life at all. And, despite Luc's visits and urging for her to surrender her soul, she never gives in, no matter how tired she feels. Besides...everybody forgets her once she is out of their sight.
Everyone except Henry Strauss. Henry, who recognizes her the day after seeing her. Henry, who made his own deal with the devil. Henry who likes books and just wanted to be enough for people. Henry...who remembers Addie LaRue.
Henry and Addie's life tilts and everything is suddenly right in the world. They go for coffee and exchange stories of their experiences with Luc and Henry wants to hear all of Addie's stories, to which she obliges and tells them all, one at a time.
But Addie is not destined for a happy life. She sold her soul for forever. And Luc will stop at nothing to prove that, no matter how hard she fights, eventually, she will surrender to him. And he will have her soul. And suddenly, nothing is as it was and Henry and Addie will never be the same.
This book ripped my heart out at 2:30 a.m. and crumbled it in front of me while cackling. I don't remember the last time I cried so violently at a book during the last five chapters. I had to stop and calm down in order to finish reading; the tears blurred the words together. And I will never stop recommending "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" to everyone I meet. Addie is anything but forgotten and you will see her in every artwork, every photo, every book. She will live on, despite everything.
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