⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 stars
Let me start off with, I love the way V.E. Schwab writes. She really let out all the poetic descriptions in this novel and it was delightful. This was a book so beautifully written that I found myself pausing after reading certain passages allowing them to absorb into my soul. Yes, it's that good.
The story begins with Addie in France in the 1700's. She is a free spirit and wants to live a full life. But not a life in marriage with a man she does not love. And so she does what most people who find themselves in a desperate situation, she seeks a way out. Addie has been warned about praying to the god's who answer at night, but in her desperation she doesn't realize how quickly the day turns to evening and there she makes a deal with the "devil." To live forever.
Be careful what you wish for, as wishes can be interpreted in many ways. Unfortunately, for Addie she gets what she desires but at a great cost. No one will ever remember her. Her name will lodge in her throat and she will offer another in its place.
For 300 hundred years she walks the earth. Her life is far from elegant as she must survive on her own, no friends or family to remember her to ask for help. Utterly alone, Addie forges a life for herself, never really accepting her fate and constantly testing the boundaries of her curse.
Until one day she meets a boy who remembers her.
My Thoughts:
This story goes back and forth from the past to the present. It builds her life one chapter at a time. We see the trials she goes through and the sadness and pain when she attempts at having month long relationships, and needing to start anew everyday.
My favorite parts of course were the interactions between Addie and Luc. Their unconventional relationship left me feeling like I wanted more and yet at the same time made me feel angry. I braced myself for an ending I was sure I could not handle but was thankful the way V.E. Schwab left it.
Easily a 5 star read and I highly recommend!
