“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.“

Addie, Addie, Addie where do I begin. It’s no surprise to my regular readers that I have been excited for this book, it featured in my most anticipated books of the year. I’m a big Schwab fan and I think seeing how excited and nervous she was to release this only made me love it more. So you can imagine I squealed when I received an ARC.

I fell in love with Addie quickly, she’s smart and wants to see the world, she wants more than to be a man she doesn’t love’s wife. While her decision to trade her soul in exchange for freedom to a god might not have been the smartest I understand it.

We follow Addie back and forth in her life. I was wondering how it would work, she’d be forgotten by everyone, how would she survive? What would it mean? How far did it go? All of my questions were answered and in a way I could believe.

I thought I loved Addie and then we met Henry. Can I just say that he’s probably the closest I’ve come to wanting a ‘book boyfriend’. He seems like a genuinely wonderful guy who has his own hang ups, his own issues but he’s very real.

You can tell while reading this is a personal book, Scwab has recently written about coming out (you can read it here – I got emotional), there is LGBTQ rep that just naturally falls into the story. There’s discussions of loneliness, depression, dreams, joy – it’s all there.

The thing is that you don’t read this book, you fall into it and live alongside the characters. You love and root for them. You care deeply about their happiness and what’s going to happen to them. Also, while I won’t say much about him the God that gives Addie the deal is a truly excellent character. I’m not usually drawn to bad guys but…well.

This is probably my favourite Schwab novel and ever since I read my ARC I’ve told everyone to pre-order a copy because it is absolutely incredible. I love it so much I’ve bought myself the USA cover and the Forbidden Planet signed edition – if I can get my hands on the Waterstones exclusive edition too.

It’s not going to be a surprise that I gave this 5 stars. It’s intelligent, beautiful and breathtaking. Victoria has spoken about this book for years and it was worth the wait. I cannot thank her, Tor and Netgalley for the early copy in exchange for review.