2.7 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab
Time Read: 8 hours and 50 minutes
Overall Rating: 4★
Storyline: 4★
Dialogue: 4.5★
Characters: 4.5★
Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance
TWs for the book: Abandonment, addiction, alcohol, alcoholism, drug abuse, emotional abuse, grief, mental illness, su*c*dal thoughts, su*c*de attempt, toxic relationship, toxic friendship, domestic abuse, gaslighting, injury, misogyny, panic attacks, physical abuse, prostitution, sexism, s*xual content, SA, s*xual harassment, war, biphobia, blood, child abuse, confinement, cursing, death, death of a parent, fire, kidnapping, violence, vomit
Time Period/Location: 1698-2016; Mostly set in New York City and France
First Line: A girl is running for her life.
Adeline LaRue (Addie): I've heard critiques of Addie that she is shallow, only leaving a mark of herself and not doing anything substantial. But is art not substantial? She inspired hundreds of artists over 300 years, and was a spy in World War II, contributing in a more impactful way by doing so. I think it was really interesting to have the discussion of if she was still human, and I enjoyed her wit and her stubbornness.
Luc (The Darkness, Lucifer): Luc was the "shadow daddy" trope, but in an actually morally gray way. I feel like when books try to do this trope they make it more of a guy who is good but has to make hard choices than actually morally gray characters. The ambiguousness of whether or not Luc truly loves Adeline is really what I have been missing, and I loved him as an antagonist.
Henry Strauss: Henry came off as whiny at times, but I really could connect to him and his struggle with mental illness and feeling like no matter what he does, he's not good enough for anyone. I think particularly with his interactions with Bea, he was able to learn that he doesn't need to be perfect and totally adored by everyone in order to be worthy of love, care, and attention.
Storyline: I found it a little bit annoying to continually flash back and forth between the modern day and the past, but I can't tell if it would be as impactful if VE Schwab had done it any other way. The back and forth is the only reason this lost a star from me. I've heard a lot of people complain about there not being as much detail about what she did in the past and the history she experienced, but that's not what this story was about.
Representation: Bea is black and a lesbian. Robbie is gay, and Henry and Addie are both bisexual.
Summary: I definitely understand why there was so much hype around this book, I really enjoyed VE Schwab's writing style and can't wait to read more from her. It was poetic, but not overdone in the way that I find, for example, Ava Reid's writing to be, and a lot of the repetition of statements and one off lines were equally impactful. I loved the fact that this wasn't just a good vs evil type of story, and that Addie wasn't really in love with Luc or Henry, avoiding the insta-love trope and the usual plot of the "shadow daddy" trope. There was a lot of nuance here, and it made for a really great story that subverted my expectations, as I went in thinking this was purely a romance when it was more of a magical realism injected historical fantasy.
Quotes:
-"What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?" (p.15)
-"…Adeline has decided she would rather be a tree, like Estele. If she must grow roots, she would rather be left to flourish wild instead of pruned, would rather stand alone, allowed to grow beneath the open sky. Better that than firewood, cut down just to burn in someone else's hearth." (p.31)
Complete Recap:
March 10, 2014: Addie wakes up in Toby's apartment. She knows he won't remember her when he wakes up, so she takes a moment to make tea and play the piano. He eventually stumbles out, not remembering her like she predicted, but they work on the song together. They have both been working on the song together for awhile, he just has no memory of her once he wakes in the morning. She leaves, and goes into a store to change her clothes, walking out without paying since she has no money and the clerk didn't remember her walking in. She leaves behind a wooden ring that fell from her pocket.
1698: Addie goes to Le Mans with her father so he can sell his woodworking. She views the city through a child's lens, seeing a magical place.
1703: Addie talks with Estele, her neighbor, and the old woman tells her about the old gods of the forest, and teaches her how to pray to them, sacrificing things that she values in order to gain their favor. She believes in this over the Catholicism that is present in her town.
1707: Now 16, Addie has fully taken to praying to the old gods to keep boys away from being interested in her. She doesn't want to get married and then live and die in Villon. She draws herself an imaginary boyfriend with dark curly hair and green eyes and uses him to keep her thoughts entertained.
March 10, 2014: She has moved through the world alone for over 300 years at this point. She can't keep any possessions, earn money, or rent a place to live, so she wanders from place to place, stealing what she needs, even though things like starvation and cold won't kill her. An old man sells his dead wife's book collection out on the corner, and Addie takes one of the books to read for the day. She also snags some food and coffee.
July 29, 1714: Addie is 23, too old to wed, but a man named Roger loses his wife, and her mother and father don't give her a choice but to marry him. The day of her wedding she runs away into the woods and prays to the old gods, but doesn't realize that the sun has gone down, and she has prayed to a god of the dark. When he appears he takes the form of the stranger she has conjured up in her mind. She offers him the wooden ring her father carved for her, but he disintegrates it, and says he will only do a deal for her soul. Addie isn't quite sure what she is asking for, but she says she wants to be free and live her life on her own terms. The darkness agrees. She passes out, and when she wakes up she tries to go back home, but her mother and father don't know her, and Addie can't even say her own name. She goes to Estele, but the old woman doesn't remember her either, and every time she closes the front door and opens it, she forgets Addie all over again.
March 10, 2014: Addie cons her way into a movie theatre to see a film. On her way out, she returns the book she snagged from the old man's table and leaves a muffin for him. Then she goes to the Alloway to see Toby perform, but she decides that she doesn't want to go through the same routine of seducing him that night, and leaves. She goes to James St. Clair's apartment, a young famous actor that she had befriended awhile back. He, of course, doesn't remember her, but he's out of town so she helps herself to staying in his place. While sipping some wine, she realizes that the wooden ring has found its way back into her pocket.
July 30, 1714: Addie wakes up in her best friend Isabelle's barn. Isabelle, just like the rest, doesn't know her, but is kind to her and tries to care for her. She leaves Addie holding her baby and steps out to talk to her husband, and when she returns she once again has forgotten and is frightened by her presence, so she leaves. She goes to bathe in the river, and Isabelle happens upon her again, but when she leaves to get Addie some clothes, thinking she is a woman travelling alone who has been robbed, Addie leaves. She steps into her father's woodshop one last time, and tries to write him a note, but the ink disappears. So she takes one of his wooden birds and begins her journey to Le Mans. She walks until her feet bleed, but when she pulls off her stolen boots to check them, they are completely healed.
March 11, 2014: Addie leaves James' apartment and goes to the Met to see a wood sculpture carving of a bird. A French man was inspired to make the piece after finding Addie's wooden bird on the ground in Paris.
July 31, 1714: Le Mans is nothing as she remembers it. It's crowded and dirty and people are rude to her. She tries to rob a pack off a horse, but is caught by the stable hands. She stabs one in the leg and runs away, and once she is out of sight, they forget she was there and the man's wound heals instantly. The stab wound in her shoulder that she received during the scuffle takes a little bit longer. She immediately leaves Le Mans, deciding instead to go to Paris.
March 12, 2014: Addie stumbles across a bookstore called The Last Word. She goes in, and the clerk Henry, asks if she needs anything, but she brushes him off. She goes to walk out of the bookstore with the book, but Henry chases after her, baffled that she blatantly tried to steal in front of him and that it was an old Greek copy of The Odyssey at that. Addie assumes the door didn't close in time for him to forget her, and offers the book back, but he lets her keep it. Henry goes back into the store, and waves off his friend Bea's concern. A girl named Emily is waiting there, asking to go out with him, but he refuses, saying he has plans. He closes the shop as he is the only employee, running it for a wealthy older woman named Meredith while she travels the world. He feeds Book the cat and then leaves with Bea to go and see their friend Robbie perform. Everyone they great on their way into the theatre seems very interested in Henry, but he just ignores it. Bea and Henry congratulate Robbie after the show and head out with him to an after party. While at the party, Henry hooks up with one of the girls from the show.
Addie tries to go back to James' apartment, but he is home now. She snags some Chinese food from a distracted delivery driver and goes to sit on the roof of a building that another of her former lovers lives in. While she sits and tries to read, Sam comes up with her friends. She uses the same pickup line on Addie that she used the first time, and they share a cigarette. When Sam and her friends leave, Addie goes to sleep in the lawn chair.
August 9, 1714: Addie has arrived in Paris, but she isn't much better off there then she was in Le Mans. She tries to rent a room with what money she has, but the woman forgets her and kicks her out. She also drops the wooden bird, causing the wing to chip. She tries to steal some food from a merchant, but she is caught, and forced to pay, which wastes the last of her money. She tries to spend the night in a church, but they are full, so she is forced to go down to the docks to prostitute herself. During her time there in Paris, it once got so cold that she fell asleep on the street, and she would have died if the darkness hadn't made her immortal. She woke up though in a cart of other dead bodies, and discovers shortly afterwards that she lost her wooden bird in the pile.
July 29, 1715: Addie is in a rented room with a man, and he thinks she is going to sleep with him. She, however, has other plans, and drugs him to sleep so she can have the room mostly to herself for the night. Just when she gets comfortable, the darkness appears before her. She attacks him, and yells at him for not answering her summons she had been making all year. She accuses him of tricking her, but he says she didn't even know what she was asking for, and that he deals in souls, not granting wishes. He asks her if she is ready to give up her soul and she refuses.
March 13, 2024: Henry meets with his younger sister Muriel for breakfast, where she talks his ear off before he has to leave for work.
Addie wakes up on the roof to Sam checking on her. She takes her back down into her apartment, and Addie lies about being a new neighbor. While she's there, Sam paints a picture of her, an abstract of a night sky with seven stars, like Addie's seven freckles. She tells Addie about another painting that she had sold, and only Addie remembers that the painting was based off of her. Addie leaves, and goes back to The Last Word to try and get a different book.
July 29, 1716: Addie pretends to be a lady's maid to get into a clothing shop. When the man steps away to get her something, she hides, and he closes up the store with no recollection of her. When she's alone, she tries on different clothes and eventually leaves once she has found something that suits her. As she walks, the darkness comes to her again and offers to walk with her. She asks him to change his form and he refuses. He offers to take her soul again, trying to wear her down, but Addie refuses.
March 13, 2024: Addie goes back into the bookshop and tries to convince Henry to let her exchange the book, saying a friend bought it for her but she already has a copy. He refuses, saying he remembers her from yesterday. Addie is shocked, and Henry recounts the entirety of yesterday's events to prove a point, and orders her out. Addie goes, but he is the first person to remember her in over 300 years, so she goes and sits on the stoop of the shop. When Henry comes out to ask what she's doing, she apologizes and asks to take him for coffee. She can only afford one coffee with the money she stole from James, so she orders and sits down with him. The barista calls the name she gave, Eve, so Henry thinks that that's her name. He gets up and orders a hot chocolate for her so he isn't drinking alone. They get to know each other, although Addie tells him that she is a talent scout when he asks what her job is. He asks her what she sees when she looks at him, and she gives him a deep answer, saying it looks like he cares a lot and is lost in life. He gets up, and she thinks he is going to leave, but instead he asks if she's hungry.
July 29, 1719: The marquis and his wife are out late playing cards with friends, so Addie is staying in the marchioness's rooms for that night. She eats chocolate and plays dress up. And then the darkness comes. She tells him to go away because she won't be giving up her soul, and he acts offended, saying it's their anniversary and that he is only inviting her to dinner. At this he pulls the bell for one of the maids, and Addie tries to rush out for fear of being caught but her stops her. Her and the rest of the house staff is bewitched by the darkness into thinking they are supposed to be there, and he tells the maid they will dine in the salon. They eat together in silence until Addie asks for his name. He tells her to call him whatever she called the man she used to draw, so she decides to call him Luc. It used to be short for Lucien, but she thinks it can be short for Lucifer now. They once again argue the specific terms of her curse, and she decides that she will live forever, and never give him her soul.
March 13, 2014: Henry and Addie go bar hopping together, gradually getting to know one another better. They say goodnight, and Addie is able to finally say her real name to him for the first time in 300 years.
July 29, 1720: Addie has made her own makeshift home for herself in an abandoned house, and sets out dinner for her and Luc's anniversary, but he never comes.
July 29, 1724: Luc hasn't visited Addie in four years. She walks through Paris dressed as a man, intending to have a picnic on the roof of Notre Dame. A man bumps into her, causing her honey jar to shatter, and when he gets closer to apologize, he realizes she is a woman. He doesn't out her though, and takes her into a cafe where only men are allowed. The man tells her his name is Remy and introduces her to coffee for the first time. Voltaire walks into the cafe, prompting Remy to show her one of his books. Addie ends up liking him so much that she invites him along to the picnic she planned for herself.
March 15, 2014: Time drags as Addie waits for the planned time she is to meet up with Henry again. She goes into the shop finally and meets Bea, and then her and Henry go to a speakeasy arcade hidden in a laundromat. Afterwards, they go to see a movie, but Henry gets restless when he learns that Addie has already seen it, and steps out to get some air. He tells Addie he feels like he is constantly running out of time, and she decides to take him somewhere new.
July 29, 1724: Remy and Addie climb to the roof of Notre Dame. They eat together, and when Addie tries to tell him her true story of what happened to her, he immediately forgets it all, so she has to edit it down to the basics. He walks her "home", although she has just picked a random house, and he begs to see her again, so she offers to walk him home. They sleep together, but when they both wake some time later, Remy has forgotten her and their night together, and pays her, mistaking her for a prostitute. On her way out, she steals his book.
March 15, 2014: Addie takes Henry to The Fourth Rail, a hidden underground club. They drink and dance wildly, losing themselves in the music. They kiss in the rain and go back to Henry's apartment to have s*x.
July 29, 1724: Addie is distraught over her encounter with Remy, and on her way back to the room she calls home, Luc finally appears. He taunts her and tries to convince her to give up her soul once again but she refuses still. He disappears, and Addie goes to sit on the roof of a building while the sun rises to try and read the book she stole from Remy.
March 16, 2014: Addie wakes up to Henry making coffee; he still remembers her. He finds her wood ring on the floor and Addie panics when he picks it up. They talk, and Henry realizes he's late for work, so they agree to meet up at a food truck at six. Addie asks to stay behind to take a shower and he agrees and leaves. When he is gone, she searches through his apartment to try to find clues as to why he remembers her. She finds an engagement ring in a drawer wrapped in a blood stained handkerchief, an old watch, photos he took and of him and his family, and a ton of abandoned hobbies, yet nothing to clue her in on why he's special. At six, they meet at the food trucks. Addie notices that Henry has a long exchange with a woman running one of the trucks, and when she asks about it, he says that he reminded the woman of her son. Addie feels like he's withholding something. Henry gets a call from Bea though, reminding him to be at the dinner party he's throwing. He forgot to get dessert, so Addie takes him to a bakery that's just closing. She converses with the man in French and says she's a friend of his daughter, so he lets them come in and buy desserts. Henry offers for her to come to Bea's dinner party, and she hesitates but ultimately agrees to go. Henry fills Addie in on the dynamics of his group: Robbie is his ex boyfriend, Bea is a lesbian and had a former fling with a married college professor, and he has an ex girlfriend named Tabitha that he proposed to, but she rejected him. When they arrive, Bea doesn't recognize Addie, of course, but Bea's girlfriend distracts them. When Robbie arrives, he is slightly rude to Addie.
July 29, 1751: Addie manages to gain the favor of a noble lady that runs a salon so she can socialize with people. She sees Remy while there, and he is now older. Luc appears though, and points out to everyone that Addie "stole" one of the lady's dresses, even though the lady had given prior permission.
March 16, 2014: The dinner party goes well. Addie thinks things will go wrong when Elise, Bea's girlfriend, goes to the bathroom and comes back, but she doesn't say anything. Robbie continues to act rude to Addie, and finally gets pissed off and leaves to go smoke, along with Bea's roommate Josh, so Addie makes a quick exit. Henry follows her though, and they talk about how Robbie is still in love with him, even though he was the one to end the relationship back in college.
March 17, 2014: Addie and Henry wake up together again. He tells her the shop is closed today, even though she knows it's not, and they go out to get breakfast. While there, they run into Robbie, and he is rude once again, him and Henry almost getting into a fight. As they leave, Henry is confused about why he didn't remember her, and for the first time ever, Addie tells him her story.
July 29, 2014: Addie returns to Villon. Her father's workshop is crumbled, but her mother is still alive. She, of course, doesn't know Addie, and Addie doesn't know what to say to her so she leaves.
March 17, 2014: Henry begins to laugh after hearing Addie's story, and she is terrified he will think she's insane, but he begins to laugh, and tells her that he remembers her because Luc cursed him too.
September 4, 2013: Henry struggled with depression and addiction most if not his entire life. He feels as though time is speeding by him too quickly. He was with Tabitha for two years, but when he finally decided to propose, she said no, because she couldn't see herself spending the rest of her life with him. He goes to get drunk with his friends, but they accidentally let slip that they knew she was going to say no to the proposal. He leaves and buys a bottle of vodka, but shatters it on the way home, cutting his hand. He takes some pills and sits on the steps of his building when Luc appears, and asks him what he wants. Henry says he is tired of not feeling like enough and wants to be happy. Thinking that the man is a hallucination, and not believing in souls, Henry makes a deal.
March 17, 2014: Addie and Henry speculate why they cancel out each other's deals. Addie says that they don't, he is everything she wants like everyone else automatically sees him as everything they want, but not because of direct influence but because he knows her. Henry says his curse his for a lifetime.
March 18, 2014: Addie goes to work with Henry, and they talk about famous authors that Addie has met. Henry tries to take a photo of Addie but the camera blurs and is unable to capture her.
September 5, 2013: When Henry wakes up, he has a watch on his night table that says "Live well" on the back. Henry is confused, as he was sure the meeting with Luc was a hallucination. His sister Muriel comes over though, and has nothing but compliments for him, which is unlike her. When he goes to the coffeeshop, the barista that never notices him is unusually interested and writes her number on the cup. When he goes to work, all of the customers are more than happy to let him help them, and even when he messes up a recommendation to a woman, she just buys both books and reassures him. Bea and Robbie come in, and seem to act normal. Bea is angry about her adviser denying her dissertation proposal again. They drink together, and his friends reassure him about his breakup.
March 18, 2014: Bea comes into the bookshop, and Henry introduces her to Addie for the third time. She says she was just at an interactive art exhibit, and so Henry has Bea cover the store while he takes Addie there.
September 5, 2013: Henry collects all of Tabitha's stuff in his apartment and puts it in a box before heading to a bar. The bartender flirts with him and gives him shots on the house. A woman at the bar also is interested, but Henry gets overwhelmed and goes to the bathroom. While there, a man offers him c*ke, and since he has just realized that the deal he made was real, he accepts. When the man tries to come onto him though, he leaves the bathroom, only to bump into a married couple that offer for him to come home with them, which he accepts.
September 7, 2013: Henry is enjoying the positive attention he is getting from everyone. When he goes into the coffeeshop, Vanessa asks why he didn't call. He says he should have, and has her put her number directly into his phone. As he's leaving, he bumps into the dean that told him to drop out of his PhD program. He offers him a job on the spot to be a teacher, even though Henry never even got his PhD and Dean Melrose is the one who told him he didn't belong in the program. When he goes to open the bookshop, Bea is there, and begins to tell him about her new idea for a thesis. She shows him three works done by different artists in different time periods of a mysterious woman with seven freckles. Henry points out that it won't get approved.
March 18, 2014: As Henry tells the story of Bea's failed dissertation idea to Addie, he realizes the mysterious woman with seven freckles drawn throughout time was her. She says yes, and explains how she's managed to leave her mark on the world although seemingly unable to.
September 13, 2013: Henry goes home for Rosh Hashanah, and expects his parents and older brother to be just as disappointed in him and judgemental as they are, but they are also affected by Henry's deal. They all have a lovely evening, and they all make sure to tell Henry how proud of him they are.
March 18, 2014: Addie and Henry go through the art exhibits, Sky, Voice, and Memory.
September 19, 2013: Henry goes on a date with Vanessa, the barista. She thinks he's great, and he likes her, but anytime she compliments him or laughs, her eyes are covered with a white mist, showing Henry that this is all only due to the deal he made. A week later though, he is still seeing her, and Robbie and Bea tell him that they don't like her. That night, she wakes him up to tell him she loves him, even though it's only been a week. He doesn't say it back, not feeling the same way at all, and goes to take a shower. When he comes out, he smells burning, and runs into the kitchen to realize that Vanessa has set all of Tabitha's things on fire in the sink. He puts out the fire and orders Vanessa to leave, but she breaks down sobbing and begging him to stay with her. He concedes a little bit, but still makes her leave.
October 23, 2013: Bea, Robbie, and Henry get together to watch horror movies for Halloween. When Henry goes to get the popcorn out of the microwave, Robbie follows and kisses him. Henry stops him though when he notices the fog over Robbie's eyes, and he can't give Henry a straight answer about why he's in love with him.
November 14, 2013: Henry runs into Tabitha again, and because of his deal, she wants to get back together with him, saying she made a mistake. It's painful, because this is what he wanted, but he refuses her, knowing that it won't be real.
December 9, 2013: Henry goes to talk to the dean about the job he offered, but is shocked to learn it is a tenured teaching position he is unqualified for. He says he'll think about it, but goes back to the bookshop and gets drunk, realizing that no interaction he has with anyone will be real, genuine, or earned ever again.
December 31, 2013: At a New Years Eve party, Henry is making out with a guy, but his eyes are frosted over like everyone else's, and Robbie sees them kissing and storms away, so Henry rejects any further involvement with the guy. He goes and sits outside, and Bea joins him, and for the first time, her eyes all mist over when she begins talking about him.
March 18, 2014: When him and Addie reach the last art exhibit, it is one where people can paint on the walls. When Addie tries, the paint disappears. Henry puts her hand over his so she can use him to draw again, and to write her name. She is ecstatic to make this discovery, and rushes them home and asks him to begin writing down her story.
July 29, 1764: Addie goes to the church graveyard to see her father's grave, and is shocked to find out he died the year after she left Villon. Estele has also died, and was buried in the middle of the cemetery, which she would have hated, so Addie goes and gets an oak sapling and plants it by her grave. She goes to stay in Estele's broken down old house. Luc appears, and tries to make Addie feel guilty for leaving Estele to die alone. Addie hits him, and he lashes out, making her old and withering, saying he had been too generous to give her eternal youth as well as eternal life. He asks for her soul again, and again she refuses, and he leaves, and Addie returns to her youth.
July 29, 1778: Addie has left Paris to go to Fécamp and see the sea. Luc appears to taunt her and ask again for her soul. He takes her to a church, where they discuss religion, and he shows her what a soul looks like. He offers to let her see her own, but she refuses him once again.
March 23, 2014: In an effort to show her something in New York she has never seen before, Henry takes Addie to a subway station, and shows her that there are two places in the wall where they can hear each other speaking while being no where near each other.
July 29, 1789: Paris is a warzone thanks to the revolution. Addie wanders through the chaos dressed as a man, but she is caught by a group of other men. Luc steps in and saves her, teleporting her to Florence, Italy. He leaves her there.
April 6, 2014: Addie tells the story of July 29, 1789 to Henry, and he is baffled that Luc left her in Florence. She says he had been trying to break her by stranding her in an unfamiliar city where she didn't speak the language, but she loved Florence, and adapted. They are at lunch, and when the waitress walks away, Addie suggests they leave without paying, which angers Henry, and they fight. Addie has never had anything permanent, so she worries she has ruined their entire relationship, but Henry reassures her.
July 29, 1806: Addie wakes in an artist's home in Venice. She usually wakes to men not remembering her and being ashamed in the morning, but Matteo is drawing a rough sketch of her. Luc appears later that night, and she sends him away again.
March 26, 1827: Luc finds Addie that year in an art gallery. He realizes she has slowly been making herself the subject of art pieces and inspiring different creators. She calls him out about him continuing to visit her and watching her all the time, saying he is lonely too. This angers him, and he transports her to Beethoven's apartment in Germany, where it is time for him to give up his soul to Luc. He refuses, and Luc becomes a terrifying void monster and rips his soul from him. Addie is now scared of Luc, and he sends her back to London.
May 15, 2014: Addie and Henry bring Book the cat home from the bookshop. He tries desperately to snap a polaroid photo of her, but it doesn't work.
July 29, 1854: Some other family with little boys has moved into her family's old house. The tree Addie planted over Estele's grave has grown and now shelters her. Luc appears when she goes to Estele's old house and taunts her once more, but Addie still refuses him.
June 13, 2014: For Henry's birthday, the pair go with Robbie and Bea to see a concert. They of course don't know her, and Robbie acts sullen with her. Toby, Addie's old fling, takes the stage, and he sings the song that she helped him write. She gets emotional and leaves the venue, and Henry goes out to comfort her.
July 29, 1872: Addie rides a train, on her way to Germany. The conductor comes by to get her ticket, and she says she left it in her room. He follows her back, but she doesn't have a room so she picks one at random. Luc is in there, and Addie pretends to be his wife, and Luc procures a ticket for her. He then teleports her to Munich to see an opera. Addie is mesmerized by it, but feels upset when she finds out some of the performers have made deals with Luc as well.
July 4, 2014: Henry and Addie are at Robbie's New Years Eve party. Addie thinks she's finally cracked the code to get Robbie to like her off the bat instead of be jealous of her. Henry seems distant the whole night, but he tells Addie that he's fine. That night, in the bath, Henry asks her when the last time she saw Luc was, and she says 30 years ago, after a falling out.
December 31, 1899: Addie has found an abandoned cottage in England that she has fixed up and temporarily made her own. Luc comes to her, finding her playing out in the snow. When she wonders why he's there, he speaks back to her words she had said to him years ago: "I saw an elephant, in Paris." He was thinking of her when she wasn't there. He tries to take her somewhere to celebrate the new year, but she refuses, saying she doesn't know if he will bring her back. They instead sit at the fire and talk, and Addie falls asleep. When she wakes Luc is gone, but he has draped a blanket around her shoulders.
July 29, 1914: Addie goes to visit Estele's grave, but the tree she planted for her has been struck by lightning and destroyed. Luc appears, and he apologizes for the tree being gone. He takes her to Paris, and Addie never sees Villon again. In Paris, they drink wine on a patio. Luc finally admits to her that she was right years ago, and that him and her are alike. He gives her back her father's wooden ring that she offered to him the night she sold her soul, and says that all she has to do is put it on and he will come to her. Luc warns her that there is a war coming, and that she should leave Europe before it starts. He offers to transport her, but she refuses. A week later though, she boards a ship for New York.
July 29, 2014: Henry gets Addie a donut with a candle for her 300th year after making her deal. Addie tells him that they probably shouldn't be together on that day, just in case Luc decided to appear and discover that she has found a way to circumvent her curse. Henry insists she not let Luc ruin their day, and that if she wants to be alone come nightfall, he'll oblige. She agrees, and they go to the beach. On their way back home on the subway, Henry tells her he loves her. Addie doesn't know if she loves him, but she says it back anyways.
July 29, 1928: Addie is in a masked speakeasy in Chicago. She hasn't seen Luc since 1914, him waiting for her to put the ring on and her stubbornly refusing to lose the game they were playing. At the bar, the bartender gives her a glass of champagne and nods towards a booth, where Luc sits. She taunts him about losing the game, but he says he owns the speakeasy, so technically she lost. She says she didn't know, and he admits he was tired of waiting, preferring her company to humans. She argues that she is human, but he insists that she's not anymore. This angers her, and when he says she is his, she says she'd rather be a ghost, and goes back to dance, eventually leaving the speakeasy altogether.
July 29, 2014: Addie and Henry take a nap together, only intending for five minutes, but when they wake it is already dark outside. She searches the apartment for Luc, but he is not there. She decides not to let him ruin anything for her anymore, and wakes Henry, saying he can stay. They go out to eat and dance, but when they go to the bar and order two beers, the bartender gives Addie champagne instead. Addie tries to get Henry to leave, but everyone in the restaurant freezes as Luc appears. Addie begs Luc to leave her and Henry alone, and he says he has no intention of separating them since Henry doesn't have much time left. When Luc leaves, she asks Henry what he meant.
September 4, 2013: Henry was never on the steps of his apartment when he made the deal with Luc, he was on the roof ready to jump off and end his own life. He was fine with a year because he wasn't planning on living much longer anyway.
July 29, 2014: Addie leaves the restaurant and tries to summon Luc with the ring. He appears, and she begs for him to undo Henry's deal. He tells her to spend the night with him tomorrow to celebrate their anniversary and he'll consider freeing Henry. She goes home to Henry, and he tells her that he has 35 days left. The watch he had received from Luc had been counting down to his final moment.
November 23, 1944: Addie tried to go and be a spy in World War II, but was caught by German soldiers and imprisoned. She uses the ring to summon Luc, and he frees her and drops her back in Boston before disappearing.
July 30, 2014: Henry begs her not to leave and go with Luc, but she is determined to do anything to try and free Henry. Luc comes to the door and escorts her downstairs to a private car. She tells him her rules: she won't leave the city, and she won't teleport with him.
April 7, 1952: Addie is in Los Angeles, and has been seeing the same man for awhile, over and over again like it's the first time every night. Luc interrupts and sends the man away, stepping in to have dinner with Addie instead. He then takes her to a club so she can see Frank Sinatra perform, who is also someone he has made a deal with. They dance together, and Luc says he wants her, and she says he only wants her as a possession. They kiss, and then leave to sleep together. Between 1952 and 1968 Luc and Addie are together, but Addie tells herself that it is just s*x, not love.
July 30, 2014: Luc takes her to a restaurant where it is just the two of them. He says he loves her, but Addie says he is incapable of loving anyone but himself. She says if he loved her he would have let her go by now, but he disagrees, saying love is selfish. She begs him again to free Henry but this angers him and they leave.
July 29, 1970: Luc confesses his love for her in a bar in New Orleans. She says he doesn't love her, and he gives her a key to a house that is now hers. They go out on the town, and Luc gifts her a jacket, the same one she has with her in the present day. Luc tells her to go home, but she follows him instead, and sees him take the soul of an older woman.
July 30, 2014: Luc asks Addie where she wants to go as they walk. She asks which skyscraper has the better view, and he takes her to one of his clubs on the 84th floor of one, where rich and privileged people spend their time. Addie asks Luc again to let Henry go. He is agitated, but Addie admits that she is no longer human. He tells her then to choose someone there on the roof to lose their soul in Henry's place. Addie chooses someone at random, which surprises Luc, but he doesn't follow through, and teleports her.
May 1, 1984: Luc and Addie talk in their bedroom, and she asks him again to let her go. He says he can't, but he can bend the rules, and all she has to do is surrender to him. This enrages Adeline as she realizes that all of this was a trick to get her to give up her soul. In a rage she yells and knocks over candles, and eventually this causes the house to burn down.
July 30, 2014: Luc has teleported her into Central Park. He says he'll agree to what she wants if she dances with him, and she does. He confesses that he lied back in New Orleans, that he did truly love her and it wasn't a game. But he also confesses that Henry was placed in her path by him intentionally so she would give up on love and realize she was meant to be with him, and that he never intended to free him from his deal. She tells him she does not love him, and he tells her to go and be with him then until he dies, because then all that will be left is her and him. As she walks back to Henry's place, she sees a newspaper reading August 6, 2014, meaning Luc had kept her for longer than she had known. She runs back to Henry and apologizes profusely and he begs her to give up on trying to save him and she agrees. They spend all of August together. One night they go upstate to sleep under the stars, and Henry asks Addie if she would make the deal again if she had to go back and choose and she says yes. Henry tells Bea and Robbie he is going to go out of town for a bit, and asks Robbie to feed his cat and Bea to work at the bookshop. They don't know he is saying goodbye.
September 4, 2014: On Henry's last day, him and Addie stay in bed for most of it, holding each other. Addie tells him stories, not of July 29ths but of other times in her life. Henry doesn't write any of them down but she tells them anyways. They get up to eat, Addie still telling him stories, before they decide to go and get a drink at the bar. When it is time for him to go, they go up onto the roof. The watch stops ticking, but nothing happens, and Addie begins to talk.
September 1, 2014: Addie gets up from bed with Henry and goes to the bar. She spins the ring, and Luc appears. She admits that human love is not what she thought, not elaborating further on the fact, and asks him again to not let Henry die to prove his point. He says he can't end a deal, but she says he can bend it. She asks him to bend her deal, let Henry go while remembering her. Luc asks if she is about to offer up her own soul, and she says no, because Luc no longer wants her soul, he wants her. So she tells him to free Henry, and she will be with him for as long as he wants her at his side. He agrees, and the new deal is struck.
September 4, 2014: Henry is distraught that she has done this, but Addie is at peace with it, and tells him to live a good life and to find people that see and love him for who he is.
September 5, 2014: Henry wakes in his bed and reaches for Addie, but she isn't there. He goes to check the notebooks, and everything is still written there. She is gone, but he remembers her.
March 13, 2015: Bea has just gotten done reading the manuscript that Henry had written, titled The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Bea doesn't like the ending of the story, but Henry couldn't write an ending without knowing what truly happened to Addie. Henry publishes the book, but doesn't put his name on the cover, because it is Addie's story.
February 3, 2016: Addie is in London with Luc, and sees the book telling her story in the bookstore. Henry has written in the dedication, "I remember you". Addie delights in the fact that Luc agreed to the new deal she had made, in which she would be by him for as long as he wanted her at his side. She knows he is fickle and will become annoyed with her eventually, and then, she will be free.
