Good morning 2021.

It’s 2021. We have managed to carve our way through one of the most difficult years in recent history, and though we’re obviously not walking into a brand new and shiny 2021, the feel of a fresh start still lingers. Reminder: The pandemic still exists, so wear your mask. The civil unrest runs rampant, so have respect for others.

Last year I read 63 books, which is an all time high for me. I exceeded my goal of 55, and was thrilled. This year, my goal is 65

books. Fingers crossed. I’m not going to do a top five books for 2020 this go round, though. Why? Because though I read some really entertaining and good books last year, I don’t have it in me right now to rank them all out with details. Maybe I’ll come back to that in a few weeks, and maybe I’ll also add a life update.

Today I want to talk about my favorite book of 2021 so far: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab. This is a new release and man, it was good. I had a bit of trouble getting into it though. Like, it was one that I started and put down for weeks before picking it back up because I was straight up bored. I remember the exact page that it picked up for me, though (pg. 135). So what is this story?

There is a girl. There is a god you pray to after night falls. There is a wish. And there is a curse. What is immortality worth when no one remembers you and you cannot share it with anyone, except the one who cursed you with it?

Addie does not want to be ordinary. She craves a life that is wholly unobtainable for her. She wants to see the world and draw and love passionately. She does not want to live and die in the same village without stepping from within its borders. There are those who believe in the new God, and then there are those who believe in the old gods, the gods that taker offerings and give you tangible results. Addie prays to the old, and learns that one must be very careful what one wishes for, because words are important and they can be used against you.

I think this book took such a long time for me to get into because, first it was slow...but as the story picked up I realized just how sad this story is. Just how much it was affecting me. As I read on, I realized that the absolute magic of the words on paper were what kept me coming back, but that the emotions tied to the experience were dark, lonely, unforgiving. Perhaps that is what the author desired of you: for you to feel what Addie feels, to cause a deep and leveling version of empathy. Maybe it was not her intention, I do not know. I can say that regardless of Schwab’s intentions, that is how I was struck: deeply, sadly, unforgivably.

Though those were my experiences reading this, I do not want to deter you from

picking it up yourself. It is beautifully written, taking the reader back and forth across the lifetime of a perpetually young woman. I had not read anything like it before, and that is hard to come by.

Xoxo, loves. Go read something delightful.