Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

270 reviews

thereadinghammock's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I didn't quite know what to expect when I dove into this book finally. I was surprised, curious, intrigued, satisfied, and wanting more at every stage. I loved Addie's resourcefulness and tenacity, but was frustrated by her hubris and how it took her so long to learn how fickle Luc's moods and inclination to kindness could be. I was nervous for Henry almost every step of the way. I was so afraid Henry WAS Luc or some kind of specific obstacle put in Addie's path to cause her to misstep on her deal. 

Spoiler

While I should have seen it coming, and eventually I did, Luc falling in love with Addie still managed to surprise me. I think the vehemence that Luc fell for her was what managed to surprise me. I thought he would fall in and out of love with her, or once he finally had her, he would quickly grow tired of her. But he didn't. Once he finally had her, he wanted her more. Wanted to keep her for himself. A Persephone to his Hades. And Addie only saw the betrayal of it; the malicious intent behind his actions, to lure her into a false sense of security and make her give up her soul to him before she was ready. 

When I realized that this book was supposed to be a version of Henry's book, telling Addie's story, I loved that plot device. Subtle and witty. I legitimately cried when Addie read Henry's dedication to her in the finished novel, "I remember you." My heart broke and mended and grew and ached for them all at once. It was truly beautiful. And I love that it was perfectly paired with Addie's renegotiation with Luc at the end. She played his game of semantics with aplomb and I'm so proud of her. And Schwab kept us on that string until the very last sentence.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death, and Toxic relationship

marsmonny's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, War, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

lunep's review against another edition

hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Sexism, Death, Violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Addiction, and War

Moderate: Mental illness and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pregnancy, Biphobia, Blood, Child death, Sexual content, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death of parent

butilikeit's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment and Drug use

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

10stormlight's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

The first 75% of this book felt very slow and a bit dull to me. However, I did really enjoyed the ending. The last 10% was emotional in all the best ways and had some lovely snippets of poetic prose. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief

annabananadel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?” 

The beginning to the middle was so slow it took me weeks to get through it - not that I was bored but for some reason, I always get sleepy. It was pretty much text heavy so in return, my eyes was also heavy. Not that it stopped me from continuing the story. It was indeed very interesting but there were alot of small details that could have been left out (that’s what I thought at first). 

After the middle mark, I was hooked. I’ve brought the book everywhere I go in case I have time for a read because I wanted to know how it goes. Would Addie and Henry have a happy ending or what? You just have to keep reading it. She told stories of the past and how she got thru them all - including the war too. What really shocked me was the love story between Addie and Luc because that was a fast ball I did not see coming. But after getting past that, I realized that it was going there and I was just blinded by Henry. 

The ending though. Addie, you stubborn girl. I’d love to be like you one day. 

(I love love love how this really feel like it was written by Addie herself.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Torture

Moderate: Suicide attempt and War

Minor: Sexual assault and Drug use

sorcha's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Drug use, and Sexual content

saturnpersonified's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Addiction, Death, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death of parent and War

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I didn’t think this book was bad. I actually overall enjoyed it. I did feel like the story was a bit slow and sometimes difficult to follow. I felt like sometimes extra information was added when it wasn’t necessarily needed. Making the story slower or longer.

I loved Henry. My heart ached for him and I just wanted to hold him and tell him everything would be okay. Addie had some character development.

Spoiler

it’s hard when you’ve lived 300 years and everyone forgets you. Not to mention she goes through developments and setbacks throughout that time

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Overall it was a good book but I don’t think I would pick it up again. It was a bit slow and there were some lulls in the pace, but It was emotional and there were lots of great moments.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

TLDR; 4.5 rating rounded up, I love monkey’s paw wishes, I love queer women, and I’m not gonna lie this book almost had me crying.


Full review to come. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Addiction, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Classism, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, Sexual assault, Violence, and War

Minor: Kidnapping, Stalking, Cancer, Confinement, Rape, and Religious bigotry