The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

by V.E. Schwab

Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives—or to find strength in a very long one.

Addie feels like a museum sometimes, one only she can visit.

“Small places make for small lives. And some people are fine with that. They like knowing where to put their feet. But if you only walk in other people’s steps, you cannot make your own way. You cannot leave a mark.”

But ideas are so much wilder than memories, so much faster to take root.”

He is full of roots, while she has only branches.

“He makes promises. I pay up front.”

“Why would anyone trade a lifetime of talent for a few years of glory?” Luc’s smile darkens. “Because time is cruel to all, and crueler still to artists. Because vision weakens, and voices wither, and talent fades.” He leans close, twists a lock of her hair around one finger. “Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end,” he says, “everyone wants to be remembered.”