Invisibility

by Andrea Cremer

A magical romance between a boy cursed with invisibility and the one girl who can see him, by New York Times bestselling authors Andrea Cremer and David Levithan.

Stephen is used to invisibility. He was born that way. Invisible. Cursed.
Elizabeth sometimes wishes for invisibility. When you’re invisible, no one can hurt you. So when her mother decides to move the family to New York City, Elizabeth is thrilled. It’s easy to blend in there.
Then Stephen and Elizabeth meet. To Stephen’s amazement, she can see him. And to Elizabeth’s amazement, she wants him to be able to see her—all of her. But as the two become closer, an invisible world gets in their way—a world of grudges and misfortunes, spells and curses. And once they’re thrust into this world, Elizabeth and Stephen must decide how deep they’re going to go—because the answer could mean the difference between love and death.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Magic, Fiction, Contemporary

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 7, 2013

About the author

Andrea Cremer also known as Andrea Robertson, is the author of the internationally bestselling Nightshade series. She spent her childhood daydreaming and roaming the forests and lakeshores of Northern Wisconsin.

Andrea has always loved writing and has never stopped writing, but she only recently plunged into the deep end of the pool that is professional writing. Before she wrote her first novel, Andrea was a history professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. In her books, she strives to bring together her two passions: history and fantasy. Andrea now lives in New York and writes full time.

To contact Andrea, please visit, andreacremer.com

Reviews

[Wendy Darling · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 137 pages. I liked the beginning of the book, which felt very Every Day-like in its thoughtfulness and sensitivity, and I like Stephen's POV. I am not a fan of Elizabeth's POV, however, and after a sudden kiss at their third meeting on page 70, instalove after that, and a plot that got progressively more convoluted with eeeeevil curses, this just wasn't a premise that worked for me.

Paranormal romance written like realistic fiction, but without enough consistent depth to justify the required leaps in faith or navel-gazing. Style and content just did not mesh well.

PS--the current GoodReads synopsis is crazy, but accurate as to what is really going on. The official blurb on Amazon (and on the ARC) is what attracted me to the book.

An advance copy was provided by the publisher for this review.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy cow.



Andrea Cremer and David Levithan??? Together???



This is just so ifcnbIFNIWEeiurwbfw ierEFgberg jhbdADcfbe foAuweRW BV SURGYkjanrg aehusdfUBf w H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



*faints*





---UPDATE: 21st October 2013----

2.5 stars.




Dear fellows, I am sorry to communicate the only binomial who actually works (and I mean mind-blowing works) is David Levithan - Rachel Cohn.

The first half of the book wasn't actually that bad, but then... Meeeeeeeeeh.

This is probably one of the hugest disappointments this year...

[MeMe Belikova First lady Ivashkov · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, can I say I LOVE David Levithan and Andrea Cremer! I meet both of them at signings and they are both amazing people and I was super excited to her they both did a mash up on this book. Them two together was seriously a matched made in heaven 0:)

So invisibility is about a guy named Stephen, who is invisible due to a cures that he knows nothing about. He is pretty much your average guy but you know invisible to everyone(so he thinks) until he meets Elizabeth, a girl who has moved right next door.Yea, guess what......she can see him.


Stephen: I LOVED LOVED LOVED Stephen(hence him being Davids character)!!! I loved how much vulnerability was shown from the very first page. I really connected with Stephen and all he goes through being invisible to the world, not being able to have friends or just be normal. Anyone can relate to Stephan, everyone has felt invisible like him once before and that's why I fell for Stephen <3


Elizabeth: I liked Elizabeth's bitchiness more than her actual character. I don't know what it was, I guess she needed to have more emotion??? She was really mean and cold when it came to Stephen and I just wish she was more affectionate towards him but she got a little better toward the end.

Laurie: Most of my laughs came from Laurie, he made the whole book even more amazing.I'm really glad he was added to the mix.

Overall, this book was sooo good! I have never read anything like this before! I just loved the plot of the invisibility curse and the whole we will fight this evil together just me and you love<3 The beginning was the best part for me, I liked the ending but it could have been so much better. I recco this to everyone and I hope you like it as much as I did :)

Thanks for Reading!

-Alice <3

Rating: Greatness

***********Enter into the Invisibility giveaway going on RIGHT NOW!******
InvisibilityGiveaway

[Jen Ryland (jenrylandreviews & yaallday)]

I am a HUGE fan of David Levithan and his fictional collaborations with John Green and Rachel Cohn. In fact, Nick and Norah and Will Grayson, Will Grayson are some of my favorite YA contemporaries of all time.

Based on the blurb and cover, I went into Invisibility expecting a book like Levithan's Every Day, a contemporary with a hint of the paranormal. I liked the way Every Day offered minimal explanation for the paranormal elements and instead focused on the more existential or philosophical side of a character's paranormal abilities. Invisibility started out in that vein -- seeming like a contemporary novel with a paranormal twist -- but then suddenly morphed into a breakneck fantasy-adventure that reminded me of a Percy Jackson book.

Stephen is invisible and always has been -- all his mother would tell him was he was living under a curse. Then one day, he meets someone who can see him. While this is a revelation to Stephen, it does set up a scenario where he and the girl seem sort of stuck with each other. Stephen can finally have a real relationship; and the only girl who can see him can hardly reject the guy who's never been seen by anyone in his entire life.

The girl who can see him is Elizabeth, but prefers to be called Jo. (This is a Little Women joke which completely weirded me out because in Invisibility, Jo's brother is named … Laurie. Jo and Laurie cannot be siblings, because in my head I write fanfic where Amy and Professor Bhaer die of typhoid fever so that Jo and Laurie can finally be together.)

Elizabeth/Jo was not the easiest of characters to warm up to. Yes, she's angry about something horrible that happened to her brother, but she's also pretty ticked-off in general. I did like the relationship between Jo and her brother, and loved the parallels that Laurie seemed to be drawing between the fact that Stephen is invisible and the struggles that Laurie has gone through.Namely, being brutally attacked for being gay. Laurie says: "When no one can see who you are, no one really knows you."

I expected Invisibility to continue on this course and be a sweet story about unconditional love and self-acceptance. (Honestly, I was hoping that Stephen would fall in love with Laurie.) But instead the plot became all about Jo's attempt to break the curse and cure Stephen of his invisibility and, suddenly, I'm knee-deep in cursecasting and hexology.

It's hard when you go into a book expecting one thing and get something completely different. I try to roll with the punches in these situations, but in this case I felt invested in the book I started to read. The last half of the book reminded me of Beastly by Alex Flinn (another book about curses and love) crossed with The Lightning Thief -- both books that I enjoyed. I guess I found this particular mash-up of contemporary + paranormal a little jarring and wished the book had stayed on its original course. (I'm a die-hard contemporary fan -- what can I say?)

I didn't dislike this book. I just didn't love it as much as I wanted to.

[Zeynep · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4,5 stars*

Kitabı sevmemek için bariz hiçbir sebebim yok. Öylesine elime aldım, ne ara bitti bilmiyorum. İki ya da üç kere ayraca ihtiyacım oldu diyeyim de anlayın kitabı nasıl sevdiğimi <3 David Levithan'ı zaten çok seviyordum ama Cremer ile birlikte yazmaları daha bi tatlı olmuş bence.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to warn you in advance - this will be a ranty review. And not because Invisibility was terribly bad, but because I was terribly disappointed. I mean, David Levithan is an author who cemented his place on my very small auto-buy list with just ONE book - Every Day. Now, I know, I shouldn't really compare one book against the other, but when you hold an author in such high esteem, it's nearly impossible not to do so.

The basic plot is intriguing, if not necessarily completely my cup of tea. But I'm an open minded kinda reader, there's very little I won't read, and there have been a few paranormal romance-type books that I've enjoyed immensly. After all, how bad could it be?

Firstly, lets start with the romance. There's very little more to say than it's insta-love, to be frank. Stephen and Elizabeth meet, and after an undisclosed amount of time (which can't be longer than 2-3 weeks), they are IN LOVE. With capital letters. We're talking die-for-each other kinda love, which, I'm sorry, doesn't happen within a matter of weeks, especially at sixteen and I do not want it in books I read. Ever.

Now, if they were both fabulous characters that I felt an awesome connection to and wanted nothing more than a happily ever after, I probably could have overlooked this flaw - I did with Every Day and I LOVED that book. I hugged it for fucks sake. But neither Elizabeth, and to a lesser extent, Stephen, are characters I wanted to cheer from the sidelines. Elizabeth has the makings of a great character - she wants to be a comic book writer, she's got artistic talent to the eyeballs and shes dedicated to her younger brother, Laurie. However, somewhere along the way she seems to have misplaced a very important part of her character - a personality. Stephen is much the same, there's just not much substance there - yes, he's invisible, his life is hard, but why not turn it around and make him some daring adverturer who sneaks into clubs or onto airplanes or just SOMETHING other than moping about.

There is only one character that held this whole thing together, and that was Elizabeth's younger brother, Laurie. He's at the heart of the reason her family moves to New York and unlike the main characters, he has personality to the eyeballs. It should have been HIS crush that was invisible, dammit. Or him - in fact, although he's a secondary character, he's got the personality that would have made Stephen far more likable.

The paranormal aspect is actually the one thing that saved me from DNFing the whole shebang, and although it didn't feel exceptionally well done (and the climax seemed way too quick to me), the actual premise of spellseekers and cursecasters was different from other paranormal novels that I've read recently.

The writing worked for me for the most part, and felt more like the high-side of middle-of-the-road but there was none of the Levithan quote-fests that I've come to know and love, and there were some parts that I just wanted over and done with and others that I really enjoyed.

Overall, although Invisibility wasn't a book for me, I can see how it would appeal to other readers, particularly those who enjoy a unique plot more so than characters than can fall head over heels in love with.

Just one more thought and then my rant is over - screw you, expectations, screw you.

[Nicay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a cause with no effects. I am footsteps without a sound. I am nothing but air - noticeable in motions but gone even as it arrives.

I don't know what will I felt after reading this. Enjoyment? Satisfaction? Asking for more? Hmm. I don't really know.

Well, my rating is still in a tag of war between 3 to 3.5 ☆. It was a balance of likeness and still undecided for this story.

I guess I need to explain first what was the story about without any spoilers, so I can verdict my final decision after this review. Let's discover it together.

Stephen, who was born invisible since he was born. He made his life aloof to all the possibilities of a normal life he can get. Because he was INVISIBLE, his mother can't see him; but his mother has all the patience to took care of him even though she can't personally see her own son. Until his mother died, and he lived alone in his apartment while his father was paying all the bills and other expenses, but no trace of him while he was growing. Until the day someone finally saw him. And all of a sudden, the world that Stephen had, has changed really big.

Stephen was cursed. And they must find a way to deal and solve what was behind of it.

Okay. I thought at first it was just a YA-contemporary, a normal YA-contemporary. But obviously, it wasn't because the BOY was invisible. Oh, I am sorry! I really forget the fact that I would encounter some magical or powerful things inside the story. But then again, I was spellbind-ed with this book that I read this very fast, light-read and at least an enjoyable read.

But there were some things I think were lack of? The chemistry, I think? And the build-up of the story? It didn't really hooked me up. Yes, I just READ. I am really a sucker of a story that can pull me from my own world and end-up falling for the outside world. This book wasn't included in it, honestly. I liked the story line, but it's just that not enough.

It is the most horrible feeling in the world, to be willing to give anything and to know it's not enough.

I agree with this, it's not enough.

Final rating: 3.5 ☆

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[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initial reaction: Dude - I actually really enjoyed this and it was probably helped by a decent audio narration. I wasn't thrilled about Elizabeth's POV in turns and the overarching "instalove", but it was the secondary characters, Stephen's POV and narrative voice, and the intrigue of the cursecasting and light/dark undertones of the narrative that won me over.

Full review:

For all intents and purposes, I'm really surprised that I ended up really liking this book a whole heck of a lot. I will concede the fact that it has issues, I will concede that there are parts of it that lean heavily in the mix of genre cliches and that typically those cliches can be enough of a turnoff. Yet "Invisibility" had me when it was all said and done, and that's thanks to a number of different measures.

Part of it was the stellar audiobook narration done by McLeod Andrews and Mandy Siegfried. Both of them have narrated works I've thoroughly enjoyed on audiobook before, and they were a perfect fit for the characters and flow of the narrative. I understood that there were issues differentiating the characters in the print version of this book, but I had no such trouble with the audio. Both Andrews and Siegfried gave their characters punch and distinction to where I knew they were distinct and - for the characters - the motivations and experiences were uniquely drawn.

To say a bit about the authors themselves - I've had more experience with David Levithan's works than Andrea Cremer. Levithan has a style that pops off the page - contemplative, darkly humored (and sometimes just dark), speculative, emotional - not afraid to delve into realism mixed with an intriguing dose of "what-ifs". He's an author I respect quite a bit and I loved his contributions in "Every Day," "Will Grayson, Will Grayson", among other narratives. Andrea Cremer, I'm not as familiar with, but I can tell her style is more lighthearted, more in the vein of paranormal, supernatural, humored and romantic leanings. I haven't really been motivated to read the Nightshade series because I read the erotic adult spinoff of that series and...wasn't impressed. But I was willing to give this book a try to see how their styles meshed.

The result was one with a mixed bag of presentations, but one I ultimately enjoyed for the journey. Part of the story revolves around Stephen, a boy who has spent his whole life invisible. His mother and father could sense his essence, but even they couldn't see him after he was born. So he's grown up in NYC with no friends, no sense of a normal life and a lonely existence. His clothes disappear as soon as he puts them on. He can take showers, sleep, eat, do all the things a boy his age can do, though no one can see him and when he tries to do things that make his presence known - it ends up creeping people out, almost like a living ghost. His mother raised him the best she could before she died, and Stephen's dad was only loosely in the picture, giving Stephen a reason to be bitter and their relationship feeling the strain.

Then enters Elizabeth to change everything Stephen knows - the only girl that can see him.

Granted, Elizabeth many times was one of the reasons this work irked me. She's impulsive, thoughtless, brash, and some of the things she says just aren't funny. Some are, but I kept feeling second hand embarrassment just hearing her narrative voice and her callousness to certain situations. There was a part of me that understood this was a character flaw of hers, but other times it was just...too much.

Stephen and Elizabeth's reactions and interactions are at times fun to watch, but I'll admit the all encompassing instalove bothered me. I thought it was too much, too fast. I could buy it to a certain extent because of Stephen's heavy existence and the fact that his condition would make it hard for him to love anybody, let alone his time in the world being limited by something he couldn't begin to understand at first, his essence being eaten away, reportedly. But for Elizabeth, it was a little harder to buy because she wasn't a big part of the conflict at first, especially since you weren't aware of WHY she could see Stephen. The way she treats Stephen sometimes is pretty brash in points, but it's still palpable as to her motivations (even if I didn't like it). Ultimately, I wasn't reading this *just* for the romance. I was more intrigued by the measure of why Stephen was invisible and why Elizabeth was the only one who could see him. I knew it had to have had a supernatural leaning (matter in point, I could see this as an episode of the TV series Supernatural - it had that kind of vibe to it in places), especially as the narrative ceded to discussing the curse casting and the role of Stephen's grandfather placing a curse on him to punish his mother. The backstory behind that is rather sad and I felt for the poor kid as those details came to light. The lore in this is intriguing, and the curses are pretty darned creepy (yet really intriguing to witness). Elizabeth's role comes to light progressively as well, and it's reasonable considering it factors into her seeing him and ultimately trying to find ways to help Stephen in the course of the narrative.

I really liked Elizabeth's brother Laurie far more than Elizabeth herself, because he served as a vibrant character with his own motivations (his crush on the boy living upstairs was adorable) and he provided good comic relief and character support through the events of the novel. As well, I grew to like Stephen's father as he became more of a part of the story and the distance in their relationship was expounded upon. The scenes between him and Stephen were necessary in furthering along the conflict of the story and I think it was well noted. Millie, her bodyguard, and even some of the other secondary cast members were those I enjoyed watching as well - learning their parts of the story and ultimately in the overarching quest and conflict as they attempt to help Stephen not only understand his curse, but make headway to lift it.

Stephen's character, to me, felt like he had more narrative weight than Elizabeth and ultimately - that was why he connected with me better. He made "Invisibility" for me, and Levithan (whom I'm presuming mostly had writing duties in his viewpoint, if not completely) did a remarkable job of expressing his futility, loss, determination, among other fluxes in his emotions regarding his particular condition. Elizabeth only really grew on me as she had more of a direct role/stake in the narrative, with her respective abilities and discovering long uncovered secrets about herself - but even then - they only scratched the surface, and I think that was a flaw of Cremer's narration. Sometimes she flowed with it, othertimes it felt like she pulled back and didn't dig enough to where the character perspective could be less "quirky" and more intimate/serious. There were moments where her world was rocked though, and it was only through the latter part of the narrative where that really had a chance to have significance.

OMG, some of the scenes in this book gave me chills. While I somewhat wished that Stephen's grandfather had more significant motivations and development in his character, I loved the tension his role in this book provided. His curses were downright malicious and creepy. From the time Stephen first has the chance to witness his grandfather's power, you can tell he's a formidable presence. There was one scene where Stephen and his grandfather are alone and neither one of them could see the other - but it was INTENSE. I really felt Stephen's fear and anticipation, and while I could've smacked Elizabeth and the others for leaving him to bat for not realizing the obvious, it was a wonderful scene of tension, and a great lead in to what would be the final showdown for the characters.

I'm also glad that this didn't go for the obvious ending, though it makes me sad because while this book somewhat left events that would serve well for a sequel, it doesn't seem to have come to fruition yet. I know I would read a sequel to this if it ever came to be, because it had me for what it established. I love speculative fiction, magical realism, and things of the paranormal/supernatural sort with magic, so this book worked for me for the worldbuilding, premise and ultimate development for what it showed, though I'll admit it could've been improved upon. It took some suspension of disbelief, but ultimately - it really worked for me. I enjoyed it. I'd definitely urge people who really like Levithan's speculative style to give this a try, particularly in the audio form since it was such a strong representation, and maybe Cremer for her paranormal/supernatural slant with humored anecdotes. Cremer's role wasn't bad for contribution, but it was much more rough and I could tell places where her writing and voice differed from Levithan's and made the text a bit more cumbersome than it should've been (especially for Elizabeth's recklessness). Ultimately, this is a title that may be hit or miss, but it was worth trying, and I'm sad I didn't pick it up sooner than now.

Overall score: 4/5 stars

[Christina (A Reader of Fictions) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, expectations, you turncoats. Always there when I start out, and off who the fuck knows where as I suffer through an uninspired book. Before you start telling me I shouldn't have finished this book, believe me, I know that was an option. However, by the time I was sure I wouldn't like it, I was too far into the book to DNF. Once I've read twenty percent or so, it's happening, and that's all there is to it. Invisibility isn't necessarily a bad book, but it's certainly not what I was hoping for, and will likely only please those who have not yet tired of the standard paranormal romance formula and tropes. Warning: this review will contain some spoilers.

My mistake, and I will admit it was mine alone, was that I assumed Invisibility would be something like Levithan's Every Day. Admittedly, I have yet to read that book, but the premise blows my mind, and, based on friends' reviews and recommendation, I will love it. In that book, I understand that Levithan takes a sort of metaphysical and philosophical look at a unique way of existing, and uses that to reflect on sexuality and love. With Invisibility, I hoped for something similar. What I wanted was the tale of an invisible boy, born that way for no rhyme or reason, and how he comes to find meaning in his existence. Again, this was solely my mental creation. If you had similar hopes, quash them, because Invisibility is just a paranormal romance of magic and curses.


This is why I'm honest.

To give Cremer and Levithan their dues, the world building for the magic is unique, if strange. They did at least expend the effort to come up with something a bit out of the box. The curses, especially, are very cool, and some of them legitimately freaked me out, so that was well done. Unfortunately, their hearts weren't in that aspect of the book, so the world is uncovered and explained through a series of chapter-long infodumps. The teens go to an adult, ask for information, and receive and infodump. Then they go to another adult and repeat the process. It's a dulling way to receive information.



All of that could easily have been saved with well-done characters, though, since characters are where my true love lies as a reader anyway. Sadly, Stephen and Elizabeth are static, with no motivations except the ones given to them by their romance. Elizabeth does have a second motivation in protecting her mother and brother, but, when push comes to shove, she always chooses Stephen over them, so that hardly counts to me.

When two authors team up to write a novel in dual perspectives, I generally assume that they both take a perspective to write. Thus, I'm excited to read books composed in this way, because I love dual perspective done well, and it should be so easy for two separate authors to create two distinct perspectives. Somehow, though, I found that I had a lot of trouble distinguishing whether I was reading an Elizabeth chapter or a Stephen chapter until one of their names was said.



Perhaps, though, Elizabeth and Stephen are so indistinguishable because they lack individual interests and personalities. Very little effort is expended to make them feel like real people. Stephen, for example, has been on his own since his mother's death, but he apparently does nothing but order food to eat, angst, and people-watch. Though he has absolutely no one to talk to, he has no solitary hobbies to do while alone in his apartment. Um, Stephen, may I suggest the internet? I'm in my home alone right now, but, if I break from writing this review, I can go on Twitter and talk to any number of friends. Though no one can see him, he could make a network on the internet, where no one can see your physical form anyway, unless you choose to share a photo. Or, Stephen, how about reading? No wonder he's so miserable, since he doesn't ever do anything.

Then there's Elizabeth, who Cremer and Levithan really tried to make cool and nerdy. Her dream in life is to be a comic book writer and illustrator, both because doing just one is lame to her. Awesome, right? I should totally love this girl. And yet. For all her supposed love of comics, her interest in comic books has been added solely as a plot device by which she can realize her own special powers, which she has been secretly using to create the world in her comic book. When her brother, Laurie, introduces her to another comic book fan, she shows no interest in ever talking to him about them. When the group ends up going several times to a really bitching comic book shop with tons of special editions, Elizabeth never once stops to peruse the selection. Yeah, she's dealing with some serious stuff, but there is no universe where I would be able to walk through a bookstore without noting titles as I walked through or trailing my fingers along the spines. Don't try to connect to nerds with such a shallow attempt, because we do see through that.



The only characters I liked and cared about at all were Laurie, Elizabeth's brother, and Sean, a boy in the building Laurie is crushing on. After her parents' divorce, their mother moved the three of them to New York City to escape homophobia so severe that Laurie was hospitalized with multiple broken bones. The father basically blamed Laurie for provoking the attack, so the dad's obviously scum. Briefly, Laurie is a real plot point with a burgeoning romance, but we never get to find out how that's going for him, and he becomes just a pawn to be manipulated by the bad guy. Even then, Laurie's still more useful than Stephen. Laurie gets shit done.

Worst of all is the romance. First off, we have the invisible, personality-less boy and the pretending-to-be-a-nerd girl. Shock of shocks, she is the only person in the whole wide world who can see him! They touch and feel things. Their connection is made of magic and wondrousness and they fall in love in an unclear amount of time. However, their romance cannot have gone on for long, since she's still a ways from school starting and summer is not that long. Hello, instalove.



It gets better, though! Without establishing any real emotional connection between these two, which would be difficult, since they don't actually have personalities, they declare their love and begin arguing about who gets to die for the other one. Is anyone else sick of reading books about teens who are desperate to sacrifice themselves for someone they've only known for a month? Going back to what I mentioned earlier, Elizabeth is already willing to save Stephen's life over that of her brother's when forced to choose, though, obviously, she'll manage to save both. No, bitch, your brother comes first, not the invisible kid you've known for a month or less. Also, and here's where things really crossed the line, Cremer and Levithan never offer a convincing excuse for why Laurie can see Stephen, since her own powers don't explain shit. It was a convenient way to make them feel like they must have some mystical connection.



The ending did manage to surprise me just a bit, so I will give some credit for that. Cremer and Levithan didn't go for the obvious, easy ending that I'd predicted, so I will applaud them for finally stepping outside of the box, though I would have been grateful if it had happened 340 pages sooner.

If paranormal romances relying heavily on baseless instalove still work for you, by all means procure a copy of Invisibility. If, on the other hand, you were hoping for something deep and meaningful along the lines of Levithan's Every Day, you might want to spare yourself the disappointment. For some samples of the writing and further insights, you can check my status updates on Goodreads, which include a sampling of quotes.

[Jan Bethel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love-Hate Relationship again!

I loved this book when it started. But somehow I ended up not liking it.

Tsk! **Actual review to come**

[Selly - Leggere Romanticamente · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stelline e mezzo

Sul blog trovate la recensione qui ---> http://www.leggereromanticamente.com/...

Questo libro stand-alone non è assolutamente ciò che mi aspettavo di leggere.
E non lo dico in senso positivo, per me è un grande e grosso “Boh”.
Tanto per cominciare la “magica storia d'amore” che mi aspettavo di trovare nel romanzo è molto marginale e presente quasi esclusivamente nella prima parte, inoltre i sentimenti dei protagonisti sono affrettati e forzati.
Sempre a proposito della prima parte del libro, l'ho trovata piuttosto lenta.
La fase in cui Elizabeth e Stephen si conoscono ed innamorano dovrebbe essere emozionante e da batticuore... Invece la definirei sentimentalmente piatta.
La storia è scritta bene e semplicemente, ma mancano le emozioni. E quelle per me sono fondamentali!
Mi hanno ammaliata però le parti in cui gli autori descrivono New York e Central Park, essendoci stata anni fa ho provato un po' di nostalgia a rivivere certi luoghi.
Le cose si fanno più interessanti verso metà libro quando si scopre l'origine della maledizione che ha colpito Stephen rendendolo invisibile a chiunque sin dalla nascita.
Viene quindi introdotta l'esistenza di Maghi Distruttori, Costruttori e Cerca incantesimi nella trama che, da quel momento, si fa più movimentata e con alcuni risvolti interessanti e inaspettati.
Peccato però che nel finale tutto si riveli INCONCLUDENTE.
Insomma, da un libro singolo tutto mi aspettavo che un finale così!
Mi ha decisamente lasciato l'amaro in bocca!

[Saniya]

David Levithan and Andrea Cremer?

PERFECTION.

Can't wait to read this! :D

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original review can be found at Heart Full of Books!

When it comes to David Levithan I find that his co-written works are always the best, and Invisibility continues to prove this theory right. I absolutely loved the first 150 pages or so. They were so well written and I was completely absorbed by the characters and the situation. However, I do agree with the majority of the other reviews that this book lost its way in the middle, and began to feel like something completely different. Still, I really liked the magical-realism element, and I think you can explain away the majority of the strangeness to the situation. It’s still worth giving a go, and here’s why!

I’m not entirely sure how far into how Stephen is invisible and why Elizabeth is the only one that can see him without giving away spoilers, because I think half of the magic of this book was the slow reveal. What I will say though is that the magic made sense. It seemed perfectly reasonable and I was entirely convinced that this could be an AU of our world. My all-time favourite part, however, was when the hows and the whys didn’t even matter. I was fully prepared for this story to just be a cute magical-realism romance about Elizabeth and Stephen trying to work it out and explain it to Elizabeth’s family. It just got too confusing and perhaps even a little carried away with itself when the authors tried to give the book more purpose, which sounds ridiculous, but the high stakes changed the story completely.

In the first 150 pages I thought I would be giving this book five stars. I loved all of the characters. There’s Stephen, who’s soft spoken and super adorable. Eh’s spent all of his life observing other people so his narrative is filled with description and wonderment. I found Elizabeth to be pretty inconsistent, but I really liked her to begin with when she was a little snarky and off-hand. She seemed like a girl who knew what she wanted. She didn’t really have a filter and could be a bit abrasive and I loved how witty her observations where. The final main player is Laurie, Elizabeth’s younger brother. He was beaten at his old school for being gay, so the family (minus their d-bag father) move to New York so Laurie can be safe. Laurie was an extremely serious and silly boy. Sometimes he would come out with the most profound things, and if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s the pep talk. One of my favourite bits was when Elizabeth’s having a bit of a breakdown because Stephen has finally told her he’s invisible and she’s the only one that can see him, and Laurie gives her the verbal version of a slap and encourages her not to be silly and melodramatic and instead to realise how much she loves him and the fact he’s invisible shouldn’t change anything.

So, yes, there’s a little bit of insta-love, but to be perfectly honest, I didn’t find it to be fast paced whatsoever. I fell in love with their love. All of the characters were so refreshing and how they handled the situation to begin with was really admirable. Then, of course, things go off kilter as the book tries to take a more series tone, resembling something like the Caster Chronicles series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. It gets a bit strange and you have to take the explanations and long-winded exposition with a pinch of salt. The ending was quite disappointing to, as their efforts didn’t really seem to pay off. I really hope that one day the authors write a sequel because I really didn’t think it should end there. In my head-cannon I have found a way to make everything end the way I want to, though, so I’m not too distressed.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story, and I hope that my albeit vague review (I don’t want to spoil it for you!) has convinced you enough to pick it up! I gave the first part 5 stars, the middle 3 and the ending 2.5.

[Jana]

I feel really stupid for asking this but.. can someone explain to me about everyone's comments about Cremer's anti-feminism? I do agree but isn't the point of her Nightshade series to show girls in a very different 'light'? lol I'm so confused..

[Cory]

Andrea Cremer and David Levithan? Questionable sexism ahoy.

[shady boots]

Andrea Cremer and David Levithan? o_o Wow, I never thought those two authors would ever team up.

[Eric Townsend · Rating 2 out of 5]

Invisibility is filled with just as much awkwardness as the teen romance it contains. Teen romance can be epic, it can be ugly and usually it has bits of everything in between, such is the case here. So let’s break it down just like that, it’s time for the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good

- Levithan. The man can flat out WRITE. While his style does seem to carry over in everything he writes (the set of rules of the invisibility curse is reminiscent of his set of rules in Every Day for that MC) it doesn’t become stale. Stephen is a main character that is easy to get behind and the way Levithan breaks down his world creates complete believability despite him being invisible, no easy task.

- The pacing. While some might argue that the pacing takes a dramatic shift in the second half, I feel that it works well throughout the entire piece and adapts to what is happening in the plot very well. I never felt bored, not during the world building and setup (mostly due again to Levithan’s prowess as a writer) nor during the paranormal takeover of the book (more on that later). The book flows.

- The ending. The last 15-20% or so of the book flew by. It was a rush of paranormal awesome, displays of abilities and the bond that the characters had developed coming to its epic conclusion. It was wonderful and I didn’t want to leave this fascinating world that had been so carefully created. Fantastic.

The Bad

- Insta-love. Oh insta-love, why must you appear in all of the books I am trying to enjoy? We didn’t even make it into chapters with multiple digits before the characters felt like they were meant for each other. I understand teen love can feel VERY powerful and all consuming, but that doesn’t stop this sort of thing from being irritating. I could understand Stephen feeling this way quickly because of being invisible. You finally find someone who can see you, she’s a girl, and she’s your age? It wouldn’t take much more. Elizabeth has no such reasoning to fall back on, she just falls head over heels for the guy very, very quickly. Insta-love please go away.

- The plot. I don’t know that this deserves to be in “the bad”, but it can’t go in “the good” either so here it lies. For the most part it worked, but there were certain areas that didn’t make sense. It didn’t feel cohesive. Elizabeth’s motives felt contrived and while much of what she did was for Stephen’s sake it didn’t feel genuine. Which leads me to my next point.

- Elizabeth. She was just plain frustrating too many times in the book to like her character. Her humor didn’t work and felt forced. I’ve already touched on her relationship but again, she had no reason to fall so hard so quickly for Stephen, ugh. I don’t think her character had much life to it. She felt robotic even when the paranormal events occurred involving her it didn’t make her character more interesting, just the things that happened around her. Bleh.

The Ugly

- Laurie. I want to make one thing clear, I don’t mean that I didn’t like his character, I thoroughly enjoyed Laurie, especially his sense of humor. However we are quickly made aware that he is gay, which is the motivation for a lot that happens in sections of the book. What we didn’t need was constant reminders and bad attempts at humor (some involving references to a certain wizard in Harry Potter) about how he is gay. It isn’t discussing homosexuality, it isn’t enlightening readers on a variety of subjects that are related in order to either strengthen the storyline, give Laurie purpose or make this book pointed in some way. It’s just bland, and pointless repetition. I’m going to go to the next point before I fall victim to the same thing.

-Styles and Andrea Cremer. Notice how earlier I put Levithan as one of my good points but didn’t say “the writing” in general? This is why. I don’t think that Cremer’s style meshes well with Levithan’s and this is exacerbated by them alternating chapters (Levithan writing Stephen’s, Cremer writing Elizabeth’s). It wasn’t something that they hid, and while Levithan is more than capable of doing this back and forth style (his work with John Green in Will Grayson, Will Grayson is the perfect example of how this can be done beautifully) I don’t know that I can say the same for Cremer. Her writing just didn’t appeal to me nearly as much from a humor standpoint, in her development of Elizabeth’s character or in the paranormal world that comes into focus in the second half of the book. Which leads me to my final and most frustrating point.

- Transitions. Find the nearest wall. Does it look like it would be fun to ram your head into it? That would probably hurt right? Well that’s what it felt like was happening when we moved into the paranormal half of Invisibility. Oh sure, having an invisible boy as a main character means there is a touch of the magical or paranormal from the beginning, but the book reads like a contemporary for the first half of the book. Then BOOM magic, brand new terminology (often corny and, to me at least unoriginal) and a brand new world opened up. Oh and of course don’t forget how one of the main characters happens to be a super special type that is unique to practically the whole world. Perfect. So no, I didn’t enjoy ramming my head through the brick wall that was this transition, and while the world they created WAS interesting it wasn’t believable in certain parts and I felt that it could have been brought about a tad more smoothly. Oh well.

Overall

Invisibility had a host of issues for me. I couldn’t ignore the insta-love, the bland second MC or the clashing of styles between the authors. The transition from a mostly contemporary world to one with a paranormal focus was painful. However, the pacing was good, Levithan’s writing and his MC Stephen were very enjoyable, and the world they built was very intriguing. It was a decent read, but the brick wall is too much to overcome in terms of it being a book I could re-read or recommend.

[Suzan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yazar konuyu nasıl bu kadar harcayabilmiş anlamış değilim 😤

[Dark Faerie Tales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: This was an interesting read that I enjoyed, but it was really slow paced so it took a while for me to get through it.

Opening Sentence: I was born invisible.

The Review:

Stephen was born invisible. No one could see him, not even his mother. He is now 16 years old and his mother passed away a year ago. His father left when he was young so he lives in his New York City apartment by himself. He lives a simple life since you can order pretty much everything online and have it delivered to your door. Since no one can see him he can do ever he wants, but his mother taught him not to use his invisibility to hurt or take from others. He can still touch and talk to people, but what’s the point when no one can see him. Sure he’s lonely but he is pretty content with his life until Elizabeth moved into the apartment two doors down. Imagine Stephen’s great surprise when he meets this beautiful girl who can actually see him.

Elizabeth’s Family moved to New York City to get away from some things that happened in the last town they lived. After the “incident” Elizabeth drew away from everyone including all of her friends. Moving away was supposed to be a new start for Elizabeth and her family. When she meets Stephen she can’t help but be drawn to him. As they get to know each other feelings start to develop, but then she finds out she is the only person that can see him. Stephen has been cursed by his grandfather who is someone known as a cursecaster. It turns out that Elizabeth is a spellseeker. She has the ability to see curses and spells. She also might be able to help Stephen break his curse, but when Stephen’s evil grandfather comes to town and starts to wreck havoc everywhere he goes they have to change some of their plans. How far are they willing to go to break Stephen’s curse? What price will you be willing to pay because the price could be Elizabeth’s life!

I liked Stephen’s character. It was hard not to feel for him in the story because of his situation, but I thought that he dealt with everything really well. He had a good attitude about everything for the most part. There was a few moments where he would get a little bit whiny about things, but really I was surprised by how positive he was. He’s a pretty mellow person and just really goes with the flow for the most part. His relationship with Elizabeth developed way too quickly but it was still really sweet. It was really fun to watch him interact with somebody for basically the first time in his life. You get to see him grow so much as a character and a person, which made it really easy to connect with him on a deeper level.

Elizabeth has a spunky personality and she was very entertaining. I love how blunt she was and how she would just speak what was on her mind. She goes through a lot throughout the book and she figures out a lot of things about herself. For the most part she handled things well, but there were just a few times that she came across a tad bit annoying. She is brave and determined to help Stefan, which I thought was really admirable but she sometimes makes stupid decisions. Overall, I liked her character but I didn’t love her.

Invisibility is an interesting book with a pretty unique idea. I enjoyed this but it was just a little too slow moving for me. I found myself skimming through parts because I just wasn’t interested in reading everything. Another thing I didn’t like was the instalove. Stephen and Elizabeth had only knew each other for like a week before the L word was spoken. I will admit that I have read stories were they fall in love this vast and it works, but it just seemed really rushed to me in this one. For the most part I really enjoyed the writing, it was very descriptive and flowed well. I like the characters. They each added their own unique spin to the story. The villain was definitely very evil, maybe a little over-the-top but for the most part a very interesting villain. I thought that the paranormal aspects of the story were very intriguing and different from anything else I’ve ever read. The ending was left very open ended, which I thought actually works really well with the story. I don’t think there is a sequel planned, but if one was written I would be interested in reading it. Overall, I would say that this was an entertaining read and if you don’t mind a slower paced book you would probably really enjoy this.

Notable Scene:

As it sinks in, the exhilaration and the horror and the mind-blowing ordinariness of what I am doing all combine into a fierce static of emotions. Elizabeth doesn’t seem to notice this. To her, I am just a boy from down the hall.

Extraordinary.

Somehow I make conversation. Somehow I speak.

She is seeing the face I never get to see, because no mirror has ever caught me.

FTC Advisory: Philomel/Penguin provided me with a copy of Invisibility. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[☕️Kimberly (Caffeinated Reviewer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed David Levithan’s previous works and so I was excited to read Invisibility his collaboration with Andre Cremer. He takes his readers on a journey that leaves them in awe at the close of the book(s). From magic, to romance to friendship I was completely caught up in the tale and its characters. While I clearly heard Levithan’s voice throughout the novel, I was equally impressed by Cremer and look forward to explore more of her works. Invisibility is a book to be both devoured and savored.

The tale begins when we meet a single mom and her two teenage children as they move into an apartment building in NYC. Recently relocated from Minnesota they are fragile and rebuilding their lives after a vicious hate crime tore their family apart. Laurie is attending summer school, Mom is adjusting to her new job and that leaves Elizabeth to unpack the apartment. While trying to open the door and unload packages she spies Stephen and no one is more surprised that she can see him, then Stephen. Stephen was born invisible; no one not even his mother has ever seen him. The tale that unfolds is filled with romance, danger and acceptance.

The tale is told in dual POV’s going back and forth between chapters giving us an intimate look into the minds of Elizabeth and Stephen. Elizabeth is struggling after her brother’s attack and betrayal from people in her life. She immediately connects with Stephen, and while at first it felt a little like insta-love the romance settled and gained more substance. She is really trying to discover herself or reinvent herself and we see this from simple things like trying to change her name to the way she is drawn to Stephen. While I didn’t always agree with her, I understood what drove her. She has moments of kick-ass-ery which I adored, she can be selfish and in the next moment put others ahead of herself. In a nut-shell she is complicated, and felt fleshed-out and genuine. Stephen is strong, an island unto himself and doesn’t realize how lonely his existence has been until Elizabeth and her world collide with his. A part of him embraces all of it and another wants to keep a bubble around himself and Elizabeth. Their romance was pure, slow, tender, and bittersweet. You cannot help but wish them a happy ending. Laurie is a shining star, an optimist and a survivor. He is there for both of them and I adored this young man. Millie, Saul and Stephen’s grandfather help us understand the curse and magical aspects of the tale and added to the overall suspense.

Invisibility is a tale you want to savor, and the tale flows beautifully. It’s the type of book where you slide right into the world, look up and realize you’ve consumed a hundred or more pages. I did not find myself rushing towards the conclusion and instead basked in the unfolding of the tale. The curse, spellbinders, spellcasters and cursecasters were all fascinating. The authors did an excellent job of providing enough history to make it feel plausible and yet I craved more. I loved the descriptive style used to describe the curses afflicting victims and the way Elizabeth was able to see them. There are intense battles, and scenes which were vividly described and I felt like I was right there in the middle of it all. There were lessons to be learned, questions to be asked and ideas to be pondered as I weaved further into the tale. The ending gives us both resolution and unanswered questions but most of all hope. Another book could easily be created and this tale continued or the author(s) can leave us to create our own idea of happily-ever-after.
ARC provided in exchange for unbiased review.
See more of my reviews @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Serhat Can Kacan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Görünmez bir çocuk ve onu görebilen bir kız.

Görünmezlik ile lanetlenen Stephen, kendisini görebilen birisi ile karşılaşır. Görülmenin beraberinde getirdiği farklı duygular ve diğer insanlara görünmeye çalışmak, işte kitap boyunca okuyacağınız konu budur.

David Levithan ve Andrea Cremer'in yazmış olduğu Görünmez için beklentim yüksek olduğundan dolayı kitabı okurken sıkıldığım zamanlar oldu.
Olaylar bir erkek, bir kız karakterin gözünden anlatılıyor. Durum böyle olunca iki tarafında duygularını anlamamız daha da kolaylaşıyor.

Elizabeth karakteri de Stephen gibi gizemli bir kişiliğe sahip. Karakterlerimiz böyle heyecanlı detaylara sahip olduğu için bir sonraki sayfaya bakmak, kitabın sonunu öğrenmek için meraklanacaksınız.

Kitabın sonu beklediğimin aksine çok farklı bir şekilde bitti. Eğer beklediğim şekilde tamamlansaydı kitaba bir puan verebilirdim.
Güzel bir sonu vardı.
Sıkıldığınız, kitap okuma isteğinizin azaldığı zamanlarda okursanız keyif alacağınızı söyleyebilirim. Heyecanlı bir başlangıcı olması, kitabı çabuk bitirmenize neden olacak.

[Myriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lecture abandonnée.
Dommage que la construction de cette histoire m'ait semblé bâclée. Les détails sont confus, et les règles de l'univers créé sont mal expliquées.
http://unjour-unlivre.fr/2015/07/andr...

[usagi ☆ミ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars!

Ever since "Every Day", I've become a Levithan devotee. And I've been a Cremer devotee since "Nightshade", so when I heard these two were writing a book together? I made a noise that wasn't human. I was really anticipating it (seriously in my top ten for early 2013), and I'm so glad it pretty much lived up my expectations. While I can see this book may not be for everyone (the pacing is a bit slow, and the big reveals take time and patience to get to), it's well worth the wait for me. Mixing magical realism with contemporary YA lit, "Invisibility" is a wonderful story of magic, and what it takes to really love someone.

While a little slow to start, there's magic there from the very first page. And no, I don't mean because Stephen's invisible, but because of the fact that his world, the world shrunk down to his apartment, his New York City and how he interacts with it is so very well-built, and so very sturdy, that it automatically reminded me of the magic we immediately encounter in the opening passages of "Every Day". Which is not a bad thing - this, I've discovered, is Levithan's style when it comes to magical realism. And you know what? He's really good at it. And when it comes to Cremer and the entrance of Elizabeth, she's shown a surprising talent for what seems to be ordinary contemporary YA - but when certain things happen later, she calls upon her talent with paranormal/paranormal romance to really help bring the other half of this book to life. The division of labor here is obvious but extremely well done, and that's what really struck me at first about the first few opening chapters, when Stephen and Elizabeth meet. Both authors use their talent for their characters and so it flows together really well because of it. It's startlingly smooth even if slow at first, but once we start getting more revealed, things take off into a crazy ride that doesn't stop until the end of the book.

Some have called insta-love when it comes to Stephen and Elizabeth's relationship, but (for once), I've found the opposite. There's a lot of inner worldbuilding for both characters (but Stephen's inner world, naturally, is more built), and thus a lot of fighting with oneself about the other person. Cremer and Levithan make it clear from the get-go that this will not be an easy relationship, be it platonic or otherwise, and that everyone (including the audience) is going to have to work really hard for everything to work. I love that both Stephen and Elizabeth have to fight against themselves, against their past experiences, and against their possible future in order to be together in any sort of relationship medium, and when they finally do get together? Oh, is it worth it. But I also have to give it to Levithan and Cremer that once their relationship gets going, it doesn't go full-bore screaming in the direction of immediate declarations of true love, which was a pleasant change for YA. It's a slow realization, and one that scares the hell out of both of them, which I found realistic and relatible even though I'm definitely not a teenager anymore. (Romantic) love SHOULD be scary to anyone of any age, and I'm glad that's the way the two authors played it.

I also loved Laurie as the comic relief. Considering what happens to him (or what's just happened to him at the start of the book), the way he accepts Stephen (very cautiously) and what has happened to him, and yet still isn't afraid of his new life was really a joy. We've couched nonheteronormative sexual identity in bullying, hate crime, and suicides for so long, I think that we as a collective contemp YA audience have forgotten how resilient these people, these characters can be, and how quickly they can bounce back even from such terrible experiences as the one that Laurie experienced. It was really a joy to read, and nothing less I'd expect from Levithan. As for Cremer, she did have a little gay action going on in the Nightshade series, but not fleshed out enough for me to really be able to honestly comment on how things worked. Now I can say that yes, she can be able to use gay characters not as sob stories, but as triumph stories, and as regular stories that happen everyday.

As for the big reveal of Elizabeth's true nature and how it relates to Stephen's curse, I can't say I wasn't entirely not expecting it, but I liked the way that played out nonetheless. Their love suddenly becomes this very fragile thing (and it wasn't exactly made of titanium to begin with), and Laurie really becomes part of the main cast here, which was nice. I'm still feeling lukewarm about Millie at this point - mostly because her development and backstory isn't really given to us until/near the climax of the book. Saul was nicely fleshed out as a minor character, and I generally loved how everyone was brought together with Stephen's grandfather as the big bad, and how the entire climax and resolution went down. There isn't a happy ending here - not your usual kind, at least - there's magic, there's ongoing relationship repair, and no big problems (like Stephen's little invisibility problem) don't just disappear thanks to TRUE LOVE(tm). And I thought that was the best way to handle things in terms of ending the book. That was the most satisfying for me because it was also the most realistic, magical realism and paranormal romance aside. We don't always get happy endings, and sometimes, when we do, they're not the ones that we've been promised since we've been children.

Finally, the sensory imagery: for Stephen it's slow (obviously, because he has to try harder), but once the curses really get involved, the ones that Elizabeth try to wrestle are almost a little too intense to handle. To the point where I had to walk away, breathe, and process for awhile. Both of these authors are awesome at sensory imagery and language, so it was a little overpowering at times. But that's definitely not a bad thing, and I really loved how they were able to combine their skills here.

Final verdict? If you can stick with a quiet, slow, insidious little book such as this until the action starts coming at you, I really suggest that you give this book a try. Even if you can't, give it a try anyway - I think you'll find that your patience will definitely pay off. "Invisibility" will be out from Penguin in North America on May 7, 2013, so DEFINITELY check it out when you get the chance. Definitely one of my favorites of 2013 so far, and I'm hoping these two authors team up together once more and bring us something just as awesome as this book.

(posted to goodreads, shelfari, librarything, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com)

[Miss Bookiverse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liebes Invisibility,
oh mann! Was war das denn? Und wieso? Es hätte doch… argh!

Wie du merkst, hast du mich ganz schön frustriert. Dabei hat alles so traumhaft angefangen. In typischer Levithan-Manier hat mich schon dein erstes Kapitel begeistert. Es war sofort da, dieses „deshalb ist das mein Lieblingsautor“-Gefühl. Du hattest etwas von deinem Bruder Every Day, einen interessanten Grundkonflikt (unsichtbarer Junge wird plötzlich von einer einzigen Person gesehen) mit einer paranormalen Note und genau die richtigen wohlklingenden Worte.

Auch die Kapitel, die deine Mama Andrea Cremer aus Elizabeths (das Mädchen, das den unsichtbaren Stephen sehen kann) Sicht geschrieben hat, haben sich gut in dein Gesamtbild eingegliedert. Ich hatte ja ein bisschen Angst davor. Habe nämlich nicht das Beste über deine Cousine Nightshade gehört. Lief aber gut, vor allem als du mir Elizabeths Bruder Laurie vorgestellt hast. Er hat eine gewisse Leichtigkeit in die Geschichte gebracht mit seiner einfühlsamen, amüsanten Art. Außerdem hat er den Fokus von den Liebenden genommen. Es gibt nicht immer nur Elizabeth und Stephen.

Bis Seite 130 ging es fröhlich mit uns weiter. Ich fand es berührend wie echt du Stephens Lage geschildert hast, zum Beispiel wie leise er redet, weil er kaum Gespräche gewöhnt ist. Oder wie hitzig Elizabeth ist und Stephen verklickert, dass er sie nicht einfach so behandeln kann wie er es in einer Szene getan hat.

Bis dahin war ich gespannt auf deine übernatürliche Seite. In Every Day gibt es keine, da ist A „einfach so seit er denken kann“. Bei dir ist das leider ganz anders. Ab da hast du angefangen mich zu enttäuschen. Die Erklärung für Stephens Unsichtbarkeit und alle Personen und Magie, die damit zusammenhängen, waren einfach so flach und banal. Schwarzweißmalerei vom Feinsten. Dahin war die Finesse deiner ersten 100 Seiten. Plötzlich ist nur noch die Rede von böse cursecasters und eine glücklicher Zufall reiht sich an den nächsten. Den Figuren fällt unheimlich viel in den Schoß. Dazu kommen einige Kapitel, in denen du mich mit Informationen überhäuft hast. Neues über die Welt der Flüche und Magie hast du nicht geschickt in die Handlung eingeflochten sondern eine Person seitenlang erklären lassen. Besagte Person hat natürlich auch viel mehr mit dem Ursprungsfluch zu tun als es auf den ersten Blick den Anschein hat. Trotzdem taucht sie immer nur dann auf, wenn sie gerade gebraucht wird.

Zwischenzeitlich hat mich diese komplette Kehrtwende der Handlung nicht nur frustriert sondern regelrecht gelangweilt. Ich wünschte einfach deine Geschichte wäre in eine ganz andere Richtung gegangen.

In deinen letzten Kapiteln hast du dich wieder ein bisschen gefangen. Dein Schluss war weder zu kitschig noch überdramatisch, aber den bitteren Beigeschmack des Mittelteils hat das nicht mehr wett gemacht. So viel verschenktes Potenzial!

In tiefer Enttäuschung,
Infinite Playlist

[Marine's Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5.
First of all, I read the French edition of it and I would like to highlight how pretty the French cover is, I mean, it is really prettier than the original one, isn’t it? I had seen it many times in bookshops and I really wanted to read it, but it had rather mixed opinions. This is why I really want to thank the publisher for sending me this book. I have to say that it was a good surprise for me and I am glad I discovered this universe of spells and curses. It was a real pleasure to read David Levithan again (I had absolutely loved him in Will Grayson, Will Grayson) in a novel co-written with another author. It looks like he does that often but I think it is very original.

The chapters are alternating between two points of view: Stephen’s, who is invisible for everyone, and Elizabeth’s, the only one who can see him. David wrote Stephen’s part but I honestly didn’t notice any huge difference between the writing styles of both authors, except for the fact that it changes between a girl’s and a boy’s points of view, but it might come from the fact that I read it in French and that it had been translated.

I have to admit that I don’t really understand why so many people didn’t like it. From the beginning, I thought the characters were moving, the plot well-led and the suspense was here. I couldn’t wait to know what was going to happen to Stephen now that someone could see him. Was his life going to change? Why was he invisible? Were they going to be able to “cure” him? I also thought the universe was extremely extensive, and it would have been great for a series. But a one-shot was perfectly fine too, so I am not going to complain.

There was a little spark missing but I enjoyed everything in this novel, even secondary characters. I hadn’t read a paranormal romance for a while and this one totally convinced me. The ending is quite open, and I have to admit that, when there is an open-ending, I am always torn between frustration and happiness about being able to imagine what was going to happen next. I would have liked something else for the ending, but I realize that I am not frustrated. It’s true, I would have loved the story to keep on because I didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters, but the ending is a success.

It was a romantic story full of magic perfect for the holidays. I think it is the kind of book I would like to reread someday. And David Levithan is now definitely an author that I love and I want to discover more of his work!

https://marinesbooks.wordpress.com/20...

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite a surprise. Not what I expected at all. It's a nice story about a boy who's invisible, the one girl who can see him, and why this is all possible. A pleasant little urban fantasy with a great ending and a pretty good bad guy.

I only had a couple of problems with this book - one being that it's basically instalove. I did love the relationship between these two characters, but boy did it happen fast. The other is a situation with Elizabeth's brother Laurie that happened before they relocated to New York. I get why it's in the story, but it seemed unnecessary. The references to it within the context of the story just seemed like flourish and extra for the sake of what it was.

David Levithan can just write fantastic characters. I absolutely loved Stephen. He was far better adjusted than I think anyone would be in his situation, but then again I found that endearing. He'd been invisible his whole life, so the various details about it really didn't bother him. Elizabeth and Laurie were also good characters although without Stephen's cool head. It would have been nice if Elizabeth and Laurie's mother were less of a ditz and more involved in their lives. Same with Stephen's dad, who came across as a weak guy who ran away. It's unfortunate when authors choose to draw the attention to the young adults in a story by isolating parents in a less-than-flattering way.

On audio the book is narrated from two points of view by MacLeod Andrews and Mandy Siegfried. Andrews is, as usual, his stellar self. He tends to narrate the same types of characters; they're all young, humble, self-deprecating guys with a great sense of humor. And it's always a pleasure to get to know yet another one. Mandy Siegfried, while passable, was less enjoyable. Because I own this book in print, I alternated between the chapters that Andrews narrated and read the other chapters in print.

Overall this is generally an underrated book - it really is a nice story with lovely characters.

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to agree with pretty much everything W Habecker said in his review - except for the rating. (He gave it 4 stars.) (Check out his review, by the way. It's good.)

The stories (I say stor ies because that's what it felt like) were all pretty decent initially, but just kept abruptly changing - like they weren't sure where they were going or how to get there.

When my wife and I were dating long-distance, we wrote a book together. She'd write a few pages and put it in the mail for me. I'd write the next few pages and mail it back. The story was GREAT, but we didn't know where we were heading until after we'd started the car... so it's not like... publishable great, if you know what I mean.

Billy (aka W) mentions this in his review as well - that it starts off one way, and then suddenly changes into basically a whole new story. (I'd argue that it does that a few times, instead of just once.)

Oh, he's also right that: what's up with the sleeve art? ...Maybe for an ARC? But not for the book. (Apologies to the graphic designer who put this one out there. It just wasn't doing it for me.)

Sometimes the writing was on point. Sometimes it was quite uninspired.

I'll have to check out David Levithan and Andrea Cremer when they're on their own. I didn't like Neil Gaiman when he was with Terry Pratchett, but I've been a fan (overall) of his solo stuff. (But not American Gods. His biggest hits were both solid "mehs" from me.)

Anyway, this review was pretty uninspired as well. Sorry to waste your time. Link in one of your worst reviews and I promise to read it and at least leave a comment.

[Lexie · Rating 3 out of 5]

INVISIBILITY was just a bit better than ok for me. AHHHHHH SO MANY PLOT HOLES :/ Does anyone know if this is going to have a freakin sequel. I loved Stephen, but I wasn't a a total fan of Elizabeth. She just seemed like a light-switch throughout the entire novel there were parts that I loved about her and there were parts that I hated. I thought the beginning of the book was so well done I truly felt sorry for Stephen and I really connected with him, the middle of the book was super fast paced they were on a mission to solve the curse but by end of the book it felt like it was trying to tie a bunch of things off too quickly leaving of course the plot holes. I have never read Andrea or David's book's previously so that will definitely have to change. I know I it feels like I bashed this book very hard, I swear I'm not trying to. This concept was so unique and different and trust me I did enjoy it. But the ending was way too rushed for my liking and there were certain things about Elizabeth that drove me bonkers. Overall, The book was good and I seriously read this in one sitting but are you serious about that ending there better be a sequel

[Vem Night · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't hard reading the book. The flow was smooth and the plot is interesting. However, it ended with an unfinished business. I read the book wondering how it will be resolved but upon reaching the end, I'm still left in that same state. Wondering. Maybe it will maybe it wont, well I think it needs a follow up story. It's not a hanging ending tho.

[Allana Kephart]

...David Levithan....and Andrea Cremer....are writing a book....together.