Invisibility by David Levithan, Andrea Cremer

Invisibility

by David Levithan and Andrea Cremer

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.

From the critically acclaimed and bestselling authors David Levithan - who wrote Every Day and co-wrote Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green, and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist with Rachel Cohn, as well as many other novels - and Andrea Cremer - who wrote the bestselling Nightshade series - comes a remarkable story about the unseen elements of attraction, the mortal risks of making yourself known, and the invisible desires that live within us all.

David Levithan and Andrea Cremer met each other in Washington, DC, even though that's not where they live. Andrea was pretty certain she wasn't invisible, but David confirmed that fact by introducing her to some other writers, who were all able to see her.

Before writing with Andrea, David had never written a novel with a one-word title. His novels include Every Day, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green) and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn). You can visit David at www.davidlevithan.com and follow his lover's dictionary on Twitter @loversdiction. He lives just outside New York City.

Andrea's novels include Nightshade, Wolfsbane, Bloodrose, Rift and Rise. You can visit her at www.andreacremer.com and follow her on Twitter @andreacremer. She lives in New York City, quite visibly.

Reviewed by Briana @ Pages Unbound on

2 of 5 stars

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Never having read anything by Andrea Cremer or David Levithan, I opened Invisibility with no expectations. Although contemporary romance is not my preferred genre, I was intrigued by the element of fantasy; I wanted to see how one boy’s invisibility was incorporated into his otherwise average life in Manhattan. Basically, I thought Invisibility might bear similarities to magical realism, which would be unique for YA fiction. The first half of the novel does not disappoint, but the second half turns into a full-out quest across Manhattan for a dangerous cursecaster—which never entirely matches the tone of the beginning of the book and which never seems as urgent or interesting to the outside audience as the characters find it to be. While Invisibility experiments playfully with mixing genres, it fails to mix them into coherency, and the result is a disorienting novel with a few shining moments of potential.

Read the rest of the review at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

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  • Started reading
  • 20 August, 2013: Finished reading
  • 20 August, 2013: Reviewed