While I have enjoyed other works by this author, I simply couldn't connect with the story. I liked the elements of magical realism, but found the period in history to be a strange fit. I also thought the opening was a bit clunky and the set up could've been edited/put forward in a better manner. This was a DNF after three attempts to get into the book.

An engaging read with an original plot and a gorgeous setting. A lovely mix of beautiful artistry and the dirty underbelly of human nature. A little slow at times, but a great mix of magic, mystery, and romance. The characters are very well done as the story through tragedy. Just a fabulous read!

MJ Rose has a talent for writing romantic, magical, and passionate historical fiction novels. I love her Daughters of La Lune series even if at times, the books didn’t end on a high note, overall they are really fun to read and have progressively improved between book I and book II.

I was super excited to see this one come up for review, ironically I had just been wondering when the next Rose book was due out and I was thrilled to see that it was this one! Her writing style is sensual and lyrical and the story is almost always a promising romance, so you can’t go wrong with one of her books!

In the wake of a dark and brutal World War, the glitz and glamour of 1925 Manhattan shine like a beacon for the high society set, which is desperate to keep their gaze firmly fixed to the future.


But Delphine Duplessi sees more than most. At a time in her career when she could easily be unknown and penniless, like so many of her classmates from L’École de Beaux Arts, in America she has gained notoriety for her stunning “shadow portraits” that frequently expose her subjects’ most scandalous secrets—for better or for worse.

Most nights Delphine doesn’t mind that her gift has become mere entertainment—a party trick—for the fashionable crowd. Though her ancestor La Lune, the legendary sixteenth-century courtesan and—like Delphine—a witch, might have thought differently.

Then, on a snowy night in February, in a penthouse high above Fifth Avenue, Delphine’s mystical talent leads to a tragedy between two brothers. Horrified, she renounces her gift.

Devastated and disconsolate, Delphine returns to her old life in the south of France where Picasso, Matisse, and the Fitzgeralds are summering. There, Delphine is thrust into recapturing the past. First by her charismatic twin brother and business manager Sebastian in his attempts to cajole her back to work and into co-dependence, then by the world famous opera singer Emma Calvé, who is obsessed with the centuries-old Book of Abraham, written by the fourteenth-century alchemist Nicolas Flamel. And finally by her ex-lover Mathieu, who is determined to lure her back into his arms, unaware of the danger that had led Delphine to flee Paris for New York five years before.

Trapped in an ancient chateau where hidden knowledge lurks in the shadows, Delphine questions and in many ways rejects what and who she loves the most—her art, her magick, her family, her brother, and Mathieu—as she tries to finally accept them as the gifts they are and to shed her fear of loving and living with her eyes wide open (summary from Goodreads).

The one question I am asked the most by readers, always has to do with series books. I read a lot of series books and sometimes not always in order. Readers always want to know if they need to start with the first book, 99.9% of the time I highly recommend it, however with this series, I would say that you could probably start anywhere in the series and be ok. That said, it is nice to be familiar with the premiss of the series, but in this case it isn’t required.

Admittedly, the first book fell short for me at the end, however the second book kicked it up a notch and finally with this latest installment, I will have to admit, I think it’s my favorite in the series. There were a few bumps in the story but on the whole it was enjoyable and an intriguing romance that held me interest from the beginning.

I loved how Rose incorporated gothic elements as well as supernatural along with the romance and magic. It was truly a wonderful mixture of so many intriguing bits of different genres.

The reason this one only had a 4 star rating instead of a 5 was for similar reasons as the other books…..the ending fell short for me. Rose does such a great job at building sensual romances and mysterious plots that hooks readers in and makes them enjoy the book, but the ending always seems to lack a certain punch that readers were expecting.

For me, based on her caliber of writing, I would expect an ending that delivered but I just don’t see that happening in the way that I hope with each of her books, and it’s not just this series—her other books lack a certain ‘umph’ when it comes to the ending. This seems to be an issue in her writing which frustrates me as a reader, however I love her books because the foundation is elegant and the chemistry between the characters is solid and believable.

That’s why I keep reading her books and this one was no different. The romance and chemistry between the characters is enchanting and I love how their magical abilities drive the story, however I just wish the ending had matched the build up of the book.

Challenge/Book Summary:

Book: The Library of Light and Shadow (Daughters of La Lune #3) by M.J. Rose

Kindle edition, 384 pages
Published July 18th 2017 by Atria Books
ISBN 1476778124 (ISBN13: 9781476778129)
Review copy provided by: Publisher/Author in exchange for an honest review
This book counts toward: NA

Hosted by: NA
Books for Challenge Completed: NA
Recommendation: 4 out of 5

Genre: Magical realism, romance, pararomance, historical fiction, fantasy

Memorable lines/quotes:

Delphine Duplessi is a descendant of renowned French courtesan La Lune. As a “daughter of La Lune”, she has inherited psychic gifts, but also a curse. Her gift is that she is able of drawing “shadow portraits”, which depict people’s secrets. Unfortunately, Delphine’s gift comes at a high price, for her personal and love life have suffered in consequence. Because she drew the shadow portrait of the man she loved and saw herself committing an unspeakable crime, she has left that man and moved from Paris to New York, where she has lived for the past five years. She has made a living in New York drawing shadow portraits for the rich at society parties, but when one of those portraits triggers a tragedy in high circles, Delphine comes to re-evaluate her psychic powers and how she earns a living.

I requested a galley of The Library of Light and Shadow by M.J. Rose because I read The Book of Lost Fragrances by the same author and really liked it. This novel has two parallel storylines; one is set in 1925 (the present) and another, told from the perspective of journal entries, set in 1920, the time when Delphine had a love affair that changed her life in meaningful ways.

I liked the storyline focusing on the present, Delphine’s psychic gifts, and the consequences of her actions more than I did the romance. I think if the book had focused purely on the present time it would have been much more successful, even great, but I found Delphine’s pining for her lost love so annoying that I almost felt that I wouldn’t continue reading if the book didn’t improve, fortunately it did after the second half as a new subplot was introduced, which made the book more interesting than the first half.

Disclaimer: I received from the publisher a free e-galley of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Another great chapter in the "Daughters of La Lune" series. I especially loved the inclusion of actual Artists. It's always interesting to see what kind of personality the fictional version of a real person will have.

I've been a fan of M.J. Rose for a while now so I was thrilled to get a copy of her latest book. This is the third in the Daughters of La Lune series. Like the first book, this one has a little bit of everything from supernatural elements to romance, history, and art, I enjoyed Delphine's story and how it fit into the La Lune legacy.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for another great read from M.J.

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"The way my mother had explained it, there were moments in people's lives so powerful that they remained behind, even after the people had moved on, and sometimes when the light fell a certain way, we could witness those moments"
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This was a very interesting story that started with a mystery and ended with a bit of an enigma, but in a delightful (rather than unfinished) way... The concept - an artist from a family with a storied history mired in the spiritual and supernatural whose own brand of unusual talents run toward painting people's shadow secrets - was very original and well developed. Delphine is a delightful main character, full of magic and mayhem and just enough confusion and self-doubt to remain utterly relatable. The surrounding cast - particularly in the form of her family - is charming and infuriating and full of enough quirks and foibles to provide the perfect backdrop for the story, which is itself well-plotted, nicely paced, and easily followed.

I will admit that I saw the Big Reveal coming, but that did not at all limit my enjoyment of the book. Rather, this felt like a book with myriad psychological and emotional reveals scattered throughout; there are tidbits of insight into the human condition layered delicately through the entire novel, and these gems were one of the most enjoyable parts of the book for me. I was frustrated for - and by - Delphine on multiple occasions. She is a lovely construction, equal parts iron and lace, and her journey over and through the shadows provided numerous opportunities for insightful commentary on life, love, and the indomitable strength of the human animal. I found the history and historical characters to be well-placed within the larger story. The incorporation of art world figures like Picasso and Cocteau felt organic and plausible, rather than like name-dropping (as happens all too often).

All in all, this was a well-crafted tale that was original, entertaining, and a great balance between light and dark - much like Delphine herself. I will definitely be looking for more from M.J. Rose. Incidentally, this is listed as #3 in a series; I have not read the first two books (if I'd seen it was a third, I would not have requested it from NetGalley) and generally have a firm rule against reading series books out of order, because you usually find yourself floundering with missing backstory. I never had that feeling with this book, which is a truly unusual experience for me when I'm mid-series. So my first forays into Ms. Rose's back catalog will definitely be the earlier books in this series... But rest assured, if you have not read the others, there is no reason to ignore this one. I found it completely readable as a stand-alone.

Delphine Duplessi is more than just another young, talented artist. She is gifted in another unique way. Her shadow portraits are not the normal portraits people are used to seeing and in fact it is with some trepidation that most people would employ her to do their portraits. She unveils hidden secrets, crimes and past sins which everyone may not want to even acknowledge let alone let others see them. She is not deliberately drawing people like this but that is her talent. She uncovers past desires, incidents and these portraits are highly valued, and highly feared.

It is with one such portrait which leads to the death of a person that leads her to leave New York and return to France to her family to recuperate and to also decide on what she is going to do next. Art is all she knows, this is her livelihood but she does know that it is a dangerous skill that could get a lot of people into trouble, the way it already has.

Her family the female side are witches of a kind. Each female imbued with particular abilities and strengths but all to be used for the good of people. It is 1925 and Paris is awash with believers in the occult and sciences who are all looking for answers for a France so badly effected by WWI. Delphine herself is desperately alone having never recovered from a love affair which she herself ended when she saw an image into the future and thought that her presence in his life would be eventually his destruction. She has never got over her love for Matthieu and coming back to France would she feel put him again into her orbit and whether she will be strong enough to walk away a second time is doubtful.

Told in descriptive detail so that a newcomer to the art of the occult would understand this is a magical story and one also of love and survival and family. A genre the magic that is, is one I am not very familiar with but it was a fascinating read which kept me literally spell bound throughout the book.

Goodreads and Amazon reviews up on 16/8/2017. Review on my blog 22/9/2017. Also linked to my FB page.

Rose relies far too heavily on what I affectionately call ,"info dumps". Even if you have read her previous novels in the series, it is quite startling. Readers will feel as if they've constantly missed something important--when in fact it just has yet to be revealed. While with any book with supernatural elements we must suspend our beliefs, I could not suspend my belief that the main characters were anything other than vexatious.

The Library of Light and Shadow was just okay read for me. Would give it 3 stars.

This book was a great vacation book. I didn't expect to get so engrossed in all the characters and enjoy each one. It was unexpected and delightful to have several well-known people interspersed through the castle party. I really did not know how the mysteries were going to be solved but I enjoyed every word of the tale!

Beautifully written historical fiction. I loved this book! It is the 3rd book in the Daughters of La Lune series but can be read as a stand-alone. I didn’t read the other two books and I was not lost. I now want to go back and read the other two books.
What hidden secrets lurk in our shadows might not be something we want exposed. Delphine Duplessi an artist presents her ability to do shadow portrait as a party trick. She places a blind fold over her eyes and paints what the secrets that the shadows show her. Yet this is no trick, she comes from a line of witches. Tragedy strikes at a party in NY between 2 brothers due to one of Delphine’s paintings. Renouncing her gift or curse depending on how you see it she flees NY and goes back home to Paris. She is pulled backed in order to protect her brother by taking a shadow painting job with the famous opera singer Emma Calve who is in search of alchemist Nicolas Flamel book. Delphine will cross paths with her ex-lover who she had left Paris in order to save him from something she saw in the shadows.
I highly recommend you pick up this book.

Delphine has a rare talent. She sees secrets. Not only does she see someone's secret she can draw that secret for all to witness. These are her shadow portraits. Her fame grows and she makes her living as entertainment at parties. Her life is going great. She has a fiancé and makes her own money. Until, one of her paintings is so scandalous it leads to tragedy.

Delphine is an amazing character. She is smart and creative. She can be a little dramatic and she is very dependent on her brother. Oh, did I mention her brother is her twin? He really uses this to his advantage in many ways. He is determined to use Delphine's unique talent to find an ancient book by Nicolas Flamel.

The story revolves around finding this ancient book. Delphine mystically paints all these ancient rooms in the chateau. These rooms and their history kept me captivated. I felt like I was finding buried treasure! Then the TWIST! No one does a twist like M.J. Rose.


I love M.J. Rose. She has been a favorite of mine for quite a while. Her books just take you everywhere. I enjoy how she weaves history and mysticism throughout her stories! It's such an adventure to read her creative novels.

This is the third book in this series. I will say it is probably my least favorite of the three. But, I still loved it!! It was just predictable in places. (This is my problem with series).

I received this novel from Netgalley for a honest review.

I am simply enjoying the Daughters of La Lune series and sadden that it's ended. I really would like to know Jardine story as well. Rose weave so much rich french history and occult together in a way that marriage with realism I found that drives the story. I adore the romance between Delphine and Matthieu, especially the flashback of their love from Delphine's book of confession. However I feel like during the third act the story started to drag and lost track with the focus on Delphine story with more attention on secondary characters. I started to be more interested in their story and wanting to know about their story. I also didn't quite like how the story ended sort of open-ended and things left unresolved between Delphine and her twin brother Sebastian. Overall the history of it all and the art world with all the amazing artists and artwork of Paris enriched the imagination which was accomplished by M.J. Rose beautiful words and vivid imagination.

Set in the days after World War I, The Library of Light and Shadow is an engaging story with supernatural/paranormal elements. Author M.J. Rose spins a tale of an artist whose shadow-like portraits often reveal the hidden secrets of her subjects. But the artist, Delpine, abandons her work after it leads to an unintended tragedy. When she flees to her native France, she's convinced to do one more portrait: of a house that may connect to the mysterious Library of LIght and Shadow, where an ancient book reveals the secret to eternal life. I loved the combination of magic and mystery, sprinkled with a dash of romance. I missed the first 2 books in this series (La Lune), but now I'll go back and read them. Very enjoyable and I recommend it!

This novel has a long and complex plot that, coupled with the evocative descriptions, kept me reading.

Set in the overindulgent 1920s of New York City and the shadow of the Belle Epoque in southern France, Delphine, a painter who has the magical ability to paint her sitter’s deepest secrets, reveals a secret that ends in tragedy and sends her into a spiraling depression. The back story and subplot are woven in well and flow right along with the major plot which becomes the search for an alchemical book that holds the secret of immortality.

Delphine doesn’t always understand what she sees and paints. She struggles to resolve her inner turmoil brought on by her secret knowledge because of the consequences—she lost the love of her life because of a vision she had of the future. If she doesn’t work out what her gift is telling her now, she knows, at least, that the consequences may very well be deadly.

I really liked this story—though the prose felt a little heavy-handed at times. I wanted to cut out an extra sentence here and there. Overall, entertaining and engrossing, and highly recommended. It’s the third in a series, but I didn’t feel left out of what had already happened. I’m definitely going to read more MJ Rose.

Take some atmospheric Paris filled with artists at the turn of the century, add some magic on the Riviera, dial in some occult, and you will get The Library of Light and Shadows. Although this is more fantasy than my usual historical fiction, I did enjoy it and got swept into the story of Delphine’s quest for her one true love.

Elegant, mysterious, and laced with foreboding.

Crafted with charming and stylish talent, this story is like a lake of perfect serenity, broken by sudden bursts of colourful intensity. There's beauty everywhere from Delphine's artistic life and view on the world to the atmospheric vibrancy of the 1920s first in New York and then in France.

In the midst of all, the lyrical romance between Delphine and Mathieu, a complex man with many sorrows and the soul of a poet. These memories of Delphine's intermingle with her present life and create a double story that explains as much as it adds mystery and longing.

It's without a doubt a pleasure to read another story by this author who never ceases to mesmerize me with her mystical, sensitive female characters always drawn to tragedy, art, the occult and the most passionate, gorgeous love affairs. The daughter of renowned artist in France, who we met two books ago, descendant of a historical witch, Delphine struggles with the dark consequences of practicing her amazing talent. Shadow portraits that unveil profound secrets that might cause havoc or delight.

Against the majestic backdrop of legends, history, witchcraft, French landscapes and food, Delphine rises as a multi-faceted creature in search of freedom from heartbreak and the curse of her double-edged talent. Every page we turn, there are beautiful things to savour, but also mysteries to uncover, dangers from the past to discover.

I fell in love with the exploratory mission Delphine embarks on in the second half of the book. Accepting a peculiar commission to unearth an ambiguos secret from the past, it is intricately interwoven with her lost love and her family bonds. Such a stunning way with words the author has, such delicate sensitivity, and an impossible love to boost. Such an enlightening, perfect conclusion.

Historical fiction centered around an artist, who, while blindfolded, can draw pictures of the closely-guarded secrets of her subjects. These renderings, called shadow portraits, have resulted in tragedy, leading her to disavow her abilities. Attempting to revive her artistic career, her brother-manager convinces her use her talents to help unravel a mystery.

I enjoy reading books about the arts, which occasionally lead me to read outside my normal preferences, and in this case, it resulted in a pleasant surprise. Starting in New York and continuing to Paris, a variety of real-life artists, authors, and musicians of the time make an appearance. The author was adept at creating a picture in the mind’s eye of what it was like to live in France in the 1920’s, beautifully describing gardens, architecture, and social interactions. It also included elements related to WWI, lost arts such as book-binding, and seances, which were popular during this era.

I found this book very creative. I’d call it a magical mystery-romance. I enjoyed symbolism of light and shadow. While this book is the third in a series, I had not read the first two, and found it could easily stand alone. The only drawback for me was the ending, which was not as powerful as I was expecting. I like to draw conclusions from my reading, and in this case, I’d say: Be careful what you think you “know” – you may be mistaken.
Recommended to readers of magical realism, romance, and those who enjoy stories about art or artists. Be aware that it contains a bit of graphic sexual content.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance reader’s copy in return for feedback and review. It was released on July 18, 2017.

‘The Library of Light and Shadows’ by M.J. Rose tells the story of Delphine, a young artist in 1925 France. Blinded as a child, Delphine’s mother uses family magic to restore her sight. However, when her vision returns, she now is able to observe secrets in the darkness – darkness she uses to help her paint. One day, Delphine uses her gift to search the darkness for her lover’s secret and then she must make difficult choices in order to ensure that future never occurs.

The main plot involves a triangle between Delphine, her twin brother and a love interest and a secondary one that involves a hunt for a long last treasure. Rose weaves in historical characters who lived in Paris, Cannes and NY City during 1925. Picasso was a bit of a letch; having him interact with a beautiful young woman, the daughter of a friend, adds a fund aspect to the story. The magical realism is a part of the story but it felt like an afterthought, a way to describe how Delphine can paint pictures with a blindfold on. It didn’t detract from the book, it just didn’t add a lot to it.

What I found to add the extra dimension to the story was the use of color as a character. Yes, the story is about a painter, so you would expect the author to write about color and to use it to describe the paintings. Yet, when color is used to describe a room, the food, the clothing, it enhances the feeling of a scene, provides a texture and a taste. I wanted to pick up colored pencils when I finished the book since my reading was surrounded by color and I wanted it to continue.

I enjoyed ‘The Library of Light and Shadow’ and will search out M.J. Rose’s backlist. I will recommend this story to anyone who likes a book with a bit of magic, romance and mystery.