(Thank you Netgalley for an early reader copy in exchange for an unbiased review)

Young artist Delphine Duplessi has a unique talent: she draws portraits that reveal the subjects darkest secrets, and draws them while blindfolded. A gifted artist (even without the strange subject matter!), schooled at L’École des Beaux Arts in Paris, Delphine comes from a long line of women descended from La Lune, with unique gifts including precognition, communicating with the dead, scrying....but no one else has Delphine's ability to create the so-called shadow portraits. Delphine is highly in demand among the New York elite of the 1920's, until one terrible night when one of her shadow portraits results in a death. To escape her feelings of guilt Delphine returns to the south of France, a place alive at the time with artists like Picasso, and a place that is home for her. But it's not the respite she anticipated: her twin brother Sebastian wants her to keep painting, an ex-lover reappears, and she has lost her ability to paint.

Sebastian talks Delphine into taking on a project that seems safe enough: a famous opera singer wants her to do shadow portraits of her chateau in an effort to find a book that is hidden somewhere in the chateau. There are no dark secrets to unearthed, no people to put at risk...not by the shadow portraits anyway. But Delphine senses something a bit off about her brother, other artists are drawn to her like flies, and there is something strange about some of the local inhabitants. One dark and rainy night, when no one can leave the chateau, there is a seance and things take a dramatic turn...and nothing will ever be the same again!

I love the way the book is written; it moves quickly, and I felt like I could see the portraits that Delphine drew; M.J. Rose draws pictures with her words! The setting is intense, the love affair between Delphine and her lover the ultimate in star crossed romances and the characters well drawn. Lover's of M.J. Rose's previous books will not be disappointed with this one!

I love 1920s fiction - but this just did not measure up for me. I just felt like the book lacked the historical detail I always appreciate in 1920s fiction - I read the first chapter and completely forgot I was in the '20s until she casually mentioned the brothers were bootleggers. The first scene is a big party, prime time for setting the scene and painting the glitz and glamour. But it just isn't there. I also had a hard time liking Delphine. She comes across as over-dramatic and self-pitying.

The Library of Light and Shadow by M. J. Rose is the third installment in the Daughters of La Lune series. The book can be read as a stand-alone and is a pleasant mix of historical fiction, romance and fantasy. The setting is during the roaring twenties, known in France as “annees folles” or crazy years. This was a time when excess was all the rage and women were just starting to redefine their role in society.
The story is about Delphine Duplessi, a gifted young artist from France living in New York City. Delphine makes her living as a party favor drawing “shadow portraits” at high society parties. The portraits reveal the darkest secrets of those she draws. While this ability is a gift, it is also a curse. It can, and did, wreak havoc in the lives of those whose shadow portraits revealed secrets not meant to be uncovered.
When one of Delphine’s portraits results in a death, and in the ensuing aftermath her fiancé breaks their engagement, she returns to France at the urging of her family. Once in France, she attempts to come to terms with the tragedy and the reason she left France in the first place.
Delphine is devastated over the death and has sworn to never paint shadow portraits again. She leans heavily on her family as depression tries to overwhelm her and she finds she can no longer paint or ignore the feelings for Mathieu the man she loves desperately. You see, the La Lune women are all cursed to have only one true love in their lifetime and Delphine’s gift has shown her she will be the instrument of Mathieu’s death.
Delphine’s twin brother, and manager, Sebastian has been urging her to take commissions again. So when Delphine sees in a scrying that Mathieu needs her help, she reluctantly accepts the offer to draw the shadow portrait of a castle, portions of which date back to the Knights Templar, owned by a famous opera singer. The hope is that the portrait will reveal where the Book of Abraham is hidden. Upon arriving at the castle Delphine finds that fate cannot be avoided and that some secrets are best left secret.
I liked this book even though I found the plot to be predictable in places. A good story does not have to have surprises on every page. The blend of fantasy with what was happening during this time in America and Europe worked well together and was true to the period. Actually, this was one of my favorite things about the book. The author affectively captured the characters and essence of the time and the various settings to give the reader an illusion of present in the story. In addition, the prose was refined and the pace suited the plot nicely.
The Library of Light and Shadow will appeal to various types of readers, specifically those who like historical fiction, romance and fantasy. I recommend it to those readers that, like me, enjoy a book that crosses genres.
I received a free copy from the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for my honest review.
For more reviews, and author interviews, see my blog at www.thespineview.com.

Let me first start off by saying I have not read the first 2 books in this series but you don't have to. I did like this book, though Delphine did get on my nerves with her always saying she couldn't have this or that. Her winning was super annoying. Overall though I did enjoy this book and it's history. I liked all the artist who she interacted with and what France and NY looked like in the 20s. I fell in love with Mathieu.

Title: The Library of Light and Shadow
Author: M. J. Rose
Pages: 368
Genre: romance, fantasy, some paranormal aspects
Is this part of a series? Yes, I believe this is book 3.
Published: There is some confusion here. Different sites have it listed as coming out 7-18, some say it is over a year old. As I received this from Netgalley, I am going with their date of 7-18-2017.

Five years ago Delphine learned a hard lesson. Her gift, being able to paint a person’s deepest secrets, betrays her twice. Once, revealing something a client cannot handle being known; and once showing the demise of her own lover. Desperate to stop that future, she leaves her life in Paris for New York. There, she attempts to make a life for herself, drawing secrets for patrons at parties.
When tragedy strikes once again due to her gift, Delphine is thrown into a tail spin. Refusing to put on the blindfold she uses to paint secrets, she tries again and again to paint “normally”; becoming more and more frustrated, she drinks more and eats less. Finally, her family must intervene and bring her home. There Sebastion, her twin and acting manager, tries to force the subject of her taking commissions. When one comes that is too high to pass up, and not even for a person but a house, he finally gets Delphine to agree.
Through her stay here, she begins to heal slightly and learn to trust her gift again- so long as the subject isn’t a person. She meets Gaspard the grounds keeper, and one that may finally understand her gift and her fears. More people come to the house party, including Mathieu, the man from her past. It is time to come to terms with everything she is, everything she thought she knew, and decide where her path leads now…
I did not realize this was a series when I requested it from Netgalley. That may color my feelings in this book, I am not sure. I had fallen in love with the cover, and the premise captured my imagination. It had all the makings of an epic piece. Unfortunately, I found that much of it fell flat. It was hard to connect with many of the characters, and I almost feel like some were added just to name drop. The writing style was all over the place- sometimes rushed, nearly harried, and sometimes moving with sloth-like slowness. This made it harder for me to fall into the story. I would have liked more development of side characters- or less side characters if we cannot give them real purpose.
Now, there were some aspects that did work for me. I found Delphine to be a well-developed, interesting character. I liked the use of her Book of Hours as a glimpse into her past with Mathieu. I can even understand her blind love of her twin, Sebastion. There were also references to the other books of the series, both of which sound spectacular. Even though I did not care for the writing style of this book, I will probably be looking into the other two simply because I am so intrigued by the ideas behind them. Maybe I am being too harsh with my review, many on Goodreads have given it five stars, but it just wasn’t perfect for me. I give it a very shaky 3 stars.
As far as the Adult content scale goes, I have to give it a seven. There were some fairly explicit descriptions when it came to sex, and to her art in some cases. It isn’t horrible, but it is something to think about for teen readers.
Again, a big thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for the ARC. I appreciate it.

M.J. Rose brings to each of her books passion, love, historically intertwined families, alchemical mystery. This book made me feel like I was pressing prayer beads through my fingers while watching it all unfold. This book can be read on its own, but it made MUCH richer if you read the earlier books. I am greedy and cannot wait for another M.J. Rose read! If you go back and read, you may find yourself in the same position!

A well-crafted story with twists and turns and characters who come to life on the page. A tale of magical abilities magically became believable. An intriguing and entertaining read.

Caution...if you pick it up, it will be a spell-binding reading experience.

Fascinating.
I've run across references to Nicolas Flamel before, so he was like an old acquaintance.
Quite wonderfully complex without easy answers. The characters are dense, too.
An engaging alternative reality.
Step in and have a good read.

Delphine Duplessi has a gift of exposing people’s secrets through painting. At a party in Manhattan, Delphine’s gift causes a rift between two brothers that leads to a tragedy. Feeling responsible for the incident, Delphine declares to never use her gift and falls into a deep depression. Her twin brother decides to bring Delphine back to France to help bring her back to spirits. Delphine finds a new client, an opera singer, who is obsessed with finding The Book of Abraham by Nicolas Flamel that will reveal the secrets of immortality. When Delphine arrives at the chateau to help look for the missing book, she discovers magic, mystery, and danger lie within the castle’s walls.

Delphine is truly a complex character. She is very vulnerable. She is insecure and afraid. She wonders if her gifts are truly good or if it will only bring pain to others. Because of her doubts about her abilities, she wants to live her life without using them. However, she realizes that her gifts are a part of her. Therefore, Delphine constantly struggles trying to love and be happy with herself. Because of Delphine’s inner conflict, I empathized with her. I rooted for her to come to terms with herself and find her own happiness. Thus, in the Daughters of La Lune series, Delphine is my favorite character so far!

Overall, this book is about love, loss, and recovery. The message of this book is about coming to terms with one’s self. It is also about letting go of the past and looking to the future. The characters are very compelling, and I wanted to learn more about the secrets that each of them wish to hide. I also loved the mystery and the quest surrounding the novel. The author gave us more information about the ghost of La Lune and answered some questions that I had in The Witch of Painted Sorrows. The only things I disliked about the novel was that it had a slow start, and too many flashbacks. Also, I wanted to know more about Opaline after The Secret Languages of Stones. The writing was very lyrical and evocative, and it sucked me in from the first page! M.J. Rose’s writing will literally take your breath away! I cannot recommend this novel highly enough! Daughters of La Lune may be one of my favorite series. I want to go back and reread these books again. This series is perfect for fans of The Other Side of Midnight, The Architect of Song, and Named of the Dragon.

MJ Rose is my go to for some yummy supernatural historical fiction entertainment. She knows how to weave those 2 elements together to dish out unique and intriguing stories. My first experience was with her Reincarnation Series (book 5 -Seduction) and I haven't looked back but rather wait in eager anticipation for her next.

The Library of Light and Shadow is book 3 in her Daughters of La Lune series and while you don't have to read the first 2 to appreciate this one I recommend it because they are really good.

What I have come to love and appreciate is the authors talent for original story lines. How she takes real historical figures, puts them in print with a plot so engrossing that I have a hard time putting the book down. Which is exactly what happened here. Each female in the family has a unique talent and for Delphine she can glimpse into the soul of subjects she puts to canvas, unfortunately her life takes a turn for the worst when tragedy strikes.
"I was not just an artist. I was a woman who had been blinded as a child and whose sight had been brought back by magick. And in the process, I had been given a gift--or, depending on your point of view, a curse. I had the ability not just to see people for who they were but also to see the secrets they harbored. The darkest, most hidden desires of their souls."
The year is 1925, the world is still bouncing back from World War 1 with lavish and supernatural distractions. The author created a vivid look at the time and setting, there was depth of character and a poetic feel to her writing. A fine balance between real and magick making everything plausible and I loved the direction the story went and the ending. With mystery, suspense, romance and betrayal MJ Rose has delivered yet again. Definitely one I highly recommend.

Thanks to Atria Books (via Netgalley) for an ARC.

A lyrical story that tells the story of an artist in Paris after WWI. From a famous family of witches, she is able to use her gift to draw the past or future rather than standard portraits. A combination of mystery, historical fiction and romance, I enjoyed the unique story. I especially enjoyed the way the romance and it's demise is told through Delphine's journal, her book of hours.

Set in the 1920's in NYC and Paris The Library of Light and Shadow is an adventure, a romance, an involvoled historical fiction, a paranormal mystery and a inciteful look at the art world. Delphine is a young artist trying to live up to her Mother's legacy not just as an artist, but also as a witch. She uses a blindfold when painting and is able to "see" people 's secrets. I found this to be a very interesting story that I was able to read in exchange for a review. I do not always enjoy historical fiction, but both the time period and the artists involved in the story all made it worthwhile.

The Library of Light and Shadow, the third book in the Daughters of La Lune series, is told from the first-person perspective of Delphine Duplessi, a young French artist living in New York City in the year 1925, shortly after the end of WWI. Delphine makes her living by doing 'shadow portraits' at the parties of the rich and famous, doing her drawings blindfolded and sometimes revealing dark secrets to the chagrin of her patrons. But that is part of the fun, isn't it?

"I was not just an artist. I was a woman who had been blinded as a child and whose sight had been brought back by magick. And in the process, I had been given a gift--or, depending on your point of view, a curse. I had the ability not just to see people for who they were but also to see the secrets they harbored. The darkest, most hidden desires of their souls."

When tragedy strikes and her wealthy fiancé breaks off their engagement, Delphine blames herself and falls into such a depression that she can no longer paint. Her family brings her back to Cannes, France to recover but first she must confront the reasons she left her home in the first place...and the man she still loves.

The La Lune woman are cursed to know true love only once in their lives. Delphine reveals the details of her passionate but thwarted love affair in the pages of the journal she kept five years ago and now can't stop reading. What will she do if she comes face to face with her former lover now?

Her twin brother, Sebastian, coaxes her into taking on a commission for a rich opera singer. No portraits this time, which she still refuses to do. This commission is to find a book of alchemy which the woman believes is hidden somewhere within the castle walls. Delphine will need to use all her witchery skills to find the hiding place of the object and maybe save a life or two.

This book is a blend of historical fiction, fantasy and romance with lush descriptions and beautiful writing. What a delight to get a glimpse of Picasso, Matisse and other famous artists in the pages of the story. I have not read the other books in the La Lune series, but found this book can be read as a stand-alone novel. The cover art is gorgeous, just stunning!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an arc of this new book.

Delphine Duplessi has a talent for drawing "shadow portraits," pictures drawn while she is blindfolded that reveals the secrets that the subject wants to hide. Most are rather innocuous, which allows her to use it as a party trick in 1925 New York City. But some secrets are not so petty, and the book opens with a party that ends in tragedy. Delphine retreats into depression, and her twin brother brings her back to France for a change of scenery. A tragedy had sent her away from France, however, and it haunts her as much as the doomed romance she had run away from. But her brother is working with an opera singer obsessed with finding the works of Nicholas Flamel, and Delphine will try to find the alchemist's book if it saves her brother's life.

Library of Light and Shadow is amazingly well done. The characters are solid and real, even in their worst moments, and Delphine's past is deftly interwoven with her present.

She was driven from France to New York by fear, and she has to find her way back from that darkness. The shadow portraits are a kind of magic, which her family is known for, and trying to keep from using her gift isn't any better than trying to control her emotions or keep them locked away. They're very tied together, which is often a theme for books about creative people.

Emotions and talents are intertwined, and unlocking talents usually involves coming to grips with emotions and not being afraid of them. The subplots all come together neatly at the end, and the lush scenery is so deftly described you almost feel like you're there. This is the first book by M. J. Rose that I've read, and I doubt that it's going to be my last.

>>>>> My Synopsis (Review follows): <<<<<
The La Lune sisters are descended from witches. Each is said to have only once change at love. Each possesses a magical power that can be considered either a gift or a curse. Each has their own mantra said to encapsulate their power.

Delphine possesses the ability to see into the shadow's of one's soul and glimpse the dirty little secrets that reside therein. Some are innocent, though most are not. She studies her subjects for mere minutes then, blindfolded, paints them on canvas. Some of her "shadow portraits" are met with delight while others she's asked to destroy. One will reveal something that will ruin lives, ultimately leading to her leaving New York and returning to her home in France. It's there she'll be commissioned to paint not a portrait of a person, but of a house in the hopes of finding the Library of Light and Shadow said to hold an ancient text containing the secret to eternal life...

>>>>> My Review: <<<<<
This was a beautifully written book containing magic, mystery, and a dash of romance. It's the third installment of the Daughters of La Lune series, and while I wish I'd read the two previous books prior to this one, I didn't feel lost. The book starts off with Delphine living in New York, and we slowly get a feel for the type of person she is and a front row view of what her life is like. She's a sweet, emotionally charged, and haunted individual. She's at a crossroads in her life where she's trying to escape fate by bending it to her will and it's not working out all that well.

In the book, Delphine needs to comes to terms with her power and life. She can see an individual's deepest, darkest, most hidden secrets--mainly events of the past but occasionally of the future--with her gift. Her mother has warned her never to do a portrait of herself or attempt to look into her own future (for a canvas isn't always necessary for what she does) on the off chance she'll misinterpret the meaning of what she sees. She's held fast to that rule, but sometimes the secrets of those in her life and her own can be intermingled, and once something is seen it can't be unseen. This creates quite the conundrum and complicates her life beyond reason.

Overall, I gave this one 4 out of 5 roses. This was a fun, magical, and engaging read. The beginning immediately sucked me in, but somewhere in the middle the pace slowed as did the action. Once we got to the castle, however, things quickly picked up, got interesting, and never slowed down. I enjoyed how the author infused the story with historical characters and events. The characters were three dimensional and easy to relate to. On the Lisarenee Romance Rating Scale, this one earned a BLUSH rating--at the beginning stages of romance where something is just starting to be stirred. I look forward to reading the first two books in the series. I enjoyed this one..

A Lush Tale of the Occult, Art, and Love

Delphine Duplessi has a rare talent. Dating from the time as a child when she lost her sight, she is able to create shadow portraits. Drawing blindfolded, Delphine creates not the person’s face, but the secrets hiding behind the mask. In the world of Paris and New York after WWI, she becomes a celebrity. People are looking to the future, wanting amusement to forget the horrors of war.

After a devastating experience in New York where tragically a man dies, she returns to her native Cannes. Unable to paint she tries to recover from the horror of her New York experience and come to terms with the reason she left Paris five years ago.

Delphine has an unusual heritage. She is descended from LaLune, the artist who sold her soul to reclaim her dead lover. Now her female descendants are cursed being able to love only one man. Delphine finds that man in Mathieu, a bookbinder she falls in love with in Paris. Trying to help Mathieu escape his demons, she draws him, but sees herself as the instrument of his destruction, so she flees.

Now that she’s back in France, her twin, Sebastian, wants her to return to painting the lucrative portraits that make his gallery special. Delphine tries to avoid returning to the shadow portraits, but finally agrees to paint a chateau where an occult classic, the Book of Abraham, is supposedly hidden.

The descriptions in this book, from the glorious drawing rooms of Paris and New York, to the lovely countryside of southern France, are full of colors and beautiful shapes. It’s almost like reading a painting.

If you are interested in the occult, the author uses the background of the Cathars, and Delphine’s own family history to weave a spell around the story. The plot is complex full of twists and unusual, sometimes famous, characters. The time after WWI was when Picasso, the Fitzgeralds, and other celebrities were spending the summer in the south of France.

I enjoyed the characters. Mathieu is particularly delightful. Delphine is a well drawn character, but by the end of the book I was tired of hearing how she was protecting everyone, not realizing her own part in the reality of her interactions. Sebastian is a hard character to judge. I didn’t realize until the very end why I felt ambivalent about him.

I highly recommend this book if you love romance and beautiful descriptions.

I received this book from Atria for this review.

The Library of Light and Shadow was an entertaining read. The setting is in Paris, Cannes and NY. Mainly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, post WWI. Part love story, part artistic and part paranormal it is a story that wraps a spell around you and leaves you wanting more. The story centers around Delphine Duplessi and her ability to do "shadow paintings." M. J. Rose is a master storyteller.

I fell into a series in and I didn't mean to, but having read The Library of Light and Shadow I think it may turn out to be quite fortuitous. This book introduced me to a world that had a unique background, intriguing characters, and a plot that balanced between the magical and the real, the ornate and the simple.

This book was chock full of characters, both based on real life people and those of the author's imagination. Some were sympathetic, like the main character Delphine, a painter whose portraits reveal the secrets of her subjects; some were mysterious, like Gaspard, the caretaker of the chateau that Delphine is commissioned to paint; and others are suspicious, like Sebastian, Delphine's twin, who as a male La Lune descendant did not inherit a magical gift and yet is intertwined with Delphine's as her manager. There were the real life personages, like Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso, writers, artists, singers, etc., that were summering in France and that Delphine met through friends and through family connections. I was amazed at the sheer scope of her family's influence, the people that they knew because of their abilities and their longevity. Whether the author's portrayal of these people's personalities was accurate or not is unknown to me, but they all felt authentic in the moment of this story.

The settings that were seen throughout the book are another thing altogether. There was sumptuousness throughout and Delphine never seemed far from the fine things in life, even when she was living in her small studio apartment in New York. There were colors and fabrics co-mingling that I don't think I'd have thought of pairing together, but reading them here I think that the author found an interesting balance. The ornateness of Delphine's life, whether it was her family's home or the chateau that she has to draw, bordered on the line of obscene at times, but always the story was brought back from the brink before it crossed over.

As for the plot itself, I felt so sad for the burden that Delphine, as well as her female relatives, must carry. Powers like the ones that they have felt like the kind that are often described as more like curses than gifts and there is, in fact, a curse to their family: they only get one shot at true love. That is terrible, even more so when we realize why Delphine fled to New York in the first place and why it feels like such a terrible thing for her to return to France. Her relationship with Mathieu felt pretty well-developed, it was physically intense, and he seemed to really understand her, even after she left him in an effort to protect him, following a shadow portrait that revealed a future that she interpreted in a specific way.

The character I knew I would feel the most betrayal from, and yet couldn't help but go along with Delphine's belief in them, was her brother Sebastian. I knew from the summary that there was a history of co-dependence, which made a lot of sense considering his lack of magical abilities, but watching his manipulation of Delphine was intense. It was so subtle that even Delphine did not see it for a majority of the book, even though I was suspecting things by the way he was pressuring her to return to painting against her wishes. When the depth of his deviousness is revealed at the end of the book, even that was a surprise despite the way I'd been feeling about him. The author's handling of her characters painted an interesting portrait of familial commitment and the blindness that Delphine had toward her brother and his actions for a long time.

M.J. Rose wrote a rich text in The Library of Light and Shadow. It's the third in the series, but as I said earlier, it isn't necessary to read the previous two books. I'd strongly recommend going back to them though, especially if they're anything like Delphine's story because a tale of magic and beauty and life like this should be enjoyed like the fine drinks and food that the characters consumed: often and with gusto.

The Library of Light and Shadow is the third in the Daughters of La Lune series and is, on the one hand a beautifully written book. The author’s descriptions of the settings are at times exquisite. From New York City in the snow to summer in the South of France, Ms. Rose is a master of putting the reader in her books. Unfortunately, in spite of these evocative settings, the story and characters felt flat and predictable. And the ending seemed forced, rushed, and completely unsatisfying.

It was a time of re-birth, a time of excess, a time to indulge in life and forget the horrors of World War I and the sky was the limit for parlor tricks and daring entertainment for high society. Artist Delphine Duplessi has a gift beyond the ability to draw what the naked eye sees. She can draw one’s inner most secrets and has become the darling of society gatherings, the main attraction for the wealthy looking for one more thrill or oddity to experience. With the gift of sight comes danger and with the brutal honesty of her drawings comes pain, dark revelations and even death.

It is that pain and death that finally sends Delphine home to France, refusing to taint the world with the powers of her gift. It is there she will find her own painfully dark past pushing back into her life and the one man who owns her heart will attempt to win her back. Little does he know the reasons she left and the danger she represents. Now Delphine must search deep within her own soul and see both herself and the world for what they are, a gift to be used wisely, but can she embrace what she longs for or is it too late for her own damaged soul?

M.J. Rose brings the third book of the Daughters of La Lune, THE LIBRARY OF LIGHT AND SHADOW to life with her blend of dark and dream-like writing and a plot that is equally intriguing, erotic and veiled in mystery and Magick. An emotionally charged tale that flows steadily along, the action is in the troubled thoughts of Delphine’s mind. A read to be savored and indulged in, rich in detail, atmosphere and the turmoil of the heart.

I received an ARC edition from Atria Books in exchange for my honest review.

Series: Daughters of La Lune - Book 3
Publisher: Atria Books (July 18, 2017)
Publication Date: July 18, 2017
Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance
Print Length: 368 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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