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.

(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 beautiful cover that immediately draws the eye. Anything from Atria is worth the read!

A great idea for a story. Loved the artist painting truths about the subject. The best part of the read. Review copy provided by Netgalley.

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..

I was intrigued with the idea of a painter who can see the secret shadows of others. It reminded me of The Portrait of Doreen Gray for some reason. But then I was didn't like the delving into figuring out why people were sexually driven so I didn't finish.