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
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

I really liked this one! It was one of those books that I just could not put down! The characters were great along with the story!

I didn't realize this book was #3 in a series. I want to read the first two books before I read this one. Thank you.

Delphine Deplessi is an artist with a great gift - she can paint people's secrets. But when her gift leads to a terrible tragedy, Delphine returns to her roots and must decide if it's worth continuing to practice her art - and if she must change her mind about the most important people in her life.
I really struggled with this book. It had an interesting premise, a unique magic system, and characters with great potential. But this book just didn't quite deliver on everything it promised to be. And that was really disappointing, because I had high hopes.
To begin with, I appreciated that there was depth to the relationships between characters. The author makes sure that the characters have plenty of experiences together and that their past comes through in their conversations and actions. Unfortunately, this was not always done well. Often, a character would say something and the author would spend a few paragraphs explaining why this was significant. This detracted from the story a lot and didn't add as much to the depth of the characters since it was so abrupt and had to be explained in the moment. This also made the characters a lot less strong and interesting since their pasts felt somewhat contrived in those moments.
My second big complaint is that the characters were just kind of dumb and they do such stupid things. Delphine has an interesting gift that can be used in interesting ways, but instead, she squanders it on dumb commissions (that ruin lives) and then spends half the book trying to decide if she should use her gifts or not. She also (view spoiler) There were also a few times when I could tell exactly what was going to happen or where pieces would obviously fall into place, but the characters were too dense to notice it. I hate being that much smarter than the characters - it just makes them less fun to read.
And then there are my typical complaints about books - it was far too melodramatic for my tastes, I could predict many of the events far before they happened, and it wasn't written all that well. I think I need a break from Netgalley books because the past several I read have followed this pattern and have grated on my nerves.
Recommended for people who enjoy romance novels with a touch of fantasy.

Thanks Atria Books and netgalley for this ARC.

M. J. Rose cannot be beat for the otherworldly, ethereal, Amazon-like warrior priestesses she creates for her novels. I think this was my favorite but then I always think that until I read her next novel.

This book has an interesting premise and does a fairly good job with characterizations. The story was interesting but the ending was vaguely unsatisfying.

MJ Rose continues the La Lune series begun in Witch of Painted Sorrows with this story of Delphine Duplessi and her gift of painting people’s secrets. The pattern is familar to fans of the La Lune series – a passionate love affair gone wrong, a young artist struggling with her gift, and people who want to use her and her gift in nefarious ways.

Full review at https://itsallaboutthebook.org/2017/06/25/the-library-of-light-shadow-by-mj-rose/

I received this as an ARC through Netgalley. 3.5 stars overall. I first was introduced to this series a couple of years ago when the second book came out. I fell for the second book hard and went back to read the first after (which, I wasn't as much of a fan of). While this still isn't as good as the book about her sister, Opaline, Delphine definitely was an interesting and slightly complex character. I found her magical talent creepy yet fascinating. To see a world with your mind and not your eyes? It's quite something. I will say my biggest love was the lore of La Lune as per usual. It adds a layer of world building that keeps the reader interested. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending. It felt like a bit of a cop out for Delphine to end up where she did, instead of forcing her to grow and choose another path. Overall though, this was a fun read, solid sensory description and good characterization (albeit a fluffy read!).

As a small child, Delphine was blinded when a schoolmate threw lye in her face. Sebastian, her twin brother, became her eyes and guide until her sight returned. Always a painter, as she regained her sight she also regained a talent to paint a person’s hidden secrets. All the daughters of La Lune have special magick. Delphine uses a velvet eye mask and her magick flows through her fingers onto the canvas. After a horrible incident, she is forced to return to Paris though she no longer has the will to paint. Emotionally wounded she attempts to heal within the loving arms of her family. As her healing begins, continued pressure from Sebastian eventually wears her down to accept a special commission to shadow paint a castle to find a hidden book that belonged to Nicholas Flammel.

I believe this might be my favorite in Rose’s Daughters of La Lune series. Delphine’s painful story slowly emerges like images on a canvas. The supernatural aspect of the story floats effortlessly throughout the novel and does not overpower Delphine’s story. As Rose takes us through Delphine’s haunted life, Rose uses words to paint the descriptions of Delphine’s surroundings and you feel as if you are walking the path or flying down the road sitting shotgun in Delphine’s Bugatti. A thoroughly enjoyable story.

This continues to be a pretty strong series. I guess wasn't as crazy about it as the first two because I've gotten used to Rose's talented blend of history, women's fiction, and the paranormal. That's hardly fair to her, because this was quite a good book and a solid entry in the series. I liked Delphine's "shadow portraits," but I couldn't help but be reminded of Linda Howard's Now You See Her - just because that's the only book I've ever read with prescient paintings, I assume! The historical detail is well done without being too much, including sprinkling in famous artists, notably a very vivid Pablo Picasso, and nuggets about bootlegging and séances, very popular at the time. I think my biggest complaint about this book was the addition of Gerard and his son, who on one hand were vital to the plot but also took away from the plot (enough said due to potential spoilers). Actually, aside from Picasso, none of the men in the book really did it for me as characters, but that's really okay because this series continues to be very much the story of powerful women. Girl power!

The Library of Light and Shadow by M. J. Rose draws you in from the first page with it's beautifully enchanting writing. We are drawn into the mid 1920's Manhattan and later Paris. Delphine Duplessi, a descendent of a powerful witch named La Lune, must decide if her own powers are for good or evil. Delphine has the ability to paint people's innermost secrets from adultery to murder.

This book is a wonderful tale filled with art, mysticism, and a tragic love. Along with Delphine we are introduced to some well know characters such as Picasso and Fitzgerald. It also has a very good message at the end.

I loved this book. M. J. Rose is one of my new favorite authors and I can't wait to read more by this wonderful author. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a little magic in their life.

I acknowledge that I received this book free of charge from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

This book is the third in a series about the daughters of La Lune, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel. (I read the first book and skipped the second, and it didn't make any difference in the storyline). I really liked the beginning of this book, and the whole concept was interesting, but I thought the middle dragged quite a bit. If it wasn't for the pacing, this book would be a solid four stars, but I think it is more of a 3.5 stars for me.

The Daughters of La Lune have had magical powers for centuries, but Delphine’s gift is a bit more sinister than those held by her mother and sisters. When Delphine paints blindfolded, she can reveal the sitter’s deepest secrets. Often, this is no more than a party game, but when what begins innocently leads to death, Delphine fears a repeat performance – for she has seen in the shadowy darkness that the only man she’s ever loved may be the victim, a circumstance she will do anything to prevent.

Filled with the delicious, atmospheric magic and skillfully rendered description that saturates all of M.J. Rose’s novels, this is historical fantasy that makes you want to live in the novel. After finishing this book I feel like I have truly visited Languedoc region of France. Adding to this, the characters are vividly drawn, with a wonderful multidimensional heroine in Delphine and a romantic, tragic figure in Mathieu (who I may just have a crush on) and an unexpected twist involving a not-so-heroic protector.

Only two things stuck out as points that could have been slightly more developed. The resolution of the quest for the book and its titular library was rather abrupt, leaving me with unanswered questions. Also, because 95% of the relationship between the hero and heroine is recalled from the past, it feels a bit removed from the events of the story. I would have liked to have seen a little more development between them in the present action before the resolution of the story, which would have made the ending more natural.

But I still very much recommend this book to anyone with an eye for the mystical and a love for gothic settings. M.J. has penned another hit.

"The Library of Light and Shadow" is a story that is a mixture of art, history, and magical mysticism.
We meet Delphine, and artist who is a daughter of La Lune, a long line of witches who have immense artistic gifts. Delphine can "see" and paint the secrets of others while blindfolded. She has gained some fame and notoriety for her “shadow portraits” that frequently expose her subjects’ most scandalous secrets. But her art is more than a party trick, and it comes at a great price. When a tragedy occurs in Delphine's New York circle, necessitating her return to Paris, Delphine questions her "gift" and whether she will ever be able to hold a paintbrush again without feeling intense grief.

The novel is set in 1920's France, and there are many notable people who are part of the story: Picasso, Matisse, Cocteau, and others. But these are mere supporting players, the real star is M.J. Rose's richly colorful writing. In addition to the art world, the reader is also lead on a journey into the mystic world of the occult, seances, and a search for a book of alchemy that has been lost for centuries.

Can Delphine return to her art, emotionally painful though it may be, and take her place in the art world once more? Though skilled at seeing the secrets of others, will she continue to hide from her own secrets and her heart? M.J. Rose weaves a haunting tale of lost love and looking deeply into the shadows of the heart.

Too gothic & melodramatic for me but I would buy for my library because the other books in the series.

Delphine Duplessi finds herself in New York after fleeing Paris to escape her one true love. There she tries to rebuild her life, painting shadow portraits. These paintings reveal the sitter's deepest secrets. When tragedy erupts because of her art, Delphine is forced back to Paris and her old life. Her twin and lifeline, Sebastian, persuades her to take up her art once more to discover a secret hidden book. While doing so, Delphine must look into her own shadows to find herself and heal from tragedies past.

This book, a continuation of The Daughters of La Lune, series is magickal. Delphine, while not as sympathetic as her sister Opaline, is wonderful. I enjoyed her independence, but it was a co-dependent independence. I love how MJ Rose weaves in previous stories, without it being overpowering. This story is really amazing and I can't recommend it enough. I loved it enough to purchase the first one in the series, The Witch of Painted Sorrows. I am also hoping that Jadine, the last sister, gets a story. Or even the great grandmother.