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

Title: The Library of Light and Shadow
Classification: Adult Fiction
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Series: Daughters of La Lune
Format: Hardcover; 368 pages
Publisher: Atria Books (July 18, 2017)
ISBN-10: 1476778124
ISBN-13: 978-1476778129
Author's Website: https://www.mjrose.com/content/
Notes: I received an eARC loan from the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you.



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...

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--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.

Order of the Daughters of La Lune series: