Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: By the Light of Dawn
AUTHOR: Adrienne Wilder
SERIES: In the Absence of Light #2
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 208 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 15, 2020
BLURB:
A handmade sailboat helped bring Morgan back to Grant but he never imagined they would put it in the water.
Then Morgan sees something in the light that sets Grant on a mission to get them to the middle of the ocean. An unknown destination they have to be at when the sun rises.
It’s important enough that Morgan is willing to leave Durstrand. Important enough that he’ll face the challenges of his autism.
So important, it could even be a matter of life and death.
REVIEW:
* Contains spoilers for book one, In the Absence of Light. There are no spoilers for this book. *
“I want you beside me at night, I want your heartbeat against my ear, I want my arms around you, I want to smell you, feel you, hear your voice.” I’d made that decision months ago when he regressed and I thought I’d lost him. I would have taken anything he would have given me, even if it was just a touch, or a glance, or a word or two.
Adrienne Wilder has once again penned a beautiful, heartwarming love story in this follow-up to In the Absence of Light. It picks up six months after Morgan and Grant were married. Their love has grown stronger; it’s just as sexy, but deeper, if that’s possible. There’s an element of mysticism at play here and it’s as charming as it is engrossing. The novel reads like a lovely extended epilogue until a big wallop of drama hits our boys about two-thirds through. I expected the book to take a different turn, and I’m pleased it followed the path it did instead.
Morgan is the same endearing man we know and love, with his wicked sense of humor, boundless love for Grant, strength and perseverance. When he was young, his doctors said he would never walk or talk. He was discarded by his parents as an infant, bullied by peers, brutally beaten as an adult, and forced to kill his abuser. Now at the age of twenty-five, while coping with his autism, he’s already singlehandedly restored a farmhouse from the ground up, built a sailboat from scratch, and is kinda sorta learning to drive. But perhaps biggest of all is his determination to face down his apprehension of leaving Durstrand because he knows he and Grant are needed elsewhere.
Grant is the same man we saw at the end of In the Absence of Light, now free of his past and enormously devoted to, and in love with, Morgan. He unconditionally trusts and has faith in Morgan. If Morgan says they have to urgently leave home and take the sailboat into the ocean, they go. That’s the storyline this time around: they’re headed to the sea in the Starry Night and Grant has no idea why. There’s a new character who plays a critical role: Dog, the big yellow Lab puppy, who himself seems equipped with some magical qualities and appears almost human at times.
There are some snafus getting the Starry Night to water and Morgan doesn’t do snafus, he does predictable. It’s difficult for both of them:
“I’m frustrated, not heartbroken. I want to help Morgan but I don’t know how. I want him to see the world but I’m powerless to bring it to him. I want to give him a fraction of the joy he gives me every day.” Pain bloomed under each ear and I fought to swallow. “I love him so much …”
Mr. Wilder has stayed true to his roots with By the Light of Dawn and portrayed Morgan and Grant in the same light as before. Even though the prior book was published five years ago, there is perfect continuity in his characters and their voices, and in the tone of the book. I enjoyed the little reminders sprinkled here and there of In the Absence of Light: the drive-in theater/cow pasture, Morgan’s flip flops, and the time Grant nearly ran over Morgan with his truck, for example. I’m thrilled that he wrote this sequel. It will be a real treat for anyone who read the previous novel (it is not a standalone). I heartily recommend this gem.
RATING: 
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