In the Absence of Light by Adrienne Wilder

Grant can’t trust Morgan to recognize his own limits and know what’s the best course of action, and Morgan is afraid to trust Grant and give up control because he’s fearful of being hurt and deserted. He puts Grant in his place a few times, too, which is quite amusing.īoth men have trust issues. But Morgan has his eye on Grant and he’s going to get what he wants. His perception of Morgan is clouded by plenty of misconceptions. He’s initially intrigued by Morgan but can’t see past the tics and idiosyncrasies he views as Morgan’s shortcomings. He’s waiting until he can cash out his hefty offshore accounts and take off for tropical locales. He bought a ramshackle house with the intention of fixing it up while hiding from his past for a few years. Grant is new in town, having recently retired from a shady career in private shipping.

He has a razor-sharp wit, frequently goading and tricking Grant, and teasing him about his advanced old age (he’s thirty-six to Morgan’s twenty-four). He has numerous and significant tics and regresses sometimes, but he lives independently, is an artist, and holds a job as a busboy. Morgan is a very special man, not because he lives with autism spectrum disorder, but because he thrives despite it. Only the most special – and luckiest – people experience the gifts he possesses within. He has an extraordinary soul hiding inside a neurodiverse mind. But it’s Morgan’s inner beauty that drives this tale. The romance, humor, and drama all touched my heart. One moment I was tearing up, the next I was laughing.

In the Absence of Light is a truly exquisite love story. Like seeing the light in a way I couldn’t, he’d seen a love that hadn’t happened yet, but knew it would. That he’d always held me and I just didn’t know it. I seriously began to wonder if it ever wasn’t. And once Grant opens his eyes, he loses his heart to the beautiful enigma of a man who changes the course of his life. Then Morgan shows Grant how light lets you see but it also leaves you blind. Like the rest of the world he can’t see past Morgan’s odd behaviors While the attraction is mutual, Grant pushes Morgan away. And when Grant Kessler moves into town Morgan isn’t a bit shy in letting the man know how much he wants him. Yet he’s beaten every obstacle life has thrown his way. Severely autistic, Morgan cannot look people in the eye, tell left from right, and has uncontrolled tics.

But his real plan is to wait a few years and let the FBI lose interest, then move on to the distant coastal life he’s always dreamed of. When business turns in a direction Grant isn’t willing to follow he decides to retire and by all appearances he settles down in a nowhere town called Durstrand. For years Grant Kessler has smuggled goods from one end of the world to the next.

In the Absence of Light by Adrienne Wilder