#BlogTour The Cold Light of Dawn by Anna Belfrage @abelfrageauthor @hfvbt

The Cold Light of Dawn by Anna Belfrage
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Cold Light of Dawn by Anna Belfrage

Publication Date: February 16, 2018

Matador & TimeLight Press

eBook & Paperback; 434 Pages

Series: The King's Greatest Enemy, Book #4

Genre: Historical Fiction

After Henry of Lancaster’s rebellion has been crushed early in 1329, a restless peace settles over England. However, the young Edward III is no longer content with being his regents’ puppet, no matter that neither Queen Isabella nor Roger Mortimer show any inclination to give up their power. Caught in between is Adam de Guirande, torn between his loyalty to the young king and that to his former lord, Roger Mortimer. 

Edward III is growing up fast. No longer a boy to be manipulated, he resents the power of his mother, Queen Isabella, and Mortimer. His regents show little inclination of handing over their power to him, the rightful king, and Edward suspects they never will unless he forces their hand. 

Adam de Guirande is first and foremost Edward’s man, and he too is of the opinion that the young king is capable of ruling on his own. But for Adam siding with his king causes heartache, as he still loves Roger Mortimer, the man who shaped him into who he is. 

Inevitably, Edward and his regents march towards a final confrontation. And there is nothing Adam can do but pray and hope that somehow things will work out. Unfortunately, prayers don’t always help. 

The Cold Light of Dawn is the fourth in Anna Belfrage’s series, The King’s Greatest Enemy, the story of a man torn apart by his loyalties to his lord and his king.

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes and Noble

Book Review

First, I want to say that I have read all books in this series, expect the first book. However, I'm going to rectify that. I have wanted to read In the Shadow of the Storm since I read book two, Days of Sun and Glory, and now after finishing The Cold Light of Dawn do I seriously need to go back to the beginning, to read about a happier-ish time. Honestly, The Cold Light of Dawn is a fabulous book, so good, but it's also a devastating tragic book and now has it gone two days since I finished the book and I'm still ... shell-shocked by the ending. I mean I know it was coming, but still ... dammit, Anna!

So here we are, at the ending (bah, I want more books and I will demand at least one more from Anna), young Edward III is growing more and more into the role as a king and the resentment is steadily growing toward his mother Queen Isabelle and Mortimer. And between them are Adam de Guirande, who love both men, Mortimer who is like a father to him, and Edward who Adam has sworn his liege to. In Edward can Adam see a great king, a better king than his father. However, Mortimer and Isabelle have done a great job while Edward is coming of age. Still, they are living in sin, and Edward and Mortimer are clashing more and more. It will come to blows soon and the outcome, well it will not be nice.

I loved this book. The funny thing is that I kind of forgot that February had so few days so when I started to read this day did I realize that it would be Marsh soon and my review date for the blog tour. I did not panic (much), instead did I dedicate my free hours to reading this book and it was some of my greatest hours in life. It's a compact story, not a story you just breeze through, instead, it feels like you want to savor every page, but at the same time want to know what happens next. Anna Anna Belfrage's eye for details is top-notch. From how they dressed to socials ethics. She's like Magdalena Ribbing for the Middle Ages.

I can't write this review without mentioning Adam and his wife Kit, who are caught in the power struggle between Edward and Mortimer. A lot of things happens to them in this book, both good and bad and some personal losses. And, I just want to say that I just loved following them as they navigated through the scheming in the court.

I will end this review by saying that I think Belfrage has outdone herself that the ending left me both happy and crushed and I seriously hope for at least one more book!

About the Author

Anna was raised abroad, on a pungent mix of Latin American culture, English history and Swedish traditions. As a result she’s multilingual and most of her reading is historical- both non-fiction and fiction. Possessed of a lively imagination, she has drawers full of potential stories, all of them set in the past. She was always going to be a writer – or a historian, preferably both. Ideally, Anna aspired to becoming a pioneer time traveller, but science has as yet not advanced to the point of making that possible. Instead she ended up with a degree in Business and Finance, with very little time to spare for her most favourite pursuit. Still, one does as one must, and in between juggling a challenging career Anna raised her four children on a potent combination of invented stories, historical debates and masses of good food and homemade cakes. They seem to thrive…

For years she combined a challenging career with four children and the odd snatched moment of writing. Nowadays Anna spends most of her spare time at her writing desk. The children are half grown, the house is at times eerily silent and she slips away into her imaginary world, with her imaginary characters. Every now and then the one and only man in her life pops his head in to ensure she’s still there.

Other than on her website, www.annabelfrage.com, Anna can mostly be found on her blog, http://annabelfrage.wordpress.com – unless, of course, she is submerged in writing her next novel. You can also connect with Anna on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, February 26

Review at Historical Fiction Reviews

Tuesday, February 27

Guest Post at Let Them Read Books

Wednesday, February 28

Review at A Holland Reads

Thursday, March 1

Feature at What Is That Book About

Friday, March 2

Review at Book Drunkard

Monday, March 5

Review at A Bookaholic Swede

Tuesday, March 6

Review at Beth’s Book Nook Blog

Wednesday, March 7

Review at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Friday, March 9

Review at A Chick Who Reads

Monday, March 12

Review at Pursuing Stacie

Tuesday, March 13

Guest Post at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Thursday, March 15

Feature at Passages to the Past

Friday, March 16

Interview at Dianne Ascroft’s Blog

Monday, March 19

Review at So Many Books, So Little Time

Wednesday, March 21

Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Feature at A Literary Vacation

Thursday, March 22

Review at Back Porchervations

Friday, March 23

Feature at Button Eyed Reader

Monday, March 26

Review at Just One More Chapter

Wednesday, March 28

Review at Broken Teepee

Review at Impressions In Ink

Friday, March 30

Review at Bookramblings

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour we will be giving away a complete set of The King's Greatest Enemy series to one winner & two winners will win a paperback copy of The Cold Light of Dawn! To enter, please enter via the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules
– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on March 30th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

The Cold Light of Dawn