Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: The Longest Night
AUTHOR: Z Allora
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 73 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 20, 2019
BLURB:
The holiday season is lonely for construction worker Benjamin Morgan, a big muscular guy who just wants to submit, obey, and serve. But the men he’s attracted to usually don’t have a dominant bone in their bodies. He’s done seeking his BDSM dreams with someone who isn’t interested in putting him in his rightful place—on his knees at their feet.
When a friend sets up a meeting with Foster Ridgeway at the BDSM club, Entiwned, Benjamin has his doubts. Of course he is attracted to bookish Foster, who works for the same construction company, but how will someone so small and delicate-looking master Benjamin? But when Foster–the tiny temple of dominance wielding a crop—heads toward Benjamin, he might get what he’s always wanted, just in time for Solstice.
REVIEW:
I love this author. She writes with such passion and fluidity. Her works are all full of detail and nuance and there is great emotional depth. She clearly has intimate knowledge of how things work in the BDSM world and I love the way she twists them. In this case, the twist comes in the perceptions we attach to body size.
Benjamin is a construction worker. He’s big, over six-foot-six, muscled and extremely submissive. Foster is a foot shorter, delicately build, and as dominant as Benjamin could imagine in his wildest dreams.
Just about the only complaint I have about the book is the author’s habit of using names in dialogue. It’s a pet peeve. Since it was pointed out to me in my own writing, I have watched closely, and unless we are emphasizing something, we don’t use each other’s names much when we speak directly to each other—obviously it’s different when we talk about each other. It doesn’t happen often and it says a lot about the author that this is the only thing I could find.
This book, in particular, ticks the boxes for me because it celebrated pagan Yule as well as/instead of Christmas, and being a pagan that means a lot.
Benjamin and Foster are adorable, apart and together and the building relationship was touching, if a little fast. The writing is almost flawless, fluid and full of passion and colour. The characters are engaging and make sense alone and together. All in all, it’s an easy read and well worth the time. The ending was perfect.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: