The Longest Night by Z. Allora - Release Day Review

Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Dreamspinner

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, Entwined, 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

There are delightful stories and then there is The Longest Night. This is possibly the sweetest, cutest, and sexiest story I’ve read this year. If there is any ‘angst’ in this story it’s dealt with in the first few pages before we enter scene after scene describing how two men, who were obviously meant to be together, open up to each other and reach heights they’d previously only dreamed about.

When the story starts Benjamin fears he’ll never find a Dom able to accept that Benjamin doesn’t have a dominant bone in his body, despite being built like a house. Then a friend arranges a meeting between him and Foster, who may look delicate but is as Dominant as it is possible to be, as well as the personification of Benjamin’s every dream.

Benjamin’s subsequent journey into submission, going deeper with each encounter, is glorious, not to mention very enticing. And Foster is just about the perfect combination of Dominant verging on cruel and deeply caring. I loved every moment of their times together and read the story with a smile on my face from start to finish.

If I do have a reservation is that I would have loved to see Benjamin through Foster’s eyes. Benjamin’s submission, explored from his own perspective is glorious but I have no doubt it would have been even more magical if Foster’s emotional reactions had been described too. Since this whole story is told from Benjamin’s point of view we don’t get that and, given that this is a shortish story that’s entirely understandable, but I do feel it would have given their journey an extra edge.

There is no angst or conflict in this story and that delighted me. The connection between these two men, once they ‘recognize’ each other for who they are, is swift and the bond between them all but automatic. Given that Benjamin and Foster are perfect for each other, any form of conflict would have been contrived and I’m very happy it wasn’t shoe-horned in just for the sake of it.

Overall a wonderful story if you’re in the mood for a pagan holiday story featuring two adorable men and delicious sexiness.