The Longest Night

by E.E. Ottoman

For six years Richard and Tobias have written to each other sharing every detail of their lives and the occasional flirtation but they have never met in person. That changes when Richard is unexpectedly left without a job or home and Tobias offered him sanctuary for Yuletide. Although their attraction to one another burns bright over shared glasses of wine and books Richard fears taking a lover after too many years alone. As the snow falls deeper Richard and Tobias must find a way to navigate the long nights together.

Genres: Romance, Historical, Queer, Novella, LGBT, Historical Romance, M M Romance

69 pages, ebook

First published December 21, 2020

About the author

writes romance novels, wears pretty clothes, does history stuff.

he/him/his

Reviews

[aarya · Rating 3 out of 5]

2020 Winter Bingo (#SnowInLoveBingo❄️): Snow

Cozy holiday novella + snowy cottage in 1904 Upstate NY + friends-to-lovers. There were enough typos to irk me, but YMMV. Really needed another round of editing/proofreading.

[Hsinju Chen]

Short Review

This novella is a very sweet, holiday, historical romance between two transmen.

“Wouldn't it be amazing to read about a knight who was raised to be a lady? Or two knights falling in love with each other.” — Tobias

Set in 1904 New York, Richard Morton quit his job right before Christmas after learning that if he didn’t, a colleague of his with family would lose his. Richard’s pen pal of six years, Tobias Eden, offers to provide lodging for him.

The opening was a tad bit confusing, with many not-very-important characters, and the chapter didn’t run very smoothly, either, but the story quickly picked up as we begin to understand that Richard and Tobias are not only pen pals who found each other because of their shared experience of being transgender, but also a bit more than friends as Tobias often flirts in his letters.

Everything was told through Richard’s third-person POV. I love that he uses they/them pronouns for Tobias’s cat before learning the gender. And Tobias is very sweet, truly caring of Richard, and bookish. Who doesn’t like a bookish main character? Also, Richard is a big guy, and I think the fat rep was done well, too.

What I love the most about this novella is the wording in the sex scene. It was carefully described, and I imagine it to be as non-triggering as possible for people with gender dysphoria.

Being a 19k-word novella of little plot with one sex scene, The Longest Night isn’t my kind of book, but I love that this story exists for all the readers who hope to see themselves in fiction.

Thanks to lauraღ for bringing this book to my attention! Read her review here.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining friendship listening 🎶🔰

This is a free novella on Amazon.

Richard loses his job at the hotel in New York City. He has no job and no place to stay. He ends up ☝ going to Tobias place in up state New York. They have been pinpals for a number of years. They change from friends to a new relationship.

Not what I expected but give it a try it may be OK for you. 2023 😀😯😕😁

[lauraღ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I wish the stories had happier endings though," Richard added, a little wistfully. 

"I wish they had people like us," Tobias said.

  
This is an incredibly sweet historical romance featuring two trans men who have been penpals for years, coming together at last during Christmas. It's very tender and thoughtful and heartwarming. What I love about queer historical romance is that feeling of relief and happiness and homecoming when you find someone who's just like you, and just how comforting and heartening that can be. I loved Richard and Tobias in the short amount of time that we spent with them. The author really managed to nail that feeling of nervousness and awkwardness that being around someone that you've known for years, but have never before met in person, can elicit. All of the conflict here is internal, but I was still hooked from beginning to end. It's mostly a really cosy holiday story, but there's also a really swoony sex scene.  

This could have used a closer edit, but it's very graciously being made available for free, so I'm not counting that as a flaw. And it's still very readable.  

Seriously, go read this. It's warm and hopeful and just what I needed today.  

(Download link as provided by author. It's also available for free from ebook vendors.)

[Kaylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was soo sweet! I loved it. Was what I was in the mood for: something fluffy but with some self-doubt, something with cute and hot scenes, something that had a lot of feeling while being so short. And even with it being so short, I found myself with multiple things I wanted to quote here, and that made me chuckle and "aw." Loved how they were pen-pals for many years and finally get to meet and grow their relationship; it also didn't feel rushed at all since you get the sense of how the relationship was already going from Richard in the beginning.

I enjoyed how unsure Richard (whose POV this is in) was about finally meeting Tobias and how things might be different since they'd never met and only communicated over letters, and under these specific circumstances. The insecurities between these two were completely understandable but I am so glad they did not drag on.

I loved Guinevere! So freakin' cute! Also love how she's just there and there's all the love between the three of them. It's just so smooth and comfortable, like they'd been doing it for years.

The editing, though...! Whoa. Soo bad. Normally I'd let it slide especially for something so short, but in this case it's partially because it's so short that it's even more of a problem. There are just soo many. And things that are super easy. Things I learned while posting my fanfiction years ago.
Couple of things wrong here, and this was throughout; not to mention a more tame version: "I am." Richard swallowed the lump back down. "I'm just glad to be here."
Tobias smiled at him, soft and sweet, and squeezed his arm. "I'm glad to."

[Anniek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been wanting to branch out within the romance genre, because I've mainly been reading contemporary romance. So this was my first time picking up a historical romance. And it certainly won't be the last. I loved reading about a relationship between two people who are BOTH trans, as I don't feel like we get that very often and it feels so special. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a kind of cute, free holiday historical short story about two trans men who find each other. I loved that aspect of it, but "okay" is about as high as I can rate it. I didn't connect with it at all. A lot of secondary characters and side plots come up in the beginning, but are never mentioned again. There's a lot in this story that's never wrapped up, so it feels a little unfinished. I read Ottoman because he writes interesting queer stories, but this one wasn't actually very interesting in the end. It's kind of cute and free, so I shouldn't complain too much.

However. I am not usually bothered by a lack of proofreading, but this story had so many typos, misused words, sentence fragments, punctuation errors, confusing sentence structures, and more(!) that it did actually get to me. It was distracting and I found myself hunting for the next error for fun rather than paying attention to the story. Not a good sign. I doubt anyone read this all the way through before it was published. There seemed to be an autocorrect thing going on where you could tell what the word was meant to be, but it had been replaced by something else. This happened a lot and my favourite instance was "carcasses" for "caresses." It made me laugh and certainly changed the tone of the love scene! I've read a lot of this author's books and he's never been great with the proofreading, but this was just over-the-top negligence. When an editor is named and there's this many errors, it just makes both the author and editor look bad. Make an effort, folks.

[Teleseparatist · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, cozy historical romance with two trans characters. It's kind and cute, and very comforting, if a little under-edited (some typos distracted me at times).

[Victoria (Eve's Alexandria) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* A charming beguiling novella, with a surprisingly high level of pining and slow burn given its short length. I was absolutely desperate for both men to find their happiness - the tender way they treated each other wrung out my heart. My main problem really is that I think it would have benefited from being longer, with a more in-depth treatment of some of the themes, which felt a little loose in parts.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A warm and cozy historical holiday story. Needs better editing

[Corinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Very sweet, low-stakes story with a great sense of place and very endearing characters. Perfect for a wintery night.

[Aleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely historical romance short story about two trans men who have been pen pals for years meeting for the first time.

[Amur Thera · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good
+ Their sweet letters
+ The domesticity
+ The openness to each other about their pasts
+ Tobias being really sweet and understanding (sometimes even too sweet) about Richard's hesitation

The neutral
o This book really needed some editing

The bad
- There was no HEA. The ending was very open and it was unclear whether they'd stay together
- The wolf plot seemed prominent, but turned out to be irrelevant


This was really sweet and domestic. I liked it, and I wished it had been longer or the ending more conclusive. Now I'm left wondering whether they could build a life together that would make them both happy. Nevertheless, it was a cozy read.

[Amy Cousins]

The Longest Night by EE Ottoman is a lovely historical romance novella with two trans heroes who have been writing letters to each other for years, but are meeting for the first time when Richard loses his job and home and Tobias asks him to visit for the holidays. As always, everything EE writes is incredibly well-researched and deeply anchored in place and time. I really enjoyed this.

[Alex (HEABookNerd) · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE LONGEST NIGHT was a quick and gentle read about two men in the early 1900s who have been writing letters to each other and now they finally have the chance to meet in person. It's low angst and a sweet holiday read as they find companionship during the cold nights.

[Anna]

A quiet historical romance novella about two trans men in early 1900's New York. A friendship and love formed by years of letter-writing, then when situations change for Richard, he and Tobais finally meet.

This is a sweet story with fantastic rep, perfect for the dark nights of winter.

[Mio · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I wish the stories had happier endings though."
"I wish they had people like us. Wouldn't that be something?"

I want to get those lines tattooed on my body, that's how much they hit me right in the gut.
This might have been my favourite exchange in a book ever, because it is exactly what I have longed for in any medium in my life. Books, movies, series... it is all the same for me in my search for connection and understanding! I loved this (very!!) short story, only wished there had been more. I would have gladly read about 200 pages more of this. I wish E.E. Ottomans books were more widely known, and would receive some more attention. Especially would love audiobooks. (As a (voice) actor myself I would have loved to narrate them, but my American accent wouldn't cut it I'm afraid.)
(also maybe one more round of proofreading to iron out some errors, but that is so inconsequential I feel petty even commenting on it, though the usage of the word "carcasses" instead of "caresses" really did take me out of it lol)

emotionally five stars.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.

Contains: both heroes trans, pen pals, recently unemployed hero, city boy + country boy, isolated cabin, winter solstice, reading, no angst

Very vague HEA — future is unknown, offer to stay in cabin, promises to write if he leaves

CW: mentions of ability to pass (or not) but no on-page transphobia

Steam: 2 (one scene)

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and sweet festive read to finish off my 2021 reading. Aside from numerous typos, this was an enjoyable little book. Read it for the adorable moments between shy boys in love spending days reading together by the fire while an adorable cat lounges beside them.

[seasalted.citrus (Topaz, Oliver) · Rating 3 out of 5]

E.E. Ottoman-typical cozy + affirming queer vibes, and vividly described food. Rating would be slightly higher, if the typos and grammar errors weren’t so frequent it became distracting.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh. I have so many hopes every time I read this author and every time my main reaction is disappointment. He needs an editor so badly and he never gets one. Even a beta reader who was decent with grammar and paying attention to detail would make such a huge difference. Also, the ending is inevitably too abrupt and leaves me feeling frustrated and like there's more to the story that I'm not getting, something else betaing and editing would make such a difference with.

Having said all that I love that he brings such wonderful trans representation and I love that they always end positively, it's important to read that. I really liked the setting of the story as well.

[hedgehog · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm glad this was free on Kindle. I would have returned it had I paid any amount of money for something that did not appear to have been proofread. I stopped counting errors (vocabulary mixups, incorrectly punctuated dialogue, comma splices galore, and missing commas to such an extent one might assume there had been a comma shortage at the Punctuation Store) once they exceeded the actual page count. Yikes.

Even ignoring the plethora of errors, the writing is plodding and clunky, lurching from one dull list of character actions to the next. The dialogue is mostly the MCs narrating what they're doing at each other while they're doing it. These characters supposedly carried on a warm and lively correspondence over a number of years. On page, there was about as much chemistry as someone trying to romance an Alexa with a grocery list. Romance novellas rarely have much plot, which is fine, but the wooden prose made a fairly simple story frame a chore to get through. (Confusingly, there's an attempt to put in some danger with the dog thing, but it doesn't go anywhere. Why waste the page space, then?)

[Leigh Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely Yule romance between two trans men, filled with companionable reading and putting garland together. I wish we could have gotten some of the letters they exchanged before they met. This was so short! It ends on an HFN and I’m confident Richard and Tobias will be able to find a way to make things work long-term. There’s a fair amount of typos but it didn’t bother me, in part because this was a freebie that the author put out last year.

Character notes: Richard is a fat white trans hotel maitre’d. Tobias is a trans man with red hair and glasses. He has a cat named Guinevere. This is set in 1904 NYC and upstate NY.

Content notes: on page sex, alcohol, past sex work (sugar Daddy/sugar baby arrangement), mention of off-page animal death (e.g. sheep killed by a feral dog), brief references to societal homophobia and transphobia

[Hart_D (ajibooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely and atmospheric romance and I'm so glad I read it.

I've had the experience of meeting long-time long-distance friends, and this story captured the hopeful awkwardness of that situation very well. It's also very evocative of the time and place and I liked all the historical details, such as how Richard and Tobias first started writing to each other.

Mainly, though, the cozy cottage really feels like a safe haven for Richard and Tobias, and I loved seeing them find peace together there. It's a very good holiday read.

[Lotta]

A sweet historical romance between two men who meet after being long time pen pals. A good proofreading would have been good, but I really enjoyed the story, and it was free.

[Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet novella set in 1904 and centered around Richard losing his position and home right at Christmas. What Richard does when he finds out was so thoughtful, it gives you an idea of his character already. He has been writing letters with Tobias for six years but has never actually met him. That changes when Tobias insists Richard come stay with him while he sorts things out. Their initial time together was awkward and realistic. There was a learning curve while Richard got over being afraid of what they could be. Then they were gentle, quiet and lovely.

[QuietlyKat]

The Longest Night is a really sweet and heartwarming little freebie that I truly enjoyed. That said, it’s riddled with typos, commas where there shouldn’t be commas, missing commas where the should be commas, autocorrect choosing the wrong word (for example, carcasses instead of caresses 😆), sometimes as many as 5 typos or grammatical errors on a single page. It seems this one wasn’t proofread at all. Still, it’s a freebie with an endearing story that captured my heart.

4 stars for my enjoyment of the story.

[Poppy || Monster Lover · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I enjoyed a peak back in time with a T4T romance. The story was short and sweet with a long lasting friendship that was almost entirely off page. There were a lot of editing errors, especially a lack of commas, which I usually don’t stress over. But when there are errors every page, often more than one a page, it takes me out of the story.

Spice: 2/5

Triggers: transphobia (implied off page), loss of job, grief from loss of friends and family, discussion of isolation

[Robin Mandell · Rating 4 out of 5]

So charming...I want more.

EE Ottoman’s historical romance is always a joy - charming and tender and sweet but also filled with everyday reality. So I had to pick this vook up, even though I don’t read many holiday books. I’m so glad I did, even if the story was over too soon
I loved reading about Richard an Tobias and wanted so much more of their story!

[Megan]

Lovely Solstice romance, sweet with cozy domesticity (I wanted to hear about their every meal and their holiday decorations!) and sweet with the awkward nervousness & apprehension that Richard and Tobias work through.