Broken in spirit, Harry Grimes is saved by a young woman who turns out to need some saving herself. Together, they and their friends combine strengths and divide weaknesses, building a most unusual modern tribe and exploring the meaning of friendship, love, and sexuality in a "freak-friendly" community.
Size: 5072 KB (932,827 words)
Genre: Erotica
Sex Contents: Some Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa, mt/ft, Fa/Fa, Ma/Ma, Consensual, Romantic, BiSexual, Heterosexual, Incest, Brother, Sister, BDSM, DomSub, MaleDom, FemaleDom, Light Bond, Spanking, Group Sex, Harem, Orgy, Polygamy/Polyamory, Interracial, Black Female, White Male, White Female, Oriental Female, Hispanic Female, Indian Female, Anal Sex, Analingus, Double Penetration, First, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Pegging, BBW, Slow
Review by Peter_H [other reviews by Peter_H]
Reviewed:
Oil of Roses has been around for quite a while now.
A pretty amazing story arc where several people go and rescue each other, add to their relationships, rescue others, build a community set in a fictional (and, as the author themselves has said, not very realistic) BDSM & kink scene. Houses like medieval nobility, jockeying for power and influence. Nasties, slavers, child-abusers around the edges (some of whom get their just deserts).
It takes a while to read through all of this :-)
There are a lot of names and some characters seem to go by multiples ... and despite there being a page dedicated to 'cast' that list is organized in a way that made it hard for me to locate any name I did not recognize ... nevertheless, I decided to just let it go and muddle on through. Maybe other readers have a bigger random access memory for character names. Just be prepared: cast of thousands.
I must admit, I was surprised when I saw the numbers of editors involved, and even more surprised when I read the other reviews of this tale: If there's one thing that seriously detracted from my enjoyment of this story it was how consistently, how persistently 'he' 'him' 'I' 'me' 'who' and 'whom' were used. Used *wrong*.
There are some missing words and some mis-formed sentences, a few typos, but not so bad that they detract, but I find the abuse of personal pronouns cringe making when it happens in the numbers seen here. That's really brought my technical score down.
I think the plot is good, even though we're basically ending on a cliff hanger and I prefer a story to close on an ending. But there is a sequel, and I think another sequel in progress.
If you'd like to read an epic story, set in a 'different' kind of fantasy world, and the occasional S&M does not squick you out too much, this can really be a lot of fun to get your teeth into.
Review by bajabuc [other reviews by bajabuc]
Reviewed:
I cried.
Where there was tragedy, I cried.
Where there was comedy, I laughed.
Where there was love, I loved.
This is a great story, deserves to be a movie. The characters are real people, and I'm sure that Fillmore was as amazed by them as I was. Technically, I found three mistakes. And I admit it was hard to figure out who was speaking in places.
Review by Vitruvian Manuel [other reviews by Vitruvian Manuel]
Reviewed:
I wish I could say that I sucked this one down in a lost week, going without sleep, but it took quite a while for the author to finish. Now that Book 1 is done, I invite you all to read away!
The Bad:
Um...It took a long time to get finished? Some of the relationships are confusing at times? Seriously, this story got one of my few 10's. If I really thought about it, I could come up with some flaws, but I don't want to.
The Good:
Slow builder with good sex shout. Interesting characters having interesting relationships as they wend their way through interesting adventures.
The Last Call:
Close this window and read the damn book.
--Manny
Review by Bobster [other reviews by Bobster]
Reviewed:
This is a fantastic story about a man that was emotionally shattered, then rescued in a wonderful way. Along the way he helps rescue a number of others in different ways. All with a gentle touch of humor where it does the most good. There are a number of sub plots and twists, but all contribute to, rather than distract from, the story.
Well written with few to no technical errors, it is an engaging easy read. But make no mistake, be sure you have plenty of time set aside before you start because you won't want to stop.
The story is still active, and I am anxiously awaiting the next installment! No major squicks, however it is a fairly involved BDSM D/s story. (My personal favorite kind!)
Review by Woody [other reviews by Woody]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
Somewhere in Texas, Harry is a man who has been emotionally shattered by the decay of his marriage. He is sitting in a bar not caring at all what happens to him anymore. Carol is a compassionate woman who rescues Harry from self destruction and convinces him that just maybe he still has a reason to live. Oh, by the way, Carol is, “a pet, a slave, a submissive, a sex toy.”
This is a story of Harry, Carol, their friends and their lovers. It’s an adventure, a party, a love story and so much more. The situations will have you frightened, excited, crying, and often rolling on the floor laughing proving that this author’s imagination knows few bounds. There is frequent use of drugs and alcohol in the story so be forewarned although the major addiction seems to be to coffee.
The sex is widely varied in situation, orientation, time, and place. The only thing it doesn’t show much variation in is intensity. Fortunately, there is both plot and sex in good quantities and well mixed.
The writing is high quality and the chapters are frequent, long, and satisfying. Try it, you’ll probably find yourself hooked.
(An addition several years later - the book has continued with many characters added and a expanding plot line. It's gone a bit more into the D&S sub-culture than I really like but the author's wonderful imagination still shows few boundaries. I'm amazed by what he can come up with. I still can't help but love Harry and Carol and many of the early characters but the book is less appealing to me at this point although still a fantastic tale and well worth reading... and I can't help but wonder... it all seems so real... does that stuff really happen in Texas of all places?)
