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Date Posted: 03:18:27 10/19/25 Sun
Author: Curious
Author Host/IP: 49.196.179.198
Subject: (SFFR) Gretchen Goes To The Kentucky Derby (HagenMrk) - A Review

Warning: This Review Contains Spoilers

Gretchen Goes To The Kentucky Derby (HagenMrk) - A Review

Part One - The Author

HagenMrk is a veteran smoking fetish fiction author who's in addition runs a 'sightings blog' that this reviewer is surprised has not been used as a source of inspiration by other writers. He has created several series of smoking fetish stories.(1)

Part Two - Gretchen Goes To The Kentucky Derby

The story which is the thirteenth story in the Gretchen Series was as far as I know first published in Vol. 145 of the Noble Leaf Library and republished in 'The Gretchen Chronicles'. For the Paulson clan the Kentucky Derby was a big event, but given the family's past history, would it be a quiet one.

Part Three - Comments

As with 'Gretchen's Red Jaguar and Velvet Dreams' the story that precedes it in the series, there are three basic plot strands, which I'm dubbing 'A','B' 'C'. The 'A' plot focusses on Gretchen and those around her. The 'B' plot focusses on three individuals who split off from the main group, Jordyn, daughter of Sophia Fiorento, the current CEO of Phillip Morris and Gretchen's protege, Olivia, daughter of Melissa, Gretchen's younger sister and Brayden, Gretchen's son.

The main, or 'A' plot deals with the race itself, Phillip Morris & R J Reynolds are both running horses in the race and company whose horse wins will garner a lot of publicity. However it's not the race itself that's the key moment, it's the head of R J Reynolds attack on Gretchen, an attack based around the long term effects of smoking, an attack directed not at Gretchen herself, but her husband, a fictionalised version of the author and narrator for parts of the story. In it's aftermath, his certainties are shaken and finds himself contemplating for perhaps the first time, the price the fetish can exact.

In the 'B' plot Brayden, established as the anti-smoker in the family and as someone who wants to control the world around him for his own personal comfort(1) gets an unexpected shock, Olivia, his cousin, last seen in the series as a flower girl at her aunt Tina's wedding has started to experiment with the habit. His response is ugly culminating in a thinly veiled threat to tell Melissa what her daughter has been up to. Jordyn, someone who's thoughts on smoking have been left ambiguous finds herself caught in the middle of the tussle, at it's climax she shows the first hints as to which direction she may take in the future, but circumstances dictate otherwise.

The 'C' plot is a continuation of Kilee's plotline from the previous story as she continues the relationship she entered into during the course of that story.

The ending is interesting, the narrator learns what his son Brayden already knows about Olivia, but unsure of exactly what's going on, chooses to not speak. Gretchen on the other hand has noticed the change in her husbands demeanor and asks him about it, he punts saying he will discuss things with her later.

Thus the story ends on a somewhat ominous note, which I hope the author will resolve in the next story. I have no problems recommending it, but I do recommend that the previous stories be read as it will provide additional background.

Notes:

1. As established in 'Gretchen's Red Jaguar and Velvet Dreams' which can be found in 'The Gretchen Chronicles', a review of this story

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