Play With Me (Grover Beach Team #1) by Anna Katmore | Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1.5)

After reading a small blurb on a friends book blog, I was excited to see that Play With Me was free on Amazon. It seemed like the perfect freebee for a day spent sitting outside in the sunshine and reading a book filled with fluffy goodness. Nothing says Jessica’s Weakness like fluffy reading and sunshine.

Most of the people I’ve talked to had great things to say about this book and I was startled to find that I didn’t like it at all. In fact, it was so disappointing to me that I deleted it from my Kindle straight away. What is it that went wrong? I’m not entirely sure. I can’t place it off the top of my head.

There was just something missing from the story. It didn’t all mesh well. It was too fast, too lacking something that it made it impossible for me to want to finish it. Play With Me held a lot of promise but came through boring and not at all my cup of tea. There were moments when I thought it would pick up and showed me great promise but nada: even the cutesy, giggle and swoon worthy moments of romance couldn’t save this story for me personally.

I feel horrible saying all this, but it’s true.


I literally had to drag myself into wrapping it up, which is rare for a story at its length. It’s very short in pages and that is, probably, my biggest issue with it. Novellas and short stories aren’t typically my thing unless I’m familiar with the world it’s set in, therefore I should maybe look into more by her and see if that’s just what I’m missing.

Or perhaps I’m getting too old for books of this genre. All I know is that Play With Me is quite possibly one of the least fascinating books I’ve read as of late and I feel like sighing even now thinking about it.

Which is completely and utterly disappointing.

Although Anna Katmore’s writing isn’t necessarily bad, it’s certainly better than other writers in the genre, the characters and plots just felt played out and bland. Purely vanilla. I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters, I didn’t find myself a fan of either of the potential love interests for our leading lady. And at times, I found myself rolling my eyes at said leading lady. It was rushed and cliche filled and just not at all something I found captivating.

Honestly, the only thing I can say I found good about it is that our leading lady loves the X-Men films, which is completely unrelated to the plot and I don’t even know why I placing it in my review. And the moments towards the end of this short story, a kiss in particular, was really nice to read. But there you have it. I wasn’t a fan of this story but as usual, I urge my readers to find out for themselves. Play With Me may not be my cup of tea, but it could very well be yours.

Let me know, readers, if I should give this story another chance.