Play With Me by Ananth - Book Review

• Publisher: Penguin House
• Price: Rs. 250/- (I got this book for review from the publisher)

Once in a very blue moon, you are confronted with astonishing beauty ... Sid is a successful photographer in a boutique ad agency. He is single and has everything he wants – a great job, great colleagues and a hassle- free life. But if there is one thing that has eluded him – it is love. Until the gorgeous, free-spirited Cara walks into his life. Se*ually obsessed, the two begin a charged affair that disrupts all his notions of love and transforms the way Sid thinks about erotic pleasure. But then something strange happens – Sid finds himself falling in love with another woman.

From the synopsis, you must have got an idea of what this book contains. The success of Fifty Shades of Grey has spawned a horde of authors seeking to find similar success in the erotica genre and the latest in that list is Ananth Padmanabhan, Sr. Vice President at Penguin. The book revolves around three very urban characters working together in an ad agency - the protagonist Sid, the gorgeous, sensual and carefree Cara and the caring and nurturing married mommy figure Nat. As expected, there is a lot of se* in the book. Call me gender biased but I honestly did not have much faith in an Indian man writing about erotica without making it sleazy. Ananth thankfully does not.

In terms of the storyline, there is really nothing extraordinary. Sid is single, aloof, obsessed with work and Cara . Cara is the uninhibited intern from New York who loves se* and is always at it with Sid. Nat is married and dotes on Sid. Sid at first thinks he is in love with Cara but then realizes that it is Nat whom he wants. And that's it actually. No twists or turns or an unexpected climax. I finished the book in 3 hrs not because I was so engrossed in it that I could not keep it down. I just found it so 'flat' that I finished it in one go (and also I had to write the review). None of the characters reached out to me and after I finished the book, they were out of my mind.

If you are looking for a light, meaningless, racy read, you might like Play With Me. I just found all that se* tedious after a point.