Who hasn’t dreamed about meeting a real life handsome Prince?? Well Carter has fantasized about the very handsome and gay Prince Edgar whose the Prince Of England! Carter has recently caught his ex cheating and now he’s depressed and doesn’t believe true love exists. So to Carters shocks he meets Prince Edgar at work event, and sparks fly. Before he knows it the two are dating. Of course their new relationship receives intense media scrutiny and the disapproval of the Queen of England. Carter feels self doubt with everyone watching his and Edgar’s every move. Soon it’s apparent both he and Edgar have their guards up to protect themselves from getting hurt, which keeps them from expressing their true feelings and their fears and to be open with each-other. Can both Edgar and Carter fight for true love and find their happily every after?

An event planner, a prince, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, pancakes, and dancing with a happy-ever-after. Will there be a royal wedding that the palace has never seen before?

Very cute, very witty. It def met the expectations I had coming in. I do love this cover and it's a cute romance.

I think going into this a fan of Red, White, & Royal Blue, one will tend to compare it to it due to the similarities on the surface -- the colour scheme and font, for example. Unfortunately, too much of it was similar inside as well, yet just not as well done. It fell a little flat, which was disappointing because we really do need more queer romcoms out there. I think in trying too hard to be so similar to what has essentially become a classic within its subgenre, this book was set up for failure.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

*sigh*

I really wanted to like this book. I desperately wanted to like this book.

The characters, the plot, the challenges the protags faced...it was just all unfortunately boring.

Carter is an assistant event coordinator with a kooky boss putting on some event about something or other that's important enough for the Prince of England to be present and give a speech. Edgar, said Prince, is....giving a speech. And has a nice smile. That's their meeting and the basis of their relationship.

I got no sense of connection between the two and they didn't have a real, on-page, conversation about anything. Carter and Edgar had one date that ended abruptly when Edgar was recognized in the restaurant, another date to Carter's sister's wedding (just inviting people willy-nilly????), sex, a "scandal," meeting the Queen of England (who is apparently just the trope of Meddling Grandma), fall instantly in love, break up bc of a smattering of sexual assault and victim blaming, get back together after a public declaration of love?? Married??????

I know we're supposed to suspend reality for a fictional novel about a gay prince of England falling in love with a commoner, but that was done so much better a few years ago with Red White and Royal Blue. And I know this book shouldn't be compared to that one, but God the difference in quality.

I'm sorry Rudnick. You get points for being a gay male writing about gay male characters. That's something RWRB didn't have and that's on McQuiston.

I really wanted to like this book.

I wanted to love this story. It fell a little flat for me, but that doesn’t mean it will for you.

I enjoyed the beginning with the character introductions and story setup. Somewhere along the way, little things began to take away my reading pleasure.

In the guise of humor, too many cliches entered into the story.
The main love interests are terribly immature for twenty-nine years old.
I do love sarcasm & snark in dialogue, but this felt forced at times.
The book feels like Red, White, and Royal Blue fanfic, but it still holds it's own.

I did enjoy the characters of James and the Queen quite a bit. Their interjections made me smile, even if they were over the top.
I loved Miriam and the New Jersey family dynamics.
Carter's parents were a hoot.

At no time did I consider not finishing it. It is an entertaining story with some great characters. I simply wanted a more realistic feel to the actions and plot.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, fast read. If you are a fan of sarcasm, royals, and the “Prince in love with a commoner” trope, you should check this book out.

I didn’t love this book as much as I thought I would. While I did enjoy it and it’s a quick read, I didn’t necessarily connect with the characters. However, this book was fun and had me laughing out loud at various parts and is a quick read.

So, I've never read anything by Paul Rudnick, but this had shades of Red, White, and Royal Blue, which I loved. I definitely needed to give this a shot.

Carter Ogden, an event planner in NYC, happens up none other than the Prince of England, Prince Edgar, while planning an event one day. Before he knows it, he and Edgar fall for each other and are in the midst of a relationship. Edgar invites Carter to England to meet his family and finds much more than he bargained for. Will their relationship survive it?

Firstly, the humor in this. LOVED it. I chuckled so much while I was reading this book. Obviously the mix of sarcasm and wit was perfect for my sense of humor. I really enjoyed it throughout.

Also, Carter was intriguing? But like part of me was watching him mentally through my fingers and just going, really, sweetheart? What are you doing right now? I felt like such an Edgar. Because I was totally sitting there and just thinking wow, you are definitely not an Anglophile. I mean, don't get me wrong, my klutziness might get me in trouble with the royals. But whoo.

I did really enjoy Edgar and Carter as a couple. They were super cute.

I guess my one kind of personal real issue was this sexually was SO tame. Was this supposed to be YA? Because of how tame it was, it really felt like it. And I mean, you do you, Rudnick. But yeah...

Overall, I really enjoyed this. You can write some more gay fiction like this anytime, sir. I will read it.

Thank you for the arc!

To be honest I thought this was a knockoff, Red White and Royal Blue. There were a lot of similarities. I did end up enjoying this book regardless and I would still recommend it.

This was fun, but not my favorite M/M romance. I appreciated the OwnVoices writing and perspective and am looking to continue branching out in my romance pairings.

This one gave me all the RWRB vibes and I’m sorry but when you have something so fantastic as RWRB there’s no need to try and copy it. DNF from me.

PLAYING THE PALACE was a fun sweet romance between Carter and openly gay Prince Edgar.

I loved the cast of characters, and thought Carter’s family and friends were both charming and fun, making me love the story even more.

*many thanks to Berkley/Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

I really enjoyed this. I think this was the first Male/Male romance I had read since Red White and Royal Blue, so it was a great palate cleanser from the heterosexual ones I have been reading.

“Playing the Palace” has an excellent premise, who wouldn’t want to read about a prince falling for an American event planner? I was prepared for a sweet romance with a few obstacles (because there always has to be an obstacle). What I got though, was a whirlwind romance with a lot of cringe and a lot of big mistakes.

Carter Ogden is a witty mess of a person who meets Prince Edgar, the openly gay Prince of England. Life is already hard for Edgar, as he faces very real and heartbreaking homophobia from around the world. After a fast-paced and “insta love” start to their relationship, both men must learn to deal with dating in the spotlight and trying to win over the people of England… and the Queen. They also had to win me over and by the end, I didn’t believe they really loved each other…or even knew that much about each other.

So many times while reading this book I wanted to reach through the pages and shake both of them for being so obnoxiously stupid. When characters make too many embarrassing mistakes it definitely turns me off of a book, and I have to admit I put this one down for a couple of months before coming back to it. It seemed like every chapter, Carter had a new scandal and the secondhand embarrassment was just too real for me.

Putting the main plot of the story aside, I enjoyed the wit of the characters and Carter’s overbearing but loving family. They were always there for him, even though his decisions and actions weren't always good. Possibly my favorite character was the Queen. She was a delightful badass who just wanted good things for Edgar even if she sometimes showed it in odd ways. I think reading the book from her point of view would have been a riot and possibly made me like the book more than I did.

Though I didn’t love “Playing the Palace”, I still enjoyed it and would absolutely pick up future romances by Rudnick.

3.5 stars.

'Playing the Palace' was like watching a Christmas movie on Netflix but much better. I would love to see this book as a musical, because it has that perfectly rythm in which every character would get their singing part to tell the incredible story of Edgar and Carter. I love the historical value that Paul gave to their love story, the English royalty vs LGBTQ community. One thing I must say is that I would love to read Edgar's perspective because the character lacks of feelings in the writing process until the very end. I don't see Edgar loving Carter as much because it focuses more on Carter's POV, so I kind of understand a little bit, but it would have been satisfying seeing Edgar act upon Carter's feelings since they started to have sex.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and it was an fun read, but it is way too similar to another book by the same author. I like the Jewish family and a lot of things about the book, but it's not really what I expected.

I’m pretty sure I’m not alone when wishing this would have deserved some of the red white & royal blue hype. Unfortunately, this book was not my cup of tea and I didn’t like the characters or pacing. Made me want to DNF it but I stuck with it despite the disappointment.

I thought I was going to love this book because the blurb reminded me so much of Red White and Royal Blue. I put off reading it because I was worried this was just going to be a rip off of one of my favorite novels. However, my worries were misplaced because this is nothing like RWRB. This has a shallow, cringey, archiveofourown writing style that was incredibly frustrating. All the characters were incredibly two-dimensional. They embodied so many tropes and stereotypes, I honestly feel like this was written by a straight white man in his mid to late forties. I hated how the one Black character was used a comedy bit when discussing the oppression of the world. Lastly, and more importantly, the romantic relationship between the two main characters had me scratching my head. They had no chemistry and their witty banter was childish and mean. I love a story with lots of sex, but these guys didn't have the emotional connection or development on-page that is required for me to enjoy the steamy bits. Major dissapointment overall.

Super cute and fast LGBTQ romcom. With so many books about an American girl finding her Prince, we need more same sex romances of the same genre. Following in the footsteps of RWARB, this one seems lighter and more full of snappy dialogue.

Also the RBG tie ins were chefs kiss!