First of all, thank you to Berkley Books for an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review!

Playing the Palace follows heart broken Carter, an event architect, who runs into Prince Edgar, the Crown Prince of England. When they just seem to click, Carter must decide if he's willing to go all the way into the spotlight to follow his heart.

First of all, love the premise. I mean, this is basically the grown-up version of Red, White, and Royal Blue with both characters being openly gay. It took me a long time ot get used to the writing style and the voice, but once it hit the halfway mark, I really flew through the book. Overall, I'd say I enjoyed it, but the beginning can take some time to get into.

A funny, contemporary romance. For people who love:

Royalty AUs
Meet-Cutes
(Disaster) Millennials Falling In Love
Princes falling in love with an American civilian (from New Jersey)
American civilian (from New Jersey) falling in love with a Prince
Supportive (and HILARIOUS) Friendships
Dramatic (but supportive) families
Communication

I enjoyed the tone of Playing the Palace, which was innately funny and charming, and hilariously satirical of the almost-30 lifestyle and the genres/tropes of contemporary romance. At times this pushed into glib and irreverent territory, which can be entertaining, but is definitely something to watch for if it's something you don't enjoy.

I LOVED the first half of this book. It was set up to be a believable meet cute between main characters, with great dialogue and fantastic side characters. When entering the relationship, both Carter and Prince Edgar are approaching it as adults who have been burned by love in the past, and are trying to openly communicate with each other. As the book progressed, the sense that they were communicating and working towards falling in love became an aside to the shenanigans of 'courting' a Crown Prince in the public eye. So while the first half of the book was a 5-star from me, the second half was a 3-star: the relationship between the main characters coasted on their initial meetings rather than built.

I loved this story. So much! I went into this thinking that there was no way this could be as good, or as funny, or as heartwarming as the last one I read that matched a commoner to a royal. But I was proved wrong. Very wrong. This story is so funny! So heartwarming! So appealing! With wonderful main and secondary characters. Oh how I loved Aunt Miriam, Queen Catherine, James, Abby, and Mom and Dad from Piscataway, New Jersey. Carter’s roomies and friends. Broadway tunes, feminist ferocious women, and so much more. Where to start?

At the beginning. Carter is an event coordinator, or assistant event coordinator, to be more accurate. He meets Prince Edgar at the UN during an event in which Edgar must make a speech. Carter spends a few off-the-cuff moments coaching Edgar on how to keep his presentation from being dry and boring. And from that moment until the end of the book I turned page after page of drama, humor, family entertainment, hilarious interactions between Carter and the world, romantic adventures, mile-high-club-in-the-royal-jet moments, and Carter putting his foot in his mouth moments—and there were many of those.

I can’t recommend this highly enough. I literally laughed out loud more times in this story than in any other book I’ve read in recent memory. And I don’t normally laugh out loud at all—except via text message emojis. This story pokes fun at both America and Great Britain. Since Americans—and the world, really—have had much more exposure to the life of royals behind the scenes, the royal family in this story felt real. The queen was full of starch and vinegar but underlying her imposing persona was love for her grandson, her heir, and in the long run, she wanted him happy. Carter’s family, especially his sister Abby, was spot-on and totally supportive. When Carter finally allowed himself to believe he wasn’t as much of a klutz as he acted, his life went well, especially when he took the advice of Justice Ruth, who, in framed photo form, was with Carter wherever he went, offering imaginary words of advice. And that isn’t as weird in this story as it may sound here, but Ruth had a role in helping Carter achieve his life’s dream.

Don’t hesitate to pick this up. It is Entertainment with a capital E.

A LOL take on a royal romance, that I just adored. Prince Edgar is the first openly gay crowned prince, when he meets Carter Ogden by chance at an event, the fireworks are instantaneous.

Paul Rudnick does not really do anything special with the trope, but somehow I just loved this so much. The narration by Carter is just so delightful, with all the humor, mishaps and fears one might have when suddenly thrown into the limelight.

I found myself totally rooting for Edgar and Carter. This is totally a fluff read but who cares, sometimes that is exactly what you need.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 78%

My thanks to the publisher and my apologies that this did not end up being the book for me. I do think this book will be for a lot of people, which is made clear by the overwhelming 4-start reviews on Goodreads.

I had some issues throughout the book with the severe self-depreciation of the main character, the number of "pep talks" he was given, and the unnecessary number of foibles he fell into that were "embarrassing" for the monarchy. There was also a LOT of telling instead of showing with character motivation.

The thing that was a step too far into ridiculousness for me was the "reveal' of the main character having met up with his ex before the big tv interview. Apart from the unnecessary "reveal" of it all that felt unearned, I was bothered by the idea that he would get out of Buckingham Palace without anyone asking him where he went, ESPECIALLY when they're set to be interviewed the next day.

I know this is me overthinking a lite romance, but it was just one thing too many.

I know this book is going to get a ton of comparison to Red, White, and Royal Blue, but it really shouldn't. Aside from the Prince part, it's pretty different!

Playing the Palace is about a Regular Joe event planner who begins a relationship with a Prince, and also all of the conundrums that come along with dating the first openly gay Royal. It's a novel of follies and funny banter, a main character who has conversations with a poster of RBG and a Prince who is hesitant to trust. It's a basic contemporary romance, with a too cute to be realistic theme. It was enjoyable and fun, recommended if you want a romantic and light escape!

If you like a fast paced, royal love story, this one is for you. It was the perfect summer read. 100% a vacation novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book!

3.5 stars.

I really hate that this book is compared so much already to Red, White, and Royal Blue because I feel like it's going to be criticized way harsher for that comparison. It was a super fun read, but I just know it's going to get way more criticism because of this comparison.

Carter Odgen is an event planner living in New Jersey. Frankly, he's a mess and I loved that about him. Carter meets Prince Edgard, the actual friggin Prince of England at an event his company is hosting for the Prince, and they hit it off. They end up kind of dating, kind of immediately falling in love and taking off on a whirlwind of a romance very quickly. Complete with SO MANY obstacles. Seriously, poor Carter is a wreck and I felt so much secondhand embarrassment for this kid at times. One word: trifle.

This book is very funny. The Queen had me laughing out loud several times, as did Carter's inner monologue. the side characters have some excellent lines and were some of my favorite parts of the book. However, I struggled a bit with the pacing. I'm pretty good at suspending my disbelief most of the time, but even I struggled with how quickly these two got together. Also, and this is admittedly nit-picky, but there was a quite a bit of telling me what happened after the fact vs letting me read and live it with the characters. That took me out of the story a bit.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, light read. I loved Carter and Edgar and I think this will do well as long as people don't go into it expecting it to be exactly like another royal prince story we all know and love.

3.5/ 5 Stars

** I received this as an E-ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review, Thank you!**

I had a great time reading this book. I love romance books that include royalty, so this was a plus. I like the two characters together. I thought that they were adorable together and made a cute couple. As for the actual story I would say it's pretty pridictable. There wasn't anything that really surprised me. Overall It was short, cute and easy to read, I would recommend it.

I don’t mind insta-love if it’s done well, and the rest of the book sells me on the love story. But sometimes I just can’t buy into it. Unfortunately, that was the case for me with PLAYING THE PALACE.

The sense of humor in this book was excellent, and lots of scenes made me laugh. But the romance itself? So blah. I never bought into it, and it went from a few short interactions to Big Deal Love so quickly, I just couldn’t get on board. Maybe if the relationship had been given more time to flourish, I could have overlooked the insta-love first meeting. But it just didn’t work for me.

I think the story itself was pretty forgettable. It’s like the writer was using the formula/trope of a royal romance as a vehicle for his humor — and the comedic aspect WAS funny — but the romance wasn’t believable at all. I love reading romance books to see how a trope is handled, but this felt almost insulting how carelessly the relationship was treated, in my opinion.

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!

I'm not sure when I last laughed this much. Maybe something by TJ Klune? Playing the Palace had me cackling. The humor and heart are spot on, highlighting just what it takes to make a relationship work. When that relationship is in the international spotlight with the prince of England.

Carter is an associate event planner living in New York City. He is dealing with heartache after breaking up with his long-time cheating ex and feeling a bit stuck in his life and job. In a moment of Valentine's Day sorrow, he prays for a big life and an epic love story. Not long after he meets his prince. Literal prince. His Royal Highness Prince Edgar, the out and proud gay prince of England and next in line for the throne. Despite each of them believing the relationship will end in disaster they find themselves falling hard and fast. But falling in love is confusing enough without the world watching and everyone with a smartphone and an opinion thinking they get a say in your happiness.

Let's get this out of the way. This book is like if Red, White & Royal Blue and Boyfriend Material adopted a Jewish kid from New Jersey. While Playing the Palace does share some similarities to everyone's favorite international love story of 2019, don't go in expecting the same story. But if you are looking for something with similar New Adult/Millennial humor and a disaster of a couple then I think you'll find what you're looking for here.

This was an early review copy (thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC) so there were a few issues that I'm hoping get sorted before the final printing. One of the big ones is important information about Carter's sister Abby being shared around the 60% mark, something that the characters already know about but the reader does not. It is an important part of who she is and Carter's relationship with her but comes out of nowhere when the story could have introduced it earlier. I also found myself wishing there had been a bit more filler text - more descriptions of places, people, or events. Everything happens so quickly and I found myself wishing there was a bit more text to slow things down.

Overall, Playing the Palace gets 4.5 stars, rounded to 5 for the sheer joy it brought me. There is Jewish rep, LGBTQ+ rep, embarrassing and scheming relatives, bitchy butlers, and trifle. Oh my god the trifle!

This book comes out May 25, 2021 and you all need to pre-order a copy!

Event planner Carter Ogden is afraid to find love again after being dissed and dismissed by his cheating ex. Enter openly gay Prince of England, Edgar. Sparks immediately fly when the two meet. However, not everyone is happy about the match. Opinions are aplenty on both sides of the pond. After a series of public mishaps will these two men find their happily ever after or were they doomed from the start?

Buckle up, reader, because they two men fall in INSTA LOVE at a breakneck speed. If you're willing to overlook that, though, you are in for a treat. This book was very entertaining. Carter and Edgar are both well developed characters, who you are rooting for the entire time. Yes, there's a lot of silly (and very public) misadventures, but that just makes the story more fun. I liked imagining that the actual British monarch is this colorful behind the scenes. This book is inspiring and leaves you with a feeling of hope...or at least hope that maybe one day Hallmark will make a movie like this.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC.

#netgalley #berkleypublishinggroup #playingthepalace

Unfortunately I DNF this book around the 30% mark. I firmly believe this book would make an absolutely excellent movie, however I wasn't really into the flow of it as reading a novel.

There was a lot happening at once. I am not a fan of a slow burn by any means, but the two main characters seemed to want to be together immediately and I was not a huge fan of that.

It seems highly likely that a lot of readers will compare this book to Red, White, & Royal Blue based on the premise alone, but I don't think that the comparison holds much water after cracking the cover open. Carter is trying to figure out how he fits in the world and by happenstance, how he might fit into the world of the royals. He is a quintessential neurotic New Jersey gay man, about to turn thirty, attempting to thrive in New York. It is clear that Rudnick is familiar with NYC and the way the live events world functions. In the first few chapters, I was enthralled with his witty descriptions. I adored that Edgar is an out and proud royal, trying to balance duty to self with duty to state.
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Often, I find novels that are too slow burn to pull me out of the story, but this one had the exact opposite effect. I found that Rudnick pushed the story line along too quickly, jumping from one catastrophe to another without any time just spent falling in love with the couple. I wanted time to spend with them together and yet that was always overhung by something else, so I never really understood where they find time to discover each other, The novel is told from Carter's stream of consciousness and while he is a decent narrator, there were times when I wish Rudnick would have showed me the moment, instead of telling me about it. All in all, it is a fun and fluffy read, but it won't be the first one I recommend as my top Royal Romance choice.

This is an adorable rom-com that will make you laugh, guaranteed. There are so many wonderful moments, and the characters are truly so fabulous. They are well-developed and bring great personalities to the story. There are so many wonderful side characters that you'll enjoy too! From Carter's friends to the Queen herself. It's a great mixture of people that round out the story really well.

The chemistry between Carter and Edgar was great, a little fast-paced, but they were adorable together, and I enjoyed their relationship. I was invested in their love, and wanted to see it grow and blossom.

I would highly recommend this book if you enjoy rom-coms! There are more mature themes in this one, FYI.

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

A fun and often witty romance! I was drawn in by the cover and the comp to Red, White, and Royal Blue. It is similar to that book in good ways but stands on its own well enough, too.

This was a fun queer rom-com. It had the unfortunate task of being compared to Red White & Royal Blue, but it held it’s own.

I really enjoyed the moments between Carter, Edgar and the surrounding characters. Carter’s family was fantastic. I also loved the way the Queen was portrayed.

I often wonder if stories about British royalty can ever be written without using Harry and William as inspiration. I think you can see elements of their lives in Edgar (and his brother). But that is just a thought and not quite reflective of the book itself.

I liked the love story, but also felt like it all just happened so quickly. I am not sure that I buy into it completely, but I’ll suspend some disbelief.

Overall, recommend this one.

This is cute! I could see it as a Netflix or Hulu movie staring Dan Levy. I love that it' fast paced and total fan service. It's brain candy and I wasn't mad at it at all.

So, in my post about my most anticipated books of 2021, I said that Playing the Palace made the list because it reminded me of Red, White & Royal Blue. I mean, an American falling in love with a gay Prince of England? But now that I’ve read it, I can say that the fact that an American falls in love with a Prince is the only thing these two books have in common. Playing the Palace isn’t trying to be Red, White & Royal Blue. It is entirely its own thing, and that thing is a wonderfully campy, messy, fairytale-esque tale of insta-love between two opposites.
The book follows Carter, a gay Jewish New Yorker working as an event planner. He’s a little bit of a neurotic mess and a self-sabatoger but is also kind, sweet, and trusting, especially when it comes to love. But when he goes through a messy breakup, he fears that he’ll never find love. Enter Prince Edgar, the heir to the English throne. He’s also a bit of a neurotic mess but is way better at hiding it. When they meet at an event that Carter is working on, sparks fly. After an impromptu public speaking lesson and an almost kiss, Carter is swept up into a whirlwind romance visible to the entire world with a Prince he isn’t sure he deserves.
I don’t read a lot of insta-love stories (I’m such a sucker for a slow burn), and I will admit that there is a fair amount of disbelief-suspending to do when reading this (I don’t know a whole lot about royal protocol, but I have a feeling that this book didn’t get a lot of it strictly correct). But sometimes, it’s nice to take a break from the tension and drama of real life, and that’s what Playing the Palace is. It’s an escape. Not every book needs to be a realistic, deep dive into the human psyche. Sometimes you just want to read a story about two people falling head over heels in love.
Now, that’s not to say there isn’t any drama in this story—because there is. Carter and Edgar have to figure out how to navigate their relationship in the public eye, and there are many bumps along the way, mainly because, as I said, Carter is kind of a neurotic mess, and he doesn’t quite know when to keep his mouth shut. However, all of that drama that ensues is still lighthearted and is bound to make you laugh (sometimes from second-hand embarrassment).
Overall, this story was absolutely adorable, and if you’re looking for a quick read that will make you laugh and has fantastic side characters, I definitely recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Berkley, for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review will be posted on www.cozycritiques,com on May 17th

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm really torn on my thoughts on this book. The story synopsis was really cute and drew me in right away, but I felt like the story didn't flow in a way that was enjoyable.

I'm exclusively a romance reader, so I know a little bit of suspending your disbelief comes with the territory because these books are never fully realistic. However, with contemporary romances, I typically don't need to suspend my belief THAT much, considering the whole point of the story is normally showing real life people living out "real life situations" (even though sometimes it's a little farfetched). With this book, you have to completely suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy this story. Every aspect of this book is so completely unrealistic it became distracting at parts - from the instant way the couple met and got together (like hello THIS IS A PRINCE! it shouldn't have been this easy!!) to the fact that the QUEEN OF ENGLAND randomly appears in a New Jersey apartment.

The good:
-There were a few laugh-out-loud funny moments that I really enjoyed
-Cute plot overall (who doesn't love a fairytale like romance of ending up with a prince??)
-Jewish representation! As a jewish woman it's always exciting when I find books that include jewish characters. Some of my favorite parts of the book were the scenes with Carter's family and all their wild antics. It reminded me of my own family (and I personally use all those yiddish words every single day!)

The bad:
-The pacing was really off for me. I felt like the middle of this book should have been the end, but then it kept going and I was confused.
-Insta love. I need some tension and build up in my romance books, and that was completely nonexistent from this one. The couple shares their first kiss within the first 25% of the book. I found it very hard to get attached to the characters and their relationship based on how quickly their relationship happened.
-Telling rather than showing the reader throughout the book. One of my main complaints is that I was told a lot of things through the characters inner dialogue, but was never SHOWN these things through their actions. As a reader I like to be immersed in the story by going along for the ride and witnessing these plot points play out in my head, but that did not happen in this book.
-Conflict comes out of nowhere. This can be combined with the telling rather than showing point, but basically the main conflict in this book is just thrown at the reader from way out in left field. There was no build up to it, and nothing to indicate that it was coming. Instead, you're just told that it happened and have to move on from there.

Final thoughts:
I'm a fast reader, and this is a relatively short book compared with my normal reads, yet I felt like it took me so long to get through this whole thing. The story really dragged for me, especially the second half, and I found myself flipping forward to see how much longer I had before I was done.

Overall, I thought the book was a cute, light read, but definitely had some pacing issues. If you can look past the issues outlined above and want a fun, easy read, then I recommend you pick up the book. Otherwise, this might be one to pass on.