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.

Let me start by saying this is NOT Red, White and Royal Blue. Which is totally fine, because there is no rule saying we can only have one story about the queer Prince of England!

Carter, an event planner, meets Edgar, the Prince of England while working as an event architect. The two hit it off instantly and set off a firestorm of tabloid stories and social media postings. Can their relationship handle it all?

I’m torn on this book. At times I wasn’t totally invested, but other times I was eagerly turning the pages. I think what I loved most about the book was that the main character, Carter, was unapologetically himself. He was funny. He was full of emotions. He messed up. He was far from perfect, and I think that made him relatable.

This was my first “insta-love” romance book. If you like slow burn, this one isn’t going to be your cup of tea. The plot and relationship moves quick-VERY QUICK. Which isn’t bad, I’m just not used to that sort of story line. The ending absolutely caught me off guard.

There were some parts of the book that I thought were super theatrical, but with Rudnick’s background, I get it. I think this would make a great movie / screenplay! Totally Hallmark / Netflix romcom worthy.

The side characters were also so well developed-I loved Louise and Miriam. And Abby! I enjoy when books have supporting characters who add substance to the plot.

Overall, I’d say 3.75 stars. Probably round up to 4 stars, just because I liked the wit. And I think I liked that it was so different from a typical ‘Royal Family’ book (I mean, the queen literally stood outside the door to cock block the guys) that it was almost like I had to separate everything I had read previously about them!

I liked it! I’d read it again. It’s not going to be for everyone, but for me, personally, I enjoyed it. Thank you for the ARC opportunity!

I have tried to start this one and actually get into it several times, but it's just not working for me and I'm bummed because I love the premise, but it's just a bit messy and really hard for me to engage.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for my advance review copy of Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick.

I saw "gay, royal, rom-com" and immediately snatched this one up. It sounded like my exact cup of tea--and I liked it. I just wish I'd liked it more.

The plot is predictable but fun--a normal everyday gay from New Jersey meets the Prince of Wales (one of the most famous "out" royals in the world), and sparks fly, despite their dramatically different lifestyles and personalities. But things can't be easy for our two intrepid lovers, oh no. They face backlash and roadblocks and betrayals at every turn. Will they get their happily ever after? (Spoiler: it's a romance, the answer is YES.)

This one reads a bit like Red White and Royal Blue's sarcastic, R-rated cousin. This one certainly doesn't hold back on the steam. It's an OPEN DOOR romance. Wide open.

I think I would have liked it a little bit better if the snark had been turned down even a couple of notches, and if there hadn't been QUITE so many crises. At one point, I wondered, how can THIS MANY AWFUL THINGS happen to ONE COUPLE?! I know we don't read romance for the believability factor, but I just hated to watch the guys go through so much.

But if you like snark, steam, and all things royal, as well as feisty friends and family, definitely give this one a read.

Tabloids and media galore! Queens and princes and all the royalty that you could want In this adorable romcom. I have never read anything by this author but I am sure glad I have and will continue to do so. This gay romance was one for the ages! I laughed, I cried and then I laughed some more. This was so cute to watch this couple have to go through all of these obstacles to be together. I loved both male characters equally and loved watching them fight for their HEA!!!

This was a really cute idea for a book but not exactly an original concept or even the best execution of this concept. I felt like the whole think was a charcuterie or fan fiction of a much more mainstream book with the same concept.

Playing the Palace centers around Carter, who is essentially a recently cheated on assistant event planner and his budding relationship with Prince Edgar of England.

There are aspects of this book that I enjoyed so much. There were so many hilarious lines, many from the manservant, James, and the Queen herself. But there was a certain amount of wit to some of the comebacks that I think became a big driving force in me continuing on with this book.

I felt like Carter was a little too hopeless. There was no point in which I really felt the connection between these two men that led to THAT ending. Mostly because it just seemed like everything was going wrong all the time (and I personally get stuck in secondhand embarrassment) so it was hard to focus on the relationship at some points. I probably would've given up on it and called it a day after all that. Plus it seemed like things happened really fast and it seemed like they didn't spend that much time together.

I like that it was a "they don't have to change for each other" sort of ending but a little more personal growth especially on Carter's end would've been nice. It felt like everyone was doing the work for him at the end.

This book was very charming in its own way and I did enjoy my time with it as something fun to read at the end of the month after I'd read some heavier books. Also, as someone from a small town in NJ, James' descriptions are...fitting haha. It made me laugh.

Let's just get this out of the way: No, this book is not Red, White & Royal Blue. It doesn't try to be, and there's no rule that says we can only have one book about an American guy falling in love with a British prince.

Playing the Palace is more of a straight romp, a rom-com movie waiting to be filmed. Paul Rudnick, a noted gay playwright, knows how to be funny, and much of the book is plain shtick. Our narrator Carter Ogden is an insecure, recently heartbroken, wisecracking Jewish event planner who meets Prince Edgar whilst coordinating a United Nations press conference. Carter gives Edgar a few tips about loosening up before his speech, they almost kiss, and we're off and running. The Prince is proudly gay and out, so that doesn't factor into the challenges facing the two men. The dramatic tension centers primarily on Carter fearing he is not good enough for a prince, and the wacky hijinks that ensue when he tries to fit into Edgar's world. Of course Carter has a cliched loud, pushy Jewish family so that leads to plenty of humorous if stereotypical interactions as well.

There is very little attempt to portray a realistic picture of the British monarchy. If you don't mind the Queen of England literally cockblocking a late night booty call, or Carter's Great Aunt Miriam stuffing extra rolls into the Queen's purse just in case she gets hungry later, you will likely enjoy this story. Carter seems like a (much) younger version of the author (always a bit suspicious of someone age 60+ writing a Millennial MC), and Edgar comes off as a bit one-dimensional. The "free-spirited American shows stuffy British royal how to unwind" trope is nothing new, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

I doubt this book will have the cultural impact of RWARB, but taken on its own merits it's campy fun. It will make you chuckle more than swoon, but you'll be smiling when you finish, which is no small feat these days.

What a silly, sweet queer romance! I really adored so many parts of this book. Carter is a neurotic mess that we can all relate to, who second-guesses everyone of his decisions. He also second-guesses his right to find love.

Enter the prince. Edgar is just as neurotic but better at keeping up appearances than most. Quickly the two men are charmed by each other and caught up in a royal love affair.

This novel was so adorable and fun! It does require some suspension of belief especially to the royalty bits, but it’s in a very cheeky, harmless way that’s easy to overlook. A few times I definitely had moments of second hand embarrassment (omg the trifle incident...) but the novel doesn’t stray long on those and carries the story on quickly. Edgar and Carter have lovely chemistry, but the real stars are the family members that keep them elevated! Abby, Carter’s sister, easily steals the show and anyone would be remiss not to wish they had as tight a sibling relationship as these two! She’s his ride or die. Aunt Miriam is a close second with all her superstition talk and refusal to be anything but brutally honest. And of course my other favorite character is James, Edgar’s personal valet. James comes off gruff and no nonsense at first but we quickly find that he has a soft heart under all that bluster. He has such a sweet, heartbreaking story that grounded the story’s message in a very relatable way.

I would definitely recommend to all my hopeless romantic readers out there. It doesn’t have any spicy scenes, but it definitely has it’s fair share of loving ones.

After reading Red, White, and Royal Blue last year and loving it, when this one caught my eye I knew I had to have it! I am so excited to be approved to read this book! I am royal obsessed and this hit the spot. This book was funny and sweet and I could eat it up! I really enjoyed some of the lines and could totally see this as a movie.

This book was a thousand times better than another recent gay romance about an American boy falling in love with the Prince of Wales. Paul Rudnick is hilarious and his characters familiar. It's a wonderfully funny, bubbly fairy tale. Fantastic.

Uneven M4M romance story. I should have been warned by the odd and sophomoric cover illustration. The story was pretty much the same as ever other similar book I have read, buy it was not well put together. There were some well written vignettes, but they did not save the book overall.. The beginning of the book almost had me put it down and not continue to read. I expected better from this author. I core mistake was using the UK royal family as characters. They are too well known, so the literary license taken stretched too far and made the book simply not work. Using a fictitious country or even another royal family might have saved the book. The story was just too out there in the details. The bounds of reality pushed too far, even for a fictional story. I do not expect high literary work in romance novels. They are usually formulaic and somewhat they same. Better writing can make them enjoyable light reading. This book had too many flaws for the best parts of the writing to save it.

"Playing the Palace" by Paul Rudnick was pretty much everything I expected it to be and that's good. This is a funny, quirky, irreverent novel about an American and his brush with the British Royal Family.

Carter Ogden has all but given up on love. He chooses instead to focus on his job as an event coordinator, his lovely friends, his supportive family, and even his irritating (yet amusing) boss. When he meets Prince Edgar - heir to the throne of England - they are drawn to each other instantly. Of course, there is a ton of responsibility and a lot of challenges when you begin seeing royalty and Carter doesn't seem to have a handle on how to deal with any of them.

As Carter and Edgar try to date each other all kinds of ridiculousness ensue. Carter is plunged into a world in which everything that is instinctual to him is wrong! In excitement, he hugs Edgar and comes face to face with the way that royals are expected to be reserved in public. His friends get them Burger King crowns as a joke, and they sit in bed with them on and take a photo… and this is the point at which Carter learns his phone can be hacked.

This is one of the funniest depictions of royal I have read in a very long time. The Queen is ridiculously bitchy, outspoken, and demanding just as I had hoped. Her run-ins with Carter were some of my absolute favorite parts of the book. I loved the way that Rudnick managed to give Edgar some very authentic traits for someone who would have been raised in public life while still being able to poke fun at the royals.

The supporting characters in this book are hilarious. Edgar's security team is efficient but funny and actually are the friends that Edgar hasn't been able to have because of his lot in life. Carter's friends, on the other hand, were the glue holding him together. The friends/roommates were some of the funniest and most entertaining characters I have read in a very long time. I often found myself giggling aloud at their antics and that's not all that common!

About the only thing that bothered me a little was the speed at which Carter and Edgar's emotional connection to one another progressed. I felt as though I had missed a bit when after a few weeks together there was already love in the air. But let's face it… this is a bit of a fairy tale and once Carter had his Prince it would be tempting to just go all in despite the roadblocks.

If you like the humor of T.J. Klune and Alexis Hall, then you should be adding Paul Rudnick to your list of authors. This was a great book, pure entertainment!

While this was an incredibly quick read and there was a lot of humor, I dont know if it was really for me. I didn't love the writing and I never connected with the character - while this is a whirlwind romance, everything happened a bit too fast and I could form an attachments - so it ended up just being okay for me. If your looking for a campy and dramatic romance and pure escapism, this is for you.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I became interested in reading, “Playing the Palace” by Paul Rudnick after seeing the cover and reading the synopsis, so I’m honoured and grateful to Berkeley, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for allowing me to read it early.

“Playing the Palace” follows 29-year-old Carter Ogden, an event planner in Manhattan who is nearing 30, and is still dealing with the fallout of his break-up with his actor ex, Callum Turner.

Carter meets Prince Edgar, heir to the British throne, while overseeing an event that the company he works for has helped to plan, and the two embark on what can only be described as a whirlwind romance, but with the scrutiny of the British press and the disapproval of the Queen to contend with, happily ever after is neither easy, nor guaranteed.

As with any book I review, I’ll start with the positives: This book is a charming, laugh-out-loud funny rom-com, with great characters in Carter and Edgar. It’s also a very quick, easy read, and overall, I enjoyed my time with it.

My lone points of criticism however are in how rushed the book felt, and how little relationship development we actually got between our two main characters.

I feel like a lot of the rushed feeling could be fixed by adding Edgar as a second narrator, and allowing us to see things from his eyes that we aren’t privy to as a result of the book being told purely from Carter’s perspective. For example, several conversations between Edgar and the Queen are mentioned by Edgar but not shown and it would’ve been nice to see those conversations take place as opposed to Edgar just giving Carter a quick summary. There are also certain other events in the book that I would’ve liked to see from Edgar’s point-of-view and I feel like not having him as a second narrator weakens the book as a whole because we’re only getting one side of the story.

My biggest issue with this book however is the lack of proper relationship development. They meet before the event that Carter has helped to plan, go weeks without seeing each other, then Edgar is Carter’s date to his sister’s wedding and after another month of no contact he comes swooping back in and whisks Carter to England on a private jet to meet his family. They do have a cute, wholesome date in an IHOP and a couple of cute moments otherwise but it still moved really quickly and somewhat unrealistically, which impacted my enjoyment of the story as a whole.

Overall, I give this book 3 1/2 stars. If you’re looking for a cute, funny New Adult rom-com with LGBTQ+ themes that quick to read and is somewhat similar to “Red, White & Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston, then this is a book you’ll want to keep an eye on!

“Playing the Palace” is scheduled for publication on May 25, 2021! Thanks again to Berkeley, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read it early, in exchange for an honest review.

This is not good. I hate saying that but I can't help it. I have a high tolerance for mediocre romances because I like the genre, especially queer romance, and I know meet-cutes are often trite and the mid-point crisis can be forced, and characters jump headfirst into love without any substance...but this takes the cake, and I'm abandoning it at 40% (that's two in a row dnf which makes me feel terrible). The dialogue is over the top where everyone lays out every emotion without hesitation monologue style, but really, nobody talks like that. The main couple fell madly in love in one date, enough to upend both their lives. It's just so unbelievable and so poorly executed I cannot care enough to continue reading. Oof, this is so harsh, and I am sorry to the author.

The other problem is that this book has a similar plot to Red, White, and Royal Blue but, sadly, pales in comparison.

I thought the synopsis for Playing the Palace sounded so cute, unfortunately I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing and thought the plot moved a bit too fast. It also had a few too many similarities to RW&RB for me. DNF

This was a super cute! I really enjoyed both characters development. Although at time the plot and time frame seemed to jump around quite a bit. I think at times Carter's self sabotage and self doubt were over played, but that's a personal preference. This books will struggle if it's constantly compared to Red, White, and Royal Blue because they're super different. Also, this is a closed door, which I did not anticipate

So, I know I'm not the only one. And, of course I know Playing the Palace was never going to be exactly the same as Red, White, and Royal Blue. And it shouldn't be. But my love for RWRB (and maybe a little of my love for 1D fanfic) is a huge part of why I picked this book up. And that's okay. Because that's exactly how I've found many of my favorites. I tried really hard to go into this new story with an open mind. I adore Royalty stories. Where the sarcasm and jokes were charming and why RWRB worked so well, here they fell flat. And weren't very appropriate at times. I didn't get very far so I'm not sure if it got better. The writing wasn't great. It felt like it was trying too hard. I'm sure others will enjoy the story and book. It's campy and seems like a quick read. It just didn't work for me. I appreciate the opportunity for reviewing.