Once it said being in love is like god I had to quit reading. It was just not something I wanted to keep reading after that.

I wanted to love this book!

I really tried to love it. I liked Carter from the beginning and I feel like I truly understood him. All of his inadequacies, real or imagined, all of his fears, all of his worries - I got it. There were so many points in the first few chapters that I highlighted which I thought was a good sign.

Unfortunately I’d say, for me, everything started going a bit downhill during/after Carter and Edgar’s second encounter. Suddenly everything moved at warp speed with Carter upending his entire life for a man he barely knew. Suddenly they were a public couple. Suddenly they were in love. Everything was immediate and every issue seemingly resolved itself pretty quickly even if another was just around the next page.

Because it was so fast I found the love story itself barely believable. The sex scenes were pretty much nonexistent even though there is plenty of mention of sex (nearly every scene cuts from right before to right after). This is fine, not everything has to be graphic so I wouldn’t judge a book on that, but I would have liked to read it. I found the some of side characters a bit too “quirky” for my taste. The security guards, James, the Queen, Carter’s friends - all seemed so over the top, the ones associated with Edgar being the weirdest. By contrast, I adored Carter’s family - Abby and Sarah especially. They seemed very sweet and loving.

A lot of the dialogue felt forced, much of it not seeming like something anyone would actually say (I’m neither from New Jersey or England so some words I just chalked up to being regional). The way the Queen often spoke to Carter was just abhorrent, she called him so many awful names! Obviously I couldn’t expect everyone to treat him with warmth but it just seemed so miserable and, honestly, not worth it for a guy you just met. Seriously, when I realized I was 75% finished and people were still awful to Carter I was shocked. Obviously things work out, that’s the nature of the genre after all, but I’m not even sure they should have. I love a Royal fantasy but this just didn’t do it for me.

Like many readers, I came into this expecting the next RWRB which is one of my all time favorites, and it’s probably my fault for having such high expectations. This one had some fun moments but I really couldn’t empathize with either of the MCs and so many of the scenes felt contrived. Maybe it’s for others but it definitely wasn’t for me.

Humorist, screenwriter and hilarious Twitter poster (@PaulRudnickNY) Paul Rudnick gives us the gay fairy tale we always secretly knew we needed but could never admit out loud. This isn't a kid's fairy tale. It's also not erotica. It's a sweet, funny, deliciously melodramatic story of a would-be king finding love with a smart, awkward American man. I dare you to get through to the end without shedding a tear. Perhaps this might have seemed too over the top even a year ago, but because of the Harry and Meghan real-life story, Playing the Palace now seems like the perfect description of the Monarchy moving through the 21st Century - finding true love and refocusing their energies on creating real good in the world. You'll fall in love with Price Edgar and Carter. You'll want Abby savagely in your corner. Sure it's absurd, but that's what life truly is. And why can't we finally, truly get our happy endings? All of us. Every last one of us. 4 out of 5.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

I DNF at 71%. I tried to keep pushing through mishap after mishap until I finally could no longer suspend my disbelief that these two would keep working to be together. I would try this author again, but this one wasn’t for me.

I have so many feelings about this about this book.

First of all, I loved the premise… and the story itself was really cute, in a Netflix rom-com kind of way. I am always a sucker for love stories where royalty and average joes fall in love and I am totally digging the LGBTQIA+ representation. Overall, I think this novel is a solid 3 to 3.5 star read.

I chose this rating because I really loved the premise and the characters. Carter and his friends are hilarious and his family is #goals. They love him fiercely and protect him no matter what, even when he messes up royally. Edgar also a lovely prince and I loved seeing his development as the story progressed. Plus his friendships with his bodyguards was heartwarming and I loved the witty exchanges with the Queen.

I failed to give this story more stars because I struggled a bit with the writing. The book felt less like a novel at times and more like a screenplay, which left me having to fill-in too many of the gaps. This was a little disheartening because it had all the right elements to be amazing, but lack some of the necessary nuances to make you truly relate with the characters. Despite this, I can totally see this becoming a super cute Netflix movie and I would totally binge watch a few times.

I really wanted to love this book, but sadly it just wasn't for me. What started as an over the top idea that I was willing to suspend disbelief for turned into an insufferable mess with very superficial characters and dialogue. As used to the "love at first sight" trope as I am at this point, the obsession and devotion they supposedly had for each other made no sense in the grand scheme of things. There was no reason for them to want to continue to try for a relationship after the first blunder (considering, you know, one of them is next in line for the throne...), and much less after the third, fourth OR fifth.

Overall, not my favorite read. It should stop being compared to Red, White and Royal Blue as the only thing both books have in common is they involve members of the Royal Family.

Playing the Palace was a delight, and I absolutely couldn’t put it down. Fans of Schitt’s Creek will especially revel in the snarky characters who love each other fiercely. Don’t miss this one.

“Please don’t make me try and understand Brexit. Because the closest I can get is if new jersey broke away from New York and floated out to sea while Connecticut laughed.” (I loved the Jersey referenced in this book! I used to work in Piscataway ❤️)

Carter has given up on finding love after he found out he was one of many his ex was sleeping with. While setting up for an event for Prince Edgar, the two meet and sparks are immediate. The Prince would never date some American commoner like him though. When Edgar makes his intentions clear, they give it a shot, but the people are not loving this Carter person.

I loved the humor in this book. It was so relatable to see someone trying to do everything right and make the English people love him, but unintentionally mess it up every step of the way. James was by far a favorite character. His whit and jokes were fabulous throughout the book! While I did feel like Carter and Edgar moved super fast, overall I loved their relationship and that while the royal aspect added to their issues, they both just wanted to find love and be happy. If you liked Red, White, and Royal Blue, you should definitely pick this one up. I have seen it compared to RW&RB a lot, but I have to say I much preferred this book, the humor added so much to the book!

his book is a delight. I tore through it in one day because I was so invested in finding out what happened. It tells the story of Carter Ogden, an event planner from New Jersey living in New York. While setting up for an event at the UN, Carter meets Prince Edgar, the heir to the throne in England. Prince Edgar is well known to Carter (and pretty much everyone in the world), not just because he is the crown prince but also because he's openly gay. Edgar asks Carter for help preparing for his speech and, in the few minutes they spend alone together, they hit it off.

Carter thinks it is a one time thing and that he'll never see Edgar again. But, not so soon, Edgar reaches out for a date and, from there, their relationship moves forward in fits and starts as they see if they can navigate their much different backgrounds, temperaments, and experiences on the way to something more.

I really enjoyed both the main characters. They easily could have fallen into caricature given the premise. But, in this author's hands, Carter and Edgar are fully formed and complex. The same goes for their families -- while Carter comes from a loving, loud Jewish family in New Jersey and Edgar from the formal, stiff upper lip family, neither is one dimensional. Whether it is Carter's sister, parents, or great aunt or Edgar's grandmother, the queen of England, the family members come across as multi-faceted and authentic. And funny -- the family members provided several laugh-out-loud moments throughout the book.

The book deftly takes all of the strong potential of the high concept premise and pairs it with creating a good old fashion queer romance that keeps the reader fully engaged in wanting to know what will happen to the main couple -- will they be able to overcome their past experiences, mutual tendency to self-sabotage, and the prying eyes of the public to build something real and lasting?

Very, very highly recommended. You will not regret picking this one up and spending time with Carter and Edgar!

I've a soft spot for royal romances and I understand that they all require the reader to suspend disbelief to an extent...but this particular attempt reads like a bad fanfiction.

The premise isn't bad: an event planner runs into the first openly-gay Prince of England before an event his company set up and where the Prince is speaking, and they hit it off. However, that's the first and only redeemable thing about this novel. The characters are never developed past a supercificial caricature of who they're supposed to be. The romance is rushed ( the main character goes from meeting the Prince to appearing in a couple interview within 3 months). The writing is almost unreadable, due to the author's prediliction for sentences no shorter than 5 full lines of text and expressing characters' thoughts through chapter-long rambling.
I gave the book up after having read 80% of it, after the the author shoehorned an awkward, unimaginative conflict to break the characters up and lead to their eventual reconciliation, romance genre obliges.

I would not recommend at all.

I went into this book not sure of what to expect but what I got was an absolutely hilarious new take on the royal relationship trope. Carter, an event planner looking to get over his ex finds himself in a whirlwind romance with Prince Edgar, the openly gay prince of England.

This book has such brilliant writing. It takes quite a bit for a book to make me laugh out loud, but this book for sure accomplished that! From the characterization of the Queen to the relationship dynamic between Edgar and Carter, everything is just brilliantly written.

With the recent Royal craze, I went into this wary, and if you have read Red White and Royal Blue, there is no doubt you will compare the two. To me, the comparison made this even funnier. It was a true rom com in every sense of the word. It was a little stupid (in the best way), and you really fell for the relationship. If you need a good laugh, highly recommend.

I love M/M romance and this one was pretty good. The characters were sweet and engaging. It sort of wavered in the middle but it was enjoyable.

So funny to read this in the midst of all the Meghan Markle drama! Despite that, this is a truly lovely romantic imagining of a gay prince fairytale. Very different than Red, White and Blue, but in a good way! I loved Carter and Prince Edgar's meet-cute at the UN.

Lots of moments made me laugh out loud. The dialogue is natural and spot on. Just a joy of a read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley for the ARC.

The world definitely needs an own-voices tale of an ordinary New Yorker falling in love with a British prince! This book is a fun quick read that I can't wait to talk about with readers who loved THE ROYAL WE and RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE..

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

Adorable. Completely and utterly adorable. Perfect for lovers of Red, White and Royal Blue and the Royal family in general.

The timing of this fun read couldn't be better for all of us who Royal Watch. Sharp, lively and filled with the glam of Windsoresque pageantry, this novel is a quick read that satisfies both the regular LGBTQ reader and those new to the genre. Snark, great clothes and the prospect for a happily ever after make this one a treat!

Everyone knows at least a little bit about those fun, jaunty rom-coms-- the ones where a modern-day royal meets a common citizen that steals their heart away. Well, Rudnick has gifted us with a much gayer version of this trope, and delightful is an understatement! After events planner Carter Ogden helps Prince Edgar of Wales prepare for a speech, the unlikely pair form an immediate spark, and just a few weeks later the Prince returns to America to sweep Carter away, unable to stop thinking about him. Playing the Palace is a wonderfully super-sweet contemporary getaway from the real world, something I know I desperately needed! Readers will certainly want this book in their vacation (or rather, staycation) stack.

I really wanted to love this book. It had two of my favorite things, event planning and royal princes. But there was just something that I couldn't get into. I liked the characters most of the time but some of the things said and done had me cringing. I think that this is something that others would really enjoy but sadly it was just not for me. Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.