Playing the Palace (edition 2021)

by Paul Rudnick (Author)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations
218	6	125,757	(3.5)	None
"THEIR LOVE STORY CAPTIVATED THE WORLD . . . THE CROWN PRINCE AND THAT GUY FROM NEW YORK. When a lonely American event planner starts dating the gay Prince of Wales, a royal uproar ensues: is it true love or the ultimate meme? Find out in this hilarious romantic comedy. After having his heart trampled on by his cheating ex, Carter Ogden is afraid love just isn't in the cards for him. He still holds out hope in a tiny corner of his heart, but even in his wildest dreams he never thought he'd meet the Crown Prince of England, much less do a lot more with him. Yes, while growing up he'd fantasized about the handsome, openly gay Prince Edgar, but who hadn't? When they meet by chance at an event organized by Carter's boss, Carter is sure he imagined all that sizzling chemistry. Or was it mutual? This unlikely but meant-to-be romance sets off media fireworks on both sides of the Atlantic. With everyone having an opinion on their relationship and the intense pressure of being constantly in the spotlight, Carter finds ferocious obstacles to his Happily Ever After, including the tenacious disapproval of the Queen of England. Carter and Prince Edgar fight for a happy ending to equal their glorious international beginning. It's a match made on Valentine's Day and in tabloid heaven"--… (more)

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Member:	madisonlawson
Title:	Playing the Palace
Authors:	Paul Rudnick (Author)
Info:	Berkley (2021), 272 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	None

Work Information

Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick

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Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (BarnesBookshelf)
BarnesBookshelf: Both books center on a prince of England falling for an American boy.

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Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)

The humour is clever but a little forced. I didn't find myself laughing, more like mildly appreciating. But I also became tired of it. And often I wanted the author to get on with plot - the scenes around the trifle and the Baking Jubilee, for example, were amusing but weighed down the forward momentum.

It seemed like a long book even though it was 7.5 hours. Narrator Michael Urie did a mighty job of all the voices but I agree with commentators below that many of the minor character were cartoonish.

"That guy from New York", Carter, was the most interesting thing about Playing the Palace. Prince Edgar, underwhelming.

The cover blurb says: One of Buzzfeed's 39 Excellent LGBTQ books to read this month and always. It's true the writing is excellent, and it's definitely LGBTQ, but it didn't gel for me. The romance was mild. It loses half a mark for disappointment.

I'm turning it off at 75% of the way through... (

)

Okies | Apr 4, 2024 |

I bought this book in an airport because of a flight delay and because it was the only queer book in the store other than Casey McQuiston's "One Last Stop" (which I own and have read). Long story short, this book is fun. It's not my favorite version of the "American falls in love with foreign royalty" plot, but its fun. The characters are unique and ridiculous, and I laughed quite a bit at their antics. Sometimes the characters, especially the secondary ones, felt a bit caricature like, but it was fine. I do wish that Cullum had been punished for wrecking Carter and Edgar's relationship. I also wish that we had been shown at least 1 example of Carter doing well in the public eye, instead of being only told about them and shown all of the mess ups. All in all, if you're looking for a fun, ridiculous, easy, gay book, Playing the Palace might just be what you're looking for. (

)

BarnesBookshelf | Jan 29, 2023 |

Yay libraries!

This novel is a fairy tale. Some low-star reviewers didn't understand that. Fairy tale: no real-world accuracy, impossible plot, wild antics. Accuracy would've made it both unlikely AND boring. Who needs that?

Fairy tale. Okay? Okay.

What it does deliver exceptionally well is compelling emotional character arcs, which is the kind of reality I think most people want whether they realize it or not. If the MC's inventive descriptions and humor grab you in the first page, you'll probably enjoy this as I did. I enjoyed most of the humor (unusual), despite some of the 'teasing' insults. I let the other character's reactions inform my own, as one does. Tone is hard to convey in words, after all. The families and friends are great, as is the awkward romance progression. The setbacks upset me, and the mistakes made me cringe. It made me FEEL, which is an author's entire job. I am really glad I gave this one a chance, and will read more by this author. (

)

terriaminute | Dec 4, 2022 |

What happened here? The book is fun, but it doesn't make any sense. How did they fell in love? What makes them good to each other? The only things I saw they doing is going in like, 2 dates, fucking and puft you're the love of my life I'm going to abdicate for you???? And the cheating? Omg, first of all, why did he meet his ex? How did he managed to go out alone? Didn't he know that people would be able to see him? And why wouldn't he tell the prince first thing after coming back? It didn't make any sense and even if I laughed a little, after 70% I was totally done and finished the book with the utmost hate for this characters. (

)

Tratiezone | Nov 8, 2022 |

Hmmm. I'm at about ch.#17 and I have mixed feelings. I'm starting to think I'm not the "Rom-Com" type. Some bits are just so cartoonish and OTT. We shall see!

Maybe 3 Stars

So, I've finished the audio book and I'm still conflicted. There is some laugh-out-loud, clever writing, and memorable characters (I'm looking at you Abby and James), and then it devolves into slapstick TV comedy silliness, which I'm not a fan of on TV and certainly not in my books. (

)

Bookbee1 | Oct 9, 2022 |

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Canonical title

Playing the Palace

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2021-05-25

People/Characters

Carter Ogden

Prince Edgar

Abby Lefkowitz (nee Ogden)

James Claverack

Important places

New York, New York, USA

Piscataway, New Jersey, USA

London, England, UK

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

For John Raftis

First words

It's still weird, waking up alone.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

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Wikipedia in English

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▾Book descriptions

"THEIR LOVE STORY CAPTIVATED THE WORLD . . . THE CROWN PRINCE AND THAT GUY FROM NEW YORK. When a lonely American event planner starts dating the gay Prince of Wales, a royal uproar ensues: is it true love or the ultimate meme? Find out in this hilarious romantic comedy. After having his heart trampled on by his cheating ex, Carter Ogden is afraid love just isn't in the cards for him. He still holds out hope in a tiny corner of his heart, but even in his wildest dreams he never thought he'd meet the Crown Prince of England, much less do a lot more with him. Yes, while growing up he'd fantasized about the handsome, openly gay Prince Edgar, but who hadn't? When they meet by chance at an event organized by Carter's boss, Carter is sure he imagined all that sizzling chemistry. Or was it mutual? This unlikely but meant-to-be romance sets off media fireworks on both sides of the Atlantic. With everyone having an opinion on their relationship and the intense pressure of being constantly in the spotlight, Carter finds ferocious obstacles to his Happily Ever After, including the tenacious disapproval of the Queen of England. Carter and Prince Edgar fight for a happy ending to equal their glorious international beginning. It's a match made on Valentine's Day and in tabloid heaven"--

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Book description

THEIR LOVE STORY CAPTIVATED THE WORLD…THE CROWN PRINCE AND THAT GUY FROM NEW YORK

When a lonely American event planner starts dating the gay Prince of Wales, a royal uproar ensues: is it true love or the ultimate meme? Find out in this hilarious romantic comedy.

After having his heart trampled on by his cheating ex, Carter Ogden is afraid love just isn’t in the cards for him. He still holds out hope in a tiny corner of his heart, but even in his wildest dreams he never thought he’d meet the Crown Prince of England, much less do a lot more with him. Yes, growing up he’d fantasized about the handsome, openly gay Prince Edgar, but who hadn’t? When they meet by chance at an event Carter’s boss is organizing, Carter’s sure he imagined all that sizzling chemistry. Or was it mutual?

This unlikely but meant-to-be romance sets off media fireworks on both sides of the Atlantic. With everyone having an opinion on their relationship and the intense pressure of being constantly in the spotlight, Carter finds ferocious obstacles to his Happily Ever After, including the tenacious disapproval of the Queen of England. Carter and Prince Edgar fight for a happy ending to equal their glorious international beginning. It’s a match made on Valentine’s Day and in tabloid heaven.

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