Goldilox and the Three Weres: Review: Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick

Playing the Palace
Paul Rudnick
Release: May 25, 2021
Goodreads Amazon

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.

Review:

I'll be honest. Me reading this book is one of those times I was totally influenced by the cover to pick a book up. It caught my attention almost immediately when I was scrolling through Netgalley because it looked adorable. Then I read the synopsis and I was immediately intrigued. It kind of gave me Red, White and Royal Blue vibes, which you all know I adored, so I requested it. Although, I will say the closest it got to RWRB was the fact that one of the love interests was the Prince of England.

Y'all! I'm so glad I did! This book was such a fun read! It had me laughing and tearing up. It's kind of like like reading a gay version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding but with royalty and a large Jewish family instead. It also had 100% more Ruth Bader Ginsburg and I was here for it! I really enjoyed when Carter's friends and family were on the page as well as Edgar's security team and valet/minder.

As much as I enjoyed it, the story had some pacing issues and was a bit all over the place and more than a bit over the top. I feel like if the author had added in another fifty or hundred pages that he could have slowed the pacing down and spent more time developing the plot so the book read as a continuous whole and not like a collection of moments that felt a bit disjointed at times.

The characters as fun as they were, felt a bit flat and not completely realized. The romance was cute but felt rushed and not as believable at it could have been. I kept wanting to knock some sense into each of the main characters. For all its faults, this book had me laughing and grinning ear to ear from the start and once I really got into the story I couldn’t stop reading until I had no pages left. It was truly a fun and fast read that would be perfect as a summer vacation or beach read.

ARC provided by the Publisher via Netgalley.