{Review & Excerpt} Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY @BerkleyRomance)

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.

​All Carter Ogden wants is to make the world a better place and to find true love. Sometimes that feels so out of reach living in the chaos of Manhattan, but with the help of his favourite saint – Ruth Bader Ginsburg – he’s got a pretty good shot at success.
 
So when his job as an event architect takes him into the revered halls of the United Nations, he finds that his greatest wish is coming true far sooner than he imagined.

I want to be like my idol, Justice Ginsburg. I want to be fair-minded and dedicated and compassionate, and look great doing it. Only, of course, without going to law school. I want Ruth’s spirit of justice and curiosity and not taking any shit.
​I want a big life. I want to fall in love, not like what happened with Callum, which sometimes felt wonderful but more often like an educated guess, as if while I was kissing him I needed to remind myself: this is love, right? I want to know I’m in love, no, not even know it—I want to understand why it’s called being in love. I want to be overwhelmed by the miracle of another human being. Love is like God—it’s the place where need and rumor and dreams become something else entirely, something sacred, something beyond questions or arguments or therapy. Ruth Ginsburg and chocolate and oxygen and God and love: the real things.

​Prince Edgar is the first openly gay Prince of Wales in the history of the royal monarchy.  He’s also its greatest humanitarian.
 
Edgar is wickedly handsome and yet approachable to everyone. The world sees him as a role model for both his vast charitable work and his determination to be true to who he really is.
 
He was just supposed to give a speech at the UN.  Instead, he falls head over royal heels for a gregarious American who is determined to teach him how to truly live.
 
Carter and Edgar are the paparazzi’s dream come true. Everyone seems to want an exclusive of the newest “it” couple.  And they will do just about anything to get it.  Pressure is building and trust is tested.  Is there any hope of them getting their very own “Happily Ever After?”

I was standing too. We were equal. He was destined to become the king of England, and I was a nice Jewish boy from New Jersey; we both knew what we were supposed to be doing, but we were fighting it. When it came to emotional stability, neither of us had a prayer. Maybe in some way, everyone feels inadequate and broken and ashamed of being so needy.

I can’t remember the last time I laughed reading every page of a book before Playing the Palace! Paul Rudnick creates an unforgettable cast of characters that made me immediately want to move to New York.  Their hysterical banter – both between friends and lovers – is filled with the rare combination of sharp wit and a soft heart.  That alone is worth all the stars!
 
But it’s still a story about love – in all of its wonderful and agonizing forms.  And I think that Justice Ruth would be quite proud….

Our Excerpt from Playing the Palace!

Edgar had a bit of that abashed schoolboy look, but the years were lending him a man’s seriousness. When he smiled, all this fell away, and he became pure joy, maybe because he didn’t do it that often, and he surprised himself. His smile had a recklessness to it, which was why he held it in check. I’d made him smile, which was maybe the sexiest thing ever.
“Your Highness?” I asked, and as I was saying it, I felt like a cartoon mouse dressed as a footman in a Disney animated classic.
“Yes?” he said, as I climbed the stairs and approached him.
“May I?” I asked, reaching toward his head. “You look great, and even more adorable than in those pictures where you’re feeding a tiger cub at the London Zoo, which made the entire world go ‘Awww’ and then donate to Save the Tigers. But you’ve got a flyaway—you know, a few strands of hair that might catch the light and mess up the video. So if I could just . . .”
I reached out and adjusted his naturally wavy, reddish brown hair, and while trying to stay professional, I thought, “I’m touching Prince Edgar’s hair and it feels like cashmere and he’s got a few freckles across the bridge of his nose and eyelashes for days and Carter, do not even look at his lips or you’ll be arrested.”
“There. Much better. Media-ready.”
As I said this, Prince Edgar was reaching toward my own hair, and I flinched.
“I’m so sorry. I was just . . . you have very nice hair as well. But I had no right, I don’t know what came over me . . .”
Our eyes locked and I couldn’t breathe and I wanted to die because my life was peaking, but on the other hand I couldn’t wait to see what might happen next.
My phone pinged; I’d meant to silence it and now I was shoving my hand in my pocket to find it, which never looks graceful, but as I yanked the phone free, it rang.
“Please, take it, it might be critical,” Edgar said, with genuine kindness.
It was my sister, Abby, who’s about to get married and calls me thirty-eight times a day for monogrammed water bottle consultations and meltdown management, which I usually love doing, only now I told her, “Abbs? I can’t talk, can I call you in just a bit?”
“But I just texted you,” Abby insisted, “and you didn’t text me back and I’m having an epic gift bag issue—”
“Which we will totally discuss and examine in depth,” I assured her, “but right now—”
Edgar was smiling at me, which almost made me drop my phone as Abby yelled, “WHAT? What are you doing that’s so important you can’t help me choose between miniature foil-wrapped chocolate champagne bottles and Lucite boxes of breath mints in my signature colors—”
“I’m . . . I’m . . .” I sputtered, “I’m at work. I love you and I think you should go with both the bottles and the mints and think about temporary tattoos of the bride’s and groom’s faces but I have to go. I’m sorry!”
I hung up and told Edgar, “My sister.”
“Ah. I know the dilemma. I have a brother.”
Oh my God. Oh my God. He wasn’t politely excusing himself or summoning a security guard. In fact, he kept going, asking, “Is it just the two of you?”
“Yes. And I adore her, but sometimes she’s, you know, a lot.”
“As is my brother.”
“Can I tell you something?” I said, my event-savvy instincts returning. “The way you’re talking to me right now, it’s so easy and appealing, and that’s how you should give your speech. In fact, let’s not call it a speech at all. Just make it a conversation, and pretend the audience is just a batch of friends, hanging out in your . . . castle. And remember to smile. Because your smile, oh my God . . .”
“What?” Prince Edgar asked. “What about my smile? I think it comes across as mechanical, like I’m pretending to be attentive and fulfill my duties while really I’m just activating a royal reflex or downloading my official mindless smile function. I hate my smile.”
He hates his smile? Is he out of his mind? If I could smile like that, I’d spend all day looking in the mirror, smiling and sending myself selfies and begging for a date.

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