Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick

***

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. 

Source: ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Playing the Palace is a fun rom-com that's sorely needed by anyone who's craving shenanigans and absurdity. Believe me, anything than can go wrong, will go wrong is the modus operandi here.

Carter's still smarting a little bit after his breakup (even though it happened a while ago). Every so often he still yearns for his ex. But his ridiculously fun job as an event planner leads him to the most unexpected meeting of his life - face-to-face with the dashing and handsome Prince Edgar of England. I swear this is the cutest of meet-cutes that one can ever encounter! Sparks flying. The guys being bashful. That instant I-get-you-already connection. It was all I could do not to squeal in excitement for them. And then they do start hanging out together and while it's fun, it's also just nonsensical.

As much as I enjoyed many parts of the story such as when Carter and Edgar get emotionally intimate and honest with each other, I felt like everything else happening around them was just too much. When something's going just right, it inevitably gets derailed by something else and it's usually because of some absurd thing, reason or person. Carter and Edgar are so normal and chill compared to everyone else in their lives and this includes their families. All other characters aside from these two are so extreme in personalities and mannerisms and that felt overdone to me. I also began to feel that Carter was turned into some ineffectual, haphazard influence for comedy's sake and that just didn't feel right. All the successive oopses just snowballed and became an utter mess. 

The plus side of Playing the Palace is that it's a joy to read someone of Edgar's pedigree and high-profile position be accepted by the public. He still has to walk a fine line knowing that there are some out there who find fault with his sexuality and lifestyle, but it seems less harrowing at this point in his life as he's figured out how he wants to lead his life.

Circle back to the start, you want the ridiculous, the absurd, and laugh at physical comedy, this is the rom-com for you!

~ Bel

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

* * * 

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky. 

Source: advance e-galley provided by publishers in exchange for an honest review


Even when things go horribly wrong there has to be a silver lining somewhere. For Olive who has always seemed to be the unluckier sister compared to her twin, her silver lining is that she did not succumb to food poisoning at the reception like the rest of her sister's bridal party and guests did. Thanks to the chaos Ami can't go on her honeymoon and rather than see it go wasted, she insists that Olive go to Hawaii and have a good time. Buutttt ... she has to go with Ethan, the groom's best man and all around pain in Olive's backside. The two have never gotten along so it's ludicrous to think that they'd b able to do so even if they're going to paradise. She promises Ami that she'll go anyway and that's where the adventure begins.

The Unhoneymooners is a typical enemies-to-lovers story that's fueled by misconceptions and assumptions about the other person. Ethan's not a huge stretch from a lot of guys in these rom-coms who start off aloof and maybe a little too condescending while Olive's the perky, outgoing sort. Yeah, their personalities clash and they try to keep away from each other. As luck would have it things don't go their way. Olive encounters someone with whom she interviewed for a job, and Ethan sees his ex there with her new man. I mean, seriously, of all the resorts in Hawaii and they're all there? The same week? Through a series of misunderstandings, Olive inadvertently leads her potential employer to think that she's engaged. To Ethan. Ethan in turn wants to show his ex he's moved on so why not go with the incorrect assumption and convince everyone that they're together. It's actually quite comical because they're still at the can't-stand-to-look-at-you phase. The pretense though can get boring but thankfully not here as they begin to tolerate each other. What I wasn't expecting was for things to loop back to her sister which I thought supercharges the remainder of the story. It's kind of sweet, actually, since the sisters always had something in the way of their relationship and here they get the chance to support each other.

The Unhoneymooners doesn't reinvent the wheel but it is entertaining and I had a darn good time reading it. Good banter makes me happy and the snarky back-and-forth between Olive and Ethan were my jam. Any good rom-com should make you laugh and fall in love along with the characters and The Unhoneymooners does just that.

~ Bel

Turn Up the Heat by Kimberly Kincaid

***1/2

"It's not you."

There are only so many times a girl can hear those words before she believes that it is, in fact, very much her. Unexpectedly jilted by her locally famous boyfriend and haunted by a boss who makes Attila the Hun look like a lap dog, Bellamy Blake does what any self-respecting girl in her shoes would do. She rounds up her two best girlfriends and makes plans to get the hell out of Dodge. . .

But Bellamy's escape plan takes a nose dive on the side of rural route 164 when her transmission self-destructs, leaving her in the middle of a cell phone dead zone with nothing but her wits. Oh, and Shane Griffin, the hottest mechanic who's ever checked under her hood.

Yet this small-town man isn't all he seems. Can Shane and Bellamy prove that sometimes the most unlikely ingredients make the most deliciously sexy mix?

Sometimes bad things lead to good finds.  Jill Shalvis had to cancel her appearance at the RT Convention this year.  Usually, what authors I will visit at the Kensington party are a given, Jill Shalvis and Jennifer Estep.  This year I was at a loss who to see in Jill's absence, so I was speaking to one of the Kensington publicists and she told me I should go talk to Kimberly Kincaid and I figured, what the hell.  I'm glad I did.  Turn Up the Heat was the perfect read while waiting for my next Jill Shalvis fix (yes, I admit I have a Shalvis addiction problem).  

Bellamy and Shane are pretty great.  They each have their issues, Bellamy is a kind of a pushover and Shane is attempting to escape the future he never wanted, but was forced upon him by his father.  Together they are an irresistible combo of sassy and romantic fun!  You cannot help rooting for their happy ending.  If you are a fan of a good rom-com, you should definitely read Turn Up the Heat.  

The second book in the series is also available now:

I will definitely be reading Jackson's story soon and so should you!  You can find out more about Kimberly and her books at www.kimberlykincaid.com.  

~Shel