Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Playing the Palace

Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick

16 reviews

jneverland's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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dustfinger97's review against another edition

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It's just a comedy of errors and its really cringe-y. The literal first page mentions that Ruth Bader-Ginsberg is in heaven, though she and the main character are both Jewish and heaven is not a thing in Judaism, which was strike 1. After repeatedly messing up and making the prince look bad, my final straw was

Carter spectacularly vomiting on live TV with the prince, making him look even worse

and I just lost interest in the story because of the cringe.

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readingqueerly's review

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This book was awful. The writing is terrible. The scenes make no sense and do not form a coherent story at all. Just no absolutely not. The scene that eventually made me stop reading completely was

when carter went along to a gbbo taping and vomited in the most violent way like why?? Why was this necessary

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missmichalalynn's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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cclardo's review against another edition

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There was no real development of anyone but the main character (how I found to be spectacularly annoying) and every other character seemed to exist primarily as a trope. The author relied on deeply cringey scenes as well. This read like a meh sitcom and not a romance novel.

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bookaholics_anonymous's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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laejone's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book absolutely has its fun moments, but there were so many other issues I had with it, especially the pacing and the ending, that I really don't feel like I can give it more than 3 stars. There's a chance other people might enjoy it, but I found myself skipping through quite a few scenes.

I also feel the need to point out that I truly don't understand why the big drama in the third act was told through flashbacks, even though the scene had happened only the night before. The entire thing was unnecessary but the way it was told just made it even odder.

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mals_library's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I’m always hesitant to berate books, since so much time and effort went into writing them and I put considerably less of both into reading them. However, try as I may, I can’t think of anything positive to say about this book. It was a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. Though I picked it up because of the similarities between it and my all-time favorite romance, Red, White and Royal Blue, there’s really no comparison to be made.

Playing the Palace was a story of insta-love between two poorly developed characters, with a slew of rather shallow, stereotypical side characters and an absurd number of moments where I cringed so hard, I had to put the book down. A few especially cringey parts included Carter and Edgar going into the former’s bedroom to have sex while his roommates were home, Edgar using a lion puppet to ask Carter for sex, and Carter repeatedly asking his framed photo of Ruth Bader Ginsburg questions and imagining her answers.

Honestly, I’m not sure what else to say about this book. The whole thing felt rushed, and kind of like a fever dream. It was clear that Rudnick was trying to do a lot of things with PTP, but all he succeeded in, as far as I’m concerned, is making a mess. I’m sorry to say it, but there’s just no way for me to sugarcoat that and still be honest. 🤷🏼

Representation

gay Jewish protagonist
gay love interest
queer Black side characters (includes gay and sapphic rep)
achillean romance
achillean side couple

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