Title: Prince of the Playhouse (Love in Laguna #3)
Author: Tara Lain
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 4, 2016
Genre(s): Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 266
Reviewed by: Crabbypatty
Heat Level: 3 flames out of 5
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Blurb:
Driven by his desire to become a successful fashion designer and concerned with hiding his questionable past, Ru Maitland has let obsession with action movie star Gray Anson on the big screen replace his social life. Then obsession and reality collide when Ru is asked to design fashion costumes for a special performance of Hamlet at the Playhouse in Laguna starring none other than Gray Anson. Gray turns out to be a compelling mix of shy and brash and, despite a high profile engagement to a female socialite, the signals Gray sends Ru have his libido doing the salsa.
Gray Anson has what most people only dream of—great wealth, huge fame, a job he loves. For that, he’s given up any semblance of privacy and the right to say no to the thousands of people who depend on him and the millions who love him. He sees everything he’s ever wanted just outside the bubble of his life, but how can he make the compromises needed to embrace it? When Ru’s shady past crashes into Gray’s paparazzi-haunted present, both men have to learn that sometimes the only acceptable compromise is the truth.
When I started reading Prince of the Playhouse, I loved the set-up. A fashion designer madly in love with an action hero actor, who just happens to be stretching his artistic wings by doing a week in the role of Hamlet at the Laguna Playhouse. There are hints that Gray Anson is not quite what his image is, while there is a tantalizing glimpse into Ru’s background – he does seem to know his way around a knife ……
“Yes.” He just kept staring at Ru. “Do you know your eyes are almost the color of a cat’s?”
“And yours are like the sky before a storm.”
dual POVs interesting set-up with Ru’s past as a gangbanger what’s the deal with Merle??
Does a costumer tell the director how a character will be portrayed? Hamlet as a gangster
Merle asks if Ru is a top or bottom in the first 5 minutes of their drink/date?
his balls flying like the Wallendas
Chemistry – never did feel that they loved each other – it seemed like Ru loved the image of Gray Anson, actor, while it was hard to define exactly what Gray saw in Ru. Never really described what Ru looked like. We get Ru’s POV mostly, with a few POVs from Gray that don’t really give lots of detail. Also, we don’t get to know about Ru deeply – he’s a gangbanger with an interesting fashion. Bernardso pays for him to attend school, but how did Ru feel about that? we don’t ever really get much incite into him, other than his lust for gray, his adoration of his movies, his cock popping up in about every scene, and his craft. How does a 24-year-old designer get to have such prominence so quickly?
Plot – hated the obsessive Officer Johns, lots of hole plots. The director allowed the costume designer to set the character portrayals. seemed strange. Gray’s coming onto scene is pretty anticlimactic. Mother knew all along, and we never hear from the father. The manager who keeps on trying to keep Gray in girlfriends and stave off the gay rumors-odd. Penelope at the end helping with the party is odd. Loved the set-up with Ru as a gangbanger, and hiss secret past, which is mostly alluded to until the end. Bernardo a convenient way out of problem. Next book about Merle and Bernardo?
Sort of a douchey move to hold a press conference to say that he is investing in Ru’s business
I’m going to give you a blowjob. You said I bought the right to do anything I want, and that’s what I want.
They have sex about halfway through and at that pint, the rest of the book is about the play, the cops and it get a bit boring until the whole murder thing gets dropped into the story (a bit too late IMHO).
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