Prince of the Playhouse

By: Tara Lain

Narrated by: K.C. Kelly

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

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.

©2016 Tara Lain (P)2016 Dreamspinner Press

To listen or not to listen, that is the question..

Any book narrated by K.C. Kelly automatically goes into my wish list. I love the inflection of his voice, the superb and very recognizable voices he creates for each character, even the sighs and huffs he makes are perfect and add so much to the story he is telling.

I’ve listened to the two previous stories in this series and thoroughly enjoyed #1 Knight on Ocean Avenue. We were first introduced to Rupert Maitland (Ru) in that story, although I didn’t take to him as much as I did in this one, even though he offered support to his friend and work colleague, Shaz. I adored Shaz from the start and was thrilled to see him popping up to offer Ru his comfort and advice in this story.

My heart went out to Ru as the story unfolded. He turns out to be such a wonderful character; kind and considerate as well as OTT and gregarious at times. He’s adorable and well on his way to becoming a superstar in the fashion industry. For one so young, he is incredibly gifted. The mystery of his past took its time to reveal itself and had me wondering for much of the story. I kept expecting it to conflict with his developing relationship with Gray Anson, the super hot (and deeply in the closet) movie star.

When they finally get the chance to make out, the sex scenes are smoking hot. I didn’t like that Gray kept his affair with Ru a secret and still dated women to keep up his public hetero image. In fact, I found it difficult to get a grasp on Gray’s character. I loved Chris, his bodyguard/chauffeur, though.

The story was well-written, but for me the storyline didn’t work as well as #1. But still it was an entertaining, low-angst story overall, made all the more enjoyable by K.C. Kelly’s fabulous narration.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Truly a great read

I have come to really enjoy this author and this story was no different. It was great. I loved the narrator who really added to the enjoyment of the story which was totally enjoyable.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

KC Kelly does another AMAZING job with great story

Loved this so much!
This is book three in the series Love in Laguna and I highly recommend reading all three in order to really appreciate this book – though technically it can be read as a standalone.

Ru is Shaz’ BFF and assistant. Now that Shaz is moving up in the world, Ru is taking his turn to really shine his own light.

Ru has never been shy about his willingness and desire for sex – without strings – but he’s not a player. In fact, he’s more of a homebody than anything else.

He’s had a terrible crush on actor Gray Anson and though he knows nothing will ever come of it – he still longs for the guy he sees up on the screen. So… he’s shocked out of his socks when the guy ends up doing a play at his very own playhouse in town and Ru ends up being his costumer.

Gray is hiding his secret gayness with a pretty but ruthless beard. Nobody – including his family – knows he’s gay and it’s been a huge stress for him.

When Gray needs some help with his lines, Ru steps in and the two have an instant connection. The problem is keeping their hands off one another in public because the paparazzi is literally everywhere and nobody thinks Gray could be “out” and keep his action/adventure hero status in the box office.

**

This book ties closely with book one as my favorite in the series! I love, love, love Ru! He’s so unexpected! Nothing he does is without plotting or planning and yet you’d never guess his history or what he does behind closed doors.

He’s totally unique and wonderful! Gray is the sweet side to Ru’s tough-as-nails attitude and they make a great couple.

I was glad to see the “coming out” part finally reach it’s conclusion as that was getting to be a big strain – but adding in the ghosts from Ru’s past kept the story vibrant and on it’s toes!

Though it felt a little OTT, I liked the scene in the church with Gray’s family and thought they were very sweet.

I highly recommend this book and this series.


Audio
I just love KC Kelly and thought he was a GREAT choice of narrator here! He gives Ru a lovely, not-too-lispy voice and handles the Hispanic accents well, too. Gray and the other characters are nicely done as well. I love his emotion and timing and really feel that he absolutely adds to the enjoyment of the stories he narrates. He has a way of drawing the listener in and making them a participant in the story that really brings it to life. I highly recommend this as a way to enjoy this fantastic story!

5 of 5 stars

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great series

Great series. So sweet and lovable characters. This one even had a little spice.
Very enjoyable narration.

Ok

This book was ok to draw out for me but I like it learn some about fashion

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

what happened to Ru's voice?

I am so disappointed. I loved the books and the previous audio books where Ru was a character. The actor used a really unusual voice for Ru and I was looking fwd seeing how that worked. This performance by the same actor has a completely different voice and character for Ru. In fact he sounds so like Shaz that it is hard to tell who is talking and I feel cheated out of Ru's story.