Review: The Prince & The Apocalypse by Kara McDowell
Thank you Wednesday Books for my copy of The Prince and the Apocalypse! All thoughts are my own.
I love a good royal fiction trope but sometimes they can get repetitive. Heir and space? We’ve seen it. Girl finds out her absent father is actually the prince of a far off nation? It’s been done. But girl has miserable time on study abroad so she goes for one last ditch effort to make her trip special and ends up running into a mysterious boy right before the world is about to end and he turns out of the the Prince of England? GIMME THAT!
I loved how original this idea was. I loved that it was fun and fast paced while also balancing some harder topics like growing up and mental health. This book is a journey and SO fun. It’s a mature YA, so the characters are eighteen and I love love loved it!
Synopsis:
“Wren Wheeler has flown five thousand miles across the ocean to discover she’s the worst kind of traveler: the kind who just wants to go home. Her senior-year trip to London was supposed to be life-changing, but by the last day, Wren’s perfectly-planned itinerary is in tatters. There's only one item left to check off: breakfast at The World’s End restaurant. The one thing she can still get right.
The restaurant is closed for renovations—of course—but there's a boy there, too. A very cute boy with a posh British accent who looks remarkably like the errant Prince Theo, on the run from the palace and his controlling mother. When Wren helps him escape a pack of tourists, the Prince scribbles down his number and offers her one favor in return. She doesn’t plan to take him up on it—until she gets to the airport and sees cancelled flights and chaos. A comet is approaching Earth, and the world is ending in eight days. Suddenly, that favor could be her only chance to get home to her family before the end of the world.
Wren strikes a bargain with the runaway prince: if she’ll be his bodyguard from London to his family’s compound in Santorini, he can charter her a private jet home in time to say goodbye. Traveling through Europe by boat, train, and accidentally stolen automobile, Wren finds herself drawn to the dryly sarcastic, surprisingly vulnerable Theo. But the Prince has his own agenda, one that could derail both their plans. When life as they know it will be over in days, is it possible to find a happy ending?” —NetGalley
What I Liked:
The Concept—It’s fresh and original and so flipping fun.
The Pacing—I flew through this book! Perfect chapter lengths, perfect stakes, perfect length.
The Banter—Top notch. I heart Wren and Theo.
What Didn’t Work:
60-80% Dragged a Bit—This part dragged a bit because I was getting impatient for what was going to happen with the freaking meteor!
But, makes sense because we were being set up for a cliffhanger!
Character Authenticity: 4/5 Spice Rating: N/A Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Content Warnings:
clinical depression, mental health, ableist language, suicidal thoughts, injury