"Next Monday, a fourteen-mile wide comet is going to hit the earth."

Wren Wheeler is a planner. A scheduler. A girl who has everything together. So when she and her best friend, Naomi, get a chance to go to London for two weeks over the summer for a study abroad program, she leaps at the chance. But then her plans start to unravel. She doesn't plan on getting the stomach flu and missing all but the last few days of her trip. She doesn't plan on Naomi making other friends and ditching her. And she definitely doesn't plan on meeting a prince on her last day there, traveling incognito, nor on having to help him hide from the paparazzi, and being late for her flight because of it. So far, we have the makings of a very cute, almost Hallmark-style romcom.

But then as she's trying to get to the airport, Wren learns that a comet will hit the earth in 8 days, ending all life on the planet. As she faces canceled flight after canceled flight trying to get back to her family in time, Wren finally does something she never thought she'd do...she dials a prince's number and begs for a ride home on his private plane. The answer is yes, but only if she helps the disguised Prince Theodore - "Theo"- flee to Santorini to escape his family and spend his final days in a place he loves. Cue roadtrip hijinks with some apocalyptic theming thrown in. Will Wren ever stop making plans, even in the face of an earth-ending event? Why is Theo running away from the Royal Family? Will Wren make it home before the comet hits? And most importantly...will she get the chance to kiss the prince?

This book is fun, frothy hijinks with misunderstandings aplenty and a very cute and believable romance. The main characters are enjoyable, and their dynamic and the way they play off each other is fun reading. Wren is an understandable protagonist, and the story does a good job of explaining and showing her flaws and how she grows and becomes more open as a person as the story progresses. She confronts her own issues as well as her growing love for Theo, which leads her to make sacrifices. As for Theo...Theo is an absolute delight. The way Ms. McDowell writes him, you can picture him inside your head right down to the sound of his voice. Theo has his own problems, his own issues, and they make him more understandable and relatable. When you put the two leads together, their chemistry is believable. You want to see them together.

The prose is well-written, apart from a few spelling and grammar issues. But since this is an uncorrected proof I've been reviewing, I trust that those were all ironed out by the time of publication.

Ms. McDowell's storytelling is very enjoyable and funny for the most part. The only thing I didn't enjoy is for about the first half of the book (and this may be down to sensitivity readers or publishers, I don't know), but for some reason, the author finds it necessary to specify people's race (ie the white man, the Black woman). This is jarring and every time it happened, it brought the story to a halt for me. It just seemed like in an apocalypse, there would be more important things to focus on. A couple of instances it doesn't even make sense. For example, there's a part where the two protagonists are in a car and are spotted by a police officer who proceeds to pull them over. The police officer is only referred to as "the officer" until he comes to Wren's window and speaks, and then suddenly he's "the white officer". It felt very out of place and odd. Another odd thing was a sentence where Wren says her sister, Brooke, has sworn off dating until she completes college. Up until this point, the author has never stated that Brooke is LGBTQ. But suddenly in this sentence, she states, "Brooke has sworn off dating guys or girls." It just seems bizarre and tacked on, almost as an afterthought. It seems like just saying "Brooke has sworn off dating anyone" would have covered that without such a brought-out-of-nowhere feel to it.

Aside from those instances, I did enjoy Ms. Mcdowell's work, and I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another book authored by her, nor would I hesitate to recommend it to my book-loving friends. In fact, since this book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, I'll hope to be picking up the sequel and getting more Theo and Wren. The book earns a solid 3.75 stars, which I will round up to four. Thank you so much to Netgalley, Kara McDowell and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader's copy for my review.

this book was fun. it was silly and ridiculous, there were times when it was unrealistic and hard to believe however I enjoyed all of those aspects, they just added to the apocalypse vibe, especially with teens as the main characters. I do wish that there was more chemistry between Wren and Theo had a hard time believing in their romance. I did enjoy the individual character development. Overall this was a fun and quirky read.
thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC of this novel. When this began, it felt like a typical YA novel with the interesting premise of the world is going to end in 8 days. Wren is having the worst time on her study abroad and accidentally meet the Prince of Wales and then end up running away together on an adventure. They did have unexpected adventures and you can see some changes in them as the book proceeds but it did not have the happy ever after I expected. Yes, the world does not end but they have the big fight and don't resolve it. Is this meant to be an opening for a sequel? At the time of finishing, the end was "oh wow" but with some time away, I am not as enamored. I enjoyed the book overall, 3 stars.

I absolutely loved this book. I really hope there is a book 2 with how this one ended. But if not, it was still a fantastic read. I'm such a sucker for end of the world books, especially this specific trope and plot - it's so fun and engaging and keeps you entertained.

I knew I was going to enjoy this, but what I didn't expect was just how much and I definitely recommend reading it!

I just finished the Prince and the Apocalypse by Kara McDowell and here are my thoughts.

Wren Wheeler was so excited to go to London with her class. Nothing goes right but the last thing on her itinerary is breakfast at The World’s End restaurant. Of course the place is closed and apparently only her and a beautiful English teen didn’t know.

Wren figures out pretty quickly that Theo is the Prince, next in line for the throne. All he wants is to escape the cameras, his mother and the palace for a while. After helping him, Theo gives her his phone number, good for one favor… When Wren gets to the airport to find her flight canceled because a comet is hurtling toward earth… she decides to use up that favor from the Prince, in hopes of getting home to her family.

Might be the cutest book I have read in ages! I loved Theo and Wren so much! I loved reading about their adventures all over Europe. The world ending was such a cool plot to have too. The shenanigans had me giggling so hard! I cannot imagine how they both must have felt knowing the world was ending. Wren just wants to get home to her parents and Theo didn’t want to be saved when everyone else was going to die. It’s an epic book. I loved every second of it.

I have a real soft spot for YA and this one was actually pretty fast paced and had lots going on! It was adorable but the ending… there has to be another book!! Theo!!! Once you read it you will understand and don’t even get me started on the dog!

If you love YA and cute romance reads then this one has to be next on your list

4.5 stars! Just brilliant!!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my gifted copies

Ok I'm pretty obsessed with Kara McDowell's books. This one had such a different synopsis I was a little bit nervous, but had NO reason to be!

This book was so good. It was funny and endearing and full of adventure and angst. I loved the discussion of mental illness and how those things are still so stigmatize in public.

I don't want to say too much, because I really did love the weird twists that the story took and loved going into it pretty blind. Overall, great book and I'm already ready for this author's next book (hopefully with an extended epilogue for this book because I need like 50 more pages!).

Man was this one delightful. If you like tropes, and a snarky lead girl your in for a treat. Lately I've been not really connecting well to YA books and that makes me super sad, they have been there for me for so long I was thinking that I was starting to actually just grow out of the genre. But stories like this one male me realize I still very much like reading YA. A meteor coming to kill everyone really takes a toll on these characters and how they interact. The premise is wild but the execution was perfect. The prince felt like a real sullen teenager and Wren was my favorite teenage girl I've read about in a while.

Wren is having a bad time on her study abroad trip and it turns out she'd rather have been at home than anywhere else. Between a stomach virus and the spontaneity of plans to her planned out schedule, she's over it. She has one last thing to do before she can put London in her rear view and even that doesn't work out because it's closed. She does meet a cute guy who is wearing the uniform of the universally recognized (ball cap and sunglasses) and helps him out of a tight spot with an offer to help her with anything for the next eight days. Turns out the world is ending due to an incoming comet strike and he had advanced warning because he's the Prince of Wales.

What follows was a multi country hop across Europe to get to one of his family's properties without alerting his family to where he is. They have near misses with getting him caught, disastrous dye jobs and accidentally fall for each other along the way. I loved getting to see how much more comfortable Theo got with her touching him because he wasn't allowed to be touched by strangers publicly. Their feet would tangle under a table in a scene and I found myself thinking the apocalypse is the best thing that could have happened to this guy.

I thought this was a standalone when I started it and now I might actually perish if it is a standalone. That cliffhanger!

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday books for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, I confess this book was better than I anticipated! Such a fun and sweet story! And let me warn you - - it has a fun twist at the end that I hope means there will be another book....fingers crossed!

When the end of the world is coming and American, Wren Wheeler finds herself stranded in London she's desperately trying to find a way back to the US. As fate has it, she just happens to meet Prince Theo - - the next in line for the throne of England. He's in disguise and trying not to be noticed when Wren helps him to get out of a pickle with the paparazzi. This one event leads to a connection between the two of them that will lead to a cross country trip where they try to get Wren to Greece where a private pilot for the royal family might be able to fly her home and Theo can hide out from his family. But it's not an easy journey. Yet along the way, they learn a great deal about each other and find that they wish they had more than a few days left until the world ends because it's just not enough.

This was a good story with some comic relief and also some emotional tugging of the heart strings. It took a little bit, but I did find a way to connect with these characters and look forward to another book and seeing what happens with them going forward.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

OMG there just has to be a sequel. I was hooked on this fun older YA novel and their journey through Europe during the last 8 days. And gosh that ending was amazing and I would love to hear what happens next.

This book was a lot of fun to read. Wren uses sarcasm and schedules to cover up her insecurities. Theo is trying to do something noble but can’t tell Wren. They have many crazy adventures and learn a lot about each other and themselves. I hope there’s a sequel. Highly recommend for young adults (and adults like me that enjoy a good romcom).

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I offer my opinions freely

If you could mash up multiple tropes into one novel by golly McDowell did it! We've got royalties, we have rom-com, we have the beloved cross-country trip, and to top it all off it is the end of the world. I found this very cute and fast to get through! I could see some of my students really enjoying the dramatics of this book. I would read another one of McDowell's books in a heartbeat!

This a cute YA romcom. Who doesn’t love a European setting, a handsome Prince, and an adventure. I felt like neither character really dug too deeply into why they “loved” each other -besides that the world was ending and they had a mission and didn’t want to be alone… but it was still a sweet love, clean love story. Lots of misadventures as a comet hurtles toward earth. I’d definitely recommend to YA fans looking for a unique storyline with English Royal and apocalyptic twists.
I DID read this before the release date AND recommend it on my Instagram, but I totally forgot to review via netgalley, which makes me feel awful cause it was SUCH a cute book!

Could not put this down.

Vibrant cover, vibrant characters, and heart-pounding adventure. Wren is on the trip of a lifetime when she becomes ill with food poisoning, rendering years of planning down the drain. When she is finally well enough to travel, it’s just in time to return to the States… but at the airport, she misses her flight and learns that a meteor is on a collision course for Earth, and there are not going to be survivors. Desperate to get home, she pairs up unexpectedly with a member of the royal family who she treated like a normal human being, so he now owes her a favor. Prince Theo promises he can get Wren a flight home if she can help his travel incognito. Their adventures take them across Europe, forced proximity does it’s thing, and they fall in love.

The writing is vivid, witty, and real with tinges of regret and grief, while the action is non-stop fun, harrowing, and sometimes funny. I have a feeling the author didn’t take herself too seriously with the banter and cheesiness, but she also addresses issues of mental health and family dynamics.

Did I mention I could not put this down. There had better be a sequel!

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #ThePrinceAndTheApocalypse from #NetGalley

I went into The Prince & The Apocalypse with no expectations and it turned it to be one of the funniest books I've read all summer. Wren Wheeler was such an engaging character from the very beginning and I loved being in her head with her thoughts about her upcoming college experience, her family members (especially older sister Brooke), and her dog, Wally. The meeting with Prince Theo worked perfectly for me and the way the story catapulted from there kept me reading. The pacing was perfection and McDowell really kept the story moving while allowing for character growth in quieter moments. The characters had real chemistry and I totally bought their whirlwind romance at the end of the world.

I highly recommend The Prince & The Apocalypse for a perfect beach read. The story never got too heavy despite the premise of a comet hitting Earth in 8 days. With this type of story, we the audience knew the crisis would be averted so that we could focus on the characters.

The ending really threw me for a loop and I hope we get some sort of follow up, whether it is a full length book or a novella. I would love to know what happens next with Wren and Theo.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the arc for review purposes.

Wren has planned this trip to London what seems like forever. She has her itinerary planned out and ready to go until she gets there and finds herself ill and spending her trip in the hotel room. Now it's time to go home and she is determined to at least make it to The World's End Restaurant. Unfortunately she finds it closed for renovations.... then she misses her flight home. She meets a boy at the restaurant and she discovers he is the Prince of England. She helps him get away from paparazzi and he offers to help her if she needs it. The news breaks out that a comet is heading directly toward Earth and the outcome doesn't look good. Wren has eight days to make her way home before the end. She takes the Prince up on his offer to help and finds herself falling in love.

I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down. I can't tell you my relief to discover that there was a bit of a cliffhanger. I cannot wait for the next book!

This novel was a fun bit of fantasy! Wren is not impressed by Prince Theo’s star status at all which makes for some fun dialog, and there’s nothing like an end of the world scenario to bring two people together that would never normally hang out. As they travel across Europe to Greece where a private plane can whisk Wren back home these two grow closer. Is it circumstance or are they really drawn to each other’s personalities? That’s a question the second book can and I hope will answer.

If you like young adult novels that aren’t realistic but are fun to read then The Prince & The Apocalypse may be the right novel for you! I certainly enjoyed this fun flight of fantasy remembering my own young dreams of meeting my own prince. It’s only in a book where that man could be the Crown Prince of England! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review and it was honest!

Wren is on a school trip in London that hasn't gone according to her plans. While trying to salvage her trip, she meets Theo, who is hiding from his life. When they find out that they are facing the end of the world, Wren and Theo set out on a ln adventure together. These two are immediately dynamic together. They have quite the banter! The compassion and support that they show each other is great to read but will their friendship morph into more and will there be enough time? I loved the character development and the paving of the story. I will be checking out more by this author! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

On the last day of her senior year trip to London, Wren wants to go eat breakfast at a specific restaurant. The rest of her trip has been a disaster so she is determined to get this one detail right. But when she arrives, the restaurant is closed. She meets one other boy there, who happens to be Prince Theo - the runaway Prince of Wales who has left the palace and is hiding from his family. The two of them end up on the run from the paparazzi causing Wren to miss her flight. All other flights back to the US end up being canceled due to a comet expected to hit Earth and end the world in eight days. With a little over a week to get home and everything being shut down, Wren must rely on another wild adventure with Prince Theo to get her home.

This was truly the most wild ride but in a fun way. It definitely requires a lot of suspension of reality, but once you get past how impossible this truly is, this story is such a fun adventure. I love a good royal romance so the prince on the run was a fun twist to that. I never know what was coming next and I flew through this story trying to figure out how it would all work out. It felt a bit older than many YA books which was unexpected but fine with me. Also that cliffhanger - please tell me we are getting a part two!!!!

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the gifted copy.

This book completely surpassed my expectations! I devoured this captivating rom-com in one sitting, unable to tear myself away. Stranded in London, Wren Wheeler teams up with the charming British crown prince, Theo, as they face an impending global catastrophe. Their journey across Europe is filled with comedic mishaps, unexpected hurdles, and a blossoming romance that tugged at my heartstrings. What I adored most were the flawed and relatable characters. Wren's need for structure and Theo's desire for freedom added depth to their connection. With an ending that left me yearning for more, I'm eagerly hoping for a sequel to continue this enchanting tale!