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Summary
Summary
An American teen stranded in London is forced to team up with the British crown prince if she wants to make it back home before the end of the world in this delightfully rompy high-stakes rom-com.
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?
Author Notes
Kara McDowell is the author of The Prince & The Apocalypse , One Way or Another , This Might Get Awkward , and Just for Clicks . She lives with her husband and a trio of rowdy boys in Mesa, Arizona, where she divides her time between writing, baking, and wishing for rain.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--The apocalypse meets cute royal romance in this fast-moving novel. Eighteen-year-old Wren's senior trip to London has derailed from her carefully planned itinerary, starting with a stomach virus. Then she crosses paths with Prince Theo, heir to the British throne, and helps him escape the paparazzi--and kisses him. When she later finds out the world will end in eight days due to a massive comet crashing into Earth, she calls him, hoping he can help her get home to Chicago. Theo, on the run from the palace, promises to get her home if she accompanies him to Santorini where his family has a home and plane. So begins a romp of a trip through Europe dodging passport control, hopping trains, stealing a car, rescuing a dog, and more--all while everyone is on the lookout for the rogue prince to get the reward his mother, the Queen, has promised for finding him. Wren and Theo get closer with every passing day (each chapter begins with a countdown to the comet strike), and everything seems plausible in the chaos of the end of the world. While mostly light with fun banter, the narrative, told from Wren's perspective, hits on real issues of grief and impending loss. Theo, who lives with untreated clinical depression, has disdain for his privileged life and struggles with the expectations of his mother. Wren and Theo are white; Theo's best friend, Will, has a boyfriend. VERDICT Readers who like a dose of adventure with their romance will devour this page-turner (and hope for a sequel). Recommended for YA collections.--Amanda Mastrull
Publisher's Weekly Review
An American teen stranded in England must rely on European royalty to navigate an imminent world-ending comet collision in this high-stakes rom-com by McDowell (This Might Get Awkward). Eighteen-year-old Wren Wheeler did not expect to spend half of her senior-year trip to London sick with a stomach bug, nor did she anticipate that her best friend Naomi would want no part of Wren's meticulously curated itinerary. But that's not going to keep Wren from enjoying her last day in London--until she finds her final stop closed, and her class leaves for their flight home to Chicago without her. The only bright spot is meeting ruggedly handsome Theo, the on-the-lam prince of Wales. When they learn that a 14-mile-wide comet will strike Earth in eight days, Wren and Theo try making their way to Greece, where his family has a private plane. Though canceled flights, panicked citizens, and relentless paparazzi plague their journey, Wren finds herself falling for Theo and learning to embrace life's unpredictability. The duo's magnetic chemistry and wry banter work levity into a would-be dire situation, culminating in a cavorting, globe-trotting jaunt. Characters read as white. Ages 13--up. Agent: Katelyn Detweiler, Grinberg Literary Management. (July)
Kirkus Review
After missing her flight home from London, an American teen faces further travel interruptions when she hears an announcement that the world is ending in eight days. Nothing has gone to plan during 18-year-old Wren Wheeler's summer study abroad trip to London with her BFF. After years of anticipation, planning, and creating itineraries, she spent most of the time sick in her hotel room, and now she's missed her flight home just as the news breaks that a comet is due to hit Earth, putting an end to life as we know it. Wren was running late in the first place because earlier, in a meet-cute at Camden Market, she helped 19-year-old crown prince Theo evade paparazzi after he ditched his security detail in hopes of enjoying some freedom before it was too late. Calling in a favor, she asks Theo for help getting home to Chicago. He agrees but in exchange wants Wren to help him get to Santorini, where he was happiest and would like to die. He'll send her on to Chicago in the private jet that's waiting there. The two embark on a trip across Europe involving trains, a ferry, and a stolen car, not to mention a blossoming romance. Quirky Wren is full of personality, and her lively first-person narration is engaging and sympathetic. The witty banter and romantic tension between the leads, combined with a fast-paced plot, help readers suspend their disbelief. Main characters are white. A charming escapist romance. (Romance. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
On the last day of a disappointing trip to London, 18-year-old Wren encounters Prince Theo, next in line for the British throne. Suddenly, she's helping him disguise himself and escape from enthusiastic supporters and paparazzi through back streets and alleys. Their adventure takes a serious turn after the announcement that a comet will hit Earth in eight days and nothing will survive. Theo is determined not to be corralled into the royal bunker, while Wren's aim is to get home, despite canceled flights. Theo offers her the use of a private plane and pilot to fly her to Chicago if they can reach a Greek island in time. Meanwhile, Queen Alice offers a reward for information about her son's whereabouts. Though the word apocalypse in the title may discourage some readers, McDowell doesn't dwell on the consequences of a comet collision. Narrated by Wren, the story focuses on the well-drawn main characters and their shifting relationship. A treat for fans of rollicking, romantic road trip novels or rom-coms in which independent-minded young women fall for intelligent, good-looking princes.
