YA Royal Romance

 

The Prince and the Apocalypse
By Kara McDowell
Publisher: Wednesday Books (July 11, 2023)
Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 1250873061
ISBN-13: 978-1250873064
Reading age: 13 - 18 years
Grade level: 7 - 9

 Publisher’s Blurb:

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?

 My Thoughts:

Wren is a planner and a listmaker, and she fully expected to enjoy a post-graduation trip to London just as much as her older sister had.

 She didn’t.

 And when it’s finally time to go back home, there’s a small problem. There’s an asteroid headed straight for Earth, and the airport is chaotic. Good thing the fictional heir to the throne of England owes her a favor.

 Of course, nothing goes smoothly, and their attempt to get to the royal estate in Greece and a private plane runs into one obstacle after another.

 The story is told only from Wren’s point of view, so it takes us a while to understand just why Theo is the way he is. The dialogue is cute, the main characters have complex feelings about their families, their duties, and each other. As they each reveal more and more of themselves, both realize more and more about what is truly important to them. Of course, there are multiple instances of misunderstandings and jumping to conclusions that throw obstacles into their relationship. And I wouldn’t say the ending is a “happily ever after.”

 Since there’s a sequel, I don’t think it would be too spoiler-y of me to tell you that the world doesn’t end after all.

 Possible Objectionable Material:

Doomsday. Cursing, including a few F-words. Sex (closed door) between people who are (maybe) married. Car theft and other minor theft. Mental health struggles.

 Who Might Like This Book:

Those who like doomsday scenarios, royalty, stories about road trips.

 Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

 

Heir, Apparently
By Kara McDowell
Publisher: Wednesday Books (July 9, 2024)
Hardcover: 336 pages
ISBN-10: 125087307X
ISBN-13: 978-1250873071
Reading age: 13 - 18 years
Grade level: 10 - 12

 Publisher’s Blurb:

An American teen learns she may have accidentally married the King of England, only to end up stranded on a tropical island with him in Kara McDowell's high-stakes rom-com, Heir, Apparently.

Freshman year is stressful enough without accidentally being married to the King of England. Of course, Wren Wheeler can’t tell her Northwestern classmates about that; after surviving a narrowly-averted apocalypse over the summer, everyone’s had enough excitement for one lifetime. Wren knows she needs to move on from Theo, but she can’t forget the look in his eyes when he left her on that island in Greece―and also, he took her dog.

When an ill-fated attempt to rescue Comet the Apocalypse Dog turns into a chemistry-fueled reunion with Theo that’s caught by the paparazzi, Wren finds herself under the royal spotlight. Suddenly, she’s a problem for “the firm” to solve, and in order to be protected from the rabid press, she’ll have to fly back to London with Theo. Along for the ride are Naomi and Brooke, as well as Theo's siblings, including Henry, the brother he's spent his life being compared to. But because the universe can’t let these two maybe-newlyweds have one conversation in peace, their plane goes down over the Atlantic, crashing on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere.

Stranded with no sign of rescue, the group will have to band together against poisonous animals, catastrophic injuries, a brotherly rivalry, and an ill-timed volcano if they’re going to make it out alive. And, scariest of all, Wren and Theo will have to face their feelings for one another and decide what they want their futures to look like―and if that future will be heartbreak, or happily ever after.

 My Thoughts:

The world is back to normal and Wren has to start college. Of course, she’s got a big, big secret. And she really misses Cosmo, the dog she found in Europe. So when Theo—now the King of England—is in town, she plans to surreptitiously retrieve her dog.

 Naturally, it’s not that easy.

 Theo and Wren are thrown back together, and it seems like he might even be happy to see her. But things get more and more complicated until the biggest complication of all: a plane crash.

 Most of the story deals with attempts to survive on the island until they can be rescued. Medical complications make rescue an urgent priority. But Wren and Theo get some moments together. They continue to grow in their understanding of each other, and Wren learns more about just how uncomfortable Theo is with being King. It also becomes more and more apparent that there is simply no way that he and Wren can be together—even though Wren would be willing to make it work.

 The ultimate resolution for both of these characters (and some others!) is satisfying. Again, dialogue is natural, and the feelings ring true. A few minor characters are a bit stereotypical, and Theo’s brother Henry is a bit cliché, but overall, characterization is well done.

 This book contrasts from its predecessor in that we go from a road-trip story to a more contained story on the island. Both of these formats give ample opportunities for character growth and advancement of the plot.

 Possible Objectionable Material:

Perilous situations. Injury and illness. Difficult family dynamics. Cursing, including a few F-words. Sex (closed door) between people who are (maybe) married.

 Who Might Like This Book:

Those who like stories about royalty and survival.

 Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.