There are no spoilers in this review.
The Perfect Escape, Suzanne Park
Publishing on April 7th, 2020 by Sourcebooks Fire.
Buy The Perfect Escape on Amazon – Book Depository – Indiebound – Barnes & Noble – More buying links.
Nate Jae-Woo Kim wants to be rich. When one of his classmates offers Nate a ridiculous amount of money to commit grade fraud, he knows that taking the windfall would help support his prideful Korean family, but is compromising his integrity worth it?
Luck comes in the form of Kate Anderson, Nate’s colleague at the zombie-themed escape room where he works. She approaches Nate with a plan: a local tech company is hosting a weekend-long survivalist competition with a huge cash prize. It could solve all of Nate’s problems, and Kate needs the money too.
If the two of them team up, Nate has a true shot at winning the grand prize. But the real challenge? Making through the weekend with his heart intact…
☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS: click here to see them.
fear of heights, blackmail, death of a parent from pneumonia (prior to the story’s events), grief, emotionally abusive parent.
☂️ DIVERSITY: Korean-American main character.
I ENJOYED…
☂️
- The Perfect Escape is one of these books I will definitely recommend for those looking for a fun, heartwarming, endearing contemporary read.
- Told with two POV, we get to know Nate, a Korean-American teenager with big dreams of wealth to support his family, as well as Kate, living with her very wealthy father but feeling more alone than ever.
- I loved the two characters so, very much. They each had dreams and goals, from getting more money to support their family to doing theater and wanting to follow their dreams, no matter how far away they are from family’s expectations. Each character had their own struggles and I quickly grew fond of them both.
- I really liked the originality of the setting! It is, for almost half of the book, set at a zombie survival competition somewhere remote in the woods and, if this was definitely more fun than full Hunger Games terrifying, I still really liked this setting…. so much I almost wanted more of it.
- Something I loved about The Perfect Escape is how it wasn’t entirely romance-focused. Don’t get me wrong: the romantic feelings developing between the two characters is there, it’s deliciously slow-burning and I liked it, a lot. Yet, I also loved how this book dealt with both teenagers just trying to go through life every day with their own issues, from money problems to dealing with grief and unsupporting parents.
I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️
- I feel like The Perfect Escape could have been marketed a bit differently: from the blurb and everything I’d heard previously, I expected a little more romance than there was. I appreciated it the way it was, but for people really looking for romance all along, you might be a bit disappointed.
- I also felt like some elements of the story could have been explored a little more deeply… like Kate’s father and his behaviour during the entire book. Kate’s father is kind of abusive, to be honest and his behaviour wasn’t properly explored, nor justified during the entire story. I missed some… closure, maybe, on this aspect of the story.
OVERALL
☂️
If you’re looking for a funny and heartwarming read, I’d definitely recommend The Perfect Escape. Despite its flaws, mostly it being not as much rom than it was com, I still had a lot of fun getting to know the characters and fell for them all thorough the story. It’s a book I’d recommend to contemporary fans overall!
Final rating: 3,5 drops!
A million thanks to Sourcebooks Fire & NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book. This did not, in any way, influence my thoughts and rating.
Did you read The Perfect Escape? Do you want to?
What’s the latest contemporary you’ve read? Let me know in comments!
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I added this to my TBR list yesterday! It looks super cute. There are some great contemporaries coming out this month! *_* <3
Ahh it’s wonderful, I hope you’ll get a chance to read it 🙂 Thank you! <3
Definitely an interesting concept will have to check it out!
Lotte | http://www.lauvlotte.wordpress.com
Ahh, hope you’ll enjoy it 🙂
I like rom coms with a bit of substance behind the story, so this sounds great!
Ahh well this should be great for you then, I hope 😀 Thank you so much for stopping by!
I also expected more romance. They pitched it as a rom-com, and there were quite a few funny and comedic moments, but it was light on the romance. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the story. I thought both the characters grew a lot, Nate’s family was precious, and the ending was very promising.
Agree! I found it a bit light on the romance, I was expecting a bit more, but it was still a very fun read and the characters were so lovely <3
Ahh, this book sounds so fun! I hope I don’t regret saying this, but I already have a strong feeling I will love it ?. The minimized focus on the romance, and the fact that it’s slow-burn ?. Although, I can see how the book disappointed you a bit, and that’s bothersome that there wasn’t closure on that storyline ?. Thanks for the warning!
Wonderful review, Marie ??!
Ahhh, I hope you won’t jinx it ahah and will love it, it was such a wonderful read <3 Thank you, Belle! 🙂
Ok…..please share how you hid your trigger warnings!!!! I need to know this!
It’s with two html blocks called details and summary, a quick search with those keywords should give you the exact details on how to put them together! 🙂
Thank you so much! ?
You’re welcome! 😀
Omo.. this sounds so cool. Even I want to read it now ♥️
Ahhh yay! I hope you’ll love it 🙂
i’m glad you enjoyed this book, marie!! i hadn’t heard much about this before, but i’ll say i’m a fan of a male asian-american character since i feel like there’s so few of them in ya! but the premise sounds very unique and i love the cover ?
Agree! I’m so happy to get one more with this lovely book. I hope you’ll give it a try! 😀
Ooh I absolutely adore The Perfect Escape! I do agree with the marketing aspect but I personally didn’t mind it that much. I do agree about the plotline of Kate’s father and MINOR SPOILER ALERT FOR ANYONE ELSE READING THE COMMENTS but I just couldn’t get over the fact that they sort of forgave his father towards the end? He was extremely nasty and I couldn’t find anything redeeming about him.
Other than that though, I loved it. Oh, and I recently did an interview with Suzanne on my blog and she mentioned that the sequel is in the works!!! I’m so psyched 😀
Ahh I’m glad you liked this book! I agree, the marketing wasn’t quite… on point for that one, but I still found this to be a lovely read! 🙂
AGREE! I was kind of upset about how this situation was handled and… well, I didn’t really liked that.
Thank you so, so much Charvi <3
It’s a shame the romance was a bit of a let down. I really like the sound of the quirky elements of the story though – especially the zombie-themed escape room. Great review <3
It’s just something to know before heading into this book : I feel like, when reading the synopsis, you get the feeling you’ll get a lot more romance than you actually get ahah 🙂 but it was a fun read overall! <3
Thank you so much! <3
Wonderful review! This sounds like a cute, fluffy read to pass the time. I also love the sound of the setting. Definitely unique from other YA contemps out there. A shame that the romance isn’t as prominent as the blurb makes it out to be, but I’m glad you enjoyed it for the most part! 😀
Thank you so much!! I hope you’ll give it a try, it was a really fun read 🙂
Oooohhh I really like the sound of this! A cute contemporary is just what I need rn, I think ? And the setting is so unique! ?I’m also a huge fan of slow-burn romance & I definitely don’t see it enough in YA so that’s a definite plus for me ?
? Ngoc
YES YES we all need cute contemporaries I agree ahah 🙂 I hope you’ll love this one! <3 <3