ARC Review: The Perfect Escape

Author: Suzanne Park

Genre: YA Contemporary/ YA Rom-Com

Release Date: 04.07.20

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Source: Publisher

My Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Synopsis: “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…”

With everything going on right now in the world it has been a hot minute since I’ve been able to just pick up a book and read it. However, after picking up The Perfect Escape on a whim around 10pm one night I stayed up until the early morning hours to finish reading it. It definitely hits the mark with being a cute, fun, and quick read that is great for a few hours of perfect escape (haha, get it?)

The Perfect Escape follows two characters, Nate and Kate, who share a common interest in their love of zombies and need for money. This combination leads them to partner up for a huge weekend-long zombie survival contest… but can they make it through the weekend without breaking each others’ hearts?

Things I Enjoyed About This Book:

• The characters were soooo sweet. Both Nate and Kate had a lot of great qualities and read as very soft. I found myself cheering for them immediately and generally enjoyed their respective narratives.
• The take on money. Although I won’t spoil anything for the book, I’ll just make the general statement that I liked the different perspectives on money and wealth in this book along with how those perspectives were used for character development. I haven’t read too many books with that theme woven in and I thought this take on it was well executed.
• The concept. I’ve been head-over-heels in love with the concept of this book since I discovered it, and I still feel the same. The Perfect Escape’s unique concept grabbed me from page one and kept me reading. I’ve never seen a book with a focus on zombie escape rooms/ escape rooms and I gotta say that this book delivered!

Things I Didn’t Enjoy About This Book:

• The plot regarding the survival challenge weekend. After reading the synopsis I assumed that a majority of the book would be focusing on the weekend survival challenge. But, only about the last quarter of the book actually does. This didn’t bother me too much, but it wasn’t what I was expecting out of this. I would definitely enjoyed the story more if it had a greater focus on the survival challenge rather than the buildup to getting there.

With all that being said, I did still totally enjoy this book! It was fun and cute and easy to devour in one sitting. I would recommend it if you need something soft and quick. My favorite part of the story would definitely be the concept, it’s like nothing I’ve ever read before which made it all the more enjoyable.

Thank you very much to the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, for sending me an E-ARC of The Perfect Escape via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are all my own.