This was a cute read, I enjoyed most of it!Nate and Kate were lovable and they made me laugh!While it was funny and charming at times it was frustrated. I couldn't get well with Kate's story line the all thing with her overprotective father was a bit too much!  The romance was sweet and swooning!Overall, it was a great read!

In these super weird times I’m finding comfort in a variety of genres and reading YA romance again is reminding me of just how fun it can be. There’s something soothing to me about reading a somewhat predictable rom com right now, it’s helping me keep my mind occupied and providing me with an entertaining escape and this one surely did that for me!

The thing I loved the most about this one was that while it was adorable it was also quirky and awkward which is quite a great combination in my opinion. Nate and Kate are both lovable nerds and I found them both to be super endearing. The romance here is very low key and this focuses much more on the family dynamics of both Nate and Kate which was fine with me, I never expect too much romance from a YA rom com anyway and I found Nate’s family to be so sweet, I especially loved his little sister Lucy and Kate’s relationship with her father was heartbreaking and just made me like her even more. Overall an enjoyable read that made me want to read more from the author.

The Perfect Escape was exactly what the title describes it as: the perfect escape from reality and a book which will make you forget the world around and just have fun. It was full of adventure, fun and friendship.

The Story 
The story of The Perfect Escape was fun and honestly adventurous. It follows the story of Nate and Kate. They both meet at Nate’s zombie-themed escape room and become immediate friends. Kate then suggests to take part in a zombie-themed survivalist competition organised by the local tech company. The winner gets a huge cash prize and they both agree to partner up because they both need the money. The first half of the book is light and a little vague in terms of plot while the second half goes straight for the fun and adventurous part. The first part seems more like a filler part before the actual story starts and this being in the start of the book makes it a little boring. The story was easy to follow and the one thing I really liked about it was how it seemed so natural. The course of the story felt proper and not like trying too hard: whether it was the fun parts, the kinda serious parts or the sass and jokes. It was definitely the kind of rom-com you would love to see in the movie form. 

The Characters
The two main characters of the book were Nate and Kate. They were written as really fleshed out and relatable teenagers and that is another plus point about the book. Nate is from a Korean family and they’re not rich but because he is smart he is a scholarship student at an elite school. He is multi talented and a really sweet person. I really liked how awkward and thoughtful he was. He was thoughtful about everyone around him. He was quirky and I really liked how he was his younger sister.

Kate was rich but had a difficult relationship with her father. She loved theater and acting and was a really fun character to read about. She was genuine and mature and dealt with stuff very realistically. She was non-judgmental and supportive of her friends and the kind of character you like to know more about.

Nate and Kate had a great friendship chemistry. It was really adorable to read about them. Although I definitely expected a little more from the relationship aspect. That felt incomplete in a way. There were other supporting characters too who were good to read about.

A lot of the story was engaged in giving the readers the background and perspectives of the two main characters and their lives and difficulties which they face. It gave a lot of depth to the characters individually and that was definitely one of the plus points about the book.

The Writing and Pacing
The writing was simple and easy to follow. It wasn’t overtly complicated at any part nor did the writing obstruct the experience of the book in any way. As I said earlier, it felt natural and not forced at any point in the book. I particularly liked that about the book.

The pacing was okay. It wasn’t too fast or too slow but because of the plot being vague in the starting chapters, it felt a little stretched. Even when the fun parts start, there are sometimes filler parts which seemed kind of unnecessary. Then things started happening much faster and the ending seemed a little rushed. The book hence had a very inconsistent pacing. 

Overall, The Perfect Escape was just okay for me and although it was a really good book i wasn’t particularly wowed by it. But if you’re a fan of light, fun and adventurous books and just want to read to escape reality for a while and laugh at the mom jokes and cute friendship, then The Perfect Escape is definitely a book for you.

I was pretty stoked to get the chance to read and review The Perfect Escape early. I’ve only ever been to one escape game, but the premise of the story, including killer zombies and blossoming romance between the running-for-your-life moments, seemed like a fun, interesting mix. The added fact that this is a POC book and the author lives locally only added to the reasons for me to pick it up! 

The Perfect Escape introduces us to Nate, a Korean-American prep student on the fast-track to being valedictorian – all in the hopes of starting up his own company of survivalist gear – and Kate, an aspiring actress with a creative heart and severe daddy issues after the death of her mother. Nate and Kate both work at a zombie themed escape room and, once acquainted, find out that they have quite a lot in common – most notably being that they both need to come into some money fairly quickly to help themselves out of some sticky situations. So they both sign up for Zombiegeddon, a survivalist game, in the hopes of winning the $50,000 grand prize. Over the course of the weekend while running from and fighting zombies and other competitors, Nate and Kate encounter a devious plot to rig the outcome of the game – all while trying to reconcile their blossoming feelings for one another. 

This book is pretty difficult to review, as what it did well – it did really well! But it was lacking in quite a bit, too.
 
First off – what it did well. The main protagonists, Nate and Kate, are fun, relatable characters. Nate, who – at the top of his class, with perfect college applications and prep boy status at an elite school – could’ve easily come off as a typical Gary Stu. But he had enough depth to him, with insecurities and fear and real-world issues such as helping his family trying to make ends meet, that he never felt much like a construct to me. Rather than the “perfect boyfriend” material, I saw him more as a driven, well-rounded individual. I love how dedicated he was to his family, particularly how gentle he could be with his younger sister when he wanted to be. Similarly, Kate is a fun character, too. She’s sassy and sarcastic and gives off the vibe that she’s oozing self-confidence. Her family is loaded, as her father is the head of the highly successful Digitools company, but it’s quickly discovered that money clearly doesn’t solve her family’s problems, as things have been tense since the death of Kate’s mother. Throughout the story, she comes to terms with her grief over the loss and it was really cool seeing her character growth as she realized that she didn’t need to conform to the expectations her father set for her. Overall, they both were very well fleshed out characters. 

Too, the romance between Nate and Kate had quite a bit of nerdy, cute chemistry. I’m a sucker for nerdy stereotypes anyway and they made a super cute couple. It was run reading about skipping heartbeats and blushing between zombie fights to the death. 

The part of this book that really shined was the Zombiegeddon game itself. Park writes fast-paced, action scenes well and I really loved the subterfuge that happened amongst the other competitors and game organizers. I would’ve liked to see a little more zombie action, but considering I got cute kissing scenes between them, I won’t complain too much. 

The biggest issue I find with this book is the pacing. The premise of the story is what originally drew me in – but we didn’t even get to the game itself until the 60% marker. That means over half of the story was plot build-up that I felt could’ve been accomplished in maybe the first 30%. I signed up for a zombie themed survival book, not prep school politics and boring teenage parties. The book took me maybe six hours total to read, but it took me nearly a week to finish it because the first half of the book was just such a slog to get through. Further, it seemed like many of the secondary characters were archetypical and not very engaging. Nate’s parents were the typical pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps immigrant family. The prep school rich kids were douches. And Kate’s uber rich executive father’s personality seemed to consist entirely of being a grade-A asshole. I just couldn’t get very invested in them and I think that’s why the first half of the book was such a drag, for me personally. 

Overall, though, the last third of the book was super fun and I’m glad I stuck through with the beginning so I could get to the meat of the story. I think it would’ve read SO much better with some restructuring and some better, more fleshed-out secondary characters, but it’s still a decent read.

This book meandered a little too much for my taste. It was disjointed and some of the side characters motivations made zero sense or were really badly done.  It thought this was going to be a fun getting through a contest rom com but it really wasn’t. I found it difficult to finish this one.

This was adorable and I really want to press it into my own teen's hands, but we all know how kids respond to book recommendations from their mom.  I thought The Perfect Escape was a fun, light and entertaining read.  I really wished that the big zombie competition would have come faster, but every chapter of character development and plot set-up was worth it in the end.

Nate and Kate come from two completely different worlds, but have a common interest in zombies. As if working at the local zombie escape room isn’t a dead give away, when they catch wind of a zombie survival competition for a chance to win a large cash prize, they partner up. Nate needs the money to help his family. Kate wants the money to leave hers. On this journey though, what else do they learn about themselves and about each other?

What a fun debut novel! This was a modern Hunger Games meets fluffy Disney (like that old TV movie Smart House) kind of story, and it was fast-paced, well-written, and I loved how the differences Nate and Kate had were what made them great together. (Yes, Nate and Kate were great. It rhymes.) I also appreciated the Korean ethnic flare and all the deadpan jokes. Though the romantic aspect wasn’t heavy, I still enjoyed reading this! And, I definitely recommend to my fellow YA readers.

The Perfect Escape is a quick and fun read that I finished in a single sitting! I loved that Nate and Kate met through working at the zombie-themed escape room. They were both very likable characters, and their interactions were so fun and realistic. The zombie survival challenge was a great way to continue the zombie theme of the book and offer Nate and Kate a chance to bond in a high-stakes setting.

However, I felt like there was so much untapped potential in this book. Technology is a tool that Kate's father uses to monitor and control her, but we never get to see a face-to-face confrontation between Kate and her father. After the twist during the survival challenge, I was disappointed that this was resolved off-page. Another major conflict in the book is Nate's focus on earning money due to his family's lack of financial security, and I thought the ending oversimplified it into a 'money isn't that important' lesson.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and would definitely read a sequel!

With names that rhyme like Kate and Nate this was bound to be a cute read. I never thought a zombie themed escape room could lead to romance but Suzanne Park proved me wrong. I loved the awkward moments, funny conversations and sweet interactions between Kate and Nate. Nate is likeable and is the nice guy you can’t help but root for. Kate was understandably guarded but I enjoyed her sense of humor. 

There were a few aspects of the story that felt a little over the top for me. Parts of the survivalist competition reminded of The Hunger Games  which threw me a bit with this being a contemporary romance. Also, the use of technology to control Kate felt unbelievable at times. Even with those minor moments I was entertained the whole way through.

I wanted so much more from this book. It’s a quick, cute, and easy read, but things felt rushed and sloppily put together. I felt like we didn’t get enough time with Nate and Kate together for them to develop feelings for one another so quick. Despite that I did like both of them as the main characters. I felt really bad for Kate and her broken relationship with her father and how he was pushing his expectations on her and didn’t give a flying flip about she wanted. I have righteous anger about that, and I’m glad Kate was able to make her own way and be independent.

I wanted more of Kate and Raina’s friendship. They’re obviously good friends and as the story progresses we see how Raina played an important role but there’s not a lot of backstory there. Nate’s friendship with Zach and Jaxon were casual and cool, and you could tell they’re a tight knit group of friends. I really like that as well.

I keep thinking back to all the parts that simply needed more and what felt rushed. The whole confession Nate’s dad did at the end kind of felt out-of-the-blue considering the setting. Despite the whole Korean thing about not talking about feelings or asking questions, I thought this moment would have been a good time for Nate’s dad to break that mold and have a moment. But again, it simply felt rushed.

I thought the zombie survival contest thing would carry a bit more substance. We don’t really know much about it outside of the prize money but when we arrive there we see it’s really a big deal, and isn’t just some national competition but rather international. A lot more explaining and detail could have happened here but it—and other settings—felt a little lackluster.

Despite how rushed things felt, when Nate and Kate did acknowledge their feelings it was really cute and left me thinking that they have a lot of potential together in the future (which is a plus in my book)!

The story had a cute premise, I could've used more zombies in there though. Characters were interesting though I'm not sure I found them to be very realistic. The storyline with the crazy father was a bit much and wrapped up rather too tidily.

unfortunately, this book did not resonate with me. the plot felt too "out there" to be believable, but didn't have enough of a sci-fi aspect to make up for the fact. it just came across as weird. regardless, even though i did not personally enjoy it, i would still recommend it for library purchase.

This book was so adorable and I really enjoyed everything about it. It was fun quick read! I loved the character especially Nate! I adored him so much! I loved all of the nerdy references and the setting was amazing! Thank you so much Netgalley for giving the Oporto read this amazing book!

This is a sweet story about a teen girl who invites her crush to enter a survivalist competition with her. It's a unique premise. This story is very light and fluffy. Its entertaining and fast paced. 
The male narrative I think was too sophisticated, I didn't feel like I was in the head of a 16 year old boy. I feel like this book lightly skims the surface of their story, there are issues that they could have delve deeper or spent more time on. At times it felt rushed.  
If you are looking for a nice, quick, YA romance this is the book for you.

THE PERFECT ESCAPE by Suzanne Park | Grade: B+ | No spoilers ahead.

Lovers of great romance tropes unite! I love a good romantic comedy  and this fits this bill exactly with a little of dose of action added on top. One thing that worked really well for this novel was the alternating points-of-view. If you had asked me what I thought about alternating POVs a few years ago, I would have told you that I absolutely despised them. But it seems that they are here to stay in YA lit and I have grown accustomed to them. And while I have started to like them more and more, there are still few books that really mandate it. However, this is one of them. Getting to hear from both protagonists showed the different lives they led and gave so much insight into the lives of both characters. From the perspective of a less affluent Asian American male and a uber rich white female, we were treated to each’s thoughts, home lives, and feelings. So, I must really applaud Ms. Park for that masterful use of alternating POVs. And even though I am not really into zombie fan culture and would never be able to last through a survival competition, I had a lot of fun reading about the competition that the novel revolved around. My biggest complaint about the novel is how some of the action was written during the competition. There were several moments where there would be the start of a problem or situation, but it seemed like it was solved way too quickly. While this is a pretty minor complaint, it was one of the only negative things that I encountered by the time I reached the end of the book. I definitely recommend this to those who are in the mood for a quick and fun YA read. A very special thank you to @netgalley and @sourcebooksfire for an advanced copy of the novel. While I of course appreciated this opportunity, my review is presented without bias.

This is a fun addition to the young adult romance genre.  Nate is a scholarship student at an elite high school in the Seattle area.  To help meet ends meet, he works at a zombie-themed escape room.  Kate starts working at the escape room as a zombie; she and Nte hit off.  They each have their own reasons to want an influx of cash.  They decide to pair up on a weekend zombie-themed survivalist competition (think Hunger Games).  

This book gets 4 stars for pure creativity in subject matter.  I had no idea there was such a zombie culture out there.  Along with more info about zombies, we get to know Kate and Nate better as they get to know each other better.  Both are at that stage of lie (seniors) where they are figuring out who they are and what happens next.  This was a sweet YA romance/coming of age story.  It was fun to read.  

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Perfect Escape was a fun read.  There were zombies and AI. Though it was fun, I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would.  There were a lot of things I liked about the book, but also quite a few things I didn’t.  

Kate and Nate (yes their names rhyme) were decent characters, but they also felt a little flat.  Kate’s home life was honestly a little terrifying. That part I really could have done without and while Kate was a decent character I didn’t like her as much as I should.  Nate, on the other hand, was a typical dorky high school kid. I loved the dynamic between him and his family. In fact, I really wish the book had focused even more on that.  

I liked the story, but it also felt unfinished.  But it felt like there were a lot of things missing from the story.  I also felt like there was a lot of telling and not showing in this book.  Normally I enjoy a dual narration, but I felt like the first person was the only way I knew these characters even liked each other.  

I think this book could have been great, but instead, for me it was just fine.  I’m hoping there may be some sort of a sequel or something because the story felt unfinished and I would be interested in reading more.

I did enjoy reading this one but I wish the characters had a little more to them and some of the jokes and plot points fell a little flat for me.  I came for zombies and romance and that’s (kinda) what I got. Overall enjoyable though.

The Perfect Escape follows Nate Jae Woo Kim and Kate Anderson. The two work together at a zombie escape room, and the story picks up the first night they work together. They quickly strike up a bond and become fast friends with a mutual crush—but it wouldn’t be YA if they didn’t realize it until 75% through the book, am I right? 
The duo come from completely different worlds. Having just lost her mother, Kate deals with an EXTREMELY overbearing father who doubles as the CEO of a high tech company. She lives alone in a high check mansion with a robot butler. Nate, on the other hand, lives with his mother, father, and sister. The family has a low income, and Nate is a scholarship student at prestigious school for the overly rich. 
After Kate gets fed up with the constant surveillance from her father and a classmate tries to bribe Nate into throwing his GPA, they decide to team up to enter a zombie apocalypse survival competition. If they can make it across the finish line first in a weekend contest, they can win $50,000. With both being zombie aficionados winning the contest seems like a piece of cake, but scheming fathers and classmates, a blooming romance, and zombies stand in the way. 

The Perfect Escape is a solid 3.5 stars, and it’s a breath of fresh air in the sea of too-angsty romances in YA. It’s cute. It’s funny. It’s spunky. And a zombie apocalypse survival competition was the perfect setting. 

I loved how different the characters’ backgrounds are, but at the same time, they were able to bond and compliment each other so easily. They were both awkward, believable teens with their own issues. My only complaint character-wise is that Kate wasn’t as fleshed out as Nate. With Nate, we knew his family, his friends, his hobbies, his ambitions, etc. With Kate, it seemed like we knew her dad was a jerk right off the bat, but it took chapters to find out anything else about her, and even then it felt like less. Nate’s friends were also pretty unique characters and were pretty consistent in the story. Kate’s friends seemed to only show up when convenient. 

I also enjoyed Nate’s family dynamic. You could feel how much he loved his little sister Lucy even thought they fought. His parents also had their own personalities and remained in the story quite a bit. Part of the reason Nate wanted to earn the money was to help his family after his dad loses his job.

I also kind of loved that Kate had a less-than-perfect family situation, mainly because it was carried out so well. Usually I get the vibe that the parent is well meaning and had their reasons and it’ll be okay and all that jazz, but not so much here. Kate’s dad was just insane. She called him a “drone parent” and she was right. He sent her emails about how much money she spend (she was $0.44 over on groceries!) and tracked her phone (why did she talk to the pizza guy for 15 minutes?)--it was downright creepy at times. He also made all her decisions for her—major decisions like pulling her out of school her senior year and having her volunteer in Asia. He also was never around and left her in the care of the adorable robot butler Jeeves. There was also times where he really put her down by criticizing her love of theater  and calling it a waste of time. However, I didn’t like that this wasn’t really resolved in the end. 

The pacing in this book was also a little weird. The first half was a lot of lead up to the contest and felt a little too drawn out sometimes. The first 50-60% was about a month of lead up to the contest. The next 40% or so was the contest—only two days. Then the last 5-10% was the ending which seemed a little sudden and incomplete, leaving me with a few questions. 

Overall, this was a great debut. There were a couple problems, but it really showed Park’s talent and I look forward to reading more from her!

This is a cute story and I think the idea of the plot is uniquely fun and adventurously flirty, but I am not quite sure this story reaches its full potential.

I would consider this a good starting point for a debut novel. The writing isn’t terrible, the story has good pacing, and the characters are relatable. I just think there is a lot of room for SP to grow as an author when it comes to finalising details and the overall polishing of the story. 

For example, if you pitch your story as a rom-com, there should be generous amounts of both romance and comedy. I found this story to be lacking in both areas. And i don't feel as if ‘Kate's super rich father with his all-powerful, ever-reaching company’ serves as a realistic opposition. Her dad as a villain just seems way too one dimensional and gimmicky. 

I think this is one of those cases where I like the idea of the story more than the actual execution. But I do believe it's a promising start for SP's writing career!