The Perfect Escape

by Suzanne Park

Overview

"Indeed the perfect escape from, well, pretty much everything."—SARAH HENNING, author of Throw Like a Girl and the Sea Witch duology

Love is a battlefield in this hysterical romantic comedy, perfect for fans of Jenny Han and teen romance books.

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 she needs the money too.

If the two of them team up, Nate has a real shot of winning the grand prize. But the real challenge? Making through the weekend with his heart intact…

A great pick for:

• Readers of YA romance and romantic comedy books
• Parents who need gifts for teens and reluctant readers
• Fans of Sarah Dessen, Kasie West and Christina Lauren
• People who love both the Hunger Games and rom-coms and didn't know they needed a crossover

Praise for The Perfect Escape:

A Junior Library Guild selection!

"Pure fun! A hilarious rom-com that head-fakes you into tumbling headlong into a techno-zombie survival thriller propelled by banter and plenty of heart."—David Yoon, New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love

"The Perfect Escape is just that—perfect. Filled with humor and heart, it won't let you go until you're smiling."—Danielle Paige, New York Times bestselling author of the Dorothy Must Die series and Stealing Snow

"An adorable, laugh-out-loud YA romcom with a lovable hero and an action-packed zombie-themed escape room—what more could you want?"—Jenn Bennett, author of Alex, Approximately

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728209395
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	661,642
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	HL680L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

SUZANNE PARK is a Korean American writer who was born and raised in Tennessee. In her former life as a comedian, she was a finalist in the Oxygen Network's "Girls Behaving Badly" talent search, and was also selected to appear on BET's "Coming to the Stage." She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, female offspring, and a sneaky rat that creeps around on her back patio. In her spare time, she procrastinates.

Editorial Reviews

"Pure fun! A hilarious rom-com that head-fakes you into tumbling headlong into a techno-zombie survival thriller propelled by banter and plenty of heart." — David Yoon, New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love

"The Perfect Escape is just that—perfect. Filled with humor and heart, it won’t let you go until you’re smiling." — Danielle Paige, New York Times bestselling author of the Dorothy Must Die series and Stealing Snow

"Effortlessly hilarious and super lovable. I hope this is the YA romcom of 2020." — Helen Hoang, USA Today bestselling author of The Kiss Quotient

"An adorable, laugh-out-loud YA romcom with a lovable hero and an action-packed zombie-themed escape room—what more could you want?" — Jenn Bennett, author of Alex, Approximately

"Suzanne Park’s debut was a thrilling ride with lovable characters and plenty of belly laughs." — Gloria Chao, author of American Panda and Our Wayward Fate

"The funniest love stories can start in the most unexpected of places. The Perfect Escape is a whip-smart, hilarious rom-com that boldly explores classism, family expectations, and how to outrun zombies." — Nina Moreno, author of Don’t Date Rosa Santos

"Quirky and hilarious, The Perfect Escape has everything you’ve ever wanted in a rom-com. Suzanne Park has created the perfect mix of humor and heart against the backdrop of zombie adventures guaranteed to keep you laughing. Nate and Kate are absolutely adorable and you’ll be rooting for them until the very end. A must-have addition to any bookshelf!" — Sabina Khan, author of The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali

"Suzanne Park’s The Perfect Escape is the hilarious tale of two snarky teens who will win your hearts (and maybe each other’s). It is indeed the perfect escape from, well, pretty much everything." — Sarah Henning, author of Throw Like a Girl and the Sea Witch duology

"Debut author Park's well-written title slyly infuses what seems like a typical teen romantic comedy with thoughtful treatment of diversity, microaggressions, classism and class struggles, immigration, and privilege while capturing the sweetness of two nerds falling for each other...A charming, thoughtful portrayal of complex teen relationships." — Kirkus Reviews

"With more books like The Perfect Escape, diverse characters will become the norm and old stereotypes may finally be put to rest." — Asian Review of Books

From the Publisher

02/01/2020

Gr 9 Up—Kate is desperate to get away from her controlling, tech pioneer father, while Nate is determined to fund his entrepreneurial ideas and make it to college while keeping his immigrant family afloat. When Kate and Nate meet at their zombie escape room job, they commit to a large-scale zombie survival challenge that, if they win, will leave them with a much-needed lump of cash. With a number of external obstacles to handle, including a case of eczema, an old crush who still holds Nate's attention, and a wealthy classmate putting pressure on Nate to drop his grades in exchange for thousands of dollars, this book struggles to stay organized and maintain a steady pace. While many of the conflicts are interesting and original, their individual impacts are never fully realized, making their introduction and continuation feel more like distractions than plot points. Park highlights Nate's experience as a Korean American, bringing an #OwnVoices perspective to the novel, and most of the characters are painted realistically enough for the purposes of the plot. However, Nate and Kate's chemistry falls flat and a surplus of secondary and tertiary characters overwhelms the relatively short book. VERDICT Readers may find this to be like a stock photo—it gets the point across, but without the genuine emotion to make it truly worth collecting.—Abby Hargreaves, District of Columbia Public Library

School Library Journal

2020-01-23
Aside from their mutual obsession with zombies and zombie films, Nate and Kate seem like polar opposites.

Korean American high school senior Nate Kim works hard—whether as a full scholarship student at the exclusive private high school he attends (and is bullied at) or at his job at the Zombie Laboratory escape room. Seeing how hard his immigrant parents struggle to make ends meet, he aspires to start his own business after college and get rich. On the other hand, as the daughter of the CEO of the AI robotics company Digitools, Kate Anderson, who is white, lives in a huge, high-tech house, also attends private school, and uses the credit card her absentee workaholic father leaves her to order food for her solo dinners. Their worlds collide when Kate starts working at the Zombie Laboratory, wanting to make her own money and choose her own destiny. Things take off when Kate asks Nate to be her partner in Zombiegeddon, a weekend zombie survival challenge that offers a generous cash prize. Debut author Park’s well-written title slyly infuses what seems like a typical teen romantic comedy with thoughtful treatment of diversity, microaggressions, classism and class struggles, immigration, and privilege while capturing the sweetness of two nerds falling for each other. The dose of action toward the latter half of the book comes about naturally, helping to propel the plot forward.

A charming, thoughtful portrayal of complex teen relationships. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews