The Perfect Escape

What better way to spend a Friday night than at an escape room? With zombies? Nate is a guide for the escape room, and Kate is a zombie actor. Nate’s parents hail from Korea, and their finances are more often than not strained. Kate recently lost her mother, and her father has taken his role as surviving parent seriously, often too seriously, dismissing her love of the theater for something practical. They both have their reasons to enter a contest that requires contestants to battle their way across a zombie wasteland, but the reward is great. However, there’s more than just zombies on the battlefield trying to block their path to the finish line.

Like the many recent books that capitalize on our love of comic conventions, this one starts with our new obsession with escape rooms. And adds in zombies. And competitions. Combined, they are the perfect setting for a rom-com that is sweet and funny and touching, with memorable but flawed characters. Nate’s Korean background is just part of who he is, and characters focus more on his status as the scholarship kid and less on his race. This one is the perfect escape from life. So cute.