Hi! Today I am excited to finally share my book reviews of Loathe at First Sight and The Perfect Escape by Suzanne Park! Suzanne Park is a new favorite author and I was lucky enough to read her recent releases almost back-to-back. They are wonderful contemporary reads, one Adult and the other YA (debut), and I just cannot recommend them enough. And since Loathe at First Sight releases on August 18th, I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on both reads. Let me know if you have read them in the comments below! ❤️❤️❤️
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Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Park Published by Avon ISBN: 0062990691
on August 18, 2020
Pages: 368
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Source: Books Forward PR
I received this book for free from Books Forward PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Melody Joo is thrilled to land her dream job as a video game producer, but her new position comes with challenges: an insufferable CEO; sexist male coworkers; and an infuriating—yet distractingly handsome—intern, Nolan MacKenzie, aka “the guy who got hired because his uncle is the boss.”
Just when Melody thinks she’s made the worst career move of her life, her luck changes. While joking with a friend, she creates a mobile game that has male strippers fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Suddenly Melody’s “joke” is her studio’s most high-profile project—and Melody’s running the show.
When Nolan is assigned to Melody’s team, she’s sure he’ll be useless. But as they grow closer, she realizes he’s smart and sexy, which makes Melody want to forget he’s her intern. As their attraction deepens, she knows it’s time to pump the brakes, even with her Korean parents breathing down her neck to hurry up and find a man.
With her project about to launch, Melody suddenly faces a slew of complications, including a devastating trolling scandal. Could the man she’s falling hard for help her play the game to win—in work and in love?
The Chef’s Review
I loved reading Loathe At First Sight! ❤️✨ It was funny, witty, feminist, nerdy and just absolutely amazing. Since I had already read The Perfect Escape and since I had also enjoyed reading it so much, I was thrilled to find out about her next work: Loathe At First Sight.
Omg, where do I begin?!! Melody is so cool, a true inspiration. When she nails a job in the video game industry, she finds herself with several obstacles including a very obnoxious co-worker and a privilege work team member. However the way she manages every situation is so clever, she constantly had me laughing! But I was equally frustrated of the injustices she had to suffer in a work environment of mostly men employees that had little respect for “women opinions”. Ugh, the unfairness!!! My feminist heart loved how this story progressed though. ?
And can we talk about Nolan?! He is so cute and smart and a very nice guy! I loved how he supported Melody and even ended up doing a crazy marketing plan alongside her. I LOVED that part! ? My second favorite scenes where whenever Melody’s parents appear. They are hilarious!!!
Anyway, you must all read this book! I promise it does not disappoint. It is now one of my favorite adult contemporary reads! ?❤️✨
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The Perfect Escape by Suzanne Park Published by Sourcebooks Fire ISBN: 1728209390
on April 7, 2020
Genres: YA Contemporary
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Source: Sourcebooks Fire
I received this book for free from Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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…
The Chef’s Review
The Perfect Escape reminded me how much I love YA contemporary rom-coms! ?❤️Nate and Kate are the sweetest, we meet them at the beginning of the story in their Zombie Laboratory job (its a zombie themed escape room) where Nate works as host and Kate dresses up as a zombie. They soon become friends and that’s where their adventure begins. Kate soon finds out about a Zombie survivalist competition and immediately asks Nate to be his partner to win the money prize. They are both in need of it so they start spending more time together to come up with ideas on how to win the game!
Aahh, there are so many things that I love about The Perfect Escape especially the humor and omg THE SECOND HAND EMBARRASMENT!!! I could feel myself blushing and there is a particular scene where Kate goes to a skating party and Nate happens to attend as well. Will not get into much details, but I’ll just say that Kate does not skate so well ?… However, she has her incredible friend Raina by her side and she really is the best, I wish we could have hang around more with her.?
Another thing that I liked about this story was even though it was full of humor, it managed to touch some subjects such as loss, money problems, a controlling parent and even bullying and it was so well done. I could feel both grief and desperation and yikes, what can I say? I think the author did a great job writing about those themes.
The Perfect Escape became a new contemporary favorite and I cannot recommend it enough. Loved every minute of it and had me smiling like a dork right through the end! ❤️✨
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About Suzanne Park
Suzanne Park is a Korean-American writer who was born and raised in Tennessee. In her former life as a stand-up comedian, she was a finalist in the Oxygen Network’s “Girls Behaving Badly” talent search, and appeared on BET’s “Coming to the Stage.” Suzanne was also the winner of the Seattle Sierra Mist Comedy Competition, and was a semi-finalist in NBC’s “Stand Up For Diversity” showcase in San Francisco alongside comedians Ali Wong and Nico Santos.
These both sound delightful. I’m going to add these to my TBR. Nice reviews! I love that they both sound funny and fun!
AAh I hope you get to read them one day! And of course, that you enjoy them! ♥