Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto – 320 pages
ARC from Berkley and Netgalley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is accidentally shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working, at an island resort on the California coastline. It’s the biggest job yet for their family wedding business—“Don’t leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!”—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie’s perfect buttercream cake flowers. But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy’s great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?
My Review: 3.5 stars
Dial A for Aunties was a modern rom/com and a murder by mistake romp of a good time. There was a lot of joy in this story that came from the auntie’s antics. (Say that a few times!) For me they were the highlight of the book. There were four aunts and everything from their looks, birth order, profession and offspring affected their relationships with one another. Honestly, I’ve been bingeing Kim’s Convenience on Netflix, so the book came to life with their accents and misinterpretations of many English sayings and euphemisms.
Let’s face it, the truth is often stranger than fiction, so I suppose this murder by mistake could have happened, but it all seemed far-fetched to me. It had the I Love Lucy type of humor; characters getting into hopelessly ridiculous situations and somehow, they always came out unscathed.
This is the perfect book for the beach or when you just need a light and funny read. I loved reading about Indonesian characters and even more so when it’s penned by a Jarkartan author as well. Definitely look out for it on Netflix…can’t wait!
Quotes I liked:
What is with the Chinese-Indo community and their hard-on for Hermès?”
“Meddy, how can you say that? Your aunties coming over, so late at night, coming to help us get rid of body, and we don’t even offer them any food? How can? Oh, we have dragon fruit, good, good.”
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