Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto Book Review

“‘It’s murder!’I cry. ‘Or, well, not murder, it’s more like self-defense, but still. Ma, there’s a dead guy in my car. This is not the kind of thing you share with everyone, even if they’re family.’

‘It’s exactly the kind of thing you share with family,’ Ma says.

(pg. 60)

About

Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto

Genre: New Adult Romantic Comedy

Click to buy book

Click to read more book reviews

Synopsis

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 inadvertently 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 the 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 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?

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To the Aunties,

GOSH did this book give me a good laugh from start to finish!!!! 😂

So funny, so witty, so fun, so clever, and oh so wonderful. I thoroughly had a good time reading Dial A For Aunties!

Meddy is a good girl, who some may say is filial. Being Asian as well, I can partially understand how Meddy felt in having to stay with her family—to be the loyal daughter when everyone left. With my family, we don’t expect our generations to be highly filial, but I think that’s because we are Filipino and we have different family dynamics or beliefs. But I know how hard it can feel to leave your family because you feel like you have to stay, or that you owe something to your family. Or that you have to prove something to your family. Meddy stayed with her family because every man or boy left after a certain age, and Meddy always believed this was the family curse. So, being the good girl, she stayed with her family and followed in the family business even if that wasn’t her passion. I didn’t think that there was ever a curse on the family, but more so Meddy thought it was a curse for people to leave because leaving the family is not something smiled upon. I also think that Meddy owed it to herself to explore her passions and interests—to leave and figure out who she was.

I loved the whole backstory of Meddy and Nathan because we got to see their relationship, but we also got to understand Meddy’s intentions.

“‘Yeah, and that’s exactly the problem. We’re always there. I don’t know what life is like without any of you in it. I had a glimpse of it when I went to college, and then after that I moved back home and it’s back to being in the fold. I don’t know who I am without you all breathing down my neck.'”

(pg. 248)

The fold? Like the Shadow and Bone Fold 😉 (joking!).

Meddy was always around family and always expected to stay, so I understood why she wanted to keep something—Nathan—to herself. She really did need to go away for college to have time to herself to be herself because when she was home, she probably felt the need to play a different role, so she never knew who this other side of Meddy was. That’s something I related to sooooo much. I went away for college for a year and a half (half a year because of the pandemic). My freshman year was the first time I lived away from home, and it was a year I never realized I needed until I looked back and saw how much I grew. I learned to do things independently, I learned how to find my own happiness when I felt alone, and I discovered who I was without my family watching my every move. This past year, I have stayed home and I am finishing my last two years of college from home . . . and let’s just say it’s been different. It’s been difficult. I am surrounded by my family all the time and I don’t leave the house unless I go to the grocery store or I walk outside, but as a person in her twenties, I want to figure things out by myself. I want that freedom to do that, but the pandemic has made it complicated, and being at home where I feel placed into this role has also made it harder to spread my wings and really do things for me. I miss being independent.

I love my family, don’t get me wrong, but I feel like people act different around family and friends. You know what I mean? With family, I’m a bit more reserved and respectful, but with friends I feel calmer. By myself, I am a mix of both. Spending time away that first year was beyond difficult and I was sad the entire time because I felt alone, but I know I needed to be alone to know who I could be. That’s why I always say now to people that they should spend a year alone or that they should move out at one point to figure things out for themselves—to have the time and space to grow.

I felt Meddy got that in college with Nathan for a while. And I loved that for her. Because even in those then chapters, I could feel she was being a more authentic version of herself than someone who had to live up to family expectations.

Let’s talk about Nathan! 😆

Gosh, Nathan was soooo perfect. Like too perfect to be true and too perfect in all the ways. I mean, he was CUTE, he was soo sweet to Meddy, and he literally took the fall for her murder 😂. Get you someone who would take the fall if you accidentally murdered someone 👏🏼. Joking!

But their backstory was sweet and endearing. I loved how we saw their relationship bloom within a few pages. So CUTE. But then she had to go and break up with him because she didn’t want to move to New York with him or hold him back from his dreams, which I respect. But she could have been kinder to him when breaking up with him! I mean, sis just popped the I’m-breaking-up-with-you-speech out of FREAKING nowhere!! I didn’t blame Nathan for being mad because, heck, their break-up was out of the blue, and to make it worse she said things like, “Oh, I’ve been feeling this way for a while.” That had to feel sucky to hear on Nathan’s part. They were a good couple and she let him go! 😫

You can imagine how happy I was when he showed up at the hotel—the hotel owner no less. He said I was living in charge!! He said, I am healthy, I am wealthy, I am rich, I am that beach! Let’s go Nathan!! 🤪

Back peddling to before the hotel, Meddy’s Ma set her up on a date because Meddy hadn’t dated a lot since Nathan—because, duh, he was the one. I couldn’t stop laughing with how the Ma basically catfished this Jake guy—I’m going to call him Jake from Statefarm because it’s funner that way. But the Ma was sooooo FUNNY! She had no clue what she was texting Jake 😂. I could not with that whole scene with the Aunties and Meddy when they went over the messages with the eggplant and thirsty and how the mom was like, he like cook you eggplant–your favorite 😂. Or how the Ma was like, “I thought he was a kind guy because he cooks and he asks you if you thirsty.” SHE’S SOOOO FUNNY!!! This is why you never have your Ma or Aunties make you a dating profile with a random weirdo.

Jake was a sleaze from the minute he walked into the room. The way he touched Meddy? It was an absolute NO from me! I mean, he was feeling her up and that was DISGUSTING and WRONG. And don’t even get me started when he offered to drive her home!!!! ☹️ Here’s a word of advice to everyone that I was told: never let the date drive you on the first (maybe the first couple of) dates. The reason for that is 1) if you drive yourself, you can leave at your own time 2) it serves as a precaution to a dangerous situation. I wanted to SCREAM at Meddy when she got in the car with Jake because I already saw the red flags popping up. But I’m happy she had a freaking taser! You know, it’s disheartening how most women have to carry a taser or pepper spray or any type of defense mechanism because of dangerous situations that occur to women. Here’s my tip number two I heard once: Tase then pepper spray. Don’t pepper spray and then tase because doing so might catch the person on fire because there’s something in the pepper spray that can catch fire when the person is tased right after. I could be wrong, but I don’t know. I heard it on Unsolicited Advice 🙈. I thought Meddy should have tased Jake sooner.

The whole aftermath of the car crash was FReAkinG hilarious! It was absolutely comical how the Ma and Aunties didn’t even bat an eye to how Meddy killed a man. They said he deserved it, they drank tea, cut fruit, and moved on 🤪.I could not stop laughing with how the Ma and Aunties were so casual about talking about where to move the dead body or what to do—like this was a normal conversation they had every night. I CACKLED when they argued where to store the body and the Ma was like, “My fridgerator not big enough.” Like, I’m sorry?! She was unfazed by even thinking about sticking a dead body in her fridge? 🤪 I also could not when they moved the body, they had this whole argument about cheap garbage bags! Gosh, knows I felt that. I also laughed when they compared tasers. I’m sorry?! 🤪

Honestly, the Aunties were the stars of the book–pure gems.

I loved their sibling banter with trying to one up each other—how they made everything a competition. I loved all of their quirks.

Big Aunt was the eldest and Second Aunt hated her guts. They really could not put aside their rivalry to get the job done. FREAK, I LOVED Second Aunt and how she would bust out a Tai Chi pose whenever she got stressed 😂. I could not stop laughing at the image that would come to mind—everyone arguing, trying to figure things out, and then Second Aunt would be in the background making a Tai Chi pose. Honestly, whenever disaster stuck, I was like,
“Where’s that Tai Chi pose?” Fourth Aunt was ostentatiously funny too. I felt like she felt like she was the Aunt left out, so she tried to stand out with her singing, her outfits, and coolness. She was funny too! Put them all together they are comedy gold! ✨

The Aunties also had a realistic essence to them to every Auntie I have. All my Aunties like to embarrass the younger ones and they always lend a helping hand when they can. But my Aunties can also be very judgmental when they want to be, not in a really bad way, just a natural Auntie way. What are your Aunties like?

I also laughed so hard when they were held captive by Maureen, and they kept praising Maureen for being polite, even though she had Meddy at gunpoint and she tied them up 😂. I could not stop laughing when Meddy came back with the wedding tea ceremony gifts and they were all having tea and fruit like this was a tea party and not a thief-hostage moment. I mean, where did Ma get the mangoes from?

I guess, when there’s a Ma, there’s a mango.

I also thought, “What the heck?!” to the whole fact that they killed the wrong dude 😆. I was shooketh because they catfished a catfish and then they accidentally stuck him in a cooler and he got shipped on a boat to a hotel. LIKE GOSH! This became screwed up too fast. I thought they were being the exact opposite of inconspicuous when they decided to drag a dang cooler around the hotel 😂. They sure didn’t know what discrete meant. Gosh, or the fact that they hid Ah Guan’s body on their hotel bed. I’m sorry, could they have not just kept him in the cooler in their room? Why did they have to take his body out again? Oh, don’t even get me started when Nathan saw Ah Guan’s body’s feet sticking out and assumed Meddy was sleeping with someone. She really could have lied and said her Aunt was sleeping. She said she didn’t want to lie to Nathan, which I understood, but I think Nathan was being too perfect by not even being remotely mad that she slept with someone. I could not with her whole excuse of how she slept with a staff member and then the staff member fell asleep in her room.

“‘So one of my staff members left his post to have a–a thing with you, and then took a nap in your room? I’ve gotta tell you as his employer, I’m not very pleased to hear that.'”

(pg. 213)

Oh, I bet 😂.

Nathan had to be on to them!

I loved when the Ma met Nathan. Gotta love your Aunties!

I also didn’t like their whole plan with disguising Ah Guan as a groomsman because how the freak were they going to pass off a dead body as a drunk groomsman?????? I mean, I could see the logic, but wouldn’t his body smell or wouldn’t it be weird . . . I didn’t know how that was feasible. But they really darn gave Ah Guan a suit and made him walk down the aisle—or propped down the aisle. I still don’t know how realistic that would be, but hey, it was funny. It wasn’t funny when everything went to pieces and Ah Guan’s body dropped and someone couldn’t wake him. Gosh, knows Jacqueline had an interesting wedding.

I quite liked Jacqueline. She seemed like a patient and kind woman. I did not like Tom. He seemed like a rich, entitled, save-face prick. No wonder he had absolutely no friends. Kind of sad he hired his groomsmen. I thought it was funny, but it worked well that the groomsmen were hired because that way they already didn’t know each other, so they definitely wouldn’t have known Ah Guan. Did Ah Guan have any family? Like wouldn’t anyone miss him? Gosh.

What had me cackling the most was how the Aunties drugged the groomsmen. I don’t know why I laughed so HARD when they talked about “Chinese medicine” and the drugs they put into their drinks to make them appear drunk. I could not stop laughing so much at the coke joke.

“‘Coke got so much sugar,’ Big Aunt sniffs. ‘Better drink Coke Zero, otherwise later you get diabetes.'”

(pg. 235)

I could not with them! 🤪 I mean, cute older people who have no clue what they are talking about, makes them so much funnier and cuter!

I felt sorry for the poor groomsmen, too! They could not remember a DARN thing the entire time! Gosh, I hope they got paid a million because they really went above and beyond for Tom’s wedding 😆. Lucky for Meddy they didn’t remember anything because it made it much easier to interrogate them in the end about Ah Guan’s body. I’m just still surprised how no one seemed to care that Ah Guan must have had a family or something. I mean, didn’t anyone else call to see where he was?

But back to the wedding, if I was Jacqueline, that would be a huge red flag because if my groom didn’t even have one real friend, that would seem weird to me. Also, Tom sounded like a five-year-old child most of the time who sought power because he was actually a man child. So I was happy Jacqueline’s wedding got ruined so she didn’t have to spend the rest of her life with him. She deserved better. I really darn shrieked when Meddy accidentally hit Jacqueline and she went flying into the pool. This Is why we don’t have weddings on water 🤪. But I know Meddy didn’t mean it. I liked how Nathan came to save the day and jumped after Meddy. Get you someone like Nathan—always there.

I liked the cultural aspect of the wedding. I have never been to a Chinese-Indonesian wedding, so it was interesting to learn the various parts of the wedding and the traditions.

I thought the whole thieving plot really added to the story; I liked how their was accidental murder and robbery. I just didn’t understand why Maureen would still steal the tea ceremony gifts from Jacqueline. I mean, Maureen explained it, but I still think she should have had a better plan than stealing the wedding gifts to get Jacqueline to talk to her. She also should have come up with a better plan to get the wedding canceled rather than look like a thief. Getting a woman you love to love you by stealing her tea ceremony gifts wasn’t it. I think Maureen could have just told Jacqueline how she felt and then if she lost a friend or made things awkward, at least she would have said her piece rather than you know. . . stealing a bunch of wedding gifts for nothing! I didn’t really like Maureen, but I didn’t have her either. She was okay. I could see she was a nice person, I just didn’t like how she blackmailed and wanted to set up Meddy for nothing. When Meddy stashed the presents in Maureen’s room after answering Ah Guan’s phone, I was like, that was a smart move. I know if I was Meddy I would have felt awful for framing someone like that, but they wanted to frame me first! I loved when the mom or the Aunties would go all mama bear on Meddy because they wanted to protect her.

Besides all the humor and fun moments of the book, I really enjoyed the heart-to-heart moment Meddy had with her Ma. I liked when she told her Ma about Nathan and needing her time to figure things out. I also liked how Meddy opened up about thinking there was this inevitable curse that awaited her if she fell in love. The mom spun the curse around and said it was a blessing because the uncles and boys leaving brought the Aunties closer together.

“All these years, I have never seen it that way, but Ma’s right. I did grow up with four mothers, and it really has been amazing. There’s been so much love in my life that I took for granted.”

(pg. 185)

I loved that 💚.

I also liked how Meddy cut ties with her Aunties and Ma towards the end, and she took the entire situation into her own hands. She did so because she always relied on her Aunties or Ma to be there to fix everything, but fixing her own mess proved to herself she was stronger than she gave herself credit for. It was also a very huge step for Meddy’s independence. I loved that for her. I loved when she walked into Nathan’s office where he was being held by the Sheriff, and she POPPED off! If being a photographer doesn’t work out for her, I bet she has a career in acting because of her finesse, her power—she excused that! It was a different side of her and it was exciting to see. I liked how Nathan tried not to laugh the entire time. Gosh, he must have been proud to see her be the strong woman he always knew her to be.

Throughout the book, I appreciated how we got to be inside Meddy’s brain. She’s quite freaking hilarious, and I appreciate a woman of humor! I thought adding Meddy’s emotions throughout the story added an extra layer of humor. I will say, sometimes Meddy’s inner dialogue became a bit receptive with how much she would say she just murdered a man and now she was a thief. I guess it was because Meddy was in shock.

The one part of the book I would have loved more of was Nathan and the romance. I enjoyed the scenes Nathan was in and I liked their banter. However, I felt we could have more conversational interactions with Nathan about what happened in the past. It just felt like Nathan accepted whatever happened in the past and was quick to jump into something with Meddy because he always loved her. And heck, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I would have liked a deeper conversation where Meddy explained how she felt in the past and more about why she turned him away. I would have also liked to know what Nathan felt afterwards and what else he did in the time they broke up to now. I know they had that brief conversation, but I would have liked something more with that. That’s not to say I didn’t like their relationship—they were so freaking cute! I loved how he was always popping up at the wrong moments, but also the best times. I loved the ending where he proposed to Meddy at the Dim Sum restaurant in front of all the Aunties and Ma. It was such a sweet moment, and GOSH did I LAUGH when the mom yelled yes for Meddy! 😂 It felt so relatable.

I’m excited for the sequel, and to see what adventure or mischief Meddy and the Aunts find themselves. I think in the next book Meddy and Nathan are getting married. Gosh I hope no dead body goes to the altar and there’s not a theft! Maybe Meddy’s wedding will involve a CSI spy crime or a circus ring or something extraordinary. Maybe Meddy will be kidnapped and the Aunties have to rescue her? Maybe someone will impersonate Meddy and try to marry Nathan and then they have to save the wedding? 🧐 Honestly, I’m ready to laugh my head off and see what other crazy-fun adventures Jesse Q. Sutanto has in store! 💚

Anyway, what was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part? Who was your favorite Aunt or character? Which part made you laugh the hardest?  Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.

And as always, with love,

Rating

4.46 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: The Aunts were fabulous, Meddy was a sweet joy, and Nathan was the cherry on top.

Writing: Jesse Q. Sutanto writes with no filtered humor, and I LIVE for it!

Plot: Funny, quirky, and rom-com worthy 💚

Romance: I liked the romance, but felt the comedy and action were the focus of the story. But I still enjoyed how sweet the romance was integrated!

Comedy: Comedic gold! ✨Such a laughable time and will cure anyone’s lackluster day!