A delightful screwball romcom updated for our diverse, modern world. Years ago, Meddelin Chan chose to be the good girl amongst her cousins in her Chinese-Indonesian-American family. Not only did she come back and stay home after college, she became a business partner with her Ma and three aunties. Their wedding business is flourishing, but Meddy languishes professionally and personally, never getting over the boyfriend that she gave up. Trying to be helpful, Ma creates an online dating profile in Meddy's name and sends her on a blind date. Unfortunately, the date ends with the obnoxious suitor in the trunk of the car, apparently dead. But there is nothing more loyal than family, so Ma and the aunties make a plan to hide the crime while working at a high profile wedding on an exclusive island. Unfortunately, the crime follows them, creating an extremely awkward reunion for Meddy with the love of her life. Can Meddy turn things around, even as her aunties meddle? An enjoyable mashup of genres that creates an extremely enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

Well this was borderline ridiculous, but also highly entertaining and compulsively readable at the same time.

I mean, this one kind of has it all. An over involved mom just trying to set her daughter up on a blind date. The blind date being a total D and ending up dead. Then a millionaire wedding that the family has to help coordinate all with meddling Asian-Aunties while trying to get rid of the body. Oh and a second chance romance trope too.

This would be a good one to turn to when you're in need of a slump buster or just need a lighter, laugh out loud but also eye roll, read.

4/5

This book is SO good and so much fun. It's also got just about the most convoluted plot possible. Dial A for Aunties takes place in a very compressed time frame, but the aunties attempts to meddle in young, unmarried Meddy's life leads to a Rube Goldberg machine of a plot as they "help" extricate her from a series of bad situations that they've created. The aunties are a riot, but also fiercely loyal and protective of their own. It's a really enjoyable read, and it's told with so much affection/consternation toward Meddy's family and Indonesian/Chinese heritage.

This was an over-the-top story with some great family relationships and a side of romance. It was a fun, but I really had to suspend disbelief. This is a great summer read that will make readers laugh and wish they had aunties like Meddy.

This debut Indonesian - Chinese, #ownvoices novel is part romance, part murder caper, part large family story...all set amid a glitzy wedding dominated by Murphy's Law. It's light, snarky, and completely over the top in a fun, cinematic way (a bit like the movie The Hangover). I'm normally sensitive to over-the-top plots, but I just rolled with this one (except for one part of the ending that jumped the shark for me). Sutanto's sarcastic humor about her family and their customs reminded me of a much lighter The Bad Muslim Discount in that there was love along with the snark.

LOVED LOVED LOVED.

I don't even know what to say - this book was so wild, so unique, hysterically entertaining, and chock full of all the snarky witty banter and a family of aunties I want to scoop up and hug and call my own! Can I please have some aunties?? Please???

There's a curse. A whole lotta weddings. A bunch of Aunties. A murder. Yes, a murder - but this is the most fun murder story you will ever read.

It's definitely a top read of the year for me. All the Aunite stars!!

Dial A for Aunties was an absolute delight! I found myself actually laughing out loud at this one which is rare to find. When Meddelin finds herself accidentally tied up in a murder, her aunties are on the scene to help her figure it out. As you can safely assume, the mishaps multiply and they all end up at a torturous secluded wedding weekend as they try to clean up the accidental mess.

Jesse blew it out of the water with this one, I've been sharing with friends and family, alike. Dare I say this might just be the book of the summer?

3.5 / 5

This was a lot of fun! I really liked the relationship between Meddy and her mother and aunts. The way these ladies conversed and acted around each other gave me vibes of long dinners with my own mother, aunts, and cousins. While things got a bit too zany for my taste several times and the romance kinda fell flat, I still really enjoyed this. Perfect light summer reading! For fans of Janet Evanovich.

I had really high hopes for this one. I mean, look at that AMAZING cover! And the blurb ... talk about a great concept! I fully expected to laugh out loud and be super entertained, and all I can say is ... it's cute. Fine to pass the time, but nothing to get excited about. (Case in point, it took me over a month to finish it. Clearly, it didn't grab me the way I'd hoped it would.)

The best part *by far* is the aunties, their antics, and the Indo-Chinese culture rep. That easily lived up to the hype, and I'm happy to hear there will be another story featuring the family.

But the "romance" and "mystery" felt forced much of the time (apparently to the point where I feel they deserve to be in quotation marks). Neither were needed for what this story aimed to be, which seemed to be WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S and THE HANGOVER with a dash of CRAZY RICH ASIANS. Again, that sounds really fun, right? Unfortunately, the execution just didn't live up to the premise for me.

(I do think a film adaptation of the story could be more fun than the book and will probably check it out once it drops on Netflix.)

RATING: C+ (3½ stars)

If you are looking for an outrageous, laugh out loud, family drama then look no further! Dial A for Aunties is an over the top murder mystery/rom-com! It’s a quick, easy read...perfect to take with you to the beach this summer! Meddy, her mom, and her aunties are trying to cover up a date gone wrong, turned murder...all while trying to manage the wedding of the year! This story literally had me laughing so hard that I could hardly breathe at points! Go into it knowing that it’s outrageous and ridiculous and truly not a believable story. You will definitely me rolling your eyes at certain points and thinking “no way this could ever happen”.

What happens when your meddling mother catfishes a date for you? Well if you are Meddy you end up killing him.
Meddy is the good daughter so when she accidently kills her date her auntie rush to help with the cover up.


The hard part is that Meddy and her aunts have a big fancy wedding job that can not wait for them to have time to dispose of that body.


This body is one hard booger to do anything with.

This is such a fun little book. Is it realistic? Not in the least but it's a pleasant way to pass the time as you are trying to escape the dang heat that our country seems to be in right now.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

I found Dial A for Aunties a fun, light summer read. While it requires a good dose of suspended disbelief on the (accidental) murder and coverup portion, overall is an enjoyable novel.

I liked many of the cultural aspects and appreciate Jesse Q. Sutanto's own voice experience reflected in the book. At the same time I did get an uneasy feeling of the aunties being caricatures, which made me uncomfortable to have fun at their expense. It reads more like a millennial's condescending view of their immigrant family members - which is quite condescending, IMO. I'll be looking out for some own voices reviews on this.

Overall, I think fans of summer reads will enjoy this one a lot.

This was soooo funny and such a joy to read. The dynamic between the aunties was incredible, I adored every minute of it. There were also somethings that I didn't see coming and that's just for the mystery, but for things like a second-chance romance that I wasn't expecting but was delighted to read. My one issue was that I felt like it was trying to be too many genres, and I felt like there were moments when the book could've been better at balancing that out.

Meddelin Chan accidentally kills a guy on a blind date; her aunties leap into action with a plan to dispose of the body, while simultaneously managing a two-thousand-guest resort wedding for their family business. Insanity ensues. I was a little mislead by the fact that after "humor" this book was categorized as "romantic comedy"; it is in fact a crime farce, and while the heroine's attempt to get back with her ex is important to her, it's a fairly minor point in a wildly complicated plot. In fact, the romance felt like the weakest part of the story; we barely see the heroine with her love interest. However, once I changed my expectations to "farce" it all came together. It's easy to see why Meddelin both loves and hates her family, who smother her but are also willing to commit felonies for her at the drop of a hat. Everything is resolved in ways I would never have expected, after a fair bit of nail-biting and "OH NO" laughter. As an additional note, catching a glimpse of the ceremonies unique to a Chinese-Indo wedding was surprisingly enjoyable (I say as someone who has never enjoyed a wedding).

Second Aunt tuts, as though my lack of tears were a personal affront to her, before joining the others in the kitchen. Noise explodes from the kitchen, though not of the "Oh my god, Meddy did what? [killed someone]" variety. More of the "Wah, dragon fruit! Aduh, you shouldn't have bothered!" variety. I can hear Ma pulling out chairs and shouting merrily at them to sit down and have some mangoes. "Ah Guan gave me a whole crate when he came back from Indo. A whole crate!"

Dial A for Aunties is a book you MUST add to your summer TBR!

Dial A for Aunties is a hilarious and satirical story that features some dual timeline chapters of years before when the main character, Meddy, was in college and then in the present on a disastrous wedding day with a corpse hanging around. I know, but you’ll just have to read it to know the whole story.

The writing is sharp and snarky, the characters feel like family, and it is just pure fun! This is a #ownvoices story and the author purposefully includes so many translation miscommunications (which the author addresses in an Author’s Note at the beginning of the book) with the aunties that I was crying tears of laughter. If you loved Crazy Rich Asians, Finlay Donovan is Killing It, and want to read a book you don’t have to take seriously but will leave you smiling, you HAVE to read Dial A for Aunties!

Thank you so much to Berkley Pub, Netgalley, Berit Talks Books for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own. #berkleybuddyreads #berkleywritesstrongwomen

I absolutely loved this book. There was a point where it got slightly ridiculous, but the ending was totally worth it. I cannot wait for the Netflix movie!

If you are looking for a new cozy series this is a fabulous place to start. (She says series optimistically.) Meddy and her Aunties are charming and wonderful and their antics kept me entertained throughout. I do hope we get to see the Chan’s again, though I’m not sure how Sutanto will top this first installment.

This is the funniest book that I've read in a long time.
Meddelin Chan works with her aunts for their wedding planning company. The night before their biggest wedding ever, Meddelin accidentally kills her blind date. She calls her mom to get rid of the body and it's not long before all the aunts are ready to help. After a series of missteps, the murder and the wedding collide.
The humor in this book is perfect. Meddelin and her aunts are so funny and the situations that they get into over the course of the book were hysterical.

Wow, okay there is a lot to process here. The book started out great. I love the camaraderie of Meddy's mom and her aunts. They are fun and funny and very entertaining. As I was reading, I became more and more angry with Meddy. She made some decisions that I just couldn't get on board with and some other things happened that just took me completely out of the story. And I DNF'ed at 48%. I did skip to the very end to find out what happened but I was just so disgusted with Meddy's behavior and some other situations in the book that I don't want to reveal because it would be a spoiler. The Aunties were great but I was disappointed in Meddy.

Warning: this book will make you laugh out loud like a lunatic in public. I read this at the beach and learned this lesson the hard way. Oh my gosh, this book is so quirky and hilarious. I could not stop laughing for the first 100 pages especially - the setup and the meddling Aunties are hysterical. Murder, a wedding, and a little bit of romance. Is the premise utterly absurd? Yes. Did it matter? Heck no. This was super enjoyable from start to finish, a super fast read, and I definitely recommend it. It’s perfect for summer! If you’ve read Finlay Donovan is Killing It, it definitely has those same vibes.