A delightfully macabre, laugh out loud farce of a novel!
Dial A for Aunties includes a terrible blind date, an inconvenient corpse, an exasperating but loving mother, a ridiculous yet endearing group of interfering aunties, an over the top wedding, the reappearance of an old flame...and more!
Meddy's Chinese-Indonesian family is just precious (and crazy), while the sparks between Meddy and her first love Nathan is swoon worthy. The hijinks and humor never wavers- this is a blast of a book!

This book is the epitome of full body reading. Gasping, squirming, shrieking, laughing, grasping hair, and curling up like an armadillo. I was twitchy as hell because I couldn’t hold it in... and I read at least 40% outside the vet’s office, unapologetically, as people watched my full body reading experience. Ha.

I greatly appreciated the author’s note at the beginning about vernacular and cultural stereotypes. It put me in the right way to enjoy the book. And obviously I enjoyed it. All the elements of rom-com mixed with murder and family and Chinese-Indo culture made for an amazing book.

No spoilers... and I could talk about and spoil this book endlessly. It wasn’t completely perfect. Some things were obvious and I had hoped for a slightly more elegant wrap-up but whatever. In the end I don’t care. It’s a must-read.

*I received a free early ecopy from the publisher via netgalley.

This book was hilarious, I couldn't put it down and was laughing throughout most of it. The banter was witty, the family drama was great!
I loved this family and their relationship. I loved the aunties most if all!
This is a cute fun read and I'm so excited to.see this book do amazing things in 2021

This has probably been the first mystery I have read in several years and I am so glad that I decided to request this book. The title and cover is what caught my eye but it was the synopsis that cinched it for me. As a second generation of immigrant parents, I love reading about the family dynamics of immigrants. The aunties for me were the best parts of the book. I could read an entire series based on just them I loved them so much.

Honestly, this was such a quick read for me (read it in less than a day) which tells me that I was invested in seeing how Meddy and the aunties' hijinks would pan out. While the book wasn't perfect—I had some issues with the pacing, the flashback chapters felt a little out of place, the sheriff character—the problems aren't anything that ruin the book for me.

This book is hysterical.

Meddy works as a photographer for her family's wedding business. The night before an important wedding, she ends up on a blind date. When her date tries to assault her, she accidentally kills him. Panicking, she goes home, where her mother and three aunts help her hide the body. Unfortunately, the body ends up going to the wedding venue.

Does the premise make you want to read it? Good because you should. There are times when I'm being reminded of Weekend at Bernie's. It just keeps getting more ridiculous as the book goes on. This is going to be a perfect Netflix movie.


This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

Thank you Berkley Pub for this gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

A woman has to hide a dead body with the help of her mom and 3 meddling aunts, while working for a high end wedding on an island, AND she runs into her first love. What could go wrong? EVERYTHING! If you can suspend all disbelief, you will really enjoy this one. As I was reading it, I kept thinking about the movie The Hangover. It's so ridiculous and over the top that it's funny! I kept flipping the pages because I wanted to know how it would end.

I highly recommend reading the Author's Note at the beginning of the book where she explains her family''s background. While the antics were a little too crazy for me, I think it does a great job showcasing the dynamics in an Asian household, the importance of family and the expectations/pressure children can face.

[3.5 stars.]

Reading this was really strange—it was, at the same time, really light-hearted and sweet while also being INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL.

Light spoiler summary:

Basically, our protagonist Meddy accidentally kills a guy and then her family helps her cover it up, all while managing a wedding (at the hotel that Meddy's long lost ex coincidentally owns). There are a lot of hijinks and humor but surrounding a very stressful situation so that was a little disorienting to me personally. However, every single auntie character is gold. If you like cozy mysteries you'll probably really enjoy this one.

This book is laugh-out-loud funny. I found myself reading parts aloud to my husband even though I also had to explain the complicated plot and relationships to him. This book is quite cinematic: funny characters with a lot of quirks, wonderful scenery, lots of action. And a happy ending. It is a fast read partly because one has no idea what is going to happen next. It seems unlikely there will be a sequel which is too bad because I would like to read more about the Aunties.

Wow! Where do I begin?!

As a Chinese-Indonesian myself, I LOVED this story! There were so many things that brought me back to my childhood and others that reminded me of where I came from. I was so excited to have understood the dialogues being said. I couldn’t stop laughing at the banter between all of the aunties. At the same time, the little twists and turns throughout the story made my heart rate crazy!

I wish there was more about Meddy and Nathan though. It was such a tease! Overall, this was a great story and I am so proud to have a book that represents the Chinese-Indonesian culture.

Thank you Jesse Q. Sutanto, Net Galley, and Berkley Publishing Group for sharing this with me in exchange for my honest review!

I haven’t had this much fun with a dead body since Weekend at Bernies.!

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. In all honest, I didn’t even wait to see the cover of this one before I was attempting to score an early copy – and I sure as heck hadn’t yet read a synopsis. Nope, I saw “Auntie” and my brain immediately went to the best thing to air on Bravo since the first table-flipping season of my Househoes where everyone knows everyone and constantly sticks their noses in their children’s lives . . . . Family Karma.

I just assumed this would be some sort of matchmaking trope. Imagine my delight when I discovered it was part murder mystery and part opulent wedding like Crazy Rich Asians.

So the story here is of Meddelin and her meddlin’ ma. Unbeknownst to the fam, Meddy is still pining for the one that got away. But Ma doesn’t know that and with the best of intentions attempts to set Meddy up on a date using my favorite technique to snare a man - CATFISHING! Yeppers. Between using Meddy’s actual name and picture and not understanding what things like eggplants means, Meddy’s mom really has this dude on the hook. Luckily for Meddy she has a taser in her purse before he can get rapey – unlucky for him, he . . . . Well, you’ll have to read it yourself. Be prepared for over-the-top situations and slapstick fun times. It’s definitely something you need to be in the mood for, and I was so ready. This was hilarious and exactly what I had hoped it would be – once I actually read the blurb, that is.

<i>ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!</i>

This book started out so well I was recommending it when I was only on chapter 6. And then it turned into Weekend at Bernie's, which wasn't good in 1989, and I was so disappointed. I kept thinking it would turn around and maybe it was all a mistake, but no, and that made this book a mistake for me.

I loved the aunties and Ma and the relationship Meddy has with them. The banter and the love are contagious. The love story with Meddy and her ex-boyfriend is wonderful. In fact, the whole book would have been perfect if it weren't for the dead body. Even that wasn't bad at the beginning, it was even a little funny, but when the body is really, truly dead, the humor sort of goes out of it for me.

My thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

RATING: 3/5 STARS

This book is between a 3 and 3.5 for me! It started off fantastic. I was instantly drawn to the main character, Meddy, and her meddling aunties. The flashbacks to Meddy's relationship with Nathan piqued my curiosity and had me eagerly anticipating their present-day scenes. However, as I kept reading, the plot became a little too over-the-top for me. I know a lot of readers who will love this type of writing, but it wasn't quite my style. The story moved at a quick pace, but there was just so much happening that paradoxically my interest waned during the action scenes. I've heard news that this book is being adapted for Netflix, which I can visualize being a success. I think the aunties' good-natured antics and snowballing of events that happen in this book will make for really entertaining television that I would definitely watch.

A sincere thanks to Berkley for providing an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Social: @_shelf.awareness on Instagram

I don't know when I last laughed so hard. This book emphasizes the comedy in rom-com.

Meddy is the only daughter of her mother and her mother's three sisters, her Aunties. In their Chinese-Indo culture, Meddy feels pressure to be a good daughter, stay with her mother, and join the family business.

Her family is equally supportive of her. When Meddy goes on an awful blind date that goes horribly wrong (as the introduction to part one says, someone may die), her Aunties all help to fix the problem. It's a series of hijinks where everything goes wrong and problems amplify. There is a romance as well, but it's secondary to the family drama.

The author's note talks about how Sutanto wanted to represent Aunties like her own authentically while not crossing over into stereotypes. I was impressed by how well she managed that balance. Each of Meddy's aunties was unique, and i loved the whole cast of characters.

TW: attempted sexual assault, car crash, dead body

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the eARC.

DIAL A FOR AUNTIES, by Jesse Q. Sutanto, has all the right ingredients for a madcap, over-the-top, entertaining extravaganza! This book is appealing to those who can suspend their sense of reality, and lose themselves in a fast-paced story that is part murder mystery, part rom-com, and full of Chinese-Indonesian family dynamics. The quirky central characters (especially the meddlesome aunties) are endearing and I enjoyed a peek into the extravagant weddings favored by the culture, (à la Crazy Rich Asians). Ms. Sutanto writes with a fresh voice, capturing the essence of protagonist, Meddy Chan, while effectively representing her mother and aunt’s generation for contrast. With a page-turning, zany plot, I found it almost impossible to put the book down… it definitely fits the bill for “just one more chapter” until the very last page is read.

I was provided with an advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a fun romp that had me continuously laughing at the antics in this humor tales that boast a quirky cast of characters that never let you down for one minute. The narrative was visually descriptive with engaging dialogue that had me re-reading just to make sure I read what I read the first time. I could not help root for Meddy and her family. What an enjoyable and delightful tale.

You know Murphy's Law, where everything that can go wrong, will go wrong? Meddy Chan would like to have a word with Mr. Murphy....

Meddy Chan didn't want to go on the blind date her mother set her up on (and especially didn't ask for her to do so through an online dating profile in Meddy's name), but she definitely didn't expect it to end with her accidentally killing the guy. Panicked, Meddy turns to the four women in her life who are the biggest source of love, comfort, and headaches in her life: her meddlesome mom and her three aunts, who of course come to the rescue.

Fortunately, as Meddy and her aunts run a successful wedding business ("Don't leave your wedding to chance, leave it to the Chans!"), they're pretty good at making plans and working together, no matter how much bickering and snide commentary is involved. Overnight, however, things go from bad to worse when the cooler they put the body in is taken to the exclusive, high-dollar, over-the-top island wedding that is the Chans biggest event of their entire lifetimes. Can they make sure that the wedding goes off without a hitch and the dead body isn't found? And what will happen when Meddy comes face to face with the love of her life, the college boyfriend she broke up with four years previously... who is still as in love with her as she is with him.

"Dial A for Aunties" is a hilarious and heartfelt romcom debut from Sutanto, where her love for her Indo-Chinese family is practically palpable in the writing and interwoven with some of the funniest dialog and breathtaking plot twists. Also, plot twist: they're breathtaking because you are laughing and laughing hard. Because every time you think "It cannot possibly get any worse for Meddy and the Aunties", you are wrong. Very wrong. Because not only does it get worse, it gets worse at the worst possible times, often leading to hilarious shenanigans at the hands of the Aunties, leaving poor Meddy to try and pick up the pieces, cause distractions, and attempt to be the voice of reason (and fails because she's not Big Aunt; Big Aunt is Big Aunt for a reason).

Again, though, at the heart of this story is the love that Meddy has for her mother and aunts, and they for her and each other. They'll literally hide a body for each other (and keep hiding it throughout the most important day of their lives to boot). So even though Meddy sometimes has complicated feelings about her family and feels a bit smothered under the expectations of her, at the end of the day, family is family and they find ways to work through whatever problems life throws at them together and support each other.

A brilliant adult debut for Jesse Sutanto, and I look forward to reading her next works!

This was a fun modern cozy. It felt like if the film "Charade" or maybe "Weekend at Bernie's" and the book/film Crazy Rich Asians had a Chinese-Indonesian-American baby. I felt conflicted about the use of broken English, so I appreciated the explanation/reasoning note that the author included. The characters, the story, the romance are all lovingly done. I loved the family dynamic. Overall, it was a fun, light romp where I felt myself rooting for the Chan family and the wild wedding weekend.

I. Could. Not. Put this book down. It's so off-the-wall, so quirky, and so much fun! In addition to all the hijinks and hilariousness with Meddy, Ma, and the Aunties, there's a strong sense of familial love...and a crazy-sweet romance. (no spoilers!) Get ready to laugh your head off! I can't wait for this book to release into the world!

This was a fun read! The characters are well developed, funny and great banter. The plot was original and would make a great movie!

Do you love family stories? What about murder mysteries? What about wedding drama? Want a will they/won't they that doesn't make you crazy?

IF yes to at least one of these, you're going to LOVE Dial A for Aunties. This is a fun book, with surprises all the way through. I recommend just jumping in, this book will speed by!