If you loved Crazy Rich Asians, but wish it had a murder mystery thrown in, then this book is for you! This is a madcap adventure featuring a big wedding, surprise ex-boyfriends, and lots of aunties!

This was such an unexpected treat. This is a murder-comedy, which might sound strange but is sort of in the same genre as something like Clue or Weekend at Bernie's. It has a lot of super funny moments, while also diving into meatier topics like familial expectations, lost love, and culture. Meddy's mother and aunties were absolute gems. If you're looking for a lighthearted diverse read with a smattering of romance, pick this one up!

This books was such a wild ride, but I loved every second of it. Right from the start we're immersed in the complicated family dynamics Meddy has to navigate as she deals the expectations of her mom and aunties. Things quickly go sideways when she's pressured into a blind date that turns into an accidental murder. The hijinks that followed as her and her family tried to deal with it were hilarious. The second-chance romance between her and her college sweetheart was icing on the cake. This book was hilarious, fast-pace, and a good time.

Meddy has always felt the pressure to be a good daughter even if it means not pursuing her dreams. Instead she finds herself working in the family wedding business. When the blind date her mother set up goes horribly wrong her 4 Asian aunties leap into action to save the family. Unfortunately things don't go quite as planned and they end up trying to dispose of the problem in the middle of a million dollar wedding they are working on a private island. Add in the man that Meddy let get away as the owner of the resort.and the stakes not to mess things up become even higher. A story of family full of love, support, demands, chaos, and finding your place.

5 hilarious + witty + couldn't put down stars to this absolutely hysterical masterpiece by Jesse Sutanto! This book has been described as a "blend of the films: Crazy Rich Asians and Weekend at Bernie's" and I couldn't agree more.

Meddelin Chan is a wedding photographer in business with her three well meaning but incredibly meddlesome aunties and her mother. They have snagged a huge wedding at a new resort which is a lucrative opportunity for their small family business to flourish. Except, the night before the wedding, they accidentally kill who they think is the hotel's owner. Can they pull off the glamorous wedding of the century and not get caught? What follows is a story of unbelievable twists, turns and laugh out loud mix-ups. Turns out that disposing of a body at an island resort with two thousand wedding guests isn't the easiest task- but Meddy's aunties are up for any challenge. This story had me charmed from the first page and kept me guessing until the very end.

Pub day is April 27th- be prepared to laugh until you cry! Thrilled to say it's already been optioned by Netflix for a film.! Thank you so much to Netgalley + Berkley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dial A for Aunties was an unexpected wild and hilarious ride that I couldn't unglue myself from. I love the family dynamics and the drama that surrounds the Aunties and the entire Chan family. I wasn't expecting this to be a full on murder type mystery but Jesse Sutanto really pulls this off and I couldn't figure out what was going to happen! The twists and turns in this book were so fun to read and see unfold.
One of my favorite books of the year, I was cheering for Meddy Chan the whole time!

Dial A For Aunties is so witty and such a fun and easy read. I actually laughed out loud on a few occasions. The chapters are short, which made the story easily digestible. However, it's the twists and turns that will truly keep you enticed. As the action picks up in the final few chapters, I basically breezed through the rest of the book as I wanted to learn how everything came together. Since the book is being turned into a film, I can't wait to see how they adapt the story for the screen.

This book is hilarious! Part rom-com, part mystery, part family shenanigans - it's impossible to classify other than laugh-out-loud funny. As long as you don't expect realism and are willing to go along for the ride, it's an incredibly fun read. I finished it in a day and wanted to spend more time with Meddy and her aunties.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f second chance romance
-friends to lovers
-amazing and vibrant cast of characters
-just so funny
-some weekend at Bernie's vibes

I loved this one so much. It was the perfect mix of romance and 'oh what do I do with this dead body'? The entire situation was just so well thought out and funny. Trying to dispose of the body of the man you went out with for one date, who your mother kind of catfished, ending up at your exes/love of your life's hotel, while your aunt and mother try to help you. It was the right mix of ridiculous and just grounded in love for family and asking for what you wanted. The author's note at the beginning of the book and set the mood for a beautiful story, I loved all the aunties and Meddy's relationship with her mother.

I have to give a special shout out to the love story in this one, which was more the b plot but was woven throughout. While we only got glimpses of Nate and Meddy's past relationship, I was immediately invested and adored Nate. A piney boy ready to risk it all for you, sawoon.

Rating: 5
Steam: 1

CW: uh the corpse being carted around, threat of sexual assault, racism

After reading and loving Jesse Q. Sutanto's The Obsession, I was delighted to get the ARC for her upcoming novel Dial A For Aunties.

This is a murder / comedy / family drama, all set at an over-the-top wedding. I read this one right after Knit, Purl, A Baby and a Girl, which was sweet new characters set to a very familiar formula.  In Dial A For Aunties, I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next. NO IDEA. I kept wondering how Meddy and the aunties were going to get out of this one, but then something even crazier would happen.

Without any more spoilers than the back of the book, Meddy accidentally kills her blind date when she's defending herself from his advances. They're on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere, where he was planning to have his way with her, so when Meddy finds herself completely alone with a corpse, she panics and calls her mom and her mom's three sisters. They immediately spring into auntie-action.

The Chans are also putting on a massive wedding at the same time, in a family business where Big Auntie bakes wedding cakes, Second Aunt does bridal makeup, Ma does the flowers, Fourth Auntie is a singer, and Meddy is the wedding photographer. They'll need to hide the body, dispose of the body, concoct an alibi or five, and keep the massive wedding running smoothly. Oh, and there's also a jewel heist, a surprise return of an ex and a surprise queer romance coming.

Meddy's well-meaning aunties, their surprising resources in a crisis (Fourth Auntie's  absinthe comes in a little too handy...), and the general high-drama of a massive wedding result in a ridiculous dark comedy with family loyalty at the heart.

Recommended for everyone, but especially for fans of lady heists, like in Pretty Things, over-the-top weddings, family dramas, and dark comedies in general. Also, if you like this one, read The Obsession, too.

This is one of my new favorite books, and one I know will be hard to top for the rest of 2021, even though it's only January. Weekend at Bernie's meets Crazy Rich Asians, Dial A for Aunties is the perfect mix of humor, romance, and life lessons. Somewhere between romance, women's fiction, and quasi-mystery, so much is packed into this book and I loved it all.

When Meddy ends up accidentally killing the guy her mom sets her up on a blind date with, her Aunties quickly assembly to help her get rid of the body. Because nothing says family like burying bodies. But at the same time, the family is also trying to put on the wedding of the century and Meddy keeps running into her college ex-boyfriend (who she's still desperately in love with). Basically, chaos ensues.

This book is seriously laugh-out-loud funny, and so addicting I binge-read it in one night. I loved seeing flashbacks of Meddy and her ex, Nathan, so we could really see their emotional connection and history. I loved ALL the Aunties and just generally this book brought me so much joy.

I really appreciate the introductory author's note discussing the author's relationship with her culture and how its portrayed in the book, as it put me in the right frame of mind to read this story, and I wish more books had introductory notes like this.

This is a must-read, must-preorder, can't miss book!

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars - 10/10

4.5 stars rounded up, this book was so fun! It requires some suspension of disbelief but if you can do that, you're in for a wild ride. I loved the family dynamics between Meddy and her mother and aunts. I found myself laughing out loud at their antics and their attempt to get through the wedding weekend without being convicted for murder. The twists were outlandish but at the sweet spot that made the story fast paced and exciting. My only real critique is that I didn't think we really needed the flashbacks but I appreciated Nathan as a love interest so I didn't really mind it. Overall it's funny and charming and I would definitely recommend!

This was a fun an entertaining read. It's well written and the aunties are hilarious and loveable. They remind me of my own gaggle of immigrant family members.

Meddy is a bit directionless and I do get turned off by these types of main characters. Ultimately I stopped reading at about 40% of the way through (just after part two begins) because we find out the true identity of the body in the cooler and that he may have not been dead to begin with. All that could have easily been resolved had Meddy a) checked his pulse and b) driven to the nearest police station or hospital.

I think many people would find this a fun beach read and I hope they can suspend their disbelief a little more than I could. I'm interested to see what the author does next!

Absolutely hilarious! DIAL A FOR AUNTIES was such a fun, fast-paced, and delightful read for so many reasons. Sutanto crafts a voice that’s so relatable, engaging, quirky, and funny. The cast of aunties brings this book to life in so many ways—each of them had their own individual personalities, and they steal the spotlight with their antics. Sutanto captures each of their voices perfectly; I can hear my own Chinese family members saying the same times as the aunties! This kind of reads like CRAZY RICH ASIANS, except with more murder and way funnier. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a light-hearted, quirky, fun read.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect out of this book, but I’m so glad I picked it up. I had so much fun reading it! Dial A for Aunties was a wild ride from start to finish, one that explored just how much your family would protect you.

Meddy is a wedding photographer with her aunts and mother’s family business. After a disastrous blind date ends up with him dead, Meddy panics and calls her mom and her aunts. Disposing of the body turns out to be more difficult than they expected, especially after more and more situations at the wedding they’re working prevent them from doing so. Add in the fact that Meddy’s first love comes back into her life at the worst possible moment, and this weekend becomes the most stressful job they’ve ever undergone.

First, I just want to say that when I said this book was a “wild ride,” I really meant it. You’ll really have to suspend your disbelief at times, especially when things just keep going wrong in the most ridiculous ways, but it was honestly so much fun that I didn’t care.

A I said, this book was a Lot, but I loved it. It was also so funny! I couldn’t stop smiling and I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. I will say that the romance was a small part of the book. However, you won’t care because as the plot just keeps building and building, you won’t be able to put this book down.

At its heart, though, this book is about the bond Meddy has with her mother and her aunts. While she finds their love stifling at times (actually, most of the time), she realizes just how much they love her when they quite literally help her bury a dead body. It’s ridiculous, yes, but I loved seeing this stereotype of “overbearing Asian mom/auntie” turned on its head this way.

I also loved the author’s note where she notes that, as a Chinese Indonesian, her and Meddy’s ability to speak English so fluently and their parents broken English are not a sign of intelligence and lack thereof. Instead, it’s a symbol of what they’ve given up so that their children could have a better life. In this book, the language barrier is used as a set-up to certain jokes, but it also just goes to show, yet again, how much Meddy’s mother and aunts love her.

Dial A for Aunties takes the “overbearing Asian mom/auntie” stereotype to the extreme and turns it on its head. I loved the characters, especially the depiction of the protagonist’s bond with her mother figures. It was also just so much fun! Trust me when I say you want to read Dial A for Aunties because you won’t be able to put this book down.

Trigger Warnings: Mentioned death of family members (prologue), slut-shaming (chapter 1), sex, car crash (on page, not graphic - chapters 4 & 5), death, minor injuries, murder, drinking, recreational drug use (unknowingly - drugging), racism, being held at gunpoint

I absolutely loved Dial A for Aunties. Once I started it I could not put it down! It was hilarious and full of twists and turns from start to finish. While I loved the craziness and Telenovela style storyline, I absolutely loved Meddy's family and how even though they fought constantly the world absolutely do anything for each other. The infusion of Chinese-Indonesian culture was so wonderful and something that I personally haven't seen in a book before and I loved it!

This book made me laugh out loud and had me verbally reacting to every chapter. A super fun and quick read that I'll definitely be reading again!

This book! I've been hearing a lot about Dial A for Aunties and it more than lived up to the hype. It is so funny - I was giggling so hard towards the end. Meddy's meddling mom sets her up on a blind date with a successful hotelier, but when Meddy accidentally kills him she calls on her mom and 3 aunties for help. This sets off an amazing comedy of errors as Meddy and her aunties try to juggle hiding the crime while still running their wedding business. It took a couple of chapters for me to get used to the first person present tense narration, which is not my favorite, but once I got into the flow of the story I couldn't put the book down. (Well, I kept putting it down out of stress for Meddy and her aunties, who keep getting into more and more trouble, and then picking it right back up.) This book is just such a delight from beginning to end - highly recommended.

What a book! Laugh out loud funny with loads of loving family vibes thrown in. There is one possible caveat though. If you prefer your heroines bold and fearless, then this is not the book for you. Our heroine is a bit gutless which can get extremely frustrating.

So, I really enjoyed this but a major caveat is necessary: this book is not rooted in reality. It's absurd. It's self-aware enough to know it's absurd. If you think the premise is bananas, I promise you that it goes off the rails a dozen more times after the setup. I loved it, but you'll be miserable if you poke holes by asking logical questions like, "Wouldn't the hotel exterior cameras solve [redacted problem]?" Lean into the absurdity and enjoy the hijinks. Great voice, A+ meddling aunties, adored the author's note at the beginning. There's a secondary romantic arc but don't read for the romance (it's the least interesting part).

Thank you to the publisher for providing me a copy of this book via NetGalley!

An entertaining read, part rom-com and part murder mystery. I was both irritated and intrigued by the family dynamics with all of Meddy's aunties. I can see such a thing happening with sibling rivalries based on birth order and the accomplishments/failures of children (definitely not uncommon in Asian families). I adored the mix of cultures and backgrounds in this book.