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

CW: memories of past sexual assault, violence

Somehow I didn't realize this was a sequel rather than a standalone, so definitely read Book 1 before picking this one up.

Because it's a sequel I'll be vague and try not to spoil too much. Just like the first book this is a hilarious fiction with a romance subplot.

This series is all about family, love, and what you would be willing to do for family. I love Meddy's mom and aunts. All of the wild ways that they show her they love her, trying to learn British slang, their dresses for the wedding, and willing to do whatever it takes to protect her and ensure she has a wonderful wedding. These books warm your heart while you're cackling. I love the direct look into the culture at the same time entirely too relatable. It's possible to love yorufamily all while being entirely embarrassed by them. And the contrast with Nathan's family. A well done sequel.

I have to give a shout out to Nathan the simp we all deserve. His storyline is quiet but every time you see him and Meddy together their scene shine through and I just adore him.

Steam: 1

I absolutely struggled through this one which is the opposite experience I had with book one of this series. I read the first book in 2 days! This one…I could barely finish, it’s taken me a month and I basically skimmed it to the end.

What didn’t work for me? You have to suspend your belief A LOT for this one, and as much as I tried, I couldn’t do it. I don’t know if it was because of my reading mood – I wasn’t in the mood for slapstick humor? Meddy is getting married to Nathan and flies to Oxford, England for the wedding – her aunts and mom bring the chaos as usual and this time they’ve hired wedding planners/vendors to help them. What they don’t know is this family of wedding planners has a sinister motive for helping them with this wedding. When they do find out these planners/vendors are not who they say they are – it is straight chaos until the end of the story.

The aunties that made me laugh in book one, made me cringe a lot in this one. They try to learn how to talk like the British and it’s kinda funny at first but the more it keeps going on, it’s just tiring. It’s even more chaotic than book one and this all takes place at Meddy’s wedding! It was too much chaos for me. I wanted Meddy to take control of the situation and obviously she does not know how to do that. Plus she’s lying to her fiance/husband for 90% of the story. It’s supposed to be her special day, couldn’t she have told Nathan at least?

Some things I appreciated about the story? The Indo-Chinese represenation like in book one. No matter how crazy Meddy’s family is – she loves them.


Why you should read it:

*you love chaotic, ridiculous, zany stories with slapstick humor
*Meddy’s Aunts and mom are wild haha

Why you might not want to read it:

*not in the mood for chaos

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed the first book and I wish I stopped there. You will enjoy this story if you want more of the chaos Meddy’s Aunts and her mother brings…they bring it even more in this sequel. Unfortunately, I couldn’t suspend my belief enough to enjoy the wild ride this story took me on.

You know, when I saw the premise for “Dial A for Aunties,” I thought to myself, “This can’t possibly get any weirder.” It is, in fact, incredibly weird — after accidentally killing a guy, Meddelin Chan finds herself and her family of wedding vendors in a comedy of errors as they try to hide the body at the wedding that they’re working.

What I didn’t realize, though, is that Jesse Q. Sutanto has it in herself to, in fact, get even weirder.

“Four Aunties and a Wedding” begins a while after “Dial A for Aunties” ended. Meddy is now preparing for her own wedding rather than working someone else’s, and she’s a ball of nerves trying to handle her mom and three aunts. Thankfully, her family isn’t working on her own wedding — they’ve found a Chinese-Indonesian family vaguely related to them to manage wedding preparations.

(As Meddy’s Big Aunt puts it, it’s Meddy’s “grandmother cousin niece cousin sister-in-law. Very close family.”)

But then Meddy overhears one of the wedding vendors talking about taking out a target, and all of a sudden, this isn’t just any old wedding — she and her aunts now need to prevent the mafia (like, the ACTUAL MAFIA????) from turning Meddy’s wedding into a crime scene.

Yeah. I know. Taking on the mafia while getting married to the love of your life, all tied up in a book about the importance of your family and the unique experience of being a child of immigrants from a very different culture.

What “Four Aunties and a Wedding” does, though, is extend the portrayal of Meddy’s family to the view of outsiders. Meddy’s fiancé, Nathan, is as Chinese as Meddy is, but his family is rich and English and quite concerned with their image. Seeing them interact with Meddy’s wild family is infuriating, but it’s also a reminder that Asians are not a monolith.

In the meantime, the family working Meddy’s wedding — the mafia family — is on the other end of the spectrum. They understand Meddy’s family extremely well, and they’re quite alike, but, of course, they’re determined to take down somebody at this wedding. So that’s fun.

There’s a kind of magic to Sutanto’s writing, the way she’s able to squeeze so much ridiculous plot and humor into a book and have it still be absolutely full of heart. She tackles complicated issues of culture and family ties while also creating convoluted plotlines that’ll make you squeal with laughter.

Maybe it’s a testament to her range as a writer — her upcoming projects include a young adult rom-com, a middle grade fantasy, an adult thriller, an adult romcom and two more Meddelin Chan books.

Needless to say, I’ll be reading them all.

“Four Aunties and a Wedding” comes out on March 29, 2022. I received an early copy from the publisher, Berkley, in exchange for an honest review.

Perhaps this is the end of the series for me. After reading the previous book in the series I was hopeful when I jumped into this latest. Unfortunately some of the humor was just too much and struggled to finish. I know others have enjoyed the laughs, wish I would have as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing.

The Aunties are back! 'Four Aunties and a Wedding' by Jesse Q. Sutanto is absolutely delightful. There's a perfect mix of humor, mystery and family. I just love the aunties, Meddy's mom in particular, and how they switch between being aunts to moms to sisters. The mystery was very entertaining and kept me guessing. Excited to see more in this series!

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

Meddy Chan and her ridiculous aunts are back for another over the top adventure.

The beginning of this book starts out simple, planning for Meddy's long awaited wedding. There are some humorous moments with her aunties wedding dress selections and their insistence on using British slang, in an attempt to fit in with Nathan's British family. But things seemed mostly normal, that’s big when this family is involved.

However, things go sideways when Meddy overhears a threat to harm someone at her wedding. In true Chan family style, Meddy entangles her aunts in a hairbrained plan to eliminate the threat. All aboard the crazy train!

While the story follows a similar path as the first book as the aunts try to "manage" the situation, I really felt for Meddy and how much her big day was impacted. Like the trooper she is, she kept it together for the most part, all the while doing her best to protect her family.

I didn't see how this story would play out, so I'm glad it didn't follow an exact formula to book one. It was a happier ending for all involved.

Nathan got himself a handful when he chose to be part of this family, but proves up to the challenge. And once again, this Chan family proves they will do anything to protect one another.

Another fun, ridiculous, wild story.

I really enjoyed this book about Meddy and the aunts. This one takes them to England where hijinks ensure during Meddy’s wedding. I laughed at all the crazy situations the family found themselves in.

I really appreciated the look at the different types of immigrant families with the juxtaposition of Meddy’s family with Nathan’s parents. It was sweet to see Meddy defend her family’s personality and really reflect on how they made her who she’s become.

Just an aside, because of how the language is presented, there were some moments when I had a hard time following. But I think that was also cause I wasn’t fully present when reading. It doesn’t take a lot to follow, but it helps to not be too distracted, in my opinion. And perhaps the struggle also comes from the fact that the story is told Meddy’s perspective and things are all over the place. Of course things will feel chaotic.

Overall another fun story. Definitely recommend if you’re looking for something a little wild and crazy.

I really enjoyed Dial A for Aunties, so I was so excited to get to chance to read Four Aunties and a Wedding. Meddy and her overzealous mother and aunts are back this time with another wedding - but this time it's Meddy. But this time, Meddy wants them to be guests instead of the women running the show. Thankfully, the family has hired the perfect wedding vendors: another Chinese-Indonesian family. However, as the big day draws nearer, Meddy learns that their families aren't as similar as she originally thought, and the vendors are actually trying to spoil Meddy's perfect day.

There was so much in this book that I loved. Meddy's aunts and Ma never fail to lighten even the most sinister of plots, making the storyline so funny and enjoyable to read. This book is also a perfect cozy mystery. It's not too full of action that it'll leave people scared or double-checking the locks on their doors, but it has enough suspense and misdirection to keep everyone interested. I also loved the relationship between Meddy and Nathan. Nathan is such a sweet partner and a great representation of how to navigate in-laws so unlike his own family and centering his priorities always on his partner. Without giving anything away, I also liked the resolution to the story!

This book is really chaotic though. Part of that is the genre and part of that is how completely over-the-top the characters can be. Sometimes I got a bit lost in the banter and the constant things going wrong, and it pulled me out of the believability of the story. (I mean, is any cozy mystery believable though? Hard to say.) Below all the distraction though was a sweet story, lovely characters, and a subtle take on Asian diaspora. If you loved Dial A for Aunties, I'd recommend this one too! It's perfect for anyone looking for a fun, quick read, or someone who wants a mystery without all the gore.

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the e-ARC!

The Aunties are back, and this time, they are here to celebrate Meddy and Nathan’s nuptials. When a mafia assassination plot is uncovered, it’s up to the Aunties to save the day!

What a delight to be back in the company of the Aunties. They were still as wacky and wonderful as they were in Dial A for Aunties, and I found my love for them grew deeper with each outrageous thing they did in an attempt to thwart the mafia plot.

As with the previous book, this one was filled with madcap antics and over the top scenarios that had me laughing out loud. The more ridiculous, the merrier, and I reveled in it all. I also loved the parallels between Meddy’s family and the mafia family. She had three aunts, they had three uncles, and the connections didn’t stop there. But, I will let you discover more on your own.

The farcical events were interspersed with some very lovely and tender moments of Meddy and Nathan’s wedding. And, I think everyone would agree that Nathan was a gem and a keeper. With everything he had witnessed, he still chose to be part of Meddy’s family. I adored him in the last book, but Nathan did some things in this book that made me love him even more.

Things definitely reached a new level of chaotic with the Aunties, but you what never changed? The love they had for each other. These women were all about family and were willing to go to any length to protect their own.

Overall: Another fun and fantastic adventure with the Aunties that was filled with an abundance of love.

Meddy and her aunties are back and this time, Meddy is finally tying the knot! But, but, but there's a crisis, the mafia is planning to assassinate someone during her wedding. Well if they want the wedding to proceed smoothly, they need to outsmart the mafia. Will the Chan family succeed?

This book is as fun as ever and of course, as chaotic as the first one. Meddy's family is hilarious, loving, and nosy all at the same time. Wedding preparations are usually crazy and adding the aunties to the equation made it batshit crazy 😂 I laugh so hard and the secondhand embarrassment is a bit too much sometimes. The characters are well written, and their dynamics and arcs are well done. Despite enjoying this book, it did not have the same whimsy feels like the first book. The plot is weaker in the sense that the issue could've been solved immediately and a lot of times, it just felt repetitive.

I don't want to say too much about the plot to avoid spoilers so if you're looking for a fun, light read with romance in the mix, I highly recommend the Aunties series!

Thanks so much, Berkley Publishing Group for the DRC via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

I found the first Aunties book to be a pretty hilarious adventure, and in that sense, Four Aunties and a Wedding delivered. The love that these five ladies have for each other truly knows no bounds, and it was nice to see all these characters again. Where the book fell a little short for me was the wrap-up and the ending. Plus, the second-hand embarrassment was just too much for lil' ol' me. Being in Meddy's head as she's feeling all these feelings was a lot. However, if you enjoyed the first Aunties book, it's worth it to give this sequel a try.

I truly loved the first book and am glad to love this one as well. I love all the aunts and the mystery element is so well-done. Of course, the romance is great, too. Looking forward to more from Jesse Q. Sutanto. Really love this unique take on combining romance and mystery.

This series was better to be left as a stand-alone..

The second book in the Aunties series follows Meddie, her three aunts, and her mom as they yet again get into insane and mostly illegal acts. This time, however, they are trying to stop the mafia from taking out their target on Meddie and Nathan's wedding day.

I will say, I wasn't the biggest fan of the first book. It was funny and I enjoyed it, but I didn't praise it as much as everyone else did. But I was still looking forward to this read. Sadly, it's a poorer retelling of the first book with even worse decisions made by Meddie and her family.

I was disappointed to see that all of the characters were reduced to the same one-dimensional stock characters they were at the beginning of the first book. In addition, there was a sad underlayer to this book that I couldn't shake. It's sad that Meddie is missing her wedding, it's sad that Nathan is having his day ruined, and it's sad what Staphanie's family is going through. That was part of what kept me from enjoying the funny parts of this book.

Overall, this book just made me really frustrating and, in a way, ruins the "happy ending" of the book.

It is finally Meddy’s turn. While she has planned and photographed tons of weddings, now she needs to find the vendors that will make her day perfect. When her aunts plan a meeting with what turns out to be the perfect vendors, Meddy is thrilled. Until the night before the wedding when she overhears one of them talking about taking someone out at the wedding. Will Meddy and her aunts be able to stop them?

“Four Aunties and a Wedding” was the perfect follow up to “Dial A for Aunties”. Jesse’s writing is so hilarious and the aunties had me cackling page after page (especially the plane scene with their new “British” accents). I just loved catching up with Meddy and her amazing family and the antics they get into! The aunts are delightful, the humor is gentle and loving, and the situations, although absolutely ridiculous, nevertheless manage to work. Meddy’s aunties are a wild and crazy bunch but it is what makes them special. I’ve always liked that they stayed true to themselves. It gets hard for Meddy when they have to meet Nathan’s parents and his parents just don’t understand them or their mannerisms. It was awesome how Meddy and Nathan stuck up for them.

I really enjoyed this one and look forward to recommending it to cozy mystery lovers who want something fun and different. I don’t want to give anything away but if you loved “Dial A For Aunties”, you don't want to miss this sequel! This is a quick, fun read. Readers should definitely read the first book before this one. It's a fun follow up, but not a stand-alone. The ending is really sweet and I'm excited and hopeful at the idea of a third book. I'm sure there's plenty of things the aunties and Meddy could get caught up in. I wish they would make this series into a movie. It has all the elements to be a successful one! Huge thanks to Berkley Publishing Group, Jessie Q. Sutanto and Netgalley for a digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

Love. Love. Love!

Four Anties and a Wedding is just as great as Dial A for Aunties, which I absolutely loved! Thse ladies are hysterical and will have you giggling along with their antics as their daughter/niece is about to tie the knot.

Meddy and the Aunties are back again in this hilariously fun/chaotic ride of a book– a sequel to Dial A for Aunties, but can definitely be read as a stand-alone. I snorted out in laughter (the best medicine) so many times I couldn't keep count. Loved this read and can't wait to see what Suntanto comes up with next.

Y'all...I was so excited when Net Galley approved me to read Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q Sutanto. I loved Dial A For Aunties, the first book in this series and I hoped that Four Auntie's would continue the fun. I often struggle with the second book in a series, in fact, I am not even much of a series reader for this very fact. Maybe it is me. Maybe I put too much pressure on that second book and it lets me down. But nope. Four Aunties gave me everything and more!

I laughed. I laughed out loud. I laughed out loud in public places. I saw the looks people gave me. I suspect they were just wishing they had such a great read as I did. I think I laughed more at Four Aunties than I did at Dial A.

I love Meddy Chen, and have so much love for her crazy family, who honestly are the real stars of these books. Let's face it, when I say crazy, that is probably putting it lightly, this family is bat shit crazy, there just isn't another description that fits them than that.

I don't want to go into the story much, because I don't want to spoil the fun for you, but imagine Meddy and her family taking on the Mafia. Can you even imagine the pure chaos that will take place??

If you have not read Dial A For Aunties- pick it up so you will be ready for Four Aunties on March 29th when it publishes. I promise you, it will give you a laugh, and you will not want to put either of them down.

This is probably one of the few Berkley netgalleys I have actually been lucky to be approved for. Which I am thankful that I was , because I LOVED the first book ! With this being said , thank you @berkleypub , and @netgalley , for my complementary E Arc. This one hits stores , online March 29th
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Author @jesseqsutanto
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The aunties are back, fiercer than ever and ready to handle any catastrophe—even the mafia—in this delightful and hilarious sequel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Dial A for Aunties
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Thoughts: Even though this ,s a part of a series. Readers will be happy to know that it can be read as a stand-alone. This is a perfect pick me up type of book. It's so cozy , loveable, and lots of LOLS . Just like the first book !. It's full of Witt, and charm, and sarcasm. Full of adventure, and a little chaos ,okay a lot of chaos. But. That isn't a surprise when it comes to Meddy , and her Aunties . If you haven't read the first book I highly recommend you do . So you can truly appreciate the fun , and crazy moments this series has to offer
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4.5☕
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The aunties are back and I was here for it! And this time they're across the pond for Meddy's wedding... A wedding already has plenty of craziness, but Jesse Q Sutanto really amps it up. I found myself laughing out loud at the general insanity of the plot and I loved how much the aunties care for Meddy. In this installment, I felt like Meddy was more along for the ride than in Dial A for Aunties and it made for a fun book. Plus the mere idea of the aunties being in the mafia has me ROLLING. Overall if you want a funny book that will keep you guessing, this is a great choice.

*Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Absolutely delightful.

You always wonder if totally bonkers comedy can sustain itself, and Jesse Q. Sutanto has done it. Four Aunties and a Wedding is as hilariously off-the-wall and zany as Dial A for Aunties, while ultimately a love letter to family. I loved seeing more Indonesian language in this one and I just hope there's a book 3 in Jakarta.