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I had heard and read so many good things about this book and I AGREE! Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto was quite the page turner – I absolutely could not put it down! This story follows main character Meddelin Chan (Meddy) and her Asian-American family. The beginning of the book starts off with every other chapter alternating between Meddy’s college days and present day. When Meddy was in college at UCLA, she fell in love with Nathan Chan (not related), and kept her steamy and intimate relationship hidden from her very traditional family. When Meddy and Nathan graduate from UCLA, they go separate ways after Nathan invites Meddy to move to New York with him as he takes on his career and Meddy can’t find it in her heart to leave her family.
Fast forward to present day and Meddy still hasn’t found love since Nathan and her mother “Ma” decides to set her up on a date – but not in a traditional way… She impersonates Meddy on a dating site and agrees to go on a date with a wealthy hotel manager “Jake.” Well, Jake takes things a little too far with Meddy for their first date together and Meddy ends up tasering Jake while he’s driving her car and they end up in an accident. Once Meddy comes to, Jake is dead… or is he?
Meddy and her family – Big Aunt, Second Aunt, Ma, and Fourth Aunt – have a family business as wedding vendors. They have one of the biggest weddings they’ve ever done tomorrow, and yet, Meddy just killed her date. Her date that is the hotel manager of the resort the wedding is taking place in… or is he?
Then comes the infamous cooler. Meddy calls on her family to help her with the body of Jake. She can’t believe she accidentally killed her date, nor can she believe her family is so willing and ready to help her. They decide to bring the body to Big Aunt’s bakery and place it in a cooler to preserve it while they work the wedding and figure out what to do next. Well, the next morning, the cooler is gone and has been shipped off to the wedding venue. WHAT?! A dead body heading to the wedding venue?! The body of the hotel manager?! Who’s supposed to be working the biggest wedding of the year?! AHHHH!
I don’t want to give any major spoilers, but “Jake” is not the hotel manager… but someone very significant is. And the body, is not the body of a hotel manager, but the body of whom…? A family friend? A thief? A con artist? All of the above?!
If you enjoy a good laugh, but also a thrilling, addictive page-turner, look no further than this right here! Dial A For Aunties is incredible and truly captures Asian-American family culture, especially through dialogue.
If you’ve read it, let me know what you think!
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