From the publisher:
What should have been a family celebration of Chinese New Year descends into chaos when longtime foes crash the party in this hilariously entertaining novel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties.
After an ultra-romantic honeymoon across Europe, Meddy Chan and her husband Nathan have landed in Jakarta to spend Chinese New Year with her entire extended family. Chinese New Year, already the biggest celebration of the Lunar calendar, gets even more festive when a former beau of Second Aunt’s shows up at the Chan residence bearing extravagant gifts—he’s determined to rekindle his romance with Second Aunt and the gifts are his way of announcing his courtship.
His grand gesture goes awry however, when it’s discovered that not all the gifts were meant for Second Aunt and the Chans—one particular gift was intended for a business rival to cement their alliance and included by accident. Of course the Aunties agree that it’s only right to return the gift—after all, anyone would forgive an honest mistake, right? But what should have been a simple retrieval turns disastrous and suddenly Meddy and the Aunties are helpless pawns in a decades-long war between Jakarta’s most powerful business factions. The fighting turns personal, however, when Nathan and the Aunties are endangered and it’s up to Meddy to come up with a plan to save them all. Determined to rescue her loved ones, Meddy embarks on an impossible mission—but with the Aunties by her side, nothing is truly impossible…“Sutanto packs in loads of local color, and gives the aunties ample opportunity to let their freak flags fly.”—Publishers Weekly
“Sutanto delivers another addictive romp, managing to negotiate a thrilling (multi) happily-ever-after finale because, alas, this concludes the Aunties series.”—Booklist
https://amzn.to/494xVOC
“Sutanto’s hilarious triptych ends with a finale that could just as well have been titled ‘An Auntie You Can’t Refuse.’”—Kirkus Reviews
This was such a fun series that is probably best read in order. I’m sad to say this is the final book – but I look forward to seeing what Sutanto does next!
This book is set in Jakarta, Indonesia and I learned quite a bit about the culture and beauty of the city which just added to my enjoyment of this story. The aunties are all here, and one of them is getting their happy ending – but not before a lot of confusion with a gift. To celebrate Chinese New Year, the elders give out red envelopes with cash in them to all the kids. There are extra gifts to give away this year because Abi, a wealthy “businessman” or mafioso, depending on who you ask, has come bearing gifts. He is trying to make an impression on Second Aunt, who he has been in love with since they were kids. She is impressed, but things go awry when Abi realizes that there is one special envelope that shouldn’t have been given away.
Meddy and the aunts go through all the pictures to find out who got it, but it turns out to be a friend of one of the teenage girls. And the friend not only won’t give it back, she mouths off to the Aunties! They manhandle her and get it back, but it turns out that her father is another wealthy “businessman” who is in direct competition with Abi. Abi, in turn, needs to give the contents of that gift envelope to the third criminal, in this case, a woman. By the way, the names are a hoot! They take famous American names like Abi is short for Abraham Lincoln and the woman is Julia Child.
When Meddy’s Second Aunt is kidnapped, the whole family comes together to rescue her, and as usual, Meddy figures out what the real problems are and manages to save the day. There are a lot of laughs before that happens, and some suspense, but it is the love of this family that makes this series so worthwhile and so good.
The series in order:
3/2024 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE AUNTIES by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Berkley (March 26, 2024). ISBN: 978-0593546222. 304p.
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