Tag: comedy

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

by maddison37055 ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

This one was kind of a letdown from my expectations and at least half of that was the narrator’s fault. I made the mistake of *listening* to Dial A for Aunties instead of just reading it, and the narrator’s bubbly, over-hyped voice made things that could’ve been humorous, even if a little weird, sound just plain cringey.

Meddy works for the family wedding business as their photographer, with her three aunties and mom. The family is apparently cursed to be left by every man in their lives, so it’s just the five of them remaining in California and working many of the Chinese-Indonesian weddings in the area. Leading up to a huge and fancy wedding they’re working, Meddy is convinced by her mother to go on a blind date, and *accidentally* kills the guy. Literally. And she looks pretty guilty, so instead of going to the police, the aunties help her cover it up…

But dragging a body around a luxury wedding in a hotel owned by your ex is kind of a lot.

I know you all know I’m going to say this, but I picked this book up because I was told it’s like Only Murders in the Building and it’s not. Story of my life. I never watch television, leave it to me to find the one show I adore and yet cannot replicate the vibe of in my reading habits. I’ve liked most of the picks I got from that list, but they are really not the same. Dial A for Aunties was pretty cute and pretty hilarious, but yea, not Only Murders. Nothing ever will be, lol.

I do have to give credit where credit is due, I loved the antics and the hilarity of this book. Like Finlay Donovan, you need to maintain that suspended disbelief, but if you can, it’s a laugh out loud riot. The aunties were hysterical. The situational irony, totally on point. And Meddy was both real and likeable, so that said, I really enjoyed this book.

I absolutely should have been reading my paperback, and not listening to the audiobook. The narrator made this book sound really childish and immature, which I guess it was, but she just made it so much worse. Read in the correct tone, I think this could’ve landed closer to a Finlay Donovan, but I don’t even know what I would call this. Romance plays a larger role in this story, and it’s not exactly a mystery who killed the guy…so it’s more of a comedy with a romantic element. Suffice to say this is not a genre I would typically pick up.

I think I will definitely be reading the sequel, Four Aunties and a Wedding, and hopefully I will settle into that story a bit better. I’ll keep you posted. 😉

Have a fabulous weekend.

Advertisement
Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

by maddison37055 ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Rating: 3 out of 5.

This book is not what I expected when I picked it up…which is both a good and a bad thing! I think the description is very misleading and may have actually caused some of the slight annoyance I felt reading it, but this book turned out to be very cute and heartwarming in the end. The characters won me over, despite their many flaws (Annette, the deaf seven-year-old Evie strikes up a friendship with, was a particular favorite of mine). 🙂


That said, the plot from the beginning seemed very straightforward. I’ve read a lot in this genre, so I really thought I knew where we were headed with this one. The hot screenwriter, deeply hated by the struggling agent’s assistant, needs her help. They embark on a challenge and a deal to get things done, and they discover they like each other along the way.


NO. There’s so much more to the plot here than that!


One of the worst things about this book is that you don’t know who you’re rooting for the entire time. We’ve got two main love interests, Ezra and Ben – and the entire time you kind of like them both, until you catch up the whole sham happening here. I was so bothered by the fact that this felt like a love triangle, because that’s not what I enjoy at all. It took a good 75% of the book for that issue to clear itself up, and I finally knew who I wanted to win our heroine’s affections. (Don’t get me wrong – I’m usually the one that’s #teamheroine and none of the other guys when I see a love triangle, but Evie herself was hard to like sometimes. Sure, I rooted for her, but how can one person screw so, so many times??)


I just went in to reading this with very different expectations, and while I liked it, I think there was a lot more potential here through strong revision. The concept itself was quirky and fun, but if I hear or read the word “meet-cute” for the next several years I will probably just throw up. Read it, but not with high expectations!

A copy of Would Like to Meet was provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley. It will be available on December 3, 2019 (yes, I know I’m a little late to this party).