The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties (Aunties, #3)

by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Abi is the freaking mafia lord that my mom and aunts had told me about back when we were in Oxford. Abraham Lincoln Irawan, the guy who was infatuated with Second Aunt when they were teens and joined the mafia to impress her. Oh my god.

I love batik, I adore how every piece of batik cloth is unique, each one hand-painted with painstaking detail.

This time, there are a lot more desserts than usual, because sweet foods signify a hope for a sweet year ahead.

Jakarta changes so rapidly, new skyscrapers popping up each time I visit, all of them behemoths made of steel and glass, looking very futuristic. And all the tropical plants growing in lush abundance everywhere, along the streets, turning it into a garden city. It’s so beautiful it makes my stomach twist because Nathan isn’t here to take in the gorgeousness with me.

Sutanto's description of Jakarta is to nice. Did she mention that Jakarta is burning aka HOT AF???

Using the threat of embarrassment, and therefore losing face, against Ma and the aunties is like stealing their ultimate weapon and then pointing it back at them.

“Hey, we’re a family now. And you and your aunts—you’re exactly the kind of family I have always wanted to have. The kind of family that would burn down the world to protect one another. Do you realize what a privilege it is to be included in your family?”

“Everything worth doing is worth doing the Asian way—that is, with high accuracy.”

Literal wars have been fought, countless lives ended, over sillier reasons. Love is perhaps the only thing worth fighting over.