Dial A for (Aunties #1) (Cozy Series Read) [November 1, 2025]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

This is a Series Buddy read for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto starting on November 1, 2025.


Dial A for Aunties
Four Aunties and a Wedding
The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties

Happy Reading!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started my re-read of #1... much easier to endure the cringe that is a family dinner, on re-read :D

I forgot about the catfishing masquerading as an arranged date/marriage... and the ESL/Generational gap in understanding emoji meanings...

Eggplant doesn't mean he's a good cook... (I'm pretty sure that's what's happening here, I haven't reached the reveal yet, but it's jogging my memory)...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

35 minutes later, and (view spoiler)[I was right... (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

I listened to this today and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. Completely ridiculous with an adorable, endearing cast of characters, I so want to go to Dim Sum with the Aunties <3 The way the Aunties bicker but you know how much they care for each other was the best. Very much looking forward to the next which I guess is Meddy and Nathan's wedding, who knows the what the Aunties will be up to <3

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm a bit more curious what the 3rd book is about, named after a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

It's still a high stress book, lol... since I forgot how everything is resolved... just that it all works out somehow...

Very fun tho... and great family dynamics...

[Nirkatze]

Sweet, thanks for making this! Been thinking about diving in to these during some decision paralysis moments.

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I'm a bit more curious what the 3rd book is about, named after a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western..."

I wonder if the husbands come back.....

[Kirsten]

Loved the first two books! Haven't read #3 yet though.

[Nirkatze]

I read #1 yesterday and enjoyed it so much I read #2 today. Really fun crazy shenanigans, and the narrator does a great job. I also love all the bits of Chinese/Indonesian culture. Some of it feels familiar like a warm hug from when I lived in China, and for the unfamiliar, I love learning about new cultures. I also like the author's note, where Sutanto talks about her inspirations and how she was worried about highlighting the language amalgamation of English, Indonesian, Chinese, Hokkien without making them into stereotypes or caricatures--and especially how she sees their broken English as a symbol of the sacrifice mothers made to give their children better lives.

@Ann-Marie... I loved the dim sum scenes... there's a place here in town that does Saturday dim sum, and I've gone a few times... not as chaotic as described, but still a very crowded event--people often end up having to share tables...

Anyway, book 1--(view spoiler)[I love how Meddy's family's first reaction was "how can we help" instead of "what have you done?" Really heartwarming and set the tone for the book.

I can't believe the mom would catfish someone to set her daughter up on a date and think it would be okay. Okay, maybe I can believe that--some of the moms I've met... but still! And worse, that Meddy wouldn't start the date with "I am so sorry, my mom set me up on this date and I don't actually know who you are." But I guess it does fit her character... even though we didn't learn until several more chapters how and why she broke up with Nathan, she seems to be the type of person who would keep her mouth shut and head down and just bully through something personally uncomfortable in order not to make things harder for other people. And it bites her in the ass.

I was surprised when the bad-date turned out to actually be someone that they knew--or at least that Meddy's mom knew. I'm still a little fuzzy on how that came about--or why she wasn't more upset about his death. I feel like there should be some backstory as to why none of the Aunties are affected by someone turning up dead. And then that the dead guy apparently helped her set up the dating account, and may have known that he wasn't talking to Meddy... definitely a sleezeball. I thought it'd turn out he was still alive at the very end, not just in the middle when they accidentally killed him (how? suffocation? are coolers vacuum sealed?) but him being revealed as not only an attempted rapist, but also wanna-be jewel-thief helped make it "okay" that they'd killed him. I still felt somewhat uneasy about it throughout.

Add in an attempted jewel-theft that wasn't a jewel-theft, a dick of a groom and groomsmen-for-hire... lots of twists and turns and Oh-Sh-- moments. The ending, happy for the bride and her new love, was sweet.

The romance was also cute, but definitely very fairy tale too-good-to-be-true. Fine for Cozy November. But just enough to remind me that I usually prefer books with a tad more teeth. But then--the romance is side candy. The real focus is the family relationships. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yep

[Ann-Marie]

I've been to dim sum a few times in Philly and recently a few places have opened in South Jersey and I may have to try them soonish :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I just need food right now... any food... all the food...

Haven't had a real meal in over 24hrs... Had breakfast snacks at 9pm and 11pm, and then had nothing but water, cause I needed to get a blood draw at the doctor at 8am and I wasn't sure if it was one that required fasting for 8hrs or not... then there was a line of people there early, so had to wait 30m, and now it's 9am and I gotta cook. the. food.

[Nirkatze]

Poor hungry Iain... and I bet you spent that 30 minute wait listening to an audiobook talk about food too..

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I survived

[Nirkatze]

Hey Iain, what was that browser addon that saved your unfinished comments again? I keep being dumb about that and losing all my thoughts... happened yesterday for book #2... I don't remember what I wrote, except (view spoiler)[being happy that some of the murder in book 1 coming around to bite Meddy and family in the ass... It still seems too easy--too uncomfortable--that they had no consequences and suffer no guilt about it. Even if the guy was an asshole, maybe a thief, maybe an attempted rapist, who knows what else... murder should have more consequences. And it stopped being manslaughter after they locked him in the cooler.

Though the other family accepted Meddy's reason pretty quickly once the reveal was out. It was a nice twist, them being that dude's family, but it still feels too easy. Maybe I'm getting over-cozied? Time for a break.

The shenanigans were hilarious. Made me laugh many times. And I still really appreciate the author's note talking about the diaspora of immigration, and how different every individual's experience is. (hide spoiler)]

Book 3 was similarly fun, though more forgettable than the others. (view spoiler)[It was cute that Second Aunt got her own romance, and was nice to see Big Aunt get back into her cooking groove. Even Fourth Aunt got to shine among fans for a bit. Makes me wonder about Meddy's mother... her "thing" seems to just being Chinese Medicine/Drugs. And that makes me think how each character--even Nathan--has a Thing which defines them... and they are otherwise kinda flat. Nathan especially. But again, that's not the focus of the book, so I'm probably just getting over-cozied. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Something like TextArea Cache

[Ann-Marie]

I hate when that happens! Plus sometimes I start a comment on my work computer then go to finish on my personal computer and think I'll finish tomorrow when I log back into my work machine and then I forget. If I didn't have 97 tabs open at a given time it'd probably make things easier but yeah....

[Ann-Marie]

I read book 2 yesterday and while I enjoyed it I definitely enjoyed the first more. (view spoiler)[I acknowledge they killed someone last book and they got away with it but this one mad me a little sad because her wedding day was basically ruined. I still absolutely adore the Aunties, they way their brains work makes MY brain hurt but I love it lol When they got drunk/high, OMG so funny. And them using Fiverr to learn how to speak British English? Took me OUT lol (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Same... Book 2 felt sillier /less believable...

[Nirkatze]

Ann-Marie wrote: "I read book 2 yesterday and while I enjoyed it I definitely enjoyed the first more. [spoilers removed]"

Yeah, those were some great shenanigans, though (view spoiler)[I wanted to shake Meddy and Nathan for not explaining to the Aunties what they were really saying. Even if the Aunties were pushing back--the eventual realization that what they were saying was not what they thought would be worse than a few minutes of uncomfortable elder-correction.

I did find it great when they were eventually called on their craziness by Nathan's mom--and then Nathan and Meddy coming to the Aunties' rescue and defending them--only to have that rejected by the Aunties themselves, berating M&N for criticizing an elder!

I find the drunk/high shenanigans rather unbelievable though. Like, marijuana doesn't do that to people, right? It sounds more like, I dunno, LSD or something. One of the hallucinating ones. Especially just coming off How to Be a Normal Person. Like, pot is supposed to relax inhibitions, maybe up ADHD connections, but not like, cause people to act crazy. Right? (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

LOL I feel that so much... added the addonthingy, fingers crossed it'll work with Opera too...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

My same comment was more on the pre-spoiler part...

It was actually kinda easy for me to forget this was supposed to be Meddie's special wedding day, so much shenanigans were going on...

The reveals at the end (view spoiler)[stretched belief, too... considering how much they developed a friendly relationship at the start... the relationship between an aunt and an uncle, and how strong it turned into a fight at the end...

I didn't believe the mafia thing for a second, but didn't see the connection to book 1 coming... actually reminded me of Scream 6, which I recently watched on youtube (the Ghostface killers were the family of one of the Ghostfaces that died in Scream 5)... (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

I was waiting for someone to start HTBANP! I am listening to DCC #2 but will go to that one next.

[Nirkatze]

:) I've been reading a lot, and trying to catch up on comments on weekends... I still have a few I need to comment on from Oct... >.<