The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
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…
I’m sad that this will be the last aunties book. I would have loved another one that takes place about a year later. I always have fun with these.
If you liked the first two books, you’ll like this one too. Nathan and Meddy are finishing up their honeymoon. They fly to Jakarta to meet up with the aunties and their whole family for Chinese New Year. As usual, things never go as planned. Abi showed up to see Second Aunt and continues to show how he’s always loved her. His gesture was good, but something went wrong. It made Meddy question about mafia being around them. There are three business rivals that have been fighting for a long time. This last thing is what finally pushed it too far. People end up in danger, there are funny parts, and there are sweet parts. The book pacing is fast and I read this in one day.
I gave this book 4 1/2 stars.
Have you read this? Is it on your TBR?
