Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.
Last week’s book took me forever to read, today’s book only took me two days to get through! And! And I created a Books&Lewks to go with my review. This week's book is a good one. It’s a hoot. Today’s review is on a fan favorite book series that makes me laugh harder than I have in years.
Please give a warm round of applause to Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto!
And as promised, here is the long awaited return to Books&Lewks!
You can always see Books&Lewks first on Instagram, @ReadingHasRuinedMyLife, and Twitter, @RHRMLBlog. Make sure to follow Reading Has Ruined My Life on both socials to get a peek into what I’m reading, upcoming reviews, Books&Lewks, the trials and tribulations of falling in love with a new book every week, and memes. I’ve been making a lot of memes lately. Please enjoy them.
Now let’s get to the book. That’s why we’re all here. As always, a spoiler alert is in order. I also must include a spoiler alert for Dial A for Aunties. This is your one and only warning. Long time readers know I tend to spoil the majority of the books I read. I also must issue a quick content warning. Four Aunties and a Wedding has brief mentions of sexual assault. The mentions are blink and you miss it brief. They’re actually lore from the previous entry of this series, but are relevant to this one even though they’re very quick mentions. Just be aware of them. With that, let’s get to the synopsis.
Meddy and Nathan are engaged! After all those years apart, they’re finally back together and tying the knot. First they have to plan the perfect wedding though. Thankfully they have the Aunties on their side. These ladies have actually found the perfect wedding vendors for Meddy and Nathan’s wedding. The company they found is an Chinese-Indonesian family-run company much like theirs so it seems like a match made in heaven. Or hell.
It's much more of a match made in hell. The night before her wedding, Meddy overhears one of the vendors talking about taking out the target. Excuse me? Are these wedding vendors actually part of the mafia?! Sounds like it.
Obviously Meddy can’t keep this a secret. She has to tell someone. Or multiple someones. Those people being her mom and aunts. They take the news surprisingly well and quickly agree to help take the mob down. This is Meddy’s wedding day! It will be perfect and not even the mob can wreck it! Naturally chaos and drama ensue. The Aunties are the epitome of dramady and we love them for it.
It's been well over a year since I first read Dial A for Aunties. I don’t remember exactly what occurred in the book. I remember laugh out loud comedy and a little bit of murder, but not much of the fine details. Thankfully, Four Aunties and a Wedding doesn’t require you to have read the first book to understand this one. I highly recommend you do though as Dial A for Aunties is a great read. Plus, there are a few small references to the first book in Four Aunties and a Wedding. You’ll definitely get more out of this read if you read the first one prior to it, but it’s not necessary to understand the sequel. That’s a plus in my book.
Now, if you are familiar with this series, then you know how crazy these stories are. The first book was about covering up an accidental homicide. I didn’t know how Jesse Q. Sutanto was going to top that, yet top it she did. There’s just something about weddings and the mob that go hand in hand. There’s also something about the Chan family the mob that go hand in hand. The author really said these four aging women and a bride in a big ballgown are going to take down the mob and I said, “hell yes they are!” Jesse Q. Sutanto really takes readers on a wild ride.
All the comedy from Dial A for Aunties appears in Four Aunties and a Wedding tenfold. Everything is dialed up to eleven. It made me laugh so hard I cried. You have Big Aunt acting like she’s Downtown Abbey’s Dame Maggie Smith if she was a character in The Godfather. You have Ma carrying copious amounts of weed in her underwear. You also have Second Aunt forcing everyone at Meddy’s wedding to practice Tai Chi. And finally you have Fourth Aunt being even more extra than she was in the first book while seemingly being okay with the idea of committing murder; honestly love that for her. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes Four Aunties and a Wedding. This book is comedy gold! It is fun pure and simple.
Obviously I loved the Aunties antics. I’m here to watch this family get out of impossible situations with wacky solutions. But the Aunties can be a bit overwhelming; you either love them or you hate them. I fear they may detract from the story at large. I know Jesse Q. Sutanto is currently writing a third entry to this series, and my fear is the Aunties become so chaotic that the next story isn’t much of a story and is instead scenes strung together by crazy situations and crazier responses. I don’t want this series to be a one trick pony. I want this series to be the campy fun I know it to be. I don’t want it to be dragged out and beat to death.
Overall I really enjoyed this read. I’m so glad I picked this book up last time I was out book shopping. I highly recommend giving this series a try if you haven’t done so. It’s perfect for readers who enjoy family drama with a healthy dose of comedy. Strike that, reverse it. This is the perfect book for readers who enjoy comedic reads with a dosage of family drama. I look forward to seeing what the third and final entry of this series brings.
With that, I must bid you all adieu. I shall see you next week with a super special post to celebrate a big milestone. Leave your guesses as to what RHRML is celebrating next week.
Until then, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.
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