Tag Archives: Jesse Q. Sutanto

Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto – a Review

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Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q, Sutanto – a Review

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Description:
Izzy Chen is dreading her family’s annual Chinese New Year celebration, where they all come together at a Michelin-starred restaurant to flaunt their status and successes in hopes to one up each other. So when her seventy-three-year-old glamorous and formidable grandmother walks in with a stunning woman on her arm and kisses her in front of everyone, it shakes Izzy to her core. She’d always considered herself the black sheep of the family for harboring similar feelings to the ones her Nainai just displayed.

Seeing herself in her teenage granddaughter’s struggles with identity and acceptance, Magnolia Chen tells Izzy her own story, of how as a teen she was sent by her Indo-Chinese parents from Jakarta to Los Angeles for her education and fell in love with someone completely forbidden to her by both culture and gender norms—Ellery, an American college student who became Magnolia’s best friend and the love of her life. Stretching across decades and continents, Magnolia’s star-crossed love story reveals how life can take unexpected turns but ultimately lead you to exactly who you’re meant to be.

 

 

Review:

Next Time it Will be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto is a standalone novel.   Magnolia Chen is the matriarch of her family, and her granddaughter is intrigued about her grandmother’s life.  Magnolia begins to tell Izzy (granddaughter) about her past, when she was sent from Jakarta to Los Angeles for school, at the age of sixteen.  Her sister, Iris, awaits her on her arrival, as they will be living together; even though she knows her older sister wants nothing to do with her.   Magnolia and her rebellious sister Iris had a difficult time in the early years, but over time things changed.  

Over the course of decades and continents, Magnolia meets a college student, Ellery, who was 22 and Magnolia was 16.  They became best friends, and I loved how Magnolia always viewed Ellery as the love of her life, since they truly were soulmates.  This was truly a wonderful love story.

Magnolia was an amazing character, with a fabulous story to tell. Over the years, Magnolia learned what she needed to do throughout her life, with her strength and happiness. A beautiful story of love, loss, finding herself, making the hard choices in life, sometimes breaking your own heart in the process.  Magnolia lived a long life, married with children, and the eventual loss of her sister, as well as Ellery. 

Next Time Will Be Our Turn was a wonderful story, about family, love, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, and even living with a sister, daughter, wife and love of her life. Next Time Will be Our Turn was so very well written by Jesse Q. Sutanto.  I suggest you read this wonderful story.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

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Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping by Jesse Q. Sutanto – a Review

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Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping by Jesse Q. Sutanto – a Review

 

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Description:
Ever since a man was found dead in Vera’s teahouse, life has been good. For Vera that is. She’s surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tilly, has a girlfriend! All thanks to Vera, because Tilly’s girlfriend is none other than Officer Selena Gray. The very same Officer Gray that she had harassed while investigating the teahouse murder. Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn’t be ungrateful, even if one is slightly…bored.

Then Vera comes across a distressed young woman who is obviously in need of her kindly guidance. The young woman is looking for a missing friend. Fortunately, while cat-sitting at Tilly and Selena’s, Vera finds a treasure Selena’s briefcase. Inside is a file about the death of an enigmatic influencer—who also happens to be the friend that the young woman was looking for.

Online, Xander had it a parade of private jets, fabulous parties with socialites, and a burgeoning career as a social media influencer. The only problem is, after his body is fished out of Mission Bay, the police can’t seem to actually identify him. Who is Xander Lin? Nobody knows. Every contact is a dead end. Everybody claims not to know him, not even his parents.

Vera is determined to solve Xander’s murder. After all, doing so would surely be a big favor to Selena, and there is nothing she wouldn’t do for her future daughter-in-law.

 

 

 

Review:

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto is the 2nd book in her Vera Wong’s series.   Vera, is a sharp-witted 61-year-old, who once again becomes involved in a new mystery for her to investigate. She is surround by wonderful family, and a bustling shop, but she does become slightly bored. 

Vera meets a young distressed girl, Millie, who is looking for a missing friend.  Her friend, Xander was a successful social media influencer and Vera helps Millie to look for her friend, who turns up dead. Vera begins to collect a group of young characters, who knew Xander, to help her solve the crime. The way Vera captivates the people around her is delightful, and loved by her new young friends. She brings humor into this story, especially with her meddling in their lives.  Vera is determined to discover who was Xander, especially since those friends, who really did not know his real name; she will gather those friends and find the truth. This was an interesting plot, filled with suspense, as well as Vera keeping them under her wing; as well as always bringing huge amounts of food, and her famous tea. 

Besides her regular family, as well as her young friends, others become concerned with many worried about her interfering and gaining the attention of dangerous people, who are possible behind the murder.  Her son, Tilly’s girlfriend is Officer Selena Gray (who worked on the previous case), and Selena is not too happy with Vera, becoming involved, and putting herself in danger.

I really got a kick out of Vera, especially her wonderful grandmotherly affection for the very young, who call her grandma; as well as her social media influence friends. They teach Vera new skills, even becoming quickly well-known on social media.  Vera is always there for each of them, to build their confidence. 

What follows is Millie will tell Vera the truths about her evil mother and father, and who is truly behind the murders. Vera was injured, and Selena will get the department to find the bad people committing the crimes. 

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), was a wonderful, fun, exciting, heartwarming story with a group of new people who Vera helped and protected.  Once again, Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping was a delightful story, so very well written by Jesse Q. Sutanto.  I look forward to more from Vera Wong.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

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You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q Sutanto – a Review

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You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q Sutanto – a Review

 

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Description:
Influencer Meredith Lee didn’t teach Aspen Palmer how to blossom on social media just to be ditched as soon as Aspen became big. So can anyone really blame Mer for doing a little stalking? Nothing serious, more like Stalking Lite. Then, Mer gets lucky; she finds one of Aspen’s kids’ iPads and swipes it. Now, she has access to everything: the family calendar and Aspen’s social media accounts. Would anyone else be able to resist tweaking things a little here and there, showing up in Aspen’s place for meetings with potential sponsors? Mer’s only taking back what she deserves—what should have been hers. 
 
Meanwhile, Aspen doesn’t understand why her perfectly filtered life is falling apart. Sponsors are dropping her, fellow influencers are ghosting her, and even her own husband seems to find her repulsive. If she doesn’t find out who’s behind everything, she might just lose it all. What everyone seems to forget is that Aspen didn’t become one of TikTok’s biggest momfluencers by being naive. When Meredith suddenly goes missing, Aspen’s world is upended and mysterious threats begin to arrive—but she won’t let anything get in the way of her perfect life again.

 

 

Review:

You Will Never be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto is standalone mystery thriller. We meet Meredith Lee, who is a successful Momfluencer, on both Instagram and Tik Tok. Meredith runs into an up-and-coming influencer, Aspen Palmer, and takes her under her wing, with both becoming BFF. Meredith taught Aspen to be an influencer, and how to increase her followers.  Eight years later, Aspen has surpassed Meredith’s online popularity with millions of followers and Meridith is losing more each day. The ladies have a nasty fight, especially after Aspen cuts her off, ignores her and blocked her calls; and now they are enemies.

Meredith’s bitterness rises and as she begins stalking Aspen, secretly sabotaging her life; she changes appointments of Aspen, finding information about what is upcoming and slowly Aspen sees things are falling apart. Her sponsors have dropped her, influencers are ignoring her, and she sees both Meredith and later Liv, kissing her husband. Who is doing this to her?

About half way through the book, there is a twist, as Meredith goes missing, and Aspen’s world is upended and she puts herself live to show her worry about Meredith, as well as getting everyone to help find her; pleading to those who kidnapped Meredith and return her best friend.  Followers go out of their way to help look for Meredith, and Aspen has reached out to millions.

Personally, I thought both Meredith and Aspen were not really likeable & mean, as they only cared about themselves.  I knew this was a mystery, so I expected a whodunnit and even murder.   Meredith’s sister was stuck taking care of Luca, and was desperate to find her.   Aspen’s family, especially her husband Ben, were not happy with all that was going on.  To say too much more, would be spoilers, and I do not want to ruin it for you. 

You Will Never Be Me is a wild, crazy adventure that as we reach closer to the end, there were a number of twists and surprises.  You Will Never Be Me was very well written by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Sutanto always writes different kinds of stories, with this book centering on friendships and obsession.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

 

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The Good The Bad and The Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto – a Review

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The Good The Bad and The Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto – a Review

 

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Description:
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…

 

 

Review:

The Good, The Bad, and the Aunties is the 3rd third and final book in the Aunties series.  Meddy Chan and her husband, Nathan finished their romantic honeymoon across Europe, and decide to spend the Chinese New Year with their family in Jakarta. They are happily greeted by Meddy’s mom and aunties, as well as so many of their Jakarta relatives. During the celebration, a surprise visitor shows up at the party, bringing gifts for the children. Abraham Lincoln is a former beau of Second Aunt, and is determined to rekindle their romance, with the gifts his way of resuming his courtship.

Things will take a nasty turn, on the day after the party, when Abraham realizes that one of the gifts was erroneously given out. He explains that one of the gifts that was handed out was actually a deed to some property that he had promised to Julia Child. Meddy and the aunties learn that Abraham is one of the three crime lords, with Julia and Kristofer Kolumbes being the other two in Jakarta.  Now they are desperate to find the gift, in order for Abraham to make peace with Julia.

This leads Meddy and her meddling aunties to being caught up eventually with all three crime lords, in their decades-long war. There was a lot of hilarious action throughout, especially with the aunties their sass and constant meddling.  The fourth aunt was always the strongest one, always meddling, but all of them were totally a riot. To get out of this mess, Meddy would be the one to save the day. 

What follows is a wild, hilarious, roller coaster ride, with the aunts totally over the top with their crazy antics. Meddy was a great heroine, and I loved Nathan.  The aunts/mom (sisters) were always entertaining and humorous, though at times a bit ridiculous. The Good, the Bad and the Aunties was a fun story, that was also weird and insane.  The Good the Bad and The Aunties was well written by Jesse Q Sutanto, which was entertaining and humorous.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

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I’m Not Done With You Yet by Jessie Q. Sutanto – a Review

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I’m Not Done With You Yet by Jessie Q. Sutanto – a Review

 

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Description:
Jane is unhappy.

A struggling midlist writer whose novels barely command four figures, she feels trapped in an underwhelming marriage, just scraping by to pay a crippling Bay Area mortgage for a house–a life–she’s never really wanted.

There’s only ever been one person she cared about, one person who truly understood her: Thalia. Jane’s best and only friend nearly a decade ago during their Creative Writing days at Oxford. It was the only good year of Jane’s life–cobblestones and books and damp English air, heady wine and sweet cider and Thalia, endless Thalia. But then one night ruined everything. The blood-soaked night that should have bound Thalia to Jane forever but instead made her lose her completely. Thalia disappeared without a trace, and Jane has been unable to find her since.

Until now.

Because there she is, her name at the top of the New York Times bestseller list: A Most Pleasant Death by Thalia Ashcroft. When she discovers a post from Thalia on her website about attending a book convention in New York City in a week–“Can’t wait to see you there!”–Jane can’t wait either.

She’ll go to New York City, too, credit card bill be damned. And this time, she will do things right. Jane won’t lose Thalia again.

 

 

Review:

I’m Not Done with You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto is a stand-alone suspense thriller.  I have read and enjoyed all of Jessie Q. Sutanto’s books. I did read this new book, with some mixed feelings, which I will detail later in this review. The story revolves around Jane Morgan, who has always considered herself as a sociopath, even in her early years as a child, with a mother who treated her badly.  The story switches back and forth in the current time, where she is a struggling novelist and married; and in the past (9 years earlier) when she attended Creative Writing classes at Oxford. 

It is at Oxford, where Jane meets Thalia, who in a very short time, finds herself totally obsessed with her. Thalia befriends the quiet dark Jane, as well as everyone at the school who adored Thalia. Thalia was everything Jane admired, beautiful, charismatic and self-confident; something Jane lacked, always always angry at others. We also meet Ani, who also becomes close friends with Thalia, most to Jane’s annoyance. Jane loved her time at Oxford, with Thalia; until one night when Jane helped Thalia out of a terrible incident, and she has never seen Thalia again until the present time, nine years later.

Jane’s marriage to her husband, Ted, she is not happy, as he is irritating, and she feels trapped;  as well as struggling. with the budget. Jane has written two novels, which were not very successful. She sees an advertisement of a New York convention, showcasing the author, Thalia Ashcroft, with a new bestseller.   Jane is determined to reconnect at convention in NYC, and will stop at nothing to attend, the SusPensCon event. When Jane was at the University at Oxford, she had the magic touch to write stories, and she wanted to get those vibes back when she met Thalia again.

When Jane manages to push her way into seeing Thalia again, everything changes; as Thalia welcomes her; including Thalia’s sister-in-law, Ani.  But things are not what it seems. I’m Not Done with You Yet turns into a twisty cat/mouse plot, with dark twists, shenanigans, that keep you guessing until the end. My mixed feelings revolve around the lead characters, especially Jane, who for most of the book, I frankly did not like; and I also felt the first half did drag a bit.

I’m Not Done with You Yet was an interesting story line, that picked up in the last third of the book, being fast paced and exciting, with some major twists. I am a fan of Jesse Q. Sutanto, but where her other books were fun & entertaining, this one was more of a thriller. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

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Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto – a Review

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Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto – a Review

 

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Description:
Meddy Chan has been to countless weddings, but she never imagined how her own would turn out. Now the day has arrived, and she can’t wait to marry her college sweetheart, Nathan. Instead of having Ma and the aunts cater to her wedding, Meddy wants them to enjoy the day as guests. As a compromise, they find the perfect wedding vendors: a Chinese-Indonesian family-run company just like theirs. Meddy is hesitant at first, but she hits it off right away with the wedding photographer, Staphanie, who reminds Meddy of herself, down to the unfortunately misspelled name.

Meddy realizes that is where their similarities end, however, when she overhears Staphanie talking about taking out a target. Horrified, Meddy can’t believe Staphanie and her family aren’t just like her own, they are The Family–actual mafia, and they’re using Meddy’s wedding as a chance to conduct shady business. Her aunties and mother won’t let Meddy’s wedding ceremony become a murder scene–over their dead bodies–and will do whatever it takes to save her special day, even if it means taking on the mafia.

 

 

 

Review:

Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q Sutanto is the sequel to her previous book, Dial A for Aunties.  Meddy Chan is set to marry her sweetheart, Nathan, and she wants her family (her crazy aunts) to all relax and enjoy the upcoming wedding.  They decide to hire a Chinese-Indonesian company, who are perfect for the job.  Staphanie is the contact and wedding photographer, who Meddy becomes friends with, until she overhears her talking on the phone about plans to take out a target on her wedding day.  Once she tells her aunts and mother, they make plans to make sure the wedding is safe, and now the chaos begins.

What follows is a wild chaotic wedding, which the aunts/mother constantly are over the top with their antics, especially taking one by one the wedding planners’ people, in order to protect Meddy and the wedding itself. Meddy was a very good heroine, though her unconventional crazy family members continued to wreak havoc during the wedding, with Meddy trying to keep things in order, as well as not tell Nathan what was going on.  This is a difficult review, as the story is somewhat humorous, it is weird, insane and way over the top.  It does not help with the aunts/mother/wedding planners all constantly talking in different languages (Chinese, Mandarian, Taiwanese, Indonesian), which did make it somewhat confusing, with Meddy, Nathan the ones who spoke english.

I did enjoy Four Aunties and a Wedding, but not sure why, I found this book not as much fun, or as humorous, especially as it seems to make me more nervous, rather than laughing. Jesse Q. Sutanto did write a fun story, even if I thought it was a bit too much. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

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Dial A For Aunties by Jessie Q Sutanto – a Review

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Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto – a Review

 

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Description:
1 (accidental) murder
2 thousand wedding guests
3 (maybe) cursed generations
4 meddling Asian aunties to the rescue!

When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is accidentally shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working, at an island resort on the California coastline. It’s the biggest job yet for their family wedding business—“Don’t leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!”—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie’s perfect buttercream cake flowers.

But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy’s great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?

 

 

Review:

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto is humorous standalone novel.  We meet our heroine, Meddelyn (Meddy) Chan, who is a wedding photographer for her family’s wedding business.  Meddy lives with her mother, and is also constantly surrounded by her three aunts, none having husbands.  Meddy does get frustrated when they are always trying to fix her up with a potential husband, and is shocked to learn her mother set her up for a date, using an online site, pretending to be her.   Of course, the ladies all have a number of language barriers (Chinese, Mandarian, Taiwanese, etc), which does cause confusion at times, especially for Meddy, who knows some but is more Americanized.

When Meddy agrees to go on the date, she meets Jake, who was nice at first, but when he started making advance suggestions, she tries to leave, and he insists to take her home.  While in the car, he starts getting very hands on and forcing himself on her, and to her defense, Meddy uses a taser that she always carries with her on Jake; the car crashes, and Jake ends up dead. Meddy runs home and tells her mother, who in turn calls the aunts to come and help them hide the body.

What follows is a wild insane and crazy adventure with the ladies trying to move the body, and at the same time make sure the big expensive wedding they are planning for the next day goes as planned. Unfortunately, every step along the way to hide the body, is a disaster (trunk, cooler, frozen body, etc.).  At this point, the story gets even weirder, absurd, and humorous, though I did find it a bit over the top, as well as a little repetitive.  While this is going on, Meddy meets her old college flame, who she stills loves, but she left to help her family with their business; now he is a part owner of the hotel where the wedding is.  This is a difficult review to write, as everything was constantly going back and forth.

Dial A for Aunties was a wild and funny story, with the aunts and Meddy’s mother playing a major part in their humor.  Meddy also a very good character, as she was in the middle of this all.  Jesse Q. Sutanto did write a hysterical story, even if I thought it was a bit much.  If you enjoy wild antics, crazy aunts & mother, hiding bodies, and an overall wedding romp, you need to read this book. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

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