Name: The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties
Rating: 3.333333333333333 (3 reviews)
ISBN: 9780008558802

Jesse Sutanto

The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties

Meddy should be relaxing in Europe somewhere on her extended honeymoon.  After the drama leading up to and during her wedding, she and Nathan deserve some pampering.  Sadly her charming, affable and too-nice-by-far husband agreed to go spend Chinese New Year with Meddy's extended family in Jakarta.

On arrival they are caught up in whirl of aunties, uncles, cousins and other assorted family.  But just when things seems to be settling down and Nathan is the star attraction, Meddy and the aunts get drawn into a new drama.  One involving an Auntie, an old flame, the local head Gangster and little red packets!

Meddy has her hands full with those aunties let me tell you.  They are all conflicting personalities but as usual if an outsider picks on one, they all band together to cause major mayhem.  Nathan is such a placid, pleasant chap and soothes many a fraught situation but even he gets caught up in some fisticuffs!

The crime lords are hilariously named Kristofer Kolumbes, Julia Child, and Abraham Lincoln. They are suitably weird and wonderful.  The family bickering and flaunting of dirty laundry is on point.

Gang rivalries, miscommunication and jealousy lead to some very dangerous situations and Meddy and the Aunts turn themselves into a mix of vigilante, rescue aficionados and investigators.

A great conclusion to a trilogy of hilarious hijinks.  The characters are fun and effervescent and will put a smile on your face, all whilst tramping on your last nerve with their outrageous behaviour! 

Nicola Sarah Brooks

Meddy should be relaxing in Europe somewhere on her extended honeymoon.  After the drama leading up to and during her wedding, she and Nathan deserve some pampering.  Sadly her charming, affable and too-nice-by-far husband agreed to go spend Chinese New Year with Meddy's extended family in Jakarta.

On arrival they are caught up in whirl of aunties, uncles, cousins and other assorted family.  But just when things seems to be settling down and Nathan is the star attraction, Meddy and the aunts get drawn into a new drama.  One involving an Auntie, an old flame, the local head Gangster and little red packets!

Meddy has her hands full with those aunties let me tell you.  They are all conflicting personalities but as usual if an outsider picks on one, they all band together to cause major mayhem.  Nathan is such a placid, pleasant chap and soothes many a fraught situation but even he gets caught up in some fisticuffs!

The crime lords are hilariously named Kristofer Kolumbes, Julia Child, and Abraham Lincoln. They are suitably weird and wonderful.  The family bickering and flaunting of dirty laundry is on point.

Gang rivalries, miscommunication and jealousy lead to some very dangerous situations and Meddy and the Aunts turn themselves into a mix of vigilante, rescue aficionados and investigators.

A great conclusion to a trilogy of hilarious hijinks.  The characters are fun and effervescent and will put a smile on your face, all whilst tramping on your last nerve with their outrageous behaviour! 

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…

The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties

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