I don’t know if anyone writing today delves quite as hard as Jesse Q. Sutanto does into toxic, obsessive female friendships. She writes so unflinchingly of terrible thoughts and behavior, showing not only their aftermath but also their genesis, as her characters love and fight and some ultimately even kill over the course of their…
Newlywed Meddy Chan is looking forward to jetting straight from her European honeymoon with her beloved husband Nathan to her family’s hometown in Jakarta. She’s excited to introduce him to her motherland, accompanied, of course, by her own mother and her mother’s three sisters, collectively known as The Aunties. Nathan has been so amazing about…
Jesse Q. Sutanto contains multitudes! Her cozy Bay Area mystery, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers, is one of my favorite books of this year for its large-hearted generosity. Her latest release, I’m Not Done With You Yet, is almost the exact tonal opposite: a psychological thriller involving damaged women doing terrible, murderous things. Both…
I absolutely devoured this by turns heart-warming and heart-wrenching tale of a lonely old teahouse owner who finds a new lease of life by meddling in a murder investigation. As always, Jesse Q Sutanto writes about Asian and Southeast Asian diasporas with brilliant insight, empathy and humor. This is absolutely one of my favorite books,…
In this second book of the Aunties series, Meddelin “Meddy” Chan is finally marrying the man of her dreams. She and Nathan had been college sweethearts once but broke up and subsequently lost touch. Happily, they were reunited during the events of the first book, and are now set to be married in his hometown…
What a debut—Sutanto has whipped together a frothy mixture of “murder mystery, rom-com, and a celebration of mothers and daughters.” Meddy has not one but four mothers, her ma and her three aunties (which rhymes with Ant). She is the embodiment of “filial piety, the foundation of Asian parenting.” These loving, interfering, outspoken women shower…
I started off my writing journey by writing dark YA suspense with a healthy (or unhealthy?) body count. The darker it was, the more I was attracted to it. My friends used to joke that I couldn’t write a single book without killing anyone, and the one time I did, I quickly followed up with…
