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Dial A for Aunties
Dial A for Aunties by Jessie Q. Sutanto is $2.99! This is a mix of cozy mystery and romance. It’s also been recommended a ton of previous podcast episodes. Have you read it?
A hilariously quirky novel that is equal parts murder mystery, rom-com, and a celebration of mothers and daughters as well as a deep dive into Chinese-Indonesian culture, by debut author Jesse Q Sutanto.
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?
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A Holly Jolly Diwali
RECOMMENDED: A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli is $1.99! Elyse wrote a Lightning Review of this one and gave it a B+:
A Holly Jolly Diwali is a contemporary romance and a story about finding a place in one’s community. I really enjoyed it, but I can also see where some readers may feel the romance elements took second place to the main character’s journey of self discovery.
One type-A data analyst discovers her free-spirited side on an impulsive journey from bustling Mumbai to the gorgeous beaches of Goa and finds love waiting for her on Christmas morning.
Twenty-eight-year-old Niki Randhawa has always made practical decisions. Despite her love for music and art, she became an analyst for the stability. She’s always stuck close to home, in case her family needed her. And she’s always dated guys that seem good on paper, rather than the ones who give her butterflies. When she’s laid off, Niki realizes that practical hasn’t exactly paid off for her. So for the first time ever, she throws caution to the wind and books a last-minute flight for her friend Diya’s wedding.
Niki arrives in India just in time to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, where she meets London musician Sameer Mukherji. Maybe it’s the splendor of Mumbai or the magic of the holiday season, but Niki is immediately drawn to Sam. At the wedding, the champagne flows and their flirtatious banter makes it clear that the attraction is mutual.
When Niki and Sam join Diya, her husband and their friends on group honeymoon, their connection grows deeper. Free-spirited Sam helps Niki get in touch with her passionate and creative side, and with her Indian roots. When she gets a new job offer back home, Niki must decide what she wants out of the next chapter of her life–to cling to the straight and narrow like always, or to take a leap of faith and live the kind of bold life the old Niki never would have dreamed of.
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Firelight
Firelight by Kristen Callihan is $1.99! This is the first book in the Darkest London series, a series that I mostly enjoy. In the first three books, the heroines are sisters and I’d rank them in their series order. The third is my least favorite, namely because it contains a lot of tropes that aren’t my thing. However, I still have enjoyed what I’ve read thus far.
Once the flames are ignited . . .
Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family’s fortune decimated and forced her to wed London’s most nefarious nobleman.
They will burn for eternity . . .
Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it’s selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can’t help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn’t felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.
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A Bad Day for Sunshine
A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones is $1.99! This is the first book in a series series after Jones concluded her Charley Davidson books and the second book is also on sale. The third book is out tomorrow, so this is a great opportunity to catch up.
New York Times bestselling author Darynda Jones is back with the brand-new snarky, sassy, wickedly fun Sunshine Vicram series!
Sheriff Sunshine Vicram finds her cup o’ joe more than half full when the small village of Del Sol, New Mexico, becomes the center of national attention for a kidnapper on the loose.
Del Sol, New Mexico is known for three things: its fry-an-egg-on-the-cement summers, its strong cups of coffee—and a nationwide manhunt? Del Sol native Sunshine Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff—an election her adorably meddlesome parents entered her in—and she expects her biggest crime wave to involve an elderly flasher named Doug. But a teenage girl is missing, a kidnapper is on the loose, and all of it’s reminding Sunny why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that trouble at her daughter’s new school and a kidnapped prized rooster named Puff Daddy, and Sunshine has her hands full.
Enter sexy almost-old-flame Levi Ravinder and a hunky US Marshall, both elevens on a scale of one to blazing inferno, and the normally savvy sheriff is quickly in over her head. Now it’s up to Sunshine to juggle a few good hunky men, a not-so-nice kidnapping miscreant, and Doug the ever-pesky flasher. And they said coming home would be drama-free.
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The Darkest London series is gorgeous. I am currently on book five. Lots of pining and high emotion. Gothic supernatural steampunk.
DIAL A FOR AUNTIES is a totally bananas farce—I went into it thinking it would be a bit more straight-up mystery/romance and it’s not that. I didn’t love the romance—Meddy (the heroine) is a real jerk to the hero (Nathan) and it’s all dealt with very quickly.
If I had known going in that it was more of a farce, I think I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, I was like, “WHAT is happening with that dead body now??? And “HOW is he supposed to forgive you when you’ve barely explained or apologized!?”
@FashionablyEvil–I thought the same. It’s shelved as a mystery, I thought it would be a mystery, but the dead body is so quickly relegated to a minor role in all the happenings. Meddy also comes off as more an awkward teen than a 20-something woman. It was fun, but absolutely not what I expected.
Are group honeymoons a usual event in some cultures?
@LML: also, “adorably meddlesome” is not the phrase I would use to describe parents who sign you up for a job without your consent. I can’t speak for NM, but in FL there are forms to be filled out and fees to be paid before you can run for office. Did they forge her signature? Who campaigned on her behalf? Inquiring minds (sort of) want to know. Maybe I’ll pick this up anyway, just to find out. I read the first few Charley Davidson books and liked them, but then they fell off my radar.
A BAD DAY FOR SUNSHINE is just wildly uneven to the point of weirdness. I wanted to like it, but tonally, it was so strange. I even read the sequel, and it had all the same problems. I’m not sure they’d have been published if she hadn’t had a hit with the Charley Davidson books first.
@tam SAME. I mostly enjoyed the first book but wanted to throw the second across the room. Mostly over what I felt was a very far-fetched depiction of Sunshine’s parenting, which is preached to be wonderful but as a parent myself, I found astonishingly awful and neglectful, not to mention unrealistic. You, as a law enforcement officer, are letting your 15 year old help with a missing person’s case? Really?
I’m with @Tam about A BAD DAY FOR SUNSHINE and the sequel. There are parts of the story that were interesting but it’s all just so weird and uneven. It’s also one of those books where 1000 things happen in two days, no one seems to sleep, and the number of people being in the right place at the right time was astronomical.
A “plot twist” in book 2 was annoying and cliche enough that I decided no thanks for the rest of the series.
Haven’t read DIAL A FOR AUNTIES but did read FOUR AUNTIES AND A WEDDING which is the sequel. While the main character comes off a bit too “I am so embarrassed by them” if you just go with the silliness of the whole thing it’s fun reading.