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A review by niamhreviews
Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto
3.0
I was very kindly given an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley & HQ.
I so wanted to love this book. The first book in the series - 'Dial A For Aunties' - was such a chaotic, exciting surprise that I couldn't wait to read this one. But the follow up suffers from a bit of a sophomore slump.
Following Meddy and her Aunties - as well as her husband-to-be Nathan - this second novel is all about the aforementioned wedding, which is derailed when Meddy and her four Aunties get into hijinks and try to keep a massive secret being revealed to the entire wedding party. If you've read the first book, you'll get the general jist of what's going on - its narrative follows a relatively similar path. I can't say much without it being a spoiler, but it's just as crazy a plot as you're expecting.
Full disclosure - I worked out the ending about two chapters in. I was waiting for there to be a bigger twist and it just never came.
Whilst the same kind of chaos that was in the first book remains, what was charming then just felt a bit...same-y now. One of the biggest problems of this book is the lack of moving parts. In 'Dial A', there was the constant looming threat of the body being discovered, with lots of other small things involved to make everything more complicated. It created a real sense of jeopardy that's missing in the sequel. It didn't quite feel like it warranted the amount of pages it was written with - things could've been solved very quickly and not had as much of an impact. Chapters became very repetitive after a while and Meddy, despite being the main character, is never the most interesting character.
The ending also felt hugely underwhelming. There had been plenty of knots tied and wires crossed to get to a really exciting finale - but it just never came. It just sort of...ended and everyone continued as though they hadn't just spent a day doing a bunch of crazy stuff. I won't give away spoilers, but for a group of people who were so adamant on getting revenge on another group - they gave up their charge VERY QUICKLY.
It's a fast read and if you enjoyed the first book, you'll probably find some enjoyment in this one. But for me, the writing wasn't particularly good and a plot that could've had far more excitement in it instead just under-performed.
'Four Aunties and a Wedding' will be published March 29th.
I so wanted to love this book. The first book in the series - 'Dial A For Aunties' - was such a chaotic, exciting surprise that I couldn't wait to read this one. But the follow up suffers from a bit of a sophomore slump.
Following Meddy and her Aunties - as well as her husband-to-be Nathan - this second novel is all about the aforementioned wedding, which is derailed when Meddy and her four Aunties get into hijinks and try to keep a massive secret being revealed to the entire wedding party. If you've read the first book, you'll get the general jist of what's going on - its narrative follows a relatively similar path. I can't say much without it being a spoiler, but it's just as crazy a plot as you're expecting.
Full disclosure - I worked out the ending about two chapters in. I was waiting for there to be a bigger twist and it just never came.
Whilst the same kind of chaos that was in the first book remains, what was charming then just felt a bit...same-y now. One of the biggest problems of this book is the lack of moving parts. In 'Dial A', there was the constant looming threat of the body being discovered, with lots of other small things involved to make everything more complicated. It created a real sense of jeopardy that's missing in the sequel. It didn't quite feel like it warranted the amount of pages it was written with - things could've been solved very quickly and not had as much of an impact. Chapters became very repetitive after a while and Meddy, despite being the main character, is never the most interesting character.
The ending also felt hugely underwhelming. There had been plenty of knots tied and wires crossed to get to a really exciting finale - but it just never came. It just sort of...ended and everyone continued as though they hadn't just spent a day doing a bunch of crazy stuff. I won't give away spoilers, but for a group of people who were so adamant on getting revenge on another group - they gave up their charge VERY QUICKLY.
It's a fast read and if you enjoyed the first book, you'll probably find some enjoyment in this one. But for me, the writing wasn't particularly good and a plot that could've had far more excitement in it instead just under-performed.
'Four Aunties and a Wedding' will be published March 29th.