Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Dial A for Aunties

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

15 reviews

brooketreads's review against another edition

challenging lighthearted tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Definitely not my typical read. Oh how to classify this genre… RomCom just doesn’t seem right, but i liked it. Oddly lighthearted for the main plot 😬 I loved Medde and Nathan’s college romance development, but I kept feeling so mad that she wouldn’t tell her family with believing in the curse. Medde gutted me too. Nathan got custody of me in the split. Anyway, a couple things were off for me. First, I loved the idea of the Aunties, but they weren’t very defined as their own characters. They all basically felt like the same character for me. Secondly, there was a lot of lying and withholding of information and it felt too close to miscommunication trope for my liking. Overall, though it was an enjoyable read.

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alysereadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous funny relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this one and it's highly rated for a reason. Definitely farfetched but extremely entertaining and was a fast read that I couldn't put down. I loved the focus on family and the characters of the aunties.

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abicaro17's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Crazy Rich Asians meets Weekend at Bernies in this hilarious wedding hi-jinx rom com! Meddy is a wedding photographer who accidentally kills her blind date and calls on her mom and three aunts to help her hide the body. Nathan is her college ex who just so happens to own the hotel that the wedding Meddy and her family are working that weekend. This book is absolutely adorable! Between the hilarious aunts and crazy chemistry between Nathan and Meddy theres a little something for everyone. Do I think this book has any semblance of reality? No. Is it a fun cute read anyways? Hell yeah!

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kemikemi's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book started out fun zany; the characters were funny, the premise was so wild, and I loved the way that Meddy’s family had her back immediately. However, I started getting frustrated with characters, and then the last act of the book devolved into what the fuck???? that then got so quickly wrapped up all neatly with a bow…it just didn’t end up panning out in a way that kept up with the promising start for me.

As for as the main character herself, I took issue with how around midway Meddy contradicted herself regarding her moral code and lying; I went on a rant to my friend about how in one of the scenes Meddy refused to lie to someone’s face but then she literally ended up doing just that a couple scenes later because her NOT lying to cover for something earlier resulted in a false assumption being made that she decided she had to play along with. And considering the entire premise of the story is her trying to cover up a person’s death that she caused, which would then turn into a secret she’d plan to harbor forever, Meddy drawing her proverbial line at lying about something technically related but rather innocuous in comparison felt so ridiculous. There’s just something that bothers me about deception/“I have a secret” story plots where characters refuse to lie and/or are terrible at lying on the spot—like you’re either committed to keeping this a secret at all costs or not!! You’re stressing me out!!! Another thing that bothered me was how heavily Meddy started internal monologuing during all the high intensity situations at the end of the book; she kept repeating the same thoughts/themes and it got a bit too repetitive in a way that took me out of the action.

But about the pacing and ending of the book: honestly, despite how insane the premise is, the first half of the book does feel like it unfolds rather realistically for the situations that keep happening regarding the dead body main plot, and disbelief can be reasonably suspended to go along with the zaniness—which is perfect. However, after the actual wedding ceremony ended is where it started to go too off the rails for me, and I just wasn’t satisfied with how everything past that ended up unfolding and wrapping up the book. It was all wayy too much and too fast in my opinion, so I found myself disappointed by HOW we got to the ending (the ending we all all into the book knowing from the start). So in all, this book ended up being a little bit of a miss for me compared to how I originally thought I was going to like it, and I’m not sure I’m going to read the sequel(s) ☹️

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keelirae113's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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maya_thorburn's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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koplomps's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I was struggling to keep going but it picked up around 100 pages. After that it was a quick read. I liked the "crime-tension", meddy's interactions with the bride and all of the drama but honestly couldn't have cared less about the romance.

My heart sank for them at the start but after Nathan showed up again it was so cliche and I felt like the author kept repeating the same frases of how he gave "that smile" and how "his kiss brought back all of the memories". The romance just felt very bland and unnescesary

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was hilarious. I never quite knew where the story was going to go next, but I loved Medellin and the Aunties. My one complaint is that Nathan didn't seem that developed as a character. In general, there were a lot of coincidences that seemed to exist just so the story could move forward. But still, I highly recommend, and I look forward to the screen adaptation.

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queengaynor's review against another edition

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dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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kylasmv15's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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