Danielle Jackson: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Jesse! We are big fans of your Aunties series and are so excited to celebrate the release of FOUR AUNTIES AND A WEDDING - congrats! What has been the most surprising thing about your publishing journey so far?
Jesse Q. Sutanto: Oh gosh, to be honest, EVERYTHING has been surprising about my publishing journey! My first book deal, THE OBSESSION, was a humble deal. Everything was about as typical as it went. My second book deal, THEO TAN AND THE FOX SPIRIT, was slightly larger, but still pretty average. Then the following month I sold DIAL A FOR AUNTIES and things just exploded. Suddenly, I was having calls with producers and giant studios, all of whom were clamoring to buy the rights to the TV/film adaptation. It was the kind of story where, if an aspiring author were to say she dreams of having that kind of road to publication, she’d be laughed out of the room because it’s just so ridiculous!
Wedding planning is already a feat, but with her vivacious and nosy aunties “helping,” things quickly get out of hand for Meddy. Were there any aspects of wedding planning and the big day that leant themselves well to the plot of a cozy mystery?
Jesse: I’m a very disorganized, chaotic person and I’m the last person to be able to write a cozy mystery because they’re usually so complicated! So I thought: Well, instead of a mystery, why not have the opposite of one? We already know who the culprits are, now we just need to go on this wacky ride and embrace the chaos. There is nothing more chaotic than Chinese-Indonesian weddings, which, on average, have over 2,000 guests, so just the sheer size and number of ceremonies involved plus the inclusion of meddlesome family members made for the perfect chaotic setting.
Family dynamics are very important in this book - between Meddy’s and Nathan’s families interacting, and the family hired to cater and work the wedding, readers see different types of families and how they function. What do you like about showcasing family dynamics? Do you find anything challenging about writing big casts of characters?
Jesse: Although there’s been a big push for diversity in recent years, I have yet to see a family quite like mine represented in books. I loved being able to tap into my family history and take the humorous parts to showcase in the book, especially anything that included the aunties meddling in Meddy’s life, because that’s what I’ve had to live through my entire life. But I also wanted to show that the meddling comes from a good place and that at the end of the day, I would rather have meddlesome aunties and uncles than ones who mind their own business. I thought it would be overwhelming to have four aunties (well, three aunts and one mom) in the book, but the moment I started writing, the aunties’ personalities were so distinct that I had no problems distinguishing them, so writing the big cast was surprisingly easy.
In addition to your cozy mystery and rom-coms, you also write young adult and middle grade! Can you tell us a bit about your books in these other genres/age groups?
Jesse: My middle grade fantasy is THEO TAN AND THE FOX SPIRIT and it’s about a boy who teams up with a fox spirit to solve the mystery of his brother’s death. It’s a fun adventure story and Kai, the fox spirit, is one of my favorite characters to write because she’s so sassy and humorous. I have two YAs coming out this year - one is a dark murdery suspense called THE NEW GIRL, which takes place in a fancy boarding school and has my favorite trope (accidental murder)! The other one is a super fun, light-hearted rom-com called WELL, THAT WAS UNEXPECTED and it’s set in Indonesia! I’m so excited about both. They are worlds apart, but I hope that my readers will see a commonality throughout all my books.
As an author (and fellow Berklete), I love asking about how other authors practice self-care… mainly to add to my personal repertoire of relaxation tactics. What do you do that helps you to unwind?
Jesse: I love to jog while reading or listening to audiobooks. I find it so rewarding. I also love to cook while listening to an audiobook. That’s my “me’ time and I get so grumpy if people come and talk to me while I’m cooking, haha!
What can readers expect from you next?
Jesse: Basically, just a TON more books, haha! I have four books coming out this year and four coming out in 2023. I plan to keep writing multiple books in multiple genres and age categories a year, if publishing lets me!
Rapid Fire Random Questions (feel free to explain/elaborate on your answers as much or as little as you'd like)
What’s the best live performance you’ve ever seen? Jimmy Eat World, who was my favorite band in college!
Biggest Pet Peeve: Having my time wasted. There’s this thing called “Indo time” because people are perpetually late here, and not just by ten minutes, but often by thirty minutes up to an hour! I’ve learnt to deal with it by learning to write on my phone, so now when I find myself waiting for someone, I just whip out my phone and start writing and I love that my time is no longer being wasted.
Writing advice you live by: Write even when you’re not inspired. I write every weekday, whether or not I feel like it, and it’s the only habit that makes my writing career possible.
If you could have a magical power, what would it be? Make people (including myself) fall asleep with one snap of my fingers. Oh man, I literally fantasize about this every night, when the kids are fighting bedtime.
Gold or silver?: Gold!
Favorite outdoor activity: Hiking. I looove hiking so much. I find it so meditative.
Do you have or have you had a nickname? My family calls me Jess. When I was little, they called me Jessot and I never understood it.
Favorite holiday: Chinese New Year!
A book you wish you could read again for the first time: Gone Girl. What a twisty work of sheer genius! I get jealous whenever I hear someone say they’re about to read it for the first time.
You have a totally free afternoon – no deadlines, no obligations, no Twitter notifications! What do you do?: Sounds like heaven! Honestly? I would spend a couple hours jogging on the treadmill while reading. It sounds awful, I know, but I love jogging really slow, long distances while reading! Then I would take a long shower and chill on the sofa while reading some more until I fall asleep. Bliss!
The aunties are back, fiercer than ever and ready to handle any catastrophe—even the mafia—in this delightful and hilarious sequel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Dial A for Aunties.
Meddy Chan has been to countless weddings, but she never imagined how her own would turn out. Now the day has arrived, and she can't wait to marry her college sweetheart, Nathan. Instead of having Ma and the aunts cater to her wedding, Meddy wants them to enjoy the day as guests. As a compromise, they find the perfect wedding vendors: a Chinese-Indonesian family-run company just like theirs. Meddy is hesitant at first, but she hits it off right away with the wedding photographer, Staphanie, who reminds Meddy of herself, down to the unfortunately misspelled name.
Meddy realizes that is where their similarities end, however, when she overhears Staphanie talking about taking out a target. Horrified, Meddy can’t believe Staphanie and her family aren’t just like her own, they are The Family—actual mafia, and they're using Meddy's wedding as a chance to conduct shady business. Her aunties and mother won’t let Meddy’s wedding ceremony become a murder scene—over their dead bodies—and will do whatever it takes to save her special day, even if it means taking on the mafia.
Mystery | Romance [Berkley, On Sale: March 29, 2022, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593333051 / eISBN: 9780593333068]
Jesse Q. Sutanto grew up shuttling back and forth between Indonesia, Singapore, and Oxford, and considers all three places her home. She has a Masters from Oxford University, but she has yet to figure out how to say that without sounding obnoxious. Jesse has forty-two first cousins and thirty aunties and uncles, many of whom live just down the road. When she's not writing, she's gaming with her husband (mostly FPS), or making a mess in the kitchen with her two daughters.
Danielle Jackson is a contemporary romance author, avid reader, lackluster-yet-mighty crafter, and accomplished TV binge-watcher.
Once upon a time, she was a publicist in publishing and continues to cultivate her love of books and reading by chatting with the best authors in the business as an event coordinator at an independent bookstore and as the co-host of the Fresh Fiction podcast. She also moderates panels, interviews authors, and hosts a romance book club.
Danielle lives in Chicagoland with her very own romance hero husband, darling daughter, and two tempestuous cats. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram, @DJacksonBooks.
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