Three Reasons I didn’t finish
Dial A for Aunties (affiliate link) by Jesse Q. Sutanto.
The Pros
A Mystery/ Thriller/ Romance with a cast full of strong ladies and an accidental murder is exactly the sort of book I was hoping to read (listen to) as I drove an hour to vacuum my friend’s house — it’s a long story. The book is cute, with a fun voice, and plenty of promise. Unfortunately there were three things that disrupted my suspension of disbelief and pulled me from the book before the quarter mark.
The First Problem
The main gal, Meddy, vacillates between fake or shortened swears and the actual words in the same scene. It’s nitpicky, I know.
It wasn’t enough to make me put down the book, but it pulled me out of the story for a minute and probably contributed to my mindset. I’m pretty middle of the road when it comes to swearing in books, but you can’t say ‘What the F Ma?’ in one paragraph and then drop the F-word to your mother on the same page. Choose a lane. Or at lease make it make sense.
The Second Problem
This isn’t really a spoiler as the description tells you that she accidentally kills her blind date, but if you don’t want any more details about how, stop reading.
Okay, long story short — they’re on the date, and end up driving in the car together. He’s clearly a terrible guy who has terrible intentions and as he’s driving Meddy tasers him and they crash. Here’s the problem, who do you know, like actually know, who carries a taser in their purse? There are reasons, of course. And I could buy that she has one, for sure. BUT, we don’t get any of those reasons. The only mention of a taser, before it’s used to assault the terrible date, is a throwaway mention. And as someone who might happily carry a taser, especially on a blind date situation, I pay attention to this sort of thing.
The Kicker
A flashback sex scene with a previous boyfriend who we know she’s still stuck on. That’s a no for me. Just. No.
I’m sure they’re going to somehow get back together in a super cute and charming way (They have to if you’re going to throw this sort of thing in the 15% of the story). But we haven’t even met the guy in the present day and we’re just supposed to go along for the happy ride of reliving every minute of their awesome relationship (including the sex) while we know they have no current hope of getting back together? Writing it out it doesn’t sound that bad, but that’s what broke the camel’s back this time and pulled me out enough to make me switch to the next book. It feels like a fifty-fifty chance of me giving it another try.
Still Interested?
Looking for a great read? Check out my favorites here. Or, see what other books I didn’t finish here.
xoxo — Lindsay