I'm never going to read a bad Jesse Sutanto book.its just not possible. I was so excited to see Vera again and laugh alongside her for another journey. I adore her voice and how blasé Vera is - its so true to the older Asian generation and i just chuckled all the way through.

The plot is absolutely crazy, except it isn't because it's Vera! Nothing about Vera is too much. I LOVE the found family and how they all just fold around her. I also love how food is so prominent - very relatable and true to the culture.

I've had such a blast with Vera and the gang, solving another murder and heyyyyyy, that ending sets up nicely for a third book yes?

I absolutely adored the first book Vera Wong book, and the second has lived up to all my hopes.

This book felt like a warm hug, with such a hopeful sentiment about connection, friendship and community. Vera is an amazing main character, and the secondary characters that she surrounds herself with that make this book extra special. The relationships they develop through her and are just so nurturing for the soul, and the kindness and caring shown by Vera and the others is so delightful.

The mystery at the heart of this novel is one that has important message to it, and the book was well paced to get to the resolution. There are many laugh out loud moments, along with some more serious, and it is just overall a wonderful time and I hope there will be more books following Vera and her ever expanding circle. I loved this sequel, and would highly recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Amazing! Just totally fantastic!! I first fell in love with Jesse Sutanto’s work after receiving a copy of the first book in this series from netgalley, and then went on to purchase all the Dial M for murder series also as I loved her writing style. Interestingly she mentions in the acknowledgements for this book that she didn’t intend it to become a sequel, but man am I glad it turned into one because what can I say but she’s done it again! This is another sure to be bestseller as we pick back up with our favourite auntie Vera, and her ragtag bunch of adopted family members from first book as she tackles another murder. There is the usual liberal smatterings of Vera related humour, whilst also touching on quite a dark topic. I loved this book and didn’t want to put it down at any point; it kept me hooked throughout. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend not just this book, but all the others by this author too as they’re truly hilarious, interesting, and well written. A++ 10/10 thanks to one of my newest favourite authors for continuing to write such excellent stories

Vera is slightly bored when no other dead bodies have appeared in her teahouse. Then she comes across Millie who is looking for her missing friend and lucky for Vera, she finds information about him in Selena’s briefcase. But not all is as it seems, as it appears he was living a double life. Only problem is, after his body was discovered, he hasn’t been identified so Vera is determined to solve the case.

If I could give a book series a million stars, I would give it to this one as it is one of my all time favourites and if you haven’t read it yet, pick the series up and prepare to be sucked into the wonderful world of Vera and her adventures, alongside the most stunning found family I have ever read.

I can never rave about the characters of this series enough as I absolutely love them. The star of the show is obviously Vera who I hold so much love for, she has such a special place in my heart and I would absolutely love her as a grandma because what a ray of sunshine she is. I love how she has this unique ability of bringing people together and uniting them in the feelings they feel, as well as being so fiercely and unapologetically herself. Now for the side characters, I think they made an excellent addition to this book. No one felt left behind and they all brought something to the table. I adored seeing some of my old favourites from the first book of the series and loved learning about the new ones. I may have shed a few tears at one particular point because I got so attached to these characters - they had me in my feelings.

The atmosphere was stunning as always, I truly felt like I was immersed in the world of Vera and friends and I was right there with them solving the mystery. It truly felt like a rollercoaster at times with everything that was going on but it was a rollercoaster I didn’t want to get off of.

I absolutely love Jesse’s writing and how absorbed into her worlds I get when reading her books. I was so happy to see there was gonna be another Vera book and she delivered. I would love to see more adventures of Vera but even if this is the last one of the series, then I’m happy I got to spend more time with Vera and her little community of family she’s created. Everything flowed so well and I genuinely couldn’t put this book down, I was glued to my kindle reading into the early hours.

One thing I love about Jesse is how she never shies away from highlighting important topics that deserve more conversations around them. I’m not gonna say more than that as it would be a spoiler but after reading the book and then the author’s note at the end, you will see what I mean. The plot itself is so interesting and it was fascinating to see it all unravel. I did guess a lot of what happened but I honestly didn’t mind because it felt like I was unraveling the case with Vera, which was a lot of fun. I feel like everything made sense and it didn’t feel like there was any kind of plot holes (or at least any that were noticeable to me anyways).

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for an honest review.

⚠️ CWs: suicide, murder, human trafficking, racism, sitting, torture, physical abuse, vomiting, derogatory language, cursing, alcohol use, talks about weight and dieting, grief, child abuse, emotional abuse; mentions domestic abuse, gun use, death, terminal illness (cancer), misogyny ⚠️