Jesse Q Sutanto – Jill Grinberg Literary Management

Jesse Q Sutanto

Jesse Q Sutanto is an award-winning author of books for adults and young readers. Her debut romcom, Dial A for Aunties, was an instant IndieBound bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of 2021 and Editors’ Choice, and won the Comedy Women in Print prize. It will be followed by a sequel, Four Aunties and a Wedding in March 2022, with a third and fourth novel currently planned in the series. In Fall 2022, she will publish Well, That Was Unexpected, her debut romcom for young adults, from Delacorte and I’m Not Done With You Yet, her first thriller for adults, from Berkley. She is also the author of Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit, the first in a middle grade series set to publish in May 2022 from Macmillan, and the YA thrillers The Obsession and The New Girl from Sourcebooks Fire. She received her Masters from the University of Oxford. She grew up in Indonesia and Singapore and currently lives in Jakarta with her husband and two daughters.

Agent

Katelyn Detweiler

I'm Not Done With You Yet

DIAL A FOR AUNTIES author Jesse Sutanto’s I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET, pitched as THE PLOT meets YOU, about the complex and twisted friendship between two women writers—one successful and the other not—and the obsession one has with the other, exploring racial stereotypes, classism, and social status, to Cindy Hwang at Berkley, in a five-book deal, for publication in 2023, by Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).

Publisher

Berkley

Publication Date

Fall 2022

Age Category

Adult

Genre

Thriller

Rights

JGLM

Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit

After inheriting a grieving fox spirit, a Chinese American boy must learn to embrace his heritage to solve the mystery of his brother’s death in Jesse Q Sutanto’s magical, action-packed middle grade fantasy, Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit.

Theo Tan doesn’t want a spirit companion. He just wants to be a normal American kid, playing video games, going to conventions, and using cirth pendants to cast his spells like everyone else. But, when his older brother dies, Theo ends up inheriting Jamie’s fox spirit, Kai.

Kai isn’t happy about this either. Theo is nothing like Jamie, and the two of them have never gotten along. But, when they realize the mysterious journal Jamie left Theo is filled with clues and secret codes, it’s clear that something strange was going on with Jamie’s internship at Reapling Corp.

But the only way onto the campus is the highly competitive “Know Your Roots” summer camp program, a celebration of Chinese and Indian cultures designed to help connect students with their heritage. Theo and Kai will have to put aside their differences long enough to honor Jamie’s last wishes, or the mystery he died for will remain unsolved forever…

Praise for Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit

“”Heart-felt and heart-pounding, this book will have you cheering Theo on as he sets out to find the magic of his heritage! (Both figurative and literal!)” –Xiran Jay Zhao, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Iron Widow

Publisher

Imprint/Macmillan

Publication Date

May 31, 2022

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Fantasy

Rights

Macmillan

Dial A for Aunties (Aunties #1)

An IndieBound bestseller

What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family?

You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue!

When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the California coastline. It’s the biggest job yet for the family wedding business—”Don’t leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!”—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie’s perfect buttercream flowers.

But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy’s great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?

Praise for Dial A for Aunties

“Comparisons to Crazy Rich Asians are apt, as the author details the wild spending and luxurious lifestyles of the superrich. But this story is filled with mistaken identity, a gaggle of intoxicated groomsmen, five lovably hilarious sisters, and slapstick humor that leans more toward the film Clue. Readers will die for the delightfully absurd hijinks in this dark comedy.” –Kirkus Reviews

“A hilarious, heartfelt romp of a novel about—what else?—accidental murder and the bond of family. This book had me laughing aloud within its first five pages… Utterly clever, deeply funny, and altogether charming, this book is sure to be one of the best of the year!” –Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read

“Sutanto brilliantly infuses comedy and culture into the unpredictable rom-com/murder mystery mashup as Meddy navigates familial duty, possible arrest and a groomzilla. I laughed out loud and you will too.” –USA Today

Publisher

Berkley

Publication Date

April 27, 2021

Age Category

Adult

Genre

Mystery/Romance

Rights

JGLM

Four Aunties and a Wedding (Aunties #2)

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.

Praise for Four Aunties and a Wedding

“Sutanto deftly blends preposterous humor (British slang, mafia posers) with enduring devotion to prove ‘there is no right or wrong way to ‘being Asian.’'” –Booklist

Publisher

Berkley

Publication Date

March 29, 2022

Age Category

Adut

Genre

Mystery/Romance

Rights

JGLM

Well, That Was Unexpected

Wendy Loggia at Delacorte has acquired, in a preempt, world English rights to Well, That Was Unexpected by Jesse Q. Sutanto. This YA rom-com debut is about a girl whisked from L.A. to her mother’s native Indonesia in order to “get back to her roots,” who—through a comedy of errors and overzealous parents—finds herself fake-dating the son of one of the wealthiest families in Indonesia, and is surprised when she actually starts to fall in love—with the boy, the country, and the big family she never knew before now. Publication is set for fall 2022; Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management brokered the two-book deal.

Publisher

Delacorte

Publication Date

September 27, 2022

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Romantic Comedy

Rights

JGLM