I was so excited to read this novel and when I finally got a copy, I was overjoyed. The synopsis had me feeling some noughties rom-com meets Bend It Like Beckham vibes, and that's exactly what I got. I loved the blend of the lighthearted teen romance with the infusion of Dimple and Rishi's cultural backgrounds and their families, and the whole story really comes to life as you read it.

Dimple and Rishi have both been sent to Insomnia Con, a prestigious summer camp, to meet each other by their parents. The only problem is that only Rishi knows that this is a set-up. He is excited to meet his potential future wife and spend six wonderful weeks with her, but when he meets Dimple, he realises that she knew nothing of the plan. Dimple was under the impression that her parents were finally letting her focus on her career, and she's furious that she's been tricked. When Dimple and Rishi get paired together on a project, it seems like things couldn't get any worse. Except they do. Dimple realises that perhaps she's let her anger blind her, and she starts to wonder if perhaps she and Rishi and more compatible than she thought.

My favourite part of this novel was the characters. Dimple and Rishi are both so different. Dimple is feisty, independent, and stubborn. She dreams of being a web developers and I loved how passionate she is about her goals. Despite the romance storyline, I never felt like Dimple's personality and goals were being sacrificed or like her character was being diluted in any way which I often feel in romance novels. Rishi on the other hand is a romantic and he loves all of the traditions that Dimple feels constrained by. He can't wait to marry and have kids, everything that his parents want, but he doesn't know if he's following in their footsteps rather than pursuing his own dream - comics. I loved reading about their families and their Indian culture. You can really tell that this novel is own voices in my opinion, because it never felt forced or superficial, the descriptions and conversations between family members felt real.

I loved that despite the storylines of the romance between Dimple and Rishi and the Insomnia Con competition there was also the interior battles that the characters are facing. Both Dimple and Rishi have to learn what it is exactly that they want, not what they've been told they should want or what they've told themselves they should want. It is a storyline that I think plenty of readers could relate to, and I definitely could myself. I also love that despite the two of them obviously helping each other learn things along the way, neither one's achievements were completely dependent on the other. Both Dimple and Rishi are extremely talented at what they do, and they both love it. Sometimes they just need a little shove to realise that they need to dive in.

When Dimple Met Rishi is a really fun and lighthearted novel, a great read for the summer. It gave me noughties romcom vibes to the extent that I was imagining movie sequences in my head as I read it. It was easy to hand out 5-stars to this as I had such a good time reading it, and I hope you look into a getting a copy yourself soon!
For fans of: To All the Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han

Sometimes, contemporary and I don’t get along. Most of the time it needs some magical realism or something else. And I always think everything happens too quickly, of which this book is no exception.

When Dimple Met Rishi is a really important book, though. I’m glad it’s out there and highlighting other cultures within a predominantly white Christian publishing array of same old books. I think it was hyped so much that I wanted more to actually happen in it than the plot allowed.

I really liked Dimple – she’s a fiesty, intelligent girl who knows what she wants, but my problem with contemporary remained in this book. It all seemed so rushed, and Rishi wasn’t a character I bonded with 100%. I enjoyed him taking down the elitist snobs in the restaurant, but after that he seemed a bit inconsistent. I prefer him a lot to the typical douchebags you get in a lot of YA – bad boys turning good, etc – because Rishi was a straight up decent, positive human being from the start. Though I feel sometimes he still came off as a little arrogant.

A lot of his arc was a struggle within himself, whether he would do comics or go to MIT as expected, which was super interesting. I still couldn’t connect with him or his sense of humour. I actually hoped Dimple and he would end up as friends, and subvert the typical tropes of romance, or even the arranged marriage aspect – that the parents aren’t always right.

Dimple was so angry with her parents for setting her up in that way and not understanding her need for education over romance – and rightly so – that when it all goes out of the window because Rishi is cute and an actually ok guy she suddenly changes her mind? She still brought it up that she might never want marriage, and that’s good, but I wanted more insight behind her decision to change her perspective of Rishi and certainly more from Rishi than Dimple just feeling guilty.

Maybe it’s just me, because I’m stubborn af and can hold a grudge for years and might be a bit of a dick that way, but I didn’t enjoy that aspect of the book.

Plus, the contest seemed just to be a plot device to get them together in the book (since that’s what their parents were all about) and faded into the background. And then there’s a talent show that everyone apparently knows about but is only mentioned 50% of the way in.

I also struggled with the POV changes. They happen mid-chapter and because of the kindle format, it wasn’t always clear that we were suddenly in the opposite person’s head.

Don’t get me wrong, it was cute. Sometimes it was amusing. Not a lot happened and the actual fall-out of feelings was slightly awkward – but it was predominantly romance and not a romance I could attach to.

So to finish…. this won’t change my mind about contemporary. Sometimes we get along, sometimes we don’t, it’s an 80-20 split to the latter. It’s definitely a case of “not you, it’s me.”

Again I’m really pleased this is out there showing another much-needed voice and I’m hoping it gets the attention it deserves for YA.

I liked this book. The best part of the book was the characters who were well developed and likeable. Their relationship was sweet. It was also good to see a bit of diversity in a YA novel. Young people need to be able to see themselves and their culture reflected in literature and this does that well. I teach English at a diverse school, and I will be recommending this book to my students as lots of the characters share a name with students I teach, and I know they'll appreciate that. The reason I didn't give the book more than three stars is because whilst the writing was fine, it wasn't anything special. And whilst I thought it tackled some interesting and important topics, the main themes of the book weren't particularly gripping for me, but that's probably just because I'm not the target audience.

Dimple Shah’s ambitions include going to university, conquering the tech world and definitely not marrying someone and settling down (much to her mother’s dismay). Meanwhile, Rishi Patel is a follower of tradition and quite loyal to his family, which thinks that he and Dimple are perfectly matched. The two are polar opposites, but it’s also true that opposites attract, isn’t it?

When Dimple Met Rishi is in my top 5 most anticipated releases for this year. The premise, the cover, the title – it all drew me. I knew I had to get my hands on this book asap. And sure, I’m not a huge contemporary fan, but I do love dorks falling in love. Much like Rishi, I’m a romantic (but only when it comes to books, mind you.) I read this book in a day and completely fell in love.

The narrative perfectly matches the book’s contemporary setting – it’s light, funny and hits you in all the right places. And listen, there may be a wide-spread roll-your-eyes-and-groan-at-the-sight hate toward clichés, but I love them. Especially when they’re applied with a personal touch of creativity. There’s so many things that happen in this book, so many tropes hit right on the head, and I loved them all. Sandhya Menon takes a bunch of clichés and makes them her own.

And while there may be a lot of your typical contemporary book tropes, but this is definitely a character driven book. Dimple is a firework – her character is an explosion of colours that leaves you in awe. She’s incredibly nuanced and complex and simply beautiful. Her resolve radiates off the page and, right off the bat, convinces you how hard-working and determined Dimple really is. And while Rishi may be her opposite, but he’s just as nuanced and strong as she is. His love and respect for family and tradition are inspiring. Through Dimple and Rishi you see two sides of the same coin – so different, yet alike in their strength.

I’m beginning to sound redundant with all this opposites attract talk, but Dimple and Rishi’s characters fit so well together. They are different enough so it’s not always smooth sailing, but are also alike enough to recognize themselves in the other. Both are headstrong characters that know how to stand their ground, but also when to compromise. There’s really never a dull moment with these two. I had so much fun getting to know them as they got to know each other.

Overall, When Dimple Met Rishi is a wonderful book full of love, laughs, some difficulties and quite a lot of strength. It’s both a homage to tradition and a look forward. You’re not told which is right and which is wrong, because neither is. You just need to find a balance. This book does exactly that.

(Also, thank you, Sandhya Menon, for the Bollywood dance! You filled my heart right up.)

I have just finished the ARC of "When Dimple met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
and let me tell you how much I loved it.

First thing - I must make it clear- I don't read many contemporaries. I don't really like them and when I tell you I loved this book that means it was really good for me to like it that much.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4,5 stars)

It's a perfect, summer contemporary romance novel. It made me laugh out loud so many times I lost count.

I am not Indian but I absolutely loved that main protagonists were not white American.

THE PLOT

This is the story of an Indian-American protagonist whose parents are desperate for her to marry so they arrange marriage partner. Her potential husband- Rishi- seems to be complete opposite of Dimple. Traditional guy that put first his parents wishes and cultural heritage. I know nothing of Indian culture but the book gave me so much insight into it I understood how hard is to be different than the rest of the family and even harder to follow your own dreams.

Dimple is more of the individualist. She loves her programming and is not interested at getting married so young. For the summer she is going to the programming camp that can help her in achieving her career goals. She is non conformist and independent. Little she knows, her potential husband will be attending same camp she is going to.

MY THOUGHTS:

Its so much more to me than a great, romantic story and extremely enjoyable, funny read. It's more than the representation of an Indian characters. Even though I am white European I took so much out of it. The books explores the subject of following our own dreams and goals vs. meeting society's and family's expectations. It's about staying true to your own self and in the same time being proud of who you are and where you come from.

Some decisions are hard to make. May impact your and lives of people around you so the weight we carry on our shoulders can be huge. Rishi carries it all his life. When he meets Dimple he is confronted with the decisions to be made.

Two different characters. So far from each other when it comes to personalities and life goals. But against all odds, this is one of the best contemporary romance comedy novels I have read in a long, long time.

Perfect summer read! I highly encourage you to give it a go.

When Dimple Met Rishi may just be the cutest book I'll read this year. And it's also so good. I read it in about 4 hours (2 of which were actually spent watching hockey, not reading), and stayed up late because I just had to finish it.

For me, the characters were the best part of this book. I fell in love with them within about 5 pages of meeting them (especially Rishi). I can't remember the last time that I adored any character almost immediately, but this book managed it for pretty much every one that was introduced. I really, really just don't have words for how much I loved them.

If there was one (really really minor) problem I had, it was that occasionally the writing got a little bit borderline on purple prose, but it happened like only once or twice so, as I said, really really minor.

This was so, so cute. I love the setting of a coding camp - I'm always here for female scientists! -and Dimple and Rishi are incredible, complex characters. It's such a unique relationship dynamic which I've never read about before.
I felt like the ending was quite rushed - they tried to fit too much into the last few chapters, and I think the focus shifted weirdly from the app they were making to a dance competition, which felt weird.

Although this would be a perfect book for those who love contemporary reads and those who just want a sweet happy read, then this is it. I loved the cultural integration from the characters, I've never read a YA focused on the Indian Culture, or never an Indian culture book in the first place. This book has inspired me to go and read a lot more diverse books in terms of different cultures.
However I had a few personal problems with the book. To me it was too dialogue driven, where I personally a lot more world building. The dialogue, itself, felt heavy and not realistic. I had a lot of issues with the way that the "Aberzombies" were portrayed, along with Celia and her friend. At first it was funny, but then it got tiresome. There was little drama, apart from when it turns out Celia and Ashish had previously had a fling and then they done some "stuff" when Rishi was in the shower. Was this really necessary? It was at that point I couldn't carry on reading the whole thing.
I had such high expectations for the book. It would be perfect on the bookshelves amongst many other contemporary books, and a perfect book for diving into more diverse and different cultures. The first half was impossible to put down and it was nice to see a role reversal of the girl being the rebel and the male being the innocent one who does as they're told.

Review on my blog:

This dual-perspective narrative chronicles the pre-college summer of two Indian-American individuals.

Dimple Shah is eager to break free from her conservative family and when they finally allow her to follow her dreams and attend a summer course for computer programming, she believes they have finally gotten over their obsession with finding her the IIH (ideal Indian husband).

Rishi Patel's hope is to one-day emulate his parents' love with his own arranged marriage. And by following both his parents' suggestion, as well as his own heart, to a computer programming course, he has hopes of doing just that. But when he discovers Dimple's parents have kept this arrangement from their daughter, and she has no concept of their planned future together, it seems his dreams must succumb to a quick and painful death.

With very different future goals in mind and yet forced together for the remainder of the course, the pair's perfect Summer seems like it is going to become anything but!

This book was such an absorbing read and really opened up details of a culture I know little about. My interest was further piqued to see the same culture discussed from two alternating perspectives. Diversity is sorely needed in literature and it is so heartening that a book can give both a voice to this marginalised perspective as well as extending understanding to all.

For it was through these differing perspectives that I felt the reader got a fully open invitation to learn. The cultural traditions, and the impact these have on differing generations and individuals, made both for interesting discussions as well as points of conflict, in the novel. Also, the warring perspectives also made this such a hilarious read!

The duo seemed destined to share nothing but a dislike for each other but, over the course of the novel, the reader gets to witness the sweetest of romances blossom. This was honestly such a smile-inducing story and Dimple and Rishi make such the perfect pairing! They both have such sweet and endearing personalities and distinct voices that were a pleasure to read from.

At times I felt the plot became a little cliched and, as with all romantic novels, the ending was an obvious one. This is my issue with this genre, in general, and not a fault with this particular novel, however. This remains the perfect Summer read and also provided the reader with a depth of topic and a diversity of character that every book should aspire to include.

"It's like you have this paintbrush, dipped in brilliant mauves and teals and golds, and you just totally redid my monochromatic life. I need you; I need your paintbrush."

There were so many things I loved about When Dimple Met Rishi, but I’m going to begin with the fact that this book is a gorgeous celebration of Indian culture. It’s own voices and Sandhya Menon does a wonderful job of challenging harmful stereotypes about Indian traditions embedded in western society. She explores the deeper complexities of arranged marriage, and shows us that it can be a beautiful companionship, rather than the forced partnering that westerners often (wrongly) think.

As someone who studied linguistics, I adored the use of language in the novel. The author intersperses English with Hindi when both Dimple and Rishi talk to their families and it was wonderful to see the two contrasted against each other because they’re such different languages (English is a Germanic language and Hindi is Indo-Aryan). Plus, I have a friend who speaks Hindi and it was great to see bi-lingual speakers like her being represented, and I got to learn new words I’d never come across before.

Another thing I loved was Dimple is a girl in STEM. She’s a coder interested in app-creation and also loves books, which is a combination I’ve not come across much in YA. She’s headstrong, driven, and doesn’t let anyone get in the way of her goals; I love reading about these types of women/girls regardless of their profession or interests, but it was really exciting to see a female character thriving in a field that has traditionally been dominated by men. Plus, Dimple is a massive feminist and challenges any (and all) ideals that she sees as pigeonholing women into traditional gender roles. Major love for Dimple.

As the other part of the duo, Rishi is such a lovable character. His inner thoughts are narrated so well and his unabashed, heartfelt awe for everything about Dimple is uplifting to read. His innocence and ability to empathise with others and encourage their ideas was a huge part of what made this book so enjoyable. He even took Dimple to a book-themed restaurant; basically the ultimate romantic checkmate.

Romance is at the heart of the story, and the author does a great job of expressing the innocence, confusion, and excitement that can come with burgeoning love. Especially for two teenagers trying to navigate summer school. Menon also sets up an electric social commentary on the expectation that women must choose between a career and a relationship. Dimple constantly questions whether dating Rishi will make her too ‘domestic’ and often worries she’ll end up letting her feelings take precedent over her ambitions.

Perhaps the thing that Menon does best, though, is humour. This book had me cackling out loud at points. Seriously, cackling. The sharp dialogue, unfortunate situations and sarcastic, wry sense of humour (Dimple, you gem) all combine to make this a really funny read.

My only criticism would be that the climactic sequence towards at the end of the novel felt a little too kitsch. Everything seemed to fall into place just too perfectly, and I found it unrealistic. But the intensity of emotion and honesty between Dimple and Rishi in the final two pages mostly made up for it.

When Dimple Met Rishi is like a book-shaped hug. If you’ve just finished a particularly emotionally-fraught book then this is the ideal next read. It’s sweet and cosy and I actually said ‘awwwh’ out loud as I finished the final page. That’s how cute it is. Dimple and Rishi are both so lovable and their relationship is incredibly heart-warming. This is a story that will effortlessly make you smile.

When Dimple Met Rishi was absolutely adorable from beginning to end. It follows 2 American-Indian teens: Dimple (who wishes she could escape the Indian traditions her parents insist on her following) and Rishi (who happily follows his culture) - whose parents arrange for them to meet and eventually get married. From the moment they meet, funniness and cuteness ensues and I began to ship them from then, even if Dimple was majorly against their relationship. The characters were awesome, the secondary characters very well fleshed out, and the plot was cool. I loved the idea of web and app development, even though all the technical stuff when completely over my head.
Highly recommend!

WOW! This may be the most heart-achingly sweet and funny read of of 2017. The characters are both adorable and realistic. I honestly cannot rave about Dimple enough! Smart, driven and funny, she made very page a delight, and Rishi was completely swoon-worthy.

I should also confess, I laughed so hard at their initial meeting that tea came out my nose!

So good!

Advanced copy received via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

Actual rating 2.75*

It was sweet but not much in the way of substance unfortunately. Nothing really happened. I spent pretty much the whole book waiting for something. It's just one of those stories you tell your kids about how their parents met, and maybe that's the premise of the story but I'm not sure this one was really novel worthy.

The only interesting element for me was that the MCs were Indian, I don't think I've read one before, and how the author tried to weave some of the culture into it. However some of that seemed like it might have been a challenge because at points it verged on educational rather than entertaining.

I just want to say though that this was not a bad read, it was not even terribly written it was just hugely uneventful. I just prefer my YA contemporary to have a bit more angst and drama.

Review featured here - https://youtu.be/4pDdp2m-3Bc

This book was so cute! Took me just one day to read it.

My rating: 3/5

When Dimple Met Rishi is about a girl called Dimple, who doesn’t support or understand her family’s traditions and doesn’t see marriage as a priority for herself. She wants to become a coder, and she gets an opportunity to attend a coding contest and meet her idol. There, she meets Rishi, a romantic, a firm believer in tradition. A dreamer of star-crossed love and marriage. Their worlds collide so that they might discover that all their beliefs about what world was limited to in possibility weren't true after all.

Positive thoughts:
· Good-boy love interest.
· Romantic love interest
· Great writing. I found it quotable and concise, allowing me to really fly through this book.
· Fast-paced
· Feisty main character.
· Some Indian traditions, culture and some basics learned about Hinduism.
· Super cute and slightly steamy romance. I was rooting for the main characters and cared about their connection.
· Very easy to get into

Negative thoughts:
· Supporting characters weren’t GREAT. I found them to be rather flat and forgettable.
· A bit of insta-love.
· Typical rich mean kids. No villains I loved to hate, rather they were just…there. They weren’t charismatic enough to come off as truly evil and arrogant.
· Switching POVs were a bit annoying at times.
· A bit repetitive. The main characters kept repeating what their goals and beliefs were. I think it was supposed to feel like reassurance, but it was a bit too much.

· Too much foreign language without translation. Sometimes I understood from the context, but sometimes I was just oblivious. And trust me, I tried.
Overall, I recommend this book but it was more of an airplane read for me. It was good, but I wasn’t obsessed with it. It’s a fresh story with diverse characters, and it was intriguing to read about their traditions and culture and how they are different from other contemporaries!

Thanks,

Yomna

"She nodded and smiled. "Works for me." And Rishi, gods help him, thought, I could look at that smile every day and never get tired of it"

* * * .5
3.5 / 5

When Dimple Met Rishi is a romance, pure and simple. Dimple and Rishi are both going to a summer program for aspiring coders and app developers, but for different reasons. Dimple wants to code, to build towards her future career. Rishi wants to go and meet his future wife, Dimple; their parents have been arranging their courtship for years. This book is funny and sweet and excellently diverse, but it also has pacing issues and I found the romance stifling at points.

Dimple and Rishi are excellently developed characters. Dimple is struggling with her mother, who is sending her to college in the hopes of meeting the "ideal Indian husband", whilst Dimple wants to show her mother she has worthy beyond her beauty and desires to work on her career. She's lively and passionate, but also struggles with bullies and her heritage. She's very much a modern young woman. Rishi is very traditional. He's a gentleman who is committed to helping his family and upholding traditions, but he's also an adorable dork who loves drawing comics.

"When he looked back up at Dimple, it hit her how much this really meant to him. This wasn't just an arranged marriage to Rishi; this was the rich fabric of history, stretched through time and space"

The romance was, I thought, quite predictable. But it also developed really quite naturally and I was absolutely loving this book for the first half, but then the romance got a bit too unrealistically passionate (declaring love after having known each other for about three weeks, for example) and I lost my enthusiasm for it. What I did love was how diverse the people were, Rishi and Dimple are American Indian whilst Celia, Dimple's roommate is part Dominican, and how the book has great feminist undertones.

One problem I had with this is that it is almost entirely romance. Whilst this is a romance book, I expected it to have a reasonable amount of time devoted to coding. There isn't. Dimple's idea for a web app is spoken about briefly, but I'm not sure that we ever see either of them write a single line of code. Whilst there are loads of delightful cultural details that really flesh out and substantiate Dimple and Rishi as American-Indian characters, there's not a lot that really cements them as coders. Either the author doesn't know anything at all about coding, or she just thought it was a bit irrelevant, which I thought was such a shame.

It's also a summer school setting, but no one ever seems to have any workshops or lectures or tutoring. It's just Rishi and Dimple sitting around in each other's rooms chatting. All the details that would give this novel something beyond the romance are lost. On that note, when Rishi's brother showed up, I thought he would be a great opportunity to develop some kind of family bonds on page. Whilst some of this does happen and it's really great to read, Ashish ends up getting entangled in a romance of his own.

"My mom doesn't know why I want to do anything besides get married to the Ideal Indian Husband and settle down. She thinks college is basically just this big mating ritual"

The writing, on the other hand, is fantastic. What I really loved is that Menon weaved details in and explicit references to Indian culture (clothing, food, language) that are easily understandable. Whilst talk between, say Dimple and her mother, is not translated, the context is used masterfully to make meaning obvious. This book is such a love letter to American-Indians, to those caught between traditions and expectations of family and modern America. It's also quite funny. I did find that the pacing was a bit off - whilst I was viciously flipping pages at the start, around the middle I found the plot really stagnated.

The bottom line is: this book is almost entirely romance, so if that's what you read, then you'll love this book. Even those not all that interest in romance will find something to enjoy in this delightful book.

Hi,

Really enjoyed this one! The perfect YA summer read, will definitely be recommending when it comes out in July! Full review in the link below.

Livi