Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi

When Dimple Met Rishi

By: Sandhya Menon

Published By: Hodder (AUS/UK) Simon Pulse (US)

Publication Date: May 30th, 2017

Page Count: 320

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Source: ARC Kindly Provided by Publisher

YA - Contemporary/Romance

This book is completely and utterly adorable.

Dimple and Rishi's parents have agreed that the two should meet with a view to marry. Rishi is completely on board with this, and is looking forward to meeting Dimple at InsomniaCon during the summer before College. Dimple is thrilled that her parents have agreed to let her go to InsomniaCon and she's looking forward to meeting her idol and having the opportunity to get her app developed. Unfortunately, her parents failed to mention who else she'd be meeting there.

The first meeting does not go well. Dimple thinks Rishi is a crazy stalker, and Rishi is sure that his dreams of a marriage like his parents' is over. So when they're paired together for the six weeks of InsomniaCon, it's sure to be a nightmare for both of them.

This book explores a number of themes - culture clashes, feminism, arranged marriages - and it does seamlessly without ever feeling heavy handed or forced.

Both Dimple and Rishi's families are very traditional and stay close to their Indian roots, but their offspring respond differently. Dimple is not interested in meeting the perfect Indian husband and becoming a perfect Indian wife. She wants to go to university, get a job and live an independent life. She doesn't know whether she wants to get married at all. Rishi is much more traditional in his outlook and his willing to give up his passion to fulfil his family's wishes. 

Dimple is passionate about coding and app development, an area that is predominantly male, and the book addresses some of the issues of women, and young women in particular, being in traditionally male spaces.

Arranged marriage is not portrayed in a negative light, but the book isn't an advertisement for it either, Menon takes a really balanced approach, which I appreciated.

The only issue I had with this book, and it's a very, very small one, is that the 3rd party POV switches between Dimple and Rishi frequently and I found it hard at times to tell whose mind we were in.

When Dimple Met Rishi is an absolute delight and I highly recommend it.

Goodreads:

A laugh-out-loud, heartfelt YA romantic comedy, told in alternating perspectives, about two Indian-American teens whose parents have arranged for them to be married. 

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right? 

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself. 

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not? 

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.