[REVIEW] When Dimple Met Rishi

title: When Dimple Met Rishi
author: Sandhya Menon
genre: young adult, contemporary, romance
published: July 13, 2017 by Simon Pulse
format: export paperback, 384 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | Fully Booked
rating: 3.5 / 5 stars
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Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she's more than ready for a break from her family--and 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 he and his future wife will be attending the same summer program--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 gravitating 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. 

well that was an adorable read 💖

I was in a slump when I picked this up. I've been going through books and I thought that maybe reading a contemporary would help me out. Contemporaries are light reads and would really be great for relaxing and taking mind off things. And this worked! This helped me out and this was a really quick and adorable read (although I also had some issues with it).

She was flat chested, insisted on wearing glasses and no makeup, refused to grow out her hair, and commonly occupied spaces--like Insomnia Con--that seemed to be implicitly reserved for me. -p81

When Dimple Met Rishi follows Dimple and Rishi who were arranged for marriage by their parents. Dimple who was unaware of this arranged marriage excitedly went to this programming summer camp where she meets Rishi an artist who's planning to pursue engineering because his parents wants him to do so.

I enjoyed this book but only because of Rishi. Rishi is an adorable bean. He's too precious and I love his devotion to his culture. I also like how nice Rishi is and how talented he is and how much he cares what his parents think. Dimple, on the other hand, is a rude chick who basically trash talked Rishi. She's annoying and if it wasn't for Rishi, I'd probably DNF this book. But annoying Dimple slowly vanishes right around half way through this book. But really, if you can endure her, it'll all work out in the end. Believe me.

At some points, I relate to Rishi and Dimple and that just made me like him even more--Rishi on his lack of confidence and just be that shy kid, and Dimple on her don't-care-about-marrying attitude and no-make-up-and-comfy get up. I mean. Why is Dimple's description here (see above quote) so me!? (minus the last part, I guess).

The development of Dimple and Rishi's relationship is super cute though. I mean just look at Rishi's efforts and how Dimple basically just pushes him out and all. I'd say that there was a really smooth development right there and the two of them are just super cute and fun to read.

"I think having a blueprint makes life boring. Maybe I don't want to get married or have kids or any of that. Maybe I just want a career and that's all." -p114

Another issue I had with this book is how it tries to touch other topics in such a whim. I'm mostly okay with touching other topics but some that this book touched just felt 'meh' and could have been left out. I'm not saying including other topics/issues is not important. It just felt that Sandhya Menon's take didn't work out for me. Some of which annoyed me such as her take on bullying (aka the a-hole rich kids who make fun of Dimple and one of which became Celia's (Dimple's roommate) partner as well as Celia's attempt to climb the social ladder. However, there are parts which I like such as Rishi and Ashish's relationship -- there was a good development on their relationship which is something I love (sibling relationships on books are one of my fave!).

"I thought you were the loveliest bookworm I'd ever seen in my life." -p225

OVERALL, I enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi. It had a rough start for me. I like the development of Rishi and Dimple's relationship. There was time and effort (on Rishi's part) and really smooth growth on both Rishi and Dimple as characters. When Dimple Met Rishi is a nice, quick, and fun contemporary romance to read!

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