When Dimple Met Rishi (Dimple and Rishi #1)

I have very mixed feelings about this one. I loved the first third or so, which was cute and funny and exactly what I wanted in a light summer read. Dimple Shah has just finished high school and is eager to escape from her overbearing parents. She dreams of a career in web design, so she’s thrilled when her parents agree to let her attend a six-week summer program that may offer a chance to meet her woman-in-tech hero. But she soon finds out that the only reason they sent her there was because they were hoping to arrange a marriage between her and the son of some of their friends….

So, Dimple’s initial interactions with Rishi were hilarious, and I appreciated the fact that she was a career-driven woman in tech who didn’t care about things like makeup and clothes.

That was before the whole Insomnia Con program turned out to be a big letdown that wasn’t actually about learning. It includes a talent show that gets far more attention than the actual coding aspect; the talent show is important because the winners get a $1000 prize that they can use to hire developers to work on their app, increasing their chances of winning the overall design competition, which would allow them to meet and possibly collaborate with the famous Jenny Lindt. The ultimate goal is not to build skills and actually create your own app, but to use money and connections to make it happen for you. If you’re not named the winner of the overall event, the whole experience is useless: you won’t even get feedback on the project that you’ve worked on for six weeks, and of course there’s no chance of completing it yourself; without a big name behind you, you might as well give up. So instead of being someone with the drive and determination to achieve success for herself, Dimple was reduced to a helpless fangirl. That was a big disappointment.

The takeaway was that even if a woman cares more about her intellectual abilities than her physical appearance, what really matters is her natural dancing ability. (Which incidentally also manages to undermine women who put time into physical trainingobviously a week’s worth of practice is all it takes to dance like a professional.)

I should note that I have no problem with the basic premise that a woman who’s focused on her career can also have time for love; obviously that was an expected element of this story, and I wasn’t hoping or expecting that Dimple would end up successful but single. It’s the more insidious messages that bothered me.

Also, a lot of the time Dimple is just mean.

Dimple Shah got into her dream college, Stanford. However, there is this summer program called Insomnia Con in San Francisco that she wants to attend but she needs to find a way to convince her parents to her go. Dimple’s parents are more concerned for Dimple finding a I.I.H. (aka the Ideal Indian Husband). All Dimple wants is to live her life and immense herself in web development learning from the best. Rishi Patel is the total opposite. He embraces his parents to find the perfect future wife. Rishi’s parents knew Dimple would be at the Insomnia Con program and they already know Dimple’s parents.

The first official meeting between Dimple and Rishi is priceless! Dimple seems to despise Rishi but overtime she warmed up to him and even they even become friends. She knows it’s not his fault and even tells him to stay when he offered to go home early. Their budding friendship ends up turning into something more.

Sandhya Menon’s debut novel is charming with just enough humor. This romantic comedy shares the views of two children of two sets of Indian parents. I found it refreshing to read a novel that shows two sides of a coin. Dimple is a quirky yet spirited, goal-orientated young lady who wants to advance her career. She doesn’t care about arrange marriages; she wants freedom and her independence. Rishi, on the other hand, is a hopeless romantic trying to woo Dimple. He believes in tradition while Dimple finds the culture suffocating her. Rishi’s passion is art but he sees it more like a hobby and not a practical field to go into for a career.

Dimple is a role model for teenage girls. It’s okay to like math, science and technology. It’s okay to wear glasses and not to wear any makeup. I wish I read about Dimple when I was younger. Nowadays STEM is pretty big in education, especially for females. STEM related fields are still male dominated. It’s exhilarating to read about a career-driven young lady who is passionate about web development and not about makeup and boys.

When Dimple Met Rishi tackles the struggles of desires and passions. Dimple and Rishi both gather the strength to vocalize what they are passionate about and what they want in life. Dimple’s passion is web development and Rishi’s passion is art. However, even though they don’t want to admit, the love they have for one another is strong and they cannot let it go no matter what they want in life. Do things that make you happy! Trust your gut feeling!

Menon writes When Dimple Met Rishi with sincerity. The novel is exuberant! I was smiling when I was reading the novel for most of the time. When reading When Dimple Met Rishi, I see myself through both Dimple and Rishi. I have never read a book where I see myself completely in. I can see a part of myself in Dimple and a part of myself in Rishi. Menon fuses culture, socio-economics and overriding gender stereotypes in this rom-com. When Dimple Met Rishi is a fluffy yet heartwarming read. I highly recommend it and it’s definitely a new favorite of mine.

Went into this ‘arranged marriage’ YA rom-com a little sceptical… but Dimple and Rishi won me over. Against the backdrop of a San Fransisco summer camp for coders, two teens who meet and fall for each other. But only one of them knows that its an arranged match set up by their traditional Indian parents. What follows is a novel as cheerful as its beautiful cover suggests. Dimple and Rishi are simply adorable. Dimple has ambition and backbone and is not afraid to speak her mind. Rishi is romantic and thoughtful and ever such a little in awe of his parents. They both need what they other has, they just don’t realise it. Throw in some roommate angst, meddling parents and the preppy, obnoxious ‘Aberzombies’ and you’ve got the YA hit of the summer.

I bought this book when it was on sale for 99p, and I have to admit it was mostly because of the ~drama~ surrounding it. As far as I can tell, someone wrote a negative review, people didnt agree with it, and it all kicked off on Twitter. Obviously I had to make up my own mind because jumping into the chaos (which I havent actually done because who has time for Twitter drama any more?) so I bought the book.

I have to admit, I didnt really enjoy it. It was an okay YA contemporary, but I had issues with it. A lot of this is probably because of who I am as a person, and the person that I am really doesnt like reading about domestic abuse. Im quite sensitive in that regard, I suppose.

My main issue was that Dimple kept punching (or wanting to punch) Rishi. I feel like I can make slight allowances depending on the setting and situation, but like I said, Im pretty sensitive to domestic abuse and anything similar. In this situation it was just too much. I am not on board with anyone hitting their love interest. Of course, this doesnt mean that Dimple and Rishis entire relationship is going to be abusive, or anyone is going to suffer from domestic abuse in the long run, but I couldnt deal with the punching out of anger or exasperation.

And did I ship it? No.

That said, the controversial coffee scene was hilarious. If some random guy came up to me in a coffee shop and introduced himself as my future husband, I would also throw coffee at him and run the hell away.

I liked Rishi, although I didnt relate to him at all because our beliefs are just so different. But he was an interesting character. I also liked it when Rishis brother showed up because that added something to the plot that was previously missing. I.e. excitement. Dimple was yeah. Eh. I wish I could have seen her doing some more coding because I wanted to read about a female coder.

I did really enjoy Dimple and Celias relationship, which started out online and then grew to an IRL friendship. There were a few hiccups along the way, but I liked them.

So this isnt the best book. Theres not much of a plot, its very basic YA, but I did enjoy the Indian representation and the few funny scenes that were scattered throughout.

Rating: 3.5 stars

After seeing this all over Twitter, I knew I needed to read it. And I’m glad I did! There were a lot of things to like about it, though it wasn’t perfect for me.

Things I liked

– Yay, diversity! While I’m super happy that there is a bit more representation of Indian Americans in YA thanks to this book, it is not the only reason it’s good. (That being said, I did talk to an Indian classmate about it, and she thought it was a bit stereotypical in its representation of Indian parents.)
– Dimple is quirky and stubborn, likes programming, and is all about going against tradition. Rishi, on the other hand, wanted to stick to traditions out of respect for his family and heritage. It was such an interesting dynamic!
– AND IT WAS SO CUTE. Their interactions were funny at times and just plain adorable at others.

Things I didn’t like

– I got very caught up in the fuzzy feelings for the first half of the book, and then… I got a little… bored… The book just sort of lost its steam for me. I think because things got to a good place, and then there was just a lot of filler until the big drama at the end.
– I didn’t care about any of the other characters, except maybe Rishi’s brother. I feel like a lot of them were flat and stereotypical, especially the rich kids.

See, nice and quick! What did you guys think?

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