Book Review | When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
Published by: Simon Pulse coming out May 30th, 2017
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 380
Format: Paperback – ARC
Source: Courtesy of Simon & Schuster Canada

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Summary (from 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.

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Review: I was super excited when I was given this ARC as the synopsis sounded so cute and I was interested in this relationship dynamic as it was arranged. I believe I received this back in January or February and since the release date was so far away I put off writing the review. So here goes:

This was a great insight into a different culture. Not only a different culture but how the old is blending with the new. There was a lot of Bollywood references, Indian types of food and language (I believe was Hindi). Reading this made me want to seek out more books with different cultures as I am fascinated with learning more. This is what is missing in mainstream YA novels!

I didn’t particularly enjoy the romance that happened between the two of them. As separate characters I tolerated Dimple and Rishi but I did not find myself swooning over the romance. Dimple seemed a little hard to please and whiny while Rishi felt a little full of himself.

When Dimple Met Rishi was a very cute contemporary read. Very fluffy. I feel it’s more of a plot book than a character book. I gave it a 3.5 stars because there was so many aspects that seemed highly unlikely. There were multiple parts that I felt like would not happen in the real world. Things felt convenient. Other than that, I enjoyed this one.

**Courtesy of Simon and Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review**

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