Review: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

When Dimple Met Rishi (Dimple and Rishi #1)
Sandhya Menon
Simon Pulse
Published May 30, 2017

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About When Dimple Met Rishi

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 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.

My Review

I remember really wanting to read WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI when it came out. It seemed like this book was everywhere, and like everyone was talking about it. Obviously it took me a while to catch up, but by now I’ve read two other books by Sandhya Menon: OF CURSES AND KISSES and TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY.

I think Pinky is my favorite so far. There’s something irresistible to me about a girl who adopts a wild opossum because it keeps fainting, I guess. Haha! I loved that story, though, so that only made me want to read WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI even more.

One thing I love about this book is the way that even though Dimple pushes toward her own independence from her family, she clearly loves and values them. I loved that the app she wants to build would help her dad manage his diabetes and how much care and thought she puts into that. I felt like that tug of war– Dimple’s desire to break away from traditions and live her own life versus her connections to and love for her parents– came across as very real and deepened her character a lot.

Another thing I love is the relationship between Rishi and his brother. At first, they are on two completely different pages, more rivals than friends. But as they begin to develop a relationship away from home and see new things about each other, their relationship changes. Those changes help them make better choices in their lives in other areas, too.

On the whole, I enjoyed the romance and relationships in WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI. I’m super glad I read it and hope to read more books by Sandhya Menon in the future.