When Dimple Met Rishi is one of the loveliest contemporary young adult novels I've had the privilege of reading and the epitome of young adult literature. Representative and diverse experiences with an affirming narration.

Dimple Shah is a spirited young woman who is determined to push patriarchal career boundaries. Before she attends Stanford University, Dimple plans to attend an internet development program for aspiring developers, much to the dismay of her traditional Indian mother who believes in the traditional roles of women. To marry and raise children.

Rishi Patel is a quiet and charming young man, a traditionalist that has abandoned his artistic passion to pursue an Engineering degree to placate his parents. Before attending University, Rishi will attend a development program to rendezvous with his intended, unbeknownst to Dimple who is accosted by the enthusiastic Rishi.

The romance was captivating.

[QUOTE] And then he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him, one hand moving up to cup her cheek, thumb just under her jaw while his fingers tangled in her hair. Rishi kissed her with purpose, with meaning, like he believed this was exactly where they were supposed to be in this moment. He kissed her till she believed it too. [QUOTE]

Dimple and Rishi are wonderful individuals. Determined and enterprising but ultimately family orientated. Dimple is comfortable within her Indian American heritage but challenges her traditional parental ideals while Rishi is a traditionalist. Although Dimple opposes the perception of the Ideal Indian Husband she remains faithful to her culture. The eldest of two children, Rishi perceives his younger brother as carefree while abandoning his own aspirations of becoming a comic book illustrator, burdened by parental expectations. Rishi allows Dimple to establish the parameters of their tentative friendship, consistently the gentleman.

The narrative traverses a six week period of the development program and over the course of the duration, Dimple establishes a friendship with a girl who she shared an internet friendship with prior to arriving. It also explores casual racism and stereotypes associated with socioeconomically prestige. It was incredibly sex positive and touches upon the choice of sex before marriage and faith, something I've yet to find within young adult.

The infusion of Indian culture was magnificent. Arranged marriage is often viewed as negative and often oppressive by western societal ideals, ignorant perceptions of forced unions and the lovely Mishma addresses the wonderful representation of Indian culture within her review and the concept of positively depicting arranged marriage.

Debut author Sandhya Menon has woven an incredibly endearing narrative, an affluent and opulent diverse narration that is inspiring and delightful.

‘When Dimple Met Rishi’ by Sandhya Menon.

Publisher: Simon Pulse and Hachette Australia.
Release Date: 30th May 2017 .
Page Count: 320 pages. 
Genre: YA, Romantic Comedy. 

Firstly, a huge thank you to Hachette Australia and NetGalley for sending us an eBook copy to review!
Whilst we have been making an effort to read more diversely, we became particularly intrigued with the novel When Dimple Met Rishi, by Sandhya Menon. When we learned that the novel featured two Indian protagonists as it’s two main characters who enter a summer program for aspiring web developers, we became quite eager to begin reading this novel!

We absolutely loved this unique cover. Though we try not to judge a book by its cover, the cover had us sold from the minute we set eyes on it! When Dimple Met Rishi follows two Indian protagonists that meet at a Summer program for aspiring web developers. This computer programming competition runs for a total of 6 weeks. Throughout this debuting novel, both main characters’ struggle with balancing their parents’ expectations and culture traditions whilst discovering their own happiness. The pair both end up at the program for different reasons. Dimple, a massive computer programming nerd, see’s the competition as an opportunity. An opportunity to meet her programming idol, start making a name for herself and most importantly, escape her mother’s insistent idea that she finds an ideal Indian husband. Then there’s Rishi. A kind and passionate guy who leaves for the competition with the ambition of pleasing his parents in their traditions whilst hoping to meet his future wife. 

We’re happy to say that When Dimple Met Rishi not only lived up to the hype for us, but it went well and beyond what we expected! The book was told in two different perspectives, from Dimple and Rishi’s points of view. This allowed us to explore two different views of the same culture. There were multiple scenes where we were laughing endlessly at the dialogue and the awkward situations the characters found themselves in. Rishi is the sweetest, most caring guy that always knew what to say in any situation. He is described as the nerdy love interest with an admirable optimism. Then there’s unique, outspoken Dimple, who’s opinion and ideas cannot be ignored. She is comfortable in her own skin and she is certain of what she wants to do with her future. Even ignoring particular expectations from those around her.

Throughout the course of the novel, the two characters slowly open up to each other, expressing their hopes and dreams that they can’t wait to explore. There personalities positively influence each other (this definitely surprised us after their disastrous first encounter). Sandhya Menon did an outstanding job weaving Indian culture into the story! This was unique as we have never read a book that has been wrapped around this concept. The messages that this book portrayed were definitely something that we should see more often! Sandhya Menon portrayed many different issues throughout this novel – the idea of staying friends but not being incorporated in the same friendship circle, to not be manipulated by peer pressure, to listen to our own hearts, to strive towards our own hopes and dreams and to not listen to other people’s expectations. This kept us hooked throughout the course of the novel. 

We would have liked the author to have expanded on the development and coding of the overall app more. This would have added a finishing touch to the overall story. 

We devoured this book in one sitting! We were very intrigued by the hate to love romance that Dimple and Rishi shared. We loved how we could both relate to the characters with their many unique and outspoken characteristics. 

We would absolutely recommend this heart-warming, laugh out loud YA story! The humour in this novel was definitely constant! We are so excited for its release date on May 30th so that all of you can enjoy this debuting novel! It gave us all the gushy feels that we were hoping for. Make sure to get your hands on this amazing book. It will leave you breathless and wanting more! 

We will definitely be reading future books by Sandhya Menon. She has us hooked!

Book Rating 4.5/5 Stars.

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.

Sweet without being saccharine with a really interesting cast of characters. Fantastic cover too!

With a lot of luck and arm twisting Dimple's parents have agreed that she can go to Stanford University but before school starts she's going to try and sell the idea of going to Insomnia Con as well to her parents, who think further education is mostly a good opportunity to meet an I.I.H, Ideal Indian Husband. Dimple knows it'll be hard to get another thing like this past her parents but it will give her an edge when she gets to Standford and the winner has an incredible chance to partner with Jenny Lindt, who will help their app get market reading and fund all the advertising.

Rishi Patel's parents were good childhood friends when Dimple Shah's parents so naturally they sent each other photos of their children as an invitation to form a marriage between them. Dimple has no plans to marry anytime and especially not by an arrangement but Dimple's parents agree to send her to Insomnia Con because they know Rishi plans to be there to meet Dimple has no clue about any arrangement with her and Rishi's parents so when he introduces himself and calls her his future wife she does the most sensible thing and throws her drink in his face and runs off.

At first, Dimple is understandably upset at her parents and Rishi but when he learns she had no idea about the plan he backs off, she feels guilty for being so rude to him and they begin a friendship since they're attending the same program for the next few weeks, but Dimple stresses that it is NOT turning into a relationship and definitely no marriage in their future ever. It's interesting that this book is formed around a subject I have no first-hand knowledge on, arranged marriage and Indian tradition, but it's mostly an adorable romantic comedy about two teenagers that click and become so close after a disastrous start. The biggest perk though is that I get to read about Indian-American teenagers and get an inside look into their joy and their pressures and it was so touching. 

One thing that was really saddening was when Dimple told Rishi how alone and foreign she felt visiting her home country and feeling disconnected to the people and culture because she was born in America.  It's an odd feeling to be in one country and have some people there immediately see you as a foreigner and put you in that box and then to go to the country your parents were from or your heritage is based and feel just as foreign there because you experienced a hybrid upbringing of the two countries so you can't be put in either box. That's the biggest thing I can relate to in this book but the other side is wonderful because Rishi feels at home in both his countries and loves experiencing both so that's super cute but Rishi has his own inner turmoil. He's constantly torn between what he would love to do with his life and his sense of duty to his family. 

Overall, this book was an utter delight to read and full of romance, cuteness and a little well-written drama! I had no trouble finishing it because the story went by so quickly and the ending was brilliant. I'm really glad that Dimple and Rishi found each other because they ended up also finding their dreams and fulfilling their aspirations. It's not only a story about unlikely love but also a story about following your own path.

Thank you, Hachette Australia for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
3.85 Stars out of 5

This is the cutest book, I have read in a little while. I did really enjoy myself reading it but there were a few things that I didn’t connect with. I can’t elaborate in that without giving to much away. When the book is released ill come back in and pop in what I didn’t enjoy.
I really loved the flow, and the writing that the author has given us, it is fast paced and the humour is on point.
Dimple I loved her but then I grew to annoyed with her, but I freaking adored Rishi! Their parents have this arranged marriage for them only Dimple didn’t know until she did find out in one of the funniest ways. I like that she can call her mum out on her ways, and that Dimple is 100 % true to herself and know what she wants in life.
Rishi is this cute little puppy that I just want to squish, he is just to loveable, and goofy and just wants to make the people in his life happy.
One thing I love also is the cover art, I just love how cute the cover is! 
Live the life you want and believe in what you believe in!
If you love rom coms this is the one for you, it’s a YA so you know if your loving that genre that this one is for you.