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.
Goodreads
Published: 30th May 2017
Hello guys! Yes, I know. I’m actually blogging for the first time in over a month. I’ve missed this so much but I’ve just finished the most adorable ARC and I had to rave about it before it was published. So here it goes. Be patient with me. I might be a bit rusty.
When Dimple Met Rishi is quite possibly the most adorable thing you will read all year. It is clichéd but oh so adorably cute. It took me a while to read (because of work) but I’m actually glad that I dragged it out for a bit because I got to really appreciate it.
Pros
It was so cute
I can’t say this enough. This book read like every romantic comedy ever. It had all the elements. However there was just something that made you feel like it was very down-to-earth. Usually romcoms have this element of ‘this will never happen in real life’. But this one just felt perfect.
I was swooning throughout the book with everything that Rishi was doing for Dimple. I mean come on! Where do you even find someone like that??
It felt realistic
The book certainly felt realistic mainly because of how drawn out everything was. There was no insta-love so everything felt very organic and natural. The progression was just slow enough to feel real but fast enough that one would not easily lose interest.
I particularly like how the storyline was fleshed out. So it wasn’t just a story about the two of them but rather it was an entire story. Even the supporting characters had storylines and that really added to the whole realism factor.
There was so much cultural pride in it
I have not read enough Indian-American books to be able to make a general statement of any sorts but I did feel like the author really let her culture, heritage and language shine through this novel.
The book is peppered with Hindi quotes and sentences and the best part is that not everything is translated. So you sometimes have to just glean the meaning from the other paragraphs, But it just felt like such a brave thing to do.
Obviously the book is meant for an American audience but she bravely and unapologetically let her own words sit in the paragraphs and that is honestly such a beautiful thing.
To be honest, I’m tempted to learn Hindi now.
It tackled a controversial practice
This book is about arranged marriages. That part is quite clear. But what I liked about this was the way it was handled.
In a number of Indian books that I have read, arranged marriages have been treated with a mostly negative tone. And yes. For a lot of people arranged marriages are a terrible thing. Girls are sold to their husbands for the price of a fat dowry. Girls get raped and abused by their new families. Arranged marriages are not always good.
That said, I felt like this book took cultural norms like arranged marriages and a girl’s place in an Indian household and turned it into something that was actually fun and interesting.
Dimple was so headstrong despite coming from such a traditional family and Rishi was so dedicated to his parents and their wishes. It just made for a very lovely combination. Getting to see two very different worlds come together like that.
There was this aspect of fun and wit in the whole thing that you rarely see. I really enjoyed that.
Cons
Clichéd
Okay this is honestly the tiniest problem and it actually isn’t even a problem. The book was clichéd as in this has literally been done so many times. But at the same time, it was so adorably cute that it didn’t even matter anyway.
Though I did think that ending was a bit cringe. But only slightly.
So there you go! My gushy review of When Dimple Met Rishi. I’m sorry it was very quick. I’m literally scrambling for time here. It’s been so hard to blog with my job (which I’ll tell you guys all about in about three weeks).
Regardless, I would like to take the time to thank you all for sticking by me even as I vanished without a word. I’d also like to thank you for 200 followers which I hit last week. You guys are the best and I look forward to coming back full time with a proper life update.
Twenty Three Pages 