Audio Review: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

A New York Times bestseller

An NPR Best Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017 A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2017 A School Library Journal Best Young Adult Book of 2017 A Bustle Best YA Novel of 2017 A PopSugar Best Young Adult Novel of 2017 A Book Riot Best Book of 2017 A Paste Magazine Best Young Adult Novel of 2017

“Effervescent.” —Chicago Tribune “Full of warm characters and sweet romance.” —Entertainment Weekly “Get ready to fall in love with Dimple Shah and Rishi Patel.” —HelloGiggles

The rom-com everyone’s talking about! Eleanor & Park meets Bollywood in this hilarious and heartfelt novel about two Indian-American teens whose parents conspire to arrange their marriage.

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.

This book was so adorkable! I had heard many good things about this book when it came last year, so when I saw it was the Audible Romance thingie, i downloaded it. I was half afraid that after all the hype that it would be a huge letdown. I mean a lot of times that is the case. Publishers build up excitement for a book then….it falls flat on its face. SO..it wasn’t without some trepidatin that I started listening to this.

I am glad to say that this book lives up to all the hype surrounding it.  The romance in this book is the sweet slightly cheezy king not hot sex in this book.  This is a light; fluffy read so doesn’t go in expecting it to tackle serious issues.

I loved how Dimple and Rishi were both huge nerds. I also loved that at least ONE book on the planet showcases a girl in a STEAM field. I cant tell you how much it bugs me to see such a short list of girls in a tech field. It is almost like people who write these books seem to think that a girl cant code or whatever. Makes me so mad.

I also liked getting a “sneak peek” of the Indian culture. I am not Indian but I felt that the book showed the culture accurately. Like before I just assumed that parents would pick out someone for you to marry and you had no choice in the matter, but this book showed that the couple DID have a lot of say in who they were with.  I especially like how Dimple was a super strong woman who was after more than a husband in life.

The only complaint that I had about this book is that the pacing felt off. It was not off, but it did jump around a little.   Overall I thought this was a cute little book.