Dimple Shah and Rishi Patel, two Indian American teenagers, meet at a summer app development convention where their parents have arranged for them to potentially be married. Dimple, a passionate coder heading to Stanford, is initially unaware of the arrangement, while Rishi is excited about the prospect of a traditional arranged marriage. As they navigate their budding friendship and sparks of romance, they also deal with cultural expectations, gender roles, and pursuing their own dreams amidst the clash of Indian and American cultures.
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Has Romance?
The romance between Dimple and Rishi is a central focus, with strong development throughout the narrative.
From The Publisher:
The inspiration for the Netflix original series Mismatched!
A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)
Everyone is talking about this New York Times bestselling rom-com that Mindy Kaling called "utterly charming!" 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.
Ratings (10)
Incredible (1) | |
Loved It (4) | |
It Was OK (2) | |
Did Not Like (2) | |
Hated It (1) |
Reader Stats (17):
Read It (9) | |
Want To Read (5) | |
Not Interested (3) |
5 comment(s)
This book helped me go through a long reading slump, so it's absolutely enthralling, enchanting, cute, funny, romantic and
gods Rishi is so precious 💜
A enjoyable yet predictable teen romance told from the perspectives of Dimple Shah, young woman who dreams of web design and Rishi Patel, a young man who dreams of marrying Dimple.
Dimple and Rishi are Indian-American teen who’s parents have paired to join in an arranged marriage. Dimple is completely against the arranged marriage because she feels this is old fashioned and she wants to go college and major in web design. Rishi also plans to go to college and major in engineering but he is enchanted by the idea of an arranged marriage because since it will make his parents happy and this is one less thing for him to worry about in his life. Both set of parents create an opportunity for Dimple and Rishi to meet through participating in a web design boot camp called Insomnia com which promises a prize of having financial backing to bring an app created at the camp to fruition.
The first time Dimple meets Rishi, he makes a bad impression and ends up wearing Dimple’s drink. While Rishi initially comes on strong, once he explains why he is there, Dimple is furious. She feels betrayed by her parents and pity towards Rishi since he is a unaware pawn being used by his parents.
After Dimple explains to Rishi how important the web design camp is to her, he decides to ease off courting her and they become friends. Over time, Dimple and Rishi discover that they have things in common such as their love of their family and eventually, Dimple realizes that Rishi is hiding his talent for drawing comics in order to make his parents happy. Rishi realizes that Dimple wants to be independent and be able to make her own decisions about her life without her parents trying to control her.
Over the course of the novel, Dimple and Rishi’s relationship transforms from barely friends, to friends to boyfriend and girlfriend. Though the story was entertaining, and I did find myself rooting for Dimple and Rishi’s relationship to survive, I would’ve appreciate some unpredictability. The overall plot of their conference experience, interactions with mean teens as well as the predictable main characters wining a big prize makes this story fun yet blah at times.
This book was simply adorable! I'll admit it - I even teared up. Obviously, I was way too invested in these two teenagers trying to make a relationship work. I really liked seeing a female character like Dimple. So many are boy-crazy, gossipy and obsessed with their appearances. Dimple was not - she was a good friend and focused on her passion. And the romance portion was very sweet - I loved their relationship. If I had a teen daughter, I'd want her to read this book!
This was such a cute book and really enjoyed reading it. Granted, the story is predicable, but sometimes I like a little predicability. Overall, I really loved the story and can't wait to read the other books by Sandhya Menon.
****2.5****
I was attracted to this book was solely because of it's cover and a bit by it's title. I didn't like the story much and I believe that I might have liked it in my teenage years (which I have crossed) or in my initial reading days ( that is when I had not read some real great authors and was just getting to know about reading). I also think that younger people might still like/relate to it.
Two Indian-American teens Dimple Shah and Rishi Patel are supposed to fall in love and get married, according to their respective parents. Dimple has finished her high school and is looking forward to become a web developer. But her mother is hell bent on getting her a Indian-Origin Husband. Rishi Patel, is waiting to join University to study Business/Engineering (i cant recalllll), but has a very good talent in drawing cartoons/animation. But he is also a very obedient son, who will follow his parents wishes on what to study and whom to marry! So he is shown Dimple's pic and he has no objection.
So, the twist is Dimple and Rishi are arranged to meet and know each other at a summer program on app development. Dimple is completely ignorant about this arrangement and Rishi is ignorant about Dimple's ignorance. And thus starts a story of these two people who will eventually fall in love but with lots of drama in between.
Narration is ok, I was touched at some parts but most of them were meh. No depth is storytelling that is I couldn't emotionally connect to the characters. Characters were fine but that reason doesn't make a story strong alone.
But well tried!
Happy Reading!!!
What can you read after
When Dimple Met Rishi?
About the Author:
Sandhya Menon is the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi, Of Curses and Kisses, and many other novels that also feature lots of kissing, girl power, and swoony boys. Her books have been included in several cool places, including the Today show, Teen Vogue, NPR, BuzzFeed, and Seventeen. A full-time dog servant and part-time writer, she makes her home in the foggy mountains of Colorado. Visit her online at SandhyaMenon.com.
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