When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon – Review

This book is based around two teenagers who both have very traditional Indian parents. When Dimple tries to persuade her parents to allow her to follow her dreams and go to Insomnia Con, a summer camp for web development, where she could win the prize of developing an app with her idol, Jenny Lindt, her parents are surprisingly on board. But later she discovers they sent her there so she can meet the boy she has been put in an arranged marriage with: Rishi. However, Rishi isn’t as oblivious to these plans as Dimple is.

This was a really enjoyable read. One of the best features of this novel was the relationships between characters. Obviously, there was Dimple and Rishi, who were just so adorable and they had a dynamic that was just so fun to read. Their two different personalities worked so well together, and made this book hard not to love. It was also really great to see their relationship develop, rather than them just instantly falling in love, which happens way to much in YA. There were also other relationships, such as the friendship between Dimple and Celia. I loved how this was properly developed and featured throughout, rather than just something that was dropped to leave room for the romance, and how they supported each other. I also enjoyed reading about Rishi and his brother, and that kind of love combined with resentment relationship that was present.

Also worth mentioning is the part family played in the story, specifically parents. It was nice to see parents that were supporting their children, even if it took them a while to see this was the case. It was interesting to see their attitudes to the arranged marriage, how much Dimple resented being controlled by her parents, and also Rishi’s strong respect for Indian culture and his parents and upbringing. The idea of how he dealt with the conflict between respecting his parents and his passion for art was fascinating, and I thought this was a highlight of the book.

Something that I really loved was the passions that the characters had. As I just mentioned, Rishi’s passion for art was really well explored, as well as Dimple’s passion for coding. I liked how ambitious she was, and how she wouldn’t let anything get in the way of her dreams. I think that was a really strong theme of this book, how to pursue dreams and balance that with other important things in your life. Their passions were portrayed very realistically, they weren’t ridiculously far fetched but instead things that they really enjoyed and wanted to make the centre of their life.

The only problems I had with this book were some of the writing style and also the predictability of some of the plot. The writing seemed a bit forced at times, like slightly weird similes were being put in for no apparent reason, and some of the description used just seemed a bit disjointed and out of place. This might not be a problem everyone has, and is easy to overlook, so I wouldn’t let it stop you reading this book. The plot was quite predictable, I quite often caught myself guessing where the plot would go and then surprised myself when I actually guessed correctly. This took away some of the enjoyment of the novel, which is why I’m not giving this 5 stars.

Overall this was a cute, heartwarming contemporary with some interesting elements of computer coding, art and Indian culture. Dimple and Rishi’s characters just contrast so beautifully together, and this combined with themes of pursuing your dreams makes a delightful read, perfect to read in the summer. There are also some wonderful friendships and family relationships which add greater depth to the book. It was slightly predictable, but all in all I would without a doubt recommend it.

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