I read this book back in 2017 and I remember liking it but not loving it. There were things about the setting that just never added it up it felt more like a summer camp story than a book about STEM learning. There wasn't much focus on the app development and I was disappointed in that. I also remember getting annoyed with both Dimple and Rishi at various times but felt that they were both very realistic teenagers. This one was a like not a love.

This was a cute young adult romance featuring diverse, fully formed characters interested in nerd culture and STEM fields. Menon’s debut is a badly needed meet cute between two individuals who aren’t the traditional white, upper middle class protagonists usually highlighted in such fares.

I loved this realistic fiction story of a girl trying to prove herself and a boy who values his parents' opinions and wants to make them happy. When the two meet it is up to Rishi to prove himself and Dimple to open her mind and heart to being happy in more ways than one.

While I definitely enjoyed my experience reading this book, there are some issues with pacing and character development in the middle that left me wanting just a bit more.

I like this one! It took me forever to get to read it, and now I am actually listening to the audiobook. It is really cute! I haven't read a teen "romance" in a very long time, and I am really enjoying this one. I love how independent and sassy Dimple is, and how over the moon about her Rishi is.

As an educator, I'm trying to make my shelves reflect the students I have. I work in a very diverse school district so books like this are highly sought after. Not only is it a book written by and about a person of color, but the main character is smart and driven. Dimple wants to be the best computer programmer. She knows what she wants and to get it, she has to win the competition at Insomnia Con. The only obstacle is her parents, who just want her to meet a nice Indian boy and get married.

The characters are likable and believable. It's a charming love story and while it's YA, I don't think 5th grade parents would object. My only disappointment was that the Insomnia Con challenge fell into the background. It sounded like a cool program but in the end, it was more about the relationship than the Con.

A contemporary YA romance—heavy on the romance—with an Indian-American take on the attraction of opposites.

The story is told in alternating dual POVs, from the very different perspectives of two recent high school graduates: Rishi and Dimple. Both are highly intelligent and highly motivated, eyeing tech-oriented careers. But while Rishi is out to please his parents by denying his passion, Dimple is struggling to break free of her family’s (i.e overbearing mother’s) will and identity. They’re brought together by their parents at an intensive 6-week summer program, in the hope that they will make a marriable match. The kickoff problem being… Rishi is aware of this hope, while Dimple has been left in the dark.

What I Liked:

Dimple is a brash, strong-willed young woman with a general ambivalence toward her own physical appearance, and a determination not to be pressured into what her parents might want for her life’s direction. She’s been accepted to Stanford, is seeking a STEM career, and is doggedly set on giving herself every advantage to that end. Her pragmatism is admirable. As is her ruthlessness, up to a point.

Rishi is, at many turns, a refreshing take on a Beta male personality. Readers who are tired of the “bad-boy” trope may especially take to his prominent sappiness, intellect, and regular hints of snide humor. His mild demeanor, respect for his parents, and consideration for tradition makes him a strong opposites-attract contrast to Dimple.

I very much appreciated the caught-between-two-worlds aspect of second-generation Indian-Americans. (In truth, it was the primary reason I picked out this book.) It’s always encouraging to see more literary representation for the children of immigrants, and all the unique socio-cultural issues they so often must cope with—both within American society at large, and amongst their own families.

What Didn’t Work For Me:

-While I initially appreciated Dimple’s personal railings against wearing makeup or spending any time on her physical appearance (which she mentions ad nauseum), she often turned this personal preference into a pedestal from which to look down on any females who did or felt differently than her. She also engaged in roundly stereotyping—which I’m afraid was a disservice to both Indian-American women and those who may have been seeking a better understanding of where they are coming from.

“Looking nice, making an effort…these are the things girls value in our culture.”

“All those rules. You can’t date people who aren’t Indian. You can’t date, period, until you’re thirty.” She gave him a look and said, “Unless, of course, your parents are trying to set you up with a marriage partner. Girls can’t be interested in a career more than they’re interested in marriage. Wear makeup. Grow your hair out.”

- I really liked Dimple at first. Up to page 35 or so, I found her relatable and even endearing. But then, something in her characterization took a hard turn. It seemed almost as though her active resistance to her parent's oppressive expectations made her swing wide into caustic and sanctimonious territory. As the story and romance progress, Dimple even becomes borderline abusive at times. She punches Rishi in the ribs at one point—hard enough to make him cringe. (Had that behavior been gender-flipped, I seriously doubt Simon & Schuster would have published this book.) At another point, Dimple takes a very personal something of Rishi’s out of his bag without permission, looks through it, and then proceeds to send it to a celebrity he admires—all after he expressly requested this not occur. She does not apologize for the flagrant privacy invasion and disrespect of personal boundaries. And what’s possibly worse, the repercussions for this breach of trust are less-than-realistic.

-I was never actually convinced that Dimple was a programmer. (I realize that’s supposed to be one of the feature highlights of the book, but hear me out.) Even with the romance completely dominating, we get enough little nuances about how Rishi thinks and sees the world to convince us that he—against his own better judgement—is an artist. But Dimple... not so much. Beyond the initial pitch of her app, there’s almost no in-scene look into the process of designing, coding, testing, troubleshooting, etc. (Admittedly, I n=might not have noticed this as much if I weren't married to a code-head. But I am, so suspension of disbelief was especially difficult.) This felt like a missed opportunity to give readers a sense for what it’s like to actually reason and perform within this skillset.

-When it comes to agenda observations, 3 times is the charm (er…hex?) for this reader. One could ignore the repeated mentioning of one of the eye-rollingly cliché bully-rich-kids wearing or fiddling with a cross necklace, and perhaps even the one-dimensionally awful guy bragging about his mission trips to the 3rd-world countries he's mocking... But Rishi openly admitting to microagressing against Christianity via his word choices? That made the undercurrent impossible to mistake.

-Dimple and Rishi very quickly fall in “love” (or at least, sexually active infatuation.) But there’s nothing going on externally that would prevent them from being together. So when the inevitable will-they-or-won’t-they breakup moment arrives, it feels like forced internal complications—centering on cynical attitudinal choices rather than any true conflict.

-I went into this thinking that the touchy subject (to most Western minds) of arranged marriage was going to be explored/explained. But the arranged part ends up more of a pre-conceived suggestion, to which little or no pressure is applied after the intended couple encounter each other. All tension there fizzles out early on.

Content Notes: -There was an abundance of casual/non-committal sexual situations both depicted and suggested. The one actual sex scene was only semi-graphic and did make clear mention of condom use. While the prose is simple and serviceable enough that it often felt on level with early YA, the overall feel and content sat closer to the New Adult range.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This was such a delight to read! I loved the quirkiness and honesty of the characters, and the plot was riveting! A great diverse romance!

Dimple Shah has her life all planned out. She just graduated from high school.She is excited to go to college at Stanford in the fall, but before that, she will attend a summer program for aspiring young web developers. This summer program means also something else for her: that she will be away from her Indian-American parents for a longer period for the first time, which she is happy about. Now she doesn't have to listen to her strict parents all the time who are mostly interested in finding her a suitable Indian husband. They already have an suggestion for her, some guy named Rishi. But Dimple is more interested in coding useful apps and has no interest in getting married anytime soon.

Rishi Patel is attending the same summer program as Dimple. Contrary to Dimple, Rishi knows about the arrangement his parents made with Dimple's parents. He is totally into this ''suggestion-arrangement'' and the plan to win her heart during the summer program. Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

Through their alternating point of views in the book, the reader learns that Dimple makes it clear to Rishi. she is not about to get married anytime soon, but they end up as partners for the competition and fall in love as they start spending more time together.

The story of this book overall was very romantic, cultural and just super cute! I loved the Indian background of this book, it really added something special and original to the book. Dimple is beside being Indian a true American teenager. She is independent, self-reliant, and knows what she wants in life. What she wants for herself and what her parents want for her are two completely different thing. I really liked this mix of cultures.
Rishi was a more traditional type of guy. Respect to his Indian parents is very important to him. He also respected the ones of Dimple though, which was just awesome.
Further on, the plot was wonderful and the characters and events felt super real to me.
I highly recommend reading this fun and cute book!

When Dimple Met Rishi was almost perfect! My only complaint was that about halfway through the book, the coding storyline faded. Right when I was starting to wonder if Dimple was even working on her app, it came back. Everything else was wonderful! I loved the romance and the characters. Honestly, it reminded me a lot of a Stephanie Perkins romance. I can’t wait to read more from Sandy Menon!

I love what this book offers for my students. They ARE the cover. I think the existence of this book is completely necessary and I'm glad it's out there in the world. For me, it was a little boring, TBH, but it was also very cute and I love having the male LI be the hopeless romantic. It felt authentic and accurate to teen life, and it a nice contract to YA books about biker gangs and wild parties, which don't represent all teens.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for the opportunity to read and review When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon! Prejudice and pushy parents are a part of every culture and Dimple is tired of her parents shoving the culture of India down her throat when she just wants to be a young adult American. Her dream is to become a web developer. she'll be attending Stanford in the fall but for the summer she's attending Insomnia Con-six weeks of learning web design and development. Little does she know that her parents have prearranged a meeting with the young man they want her to eventually marry, Rishi. She knows nothing about Rishi and her parents kept her in the dark while Rishi's parents told him everything. Rishi doesn't realize that Dimple has no idea before it's too late and they have a disastrous first meeting. They end up being partners for Insomnia Con and get the chance to know each other without the pressure from their parents. Dimple and Rishi have more in common than they could have guessed and they end up being very compatible. I think it's creative and funny how they dubbed the small group of rude, arrogant rich kids, The Aberzombies and it made me smile every time it was mentioned in the book. The story of Dimple and Rishi is fun, eye-opening, romantic, full of friendship and loyalty, inspiring and, at times, heartbreaking. Beautifully written, entertaining and worth 5 stars!

I finished When Dimple Met Rishi in one sitting, something that is very rare for me to do. This romantic debut novel wonderfully explores the culture of the sub Indian continent and more importantly what it means to be a first-generation teen from an immigrant family. Dimple and Rishi come from a similar background though they share clashing perspectives on their culture. Both teens are ready to embark on their adventure to college and being independent. In a traditional South Asian culture this is also a time to start thinking about marriage and settling down so it is not a big surprise to find Dimple's and Rishi's parents set an arranged-marriage plan in motion, but it backfires big time—or maybe not?
In the alternating voices of her two protagonists, Menon explores themes of culture and identity with insight, humor, and warmth. I absolutely loved Dimple and Rishi for being unapologetically themselves. Too often I read about characters from my similar background who try to embrace another culture and dismiss their own without understanding it. Dimple and Rishi may not see eye to eye on certain aspects of their culture but accept it as part of themselves without sacrificing their life choices and expectations.
Dimple loves coding and is so excited to win Insomina Con, a competitive six-week summer program at San Francisco State focused on app development, with her creative and lifesaving app. She dismisses her mother’s preoccupation with the Ideal Indian Husband and a concentration of being presented as an Indian beauty. Dimple wants to be respected for her intellect and talent. I love the fact that Dimple is described as an average teen who has unruly hair and wears glasses. Finally, a YA character that resembles regular teens! I could definitely relate with her frustrations of her mother constantly comparing her to others.
Rishi is an obedient son who is responsible, a romantic and a dreamer who believes in destiny, tradition, and embraces his culture full on. He is perfectly fine with settling down and starting a family, which is why he brought his grandmother's ring to give to Dimple at Insomnia Con except she has no clue of his or both sets of their parents' intention. Rishi is on his father's path to study computer science and engineering at MIT even though his real passion for comic book art is a hidden one. When both attend the convention and are assigned to work together, things get tricky. It is so much fun watching Dimple and Rishi become friends, drop their walls of defense, and navigate their swoonworthy connection. I also appreciated the fact that the conflict is an internal one for both characters instead of superfluous drama. When Dimple Met Rishi is a heartwarming, authentic, empathetic, and often hilarious, delightful read. It is my favorite contemporary romance read so far this year and I highly recommend it.

I'm not a huge YA fan, but for some reason this book stood out to me. It was so cute! It just made me smile and I felt warm and fuzzy while reading it. I really liked the message it sent to young women.

Dimple Shah lives and breathes web development, so she's thrilled when her parents agree to let her attend Insomnia Con in San Francisco during the summer before she enrolls at Stanford University. Rishi Patel is also at Insomnia Con, partly to participate in the intense six-week app coding contest, and partly to meet Dimple, whom his parents have selected as his potential marriage partner. Unbeknownst to Dimple, her parents are also in on this scheme to pair her with an "I.I.H." (Ideal Indian Husband). Rishi introduces himself by saying, "Hello, future wife!" and a mortified Dimple flings her iced coffee at him and scurries away. To her chagrin, Rishi has requested her as a partner for Insomnia Con, and when they start working together Dimple realizes that Rishi is artistic, funny, and sincere. Rishi, meanwhile, likes Dimple's smile and all-in approach to pursuing her goals. Their perspectives alternate as they explore San Francisco and develop their app initiatives amidst hipsters, hippies, and not-so-friendly competitors. Menon's wonderful debut novel is spared from predictability by witty banter, a cool setting, and flipping stereotypical relationship roles upside down (Rishi is the one hoping for an arranged marriage, and Dimple is focused on her work). This delightfully of-the-moment rom-com, complete with coding and caffeine, belongs in every teen collection!

July 5 addition: I decided to modify the review slightly and post it so as to generate more conversation around books with diverse characters.
In all honesty, I had mixed feelings about WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI by Sandhya Mehon even before I started the YA novel and certainly while I was reading it. In many ways, the cover with an obviously "spirited" girl conveys the tension throughout the book between traditional Indian culture (henna on her hands) and American independence and indulgence (she's drinking an iced coffee).

WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI received starred reviews from Kirkus and Yoya, plus positive reader feedback. "Cute" and "precious" were frequent descriptors and this romantic comedy could make a fun movie. The debut novel does address important issues like opportunities for girls in STEM fields, the power of privilege and wealth, and being kind and thoughtful to a girlfriend or boyfriend. However, there is an increasing emphasis on the romance between Dimple and Rishi and those sections seemed very repetitive and somewhat unrealistic given their upbringing and parental expectations. WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI will likely be a popular choice as a light summer read at the public library or maybe for middle school readers (School Library Journal suggests grades 7 and up), but I am currently not planning on purchasing it for our high school collection.

This book would be absolutely fantastic for every student out there. It shows a strong female character that fights for her own education and values and she's interested in science and the male character helps her get her dreams. I believe every student would be really inspired to follow their dreams and work harder to achieve them. Beside those strong core values the novel was really entertaining, actual and a joy to read. Thank you Netgalley for giving me a copy to review.

This is one of the cutest books I’ve ever read! From the very first chapter I was captivated, drawn into Dimple’s world, sympathizing with her frustrations. I could not put the book down. It’s such a sweet little romance story, and a really awesome book for teens!

I was so drawn to Dimple, who is such a vibrant, fleshed-out character. She’s serious and studious and determined, fierce and ferocious and independent. Her ultimate goal is to become a web developer, and she most definitely does not want to get married. Despite this, her parents set her up with Rishi, who, unlike Dimple, is more traditional and appreciates the romance of arranged marriages. Both sets of parents agree that their kids will head to Insomnia Con, an app development camp/competition, to get to know each other.

One problem: Dimple has no idea she’s being set up.

This leads to an absolutely hilarious introduction between Dimple and Rishi. He jokingly calls her “future wife” and she throws her iced coffee at him. Soon enough, though, the two become friends, and soon enough, their friendship turns into something more. Dimple and Rishi are super different, but both are realistic characters. The story is told in their alternating POVs, and each character has a clear, distinct voice. Their romance was sweet and fluffy, at times bordering on cheesy, but I still liked it. Both of their parents ended up being so supportive and understanding of their ambitions, which was a nice change of pace from how Indian parents are presented. Also, Menon’s writing is excellent! With her descriptive and evocative sentences, San Francisco becomes a character in its own right; I could picture the hills, the fog, the dips in weather.

I also liked the nuanced perspectives offered on the characters’ cultural expectations, and arranged marriages in particular. I’m not Indian, but I also come from a culture of arranged marriages, which younger me always viewed quite negatively. Now that I’m older, I have a much more layered view of this tradition, and I appreciated that in this book it wasn’t simply dismissed as old world nonsense. Dimple and Rishi do, in fact, get along, just as their parents predicted! The set up begets real love, which often happens in arranged marriages. I liked that Rishi and Dimple each had their own understandings of their culture and their relationship to it; their discussions about their culture really hit home for me.

This book is so utterly happy and adorable and I just loved it so much!

I loved this book! It was cute, funny, and light-hearted. The characters came to life for me. I could empathize with the frustrations of Dimple and how she was trying to pave her own path when that may not be what her parents wanted of her. I would recommend this book to anyone!

THERE'S A GIRL HOLDING A LATTE ON THE COVER. I knew I was going to like this book.

It was absolutely adorable. I wasn't sure if exploring the idea of arranged marriages would work in YA, but the meet-cute (or in this case, not-so-cute) sold me immediately. Dimple and Rishi are both really wonderful characters and I enjoyed both of their POVs. So, so deserving of all of the hype.

I can't even properly review this. It's just one of the cutest books I've ever read.

GO READ IT.