When Dimple Met Rishi Review
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon was one of my most anticipated books for this year. I had been hearing about it for months and thought it was something I would love. A diverse YA romance book with the main characters also having interest in tech and art. Sign me up!
After months of anticipation I was finally able to get the book everyone was talking about. And not only did this book meet my high expectations...
it exceeded them beyond belief!
This book is not only one of the best books I have read this month or this year, but my favorite book I have read probably ever. Yup! I honestly could not think of anything I really disliked in this book. I am pretty sure I actually gave it 5 stars on Goodreads because I could not think of one thing I did not enjoy in the story. Okay well maybe there was one thing, but it was very minor and I still felt like this book deserves 5 stars despite of that. I will get into that later. Though let it be said that 99% of this book I have zero issues with and loved. And the error is not anything to do with characters or plot or anything like that, but more an organizational/writing decision, but again will save all that for later.
When Dimple Met Rishi is the story of a girl named Dimple who, in spite of her traditional Indian background and mother's failed attempts, is interested in technology and computer sciences/creating apps rather than finding a husband. Rishi is a boy who respects and loves his traditional Indian upbringing and expectations of his parents, and while he secretly enjoys art more than where his life is headed, has decided to go a convention Dimple will be attending to met his "future bride." While the two do not get off to the greatest start, they soon have to learn to work together if they are going to win the competition part of the tech con and possibly present their app idea to Dimple's Idol.
Dimple and Rishi soon find that they possibly can have both their dreams come true, as well as find love...maybe with each other.
This book was as I said one of my most hyped books of recently. I read it all in less than one day and thought this is one of the cutest YA books I have ever read. First lets talk about the characters. The character of Dimple is so smart, fun, and relatable. I honestly fell in love with her love of technology and thought Dimple was not only a great character, but an awesome role model for girl who are reading who maybe want to get into the STEM world themselves. Dimple is determined, talented, and just flat out amazing. I feel a lot of people can relate to Dimple's views on life whether it is desire to go into a career you love or not really focusing much on boys or getting star struck about meeting your idol and so many more moments regarding Dimple. I think readers will fall in love with Dimple just as much as I, and Rishi lol ;), have.
While when I usually read multiple character point of views and get bored with one pov and want to go back to the other or wish to skip a certain pov altogether because I like the other character better, I am happy to say that this book never made me feel like that when I started to read Rishi's parts. In fact, I looked forward to Rishi's chapters just as much as Dimple's chapters. Rishi is such a sweet, innocent, creative, and nice guy. I don't mean nice guy as in "nice guy" (aka a guy who acts nice or like the hero, mostly just to get girls, and then gets upset when someone doesn't like them back or just wants to be friends), but honestly a nice young man who I really related to and felt for a lot. While I related a lot to Dimple's character, I feel Rishi has him own qualities that I and many readers relate to. Rishi loves comics and art, something I personally love as well. He also is very torn between his traditional upbringing and what is expected of him by his family vs. what he really wants out of life. Something I love about Rishi is that you can honestly see the struggle he has with wanting to please other vs. pleasing himself and it really tugs at your heartstrings. I felt a lot for Rishi regarding his internal struggle of what path he should take in his life and what is best for him vs. what his parents want for him. On a brighter note though, Rishi also has other traits and things I really admire about his character. For instance, his ability to stand up for himself at the dinner with the other convention competitions contestants. I was so happy that he was not letting those kids walk all over or talk badly about himself or Dimple. Another thing I liked about Rishi was the cautious side of him. This is especially shown at the party where Dimple is being more of a free spirit and trying to have fun, while Rishi is feeling worried and anxious about the party, himself, and Dimple's well being. I have a special place in my heart for Rishi Patel and I don't think that will change any time soon.
The romance in this book was superb and honestly made Dimple and Rishi one of my most favorite book ships ever. The book felt a lot like a teen romantic comedy, but not in a bad way. In fact, even at parts that could be seen as eye roll worthy or extremely cheesy, I was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Dimple and Rishi are two characters that work so well together. They are so different, but the same. While they got off to a predictably rocky start, Dimple and Rishi eventually came to see each other in a new light. Something I loved about their relationship was the fact that they helped each other to get closer to their dreams. Dimple helped Rishi with his dream of being a comic artist and Rishi helped Dimple with her dream of meeting her idol and making her app a reality. Even when creating the app ,the two were able to take what they knew and what they were good at and combine those talents to create an awesome app idea. I have to say by the end I was on the verge of tears because I was so sad that this book was coming to an end and I would not get to see more of the "OTP worthy" relationship of Dimple and Rishi.
The side characters I enjoyed, but were not exactly in love with. I liked Rishi's brother, Ashish and Celia, but did not really feel too invested in their characters. I never hated or disliked them, I just was not as invested in them as I was Dimple and Rishi. Which I think is okay. I do not think in every type of media you are gonna love and invest in every character. Even in books where you have no least favorite, you still have more of an investment in one or two characters, more than others. And that is completely fine in my opinion. Again, I am not saying I disliked or hated Celia or Ashish, In fact I did feel enjoyment from their characters especially with the relationships with Dimple and Rishi. However, I just did not feel the investment and adoration for them the same way that I did for Dimple and Rishi and maybe some of the other characters. Nothing against those characters, just my own opinion.
Unexpectedly, I have to say as far as side characters go I really liked Dimple parent's and Rishi's parents. At first it seemed like they would be playing the role of those stuck in their way parents who wanted what they wanted for their child and nothing else. Thankfully, my worries were turned into relief when we got to see other sides of Dimple and Rishi's parents, more specifically at the end. The scene with Dimple and her mother at the end of the book is one of my favorite scenes of the entire novel. I was so happy with how the parents react by the end that I won't dare spoil it, but let it be said it was one of my favorite things about this book.
As I said before I did have one minor tiny little issue with the book. To restate, this issue was so small that I completely disregarded it when doing my review and still give this book a perfect score. However, I did want to point out that my very small issue with the book was the fact that the chapters felt more like new pages then new scenes. What I mean by that is I felt like the decision to place the chapters felt like they were placed in between sentences and not new scenes. There were very few times that we had the average scene change during a chapter, which is usually what new chapters are unless there is some kind of big cliffhanger the chapter before. With this book it felt like part of the scene would be in one chapter and then the rest of the scene would be in the next. There is nothing really wrong with the choice the author made, just something I found a little bothersome. It is very easy though to disregard this and look past it and if you do, I am sure you will not be able to see any problems with When Dimple Met Rishi.
This book is fantastic. The story is great, the characters are great, the romance is great, the character development is great. I loved every second I was reading this book and felt so sad by the end. Not because the book has a sad ending, but because I didn't want to say goodbye to these characters and their lives I had the opportunity to be a part of. When Dimple Met Rishi is a spectacular read that I feel everyone who reads it will love. If you have not already please go to your local book shop or library and get a copy of it to read yourself, I promise you won't regret it.
5 out of 5 stars.
***** out of *****
