{Speed Date} Review: when dimple met rishi by Sandhya Menon

A laugh-out-loud, heartfelt YA romantic comedy, told in alternating perspectives, about two Indian-American teens whose parents have arranged for them to be married.

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. ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

They meet - they fall in love. Yeah...no. Dimple and Rishi meet under less than ideal circumstances. Their parents hatch a plan for Rishi to attend Insomnia Con - the same, 6 week, prestigious summer web development camp at SFSU that Dimple is enrolled in. This is an effort to spur along their plans for an arranged marriage between the two.

Dimple is at Insomnia Con hoping her game/reward based app to help patients manage their diabetes wins the top prize and to meet her idol, Jenny Lindt, before she heads off to Stanford in the fall.

Rishi is only attending to meet and declare his intentions to Dimple.

Their first meeting at a local coffee shop does not go well thanks to this opening line…

Rishi: “Hello, future wife,” he said, his voice bubbling with glee. “I can't wait to get started on the rest of our lives!”

(Actual reenactment on the back book cover lol)

Dimple is pretty sure he’s a stalker since no one told her about Rishi or their impending marriage.

Rishi believes whole heartedly in Kismet and Indian tradition. As the eldest son, he wants to please his parents and believes they know best when choosing his wife and career path even though he secretly harbors other dreams for his future.

I don't want to marry you but you're kinda cute *blushes* While Dimple puts the breaks on any marriage talk, she does form a tentative friendship with Rishi and begins to see what a good guy he is. They are still teens that don’t always get it right – but they have an ongoing dialogue about the struggles and pressures of growing up Indian American in the US, differing values, and how Dimple wants, and even needs, to push boundaries and forge her own path and why Rishi should too. They may not always feel the same about everything but they have a shared connection with their backgrounds.

I love you...maybe. They really struggle with the new perspective that’s presented by actually enjoying each another because it means changing who they thought they were and what they wanted in life.

Dimple allows that maybe she has room for love in her life and her mother might be an actual human being in her own right, while Rishi, expecting only a marriage of convenience, finds a love that expands his view of obedience above all else and has to decide whether he’s ready to take a leap that might disappoint his parents.

Relationship Status - taken: When Dimple Met Rishi is adorable and rom-com-ish but it’s also SO much more nuanced and was a breath of fresh air. It’s written in such a frank, honest and respectful way. The parents aren’t dismissed as overbearing fools, there’s a healthy depiction of teen sex, values, tradition peer and familial pressures.

Highly recommend!