When Dimple Met Rishi

By the time I reached the end of this book, I had all the feels. (It did take me a bit to get into it, I'll admit, but by the time I was one-third/halfway, I was totally invested.)

Dimple Shah is a headstrong Indian-American teen who loves coding. She has the next few years figured out: go to Insomnia Con and impress Jenny Lindt, a pioneer in her field, with an amazing app concept, go to Stanford, and have a career. Rishi Patel is a traditional Indian-American who also has his next few years figured out: go to Insomnia Con and woo Dimple Shah, the woman his parents have arranged for him to potentially marry, go to MIT, and have a career as an engineer. Dimple doesn't know about any of this arranged marriage stuff, and quickly disabuses Rishi of any notion of them being together.

Well, it's a romance novel, so what follows is par for the course. Rishi and Dimple are partnered up for the app contest, and though romance is now totally off the table, they each notice a certain energy there, and notice the little things that make the other person unique. (As an aside, this is what I love about romance novels, especially in YA: those blossoming feelings of love and trepidation, when everything is new and shiny and so exciting and nervewracking.) Dimple and Rishi bring out the best in each other, and challenge each other to do things they wouldn't otherwise. Though Dimple is quite reluctant to get involved with Rishi, she does find herself drawn to him, especially when they finally go on a "non-date" and she realizes just how much she cares for Rishi. With the story told from both teens' point of view throughout, the reader gets to see just what they're thinking and how this romance ultimately comes to be.

During the Con, Dimple has to contend with some preppy con-goers she and Rishi call the Aberzombies being racist and downright mean, who also don't treat her roommate, Celia, very well, and this is all handled wonderfully. Sandhya Menon really has a bead on how heady life feels at eighteen—friendships and relationships catching fire and burning out, bullies being bullies no matter the age, and parents not understanding what kind of life you want to lead.

Besides the romance and the second-generation Indian-American stories, Menon also drops some poignant truths about being female in the tech world (or in the working world at all, really). For example: "[Dimple] wept for her hardheadedness, for a world that couldn't just let her be both, a woman in love and a woman with a career, without flare of guilt and self-doubt seeping in and wreaking havoc. No one she knew had balanced both." I don't even have kids yet and I feel this deep in my soul. Many women can probably relate to this, and it's a recurring theme in When Dimple Met Rishi. Dimple doesn't want a relationship—any romantic relationship—because of the impact it could have on her career. That's something many young women entering college and the workforce have to contend with. Because how do we make it work in a world that tells us we can have it all? What if we do want it all? In the end, Dimple doesn't have the answer to that question, but it's clear she's going to give it her best shot. And isn't that all any of us can do?