Summary: Dimple doesn't want to find an Ideal Indian Husband (IIH) and just wants to code. Rishi is all about pleasing his family and is excited about his arranged marriage to Dimple. They meet at a coding camp. Rishi gets soaked in coffee because Dimple thinks he's creeping on her. Stuff happens, dancing ensues.
I gave this a 3.5 stars...reluctantly...please don't kill me everyone....
As you can see from the star rating...Momes wasn't really all that impressed with this book...I realize this is an unpopular opinion but I can't help the way I felt. So let's get this over with.
Things this book did well!:
I really liked that this book was about things that aren't really discussed in YA. Coding for one. Dimple is super into coding and really wants to make apps that help people which is something I can respect. She doesn't want to do what her parents tell her is right for a young Indian woman. She just wants to do what she wants to do. Sick. Good for you.
I loved Rishi. He is such a great character. He is kind, he stands up for himself and I really liked watching his struggle with trying to please his parents and also do what he wants to do (which I feel is a problem that a lot of young people can relate to). He tries everything he can to win over Dimple and it is really sweet.
MANGA REPRESENTATION! Holy. Shit. As you all may or may not know, I do read a decent amount of manga and even though it is becoming less and less taboo to say that you read manga, I feel there is still a bit of a stigma around it. But Rishi seems like a really cool, "popular" type guy and he's totally into comics. That's great and all, but then we get to see popular titles listed though out the story that most manga nerds would know and it's pretty cool! I know I was super shocked to see some popular titles pop up in this book.
There are also some interesting conversations about race and ethnicity. Just because your parents are from another country doesn't mean you identify with their culture and believe in their beliefs. Dimple obviously doesn't agree with her parents and she discusses with the reader how weird it is for her to live in America, where she is treated as the "weird Indian girl", to how she is treated in India where she is the "weird American girl." Having lived in both Japan and America, I can relate to this feeling of being neither one culture or another. Got me right in the feels.
I also really liked all of the Bollywood mentions. I haven't watched a lot of Bollywood films, but as a dancer I love different types of dance. So seeing names of actual dances from films and being about to YouTube them and watch them was really cool! I, naturally, had to watch all the dances Menon mentioned. It was so much fun and I really appreciated that she did that. It gave people who were not familiar with Bollywood a chance to learn and appreciate.
Google images Dil Na Diya from Krrish
The book was also really addicting and easy to read, so it had that going for it!
Now that seems like a pretty strong case for a 5 star rating....but as it only got a 3.5, let's get into some of my issues.
What didn't work:
I honestly had hoped that the romance would have been a bit more....slow burning. The thing that really bothered me was that Dimple was VERY adamant that she wasn't interested in wearing makeup, getting dressed up, finding her ideal husband and all that romantic stuff. She often got in fights with her mother, and did everything she could to avoid looking presentable. All she wants to do is be a coder. Yet after meeting Rishi once, she finds herself looking for him in the crowd. She is instantly woo'd by him (though, to be fair, I was too) and I felt she gave into him pretty quickly. I would have been much happier if she had been slightly stand-offish until the end, maybe start to feel something but then not really act upon it until the end where she confessed her love for him...or whatever. The whole thing felt insta-lovey to me and I wasn't really into it.
I also felt that Dimple was really abusive towards Rishi. She toys with his emotions so much in this novel...I think that's why I didn't like the romance the way it played out. If it had been the slow burning romance that I had wanted, maybe Dimple wouldn't have taken out her romantic frustrations on him. She was so hot and cold for him and she didn't really seem to care about his feelings. She does a lot of stupid things to him that made me question if this was a healthy relationship or not. Though I think Dimple grew a bit a the end of the novel, I can't help but wonder what their future is going to be like...
I also wished that with such a big premise as a girl who can only ever think about coding and wants to be the best coder ever, there isn't a lot of coding happening. Like, yeah, it would have went over some of our heads if she had put in a lot of technical coding stuff...but there is a lot of artistic things about coding she could have up in it besides the art...like concepts and other things...or at least talk about the project more. But I felt like it got brushed away for many other things...
The talent show....Though I loved all the Bollywood references and I realize that the money was to help with the coding (the coding we hardly ever got to hear about)...I HATED the talent show. It was just more reason to cause drama and f**k around. There was so much added and useless drama that happened and I just didn't want any of it. It also took up a large portion of the latter half of the book. Completely unnecessary.
I found a lot of the things that happened in this book to be completely unnecessary. Friendship drama and some of the boy crazy, sex stuff was really not needed.
So, all of that being said, though I did like a good deal about this book, I think the bad out weighed the good. I also don't think I am going to pick up Sandhya Menon's next book. Again, it just sounds like a book full of lies and abusive relationships. That is not something I'm interested in.
Here are all of my links and such!
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6483377-supermomochan-peachyfishybooks
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk5eRrShYL-HK0Gzg2qp4zQ
In case you were curious, like I was, here are the links to the two dances Dimple and Rishi practiced and talked about during the talent show. I enjoyed watching these very much and hope that you check them out too!
Dance Pe Chance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nJivRs-FEs&index=17&list=WL
Dil Na Diya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrHFtoEHw08&index=18&list=WL
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