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

Where do I even start? I absolutely loved this book!

Sandhya's writing is absolutely beautiful. Sometimes I read books that I end up not giving the best rating to because the writing puts me off. But in this novel, it was not the case, at all! The writing made the experience of reading this story even more immersive.

The plot itself was so interesting. It wasn't the typical boy-meets-girl-and-they-immediately-fall-in-love YA contemporary that we see all the time. It didn't follow the tropes that we grew to expect when getting into this genre (love triangle, insta love, etc).

We see the characters grow throughout the novel. They didn't feel flat. They were real people. 

Dimple is such a strong female character. She fights for what she believes in and defies the gender roles imposed by the society. She wants to be more than just beautiful. She wants to show the world how smart she is and how much she wants to accomplish.

“This is our life.

We get to decide the rules.

We get to say what goes and what stays, what matters and what doesn’t.”

Meanwhile, Rishi is this "adorkable" guy who respects his parents and the traditions of his culture. And he doesn't change that throughout the story. But that stopped him from being true to his artistic side. Because he wants to be the perfect son.

“And they’re still so intricately connected to us.

We have their names, their rituals, their traditions.

Their dreams sit behind our eyelids. I think it’s beautiful.”

I connected with both Dimple and Rishi but also Celia, Dimple's roommate. 

Growing up I always had the urge to be part of the "popular kids", I wanted to fit in. Like Celia. Until I realized it was killing me inside and making me do things I didn't want to. I completely understand how Celia was feeling.

When it came to school and what classes to choose, I didn't actually choose. My parents did it for me. "You're good at this. You should follow this." It wasn't until my second year of high school (that'd be the third year in America) that I talked to my parents about what I wanted. I didn't have the courage before to go "against" them. That's why I connected so much with Rishi.

But at the same time, I tried to be myself. I tried to stick to what I believed in. I tried my best to stray away from how I was supposed to be.

Overall, I just completely loved this book! I can't believe it took me such a long time to finally read it but I'm glad I did.

The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars was because I'd like to have seen a bit more of the process that Dimple and Rishi went through in the creation of the app.

That aside, this book was amazing and I totally recommend you pick it up if you haven't already. And keep an eye open for its sequel From Twinkle, With Love that comes out May 22nd!