So this was preposterously cute. It’s a YA romance novel that’s cute and funny and just a joy to read because Dimple is amazing!
What I really appreciated about it was the balance that Menon struck between writing a deeply particular story about Dimple and Rishi and their culture(s) and experiences and a larger story about being the children of immigrants in America and balancing expectations about intimacy and marriage and future careers, all of which resonate in different ways, as if viewing them through a glass shifted 90 degrees. Rishi’s complaint about the everpresent Christianity in the US calendar and his small ways of fighting back was, to this Jewish reader, a funny and poignant moment. This book doesn’t precisely try to be deep, but it takes on deep issues with a very light touch.