O P E N I N G H O O K:
(Page 5, US e-book edition)
“Now that he had Dimple, he realized he do anything to get her whatever she wanted, however demanding or obscure.”
~AS KISMET WOULD HAVE IT
Have you ever loved a book so much, you wished you could see the characters on the big screen? Sandhya Menon made a huge splash in 2017 with her debut novel WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI, which quickly hit the Best Sellers List and got readers everywhere talking. The book has since inspired two companion novels (The final one, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY, comes out this Tuesday, and you have a chance to win it below!) and two novellas. There's even going to be a Netflix movie this fall! (Read all about it here!) If the movie does well, maybe there will be movies for each of the remaining books -- and holiday specials for both novellas! The first novella, AS KISMET WOULD HAVE IT, begins at Christmas time, and the second novella, LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT (Which I'll be reviewing tomorrow!) takes place during Valentine's Day, so they'd be perfect!
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT AS KISMET WOULD HAVE IT:
Do I need to read WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI before reading KISMET?
Yes! This is a direct sequel and you won't know the characters at all if you haven't read DIMPLE yet. It's about 40 pages and a series of scenes continuing the way Dimple and Rishi feel about each other and their future. It's more of a gift for fans of the book who already love the characters, and if you don't go in knowing them, you won't get much out of it!
Do I need to read THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SWEETIE before reading KISMET?
It depends. This takes place after SWEETIE, and Sweetie and Rishi's brother Ashish do make a brief appearance! But it won't hurt you if you haven't read it, either!
Do I need to read 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY before reading KISMET?
Nope! ^_^
DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN READ AS KISMET WOULD HAVE IT RIGHT NOW FOR FREE!?
It's true! Simon and Schuster has a great website for teens, Riveted by Simon Teen (With the best tagline -- Believe in Your Shelf! If you sign up for a FREE account, you have access to FREE reads! There is always a ton to choose from each month, from full novels to extended excerpts. Right now, you can even get a sneak peek at the Spring 2021 Cover Reveals before they hit stores next year!
One of this month's FREE offerings is AS KISMET WOULD HAVE IT. And lucky ducky that you are, you can ALSO read the BRAND-NEW Dimple-Verse novella LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT for free!
Check out Riveted by Simon Teen now for these FREE great reads and so much more!
SO TELL ME ABOUT THE BOOK ALREADY!
Okay, okay, I hear you! ^.~
AS KISMET WOULD HAVE IT reunites us with Dimple and Rishi. As you may recall from WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI, their meet cute was full of misunderstandings! Rishi went to meet Dimple knowing who she was and that their parents wanted them to meet and see if they were compatible, while Dimple rejected parental-arranged courtships and wanted nothing to do with Rishi. She wasn't even sure she wanted to get married. Ever. But despite their extremely opposite views on courtship and marriage, they still fell for one another and managed to work it out.
Or did they?
KISMET takes place about a year after DIMPLE, and a lot of those questions are re-surfacing now. Rishi is frustrated that Dimple may not ever want to get married, and wonders if it's really because of her beliefs, or because of him, but she won't even talk about the future with him without getting offended. Dimple, of course, doesn't understand why Rishi is pressuring her to even think about the future. Who knows what 35-year-old Dimple might want? She doesn't want to even think about marriage for 15-20 years, if ever. She's only 19, and she hates this topic more than everything. At a crossroads, our couple has to take a break and evaluate themselves and what they really want: For themselves, from each other, and out of the future. Can they imagine a future without the other in it?
KISMET really focuses on the questions all couples go through when evaluating their future lives together, especially when they are young and still have school and careers ahead of them. Dimple has always hated that she fell in love too early, that it came years too soon, and Rishi has always known he wanted marriage and children someday down the road. A lot of couples face these exposing views. Some can work it out, and others never can. It's a huge dealbreaker in many relationships, and this is one of the few YA books that explores the topic and introduces it to teens who may be going through similar explorations about their own relationships if they got serious in their teens and are now approaching adulthood together.
Anyone who loved Dimple and Rishi as a couple will love AS KISMET WOULD HAVE IT. They get to see their favorite couple again, and even though there is such serious stuff going on within the pages, seeing this couple interact and attempt to work things out is such a great throwback and makes you want to read the first book all over again. It's also a great introduction to Sweetie and Ashish, who are in a brand-new relationship, and still in the puppy stages. It either makes readers excited to pick up their story (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SWEETIE) next, or makes them want to revisit that novel as well. (SWEETIE is my favorite Sandhya Menon book, so I could also be biased here! I just want to see that sweet puppy love forever. *ahem*)
It's actually really hard to talk about this 40 page novella without spoilers, so I'm just going to let you discover it for yourself, and say that it is definitely worth a read if you are a fan of the Dimple-verse!
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If you are able to, please purchases a copy of 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY from indie-owned Wellesley Books, who will be hosting Sandhya Menon's virtual launch party for PINKY!
You can order online through Bookshop and Libro.fm -- the store will receive a portion of the proceeds and it will help so much!
Interested in attending the PINKY Launch Party?
Sandhya Menon will be in conversation with Becky Albertalli (SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA, WHAT IF IT'S US, YES NO MAYBE SO)
Tuesday, July 21st at 7 pm EST.
Sign up for the Zoom Webinar now!
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You also have a chance to WIN A COPY of PINKY below -- it's truly the perfect summer read! It takes place during Pinky and Samir's summer vacation. I don't know about you, but personally, I love reading books that take place in "real time." I loved this book so much that I've already read it twice, and now I want you to have a chance to read it as well!
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI
Author: Sandhya Menon
Release Date: May 30, 2017
Publisher: Simon Pulse / Simon & Schuster
Purchase Links:
Purchase Links:
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY
BOOKSHOP *Order from and support your local indie or Wellesley Books, who is hosting the PINKY Virtual Launch Party! *
BOOKSHOP *Order from and support your local indie or Wellesley Books, who is hosting the PINKY Virtual Launch Party! *
SUMMARY:
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.
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SWEETIE
Author: Sandhya Menon
Release Date: May 14, 2019
Publisher: Simon Pulse / Simon & Schuster
Purchase Links:
Purchase Links:
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY
BOOKSHOP *Order from and support your local indie or Wellesley Books, who is hosting the PINKY Virtual Launch Party! *
BOOKSHOP *Order from and support your local indie or Wellesley Books, who is hosting the PINKY Virtual Launch Party! *
SUMMARY:
Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After he’s dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up.
The Patels insist that Ashish date an Indian-American girl—under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll be taking his date on “fun” excursions like visiting the Hindu temple and his eccentric Gita Auntie. Kill him now. How is this ever going to work?
Sweetie Nair is many things: a formidable track athlete who can outrun most people in California, a loyal friend, a shower-singing champion. Oh, and she’s also fat. To Sweetie’s traditional parents, this last detail is the kiss of death.
Sweetie loves her parents, but she’s so tired of being told she’s lacking because she’s fat. She decides it’s time to kick off the Sassy Sweetie Project, where she’ll show the world (and herself) what she’s really made of.
Ashish and Sweetie both have something to prove. But with each date they realize there’s an unexpected magic growing between them. Can they find their true selves without losing each other?
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY
Author: Sandhya Menon
Release Date: July 21, 2020
Publisher: Simon Pulse / Simon & Schuster
Received: For Review
Purchase Links:
Received: For Review
Purchase Links:
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY
BOOKSHOP *Order from and support your local indie or Wellesley Books, who is hosting the PINKY Virtual Launch Party! *
BOOKSHOP *Order from and support your local indie or Wellesley Books, who is hosting the PINKY Virtual Launch Party! *
SUMMARY:
The follow-up to WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI and THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SWEETIE follows Pinky and Samir as they pretend to date—with disastrous and hilarious results.
Pinky Kumar wears the social justice warrior badge with pride. From raccoon hospitals to persecuted rock stars, no cause is too esoteric for her to champion. But a teeny-tiny part of her also really enjoys making her conservative, buttoned-up corporate lawyer parents cringe.
Samir Jha might have a few . . . quirks remaining from the time he had to take care of his sick mother, like the endless lists he makes in his planner and the way he schedules every minute of every day, but those are good things. They make life predictable and steady.
Pinky loves lazy summers at her parents’ Cape Cod lake house, but after listening to them harangue her about the poor decisions (aka boyfriends) she’s made, she hatches a plan. Get her sorta-friend-sorta-enemy, Samir—who is a total Harvard-bound Mama’s boy—to pose as her perfect boyfriend for the summer. As they bicker their way through lighthouses and butterfly habitats, sparks fly, and they both realize this will be a summer they'll never forget.
~*~
****Giveaway*****
You could win...
- A copy of 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY by Sandhya Menon!
This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL
wherever Book Depository ships!
wherever Book Depository ships!
You must be at least 13 years old to enter or have a parent's permission!
Winner will be emailed and must respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be chosen.
Winner will be emailed and must respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be chosen.
Enter now!
...Stop by tomorrow for another chance to win, and check out yesterday's post about Mismatched -- an upcoming Netflix film centered around our beloved couple Dimple and Rishi for another chance to win!
You may have also missed these posts:
*Street team interview with Sandhya Menon
*A Twist in the Tail Thursday featuring the mythology in PINKY
~*~
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