10 Things I Hate About Pinky is the third book in the Dimple and Rishi series, something I didn’t realise when I requested the book and I am probably very fortunate in that you don’t need to read the first two books to read this.

Everyone has to love a good fake dating trope, because we all know that they end in love. All that pretending … eventually it’s going to feel real. In many ways you could say that the tropes is tired and overdone, but even after all the times that I have read this trope I haven’t had enough of it.

You would think by now that people would know not to make lists about potential love interests. Good or bad, it never goes down well. It’s been in sit coms and rom coms and by now people should have learned their lesson, but no, Samir had to go and do it.

As much as I loved the characters, I thought them funny and adorable, at times I thought them slightly stereotyped. The rebellious daughter, the perfect daughter and the perfect son. Our three main characters fit in those boxes so well and I wish there had been more to them. Though I do suppose in a way those stereotypes are what made the story happen. Samir being the ‘perfect son’ is what made Pinky want to pick him to be her fake summer boyfriend.

The progression and growth of the characters, particularly Pinky was brilliant and I wish we could have seen more of her and her mum together, but I expect that Pinky and Samir will pop up in whatever book comes in next in the Dimple and Rishi series.

I highly recommend this book. It’s perfect for lovers of 10 Things I Hate About You and Rom-Com lovers. I hope you enjoy!

Did someboday say fake dating? Because that is one of my favourite things. Also, a summer romcom with fake dating? Mh, delicious. That being said, I loved this book about character-wise very different people going on vacation together.

Pinky and her parents go on summer holidays with her aunt, uncle and cousin every year. This year though, a few things are different: Dolly, Pinky’s perfect cousin, tries something new and not-so-perfect. And Pinky, who is known to be the black sheep of the family, finally tries something new and, in the eyes of her parents, very perfect. When Pinky accidentally says that she has a boyfriend, there has to be one asap. And who would be better suited than her frenemy Samir, a guy every parent would wish upon their daughter. They make a deal and Samir joins them on vacation but it doesn’t turn out as they both expected.

Pinky and Samir went into their deal with goals, but getting to know each other better along the way complicates things a lot. I loved reading about these two, I loved reading about their thoughts but I also loved reading about how the perception of the other changes in their eyes. They both have this picture of each other in their heads that has them colliding and argumenting time and time again. But they also realize that there is so much more to the other. The two of them start talking more and learning, about themselves, each other and their surroundings and their family members. Their evolving relationship was so beautifully written and explored. Their relationship had its ups and downs, but it seemed realistic and I enjoyed reading it a lot.

I loved Samir and Pinky as main characters individually as well. Where Pinky is headstrong and temperamental and passionate, Samir is calmer and a bit more down-to-earth. They each have problems to cope with. While they are quite different, they somehow balance each other out and can give the other one exactly what they need. I also enjoyed the rest of the characters, that were mostly Pinky’s family. Exploring their relationships and how they became the way they are was a wonderful reading experience for me.

The plot was also something I enjoyed immensely. Pinky is an activist, always having a new project she passionately works on. When such a project comes up this summer, both Pinky and Samir work together, both using their strength to bring it forward and to get other people to help them as well. The mix of romance and family drama and hot summer was so much fun.

What I also need to mention are topics that weren’t main themes of the book but were talked about shortly, but so well. For instance, the racism Pinky and her family experience and how they act in these situations. Another topic was mental health. I loved how mental health and getting psychological help was discussed throughout the story.

Overall, I loved this book so, so much. It was such a great summer romance. I’d definitely recommend it, especially if you’ve enjoyed Sandhya Menon’s previous books in the Dimpleverse!

Ahhh I love a Sandhya Menon novel and it was so wonderful being back in the Dimpleverse again. I loved seeing old characters raise their heads and explore some side characters we had only heard mention in previous books. You don't need to have read the other novels to enjoy this one but you might just get a couple of spoilers for some plot points in 'There's Something About Sweetie' just be warned.



I have to admit that this book got off to a slightly slow start for me, but once I had got past the initial couple of chapters and really got these characters established I couldn't put this story down. It was just so sweet and so fun it gave me butterflies and I was just excited to keep turning the pages.



I really loved the setting of this book, which I really didn't expect, I don't think I have read anything else like this set in and around cape cod. It meant for excellent settings with the sunset and the water and lots of drinking of lemonade around family game nights-so fun. I also really love the 'green' aspect of this novel. Pinky is very into conservation and recycling as well as looking out for the nature around her. I really loved this aspect of her character and it also means that we got to meet the wonderful opossum named Drama Queen-what could be better than that?



Pinky is just a great character all round. I loved how mature she was in her own mind but she turned into your classic stroppy teenager when she was around her parents. We also get to see her FOMO in action on every page, something else that all young people, and those of us who should know better, have to deal with. I love his intelligent she is, I feel like everyone in this novel was educated and also cared about bettering themselves. I think these characters would make good role model.



This book also explores what happens when we place certain expectations on ourselves and others. This includes things like ingrained racism within communities and even within families. I like the idea of turning those expectations on their heads and really pulling out why they are there in the first place. Sandhya Menon always does this is subtle and nuanced way whilst still riving the plot forwards and also creating these characters who are so easy to like and so easy to identify with.



This is the perfect summer read and I highly recommend adding this one to your summer TBR.

This is the first book by Sandhya Menon that I have read, but I will now be searching out all her previous works. I absolutely adored this, it’s nice for a change to read about YA privilege that isn’t white, finally some diversity and I tend to avoid those rich white kids novels, but this made me completely change my kind, well it will if it’s written by Sandhya in future. This is so funny, it’s charming, it touches your heart, it’s the perfect escapism and you love the characters, they are just so cute. The relationships are so well done, particularly the mother daughter ones. Everything in this book just feels so relatable and natural, highly recommended read and a new author for me to add to my got to read list. Fabulous


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I very much enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi, so was looking forward to reading this. On the surface, this is a classic Mills and Boon formula - boy and girl, polar opposites, do not care at all for each other. Will they end up together? I refer you to the formula, which plays out nicely over the course of a summer when Samir joins Pinky's family at their lake house in the role of boyfriend, as Pinky hopes to impress her parents with this excellent boyfriend choice.

But this has more going on. Pinky is a difficult, stubborn, impetuous social warrior who struggles to get on with her parents, often in trouble, often with not-good-choice boyfriends. There's been a lot on Twitter lately about the adjectives used for girls - bossy being one - that would never be used for boys, and I feel like this book perfectly addresses this. Samir makes a list of things he hates about Pinky - but later on turns this list on its head. The things he originally hated are things that are really great qualities - you just have to look at them in a different light. This is lots of fun (I especially liked the fainting opposum, Drama Queen) and would be a brilliant beach read. Super-cute romance with a bit more to it. There's just one line in this that would make me keep this firmly in a YA section of a library - but that's it's natural readership anyway.

As you might know, I’m a huge Sandhya Menon fan and I’m even part of her street team, helping to spread the word about how great her books are. 10 Things I Hate about Pinky is the third book in the Dimpleverse series but can also be read as a standalone as it features a new couple – Pinky and Samir – who we met in the previous book. Pinky is a social-justice warrior rebelling against her conservative parents whilst Samir is an organised and tight-laced student with an overprotective mother. To win her mum’s approval, Pinky suggests that she and Samir fake date and so Samir spends his summer at Pinky’s lake house. That’s right – the romance gods have given us the fake dating trope as well as enemies-to-lovers.

Pinky is probably the least relatable of Sandhya’s female main characters for me (Sweetie remains my favourite) but it was much easier to identify with Samir’s need to control everything in order to impose order on his life. I appreciated the author addressing this mental health issue and also highlighting the stigma often experienced in the Indian-American community. Additionally, Pinky and Samir have difficult relationships with their respective parents and I was impressed by how Sandhya explored these problems in a nuanced manner, allowing the reader to emphasise with both children and parents. Whilst Pinky and Samir are two very different people, they share the same core values, and often challenge each other to become better, blossoming over their summer together.

Side characters are always memorable in Sandhya’s books and Dolly was no exception, with her good-girl-wanting-to-rebel character arc. I also have to mention Drama Queen, the most hilarious possum ever, with a penchant for dying at inopportune moments and providing a lot of comedy. For me, this book showed how Sandhya has grown as a writer. The writing style had a maturity and confidence to it and I think this is, objectively, her best work yet. I can’t wait to read whatever she writes next as I’m sure she’ll somehow surpass herself yet again. 10 Things I Hate about Pinky is the perfect book for summer, featuring two of my favourite tropes, a host of unforgettable characters, and a dramatic possum.

Sandhya Menon has once again written a gorgeous story that I couldn't put down. It is cute, sweet and full of adorable moments.

It is so nice to be in the 'When Dimple Met Rishi' universe again. I always love seeing cameos in these books and little hints.

I highly recommend this one if you are looking for a cute read that you can't put down.

I adore Sandhya Menon novels and this one was no exception.
In this book we are back in the Dimple Met Rishi universe this time following the stories of Pinky and Samir who the summer before their senior year agree to fake a relationship however as time goes on they start falling for each other but are their personalities just too different for them to make it work?
Pinky may be my favourite female character from Sandhya’s novels so far. She’s feisty, hot-headed and will fight tooth and nail for what she believes in which often leads to her butting heads with her mum. Then we have Samir who is pretty much the opposite to Pinky in every way. He is steady, reliable and has his life planned to a T. I loved watching these two characters come together and the tension between them.
There is also a lot of talk around family and the expectations of those around you and the effects that these can have on you.
Trigger Warnings for: racism, parental illnesses, mental health.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book! My first from the author and definitely won't be my last! This is a lovely character driven book, starting with a fake romance (my favourite) filled with a diverse range of characters, I totally related to the wonderful pinky. This book is set over a summer and made me want to go out to a lake and relive a summer as a teen, drinking strawberry lemonade!

I always love reading books by Sandhya Menon, starting when I met the characters Dimple and Rishi. The fake romance plotline - I LIVED FOR THIS. I love reading about romances that are not really romances. It just adds depth and excitement to the story. The story is basically fun and the writing flows very well. I adored how different the main characters were and the way they actually did gel together.

I really liked this rom - com. It had a believable plot line. Plus a good mix of romance, family, and coming of age story line. I also liked the preifereal characters were mentioned from other books in the series.

2.5/5

I'd previously read this Author and I really enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi (I haven't yet read the second book, which I should have and do plan to).
I went into this book with high hopes because of how much I enjoyed the first book in this world. However, I found myself struggling to connect to the characters or get fully engaged by their story.
I wanted to love this, but I just didn't.
Having said that, it did have some cute moments, but overall I was just hoping for a more fleshed out story and would have liked to have seen more focus on Pinky's relationship with her mom.

I had a mixed experience reading 10 Things I Hate About Pinky. Overall, I liked it but I had some issues. I read When Dimple Met Rishi a few years back and really enjoyed it but this one not so much.
The things I liked.
I have to admit I do love how Menon wraps up her stories. Without spoiling anything, the ending made me tear up a little and I was really happy with how it all ended. I loved how quirky elements of the story was and how it dealt with a series of important issues: racism and protesting were just some. I loved the family element and the setting was just so wholesome and idyllic! I also loved Samir's character. He was just so likeable from the start and an all round lovely character.
Now some of the things I disliked.
Pinky. She was so frustrating. And I know that's how her character was supposed to be but oh, it got old after a while. Perhaps it's because I'm older than her so her behaviour just annoyed me at times. I rolled my eyes quite a lot. I did like how her character developed as the story progressed but she did grate on me quite a lot. But I did love how outspoken, determined and passionate she was. I also hated how a lot of the issues in this were because of miscommunication. I was internally screaming at times "just talk to each other!" So it got very frustrating at times.
So to sum up, I liked this book but it had its problems for me. So it was a 50/50 for me. I'd still recommend it for lovers of the previous books and for those who want a fun and diverse read.

I really enjoy Sandhya Menon’s books, she creates wonderful ‘safe’ summer romances, but with always with a bit of an edge. Here she uses the fake dating and opposite attract tropes to explore the nature and difficulties of relationships whether between mothers and offspring , wider family, our communities and with our environment as well. There is overall message that we alone can be in charge of our paths is well pitched. A brilliant read for teens.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky is the third novel in the Dimple and Rishi universe, following on from When Dimple Met Rishi & There's Something About Sweetie. I liked When Dimple Met Rishi, really enjoyed There's Something About Sweetie . . . and I loved this one.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky is told from the dual perspective of Pinky and Samir, as they both combat personal struggles over the course of a summer holiday. Pinky has a tense relationship with her mother, she feels as if she is never good enough for her parents, a constant disappointment . . . So she lives to that role, until she gets blamed for something she did not do one too many times . . .

This leads Pinky to inviting Samir to her holiday home, to pretend to be her fake boyfriend, to show her parents that she is not as much of a failure or disappointing as they think they are. (AHHH! Fake-dating trope!!!! Yes!!!!) Samir agrees to help Pinky. His internship in a prestigious law firm fell through, and its his hope, that by helping Pinky, he will gain an internship with her mother, who is known as 'The Shark'. But like Pinky, he also has to confront his own behaviour, and the relationship with his mother...

These two characters were brilliant together! There was so much chemistry in their relationship - in the way they bantered with each other, with how they confront, challenge and support each other. Absolutely brilliant. They are very much opposites that attract - who compliment each other wonderfully - and the Menon has the characters confront whether or not a real relationship between them can withstand their differences . . .
Pinky and Samir learn so much about each other, but also learn so much about themselves. Some scenes incredibly frustrated me - I found I wanted to yell at the characters for how mean they were to each other, or out of order. But I held it in, and continued reading, and these moments were explored and developed upon in a way that I felt satisfied with.

I really enjoyed the supporting characters, as well. It would have been nice to have more time spent with them. For example, a large part of Pinky's characterisation and struggle was to do with her relationship with her mother. Most of the novel concerned Pinky's feelings of distance, anger, and upset with her mother, yet there was not much time spent on the resolution. I was not unhappy with how the novel resolved their relationship, but I do wish we could have seen more of that. Similar with Samir. We saw him make a decision about how he wants to move forward, yet we never got to see that dynamic with his mother play out. I understand, because the novel was set in a singular place and his mother was in another, but I do wish there was more of his relationships explored.

Overall, I loved this book! I was in the midst of writing my final university assignments at this point, and it provided much needed escapism. And when I put it down to continue on, it provided motivation to hurry up and finish so I could get back to reading it.
For that, I give this 5 stars.

SUMMARY: A diverse YA about fake-dating, 10 THINGS explores family, friendship, and what it means to be independent.

MY THOUGHTS:

Well, that was disappointing. This was my least favourite of all the Dimpleverse. I skimmed from 60% onwards.

10 THINGS retains that trademark Menon charm. Really, it had everything I'd normally like in Menon's books. Subplots, romance, family drama... but this time, my biggest problem was the main characters; I could not connect to Pinky or Samir whatsoever. I actually liked them the least in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SWEETIE, Pinky being too temperamental and Samir being overly inappropriate for my tastes. This carries over to an extent, so whilst Pinky is about the same, Samir is somehow now perfectly suave in social situations, which was baffling and yet still a drag to read.

As such, it made it twice as difficult to read the story, as we're deep in both Pinky and Samir's heads. I liked Pinky's cousin Dolly, though found her story arc almost nonsensical. She wants to embrace the idea of non-perfection by hanging out with a guy she and everyone else around her hates? … Okay. I read other reviews highlighting how Pinky and her mother Veena's relationship was too quickly resolved, and I agree 100% that it was too sudden. The '10 things' list in the title features once in the story and is then brought back for a quick conflict, and honestly? I rolled my eyes.

Other people may vibe with the characters, but this read was definitely not for me.

WILL I READ ON? If there's anymore in this series, yes.

I am so grateful to NetGalley and the Publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, for providing me with a copy of 10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon.

I have loved Sandhya Menon's books ever since I read When Dimple Met Rishi back in the Summer of 2017. It was the perfect holiday book and honestly, 10 Things I Hate About Pinky is also perfect as a fun story with a great message.

Pinky is a passionate and kickass young woman - although some would use the term stubborn - but she does not get along with her mother. Pinky is sick of her mum always thinking the worst of her, leading Pinky to accidentally say she has a respectable boyfriend. When she really doesn't.

So in comes Samir Jha, the type of guy that Pinky's parents would love. Samir and Pinky know each other through their mutual friend, Ashish, however they couldn't be more opposite. This is what makes him perfect to play her boyfriend for a summer to her family.

I love the fake dating trope because it is always a sweet and funny transition from "hate" to love. Menon takes this to a whole new level as Pinky and Samir have a roller coaster summer of emotions that will make every much worse before it finally gets much better. With a few little twists that you might or might not see coming, it's going to be a helluva summer!

I just love Sandhya Menon, she writes with such heart and humour. I am such a sucker for a romance so this was right up my street.

Ever since reading From Twinkle, With Love Sandhya Menon has become an insta-buy author for me (although There's Something About Sweetie somehow passed me by last year, but I bought it about two minutes after finishing 10 Things). 10 Things I Hate About Pinky only reaffirmed my love for her work.

She writes kick ass young women who know what they want from the world and Pinky is no exception. Pinky is feisty, passionate, stubborn and she does *not* get along with her mother. One main trend in Sandhya Menon's work is characters learning more about themselves and re-evaluating their relationships. In this story we watch as Pinky fights for her right to be herself and struggles to understand her mother, she is guided in this process by fake-boyfriend Samir Jha who holds the other piece of the puzzle, what does "herself" really mean? Is she going to stick firm to her rebel values regardless or can she find love in the most unexpected, least Pinky, of places?

Romance isn't my go to genre but as usual Menon writes a story in which love enhances her characters' lives, rather than defining it which I think is so important. Additionally, the way Pinky and Samir fall for each other feels so natural even though they need to get out of their own way at times!

Definitely an excellent addition to the Dimpleverse!

Another feel-good romance from the master of swoon-worthy YA. Menon is one of the authors at the top of my auto-buy list as I know her stories will give me brilliant characters and lots of reasons to smile.

Pinky was a great protagonist. She's so passionate and determined and unwilling to let anything stand in her way. But she's also insecure and sensitive and Menon gives a brilliant insight into her thoughts throughout. I think teenage readers will really warm to her, thanks to her desire to change the world and never let her age hold her back from challenging social injustice. I also loved her complicated relationship with her mum and her strong bond with her step-dad.

Samir was another brilliant character. I loved how kind and caring he was. He spends most of the novel making plans and preparations to help him feel in control (which I completely identified with as I'm definitely more of a Samir than a Pinky). But he also had moments of startling confidence and wasn't afraid to push himself out of his comfort zone to do what's right.

Their romance had all the trademark strength of a Menon story. She describes emotion so well and captures the excitement and insecurities of new love perfectly. While Pinky and Samir have their differences and argue plenty, their relationship is based firmly on mutual respect and trust.

The setting, in hot, summertime Ellingsworth with its secluded lake and butterfly habitat was another huge draw.

I hope a Dolly novel is coming next - she could definitely carry her own stand-alone story and I would love to see her having more luck in love than she does in this story.