Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Smashbomb (4687 KP) created a post in Smashbomb AMA

Jun 12, 2019  
AMA: SANDHYA MENON (AUTHOR)
We are excited to announce that our first AMA 'ask me anything' session will be with author @Sandhya Menon who has agreed to answer a number of 'Ask me anything (AMA)' questions for Smashbombers.

Sandhya is a New York Times bestselling author and has written 4 novels, and has 3 on the way! Her books have been featured in several cool places, including on The Today Show, Teen Vogue, NPR Book Review, Buzzfeed, and Seventeen.

Sandhya is probably best-known for her bestseller @When Dimple Met Rishi - which is currently rated a 7.8 on Smashbomb :)

Joanne's other works include:

      @From Twinkle, with Love

      @There's Something About Sweetie
      @Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love

Please leave your questions in the comments below, all of which will be sent over to Sandhya for her responses. Please remember to be inventive and original in your questions ?

(Image credit: sandhyamenon.com)
  
40x40

Smashbomb (4687 KP) created a post in Smashbomb AMA

Jun 24, 2019  
WE NEED QUESTIONS!

Recently we announced we're doing an AMA with author @Sandhya Menon. We need to know what you want to know. Post your questions in the comments of this post and we'll ask Sandhya!

Make them interesting & original :)
  
Show all 3 comments.
40x40

Kevin Wilson (179 KP) Jul 7, 2019

1) What is a genre you would love to write a book in but been too scared to touch and why?
2) What plot device do you feel has been overly used in books?
3) What do you believe is the most underrated franchise in literature that should get more readers?
4) Do you have a favourite character from your books and why?
5) Which book did you have the most fun thinking up and writing?

6) How much of the books did you write based on personal experiences vs purely fiction you thought up?

40x40

Random47 (97 KP) Jul 8, 2019

1) Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?
2) Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
3) What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
4) What authors did you dislike at first but grew into?
5) How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

40x40

Smashbomb (4687 KP) created a post

Oct 14, 2019  
GIVEAWAY WINNERS:

We are delighted to announce the following winners of the 'Sandhya Menon Collection' Book Giveaway:

                    @Klou
                    @shell
                    @Julie Collinge

Congratulations - your prizes will be on their way from Hodder & Stoughton!
     
Show all 3 comments.
40x40

Julie Collinge (1183 KP) Oct 25, 2019

Books have arrived today!

40x40

Klou (162 KP) Oct 25, 2019

My books arrived today and already halfway theough the 1st one ❤🙈

40x40

Entertainment Editor (1988 KP) created a video about track Sportstar by Alex G (Sandy) in Rocket by Alex G (Sandy) in Music

Oct 14, 2017  
Video

Alex G (Sandy) - "Sportstar"

  
When Dimple Met Rishi
When Dimple Met Rishi
Sandhya Menon | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
10
7.4 (18 Ratings)
Book Rating
Cute contemporaries might be my downfall this year - there are so many amazing ones, and I am on a contemporary spree of sorts. (I hopped back to fantasy, but I'll be back for more cute ones, contemporary!)

Sandhya Menon’s debut novel has got to be one of my favorite contemporaries - and that says a lot since I'm not exactly a contemporary person. If anything, I avoid the genre like the plague.

Sit back, grab some Pocky Sticks, and allow me to gently shove this wonderful book in your face.

<b>Four Reasons to Pick Up When Dimple Met Rishi</b>
Rishi and Dimple are the cutest beans together - After the early hiccup between the two of them, I loved seeing their interactions together. I'm pretty sure my heart eyes emoji went a little out of control. Also can I please adopt them?

Women in STEM - I'll admit it: we need more females in the STEM fields - in both reality and in the literature we read. Dimple has a passion for coding, and the book is set around Dimple’s aspirations to win Insomnia Con (where coders spend several weeks creating an app of their own) in addition to her developing romance with Rishi.

Dimple doesn't care for romance - Dimple cares more about other things (like coding), and I really loved Menon included this because I can definitely relate. I prefer no makeup, and I suppose if I were in Dimple’s place, my mother would say no boy would want to talk to me because I look like I'm going to bite a boy. (Good.)

Iced coffee being thrown - I don't care what some peeps think about Dimple throwing iced coffee at Rishi, but I think it was A+, and it is one of my favorite scenes in the book. I was looking forward for this scene to happen, and if this book becomes a movie, this scene has GOT to be in there.

If you’re looking for a cute romance, definitely give When Dimple Met Rishi a try! If not for the cute romance, at least for the iced coffee being thrown?

<a href="https://thenovelistics.blogspot.com/2017/09/when-dimple-met-rishi-by-sandhya-menon.html">This review is originally posted on The Novelistics</a>
  
40x40

Smashbomb (4687 KP) created a post in Smashbomb AMA

Jul 12, 2019  
AMA: SANDHYA MENON (AUTHOR)
ANSWERS
Author @Sandhya Menon has answered YOUR questions in Smashbomb's AMA.

On your FAQ, you mention you re-read Twilight. Do you enjoy re-reading any other books?
I re-read The Shining by Stephen King every autumn in preparation for the winter months! It’s the perfect creepy winter book, I think. I also tend to re-read Sophie Kinsella—I’m a diehard fan!

What advice would you give to your younger self?
Keep going. There’s definitely a seat for you at the table if you keep writing what you love and keep improving at your craft.

Do you base the characters in your books off of people you know?
My characters are always amalgams of people I know or have known, including me!

What magical creatures do you wish were real?
Fairies! I’ve wanted to be friends with Tinkerbell for a very long time now.
 
What is a genre you would love to write a book in but been too scared to touch and why?
I don’t think there’s any genre I’m afraid to touch, necessarily, but I do wonder if some genres I’d love to write in are a good fit for my brand of fiction. For instance, I’d love to write a few super-dark, twisty, atmospheric books, but I might have to write those under a pen name!
 
What plot device do you feel has been overly used in books?
I don’t think any plot device is overdone unless it’s harmful or bigoted in some fashion. Other than that, it’s all about the author’s unique voice and the spin only they can put on the tropes and devices we know and love (or love to hate)!
 
What do you believe is the most underrated franchise in literature that should get more readers?
Quite a few!
Most recently, I really wanted the book The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton to blow up and get its own movie and TV show and graphic novel and theme park and I’m still bitter that hasn’t happened (yet). I also really adore the Timber Wolves series by Tammy Blackwell and am sorely disappointed they haven’t caught on as much as I feel they deserve to! And I absolutely loved Damocles by S.G. Redling, but almost no one I know has read it, which makes me very sad.

Do you have a favourite character from your books and why?
Gosh, an author picking a favorite character is kind of like a parent picking a favorite child; almost no one could bring themselves to do that! I love all my characters for different reasons.

Which book did you have the most fun thinking up and writing?
I’m really super-excited about my upcoming contemporary fairy tale retelling series. The first book is called Of Curses and Kisses and has a sprinkling of Beauty and the Beast. It follows an Indian princess who must con a misanthropic British aristocrat into falling in love with her to avenge her family’s honor.
There’s no outright magic, but there’s a lot of “is the curse real or isn’t it” ambiguity that was so much fun to write. I dreamed the story three years ago and am so excited it’s finally going to be in bookstores soon!
I’m thrilled to say my UK publisher Hodder and Stoughton has picked it up, so Of Curses and Kisses will be available in the UK in February of 2020!

How much of the books did you write based on personal experiences vs purely fiction you thought up?
All of my books are based loosely on my own experiences with a heaping helping of fiction thrown into the mix! For instance, like Rishi in When Dimple Met Rishi, I struggled a lot with the arts (in my case, writing) not being a “real” or acceptable enough career path for my family. And like Dimple, I struggled with well-meaning adults who told me my biggest mission in life was finding and keeping a husband!
Like Twinkle in From Twinkle, with Love, I worried a lot that no one would be interested in the stories I wanted to tell with my pen (she wants to tell them with her camera). I looked at all the bestselling books or the books being taught to me, and none of the writers looked like me or had a name like mine. Twinkle faces something similar when she looks at the biggest, most successful movies and the often white, male directors who direct them.
And Sweetie’s struggle with her weight and fat-shaming in There’s Something about Sweetie came directly from my own experiences as a fat adult at various points in my life.
 Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?
So many things! In high school, I read the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and for the first time truly understood how powerful an unreliable narrator could be. Reading Ellen Hopkins’ Crank back when it first came out was such an eye-opener for me about the flexibility of story structure.

Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
I don’t! I’m one of those authors who believes that reviews are for other readers. I get my feedback from a trusted few sources who’ve been with me since the beginning.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
Too many to count, honestly! I think all authors have a metaphorical trunk full of unfinished work and I’m no different. I have all of these folders on my computer with half-finished stories and novels I’m still very partial to. Sometimes bits and pieces of them make their way into my current books and that’s such a satisfying feeling!

Thanks to Sandhya and her great answers!
  
When Dimple Met Rishi
When Dimple Met Rishi
Sandhya Menon | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
8
7.4 (18 Ratings)
Book Rating
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon is a contemporary book set in San Francisco. Our two main characters, Dimple and Rishi are Indian-American and this book is such a lovely addition to the more diverse YA reads that we have been getting lately. Dimple’s parents don’t understand her love of coding and desire to do that for a living. They want her to find the Ideal Indian Husband, get married and settle down. To Dimple, that sounds like the most horrifying loss of her identity and freedom, so she’s very surprised when her parents agree to let her attend a coding camp over the summer at SFSU.

Rishi is the perfect eldest son, sure of his duties and ready to fulfill his family’s wishes. He plans to attend MIT in the coming year to major in engineering and computer science. Even though he has other interests, he knows that they are not viable career options and will have to support his family in the future. His parents send him to the same coding camp so that he can meet and get to know his (possible) future wife. It is not an official arranged marriage, but their parents each have decided that they would be good together.

Unlike Rishi, Dimple does not know of her parents' plan and is entirely freaked out when a stranger comes up to her and addresses her as his future wife. Their first interaction is hilarious and sets the stage for a fantastic book to come. Although Dimple is vehemently opposed to Rishi’s attendance as she feels tricked, she knows that it would be unkind to demand that he leave. The two end up spending more time together and become friends. Their friendship was authentic and quite adorable, even though on the surface they don’t have much in common.

Celia, Dimple’s roommate and Ashish, Rishi’s brother are really nice supporting characters. Celia gets wrapped up in the idea of fitting in and we watch as she learns to be herself. She has a number of rapid changes of opinion and emotion that aren’t entirely explained. Sometimes they seem like they come out of nowhere and there isn’t enough context or backstory to support them. That feels like one aspect of the story that could be improved.

Ashish is initially portrayed as the lazy brother who does not care what his parents want for him. He is most passionate about basketball and spends his time doing things that Rishi does not always approve of. It was nice to see their brotherly bond evolve over the course of the novel. Rishi learns to support his brother and judge him less, as a result, their relationship becomes stronger. They learn more about each other and it was nice to see a positive familial relationship depicted. Even his parents are ultimately supportive as they just want their children to be happy.

I would highly recommend this book to young adult/teen readers who enjoy diverse reads, contemporary novels, character-driven plots and coming of age stories. The characters go on a lovely journey of self-discovery and have a lot of enjoyable (and funny) scenes along the way.
  
When Dimple Met Rishi
When Dimple Met Rishi
Sandhya Menon | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
8
7.4 (18 Ratings)
Book Rating
*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

I do love myself a good YA contemporary, and this delivered. ‘When Dimple met Rishi’ has everything that you could want in a coming of age novel, it was diverse, there was romance, families, friendships and the difficulties of growing up.

I couldn’t believe this was Sandhya Menon’s debut novel as the characters felt so real and the writing was amazing.

Dimple Shah is 17 and looking forward to the prospect of college, she has enrolled for a course for computer programming and has so many ideas buzzing around her brain. Her mother has always wanted Dimple to get married and find the IIH (Ideal Indian Husband) than become a student. Dimple also wants to attend a summer camp where she can show off her programming skills and start making a name for herself, the course costs $1000 and is shocked when her parents allow her to go but what she doesn’t know is that they have other plans.

Rishi Patel wants to follow in his parents footsteps with his own arranged marriage. He too is to go to the same Summer camp where he is to meet his future bride, however when they come face to face he realises that Dimple’s parents have failed to mention the arrangement to her. Her future of computer programming seems to be slipping from her grasp at lightening speed.

This book was great it is told in dual perspective and the chapters are just the right length. The writing is easy to read and with the dual narrative you don’t get bored.

Going in to this book I had very little knowledge of Indian culture and arranged marriages as it’s not something that I have read about. This is a positive light on arranged marriages rather than the awful experiences that you hear about. I felt the impact that their culture had on these individuals to carry on with the traditions as expected of them.

I loved the characters Dimple and Rishi,they were different yet so right for each other. Dimple was head strong, determined to make a future out of something she loved and living her life as she wanted rather than expectations. She found her mother over-bearing at times as she was forceful in her suggestions. I loved that Dimple was a nerd, nowadays it’s cool to be one and be different from others and I see that now that I am older but not necessarily when I was a teenager.

Rishi was adorable, he was funny,nerdy and also really talented. He wanted to please his parents by doing what they thought best in his school work but when it came to LOVE, Rishi wanted to follow his culture, have an arranged marriage and children. This was firmly his decision and he such passion when he talked about his culture and the times he visited India.

There were a couple of reasons that I didn’t rate this book a 5 stars and they were; I didn’t really like Ashish’s storyline. The plot was a little predictable, it had great feels in the middle but then it fizzled out as I was getting frustrated with Dimples stubbornness.

This book was great it’s a perfect summer/beach read, I loved the characters, the feels that I got from Menon’s writing and the fulfillment of learning something new. I hope this isn’t the last we see from her as she can only continue to get better.

I rated this 4 out of 5 stars