From Twinkle, With Love
by Sandhya Menon
Published on May 22nd 2018
by Simon Pulse
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss
Goodreads
Also by this author: When Dimple Met Rishi
Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra has stories she wants to tell and universes she wants to explore, if only the world would listen. So when fellow film geek Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a movie for the upcoming Summer Festival, Twinkle is all over it. The chance to publicly showcase her voice as a director? Dream come true. The fact that it gets her closer to her longtime crush, Neil Roy—a.k.a. Sahil’s twin brother? Dream come true x 2.
When mystery man “N” begins emailing her, Twinkle is sure it’s Neil, finally ready to begin their happily-ever-after. The only slightly inconvenient problem is that, in the course of movie-making, she’s fallen madly in love with the irresistibly adorkable Sahil.
Twinkle soon realizes that resistance is futile: The romance she’s got is not the one she’s scripted. But will it be enough?
Told through the letters Twinkle writes to her favorite female filmmakers, From Twinkle, with Love navigates big truths about friendship, family, and the unexpected places love can find you.
I’ll admit, I’m a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed this book! But after loving When Dimple Met Rishi an unreasonable amount, I kind of… expected more from this?? There’s a lot to love in this book for sure, but there were a few things that let me down so I’m going to make lists! We all love lists, right?
What I Liked:
• The writing. I love Sandhya’s style of story telling. She has a way with words that feels kind of effortless. She knows how to pace a story and bring a balance between emotional moments and light and humorous ones. This book is told in a very different style than her first book though. This one is told from first person POV with Twinkle telling the story through diary entries addressed to her favorite female directors. And throughout we have Sahil’s texts to his friends and his blog posts in between to get his perspective a bit too. And I quite liked that.
• How adorable it was. From Twinkle, With Love was all kinds of adorable. It just made my heart so happy. Twinkle and Sahil were so cute together and both so nerdy and passionate about films and I loved that! I shipped them so much right from the start. Their scenes together were some of my favorite moments in the book.
• Sahil. I don’t know how Sandhya does it but she just writes the most kind and adorkable boys ever and I just want to hug Sahil okay? He’s so gentle and sweet and I adored him to pieces.
• The diversity. So much diversity here! How can you not love it. The main character is an Indian-American girl, the love interest is half Indian too, there are gay characters in the background (whom I would love a book from, tbh), I think Maddie is at least half Asian? I’m not entirely sure so correct me if I’m wrong. But yay diversity!
What I Didn’t Like:
• How young it felt. When Dimple Met Rishi was set in the summer before college and I loved that! From Twinkle, With Love is set in high school, Twinkle is sixteen and it just… felt so much younger to me? At times it just felt like a Disney Channel Original movie and I just didn’t… connect with it at all. It just had a much younger feel to it and it made me feel a bit old at times.
• All. The. Drama. So yeah. Teens in high school = drama, right? Of course. And I get it. Being a teenager comes with a lot of drama but I just wasn’t here for it this time. At all. Some of it felt overdone and could have been avoided. Like it was just added just for the sake of more drama in the story. And I am not a fan of that.
• The romance & love square. Yeah… it’s one of those things… Don’t get me wrong, I loved Twinkle and Sahil together and their romance was super cute and I shipped it. But I felt the love square wasn’t necessary at all. There’s Twinkle’s neverending crush on Sahil’s much more popular twin brother Neil and her secret admirer N. And it just annoyed me the whole time. It took away a lot of my enjoyment.
• Twinkle. Okay, so she’s sixteen and people, especially teens, tend to make mistakes but Twinkle’s behaviour and choices just annoyed me so much! Like her reasoning for keeping Sahil back and ignoring what’s growing between him and her, was just straight-up frustrating. I didn’t really connect with her at all because of that. She frustrated and annoyed me more than she charmed me. So sadly, she didn’t win me over.
Overall:
From Twinkle, With Love was a light and fluffy read that, sadly, did not meet my expectations. Still, despite my frustrations and annoyances, I still recommend this if you’re looking for a light, fluffy, adorable contemporary and if you enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi. This is, after all, still only my humble opinion.
Bee
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Aw no! I’m sorry you didn’t love this one as much as Dimple, Bee. It can be hard to read another book by an author who wrote something you really loved.
To be honest, I don’t really gravitate towards YA set in high school. In fact, I can’t really think of the last one I read. The contemporaries I usually read are set during summer break (which somehow feels less drama-intense, even if the characters are sixteen) or between the end of high school and the start of college. OR the school-ness isn’t a big part of the book. But I still recognise the need for high school based stories! The teens who are going through this stuff would certainly relate to it more than I do.
I’m glad you found positives, even though there were a few things you weren’t 100% on board with!
Twitter: Greg L Hill
There’s been a lot of hype for this so I’m not surprised to see some other opinions coming out, and that’s good. The drama and how young it felt, I can totally see that with the protagonists age in this one. Glad the diversity is done well though!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yeah, I think it would be better for a younger audience that can relate more. I never had this kind of drama in my life so I can’t relate and any romance that has more than two people involved just frustrates me. xD
Twitter: avalinahsbooks
Despite how hyped it was, I decided not to request it, cause it’s probably not a book for me – your review makes me think I was correct 🙂 and it’s also exactly the reasons I would not have enjoyed it. But I can see how a certain audience would love this story even with those things that are drawbacks for us 🙂
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yeah, I think it might be better for a younger audience. xD
I tried the first chapter of this book through the Amazon Preview and I already agree with your review regarding the immaturity of the narrator. I didn’t gel with her sense of humour either, but I do commend the author for writing a vastly different voice to Dimple’s. I’ll still pick this one up at some stage through the library. Excellent review!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yeah, through the library may be your best bet with this one.
My reaction to this book was mixed as well. There were some things I really enjoyed about it, like Sahil, but then others that drove me crazy, like the love square. It was an entertaining read overall but When Dimple Met Rishi is definitely my favorite of the two books.
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Definitely!
Twitter: Lauren817
Awww, I’m sorry that you didn’t enjoy this one as much as her first. That’s what always makes me worried about reading author’s second books when I loved their first. Like on one side I’m like yes, more!! and on the other side I’m like wait what if I hate this…The writing/format appeals to me here. I love when books use a mixed media format. But a love square? Eek that sounds 2 people too large…I’d probably be annoyed too. Great review!!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yeah though most people don’t seem to be bothered by it?? So maybe it’s just me?
This review pains me to read, because I was such a big fan of Menon’s debut. I have to like the MCs to enjoy the story, and you’re saying you didn’t like Twinkle has me worried. I hope I like it more than you did.
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Maybe just lower your expectations a bit? A lot of people loved this book AND related & loved Twinkle so it could be just me. 🙂
Twitter: Sara M Slattery
I’ve seen a few reviews saying a lot of the same stuff you mentioned, especially about the drama and the love square type situation. I’m not entirely sure if I’ll read this but I’m kind of curious now. lol
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Hey maybe you’ll love it! Lots of people seem to anyway. 🙂
Aw, so sorry this one is a miss for you Bee! I agree with pretty much everything in this review, although I do admit that I was a bit more empathetic with Twinkle’s struggles since she IS rather young, and I do remember how it was like in high school myself lol. Awesome review still!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Maybe I’m just too old XD Though my life was entirely different when I was sixteen. I never had the same struggles as her so it was harder to relate to her for me.
Twitter: 1974
Awww, I’m sad that this one didn’t live up to the first book. 🙁
Sadly, I’ve heard many similar things about this one. I don’t think I would enjoy it, especially since I’m so picky with contemporary in general. The high school drama wasn’t something I was interested in while in actual high school, so it’ll definitely be a hard pass now 😂
Twitter: morteana
I love the idea of this book, but I had a feeling it was gonna be drama heavy. Judging by the “hint” email they just sent, I actually think this may be June’s OwlCrate…. But there’s so much beautiful diversity and I really want to support #OwnVoices authors and ack. :/
I like that it is diverse. So maybe some time I will consider it when I want a light, but somewhat drama filled read.
Twitter: CG Paper Fury
Well you already know I’m in complete agreement. 😂😂 I find love-squares really infuriating…plus I can’t imagine how she had Sahil actually really caring about her, but she didn’t reciprocate. 😭That’s my pet peeve in romance tropes is when one side loves the other waaay more.