From Twinkle, With Love — Sandhya Menon (ARC Review)

May 21, 2018

From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon

TITLE: From Twinkle, With Love
AUTHOR: Sandhya Menon
RELEASES: May 22nd, 2018; Simon Pulse
GENRE: Contemporary
AGE RANGE: YA
SYNOPSIS: 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.

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DNF @ 51%

There are some extremely important benefits to this book. It features an Indian protagonist who is incredibly feminist and her views on the world and the patriarchy are so refreshing, and sweet, and really lovely. I loved the passion she felt for her filmmaking and the fact that she wanted to become a filmmaker so that she could change the world.

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I also really loved Sahil for his geekiness and his full support of her vision. Whenever she goes on rants about the patriarchy, he doesn’t even miss a beat, and I loved that, too, as I’m always saying that YA contemporary stories need more feminist guys!

All of the good stuff aside, I personally could not get into this book. The first 15-20% was adorable – I laughed out loud multiple times, smiled from ear to ear, and it gave me all the warm fuzzies. Once it hit about the 20% mark, though, Twinkle became a little bit unbearable. Unfortunately, this is a complaint I have heard many times about Sandhya Menon’s debut novel’s protagonist, too, but I haven’t read that one and can’t comment on the comparisons.

Twinkle becomes really self-centered regarding not only her filmmaking (such as getting into multiple arguments with Sahil over minor things like props, totally belittling his opinions as he’s “just the producer”, and then never apologizing for it even though she admits to herself that she was being unfair), but also her relationship with Sahil. It’s brutally obvious from the beginning that he has feelings for her, and even when she recognizes them and starts to reciprocate, she drags him along and treats him pretty poorly, all because his twin brother (who hardly knows she exists) is a “popular kid” and she wants to get in with the popular group.

Between her attitude, and the fact that the plot itself was really bland outside of her exchanges with Sahil or her grandmother (the only likable characters in the book, truly), I finally had to call it a day on this one at 51%. I’m still giving it 3 stars because, like I said, it has some very important values to offer, but all in all, it was definitely not for me.

One last thing: the writing and dialogue are both extremely “young”. Twinkle is supposed to be 16, surrounded by 17-year-olds, as far as I understand, but I constantly found myself thinking these teens (aside from Sahil) act like they’re more in the 13-14 range. That said, I did not take any points off because I don’t agree with down-rating a YA book for featuring teens that act “young” (after all, teens are young people!), but if you don’t like that writing style, I’d pass on this one.

Thank you so much to Simon Pulse for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, reading, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

Leave a comment
    1. I am a little skeptical about this book. I tried reading when Dimple Met Rishi but I couldn’t get into it. This books sounds interesting since the main character is into film making. From what I read from your review, I don’t know how much I’m going to like it.

      1. If you do pick it up, I really hope you enjoy it! I can’t compare it to WDMR yet, but it looks like I may have to read that for my summer class, and if I do, I’ll have to let you know what I think of the two compared to one another!

        1. It’s coming in one of the subscription boxes next month so I’m going to give it a try. I do like that the main character does film making. I am interested to see what you think of WDMR esp since you might have to read it for your summer class. I saw your instagram story about it and it sounds interesting. I can’t wait to see your reading list.

          1. Thanks, babe! ♥ It makes me feel really good that you’re interested in seeing the list – when I made the story it got mostly positive replies, but it didn’t get very many votes? So I couldn’t tell if a lot of people just missed the poll or if they didn’t want to hurt my feelings, LMAO!

    1. I felt the same way with When Dimple Met Rishi. One of the main reasons why I didn’t like it was because Dimple came across as a bit mean. It sounds like the same thing with this book. Great review!

          1. Thanks girl, me too! :/ I’m just hoping they don’t change the reading, period. I’ve already gotten so many of these freaking books from the library and if I have to send them all back and get different ones, it’s gonna be so irritating…

          1. I definitely want to stay in the Rebel family! I’ve loved mine – it’s just getting old and beaten up. I looked on amazon a few days ago and was SHOCKED by how much their prices have dropped! When I bought mine, the t2i had just released, so it was outdated by 1 model, and it was $900 for just the camera body and kit lens and strap. A few days ago, I saw a much newer version with the kit lens, a macro lens, another spare lens, a mini tripod, a strap, a big case with pockets, and a cleaning doohickey, and I think some other stuff… for like $350-400! I was like, WHAT?! Lol!

            1. DAMN! That is a steal! lol. I might have to hit up Amazon and get some camera equipment! lol. Do you use your camera for your bookstagram?

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