From Twinkle, With Love Review: From Crushes to Filmmaking, Twinkle Knows What She Wants

August 24, 2018 by Jeann @ Happy Indulgence | 3 stars, Books, Reviews

From Twinkle, With Love Review: From Crushes to Filmmaking, Twinkle Knows What She WantsFrom Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon
Published by Hachette Australia, Hodder & Stoughton on May 22, 2018
Source: Publisher
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
Amazon | Book Depository | Publisher | Booktopia
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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.

Sometimes you just crave a cute contemporary about crushes, love and figuring out your passion, and From Twinkle With Love definitely delivered when it came to all three aspects. As a teenager, it can be hard to figure out exactly what you want to do after you finish school, but it was inspiring to see Twinkle actually know what she wants to go and see her go for it with gusto.

Film making can be a hard industry to break into, especially for a young Indian female, but it was nice to see how determined and ambitious Twinkle was when it came to her passion. Sometimes you may be the only one into a hobby, who understands the passion that comes with it, but Twinkle finds in Sahil someone who shares the same passion. What results is a super cute relationship, as they fangirl over their favourite movies and begin to create a documentary of their senior year. It was frustrating to see that the only thing holding Twinkle back was her crush on his twin brother Neil just because he was popular.

While Sahil and Twinkle share lots of cute moments and it’s clear that they have feelings for one another, it was frustrating to see her lead him on for the sake of Neil, his identical twin brother. Not only does Twinkle have nothing in common with Neil, who is a sporty popular guy, she only wants to be with him so she can join the popular crowd at school and reignite the lost connection with her best friend. It was frustrating to see her leading him on then pushing him away, and how she even saw him as a tool to get closer to his brother, which was obviously very hurtful for Sahil. This conflict in itself was a key part of the book which was pretty annoying.

I also wasn’t a fan of the secret admirer plotline further adding to the romantic tension, as Twinkle receives emails from this secret admirer. Even though she has Sahil who she obviously likes, and shares a lot of chemistry with, she’s also pining away for who this secret admirer is. Why you would save yourself for someone who you don’t really know, when you have someone who is sweet, kind, caring and obviously handsome right in front of you, totally beats me but that’s exactly what Twinkle did.

Here was someone who was so passionate about his art, he refused to let small things like obscurity hold him back. He just leaped into it, somehow knowing he’d make it all work.

It’s clear that Twinkle obviously has a lot of flaws, and even though she knows exactly what she wants, sometimes she doesn’t realise that what you want may not be the best thing for you. The conflict that she had with her family not supporting her passion and film making career, constantly judging her for it and putting her down was also a source of frustration, but not unusual for traditional parents. I’m glad that she stood up to them when she got the chance because there can be nothing more frustrating than parents who don’t support you. In fact, Twinkle is so headstrong that she isn’t afraid to stand up to what she believes in and I thought that was an important trait.

From Twinkle, With Love is a super cute contemporary about pursuing your passion, despite your disconnect with your parents, the isolation when it comes to your previous friendships and making new connections with people who share what you love. It features an adorable romance and a headstrong girl who knows what she wants in life, and isn’t afraid to go for it. While I had a few frustrations with the conflict in the book, I enjoyed the romance overall and found it to be a worthwhile read.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Thanks to Hachette Australia for sending me a review copy!

From Twinkle With Love is available from Australian bookstores for RRP$19.99 or from The Book Depository.

Check out our discussion on When Dimple Met Rishi last year by the same author!

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Jeann is an Aussie YA blogger and mum who loves to read and recommend books! You can usually find me fangirling about books on my various social media channels including Tiktok@happyindulgence, Instagram and Youtube.

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2 responses to “From Twinkle, With Love Review: From Crushes to Filmmaking, Twinkle Knows What She Wants

  1. I pretty much felt the same way too Jeann, I really enjoyed it overall but I really didn’t like that Sahil was treated as a second option when it was clear they were attracted to one another. It could have worked well without the fourth party secret admirer. I liked Twinkle for the most part, at sixteen to be so headstrong and goal orientated is incredible and I really admired her strength but not her ability to compromise. It felt as though whenever anyone shared a different opinion, she whipped out her woman card and oppressed speech which lost it’s impact. I love the style of writing though and can’t wait to see what she’s working on next. Awesome review jeann, so glad you enjoyed it!

    I hope mum and bub are doing well ♡♡♡
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  2. Ahh I’m glad you liked it overall though! I admit I reeeeally struggled with the romance. I just felt so bad for Sahil?! Like if someone always treated me as a second-option and just the “fallback” sort of thing…I’d be so freaking mad and just OUT OF THERE. But at the same time, I get that Twinkle is 16 and I don’t ask YA books to always be full of mature decisions. I wasn’t the most mature teen either. But I don’t think love-squares are ever going to work for me lmao.

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