Book Review :: From Twinkle, With Love, by Sandhya Menon

From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon
ISBN: 9781473678736
Published by Hachette NZ
on 22nd May 2018
Genres: Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Source: Hachette Publishing NZ
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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?

Last updated on 14 April 2023

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What is From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon about?

Much like Menon’s other novel, When Dimple Met Rishi, From Twinkle With Love is a lovely story with a young Indian protagonist and a great cast of characters.Twinkle (great name) is an aspiring film maker, so when Sahil Roy puts forward the idea of creating a film together for the upcoming Midsummmer Night festival, Twinkle can’t help but say yes.

What follows is a journey of everything that comes with filmmaking: the story/plot, figuring out the setting, buying props and costumes, casting the characters. And it’s those very characters that will play such a big role in Twinkle’s life. Maddie was her best friend, but now Maddie has latched onto Hannah, who hangs out with the ‘popular girls’; there’s Sahil, who is her producer and her way to get to her crush (his twin brother) Neil; and then there are Sahil’s friends, too, only adding to the long list of characters.

All are involved in the film somehow, and all bring their own teenage dramas. Things aren’t great at home for Twinkle either, but she tries to put all her focus on the festival and making the best film she can.

Along the way, there are secrets, scandals, miscommunications, lies, rumours, embarrassing moments, fits of anger and an abundance of fights. But there’s also friendship, a secret email admirer, the promise of Neil coming home from swim camp, and slightly unwanted growing feelings for a certain someone. Twinkle battles the ups and downs of high school, home life and first loves.

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My thoughts on From Twinkle, With Love

I really enjoyed this book. Menon writes From Twinkle, With Love in letter form, which is something I really detest reading. But somehow this was perfect for this story. Twinkle writes a diary as she documents her story, but she writes each entry to a female filmmaker and puts in enough detail about conversations and happenings so it feels like you’re not really reading a letter. The other thing Menon does is intersperse Twinkle’s letters with chat conversations between Sahil and his friends, and a few online entries of Sahil’s for a blog he writes but no one reads.

The characters in this book were your typical teens – you had the popular girls who threw parties that you had to get an invite for, there was a hot guy every girl drooled over, the best friend who meant well but could have been a better friend, the boy who likes the girl but doesn’t have the confidence to tell her, the crazy grandmother who thinks her dead husband’s soul is now in the dog…you know, the usual.

“Geeks are smart and talented and passionate. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Sahil was a really sweet leading man in this tale, and while I liked Twinkle at the beginning and then right at the end, the middle part infuriated me. But I guess that’s the point – character growth and all that jazz.

I’m enjoying the way Menon takes these young women with dreams and gives them something to work towards. Both From Twinkle, With Love and When Dimple Met Rishi are about Indian girls who have a love of the arts/creative scene in some way, and long to break out of the mould that their families and society has placed on them.

If you’ve read When Dimple Met Rishi or you enjoyed any of these stories, then From Twinkle, With Love might just be your cup of tea.

Have you read this book? Others by Menon?

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Thank you to Hachette Publishing NZ for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.