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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Finished reading: April 23rd 2020
“Sometimes I worry I don't know who I really am. Sometimes I'm afraid nothing I do will ever be enough to set me apart.”
Well hello, unpopular opinion review, I guess we meet again... I probably should have known! I really enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi back when I read it, and I've been wanting to try more of Sandhya Menon's books ever since. I was craving a cute contemporary, so I decided to pick up From Twinkle, With Love on a whim as I thought it would be exactly the story I needed at the time. I guess I was wrong! Sure, there is no doubt that this story is the typical cutesy contemporary romance read I was looking for... There were a few elements I loved, including a little insight in Indian culture, diverse characters and the whole film industry elements. BUT. There were also quite a few things that not only turned me off, but started to infuriate me. First of all, the love triangle (square?). Seriously, why o why do we have to deal with that?! It's like an overdose of cringeworthy romance cliches, and the whole secret admirer thing was so obvious that it made me feel even more annoyed that Twinkle never suspected anything. Talking about Twinkle, I absolutely hated her attitude and behavior towards others. The whole, 'I like him, but he isn't popular so I can't be with him because I need to be with someone who is' just disgusted me and I seriously feel bad for Sahil for having to put up with her at all. Talk about warped life priorities and not respecting others! And sure, the format was interesting with the diary entries and added texts, emails and such, but there were so many things that bothered me that I just couldn't properly appreciate it. In short, between the high school cliches, love square, despicable behavior of Twinkle and the writing sounding too forced, I really struggled reaching that final page... Oh yes, From Twinkle, With Love definitely didn't have that spark for me.
Twinkle Mehta is an aspiring filmmaker who has nothing to lose when an opportunity to make a film for her school festival falls in her lap. She had been growing more and more distant from her best friend Hannah, who had found a new rich, popular friend and had begun to ignore Twinkle. So Twinkle goes for it, partnering with Sahil Roy who acts as her producer, to create a version of Dracula with the genders reversed. As they create their film, Twinkle and Sahil become closer and closer.
Of course, we need a "BUT." The "but" in this story is Twinkle's longtime crush on Sahil's twin brother Neil. And then she starts getting emails from a secret admirer who signs them "N." The biggest barrier to Twinkle's happiness, though, is herself. Twinkle is obsessed with the social hierarchies in her school, calling herself a groundling and popular kids feather hat people. So as she begins to find herself interacting more and more with the popular kids because of her film, she becomes more and more obsessed with "showing them," leading, of course, to a falling out with Sahil, and with Hannah. Twinkle realizes her mistakes, and predictably repairs all the bridges she burns by the end of the book.
This is a pretty straightforward contemporary teen romance, but there are some refreshing things about it: Twinkle's feminism, Sahil's support, Sahil's friends whose personalities seemed fresh and inventive, and the depiction of a working class Indian family just trying to make it in America. This book had many similarities to Menon's first book, When Dimple Met Rishi, with a headstrong Indian girl whose arrogance got in the way of her own happiness, which in the end, she realizes and then fixes the situation. I'd like to see another attempt from Menon, who brings an important cultural perspective to the YA genre, that doesn't follow this well worn formula. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Of course, we need a "BUT." The "but" in this story is Twinkle's longtime crush on Sahil's twin brother Neil. And then she starts getting emails from a secret admirer who signs them "N." The biggest barrier to Twinkle's happiness, though, is herself. Twinkle is obsessed with the social hierarchies in her school, calling herself a groundling and popular kids feather hat people. So as she begins to find herself interacting more and more with the popular kids because of her film, she becomes more and more obsessed with "showing them," leading, of course, to a falling out with Sahil, and with Hannah. Twinkle realizes her mistakes, and predictably repairs all the bridges she burns by the end of the book.
This is a pretty straightforward contemporary teen romance, but there are some refreshing things about it: Twinkle's feminism, Sahil's support, Sahil's friends whose personalities seemed fresh and inventive, and the depiction of a working class Indian family just trying to make it in America. This book had many similarities to Menon's first book, When Dimple Met Rishi, with a headstrong Indian girl whose arrogance got in the way of her own happiness, which in the end, she realizes and then fixes the situation. I'd like to see another attempt from Menon, who brings an important cultural perspective to the YA genre, that doesn't follow this well worn formula. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Reading about Twinkle is a little painful - at first she's one of those wryly observant/sarcastic teens, then she becomes very strident and angry - and the unrealistic ending where everything seems to be ok between her, her friends and her new boyfriend just felt off given the compressed time frame. Also unrealistic for me were the diary entries, where she writes to various famous female film directors and addresses them by their full name. Wouldn't you say "Dear Sofia" instead of "Dear Sofia Coppola" in your personal diary?
This took a bit for me to get into. It was soooooooo HS. The crush, the BFF drama, the awkwardness, the 'Woe is me' angst, etc. so very HS and so stereotypical it made me cringe, laugh, and smh. I would have stopped reading it by like chapter two, if not for Books for the Beast (a YA reader's advisory conference in Maryland) and the fact her first book go so much praise. I powered through.
It was very amusing with a couple lil life lessons to boot. If it was a Disney channel movie, I could have made it through without cringing so much or smh at the mistakes they made. I still would have lol at the awkward moments. It was a great read.
The Indian culture that was in the book was completely natural and did not feel forced. It was just a part of Twinkle’s life, her story. The gay friends felt forced, like an afterthought. I liked the text messages and emails. They made it feel Epistolary. The supposed diary entries were Twinkle is writing to directors never really felt like letters. Only at the beginning of the diary entry and when she closed the “letter” did it ever feel like she was writing a letter to somebody. It did not really feel like a diary entry, either. It felt more like just a first POV novel.
I was considering reading her debut novel but when i was talking about this one with a coworker, she said this plot sound almost identical to When Dimple Met Rishi. Now if they made movies from her novels on Disney Channel, I would watch and enjoy them. If I was in middle or high school and liked romance novels, I would enjoy her novels. Def geared for girls though.
It was very amusing with a couple lil life lessons to boot. If it was a Disney channel movie, I could have made it through without cringing so much or smh at the mistakes they made. I still would have lol at the awkward moments. It was a great read.
The Indian culture that was in the book was completely natural and did not feel forced. It was just a part of Twinkle’s life, her story. The gay friends felt forced, like an afterthought. I liked the text messages and emails. They made it feel Epistolary. The supposed diary entries were Twinkle is writing to directors never really felt like letters. Only at the beginning of the diary entry and when she closed the “letter” did it ever feel like she was writing a letter to somebody. It did not really feel like a diary entry, either. It felt more like just a first POV novel.
I was considering reading her debut novel but when i was talking about this one with a coworker, she said this plot sound almost identical to When Dimple Met Rishi. Now if they made movies from her novels on Disney Channel, I would watch and enjoy them. If I was in middle or high school and liked romance novels, I would enjoy her novels. Def geared for girls though.
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This novel is absolutely adorable, yet cringe-worthy (but only in a relatable way), as it always seems to be the way with Sandhya Menon. Although I did want to slap some of the characters to make them think clearly at some point, I had a really great time reading this book and I’m officially sold on its author.
There are moments where I think I'm falling out of love with YA for the simple fact the decisions teenagers tend to make drive me bonkers. I really like Twinkle as a main character but sometimes the choices she makes just make me want to give her a shake. Sahil is an adorable love interest, and I can relate a lot to what Twinkle goes through in high school with her friends. This was cute!
I have really enjoyed the other books by this author, and this had some of those same lovable elements: a strong female character who is sure of what she wants, fun friends, and just strong characters, overall, that you want to see succeed. Also, the audiobook is great (although I kept thinking of Aru Shah since it's the same voice actress!)- not only for pronunciations, but just for giving every character life.
What I didn't like about this book was that I literally had to stop listening to the audiobook and switch to the ebook because it became such a cringe-inducing teen melodrama (and came kind of out of nowhere?); I needed to give myself distance and read the text at my own pace. The literary equivalent of fast-forwarding through the embarrassing part of a movie. I think it's a really talented move to write a book where you eventually stop trusting the main character's perspective and start wondering if she is wholly reliable, but it's also like watching someone you like make a series of bad choices and not being able to stop them. Not entirely enjoyable.
What I didn't like about this book was that I literally had to stop listening to the audiobook and switch to the ebook because it became such a cringe-inducing teen melodrama (and came kind of out of nowhere?); I needed to give myself distance and read the text at my own pace. The literary equivalent of fast-forwarding through the embarrassing part of a movie. I think it's a really talented move to write a book where you eventually stop trusting the main character's perspective and start wondering if she is wholly reliable, but it's also like watching someone you like make a series of bad choices and not being able to stop them. Not entirely enjoyable.
Okay! I thought i'd write a real review.
From twinkle with love is written in a diary but you get here and there snippets of Sahil's point of view through his texts with his two friends Skid and Aaron and his own posts on a film review kind of blog. But those Sahil moments are few but enlightening.
What I adored the most about this book is the friendships. There are strong ones like Sahil and his two friends. There are ones needing work like Twinkle and Maddie. There are new ones like Twinkle and Victoria. There's also friends to lovers like Twinkle and Sahil. There's this importance behind friendship that I adored. It got me so invested in the characters and their well-being. Not once did I think an interaction was boring. Even Nath, a lowkey kind of character who does play a big part, was a fun kind of friend to have around. Especially since Nath and Twinkle's interactions made me laugh my ass off over how clueless Twinkle is.
Twinkle as a heroine is such a delight. She's an excellent writer but wow, she's got absolutely no idea what's going on. She is a bit single minded but that's to be expected. She wants one thing: to be noticed. She begins to gain that recognition with the movie Sahil and she work on but her ultimate goal is get her best friend back. Maddie and Twinkle's friendship is at a point where they don't hang out that much because of M's popularity. So, T finds herself feeling very bad about it. Some problems do come up and I loved how Menon handled the friendships in a way that a fight didn't entirely ruin it for me. At the end of the day, I believed that there could be a real solution to it all.
Sahil and Twinkle were.... *chef's kiss* marvelous. Although the book spans 30 days in T's life, there's so much happening. Thanks to Sahil's proactive behavior. Sahil and Twinkle are very similar. They both want to be noticed and come out of the shadows. Except S's way doesn't include changing who he is. T however messes up and forgets who she is at times. What I loved about S and T's friendship and courtship is that he always challenged her to be better, as she did him. They had interactions where they would talk about the things they loved and had arguments but ultimately resolved things because they were there for one another...
I just get really sappy...
This book is probably on my list of favorite YA I've read in 2018... It's that good. Menon comes back with an even more compelling and engaging story that combines the experience of poverty as an Indian American girl with the modern take of ambition and breaking the mold. You'll love T's Dadi so much. I know I did.
From twinkle with love is written in a diary but you get here and there snippets of Sahil's point of view through his texts with his two friends Skid and Aaron and his own posts on a film review kind of blog. But those Sahil moments are few but enlightening.
What I adored the most about this book is the friendships. There are strong ones like Sahil and his two friends. There are ones needing work like Twinkle and Maddie. There are new ones like Twinkle and Victoria. There's also friends to lovers like Twinkle and Sahil. There's this importance behind friendship that I adored. It got me so invested in the characters and their well-being. Not once did I think an interaction was boring. Even Nath, a lowkey kind of character who does play a big part, was a fun kind of friend to have around. Especially since Nath and Twinkle's interactions made me laugh my ass off over how clueless Twinkle is.
Twinkle as a heroine is such a delight. She's an excellent writer but wow, she's got absolutely no idea what's going on. She is a bit single minded but that's to be expected. She wants one thing: to be noticed. She begins to gain that recognition with the movie Sahil and she work on but her ultimate goal is get her best friend back. Maddie and Twinkle's friendship is at a point where they don't hang out that much because of M's popularity. So, T finds herself feeling very bad about it. Some problems do come up and I loved how Menon handled the friendships in a way that a fight didn't entirely ruin it for me. At the end of the day, I believed that there could be a real solution to it all.
Sahil and Twinkle were.... *chef's kiss* marvelous. Although the book spans 30 days in T's life, there's so much happening. Thanks to Sahil's proactive behavior. Sahil and Twinkle are very similar. They both want to be noticed and come out of the shadows. Except S's way doesn't include changing who he is. T however messes up and forgets who she is at times. What I loved about S and T's friendship and courtship is that he always challenged her to be better, as she did him. They had interactions where they would talk about the things they loved and had arguments but ultimately resolved things because they were there for one another...
I just get really sappy...
This book is probably on my list of favorite YA I've read in 2018... It's that good. Menon comes back with an even more compelling and engaging story that combines the experience of poverty as an Indian American girl with the modern take of ambition and breaking the mold. You'll love T's Dadi so much. I know I did.