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nematome 's review for:
From Twinkle, with Love
by Sandhya Menon
3 1/2 stars
At sixteen, Twinkle dreams of becoming a filmmaker who cracks the glass ceiling for women of color and inspires other girls to aim high. Inside her mind, she’s a powerful director, bringing her vision to life. On the outside, she’s the quiet girl who can’t ever seem to stand up for herself: not to her supposed BFF Maddie who’s been abandoning her more and more, not to her years-long crush, Neil, who calls her by the wrong name, and especially not to her workaholic parents who don’t seem to care about her dreams. When Neil’s shy and nerdy twin, Sahil, offers to produce her debut film for the student showcase, she decides to finally share her voice with the world, and she finds herself falling for Sahil more and more in the process.
There are no brooding boys in this book, no creepy sleep-watching, no subtle pressuring. Instead of your beauty makes me barely able to maintain control, we get your beauty inspires me to maintain healthy boundaries and respectfully listen to your thoughts and opinions. Sahil will fill your days with tiny, thoughtful kindnesses and vulnerable honesty. He’ll apologize when he’s wrong and call you on your bullshit (in a kind way). Rejoice! This decade’s sparkly vampire appears to be the thoughtful, sensitive dork! The romance here is gratifyingly healthy.
Another thing that I love about this book is its format. Twinkle writes each chapter as a letter to a famous female filmmaker, and her voice is witty but also sweet and engaging. In its better moments, this book really reminded me of E. Lockhart's Ruby Oliver series – it’s such a nice mix of high school drama and more serious topics like feminism and representation.
Where this book lost me was when it stopped being so realistic and started being much more…twinkly. When everyone started sincerely apologizing to each other (even when it was completely out of character), holding hands, watching rosy-hued film montages, and singing kumbaya…this felt way more like a fairy tale than realistic fiction. Friendships end sometimes. Anger can destroy relationships, but sometimes we all just need to GET ANGRY. I wish this had ended a bit more realistically.
However, I think that there are a million teens ready and waiting for this book. My students loved When Dimple Met Rishi, and I think they’ll love this one even more. Twinkle is sweet and quirky, and I know her romance with awkward Sahil will launch a thousand ships.
At sixteen, Twinkle dreams of becoming a filmmaker who cracks the glass ceiling for women of color and inspires other girls to aim high. Inside her mind, she’s a powerful director, bringing her vision to life. On the outside, she’s the quiet girl who can’t ever seem to stand up for herself: not to her supposed BFF Maddie who’s been abandoning her more and more, not to her years-long crush, Neil, who calls her by the wrong name, and especially not to her workaholic parents who don’t seem to care about her dreams. When Neil’s shy and nerdy twin, Sahil, offers to produce her debut film for the student showcase, she decides to finally share her voice with the world, and she finds herself falling for Sahil more and more in the process.
There are no brooding boys in this book, no creepy sleep-watching, no subtle pressuring. Instead of your beauty makes me barely able to maintain control, we get your beauty inspires me to maintain healthy boundaries and respectfully listen to your thoughts and opinions. Sahil will fill your days with tiny, thoughtful kindnesses and vulnerable honesty. He’ll apologize when he’s wrong and call you on your bullshit (in a kind way). Rejoice! This decade’s sparkly vampire appears to be the thoughtful, sensitive dork! The romance here is gratifyingly healthy.
Another thing that I love about this book is its format. Twinkle writes each chapter as a letter to a famous female filmmaker, and her voice is witty but also sweet and engaging. In its better moments, this book really reminded me of E. Lockhart's Ruby Oliver series – it’s such a nice mix of high school drama and more serious topics like feminism and representation.
Where this book lost me was when it stopped being so realistic and started being much more…twinkly. When everyone started sincerely apologizing to each other (even when it was completely out of character), holding hands, watching rosy-hued film montages, and singing kumbaya…this felt way more like a fairy tale than realistic fiction. Friendships end sometimes. Anger can destroy relationships, but sometimes we all just need to GET ANGRY. I wish this had ended a bit more realistically.
However, I think that there are a million teens ready and waiting for this book. My students loved When Dimple Met Rishi, and I think they’ll love this one even more. Twinkle is sweet and quirky, and I know her romance with awkward Sahil will launch a thousand ships.