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twirlingpages 's review for:
From Twinkle, with Love
by Sandhya Menon
2.5/5 – i can't decide if i love it or hate it. the process of reading it was so frustrating, but i appreciated other aspects.
things i loved:
(1) the diversity!! okay, yeah, DUH. From Twinkle With Love has amazing indian-american rep and doesn't disappoint in this aspect.
(2) twinkle's passion for films! i love seeing characters who are REALLY passionate about something because i feel like we rarely see that. it's usually a side comment in media. it's frustrating because my teen life revolved around What I Want to Be When I Grow Up but you never see that. but this!! was the star of the show.
(3) the last chapter aka the last four pages. they were so great!! but enough to redeem the other 300+? kinda questionable.
things i didn't love:
(1) twinkle. i'm more of a character-driven book type of person; if i don't like the main character, there's a problem. i couldn't get over twinkle's insecurities and obsession with wanting to be friends with someone because they're popular, or downgrading herself/others because they were unpopular. it all felt extremely sad and juvenile. especially since it was such a Big Thing in the book! at one point, i thought to myslef, "if i hear the word 'groundling' one more time..." it's so frustrating when twinkle is so oblivious to like, everything. at one point, i realized o really pitied twinkle for her opinions and actions and that made me reaaaaaaally sad.
(2) the rest of the characters?? i found it hard to connect with anyone and everyone just felt plastic. some things felt overdramatic and lacked depth. the romantic relationship was cute, but also very frustrating; the frienships were heartfelt, but also very frustrating. see a pattern?
(3) the unnecessary drama?? a lot of it felt so so childish. i can't tell if i'm growing out of YA (i AM getting old...) or if some of this just reads as middle-grade. some of the things felt really petty and left me thinking, "does this really happen? is it really that bad?" of course, it's meant to make the story more interesting, the characters grow more, etc etc but like??? yeah.
i'm really sad i didn't enjoy this more because i really REALLY wanted to like it. this was actually one of my most anticipated books of 2018. maybe my expectations were too high.
things i loved:
(1) the diversity!! okay, yeah, DUH. From Twinkle With Love has amazing indian-american rep and doesn't disappoint in this aspect.
(2) twinkle's passion for films! i love seeing characters who are REALLY passionate about something because i feel like we rarely see that. it's usually a side comment in media. it's frustrating because my teen life revolved around What I Want to Be When I Grow Up but you never see that. but this!! was the star of the show.
(3) the last chapter aka the last four pages. they were so great!! but enough to redeem the other 300+? kinda questionable.
things i didn't love:
(1) twinkle. i'm more of a character-driven book type of person; if i don't like the main character, there's a problem. i couldn't get over twinkle's insecurities and obsession with wanting to be friends with someone because they're popular, or downgrading herself/others because they were unpopular. it all felt extremely sad and juvenile. especially since it was such a Big Thing in the book! at one point, i thought to myslef, "if i hear the word 'groundling' one more time..." it's so frustrating when twinkle is so oblivious to like, everything. at one point, i realized o really pitied twinkle for her opinions and actions and that made me reaaaaaaally sad.
(2) the rest of the characters?? i found it hard to connect with anyone and everyone just felt plastic. some things felt overdramatic and lacked depth. the romantic relationship was cute, but also very frustrating; the frienships were heartfelt, but also very frustrating. see a pattern?
(3) the unnecessary drama?? a lot of it felt so so childish. i can't tell if i'm growing out of YA (i AM getting old...) or if some of this just reads as middle-grade. some of the things felt really petty and left me thinking, "does this really happen? is it really that bad?" of course, it's meant to make the story more interesting, the characters grow more, etc etc but like??? yeah.
i'm really sad i didn't enjoy this more because i really REALLY wanted to like it. this was actually one of my most anticipated books of 2018. maybe my expectations were too high.