From Twinkle, with Love

Told through letters, aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra learns a lesson about love while directing a movie for the Midsummer Night festival, in which her longtime crush and his twin brother are also participating. I love this cover it’s so attractive and fun AND the girl on the cover looks like Deepika Padukone! I started reading the book and the author’s reference to Shaandaar made me so happy! It’s one of my favorite movies. I watched in on a plane while traveling and when I got home I watched it three times back-to-back on Starz! It’s such a good movie.

And once again Sandhya Menon has successfully packed a Bollywood blockbuster into a book only this time less dancing. LEMME TELL YOU HOW WONDERFUL IT IS TO HAVE TWO BOOKS ABOUT THE INDIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. IT IS VERY WONDERFUL.

This book is just infused with diversity. We’ve got a whole host of brown people, biracial characters, a bi character, a gay character, MORE? Yeah for sure. It’s so nice to see casual diversity. I don’t need a book talking about the struggles of being a minority. Sometimes I just want to see minorities living their happy and complicated lives by themselves without overanalysis and symbolism. This delivers.

Here’s another “unlikeable” character whose supposed lack of charm comes from ambition and insecurities. I have to say I related 100%. Half the time I was yelling OHMYGOD THATS ME at this book. I thought Twinkle was incredibly well rounded as a person, emotive and dynamic and temperamental, just like every other person I’ve met. I loved her.

Twinkle’s family dynamic is also super different from Dimple. Sure both are from poor immigrant families but they are SOOOOOO not the same. Like not at all.

The romance was fluffy and sweet and like eating several spoonfuls of Nutella at once. My teeth hurt but do I regret it? Hell no. I need a good dose of fluffy, everything-works-out-in-the-end romance once in a while. This was it. I love it so much. So much.

For those of you expecting this to be an introspective analysis on Indian American Culture and finding this falling short, please have several seats. This IS Indian American Culture. It’s not all about celebrating Diwali and dancing and struggling with helicopter parents and standing out by being aggressively Indian. Sometimes it’s about fitting in and wanting to be one of the crowd and having regular ambitions. If you’re going to expect every book by a POC to deliver a hefty dose of struggle you need to reevaluate. POC can live their lives without being teachers to everyone. This book is exemplifying that. It’s not a teaching moment. It’s a life. One of many.

About the name Twinkle. If people can name their kids Rainbow and Blue then Twinkle can also be a name. Indian names range from Sanskrit and Arabic origins to flowers and just words sometimes. Why this is a hill people choose to die on I have no idea.

Long story short, this was beautiful. I love Sandhya Menon’s writing. It’s clear she’s stepped up her game and I can’t wait to see what fluff she has in store for us next.

I loved every single thing about this story <3 Twinkle was absolutely me when I was in high school, and I love that as Twinkle’s friendship with Maddie soured, her friendship with Sahil blossomed. The death/growth of their relationships was so well done <3 And I loved watching Twinkle grow into herself as a film direction, even while making mistakes that almost soured the whole thing. The fact that almost all of the tension came from Twinkle’s choices rather than an outside force was excellent, and while I was hesitant about the journal-format at first, it was the perfect way to the tell the story, especially with the texts/emails/blog posts interspersed. If you want a quick read that will leave your heart happy, TWINKLE is it!

This book is absolutely fabulous and is an easy 5 star rating!!! I laughed out loud several times (which is unusual for me) and really enjoyed the characters voice. The story follows Twinkle through ups and downs as she sort of ‘finds herself’ amongst her friends, her love, and her passion. The character is in high school and her voice on the page fits that age this is not a 25 year old masquerading as a 15 year old. The messaging is really positive, and all the major characters grow in the story.

Twinkle wants to be a director and writes in her journal to famous female directors she admires. But It doesnt feel as a book written in a journal though, more an odd quirk at the beginning of each paragraph. One of my favorite parts of this story was the complicated friendships that a a huge part of life, it felt realistic in a way few books capture, also the insecurities the characters felt. It was good and it was a fun, fast book to read!

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