From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon
Rating: 4/5
The author of When Dimple Met Rishi does it again with another fun, cute, lighthearted read! Her characters are quirky and funny and just absolutely adorable! And let’s not forget the Bollywood references. From her debut, it was established that Sandhya Menon (like all of us) is a huge Bollywood nerd (I really want to have a marathon with her because I feel like she’d have really great commentary and she knows all the really good movies).
So this book is about an aspiring movie director named Twinkle who is super quirky and has REALLY low self esteem (as most high schoolers tend to have). Since this is a YA/teen novel I was fully prepared for all the little things that are usually for younger readers. This is also told in the form of journal entries—I haven’t read something like this in quite some time, but it was done very well, especially because I would consider this a middle-grade/YA romance novel.
Anyway, Twinkle is a great character not only because of her dreams and how charming she is, but because she also has flaws. Like, seriously, there were points where I wanted to go up to her and make her sit down and just for once, LISTEN. Pure romantic comedy material!
Then there’s Sahil. He’s adorable and hilarious and just so precious I wanted to hug him and tell him everything would be alright. He’s a twin, but his brother Neil is the cooler one. Guess which one Twinkle has a crush on? Yep. Neil. Manic pixie dream guy. Hey, that’s a thing too! I always love a little twist to a common trope!
But wait! There’s more! Twinkle also has a secret admirer! At this point, everyone can see that despite what Twinkle believes, she’s a real catch. She’s witty, charming, and adorable! It was just really funny tome to see how oblivious she was to that. Ah, high school. On top of that, Twinkle has friend drama. Now THIS, for me, was the most relatable part of the book. I never really had relationship drama and stuff like that, but being worried about friendships is something everyone at any age can relate to.
If you’ve read my review for When Dimple Met Rishi you’ll know I’m a sucker for cute, fluffy reads. Sandhya Menon does a great job diving into different relationships and really bringing out her characters. The dialogue is fun to read and overall, I felt really happy after reading this!
(This is for anyone who likes diverse characters, Bollywood, rom-coms, cute fluffy stuff, or YA contemporary!)
Star is All Booked Up 