From Twinkle, With Love - Sandhya Menon

Title: From Twinkle, With Love
Author: Sandhya Menon
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4 Stars

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Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra has stories she wants to tell and universes she wants to explore, if only the world would listen. So when fellow film geek Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a movie for the upcoming Summer Festival, Twinkle is all over it. The chance to publicly showcase her voice as a director? Dream come true. The fact that it gets her closer to her longtime crush, Neil Roy—a.k.a. Sahil’s twin brother? Dream come true x 2.

When mystery man “N” begins emailing her, Twinkle is sure it’s Neil, finally ready to begin their happily-ever-after. The only slightly inconvenient problem is that, in the course of movie-making, she’s fallen madly in love with the irresistibly adorkable Sahil.

Twinkle soon realizes that resistance is futile: The romance she’s got is not the one she’s scripted. But will it be enough?

Told through the letters Twinkle writes to her favorite female filmmakers, From Twinkle, with Love navigates big truths about friendship, family, and the unexpected places love can find you.

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Having just finished From Twinkle, With Love this morning, I feel everything so much still.  So, let me tell you all the things while they're still floating around fresh in my brain.

1. I LOVE THE SUPERNATURAL REFERENCES!  Seriously, I have just like a deep seated love for those Winchester boys, Castiel, the Wayward sisters, all the demon and ghost hunting, everything!  I mean, it's like:

2. I liked the development of the romance between Twinkle and Sahil.  It was slow, because Twinkle had a crush on Sahil's twin brother Neil.  However, Neil is secondary in this book - he's only in a small portion of the book, so it gave Sahil plenty of time to show why he really was a better match for Twinkle (and he really was - they both love movies, for one thing!)

3. There was some good character development with Sahil and Twinkle - they both changed and grew by the end of the book.  Twinkle especially was able to make some changes that were important for her.  She saw herself making some choices that weren't so flattering, then changed that attitude and worked to stop making such crappy choices.

4.  There was enough tension throughout the story that it made me want to keep reading.  I also liked the story enough that I wanted to find out what happened at the end - especially with Twinkle's secret email admirer!  The story flowed well and everything worked together well.

5. Draculass!  I loved the feminist changes to a patriarchal industry in this book!  See awesome gif above.

The only thing - and it's not really much of a thing - is that there always seems to be some drama in YA books.  HOWEVER, I think it works, because the drama wasn't really drama per se.  It was more just teenage stuff that seems to happen because teens are going through all sorts of weird shit anyway.  It was just teenagers trying to develop and learn and understand or misunderstand - and things worked out in the end.

I would recommend this book to any teen or YA lit lover who wants to read a fun lighthearted romance filled with Dracula, Supernatural references, and so much cuteness!