From Twinkle, With Love

Sandhya Menon, author of When Dimple Met Rishi, is back with her sophomore novel, all about a young Indian-American filmmaker who finds unexpected love while remaking a classic movie, Dracula, for a school festival. This book is adorable, full of great film references, and will transport you right back to the highs and lows of high school.

Twinkle is not the most popular girl in school, by far, but she’s got a best friend who’s like a sister and she cannot wait to be a full-time filmmaker. But then Maddie starts hanging out with the more popular girls, and Twinkle is determined to lose her “groundling” status and stand out. Enter Sahil, a fellow film enthusiast who convinces Twinkle to direct a movie, a remake of Dracula, for the school’s Midsummer Night festival at the end of June. She agrees, and they are off to the races, buying costumes and props, casting their friends in the lead rolls, and discovering things about themselves and those around them they won’t easily be able to shake when filming is done. While all this is happening, Twinkle is juggling her complicated friendship with Maddie and a secret admirer who won’t reveal himself to her until the time is right. Is this secret admirer her key to popularity, or is he causing her to overlook the love that has been right under her nose the whole time?

Okay, let’s be real here. I binge-read this book. It was adorable and fun and I loved it. Sandhya Menon captures high school relationships and emotions so well and transports them on to the page magically. I also love her inclusion of Desi culture and how easily she weaves it into the text, including the language, to make it accessible to non-Desi readers but also instructional in many ways.  There are some real laugh-out loud moments in this book, and the awkwardness of Twinkle and Sahil at some points is hilarious. For the record, I saw the resolution of who N was coming from the beginning, but I don’t think it was supposed to be the center of this plot, so I didn’t mind too much. I’m just really glad a lot of the friendship issues got resolved in the end.

Overall, Sandhya Menon does YA contemporary SO WELL and I cannot wait for her next book. Pick up From Twinkle, With Love wherever books are sold when it goes on sale on May 22nd, 2018.