I received this book for free from Simon Pulse in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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.

So, even though When Dimple Met Rishi was one of my most anticipated books of 2017 and I winded up with two/three copies of it, I actually never ended up reading it. Of course, Sandhya Menon is a champ and regardless of whether or not I had read When Dimple Met Rishi, From Twinkle, With Love was already on my TBR and most anticipated for 2018. Of course, May went back, Twinkle came out and I still hadn’t read it because that’s WHO I AM. A PROCRASTINATOR. But. then. I decided to do a thing. I decided to read the GODDAMN BOOK and it was absolutely, 100% worth it. 

I think it is worth it to mention that I found that Twinkle wasn’t as easy to get into. It’s written exclusively in letters so it was more informal and a little younger than what I was expecting but once I got used to Twinkle’s voice, it was smooth sailing. 

WORDS are hard but anyway, From Twinkle, With Love is a coming-of-age story. Twinkle is struggling with figuring out changing friendships, crushes, her place within her household and her place within the world. 

When Sahil, her crush’s brother, approaches her to help produce a short movie for the upcoming summer festival, she is reluctant but eventually jumps onboard for a chance to pursue her dreams (and potentially a chance to get to know Nikhil better ;)) Of course, her changing friendship with her long-time BFF makes things a little more complicated for her. Especially when she decides to cast said-BFF as the lead of the movie. 

On top of that, she is fielding anon emails from someone who could be Nikhil all the while falling slowly in love with Sahil.

WHAT A SUMMER for Twinkle. 

My summers where never that exciting. 

But of course, this isn’t about me. It’s about Twinkle. Twinkle is just such a well written character. She is kind and yet wholly imperfect. I love that there are times over the course of the novel where she gets SO angry and petty. She is mostly a wallflower but the way people treat her does get to her and I loved seeing that anger expressed and written down. It was kind of cathartic tbh, since I was also once an angry teenager.

The best part of course as that not only do we get to see Twinkle grow stronger and more complex over the course of the book, a number of secondary characters also experience strong character-development arcs as they are forced to confront their insecurities. INCLUDING Maddie, the aforementioned BFF. 

So, if you’re looking for a complex summer-read with characters who aren’t perfect- they will likely piss you off at times but overall win your heart-, funny grandmas, and some filmmaking, YOU’VE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE. From Twinkle, With Love should absolutely be on your radar. Not only will it look stunning on your bookshelves but also STUNNING IN YOUR SOUL ONCE YOUVE DEVOURED IT. 

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