From Twinkle, with Love

March 19, 2018
Sixteen-year-old Twinkle Mehra fantasizes about becoming a successful filmmaker, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have regular teenage problems: she’s in love with a boy named Neil, who barely knows she exists; her best friend, Maddie, is acting strangely toward her; and her crush’s twin brother, Sahil (also an aspiring filmmaker), is paying her a lot of attention. After Sahil convinces Twinkle to collaborate on a documentary film project, she starts receiving emails from an admirer, who signs his letters N, and Twinkle hopes it’s Neil. Then Twinkle starts to fall for Sahil, she grows confused about her admirer, and her relationship with Maddie goes off the rails. Menon brings an effervescent energy to Twinkle’s story, which is reminiscent in tone to Menon’s When Dimple Met Rishi. The story is told, in part, through Twinkle’s confessional letters to famous filmmakers that serve effectively as diary entries. Mehra’s story line and characters lack a degree of cohesion, and the story’s epistolary content isn’t always well integrated. Nevertheless, Twinkle’s relationship with Sahil is sweet and believable, while the heart of this story hangs on Twinkle’s conflict with Maddie, and the pain she feels when Maddie drops her for the popular girls. Twinkle’s relatable quandaries and her worthy professional aspirations give Menon’s heroine solid appeal. Ages 12–up. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

Starred review from April 1, 2018
Grades 8-11 *Starred Review* Twinkle Mehra is used to making observations about the world?she wants to be a filmmaker, after all, and that's what a good filmmaker does. Twinkle has noticed a lot of things: her best friend, Maddie, has started ditching her to hang out with more popular girls. Neil Roy is a hottie who's never given Twinkle the time of day. And Twinkle's parents?especially her mother, who misses India?are too preoccupied to pay much attention to her. Twinkle's determined to be the kind of person worthy of attention, and she gets her chance when Sahil Roy, Neil's twin brother, asks her to make a movie with him for the Summer Festival. At the same time, Twinkle starts getting emails from a secret admirer called N. They must be from Neil, but is that even what Twinkle wants anymore? Told in Twinkle's letters to female filmmakers, interspersed with occasional text and email messages, this is an often laugh-out-loud funny journey through the tribulations of high school that's tempered by Twinkle's very real feelings of isolation and her understanding that it will be more difficult for her to succeed at filmmaking as a woman of color. There aren't any surprises here, but the teen voice is pitch-perfect, and Menon navigates through Twinkle's missteps and reparations with aplomb. A charming addition to the rom-com canon.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from March 1, 2018

Gr 7 Up-Aspiring filmmaker Twinkle Mehra wants to dismantle the patriarchy and show the world that a woman of color has stories worth telling. A typical teenager, she also has less lofty goals: shedding her "uncool" status, dating charismatic Neil Roy, and rekindling her strained relationship with her newly popular best friend Maddie. Complicating matters, Neil's twin brother, Sahil, is secretly in love with Twinkle. When Sahil offers to work with Twinkle on a movie for the Midsummer Arts festival, she accepts. Though she develops feelings for awkward, endearing Sahil, she holds out hope for a romance with Neil-especially when she receives emails from a mystery admirer. Made up of journal entries from Twinkle (addressed to her favorite female filmmakers) and supplemented with text messages, emails, and Sahil's blog posts, this bubbly, humorous novel effortlessly explores complex subjects, such as working-class Twinkle's anger toward her more privileged classmates. Though this is Twinkle's tale, the supporting cast is well defined, particularly Sahil, who grapples with his resentment of golden boy Neil. As in When Dimple Met Rishi, Menon gives her heroine room to stumble as she comes into her own; teens will be rooting for Twinkle the whole way. VERDICT A sweet, smart gem for most readers, especially fans of Menon, Jenny Han, and Miranda Kenneally.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2018
Aspiring filmmaker Twinkle Mehra fills her journal with entries addressed to her favorite female movie directors, among them Mira Nair, Sofia Coppola, Nora Ephron, and Ava DuVernay. Shy, 16-year-old Twinkle received the journal as a gift from her unconditionally supportive (and highly eccentric) dadi, or paternal grandmother, who urged her to use it to express her innermost heartfelt thoughts. Twinkle navigates film school aspirations, which she believes are unattainable due to her working-class family's financial situation; an unrequited crush on Neil Roy, a half white, half Indian boy who is the big man on campus; a changing relationship with her former best friend, Maddie Tanaka, who is now hanging out with a wealthy, cool crowd; and an unexpected and confusing relationship with fellow film geek Sahil Roy, Neil's awkward and less-noticeable identical twin brother. Twinkle sees embarking on a project for a local film festival with Sahil as a way to become close to Neil, realize her romantic ambitions, and thus improve her social standing at school. When she begins receiving admiring emails signed only "N," she assumes her mystery fan to be Neil; however, Sahil has long had his eye on Twinkle-- and the true identity of her anonymous fan becomes a tantalizing mystery.Menon's (When Dimple Met Rishi, 2017) sophomore effort is a charming and sophisticated rom-com that outshines her previous outing. (Fiction. 12-18)

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