  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 03/01/2018 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 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 04/01/2018 *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. - Copyright 2018 Booklist. Loading...
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