*Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book
MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE was a fun and realistic contemporary story about a boy's first love. Danyal was a hilarious main character--he had the best wit and made excellent jokes throughout the book, which I absolutely loved. I also admired Danyal's passion for cooking. The food discussions were perfectly done, and I enjoyed seeing him have a constant love of cooking that kept showing up in different ways throughout the book. His relationships with his friends, family, and love interest were excellently done, too. Bisma was a great love interest, and her dynamic with Danyal flew off the page. I loved seeing their interactions and banter, and the way the relationship escalated was perfect. It took just the right amount of time to develop, which seems so rare for many contemporaries. The family dynamic was also incredible and representative of so many familial relationships. Danyal's relationship with his parents wasn't perfect, but it was so realistic and I loved that it made its way into the story. I liked the discussion of Churchill that was present throughout the story, and the way Danyal interpreted the events that Churchill caused and related it to the present in his speech at the end of the book. This theme was not one I expected, but loved nonetheless. This was such a fun contemporary that I think everyone should read! It was so quick to finish and left me with hope and happiness.

This book was a cute coming of age story about Danyal who is trying to navigate his 19-year-old world just striving to get passing grades in high school so he can pursue his passion in cooking. This story provides readers with a hilarious twist and perspective on the world most first-generation Americans feel trying to balance the expectations of two different cultures. Although there were cultural references throughout the book that I didn’t understand, it didn’t detract from the overall story. Also, the descriptions of food within the novel left my mouth watering as the protagonist whipped up meals and the passion behind his cooking was truly authentic. Overall, a nice read for young adults.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this advance copy.

I give this book 5 stars. I loved it so much! Danyal is such a well-written character. You can see his flaws, his growth, etc. The push and pull with his two best friends is something I think a lot of teens in organized religions face. Even though this is a fiction book, I learned a lot about colonialism and the Bengal famine through Danyal's research for his speech. This quote really drove home the main point with so many of the current racism issues we are tackling.

"So where's the conversion table?"
"What?"
"In history. Like... you know, in math,we convert from feet to inches and centimeters and stuff. So, for historians, how many brown people are equal to one white person? Is there like a formula somewhere no one told me about?"

When summer comes, I crave rom coms like nothing else, so More Than Just a Pretty Face was exactly what I needed!

Lasting Impressions

I will immediately clarify that I am not Muslim, so I will not be commenting on the own voices representation of the Muslim faith and culture that is presented in this book. I would highly suggest going to own voices reviewers, as some have said that they had problems with the rep.

As much as I love rom coms, it's been a long time since I've read one that I've loved from start to finish—this was one of those books where I enjoyed the romance the whole way through. Danyal's and Bisma's relationship goes from cautious friends to adorable lovers in a fantastic slow-burn that had me grinning from ear to ear. The development of their friendship, and then their love, just made me so happy. They supported each other and respected each other the whole way through, and I really appreciated that.

Putting their romance aside, each character was developed very well. I really connected with Danyal. He's arrogant at times, but he has his struggles that are easy to relate to. His journey to standing up for what he believes in was well done, and I enjoyed seeing his growth. Bisma has a little less growth, but I loved her story nonetheless. Her backstory (and present story) are heartbreaking, and I liked seeing her push past that and be her strong, smart self. Bisma has a little sister, who I adored. She's so hilarious and sweet.

I did take issue with one portrayal of a very religious character, one of Danyal's friends, who had little depth. He was seen as a jerk most of the time, which was sad to me, as that is a stereotype that I wish could be challenged more often.

One of the most important parts of this book is it's discussion of whitewashing history. This is a huge part of the story, and I really loved seeing Danyal discover his own lack of knowledge to certain parts of history that affected his family and eventually challenge himself to share this erasure of pain and suffering caused by white people with others. This is such an important discussion to have, and I felt the author did an excellent job with it.

Quick Thoughts
-I wish Danyal's relationship with his parents, especially with his dad, were explored a little bit more. What's there is interesting and good, I just wanted more.
-There are so many amazing descriptions of food in this book! I was salivating through it all.
-For those who don't like a lot of profanity, there is a lot in this book.

Overall Feelings

I really enjoyed this book. I would again suggest reading reviews by own voices readers before picking this up so you know what you're getting into, but this sweet rom com was so much fun to read.

I think that I genuinely would have like this book a little more, but it really read like a YA book. To be transparent that’s not at all a bad thing. I do enjoy YA, even if I’m no longer an adult. But sometimes i do find that I can’t get behind a book or even enjoy it if I don’t really connect with the characters or story. I think that it just wasn’t for me.

I don't necessarily think that this is a bad book, I just don't think it was the book for me. I got through 40% until I gave up and DNF.

The good:
- In theory, it's an interesting concept! I'm all about characters proving that they are more than what people perceive them to be. I especially love spite as the motor for change. Give me the angst! The self doubt!
- The potential for angst and romance! At least to the place that I got to, there's a building love-triangle of sorts, and I'll always appreciate a good push/pull of angst between the characters. Triangles are a great way to consolidate character development and to make it clear to the reader where characters stand in relation to one another.

The not-s0-good:
- This is obviously a contemporary romance, so we aren't expecting any fighting or war or crazy world-building. That said, I don't think it's too much to ask for some action. The exposition of a story needs to build understanding in the readers, to introduce the characters, relationships, to paint the picture of context. SO much of this book was laying the "foundation," that I found myself unable to pick the book up again. There weren't many stakes, even 40% into the book, and that made it hard for me, as a reader, to stay invested in the characters and their struggles.

Overall:
This book is really bland for me. I don't really love it because of how...ordinary it is. The writing isn't standout beautiful and the concept is interesting, though in my opinion the execution sort of ruined it.

Would I recommend this book?:
No, I wouldn't recommend this book. I feel so bad saying so, but it's the truth. There are a lot of better romances out there *in my opinion*, ones that have better stakes or better and more three-dimensional characters. I don't think you're missing out on much if you decide to pass on this one.

A romantic comedy with a serious side and a male lead? Here for all of it. Sign me up for book two or anything else Masood is going to do.

Denyal loves cooking and cracking jokes. School is a bore but he’s got good looks. He’s mildly in love with his best friend’s twin sister, but she’s a richer breed of Desi and he’s not sure she likes him anyway. She’s the first side of the triangle. Then there’s Bisma whose parents need to find her a suitable husband but for them it seems nearly impossible because there is a sex tape of Bisma with a white boy from school and the family is shamed. But Danyal and Bisma get along well and Danyal finds her father’s treatment of her deplorable. Both girls want to help Danyal in this Renaissance Man competition he was selected to be in but with varied results- who will he align with and fall for?

Character is strong, so is the writing. And what’s not to love about the cover too? Multiple copies will be purchased! There's a sweetness that makes it feel like the most precious summer beach read but potent conversation about generational conflict and heritage that makes it an every season read. One that gives me warm and fuzzies for multiple reasons whenever I'll think about it.

I have had such a hard time rating this. I noticed many flaws while reading but I won't lie and say I didn't enjoy it. I think it came down to I loved many of the ideas that the author was going for but wasn't completely sold on the execution.

A big portion of this novel deals with Danyal learning about the dark side of Winston Churchill's history (namely the Bengal Famine) and deciding whether he should paint Churchill in a positive light and appease his history teacher, or discuss the truth and risk his grade and thus upset his family. I thought this was a really interesting conflict and I loved how it related to what was going on in Danyal's personal life.

The romance in this book is so sweet, albeit it does a back seat to the other conflicts going on. I didn't mind this, and I liked how slow and subtle it developed. Bisma and Danyal were so supportive of each other and brought out the best in the other. I also liked how Danyal's long-time crush, Kaval, who is very pretty and comes from a rich family, fit into the story. I love when books deconstruct the fantasies and idealizations that come with infatuation, and I thought the story had a really good message about how compromises can only go so far until a relationship becomes toxic.

I also surprisingly liked the messiness of Danyal's friend group and the struggle that comes with trying to maintain friendships when people have grown and changed. It was very realistic but not discouraging, which I appreciated.

The flaws I have with the book mainly stem from the writing style, which I thought was pretty hit or miss. It was funny a lot of times and there were definitely scenes where I found myself smiling. However, sometimes things that were supposed to be jovial just came across as weirdly cruel, and some of the explanations for Islamic/cultural practices were trying to be funny but just didn't land for me. Perhaps this is a me problem but the dialogue also often lacked notes on intonation which made what could have been fun encounters monotonous or awkward.

I was annoyed at some of the seemingly random philosophical moments we would get from side characters that we barely knew, like the head chef of the restaurant Danyal works at. Even some moments between the main characters felt out of place, and those took me out of the story.

For the most part I liked Danyal's characterization but sometimes I think the author went a little heavy-handed with trying to show how not smart he was. I was under the impression that he was just not book smart but could excel at things he was passionate about like cooking, but he wouldn't know common words or phrases like "progress" or "break a leg" which felt a little inconsistent. (I also didn't like how many times people called him stupid in one way or another, it felt so unnecessarily cruel at times).

I was a little annoyed with the characterization of Sohrab, Danyal's friend, because it fell into this stereotype of practicing Muslims not being able to have fun and judging others. For example, at one point he questions why anyone would read for fun instead reading to learn and educate, but I mean,
you can choose to read religious texts in your free time but still understand why some people don't? The story does actually give him a little more depth later on into understanding why he acts the way he does, but it was still a little upsetting to see this stereotype.

A fun and sweet romantic comedy that hits the spot! Danyal is a delight to read and I loved that we got to see a diverse love story. More books like this, please!

I stayed up late last night to finish this book because I just couldn’t put it down! I’m giving this book 4.5/5 stars because although I loved it, it started out a bit slow for me. Once I got into the story though, I really enjoyed it.

Danyal is such a lovable character, and I liked that Bisma spoke her mind. Their relationship was so cute and awkward, so I loved it! Also, there were some parts that made me laugh a lot, which is always a plus for me.

This story is also very relevant to what’s going on in the world right now. I liked how the author was able to incorporate history that isn’t discussed very often and should be made known. It was also interesting to learn more about Islam even if the characters didn’t exactly practice it completely.

There were a few characters that were hard to deal with because of how harsh they were. I felt that almost everyone in Danyal’s life was cruel to him and didn’t actually care about him as a person.

Overall, this book was definitely worth reading and I would recommend it to everyone because of the relevance of the topics discussed in it.

i loved the concept. i really did. but this just wasn't for me.

maybe i'll read it later once it's officially out.

Wow, wow, wow! There are not enough good things I can say about this book.

YA/new adult love stories sometimes lean so much into the cutesy and cheesy that while enjoyable, are just ok. More Than Just a Pretty Face did not have that problem! The main characters, Danyal and Bisma are incredibly lovable. They have great chemistry and they give good banter. They feel real feelings and deal with real, complex problems. So while this book takes place in a high school setting, it is so much more than your everyday high school drama. I also loved that it was unique to other arranged marriage stories in that it had a modern twist.

I loved the representation of Pakistani culture and Muslim religion and the important conversations about whitewashing history. Based on some reviews, the representation may not have always been accurate? It felt respectful and was written by a Pakistani immigrant but as I am neither Pakistani nor Muslim, and do not know much about the culture, I cannot speak to that aspect.

I could not put it down, and I completely fell in love with Danyal and Bisma. Thank you NetGalley, author, and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book could have been good but it's written very childish. I didn't like any of the characters and the plot was boring.

YA Fiction novel MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE is the best Muslim-authored book of 2020.

At first, this WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI meets THE CHAI FACTOR romance catches the eye because it is written by the rare male Muslim fiction author. It holds the attention because of its savage (yet accurate) trolling of the Desi community: "uncles-in-training" who are the "sworn Guardians of the Hymen" and can be found at "dawats that still suck despite awesome food."

Characterization is not as strong as the
overall theme of acceptance in the novel: the two inconsistent main characters - 19-year old chef Danyal and his damsel-in-distress romantic interest Bisma- dim the pages while put- together 'mean girl' Kaval shines.
.
MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE dives into an emerging genre within Muslim-authored fiction, it explores the individual trauma from community judgment, rather than the hardships from external Islamophobic factors.

Like Thor's mom tells him in Avengers Endgame, "everyone fails at who they're 'supposed' to be," because each person is more than just a pretty face.

Danyal's determination to pursue dishonored Bisma and his chef passion, despite his father's and community's disapproval, shows that it is vital to stop pressing expectations on others- a lesson that is lost on the Desi community. Beyond its laugh out loud humor and sweet romance, Masood's stark novel contains a depth and lasting impression that has not yet been seen in YA fiction.

Thank you very much for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book deserves the Michelin star of books.

What a beautifully written tale! A tale that the YA shelves definitely needs!

Masood writes a generous spectrum of Muslim characters from the very serious, intense, and devoted to the more relaxed characters (e.g. Sohrab vs. Intezar). Moreover, I like how he portrays and includes this dynamic interpretation of what it means to be Muslim not just in the friend group but within families as well (e.g. Sohrab vs. Kaval).

Personally, I liked Intezar's character because I felt I related to him the most. He didn't fit in with the non-Muslims because he was Muslim, but he didn't fit in with the Muslims either because he wasn't considered Muslim enough, or a good Muslim. I especially liked how Masood expressed this through the simple decision of picking a lunch table. The MSA would have made space, but they would have also judged them. I felt the same way at both my high school and university, and often still do when socializing in a setting where there are others from my faith.

Finally, I normally do not read historical reads, however, Masood embeds history into this story artfully.

There were many relatable, moments in this book for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Stay tuned for quotes of these moments on rukhsandbooks.tumblr.com.

Looking forward to Masood's next book.

Highly recommend this to fans of Sandhya Menon.

Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for this ARC.

Danyal...what a character. Charming, self-assured, yet not fitting the mold of what his society or parents want. I think many students could identify with that, and also with the idea that being intelligent doesn't always result in academic success. I enjoyed learning about colonial British history, as well as some facets of Islam, during this read, and felt enlightened by Danyal, as was likely the author's intent.

This is a great and much needed book for right now. It speaks to so many things that are happening in our society like racism and whitewashing of history.
I loved the slow burning romance. I liked how the relationship between Danyal and Bisma developed.

This book is beautifully written and carries so much weight. This book hits on the topics of high school and wanting to make your parents proud without giving up your own dreams.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Reads like Mike Gayle but for teens. Really enjoyed this one, with a flip from the usual teen romance in that it was from the teen guy’s perspective. Narrator was funny, self-deprecating, and sympathetic.

Rating: 3.75
I started this book thinking it was going to be a run YA romance, boy did it surprise me! It was so much deeper than I expected. Syed Masood really focused on the Indian culture and how arranged marriages are still prevalent today. Not only that but he used the main character's nomination in a school competition to speak of colonialism, how the Indians were treated by the British, and how many of those principles are still alive today. Masood used his book to bring up many points about how 'the mind-set of supremacy based on race and nationality' from decades ago, is still alive today and he does it in a simple uplifting way that doesn't make the reader feel shamed but shows the growth in the main character, Danyal and left me feeling inspired.

Things I liked:
- How Danyal didn't let traditions, shame or familial and societal expectations rule his decisions - he went after the girl he wanted despite his family's desires and fought for what he wanted for his future
- Danyal's connection to cooking, how it calms him
- The introspective of cultural and societal pressures for academic success, future career and marriage.
- Danyal's confidence, not the surface confidence that he begins the story with but how he really grows in his confidence to speak out to others.

Things I didn't like:
- I was annoyed by how much people were making fun of Danyal for being an idiot. Danyal was not book smart and though I see how this was an important piece of the plot, it was hammered in a little too hard.

There were so many parts of this book I loved, from the romance to the religious aspects.

In this swoony, sweet, honest, and hilarious YA romance you are introduced to Danyal Jilani. A high school student who is over high school and ready to be a chef. But when he gets chosen as the history Renaissance Man he asks for Bisma’s help. Bisma and Danyal met under awkward circumstances but as their friendship grows so does Danyal’s attraction.

There is no better time to read this book than right now. It speaks about so many things that are happening in our society right now. It dives in colonialism, racism, and the whitewashing of history. Danyal leaves about how history is written by “winners” and how Winston Churchill was a huge jerk. Don’t get me wrong the romance was perfect and so sweet. The slow burn of this relationship really causes the reader to feel invested.

Without writing my own thesis, this is a YA romance that must be read. It’s beautifully written and cares weight with every word. I never knew much about Indian culture or the Muslim religion. That is until I watched Hasan Minhaj’s comedy special Homecoming King. This book is mildly reminiscent of that, it speaks about high school and wanting to make your parents proud without giving up your own dreams.

I received this arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. But I will be buying it when it’s released in August.