Thank you Netgalley and Syed M. Masood for an advanced copy of More Than Just a Pretty Face in exchange for an honest review. When I first requested this title, I knew I was going to enjoy this book. However, it completely surpassed my expectations. I absolutely adored every minute of this book. I loved the dialogue, the plot and the pacing of the novel. I especially loved the character development of Danyal and Bisma. This is a book that will live in my heart for a very long time. I will absolutely recommend this to anyone and will be picking up more books by Masood in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy. MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE releases August 4th, 2020.

Summary

Danyal Jilani doesn’t lack confidence. He may not be the smartest guy in the room, but he’s funny, gorgeous, and going to make a great chef one day. His father doesn’t approve of his career choice, but that hardly matters. What does matter is the opinion of Danyal’s longtime crush, the perfect-in-all-ways Kaval, and her family, who consider him a less than ideal arranged marriage prospect.

When Danyal gets selected for Renaissance Man, a school-wide academic championship, it’s the perfect opportunity to show everyone he’s smarter than they think. He recruits the brilliant, totally-uninterested-in-him Bisma to help with the competition, but the more time Danyal spends with her…the more he learns from her…the more he cooks for her…the more he realizes that happiness may be staring him right in his pretty face.

Review

Oftentimes, the characters I love most in fiction are the ones I’d absolutely hate in real life. Danyal Jilani is one such character. He’s cocky and irresponsible; he knows how attractive he is and hates school – he’d probably drive me crazy in real life. But man, I was rooting for Danyal hard in “More than Just a Pretty Face.” That was consistently how I felt about this book: it was full of heart and charm, and it was almost impossible not to love and root for our leads, Bisma and Danyal. Their romance was sweet, they were compelling characters on their own, and I really felt for them through their struggles.

Additionally, this is one of those rare rom-coms that’s both plot and character-driven; most, I find, are one or the other. The progression of Danyal and Bisma’s romance, and Danyal’s preparation for the Renaissance Man competition, make up a significant chunk of the story, but so does the character development. (Also, may I just say: I almost never read books with male perspective characters, and I actually really enjoyed reading something in a guy’s voice.) And not only are they balanced, but they feed each other: the character development fuels the romance, and the historical perspective that Danyal gains through Renaissance Man informs his character development – it’s a big part of what teaches him to speak up, which is a major lesson he has to learn throughout the story. I feel like “More than Just a Pretty Face” was trying to do a lot; many books that attempt that fall flat, but this one didn’t. None of the topics that were touched upon felt perfunctory or skimmed-over.

Overall, this was both a fun read and a surprisingly substantial one, and I highly recommend it.

ENDNOTES

One-Sentence Summary: he may not start as more than just a pretty face, but trust me, he won’t stay that way.

Favorite Scene: hard to choose…the beach scene? Or anything at Remarquable, the French restaurant Danyal works at – I loved the cooking parts of the book.

Something that Stood Out: the fact that a contemporary rom-com tackled historical issues that are still felt today – I’ve read contemporary/in-the-moment social issue books, but never one that talked about historical issues.

Something that Bugged Me: really, can’t think of a lot. Maybe the fact that Danyal’s irresponsible behavior is occasionally glorified? But there really aren’t a lot of cases where that’s true.

Adult Content: scattered cursing; a character’s sexual history is a big part of the plot and is often referenced (never graphically); lots of terrible parenting.

Rating: 4.5/5 Befuddled Emu

This might just be the sweetest romance I've read all year. It's also definitely the first one in a while to make me actually tear up, grin from ear to ear, and just laugh from sheer joy. What an absolute gem of a novel.

Danyal is a Muslim teenage boy in the Bay Area whose parents keep setting up meetings with potential brides, despite the fact he's head over heels with Kaval, a Muslim girl from his high school. Unfortunately, while Danyal is good with people and a phenomenal cook, that doesn't translate into the good grades and high paying careers desi parents are looking for. He gets caught up in a school wide academic contest almost by accident and ends up accepting help from a failed marriage prospect, Bisma. Only, the more help he receives from her, the more he learns about himself and the more he realizes that Kaval might not be the type of girl he actually wants to spend the rest of his life with...

I can't overstate how sweet this novel is. Danyal is a lovable idiot in the best way possible and makes for a fantastic great character. His struggles to figure himself out, as well as a central plot point of him realizing that written history isn't always as black and white as it seems, will be relatable to readers everywhere. There's great lessons to be learned in this about being true to yourself and your beliefs, plus the cutest romance I've seen in a while. It's hard not to fall in love with the characters and before you know it, you'll be cheering Danyal along in his Renaissance Man essay and his romantic pursuits.

Not to mention the own voices representation! Ugh, truly I'm having a hard time putting into words how much I loved this. Simply adorable and so well crafted. A must read for YA romance fans!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this!

Oh boy, this book is way too much sweeter than I expected. I adored those characters and their slow building, cutest romance story, the witty dialogues, heartbreaks, finding the love of your life and the power of chasing your dreams premise.

Don’t get me wrong this is not only YA sweet, soft romance/ fiction novel. There are so many political, social, class, racial, religion issues are perfectly blended into this moving, emotional story. It softly brushes your soul and warms your heart.

You deeply care for the characters and their struggles, their fights for realizing their own dreams, their self-discovery journey against the society and their family’s traditional beliefs!

Let’s know more about the characters starting with Danyal Jilani, chasing his unrequited love to Kaval. He wants to show her and her family he can be an ideal husband candidate. But how? He has his own secret dreams to be a chef which will never be accepted or approved by her own traditional family. He knows that he is not the smartest guy. He’s cute but not stunningly handsome. But he is still funny, witty, likable and friendly. There are more about him but you gotta dig deeper and spend more time with him.

Oh, did I mention that he is just chosen to represent his history class at Renaissance Man- a highly respected academic competition- which gives him more panic attacks! This should be a special opportunity but he doesn’t like to be under spotlights! Thankfully our nerdy, book-worm, cute heroine Bisma Akran, a microbiology student spending most of her time at the libraries and devouring the comic books appears when he needs urgent help!

First they became teammates and when they start to know each other they become friends and share secrets. Danyal cooks for her and likes to see her smile. He starts to like more other things about her! And he realizes… yes, two of them are so adorable and they complete each other perfectly. But as I said before this is not only entertaining, feel-good, friends to lovers story! There are so much angst, cultural, traditional barriers and heart wrenching family problems.

Overall: I had a great time and I enjoyed to read multicultural, diversity YA romance/Fiction story. It’s definitely a winner! I think I should request the other thought-provoking good of the author ASAP!

Special Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for sharing this incredibly lovely ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

Oof. I hate to DNF a book based on my dislike of the writing style, but I think I’m going to have to DNF. It won’t be fair to the book if I force myself to continue. YMMV.

Danyal Jilani may not be the brightest crayon in the drawer - or is it bulb in the box? Something like that - but he’s more than just a pretty face. He’s kind, funny, and a spectacular cook. Only, no one in his life seems to see any of those things. His father’s decided he’s useless, his best friends say people only laugh at his jokes to be nice, and everyone agrees he doesn’t have a shot with the girl he’s in serious like with. So when he’s given the shot to prove his worth in an academic contest, with the help of a girl who’s value is just as much in question as his, everything Danyal’s ever wanted seems to actually be within his grasp. Only, things are never as simple - or perfect - as they seem, and as Danyal begins to delve deeper into his research topic as well as the lives of the people around him, he starts to question everything he ever thought he knew.

An absolutely beautiful, simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting debut by Syed M. Masood. Danyal, while not very bright in the traditional sense, is quite possibly the most pure-hearted character ever written. Readers will quickly fall in love not only with Danyal but with his and Bisma’s romance as well - a romance that offers the perfect balance for the heavier topics of racial and gender inequity (both historical and current) Masood tackles. A must-read for fans of Becky Albertalli, Maurene Goo, and Sandhya Menon.

(While this review hasn’t appeared anywhere yet, I will be sharing it during an upcoming B&T Title Talk on YA/MG realistic fiction releasing this Fall/Winter.)

There are a lot of reasons for you to pick up More Than Just a Pretty Face by Syed M. Massood. I would like to introduce you to the most important one, which above all else will make you fall head over heels in love with this book: Danyal Jilani.

Our main character, Danyal, is everything we love. He is a confident, handsome 19-year-old high school student who works part time as a chef in a French restaurant. His Muslim parents try to set him up with various marriage prospects, but Danyal only has one girl on his mind: the beautiful Kaval.

When his parents introduce him to the superhero-shirt wearing book-nerd Bisma, who has a secret of her own, he befriends her and even asks her for advice regarding Kaval. He accidentally gets nominated for the Renaissance Man, a competition in his high school, which usually only features the best and brightest. Danyal knows that he is neither, at least not in the GPA, grades, and books kind of way. He is supposed to write and present a historical topic about Winston Churchill and is torn between what his teacher, his father and Kaval expect of him; which is praising the man, and, telling the truth about some of his actions while colonialising India. He asks Bisma for help and somewhere in between trips to restaurants, library meetings and early morning runs, Danyal realises that maybe Kaval isn’t the only beautiful girl in his life.

First of all, the representation! I was so happy to read a novel in which I could dive into a culture, beliefs, and a point of view, which I had not previously been exposed to (and I am asking myself: Why not?). I think this is an important story, especially in our current day and age. While we get a swoon-worthy, self-confident desi chef (who secretly isn’t as confident as he makes himself out to be) and who makes fantastic croissants, we also get to see the world of a Pakistani-American teenager, trying to navigate his life between ‘the American dream’ and religion. The novel explores a young man trying to understand the world as it is, while still believing in humanity, even though he discovers historic events contrary to that belief and realises that racism is devastatingly still a thing. Danyal also tries to please his parents and make himself happy and, above all, we see Danyal trying to choose between right and wrong and questioning, who even decides what is acceptable and what isn’t?

Besides the themes that will undoubtedly make you think about the world we live in and our own parts in it, this is a story about love, first love, and true love. It is a story about friendship, about fighting for one another, about family, and about being unapologetically yourself.

If you, like me, love a story with relatable characters, a fierce main character who indeed is more than just a pretty face, and a romance to absolutely die for, this is the book for you. Furthermore, if you enjoy good character development and superb pacing, I will promise you, that you will adore this novel.

In short: I laughed, I cried, and from now on, I consider “you have a beautiful face pond” to be the compliments of all compliments. It is my absolute pleasure to give More Than Just A Pretty Face a score from 10/10, accompanied by an invisible 100 emoji.

I'm so glad I got to read this. It's a new favorite! This was such a great story: smart, sweet, funny, charming - I highly recommend it!