More Than Just a Pretty Face
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Jenny Han, this sweetly funny coming-of-age story is about falling in love, family expectations, and being a Renaissance Man. 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. In this young adult debut full of depth and heart, author Syed M. Masood will have readers laughing, sighing, tearing up, and shouting "YES!" at the top of their lungs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Masood's debut spotlights the ever-optimistic 19-year-old Danyal Jilani, a confident Pakistani American aspiring chef who has long harbored a crush on classmate Kaval Sabsvari, his best friend Sohrab's twin sister. When he is nominated for his school's Renaissance Man competition, a cutthroat academic championship with a $5,000 prize, Danyal seizes the opportunity to boost his subpar grades and spend more time with Kaval, who offers to help. Danyal's topic of Winston Churchill leads him to enlist the assistance of Bisma Akram, 19, originally introduced to him as a potential prospect for an arranged marriage. Her complicated relationship with her own family forges a growing bond between them; Danyal's realization that Kaval disdains his atypical career aspirations, while Bisma supports them, strengthens their connection. The novel features a humorous exploration of its characters' desi backgrounds, touching upon familial and religious expectations. Though supporting characters lack nuance Sohrab's growing devotion to Islam, for example, correlates with an increasingly limited viewpoint Danyal develops into a more mature and endearing protagonist as he researches colonialism's horrors. Throughout, his vivid narration remains charmingly relatable. Ages 14 up.
