VERY Cute, thank you to netgalley for the arc!
-I loved the 0-60 flirtiness
-THE BANTER
-Narration was cute, I like how the story was told.
-Acknowledgements were very sweet
Overall, I liked this book. It didn't feel like a typical contemporary ya romance.

Oh my! What a delightful book More Than Just a Pretty Face is. It was such a refreshing change from many of the other YA books to come out this year. The best part is that the characters in this novel are a good introduction to readers of how normal and relatable Muslim peers can be. I fell in love with most of the young Muslims here. It was also a nice change to have a male character be the "attractive" one of the bunch, and his humorous response to the reactions he got to his beauty. The character development throughout the book was a delight to see as well. Highly recommend this.

This characters are so relatable. I enjoyed it from start to finish. I could not put this book down. I read it in one setting. I will add to my book club and recommend to project lit

3.5, rounded up. I'm starting to wonder if Masood is anything like main character Danyal--a funny, somewhat conceited, lighthearted, self-deprecating young man--because he's incredibly similar to one of the protagonists of his other 2020 novel, The Bad Muslim Discount. It's tough to say whether Masood himself believes that poking fun at Islam is the way to really embody it, and I've seen several reviews that have criticized this. I won't speak to this point, but I can see the validity of these critiques.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed getting to know Bisma, the romantic interest; it's always fun to read about a well-rounded, intelligent, nerdy gal. It was also satisfying to read and think about Danyal's exploration of Churchill's treatment of Indians and the whitewashing of colonization.

Not perfect, but overall a decent #ownvoices YA book.

I loved this book. It was diverse and cute, a major win for me. We need more books like this in this world!

Though this was a cute love story, I'm not sure how likely I'll be to purchase it for my library. I enjoyed the main characters, but when I thought about S.K. Ali's brilliant LOVE FROM A TO Z, I had an inkling that MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE didn't quite measure up. Reviews from Muslim readers confirmed my suspicions that the Muslim rep wasn't quite as strong as they had hoped it would be from an own voices author. I've been looking for more books that portray Muslim teens both positively and authentically, and this book didn't necessarily measure up in that regard. Not only did it combine or mix up certain Islamic practices, but it also portrayed Danyal's best friend as a joke once he decided to become more serious about his religion. Again, the love story and the characters were fun, but I"ll have to do more research before I decide if this is a book I want to add to my library's collection.

being a Pakistani myself, i could relate to this book so much. I could actually relate to each and every character of this book. That the reason i gave this book 5🌟s.
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Daniyal is a character who has a heart made of gold and he owns my entire heart. Firstly, I'm gonna say this to every Muslim girl ever, don't ever settle for anything and anyone less than Daniyal. I can relate with is his family dynamic. The problem he faces in his household are the problems me and so many of my friends face in their lives as well.
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Coming to my best girl, Bisma. I love her so freaking much. Pakistani girls have to live with this stuff everyday, their one mistake hangs over their heads for the rest of their lives, ruins their chance of happiness and makes them 'unmarriage-able'. Hats off to the author for portraying this so well, and showing the world how shitty this is.
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One of my favorite characters from the book is Suri, our beloved little sister. Reading about her and Bisma just reminds me of my relationship with my own sister (yes, I'm talking about Khadeeja). I'm lucky enough to say that i have a sister who would stand by me through anything just like Bisma. Suri and Bisma are a perfect representation of how the bond between two sisters is.
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I relate with kaval because ik what kind of things are expected from a pakistani girl, that she'd marry a rich guy one day and i think kaval was stuck in a bad situation and that bought out the worst side of her. Sohrab was always judged by everyone because he's religious, which I've seen so much around me. And he ended up being one of the only people who were kind when it came of bisma's controversial situation.

Danyal has a lot of maturing to do and, thankfully, we do see our protagonist grow throughout this story. For the first good part of the book, the main character is shallow and, frankly, not a likeable person. I honestly wanted to give up on him and his story a few times; however, it was worth sticking with it. He learns about himself, his family, and his faith. This isn’t only a feel good story; it was a big smile stand up and cheer Because minds And hearts were opened.

I’ve been in such a reading slump lately, reading a lot of books that I haven’t clicked with and haven’t been worth reviewing. But boy did Not Just a Pretty Face snap my streak! This book was much sweeter than I expected and it was laugh out loud funny in many spots. I actually highlighted several quotes because they were so funny. At first I found our lead, Danyal, shallow and irritating. His flippant responses to daily life were gearing, but as the book went on it was great to see his development. I connected with all the characters in one way or the other and I loved the character of Bisma. 🤞 for Suri’s story - her little sister antics were great.

I love a romance novel, with a touch of culture, coming of age, teen drama, love love!
a little slow build, but totally worth it towards the end. Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

When I first started reading this book, I was hoping for a fun, cute, light-hearted romance. While I certainly got that, this book is SO much more than just a sweet slice-of-life story. It tackles tough issues like racism, xenophobia, revenge porn, and religion in a down-to-earth, humorous way, never feeling preachy or too on-the-nose. It gives readers an excellent window into the Muslim culture, showing us both the positive and negative effects of fundamentalist religion on young people. It's touching, heart-breaking, and fun, and I enjoyed every second of it.

More Than Just a Pretty Face is told from the perspective of a young Muslim man named Danyal Jilani. Danyal might not be the brightest student in his class, but he has one huge talent: he loves to cook, and hopes to one day be a professional chef. Unfortunately, both Danyal's strict father and crush Kaval see this career path as beneath him, and instead want him to take the more traditional route of going to college and choosing a lucrative career. In Danyal's world, nothing matters more than how others perceive you, and if he hopes to win Kaval, he might have to set his dreams aside.

When Danyal is chosen by his history professor to be a Renaissance Man (a prestigious academic competition led by the school's teachers), he realizes he might just have the chance he's been waiting for. Desperate, Danyal seeks the help of the incredibly smart and funny Bisma, who is hiding her own dark secrets. As Danyal digs deeper and deeper into Winston Churchill, the subject of his essay, he realizes that history isn't nearly as neat and tidy as textbooks make it out to be. At the same time, Danyal begins to learn more and more about Bisma, making him question everything he thought he knew about love, life, and religion. He is then torn between following his heart, or following the status quo.

I feel like I say this often about the books I read, but I honestly don't know where to begin with this book. The characters are so wonderful and relatable, and I really sympathized with every one of them. I may not have been raised Muslim, but I relate strongly to Danyal's desire to make his parents proud. I, too, was held to incredibly high standards of conservative parents, and faced the constant anxiety of not being good enough or making the right grades.

I also sympathized with Bisma, a girl whose one mistake led her to being blackmailed by a guy she thought she could trust. Add to that our extremely patriarchal society, and Bisma's hopes for the future are dashed in an instant. Having experienced the trials of womanhood my entire life, I immediately sympathized with Bisma. While I have never had nudes or a sex tape leaked against my will, society has a way of making even the most wholesome, innocent girl feel terrible about herself for "enticing men" or "acting like a slut." The way her father and others treated her in this book infuriated me, and I wanted so badly for her to find happiness in the end.

Along with the characters, I also found myself really enjoying the plot of this book. There are essentially two main plots happening as this story progresses: Danyal is researching and practicing for his Renaissance Man speech, while also trying to reconcile his conflicting feelings about Kaval and Bisma. I will address the Renaissance Man plot first, as I think it has the most powerful message in the book. Danyal is asked by his professor to write his essay on Winston Churchill. Initially, Danyal finds this to be a boring topic, but realizes as he's researching that Churchill was an extremely problematic historical figure. Danyal knows that his teacher loves Churchill, but also feels like it would be wrong to ignore the darker side of Churchill's history in his essay, which led the people of India to the worst famine they had ever seen. He knows what Kaval and his father want him to do (stick to the positives and get a good grade), but his heart is telling him otherwise.

There are a number of great messages to be found in this plot, from history being more gray than black or white, to choosing not to stand by in the face of injustice. Danyal's friend Sohrab represents an extreme version of his point of view, choosing to focus only on the injustices rather than the positives in the world. Kaval, on the other hand, would rather ignore all injustice to protect the status quo, which keeps her in a position of relative comfort and power. In the end, Danyal learns that the right answer lies somewhere in between these two extremes, and that the world is not all good or all bad. By ignoring the atrocities committed throughout history, however, we are dooming ourselves to repeat them, so Danyal urges his classmates to take a stand wherever they see injustice happening. He is rewarded with the approval of both his teacher and his father, somewhat uniting the two factions that have been warring inside him throughout the novel.

The other plot, and the one that touched me the most, was the plot involving Danyal, Bisma, and Kaval. At the beginning of the novel, Danyal is obsessed with Kaval, his best friend's sister and someone he feels to be entirely out of his league. Her family is wealthy, she's beautiful, and she makes incredibly good grades, making her completely unattainable. His parents, attempting to set him up with a more reasonable prospect, introduce him to Bisma, a girl who also seems to be out of his league at first. While Bisma is extremely funny and intelligent, she is hiding a dark secret: after getting drunk and sleeping with a guy at a party, Bisma found out that the guy not only took a video of the incident, but spread it everywhere, causing everyone in her highly religious community to shun her. Bisma is devastated when she meets Danyal, knowing she will never find a husband within her faith because she is now "tainted" by her sin.

Though shocked by this news, Danyal chooses to befriend Bisma anyways, recruiting her help in writing his essay. As he gets to know her, Danyal begins to see Bisma as an incredible person who was betrayed in the worst way by someone she trusted, and hates the way her father and society treat her because of it. Bisma turns out to be far more supportive than Kaval, encouraging Danyal's dreams to be a chef and barring him from calling himself stupid in her presence. Kaval, on the other hand, wants Danyal to fit a specific mold: make good grades, go to college, and get a high-paying job as a doctor or lawyer so he can support her financially. She calls him stupid constantly, and belittles his dreams and feelings at every turn.

In this way, Bisma and Kaval are foils for what a healthy relationship looks like as opposed to an unhealthy one. Danyal learns that finding someone who understands and supports him is far better than a pretty face, and in doing so learns to acknowledge his own worth as he chooses to follow his dream. Danyal himself is an excellent lesson on how to love and appreciate your strengths, rather than putting yourself down for your failures, as the title of this novel implies. In the end, Danyal realizes he is smart, insightful, caring, witty, and a damn good cook, and decides to pursue his passions despite what others have chosen for him.

Along with the commentary on history, prejudice, and purity culture, there is also a great deal of commentary about religion. This is done primarily through Danyal's friend Sohrab, who follows his religion to almost extreme standards, chastising his friends for refusing to do the same. Just as he's beginning to take his religion to concerning extremes, Danyal sits him down and reminds him that there is more to life than religion. Sohrab, like many other young fundamentalists, sees religion almost as his entire identity, and is unsure of who he is without it.

With Danyal's help, Sohrab is able to calm his fundamentalist beliefs, learning to see life as more than just praying and following an ancient set of rules. In the end, he even encourages Danyal to keep pursuing Bisma, seeing love as more important than anything she might've done in her past (which made me really like him as a supportive friend character). The novel takes an overall respectful tone towards religion, but uses Sohrab as an example of what might be lost if one takes religion too far. This comes full circle with Danyal argues his case against his and Bisma's parents, reminding them that it is the content of one's character that truly counts, not their misdeeds. As someone who was raised Christian, it took me a long time to realize that religion, much like everything else in life, is not black and white. One mistake should not define us as human beings, and there are far more productive ways to spend our lives than judging others for their misdeeds, as it is not our place to condemn them. It was refreshing to see a young adult novel tackle this complex idea, and I would hope it encourages young fundamentalists to question some of the harmful lessons religion has taught them.

Lastly, I'll discuss some of the minor characters I really enjoyed, my favorite of whom was Danyal's mentor Chef Brodeur. Throughout the novel, she acts as a confidante to the young cook, offering him advice and encouragement during some of his worst moments. She is patient, kind, and caring, giving him tough love when he needs it and encouraging him to take mental breaks occasionally. We also find out later on that she is a lesbian, and it is mentioned so subtlely that one might miss if it they weren't reading carefully. While I love intentional LGBT representation, I love casual representation just as much. Despite his religion, Danyal does not react negatively to the idea that his female mentor loves women, and he continues to respect her and take her advice. I absolutely loved her, and I think all young people deserve a mentor like her.

I also really enjoyed the friendship between Danyal, Sohrab, and Intezar, as all three were vastly different and still maintained a close friendship. Sohrab and Intezar were almost exact opposites, with Sohrab being incredibly religious and Intezar being incredibly laidback. Both, however, are extremely kind and supportive friends to Danyal, allowing him to confide in them while offering occasional advice. Just as I think it's important for girls to have strong friendships in YA, I think it's important to see guys with these strong friendships as well. Doing so removes some of the stigma around men showing emotions to their male friends, furthering the message that toxic masculinity and patriarchal culture is damaging to everyone. I also love that, in the end, Sohrab is able to set aside his religious beliefs to support and listen to his friend, which (as I said before), really sold him as a character for me.

All of the relationships in this book were fantastic, from the romance to the friendships. Even Danyal's strained relationship with his dad has a satisfying conclusion, as his dad learns to accept him for who he is and take pride in his son's compassion and courage. As someone who has a strained relationship with my own parents at times, this made me tear up. There are simply far too many wonderful messages and themes in this book to count, so I'll say this: this is the kind of book I wish I'd had in high school. Not only does it demystify Muslim and Indian cultures, but it invites the reader into this world full of relatable, extremely human characters, and asks us to step in their shoes for a little while.

It is impossible to walk away from this book without feeling empathy for the plights of these characters, and for ethnic minorities in general, many of whom still experience extreme prejudice in our country today. I would encourage any fan of realistic fiction (especially romance) to read this, as it is truly an excellent conversation starter for many important topics, and really invites readers to examine their own inherent biases and prejudices as they read. I applaud Masood for this incredibly touching, funny, and poignant work of art, and I look forward to seeing what he'll write in the future.

I really enjoyed reading about a young adult male protagonist that has to fight cultural norms, all while dealing with a disapproving family. We rarely see men, let alone young men, having to fight for their dreams due to social and familial expectations. And while I think that the majority of readers who will be picking this book up will consist mostly of females, it will be worthwhile for them to see a male being ostracized for his decisions in life.

This book is about fighting for your dreams, learning to see beyond yourself, and falling in love. What more could you want?

Danyal and Bisma's story is just so heartwarming and incredibly cute! Anyone who loves sweet contemporary romance with a good emphasis on defying norms should add this to their to-read list.

I don't even know where to begin with this book. It' definitely one of the best ones I've read this year, and this is a genre I don't really read from. however, after finishing this book, and sobbing for 24 hours, I've decided that this title deserves every 5-star review it gets. Our main character is hilarious, charming, and clumsy-but in the best way possible. honestly, going into this book, I expected it to be just another ya contemporary. But I was very wrong, as the subjects covered in this book made me step back and think about my choices and complicity to certain injustices. If you love books that have a little bit of love, a lot of sas, and main characters with courage, this is definitely a book I would highly recommend.

Oh my goodness, what an incredible read. If you're one of those folks who binged Indian Matchmaking, you'll love this. And if you aren't, you'll still love it I'm sure. There's so much here for everyone.

I heard some review that called these characters flat, which I honestly don't get. I love how the mom defies stereotypes and expectations. The dad seems like one type of archetype, but then surprises us with unexpected and heart-felt moments. Danyal is a hilarious narrator (though I was disheartened to hear everyone jokingly call him an idiot). I loved how they incorporated his friend's faith journey, and coping with the brokenness of the world by burying himself into his faith. Bisma is so real, human and fun--totally the kind of girl I would be friends with. I found them all very believable, and people worth spending time with.

There's so much more depth here than just being a rom-com. When Danyal is selected to represent history for the annual Renaissance Man competition, he's asked to write about Churchill--and in the process discovers he's not quite the "hero" history has venerated him to be. The complex conversations about history, racism, colonization, religion and war never felt heavy-handed to me, but authentic for the characters' experiences and world, and highly relevant and important for readers to participate in and reflect on.

There is so much brokenness but Danyal doesn't lose heart. He still finds a way to be joyful, funny and pursue what he loves. I don't know, especially right now I found that so refreshing and heartening. Definitely one of my favorite YA reads of the year.

I can not review this book because I am on the Florida Teens Read Committee, but I have placed it on the "Long List" for consideration

I want to say thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this for an honest review:
This was such a pleasant read and the cover is just adorable. I enjoyed this book from the start. This book talked about important facts in the Muslim community an it was much appreciated. I love reading the growth pf the MC..I love the family interaction and was probably one of my favorite parts of the book. Even though Danyal's father was pretty tough on him (which I guess is expected as a parent) I laughed every time the parents were on page. It was such a fun read and looking forward to read more by this author.

Danyal is telling Kaval she is more than just a pretty face. Danyal is interested in Kaval. I really liked the characters and descriptions

I started this book looking for just a sweet young YA romance, which it thankfully was but I also learned and got so much more from it along the way. I loved the slow young love romance but also appreciated how this book addressed cultures and religions that typically aren’t Included in most mainstream romance novels. I must admit I struggled with the story at the beginning because I didn’t like the main characters right away but as we got a greater understanding of their familial backgrounds and the pressures that accompany them, they became easy love and root for. Plus an author can never go wrong with a friends to lovers romance in my opinion. Thank you for this copy to review!

Danyal knows he isn’t the smartest guy around, but he makes up for it with his charm and confidence. It’s a surprise to everyone when he’s nominated to participate in his school’s academic competition and Danyal is determined to show everyone that he is *more than just a pretty face*. Meanwhile, he’s crushing on his best friend’s sister, trying to learn how to be a chef, and being set up by his parents for an arranged marriage.

I didn’t have too many expectations going into this and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would! Danyal is a refreshing, likable character and all the dialogue is hilarious. I enjoyed seeing Danyal sort out his feelings towards Bisma and Kaval and how he recognizes immediately that what Bisma went through isn’t okay. Danyal’s struggles of trying to keep his friend group together and live up to his family’s expectations felt very authentic.

Several other reviews express disappointment with how this book mishandles religion and Muslim dating culture. I can’t speak to the extent to which this is true, but I trust that they are correct and I am saddened to hear that many readers were disappointed in this book’s portrayals. With this in mind, I hope that this story still does more good than harm.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a cute read! I really liked the main character Danyal. He’s very confidant but he also knows his weaknesses and isn’t afraid to point the it. He also doesn’t let anything stop him from pursing his dream to become a chef..even though his father doesn’t approve. I also loved that Danyal chose to approach tough topic with his Renaissance Man paper. He could have just wrote something to appease his father and his history teacher but instead he decided to write about something that needed to be said. I also really enjoy Danyal relationship with Bisma. It was sweet and wasn’t insta-love.
Overall a very sweet and enjoyable read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book!
*I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a honest review*