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Blog Tour: Sway With Me by Syed M. Masood (Interview!)

Posted November 13, 2021 by Kaity in Book Tours, Interviews / 0 Comments

Blog Tour: Sway With Me by Syed M. Masood (Interview!)

Happy Saturday and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for SWAY WITH ME! I’m so excited because today I have an interview with Syed M. Masood to share with you! This book is truly amazing and I’m so excited to for you to find out more about it!

Blog Tour: Sway With Me by Syed M. Masood (Interview!)Sway with Me by Syed M. Masood
Published on November 9, 2021 by Aw Teen
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Pages: 336
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram

She’s All That goes desi in this hilarious, affecting, and sweetly romantic comedy by the author of More Than Just a Pretty Face.
Arsalan has learned everything he knows from Nana, his 100-year-old great-grandfather. This includes the fact that when Nana dies, Arsalan will be completely alone in the world, except for his estranged and abusive father. So he turns to Beenish, the step-daughter of a prominent matchmaker, to find him a future life partner. Beenish’s request in return? That Arsalan help her ruin her older sister’s wedding with a spectacular dance she’s been forbidden to perform.
Despite knowing as little about dancing as he does about girls, Arsalan wades into Beenish’s chaotic world to discover friends and family he never expected. And though Arsalan’s old-school manners and Beenish’s take-no-prisoners attitude clash every minute, they find themselves getting closer and closer—literally. All that’s left to realize is that the thing they both really want is each other, if only they can get in step.
At turns laugh-out-loud funny, poignant, and sincerely heartfelt, Sway With Me is a coming-of-age story for anyone trying to find their place in the world.

What would you do if you spent the day with Arsalan and Beenish? Where would you go to eat, hang out, relax, etc.?

Arsalan and I would have a blast. Honestly, Arsalan would have fun with most readers, I think, because so much of his world is about books. The whole day would be a long Literature class.

Not sure Beenish would enjoy that. In fact, I’m not sure I’m cool enough for Beenish to hang out with. I’m rather certain she’d find an excuse to ditch “the uncle who wrote Something Something Pretty Face” to go do her own thing.

If Arsalan and Beenish were to hang out with characters from other books, who would they be and why?

They’d get along really well with the cast of Katie Henry’s HERETICS ANONYMOUS. Both Beans and Arsalan have problems with authority—though Arsalan’s are repressed—so I think they’d not only join the club, Heretics Anonymous, I think they’d fit in really well.

If there was one fictional place you could travel to for a day, where would it be and why?

Maybe to Endor to meet the Ewoks? They were heroes, and I don’t think they get enough credit for their contributions to the cause of the Rebellion. I think someone ought to thank them.

If you buried a time capsule with three items inside, what three items would you choose and why?

I thought about this a lot. I honestly don’t know. I wish I had a better answer for you. I really do!

Maybe I’m just not a time capsule person? I tried to think back to the 80s and what I would have put in a time capsule for now and I couldn’t think of anything. So little endures nowadays and what does endure is remade and remade again. Everything around is designed for obsolescence. I don’t believe the future would have any use for our stuff.

What was your favorite bit of research you ended up not using?

I’m not a car guy, so when I started looking into what kind of old car Arsalan’s great-grandfather would’ve given him, I stumbled into some fun classic car stuff that was new to me. That was interesting to read about.

What is your favorite quote, scene, or moment from Sway With Me?

It’s tough to decide! I think my favourite moment is when Nana, the protagonist’s grumpy, grouchy great-grandfather joins in on a dance party. That was a lot of fun to write.

About Syed M. Masood

I grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, and currently live in Sacramento, California. There have been plenty of stops in between though. I’m a first generation immigrant, twice over. I’ve been a citizen of three different countries and lived in nine cities. I am, as Goethe, said, “nothing but a wanderer […] on this earth.”

Living among different people, in different countries at fascinating times in their histories, has shaped both my view of the world and my writing. Ultimately, human beings are the same everywhere (despite the fact that they tell themselves, everywhere, that they are different from each other), and the theme of this fundamental human unity informs everything I write.

As to my life outside of writing, I went to the William and Mary School of Law, and before that attended the University of Toronto, where I studied English Literature. I am currently practicing as an attorney and must “measure out my life in coffee spoons” on a daily basis.

Some members of my family will tell you that I’m also a poet. This isn’t true. I wrote a few poems in Urdu when I was a teenager, and I’ve never heard the end of it…which I wouldn’t mind, honestly, if they were any good. As it is, I’m very happy living in prose, thank you very much.

Other interests include good food, video games, sitcoms, and books of all kinds. Most of my time that doesn’t go to writing or billable hours is consumed by my two children, four and two years of age.

What do you think about Sway With Me? Have you added it to your tbr yet? Let me know in the comments and have a splendiferous day!

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