{"id":7788,"date":"2020-07-23T06:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T10:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/?p=7788"},"modified":"2020-07-21T12:38:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T16:38:14","slug":"more-than-just-a-pretty-face-interview-with-syed-m-masood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/more-than-just-a-pretty-face-interview-with-syed-m-masood\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than Just a Pretty Face | Interview with Syed M. Masood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Thursday and welcome to my interview with Syed M. Masood, author of MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE! I&#8217;m so excited to share my interview with you today, plus more information about the book and author!<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Triangle-Banner-Summer-2020.png\" alt=\"Divider\" \/><\/p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/more-than-just-a-pretty-face-cover.png\" alt=\"More Than Just a Pretty Face | Interview with Syed M. Masood\" title=\"More Than Just a Pretty Face | Interview with Syed M. Masood\" class=\"ubb-cover-image alignleft\"><strong>More Than Just a Pretty Face<\/strong> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/authors\/syed-m-masood\/\">Syed M. Masood<\/a> <br><strong>Published on<\/strong>  August 4, 2020 by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/publishers\/little\/\">Little<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/publishers\/brown-books-for-young-readers\/\">Brown Books for Young Readers<\/a> <br><strong>Genres:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/genres\/ya\/\">YA<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/genres\/contemporary\/\">Contemporary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/genres\/romance\/\">Romance<\/a> <br><strong>Pages:<\/strong> 352 <br><strong>Add to <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/42655335-more-than-just-a-pretty-face\" target=\"_blank\">Goodreads<\/a> <br><strong>Author Links:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.syed-masood.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Website<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/syedmmasood\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Twitter<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/18601160.Syed_M_Masood\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Goodreads<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/syed.m.masood\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Instagram<\/a> <br><blockquote class=\"ubb-synopsis\"><p>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 <i>does<\/i> 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.<br \/>\nWhen 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n\t\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n\t\"@type\":\"Review\",\n\t\"datePublished\": \"2020-07-23T10:00:42+00:00\",\n\t\"description\": \"Happy Thursday and welcome to my interview with Syed M. Masood, author of MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE! I'm so excited to share my interview with you today, plus more information about the book a\",\n\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\"name\": \"Kait Plus Books\"\t},\n\t\"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\\\/books\\\/more-than-just-a-pretty-face-interview-with-syed-m-masood\\\/\",\n\t\"itemReviewed\": {\n\t\t\"@type\": \"Book\",\n\t\t\"name\": \"More Than Just a Pretty Face\",\n\t\t\"author\": {\n\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\"name\": \"Syed M. Masood\",\n\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.syed-masood.com\\\/\"\t\t},\n\t\t\"isbn\": \"0316492353\"\t},\n\t\"author\": {\n\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\"name\": \"Kaity\",\n\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\\\/books\\\/\"\t},\n\t\"reviewRating\": {\n\t\t\"@type\": \"Rating\",\n\t\t\"ratingValue\": false,\n\t\t\"bestRating\": \"5\"\n\t}\n}\n\n\n\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Triangle-Banner-Summer-2020.png\" alt=\"Divider\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7880\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Syed-M.-Masood-Interview.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Syed-M.-Masood-Interview.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Syed-M.-Masood-Interview-300x59.png 300w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Syed-M.-Masood-Interview-768x150.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you could trade lives with any YA character for a day, who would it be and why? What about a week? A month, year, or forever?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019d probably be okay trading lives for a day with most non-protagonists in YA. I miss not being tired and I miss having the kind of energy I had when I was that age. I wouldn\u2019t want to be a YA protagonist though. They go through a lot.<\/p>\n<p>To be specific, I\u2019d probably trade places with Hassan Harbish from John Green\u2019s \u201cAn Abundance of Katherines.\u201d That guy has Muslim parents that just let him take off on a road trip with this best friend and somehow manage not to make a literal federal case out of it. That\u2019s the stuff of legend in my world. It\u2019d be interesting to experience that.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think the answer changes over a month or even a year. I don\u2019t know about forever. Being ourselves is exhausting. I can\u2019t imagine how much work being someone else would be. I think I\u2019m good.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>What would you do if you spent the day with Danyal? Where would you go to eat, hang out, relax, etc.?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019d probably do a food tour of San Francisco and the Bay Area to be honest. One of the best things about living near there is how much great food there is from everywhere in the world. We\u2019d eat like hobbits, I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If Danyal were to hang out with characters from other YA books, who would they be and why?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I think Danyal and this crew would get along really well with the characters from Katie Henry\u2019s \u201cHeretics Anonymous.\u201d Obviously, that is set in a Catholic school and the characters in my book are Muslim, but I think they\u2019d get along famously. They use different vocabularies but their life experiences, in some ways, are similar.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>What was your favorite bit of research you ended up not using?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Mostly just either recipes or possible good places to eat. I mean, I did end up using those. Just not in the book!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>What is your favorite quote, scene, or moment from More Than Just a Pretty Face?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I love Danyal\u2019s speech at the end of the book. But my favorite moment, right before the speech starts, is when Bisma texts Danyal. That still makes me tear up a little.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Were there alternate endings you considered, or did you always know where the story was headed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I don\u2019t ever plot, so I can\u2019t say I always knew where the story was headed. In a way, it was a surprise to me. But the story unfolded so naturally that I didn\u2019t really consider any alternate endings. The way it came to a close was almost necessary given the flow of the narrative up until then. I just went with it and didn\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Triangle-Banner-Summer-2020.png\" alt=\"Divider\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7693\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/All-About-the-Author-Summer-2020.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/All-About-the-Author-Summer-2020.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/All-About-the-Author-Summer-2020-300x59.png 300w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/All-About-the-Author-Summer-2020-768x150.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-7883 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Syed-Masood-author-photo-credit-Samantha-May-Photography-300x268.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Syed-Masood-author-photo-credit-Samantha-May-Photography-300x268.png 300w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Syed-Masood-author-photo-credit-Samantha-May-Photography-1024x913.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Syed-Masood-author-photo-credit-Samantha-May-Photography-768x685.png 768w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Syed-Masood-author-photo-credit-Samantha-May-Photography.png 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"font_8\"><strong>SYED M. MASOOD<\/strong> grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, and now lives with his wife and children in Sacramento, California, where he is also a practicing attorney. He wrote a few couplets in Urdu when he was a teenager, and his family still tells everyone he is an Urdu poet. He is not. MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE is his debut novel. Masood\u2019s debut adult novel, The Bad Muslim Discount, will be published via Doubleday on November 17, 2020.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7694\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Follow-the-Author-Summer-2020.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Follow-the-Author-Summer-2020.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Follow-the-Author-Summer-2020-300x59.png 300w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Follow-the-Author-Summer-2020-768x150.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.syed-masood.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/18601160.Syed_M_Masood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Goodreads <\/a>| <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/syedmmasood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Triangle-Banner-Summer-2020.png\" alt=\"Divider\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7697\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Tell-Me-Your-Thoughts-Summer-2020.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Tell-Me-Your-Thoughts-Summer-2020.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Tell-Me-Your-Thoughts-Summer-2020-300x59.png 300w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Tell-Me-Your-Thoughts-Summer-2020-768x150.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Have you added this amazing book to your tbr yet? Let me know in the comments and have a splendiferous day!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7699\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Well-Wishes-Candy-Fishes-Kait-summer-2020.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Well-Wishes-Candy-Fishes-Kait-summer-2020.png 600w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Well-Wishes-Candy-Fishes-Kait-summer-2020-300x160.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Thursday and welcome to my interview with Syed M. Masood, author of MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE! I&#8217;m so excited to share my interview with you today, plus more information about the book and author!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[734,1148],"tags":[740,737,1900,462,2068,2066,2067],"reading-challenges":[],"class_list":["post-7788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-spotlight","tag-author-interview","tag-interview","tag-july-2020","tag-kait-plus-books","tag-little-brown-books-for-young-readers","tag-more-than-just-a-pretty-face","tag-syed-m-masood","book-author-syed-m-masood","book-publisher-little-brown-books-for-young-readers","book-genre-contemporary","book-genre-romance","book-genre-ya"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/More-Than-Just-a-Pretty-Face-Featured.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7788"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7884,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788\/revisions\/7884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7788"},{"taxonomy":"reading-challenges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-challenges?post=7788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}