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A review by melbsreads
More Than Just a Pretty Face by Syed M. Masood
challenging
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content warnings: slut shaming, Islamophobia, colonialism, shitty teaching practices, shaming of non-academic career paths??? IDK how else to word that.
This is an odd story, in that it doesn't entirely feel like YA - it's dealing extensively with parental pressure to get married and with arranged marriages specifically - but it also VERY much feels like YA.
So there were a lot of elements of this that I enjoyed - the internal debate of "do I humanise a monster because my history teacher loves him or do I tell the truth?", the way that Danyal just...accepts things about Bisma that others have shamed her for, that he's so determined to pursue a career outside of academics. But there were also elements that just...didn't quite feel like they belonged in the story that was being told.
So ultimately, this was FINE but not what I expected it would be.
This is an odd story, in that it doesn't entirely feel like YA - it's dealing extensively with parental pressure to get married and with arranged marriages specifically - but it also VERY much feels like YA.
So there were a lot of elements of this that I enjoyed - the internal debate of "do I humanise a monster because my history teacher loves him or do I tell the truth?", the way that Danyal just...accepts things about Bisma that others have shamed her for, that he's so determined to pursue a career outside of academics. But there were also elements that just...didn't quite feel like they belonged in the story that was being told.
So ultimately, this was FINE but not what I expected it would be.