More Than Just a Pretty Face by Syed M. Masood

Okay. So I'm not sure how I'm going to get through this review without shouting my words in excitement. If I could stand on a rooftop this very minute and sing to all below (bear in mind my singing voice is not up to par but lets continue for the sake of emphasis) with the greatest 70s pop song it would still not show how good this book is. But one thing that it will show is that I am now angry at not being able to experience the same joy that I did for the very first time that I was able to read it. Just imagine now, I am in my hermit hole crying my eyes out because I am not sure how I am meant to carry on with life, let alone read another book.

I think that we might just have a hopeless romantic on our hands. Danyal is undeniably a down-to-earth guy who unfortunately needs a little push in the right direction. However, he can also be seen to be a guy who is too good to be true. Almost like how a star might shoot over the night sky, but can easily be missed if your not in time to see it. Danyal can also be seen as being a very relatable character. He's real, he's breathing, he has real life problems, he doesn't have some stupid fantastical power that makes him the main character because he is more than that. I kind of wish that he is my friend too. But now that I have closed the final chapter, he feels more like a good old friend that I used to know but still appreciate. Like a fine wine I guess.

The main storyline is set in The Renaissance Man contest that happens every year at Danyal's school. This is where it is widely understood that the people who are chosen to compete in this contest is through the nominations of the teachers from various departments throughout the school are the brightest and the most gifted. Danyal comes to learn what it means to follow your own dreams and the dreams that are placed upon you. He also comes to realise that maybe it's good to question what is seen to be right, when obviously, there are times where we must show that even the biggest heroes are not all good as they are said to be. Even in the most hardest of times when things don't seem like they are going right, it doesn't mean that you can't be happy or optimistic. Because when all fails, we all have the joy of food to give us the feeling that everything will be ok.

Some of the characters are fun and quirky. I loved Bisma and Danyal's mother who always made me laugh nearly every time that she entered the room. Suri, oh don't get me started on Suri she is sweet yet hilarious in the same way and I wish there was more of her to be honest. What can I say, this was a perfect book with some perfect characters. I just loved them all in their own ways. This book seems like one you can't get enough of, even if you have read it for the fifth time. It's just brilliant.

So I've decided to stop waffling and give this book five stars because it cannot be described in the best way possible without reading the book yourself. Take the leap. You won't be disappointed.

Thoughts of a Bookworm #5: Goodreads Choice Award is Fake

Hello! So, I know that it has been some time since I was last writing to you all. But I saw an email the other day and it really got me that I couldn’t not share my thoughts on it. As we all know it’s that time of year again. The fairy lights are beginning to twinkle, the days and nights are getting darker and colder and we are all starting to look ahead to the next year. But what comes before next year? Well, the Goodreads Book Choice Awards of course. One of the biggest events in a bookworm’s calendar. But personally, I think the whole thing is an insult to the whole book community. Obviously, when I was younger I didn’t think any different to most bookworms. However, I have come to realise that it isn’t necessarily what is the best book of the year but rather a popularity contest. More so now than ever with the insurgence of ‘BookTok’. Honestly, I don’t think we will ever get a book worthy of the title ever again. It has become a pure vanity project. Take me back to the T...

What's not to be perfect?

Happy New Year! Like as I have said last week, we are going into something a bit more depressing. To start off this post I have decided that before I do go into specific details, I thought it would be a good idea to look at New Years resolutions. What is yours? I know for a fact what mine will be. It would have to be about how I always leave work until I have to do it. So this coming year my method for to stop making this habit would be to maybe make the habit of doing it earlier than what I once did. Just remember guys, never make a New Years resolution if you can't keep at it. Otherwise what is the point of actually making one? Anyway the book I am going to be focusing on this Tuesday, would be a book called The Perfectionists. It is about how five girls devise a plan against this boy called Nolan Hotchkiss and of course there will be a murder, betrayal and a bit of poison. I have to be completely honest about how i felt about the whole plot, before going onto other re...

A Wedding in the Country by Katie Fforde

SYNOPSIS Lizzie has just arrived in London, determined to make the best of her new life. Her mother may be keen that she should have a nice wedding in the country to a Suitable Man chosen by her. And Lizzie may be going to cookery school to help her become a Good Wife. But she definitely wants to have some fun first. It is 1963 and London is beginning to swing as Lizzie cuts her hair, buys a new dress with a fashionably short hemline, and moves in with two of her best friends, one of whom lives in a grand but rundown house in Belgravia which has plenty of room for a lodger. Soon Lizzie's life is so exciting that she has forgotten all about her mother's marriage plans for her. All she can think about is that the young man she is falling in love with appears to be engaged to someone else...