https://www.syed-masood.com/contact daily 0.75 2018-10-06 https://www.syed-masood.com/books daily 0.75 2024-07-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb9249b840b16a8237e3ad8/f411b2ae-11ca-4512-ae4e-913e4dc959d6/Screenshot+2024-05-21+at+8.07.45+PM.png Novels - NOW AVAILABLE A darkly humorous and emotional homecoming story about a young man reconciling with his estranged family and finding the way back to love, from the author of The Bad Muslim Discount. A decade ago, Azaan, a rebellious teenager with dreams of becoming an actor, was exiled from Redding, California to a religious academy in Egypt by his imam father. His crime? Getting caught kissing Madison, the girlfriend he isn’t supposed to have. But while letting his family believe he is studying to become a preacher, Azaan ditched school and embarked on an acting career. Given that he has minimal contact and nonexistent plans to return home, he figured no one would ever know. Now, however, Azaan’s grandfather has a dying wish: he wants to see his grandson one last time. In order to maintain the story he’s told his family for years, Azaan decides to become a fake imam. Playing at being a religious leader, he finds a community in Redding on the brink of a scandal involving his family. It’ll be the most challenging role of his life. Navigating his new identity and old relationships, Azaan reunites with Madison, connects with old friends, and uncovers a shocking truth about his family history that threatens to expose his father as a fraud. It turns out, Azaan isn’t the only one pretending to be something he isn’t. Before he can finish weighing the consequences of exposing his father or protecting him, an untimely death shakes Azaan's priorities. He is forced to grapple with his religion, future, and family in a way that is sure to break hearts, but might heal a few along the way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb9249b840b16a8237e3ad8/1596861709900-NSKV8QHL987M3EWBYNLQ/image-asset.png Novels - NOW AVAILABLE A sweetly funny YA debut about falling in love, family expectations, and being a Renaissance Man. 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 does 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. When 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. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb9249b840b16a8237e3ad8/1635434811922-85X216K8Y1PPV9AB2A9X/SwayWithMe_FinalArt_LoRes_1_v2.jpg Novels - NOW AVAILABLE 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. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb9249b840b16a8237e3ad8/1596861754897-DEU8YOS2PV92UH8TKPQW/image-asset.png Novels - NOW AVAILABLE Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslims immigrants finding their way in modern America. It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalism takes root within the social order and the zealots next door attempt to make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, t.o start life over in California. Ironically, Anvar’s deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his fun-loving father can’t find anyone he relates to. For his part, Anvar fully commits to being a bad Muslim. At the same time, thousands of miles away, Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America. When Anvar and Safwa’s worlds collide as two remarkable, strong-willed adults, their contradictory, intertwined fates will rock their community, and families, to their core. The Bad Muslim Discount is an irreverent, poignant, and often hysterically funny debut novel by an amazing new voice. With deep insight, warmth, and an irreverent sense of humor, Syed M. Masood examines universal questions of identity, faith (or lack thereof), and belonging through the lens of Muslim Americans https://www.syed-masood.com/home daily 1.0 2024-06-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb9249b840b16a8237e3ad8/1567655455867-LM2IQUA6WUNFPBBEXXFL/Screen+Shot+2019-09-04+at+8.50.08+PM.png Home MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE is available to ORDER. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb9249b840b16a8237e3ad8/1597042463852-PYTPI3ISACG49KYK7WW5/Screen+Shot+2020-06-10+at+11.23.42+AM.png Home THE BAD MUSLIM DISCOUNT is available to ORDER. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb9249b840b16a8237e3ad8/ef70e896-201d-411c-a17f-097741b81506/Screenshot+2024-05-21+at+8.07.45+PM.png Home - Make it stand out THE LAST MAN IN PARADISE is available for ORDER. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb9249b840b16a8237e3ad8/1635434418275-J5LCWQZX5096C9IH2HC1/SwayWithMe_FinalArt_LoRes_1_v2.jpg Home - Make it stand out SWAY WITH ME is available to ORDER. https://www.syed-masood.com/about daily 0.75 2018-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb9249b840b16a8237e3ad8/1540061702027-NEO7COA5M3MVECAL2JA4/Masood+Author+Photo.jpg Author