Jummah Mubarak! Happy Friday!
I’ve got a Muslim halal romance review for y’all today! [I actually wrote a full review for the first time in forever!!] I included where potential spoilers appeared so you know where to skip. 🙂
Title: Courting Samira
Author: Amal Awad
Page Count: 336
Genre: Romance – Romcom
One Sentence Synopsis [okay, two]: After several failed door-knock suitors, Samira is prepared to take a break from looking for a husband until by happenstance, she meets Menem during an outing for work. Against the backdrop of a cousin’s wedding, Samira’s romance blooms and becomes complicated when an old friend begins to act strange after hearing about the courtship.
Rating: 5🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇
Full Review
General:
To start, I feel like I need to mention the only reason I felt drawn to this book in the store is the hijabi on the cover. The prospect of a hijabi FMC in a romance instantly sold me. I didn’t, at the time, realize I was picking up a “Romcom.” [Which I think worked in my favor].
By the fact I gave it five stars, you can already tell I loved the book. It’s not very long, but it packs so much into the pages. I found myself connecting to the main character, Samira, very early on. She’s relatable and enjoyable. Her experiences are pretty normal – if not always talked about. I enjoyed my journey with her.
Plot:
The first time I knew I would love this book came from the use of a Jane Austen quotation as the epitaph – not only that, but also one from my favorite Austen novel, Northanger Abbey. But the author also continued to use Austen-era language and references as Samira, the FMC, moved through the story. I thought it was a cute way to bring forward the halal romance, explain it in a way non-Muslims might get it, AND pay homage to the mother of all things romance genre.
The back drop of the story is the marriage between Samira’s cousin and the male MC’s, Menem’s, brother. I’ll talk a bit about what I appreciated about this later, but it was cool to see the end of the courtship [through the engagement to wedding of her cousin] and the beginning of the courtship practice with the two main characters.
I enjoyed how the romance plot played out – they had a cute banter between the two of them which is something I often enjoy when employed in romance. They respected each other’s boundaries and choices.
I had a brief moment of panic about the potential triangle situation with her friend, Hakeem – this is not a spoiler, it’s on the back of the book – but I feel the author handled it very well.
Characters:
What I Loved:
Samira’s experience felt very relatable to me – not that I’ve gone through the same experience, but because I think many people can relate to the impending doom of feeling like you’re trapped in a job you aren’t passionate about or on a projection you didn’t want to be on without an escape hatch. She’s very much burnt out over the failed attempts to find a suitor at the beginning of the book and through the story, you can also see how she’s struggling to figure out where she wants to be, what she is passionate about doing, and what changes that need to be made to get there. I really liked and felt for her.
I appreciated the vast range of Muslim rep across the book, but even more the three close friends-cousins. It’s refreshing to see the spectrum of Muslims on the page – and the three friends seemed to be representations of the different ways women can and do practice their faith. I think the author did a wonderful job of painting with a variety of colors to represent how Muslims – women in particular – aren’t a monolith; they all have different experiences and choices.
Something I want to note:
It was hard, because of the nature of the first-person perspective, to connect fully with Menem’s character. That said, I found Samira’s point of view cute and shy at times, but it also provided a good enough perspective that I didn’t feel like I lacked anything out of not having his point of view.
The Friendships continued – potential spoilers ahead so skip this part and jump down to “Romance”
It’s very interesting to see the juxtaposition of Zahra [the cousin getting married] who is overtly, openly toxic and rude and Lara [the best friend/cousin] who, in my opinion, is a covertly toxic friend – at least in some instances. She, very often, ignores the boundaries Samira tries to make, is openly hostile to her friend’s potential suitor, and doesn’t seem very repentant when called out. She also keeps shoving Hakeem at Samira despite being told Samira isn’t interested. It may be because I’ve had these ‘friends’ in the past and learned the hard way that you sometimes need to remove them from your life, but it didn’t sit right with me. [I practically cheered when the normally quiet, reserved friend checked her].
Hakeem – the friend
This is one time I think the romance triangle potential was handled in a very good way. Even though Hakeem seemed jealous, like he was interested, after talking it out with Samira, they came to the conclusion that though they cared for each other, they weren’t a ‘right fit.’ This felt so mature and real. It is a perfect example that love doesn’t always mean that you are the ideal together. [Though, he already annoyed me with the now-that-someone-is-interested-I-want-to-say-this moment which I always find mildly annoying haha].
Romance:
I thought the “Meet-Cute” was actually… well… cute!
Don’t get me wrong, I think I’d personally be embarrassed about meeting my potential suitor while encountering one of my biggest fears, but they had a wholesome and funny interaction. The banter is cute and playful without being too awkward and forced.
The courtship is sweet, too. I liked how they bonded even though they didn’t have everything in common.
Representation
One thing I greatly appreciated from the author was that she – either through the MC’s point of view or her friend – indicated where some things in the experience of the MC’s cousin’s wedding fell under culture versus Islam.
It’s not explicitly said anywhere – and if it is and I missed it, my bad! – but Samira has anxiety, at least she presents in a way that, to me, reads that way. It plays a role in some of the conflict in the story but learning to overcome that and her fears becomes an important theme throughout.
Oh!
And she’s Palestinian!
Favorite Quotation:
“I’ve only just open my eyes, and I’m not sure where to look… You give me strength.”
Samira
This book is only my second five-star this year and while it’s not a “blow me away” type of book, it’s still really good. I liked how it explored so much in so little time and kept the relationship moving forward. It’s definitely a book I’d recommend reading!
Leila P. Morgan 