Courting Samira Review

By Nic Daniels

Hello, audacious readers and Happy Women’s History Month! I hope you made a little time to celebrate women from both the past and present, even if it’s something as simple as picking up this month’s read. Last month, we explored personal and creative growth with Rudy Francisco’s Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky. This month, we’re exploring love, tradition, and expectations in Courting Samira by Amal Awad.

Despite being twenty-seven and growing up in Sydney, Australia, Samira Abdel-Aziz does not date; she looks for a husband. For years, she’s met many matches arranged by her family—or “doorknock appeals,” as she calls it. However, after many disappointing, bland dates, Samira is disillusioned with the process. Working at a bridal magazine and running around for her pretentious cousin, Zahra’s wedding doesn’t help either. Most days, Samira would rather be at home watching her favorite movies with her favorite snacks close by, only seeing love on screen (so relatable!).

So, when she meets the charismatic Menem at a work retreat, she’s pleasantly surprised by their instant attraction to each other. Soon after, they have a series of “random” run-ins at a nearby coffee stand, slowly getting to know each other. While she is nervous about the unsupervised interactions, she slowly starts to see potential.

However, this causes a chain reaction that Samira never saw coming. Here best friend, Lara, insists she looks to her friend Hakeem as a potential match at the same time a promotion opportunity looms in the near future. Plus, the upcoming wedding is making her life more chaotic than she’s used to. For so long, Samira has coasted by but now she must make decisions that force her to find out what she really wants out of life.

This is probably the most realistic romance I’ve read in a while. Beyond small coincidences in the beginning, everything else feels very true to life. Samira is awkward without being cartoony and subtle—normal, dare I say—without feeling like it’s being emphasized through a bland character. The story feels like something I would hear about through a family member, which I really appreciate and applaud Amal Awad for. I also like how different Samira’s interactions are with each friend as we get to see what side of herself she’s comfortable with showing to each person and the reason why.

I enjoyed seeing Samira get more confident with her choices as the story goes. We go from watching a character who believes that she has to walk a certain path to realizing that she is truly the only person holding herself back. And while the storyline can be slow at times, I also couldn’t guess the ending, which was refreshing.

More than that, I love that she doesn’t break away from her culture or religion in the name of “growth.” While I understand that many people can feel constrained by religion, just many can feel empowered through it, so I appreciate seeing that as it can be pretty rare in Western culture. Plus, the confrontation at the end is so satisfying and exactly what I needed from this story.

I hope you enjoyed Courting Samira. I'll be sharing all my thoughts on the upcoming IG live with founder, Jessica Wise. Feel free to comment your thoughts below and, until next time, don’t forget to read audaciously!