Name: Awakened by Love
ISBN: 9780999061411

Azin Sametipour

"Born in California into a Muslim family from Iran, Zoha Farzam thought she had her entire life planned. Graduating from UC Davis in just three years, and attending Stanford Medical School. Even removing her scarf without her parents knowing was a carefully planned rebellion, but she never in her wildest dreams planned Ethan. Ethan Renard was everything she was not, and when he made her question everything she believed in, Zoha found herself being torn between her happiness and her duty." -- Amazon.com.

Awakened by Love

Paige Green

Rating: 4/5


Genre: New Adult Romance


Recommended Age: 17+ (slight maturity needed since this book does deal with culutral differences. Please go into this book with an open mind).


I received a free copy of this book from the author! Thanks! All opinions are my own.


From the critically acclaimed and award-winning author, Azin Sametipour, comes a breath-taking story about forbidden love, heartbreak and identity. Born in California into a Muslim family from Iran, Zoha Farzam thought she had her entire life planned. Graduating from UC Davis in just three years, and attending Stanford Medical School. Even removing her scarf without her parents knowing was a carefully planned rebellion, but she never in her wildest dreams planned Ethan. Ethan Renard was everything she was not, and when he made her question everything she believed in, Zoha found herself being torn between her happiness and her duty. Would she risk everything, her family, her faith, and even her reputation for him? A moving portrait about the challenges one faces from being in two cultures, or falling in love with someone who is, and the hard decisions one must make to be true to oneself. Awakened by Love is astonishingly beautiful and frighteningly honest. Critics call it captivating, powerful and a novel for everyone. The first in a trilogy, Awakened by Truth comes next! - Amazon.com


I've never realized until this year that there is a huge lack of diversity in books. I've probably said that before, but it's always true. That's why I loved when I got a chance to read this book for review because this book follows a muslim family from Iran, particularly Zoha who has went to college and is secretly rebelling against her family. I loved learning about the culture of this book and I loved reading how hard it is to marge two very different cultures together. This book is also an own voices novel, which is awesome. I thought that the characters were very well developed and the plot was interesting throughout the book. I also thought that the pacing was really well done and that while the book isn't one of my favorite genres I enjoyed it regardless. 


The only small things I didn't like about this novel was that I thought that she mentioned the character was Muslim a little too much and I thought that Ethan was a bit rude and rubbed me the wrong way. Ethan's character didn't seem to grasp how hard it was for Zoha to rebel against her family and didn't seem to give her a chance to figure out what she really wanted. While I don't think that this was... fair? I did feel like it was realistic. I like to think that while everyone would have an open heart and open mind I don't think as many people would, which I think is what the point of Ethan's character was.


Verdict: I thought this book was a really cute and romantic story, but it's also a really good tale on how different cultures can be, how hard it can be to move between the two, and how surprisingly impatient some people can be. I thought the book was very interesting in those regards and it would be a perfect read for any lover of romance or diverse reads or of a quick read that will put you in an inspirational mood.

Chelsea Breher

I was gifted a e-copy of Awakened by Love from Azin Sametipour herself in exchange for an honest review. 

Awakened by Love is a diverse novel, it is a story about love, religion, finding ones own path, and determination. I found it to be a beautifully written story that follows Zoha and her struggle to be the person she wants to be as well as the person her family wants her to be. I really enjoyed learning about a different culture and world view than my own. I could truly see Zoha's internal struggle throughout the novel which made me feel all the feels. 

Characters were well developed, there was a great flow to the novel. There was some intense themes so it's not a novel for kids or those faint at heart but I would definitely recommend this novel to others.

Lisa van der Heijden 

Awakened by love is the story of a Muslim girl – Zoha – who is the eldest daughter in a conservative Iranian family. As she is the eldest daughter of the family she is made an example to follow for her two younger sisters and her little nieces. Zoha’s dream is to become a doctor like her dad and make her parents proud. The last couple for years Zoha is struggling with her parent’s conservative way of practicing the Islam. She secretly stopped wearing her scarf to college and she starts questioning her parents lifestyle. Then she meets Ethan – handsome, American and worst of all a future wine maker. 

I had the chance to read this book because the author offered it to me in exchange of an honest review. The fact that I have not read anything about a Muslin girl was a major reason for reading this book; I like to expand my horizon and since I basically have zero knowledge over this book really appealed to me. 

First I must say that I am not Muslim myself or as I said above my knowledge about this religion is lacking for the most part. For this reason I cannot speak about the Muslim or Iranian representation in this book. 

So let is start with the review. This story is basically a forbidden love story. Zoha cannot have a boyfriend and especially not a non-Muslim boyfriend. But their differences in religion and lifestyle is not the only thing standing between the two. Both deal with external pressure from their family to meet their expectations, expectations of each other and prejudices from outsiders. The plot is mainly focused about the development of their relationships. However the families from both main characters play a major part in the story. The main storylines might not be original – forbidden love has been used in a lot of story with Romeo and Juliette being one of the most famous examples – but they are many facets in the story had make it original: the religion, the focus on family, developing of new friendships and that both characters have lives apart from one another. 

Zoha was a very relatable character. She really struggles with what her parents expect her to and what she personally wants for herself. Zoha is questioning the way her parents interpret the Koran. Zoha has her own opinion about her religion but she does not voice them to her parents because she is afraid that she will disappoint her parents. I really felt for Zoha during the story and her struggles made me tear up multiple times. Although most of us do not have the same (amount of) struggles as Zoha has I believe that most people can relate to the fear of disappoint their parents and the will to make them proud. Zoha is a pretty confident strong female character at the same time there is a lot of growth possible for her as a character. 

To be perfectly honest I had some trouble with Ethan. I am not sure if I like him. Sure he is handsome, confident, rich and most of the time pretty nice but he also gets what he wants all the time. I have conflicting feelings for him. I appreciate the sweet things he did for Zoha but at the same time I think he could have shown more respect for her religion. With some of the events in this book I was asking myself how much is this Zoha’s own choice and how much did Ethan push through to get what he wanted. Both characters have their flaws and that makes them more real. Still I feel that both Zoha and Ethan need to grow a lot as an adult person to deserve each other. At this moment I am not sure if they are suited for each other. 

As I said before this novel does not only deal with love or religion. Family and friendships play an important role too. Especially Zoha’s big family has a major part. It is great to read about a big, loving family. Zoha’s parents want the best for their eldest daughter and they want her to represent a role model for the two youngest daughters and their nieces. They are unaware that they put a lot of pressure on Zoha and that she struggles with her own identify and what the Islam means to her. I cannot really blame them because they truly believe they are doing the best that they can for Zoha. I loved Zoha’s little sisters. They were so cute and had their own personalities. Ethan’s family also puts pressure on him. In that way both families are pretty similar. 

Although Zoha’s and Ethan’s background are completely different they have similar struggles with their families. Both characters have more depth to them and what is presented at the beginning of the story. 

Zoha has also a good supportive group of friends like Sarah. I loved the way their friendship was portrayed. Sarah’s family was also a nice contrast to Zoha’s family. Sarah’s family is also from Iran but a lot less conservative than Zoha’s family. It was really interesting to read how two families practice the Islam in two different ways. 

The writing style was pretty easy. I flew through it. The author has a witty writing style. Their were little funny remarks like: “I am Muslim. I am not taking a wine making class” that had me laughing out loud. This book is a very emotional read. You can almost feel Zoha’s doubt and struggles and pain. The author made me cry and laugh and everything in between. I also enjoyed the part social media played in the story and the little references to the pop culture. Lastly I felt that the ending was really empowering. 

In conclusion: I really loved this book because of all the emotions it made me feel and I loved reading about a religion that is pretty unfamiliar for myself. The only problem I had with the book was Ethan’s pushy behaviour. However that fits his characterisation. I would recommend this book if you are a lover of romance books and diverse books. I am correct this is the first book in a series and I cannot wait for the sequel. I am very interested to see how the story and Zoha are going to develop in the next book.

Awakened by Love

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