[1] In an interview with NPR, she said that part of the reason she decided to write about these themes was to explore the experience Iranian youth can go through in a country where homosexuality is banned.

[2]: 1:50  Farizan, who is Iranian-American and gay, said she spent several years closeted due to her parents being from Iran and fearing it wasn't safe to talk to others about her same-sex attraction.

[5] Heather Booth, in her review, highlighted Farizan's usage of different speech patterns to help delineate the personality of each character, and called it a "moving presentation of a powerful story".

[6] Reviewing for the New York Times, Jessica Bruder found the author's prose to be "frank, funny and bittersweet", and also praised the secondary plots, calling them memorable.

[7] In 2014, If You Could Be Mine received the Ferro-Grumley and Edmund White Award by the Publishing Triangle, marking the first time a novel won the first prize in two different categories in the same year.