A review by heavenreads
Mirage by Somaiya Daud

5.0

I’d requested an ARC of Mirage and lucky me got sent a copy a few days ago from Hodder and Stoughton and I was ecstatic to have it in my hands. To some, the plot may seem ‘basic’ but if you think about it, it actually isn’t. I’ve never heard of a book where it has the same/similar plot and it really interested me as I wanted to see where the author would go with this. The setting was also really interesting as I hadn’t expected to be set in basically ‘space’ even though the characters mentioned and the places Amani visited are only one planet and its two moons on which people live on. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like that aspect, but actually, it made the book even more unique. At first, when Idris and Amani started acting on the feelings they had for each other, I was a bit alarmed as it felt sudden, but every time their affections for each other were shown, I was reassured with the fact that Somaiya was making sure to mention that they’d spent a long time together whilst as Amani was pretending to Maram in public and that it makes sense how ‘quickly’ they fell for each other. Getting closer to the end of the book, you see Amani and Maram’s relationship getting better and the beginning of the journey of Maram’s development as a person and it made really happy for some reason. I think that’s a reason why Maram didn’t mention what Amani did to Nadine at the end of the book, as she most probably still cares for her, despite the fact that she felt Amani had betrayed her. The ending was written so beautifully and it left not only Amani hopeful in the situation she was in but also the readers as the bird mentioned on the last pages was meant to reassure Amani that there was more to come for her. The book ended on such a beautiful note. It may seem like I give out 5 star ratings quite often but I only do it for books that I genuinely believe are amazing and deserve a 5⭐️. If you haven’t already, make sure you preorder this book before August 28th!