Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Guide to the Dark had some clear strengths: I loved the creepy atmosphere, diverse atmosphere, and emotional moments. However, even with the obvious horror elements, the marketing of this novel as horror/thriller disappointed me. There was always a sense of foreboding present which made eager for some sort of twist or reveal, but the ending was weak and unsatisfying. I also wish this was either just one POV or for both POVs to be further developed. Mira's POV and her experiencing with grief were fine, but Layla's struggles with her sexuality felt...underdeveloped, to say the least. I'm all for sapphic yearning, but there was something a bit off-putting about the way Layla's longing was described. It was still a quick and enjoyable read, but I needed more depth to the characters and much stronger plot points.

I recently read this book when a friend recommended it to me as one of the 12 books by 12 friends to read in 12 months challenges. I hope to be better about reading books when they are published and making sure to review them on netgalley when I finish them. Thank you for understanding.

A Guide to the Dark explores themes of despair and resilience, and grief in this spooky YA mystery. Despite the intriguing premise and great prose, the pacing of the novel occasionally falters, and the dual POVs seem similar in terms of voice. This title is more quiet and introspective than thriller, so give to readers who appreciate a mystery over page-turning suspense. Readers might also find the inclusion of photographs of real people more jarring than immersive like intended.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

Mira and Layla are best friends on a spring break road trip touring colleges together. When their car breaks down in the middle of Indiana, they find themselves stranded at the Wildwood Motel and likely to miss their last and most important college tour. But something is unsettling about this motel. As tensions and dangers rise, the two of them team up with the motel owner’s son to see if they can solve the mystery of the Wildwood Motel and escape its clutches.

This book had some dark moments with an intense focus on processing grief and survivor’s guilt. Mira has been grieving the loss of her younger brother and is convinced she's seeing his ghost everywhere she looks. Meanwhile, Layla is struggling to admit she is not entirely straight, but feels safe and supported with Mira if only she could find the words to be her most authentic self.

There was a lot happening throughout this story in terms of characters and subplots, and I think these elements worked against the novel as a whole. In the beginning of the book, we get a good level of development for our two main characters, but then as more character become introduced the characters began to feel very one-dimensional. There’s one main plot line, but I didn’t feel like it was that engaging. It honestly felt very slow-moving and repetitive. The subplots felt very half-baked and I honestly forgot for most of the book that there was this awkward romantic plot line. It never received a lot of development and felt a little too convenient with how it was wrapped up in a bow for the reader. Furthermore, this book didn’t really feel like a horror story. It read more like a mystery with ambiguous supernatural elements. Some of the supernatural elements were explained, but there are a lot of unanswered questions at the end of this one.

Overall, this book was lacking the intensity I expected from a horror novel and it fell flat in terms of both character and story development. The audiobook was amazing and there were some very heartfelt emotional discussions about sibling grief and the grieving process, but even with something so personal I still felt such a disconnect from this story.

It's giving Haunted Mansion & that lyric from "Hotel California"... "You can check out any time you like... But you can never leave!"

Mira and Layla go on a roadtrip, and when things go awry, they need to stop at a local motel to spend a night or two. They stop by the... creepy, weird Wildwood Motel, the only place with vacancy. To make matters worse, the staff is acting *off* and the only room available is Room Number 9, which he is apprehensive about letting them stay in.

I'll leave it there to keep it spoiler free - but I'll add some of MY FEELS! I do not know why I haven't seen anyone talk about this book online, because I am still thinking about it six months later. It's one of those creepy, horror stories that seems like it almost could be real... which delivers on the scary factor. It straight up gave me nightmares because of how spooky it was, and I think it may be the creepiest book I have read all year. It was so, so good, and I wish more people knew it existed.

[Ebook copy gifted by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) and Netgalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.]

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I did put this on my Christmas list, so hopefully I can acquire a copy of this book that way! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it and we have to leave a star rating.

This was a pretty okay listen. It was pretty slow in the beginning, and then, I started to lose interest. While, I would not recommend it in my curriculum, I think my students might enjoy it.

3.5/5 Stars

After crashing their car, Mira and Layla are stranded at the Wildwood Motel in Indiana. Mira senses something wrong about the room they are staying in, and begins experiencing weird things while there. Layla doesn't notice anything strange about Room 9, but is desperate to protect her friend. Then they learn 8 people died in the same room, who may all be connected in some way. They team up with a few others at the motel, to ensure Mira doesn't become the 9th victim.

I listened to this on audio, and I did enjoy the narrators! I liked how the room had it's own voice as well. I thought the concept of this book was very intriguing, I liked the exploration of grief and guilt, but something about it didn't hook me the way I wanted it to. I think it may have been Layla, who is hopelessly in love with Mira, who is unaware of her affections. Layla is so insanely jealous about EVERYTHING when it pertains to Mira and it rubbed me the wrong way. The book was a quick read though, and I finished it in one sitting.

Overall, it was an interesting read about processing grief, but I definitely would not categorize it as a horror in my books.

This is exactly the sort of horror I love. A GUIDE TO THE DARK is an eerie, emotional debut that builds up suspense so well and has lovely writing that gave me chills quite a few times. I had the best time reading this and though I wish the ending wasn't so rushed, I will definitely be recommending this one!

I really enjoyed this story, it had a lot to o do with guilt and grief. Trigger warning for talk of death, suicide, haunting, ghosts. I liked the two main characters and the two side characters.

I love young adult horror/thrillers so I was definitely excited to read this book. That cover caught my attention and the synopsis sounded interesting. I thought this was a well written story, but it wasn’t too scary. There were some chilling moments that I really loved, but this story focuses a lot on grief and learning to live with grief.

I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of photos in this book. I love when books include mixed media. It adds a lot to the story, in my opinion.

I’d recommend this book to lovers of ya supernatural fiction that is not too scary. I think this would be a good read for the spooky season. I look forward to reading more from this author.

3.5/5 stars

This one just didn't work for me unfortunately.
The pacing was off, the flashbacks, even the characters were very bi-dimensional and stereotypical.

When two best friends with secrets get stranded in a small town, things start going wrong after staying in the local motel, specifically in Room 9. This book was creepy and full of emotions from not just the main characters but the side characters as well. I loved the POV of the room/entity as well and thought it was a nice added POV to the plot. Definitely a great read.

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- a thriller that both engaged me and disengaged me at the same time. i enjoyed the writing style and characters, but i felt that there were certain moments that were lackluster or made me disengage. overall, a solid debut (if I'm correct on that), and one to enjoy if you love thrillers.

A Guide to the Dark is a creepy story of two Arab-American teens whose college tour road trip gets detoured by a car accident. They end up at a motel in the last available room, and creepy things start happening. This book was a very slow burn that didn’t culminate in an exciting climax. The characters are all really interesting, but there’s so much that I couldn’t love about this book.

A Guide to the Dark is definitely a twister of a thrilling adventure.
I enjoyed the photography parts that were used and some of the scares Metoui included we truly creepy!
While I personally didn't mind the sapphic portions of the novel, I think this is best suited for high school readers.

A deadly hotel room?! Unique sapphic YA horror. At the start of A Guide to the Dark, best friends Mira and Layla are on a road trip checking out different colleges. One car accident later and they are stuck in the middle of nowhere, a tiny town in Indiana. Luckily the town motel has one vacant room... or unluckily as the case may be. Mira immediately feels uncomfortable in room 9. Her brother has recently passed, and she is seeing visions of him in the room. Is it just her processing her grief, or is something more sinister behind it? Layla doesn't sense anything unnatural; she's too blinded by her feelings for Mira, which have turned to more than friendship. With the help of Ellis, the son of the motel owner, they discover that a string of deaths have occurred in room 9, and it looks like Mira may be the next victim.

I had a great time with this debut. I loved the creepy motel atmosphere, and the interspersed photos were a big plus for me. Just an extra element to set the novel apart. They give you a better picture of what the author envisions their characters to look like. The "monster" in this novel is menacing and unique. The budding romance between Mira and Layla was quite sweet, though it didn't develop much until the very end. The true heart of the story is about how we process our grief, and the guilt that we carry with us. A quick read with a powerful message.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A Guide to the Dark was a hauntingly beautiful paranormal mystery. It was creepy, unnerving, and had me on the edge of my seat. A wonderful YA read.

This whole book, I wanted to like, but I just couldn't. It had everything I like in a book, but not enough of that.