No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. —C. S. Lewis

Trigger warning: suicide

This will be a short review, because I think it’s best if the reader goes in as blind as possible, but talk about an emotional read. 😭 A Guide to the Dark is an eerie sapphic YA horror novel, but at its heart, it’s an exposition on grief and how it affects us all in different ways, the journey through acceptance, and learning to forgive yourself even when you think it is impossible to do so. If you’re looking for a heavy read to bring you outside of your comfort zone in the best way possible, this one’s it.

I rated this 4 & 1/2 stars!

This book worked for me. So much. And I think one of the main reasons was because of the photographs throughout, "taken" by the protaganist.

I do wish that the supernatural element was more "fleshed out". I feel like there was room for a lot more development.

The relationship elements, atmosphere, etc. were perfect.

I hope this author does more books in this way.

"I have to start forgiving myself. No one else will."

"A Guide to the Dark" was just fine. The summary was highly intriguing, and the book was tagged as horror. However, it didn't really deliver on either. This book falls squarely in supernatural thriller, which is good, but it's not scary like I was expecting. The characters were so similar it was difficult to pin down who was talking when. The room as a narrator was awesome. The photo element was unique, but the pictures looked a little too much like stock photos.

So, just to make it clear, I thought Mira was on the left and Layla was on the right on the cover. But it's actually the opposite (Layla is on the left and Mira is on the right). I feel the need to point that out because someone on the book said the girls looked like their names, which I thought was hilarious in comparison to my initial thoughts.

Regardless, I absolutely love this book.

This book was so creepy and thrilling and yet so thoughtful and heartful. The themes of grief and the dealing with the guilt that often comes with that are done so well here, especially when it's done through the horrifying imagery done with both the writing and the photos taken by Layla throughout the book. I especially loved the photos because they really amplified the creepy factors; I genuinely got chills and spooks at certain points of the story (Like when Layla took a picture of Mira in the pool. The shadows and contortion around Mira's face genuinely got me scared, and this is coming from someone who typically doesn't get rattled so easily!). Mixed media is so rare in books and it's books like this that prove it should be done more often.

The cast of characters are also so good. Layla and Mira are the spotlight here, of course, with their sapphic chemistry and their individual POVs being very distinct from each other. I really must applaud Metoui for being able to do this, especially because with this being her debut, because more than one POV tend to be the downfall in other works. I like Mira a bit more than Layla, but I still loved how complex and flawed both girls were and them finally admitting their feelings for each other was so satisfying (And traumatizing, considering the fact Mira's eyes started bleeding because of the Pull, the room was set on fire, and Ellis died in the fiery inferno of said room, all these events happening immediately after they kissed). The side characters are also really stellar. Ellis and Izzy (But particularly Ellis, because Izzy got involved a bit later in the story and didn't get the chance to shine much) are both memorable and contribute a lot not only in driving the plot but also develop meaningful relationships with both of our leads, despite how brief the time they spent together in the book's timeline (Everything in the book happens over the course of five days). As for Delvin, though not on par with the other side characters, was still good for what he was there for. I initially thought he was a manifestation of the Pull whose purpose was to mess with the group, but his twist being the one who actually killed his baby and letting his wife go insane because he couldn't admit it was a great twist, too, and serves as contrast to Mira, too.

Overall, this was a fantastic read. I didn't think I'd love this as much as I do, but it's such a pleasant surprise, nonetheless.

I'll keep this brief, but I was not impressed with this book. Thought I'd like the photos but instead, I found them too staged and distracting. Maybe they will translate better in print. In all, the book wasn't engaging or realistic.
I did appreciate the Persian MCs which is a rare find.
#NetGalley

"You can check out of Room 9, but you can never leave.

The Haunting of Hill House meets Nina LaCour in this spine-chilling horror YA about the ghosts we carry with us.

Something is building, simmering just out of reach.

The room is watching. But Mira and Layla don't know this yet. When the two best friends are stranded on their spring break college tour road trip, they find themselves at the Wildwood Motel, located in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. Mira can't shake the feeling that there is something wrong and rotten about their room. Inside, she's haunted by nightmares of her dead brother. When she wakes up, he's still there.

Layla doesn't see him. Or notice anything suspicious about Room 9. The place may be a little run down, but it has a certain charm she can't wait to capture on camera. If Layla is being honest, she's too preoccupied with confusing feelings for Mira to see much else. But when they learn eight people died in that same room, they realize there must be a connection between the deaths and the unexplainable things that keep happening inside it. They just have to find the connection before Mira becomes the ninth.

Readers won't be able to put down this edge-of-your-seat thriller that includes over thirty interior black and white photos by the author!"

Because nothing adds to the creepy than being able to see the creepy.

Unfortunately this just didn’t work for me.
It’s about two girls that are on a road trip and stay at a haunted motel that is trying to feed off of one of the girl’s all consuming guilt.
It’s told in multiple pov Layla, Mira and the room itself.
Layla and Mira didn’t have very distinctive voices and I was constantly like who tf is talking rn?
It was very surface level in characters and left me unsatisfied wanting to know them better but also I stopped caring about them after a bit.
It had photos throughout and at first I liked the concept but by the end it just seemed unnecessary.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan children’s for an eARC.

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=2.25 | 😘=2 | 🤬=4 | ⚔️=4 | 14+

summary: A Guide to the Dark follows two best friends as they get stuck at a sketchy hotel in this sketchy room where a ton of people have died and they’re trying to solve this mystery and also like not die and one of them keeps seeing ghosts and also they fall in love??

thoughts: diiiidn’t super love this one. the random photographs were distracting from the story, which was already hard to follow. part of my problems with this probably exist because I read it alongside She Is a Haunting , which has a similar premise and is absolutely phenomenal, so AGTTD didn’t stand out. for whatever reason I had a hard time keeping track of which protagonist was which––definitely a problem. not my favorite YA horror/thriller by a long shot.

I really loved the slowly building/changing relationship at the center of this book, though it was the horror and thriller elements that drew me in from the plot description. I will say, those fell a bit flat for me, but the two central POV characters kept me immersed. I did think the other characters were a bit under-developed.

Ok, so this is the first book I’ve read in a long time that I genuinely don’t like. The characters try to be deep but don’t succeed, the ending feels preachy, and the ‘photos’ included are just too fake. I think this has all the potential elements to be a good book, but none of the weight and follow through a good book has. It has three narrators: Layla, Mira, and Room 9. Layla and Mira aren’t different enough in voice and thoughts to tell who is speaking most of the time. Mira’s brother is dead, which would be tragic except that we don’t have a real understanding of Mira. The book is about guilt and the characters being consumed by it, but this is a case of the exposition and rising action failing to get me to really care about the characters who are so focused on their feelings that they don’t think about anything else. They drove me bonkers the entire book, and then to top it all off, the ending isn’t even redeeming. Blergh.

I really enjoyed this book! I personally loved the incorporation of the pictures. It really set the scene for me and I love putting names to faces. It may not be for everyone, but it really worked for me! I tend to disagree with this book being in the “horror” genre. I was very surprised at how much romance was in it, and to be brutally honest, I’m not sure if I would’ve read it if I would have known that. But I’m still very glad that I read it! Pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. I love the message behind this book. I loved the story behind all of the characters, the details about all of them and I loved where this story took place. There’s really not much I didn’t like about this book, minus the romance, which I’m still pleasantly surprised I didn’t mind all that much. I’d give this about a 4/5! I’d recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for this ARC! All reviews are my own. 😊

This is a hard book for me to review, I think. On one hand I really loved the dynamic with Layla and Mira, their friendship, and and the development of Mira’s backstory regarding the death of her brother. On the other, I don’t think this was my flavor of horror. It’s a lot of creeping dread and unknowns that build on each other. I think it works excellently, and the photos throughout add to the creepy factor with how they tie into the story. It just comes down to a personal preference. But this is still such a great examination of grief and guilt and how much work it can be to keep living after unexpected loss. I definitely think this is a book I’ll think about and I really did love the characters, and it does a spectacular job with setting tone and vibes.

TW: Suicide
Mira and Layla are best friends and are in the middle of a spring break college tour road trip 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 off at this motel. Mira’s past, which has always haunted her, begins to manifest itself aggressively, though Layla doesn’t seem to notice. As tensions and dangers rise, the two of them have to work together with local teens to see if they can solve the mystery of the Wildwood Motel and escape its clutches.

This story is told from the POVs of two Muslim high schoolers who are friends. While I enjoyed this approach, it didn’t quite work out. The characterization of the two girls was a little too similar, as were their voices, which made it difficult to keep track of who was who for much of the book. I think the story would have been more impactful if it were told from only one POV or if their voices were more unique. The other characters were fine but weren’t written well enough for them to be engaging or for me to become emotionally invested in them. I do like how the author incorporated darker and difficult themes into this work; two characters had experienced deaths in their immediate families, and it added much to their characters and backgrounds.

There were photographs included throughout the work, which was a fun nod to Layla’s interest. They didn’t quite work for me though. It was jarring to be reading a work of fiction, then have photographs of real people show up on the next page. I do see why she chose to incorporate the photographs since they include visual evidence that the characters identify during the story relating to supernatural events, but it just didn't blend well with the prose for me. I’m not detracting from my rating for this, it’s just something that I didn’t care for.

I did enjoy how the author chose to handle the supernatural aspect of this work. There is some explanation included, but it's still left open-ended, which I quite enjoyed. However, I didn't find it to be scary or even suspenseful. This work shouldn't be classified as one of horror, maybe more of a supernatural mystery.

This was a good somewhat spooky YA read and a solid debut. My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Publishing Group for allowing me to read this work, which will be published 18 July 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui follows two Arabic girls - Mira and Layla, best of friends who are making the most out of an unfortunate situation during their road trip -- Mira's car has broken down and the teenagers need to spend the night in an unfamiliar town. Things get weird as the girls soon find out the history behind the room that they are staying in - a string of deaths, could they be next?

Mira is navigating through her own personal trauma as she relives her brother's death over and over - she revisits it from new perspectives and different angles. She sees him within the folks in town and feel as though he has a connection to the room.

Layla has a crush on Mira - and I think it's great for a young adult novel to touch on how homosexuality is looked at by some Arab/Muslim individuals. Layla talks about not being understood by her family or feeling accepted - she's not as open to new people in the way that Mira is. Layla enjoys capturing life through the lens of her camera... some of these photos are included within the book.. there are a few that are well paced but it did seem a bit unnecessary overall.

The horror in this book is pretty mild - it's not too scary or overwhelming. The book itself moves as at a pretty quick pace and is quite easy to read and follow along with. I'd recommend it if you are in the mood for a cute paranormal adventures with the potential for friends to turn into lovers.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

PSA: mild spoilers ahead.

I am not a friends-to-lovers girlie but I really liked this!! This is a YA sapphic paranormal thriller that actually left me feeling unsettled while reading (and that’s exactly what I want from a paranormal thriller!).
I wish we could have seen more from a few of the minor characters (@ Izzy) but overall it felt like the characters were their own person. You could see from the beginning that our two POVs had a close relationship but a strained one. We slowly start to get context for this and eventually a resolution at the very end but I would have liked to see more of the best friend dynamic.
This was fast paced and so easy to get pulled into! I really really enjoyed this and I’m very excited to see what comes next from this author!

Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

ARC review for A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 4.5/5
OMG! I’m going to read this again around Halloween time for sure! Two girls go in a road trip, get in a wreck and end up in a hotel. They are in a room where many people before them meet tragic death. I loved the spooky vibes and their romance! This was so wholesome and I didn’t want it to be over! I loved this

#booksofig #bookishpost #bookstagram #bookishfriends #bookcommunity #readersofinstagram #bookfriends #bookishfriends #booklovers #bookishcommunity #bookishfollow #bookloversunite #bookrecommendations #bookreviews

3.5 stars

A quick & spooky sapphic tale about two best friends on a road trip who end up staying in a haunted motel room. When Mira and Layla get assigned to a room where eight people have previously died, Mira starts to see her dead brother and wonders if she’s going crazy.

I liked the mystery aspect and this group of strangers coming together to figure out what’s going on. There are some darker themes like grief and guilt and how they can destroy a person, as well as the fear of coming out and pressure from religious parents.

I really enjoyed the creepy aspects, although the synopsis makes it out to be a bit scarier than it is. The romance was cute but I feel like more could have been done with that as well. The pictures were a nice touch but I think I would have preferred a few less in the middle of chapters and such. Overall a solid debut novel.

Thank you to Macmillan Children’s Publishing for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley & Meriam Metoui for the honor for allowing me to read an ARC copy of A Guide to the Dark. The writing style and character perspectives gave the book a very nice touch. The imagery added extra easy imaging of the characters, environment, and i thoroughly enjoying the slow burn. I recommend this book.

Two girls, one trip, and a haunted room that has a history of people mysteriously dying in it. Layla and Mira are best friends, they are on a college tour road trip for their spring break, but what they didn’t expect was that their trip would be cut short when they crash and find themselves staying at the Wildwood Motel, located in the middle of nowhere in Indiana. From the moment they get there, Mira knows there is something off and something very wrong with their room. The moment Mira steps inside the room she begins to become haunted by nightmares of her dead brother. Layla has her own secret that haunts her, the fact that she’s secretly been in love with her best friend and that she hasn’t come out yet. Mira and Layla soon find themselves dealing with a very haunted room that has a pull on them, but through the complicated relationship and the murder room, this is definitely going to be a week to remember. Will they make it out alive or will the room also take one of them? This was a story about dealing with grief, about relationships, love, and friendship. There was also a super cool feature of the book in which there were real photographs of the character and the stories (also since Layla is a photographer) it really added a nice touch to the story. Overall, its an interesting spooky read with a bit of romance.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

The blurb advertises it as Haunting of Hill House meets Nina LaCour, where the two main characters (Mira & Layla) have to stay in a hotel room after their car breaks down. Because of this, going in I expected a creepy/haunted hotel room that would make the characters (and myself) question their sanity. And it did deliver on some of that. But I'd say, with as few spoilers as possible, that this is more a story about grief, regret and internalized horrors. The book deals with a lot of hard topics: death of a family member, familial expectations, cultural differences, and homophobia, all intertwined with this hotel room that seems a little too connected to tragedy.

It was a book that definitely kept me engaged. The beginning is a bit slow, but once it picks up, it doesn’t stop. There were some twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat (I read this book all in one sitting!) But with all those hard topics, I wish I had gotten to see just a little more - a little more exploration, conversation, and character development. It’s clear Layla is struggling with her sexuality, and shoves down notions about being gay multiple times. So in the end, when the sapphic romance comes to fruition, it feels a bit rushed. I wanted to hear more about her path to acceptance (and it would be nice if the word lesbian was used! Books don’t use it enough!) Mira’s character development was more fleshed out, but I still was a bit unsatisfied with the abrupt ending.

The other thing I wanted to touch on was the inconsistencies. The book isn’t yet finalized, so there’s bound to be mistakes, but some really disrupted my reading. For one, the description of Mira on the pages and in the photos throughout the book were in contrast with the cover art (short hair on cover, long in the photos and text), and this happened with side characters as well. Which was a shame, considering I thought the b&w photos were creative and complemented the book quite well. I'm hoping these are fixed in the editing process.

Overall, the book had some flaws, but it still was an enjoyable read.