3.5 stars rounded up

A queer, paranormal mystery about grief and the challenges of coming out to your conservative Muslim family.

A Guide to the Dark follows best friends Mira and Layla on a college tour road trip when their car breaks down outside of a small town. While the car is getting fixed, they check into a motel and are assigned room 9- a haunted room where at least 8 people have died. Mira is grieving the loss of her younger brother and is convinced she's seeing his ghost, but Layla doesn't see anything. They end up getting involved in an investigation to uncover what is really going on in that motel room. Meanwhile the girls clearly have feelings for each other. But while Mira is out as bisexual, Layla is terrified to admit she is anything other than straight because of what it might mean with her family.

This has some fairly intense and dark moments, and a lot of it is about processing grief and the guilt that can sometimes come along with it. But it's also about coming of age and having the courage to be your authentic self. As a debut novel it's pretty good and I like how Mira and Layla are both from immigrant Muslim families that speak Arabic, but different cultures and dialects. There is kind of a lot happening in the story though which made me want more from the romantic plot arc. But it was enjoyable and something a little different from what I've been seeing which is cool. The audio narration is very good. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

For a book I felt pretty lukewarm about, I thought the narration for the audiobook was phenomenal. I loved that each POV had a different narrator, so it made me way more invested in the story. I probably would have DNFed if the narration was not as enjoyable as it was. I didn't really care much about the plot itself, I actually wanted it to be creepier, and then resolve itself better. But I do think that fans of "The Dead and the Dark" will really like this one.

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.

This book is very much about grief, regret, and guilt. I like how the author incorporated darker and more difficult themes into this work; two characters had experienced deaths in their immediate families, the difficulty of sharing sexuality that is not shared by culture and parents, fear of being accepted by those who know you best... it added much to their characters and backgrounds.

This story is told from the POVs of two Muslim high schoolers who are friends. While I enjoyed this approach, I was confused about parts of the book when switching between the girls as the voices used in the audiobook were similar. I think the story would have been more impactful if their voices were more unique but eventually, I got it. The other characters were fine and well-used in the story.

I did enjoy how the author chose to handle the supernatural aspect of this work. There is some explanation included and it was given a voice all its own, the way the story ended it's still left open-ended, which I quite enjoyed.

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.

Thanks to NetGalley for this audiobook.

A Guide to the Dark tells the story of two teen girls that end up stuck in a small town after crashing their car on a road trip. They rent a room in a motel and immediately get the feeling that something isn’t right. With the help of some locals they try to figure out what is going on as the situation with their room gets creepier and more dangerous.
This book told a story about grief in a fairly original way and has a lot of representation. Unfortunately it just didn’t have anything that made it stand out to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was spooky and eerie. I really enjoyed Layla and Mira as main characters and loved their relationship. The chapters with the point of view of room 9 creeped me out and I thought they really added a lot to the book as a whole. This was a creepy read and will make a good book to read for Halloween.

Thank you @NetGalley for an advanced copy of A Guide to the Dark. Here is my honest review in return. I loved it! 4.5stars!

Author: Meriam Metoui
Narrators: Vaneh Assadourian; Ariana Delawari; Ramiz Monsef
Published: RB Media/ Henry Holt & co.

Lbgt+ rep

Arabic rep

TW: Suicide

The story begins by setting the tone with a quote from C. S. Lewis, “No one told me grief was so like fear.” It feels like a paranormal Bates Motel set in nowhere Indiana. “How do you fight the shadows?” Apparently through amateur sleuthing and some angsty teenage jealousy. Mystery, psychological thriller, almost some romance, and family/cultural expectations to boot. It would be nice to know more about this author, the character Mira feels as though it might be loosely based on the author Meriam by the way this character is written. If you like audiobooks, this one is impeccable. A Guide to the Dark appears to be a standalone, however the author has a second book coming out in 2024 and I can’t wait! Oh my god, it was so good!

Horror, mystery, FF romance. This story follows two girls, mira and Layla. After a car crash, they end up at motel (room 9). There are stories about room 9… but what’s wrong with room 9? It was a nice, easy read with slight horror. Enjoyed seeing how everything unfolded.

I enjoyed this book a lot. However, I found Layla a bit difficult to like at times. She frustrated me in certain situations with her reactions. I had mixed feelings about the ending, since what was the cause of the problems in the room was never entirely clear, which was a bit frustrating, but the final part was also very good. I liked the diverse characters and the thoughts on immigrant parents and how they kind of get stuck in time. The romantic element was predictable. I wish the book had been longer, which is rarely a feeling I have in these types of books. Overall, a pretty good book!
The narration was excellent.

This was such a spine-chilling book! It was spooky and I think YA horror is a good genre for me! The narrators for this book were terrific. I love a book with multiple narrators!

Mira and Layla are on a road trip when a minor car accident leaves them stranded in a small town. When they check in to Room 9, mysterious things start happening to Mira.

I really enjoyed this one. This young adult horror has a mixture of unique elements that blend together to create a creepy yet meaningful story at it's heart...

▫️It's Sapphic
▫️Muslim MCs
▫️Grief as a Palpable Entity
▫️POV of the Entity
▫️Creepy photos

I read approximately 50% before I was graciously approved for the audiobook. The digital copy has photographs that connect to the plot. I personally enjoyed these touches and would have missed out of I didn't have the ebook. They added depth to the characters and created an added layer of suspense. There's a specific pool shot that was creepy as hell. Loved it!

The audiobook is narrated by three talented voices: Vaneh Assadourian, Ariana Delawari, Ramiz Monsef. I enjoyed each voice and the life they brought to the characters. I don't have many YA horrors with Muslim representation. This stood out to me. The different cultural acceptances the girls are juggling with their parents felt like an integral part to their secret feelings for each other. It ties in really well. I would've enjoyed more in this area.

The part that resonated with me the most was the focus on grief and how it sits with people in different ways. Festering inside when it's not acknowledged. A well placed concept that made the horror elements more fleshed out.

This was a light horror read that mixes a bit of mystery and lesson at its core. I fully enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those who enjoy elements like this. Thank you Recorded Books for the gifted copies in exchange for an honest review!

I will start by saying that I liked this story, but I did not love this story. Perhaps it is because I had a bazar scale that I measured it against: for me all creepy motel set stories are compared to the movie Psycho and I do sense that the writer took some inspiration there too (I won't elaborate so as not to create spoilers), but this story didn't quite give me the same chills I felt from that classic. That said, I did like the characters and appreciated that their backstories were developed enough that I could accept how the room affected them and somewhat understand why the story ended the way that it did. There was a bit of attention to the relationships and an attempt at romance but that wasn't the concentration of the story and more of an aside that periodically came up. It was a quick read, or in my case quick listen since I experienced this story through the audiobook and really enjoyed the fact that there were different actors to voice the multiple POV. This is a story to pick up if you are looking for a bit of an ominous tale that is not gory or nightmare-inducing, an easy read to take you away from your everyday.

Audiobook Review - A Guide to the Dark is a fantastic addition to the Supernatural/Thriller genre. The concept of a hotel room that haunts, psychologically tortures, and eventually kills people is haunting and will stay with readers. Perfect addition to all YA collections especially where ghost stories are popular.

There were some aspects of this story that I enjoyed much more over others. Mira and Layla are a pair of friends who take a road trip for spring break, and have a bit of an accident in the middle of nowhere, which leaves them stranded at a creepy motel. Some dark spooky things start to happen, and like any true spooky mystery story, obviously it’s up to them to figure out what’s going on and stop it.
Honestly, I didn’t like the Laylas character. She was extremely critical of Mira, and acted extremely childish whenever she didn’t like a choice Mira made. She lashes out at Mira with incredibly hurtful words at one point, and I just can’t get behind someone like that.
There are 3 povs in this book, Mira, Layla, and a dark entity that isn’t really identified. It did give a great creep factor to the story, which was great, but I found there to be very little depth in the two girls stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the audio arc.

I think grief and supernatural horror go so well together.

I thought Mira and Layla were such interesting and sympathetic characters. It was interesting to view the Muslim culture through the younger characters experiences.

I do wish the story would’ve progressed faster. There wasn’t a lot of explanation to why these things were happening or how it started.

Overall, I think it was a solid debut and I’m excited to see what else the author does.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ALC of this book!

Two best friends check into a hotel when their car breaks down, but after learning about mysterious deaths in the room they're staying in, will they be able to check out?

This was such a good summer horror about grief and guilt and friendship and understanding and darkness! I really enjoyed the main characters and their best friendship/ romantic attraction but no don't tell lol. The intercut chapters with the "guide to the dark" were really interesting as well!

CW: death, suicide, grief, fire, car crash, homophobia

Did someone say Supernatural but make it sapphic?! That’s definitely the vibes that I got while reading A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui.

This story follows Mira and Layla, best friends that embark on a college road trip for spring break only to find themselves stranded at the Milwood Hotel in the middle of nowhere Indiana. After checking into room 9, they found out that eight guests have died in that room, and now Mira is seeing her dead brother…

More than anything, this story is an exploration of grief and how grief manifests differently for people. I really appreciated the way the author approached Mira’s grief because it mirrors so many of the emotions that I have felt when it comes to the death of a loved one…especially when it comes to closing yourself off from those closest to you.

I also really liked the exploration and contrast of queer identity from both Mira and Layla through the lens of brown Muslim girls, which looks vastly different than their white peers. I did want more insight into Layla’s character because for most of the book, she comes off as a superficial and an unsupportive friend, which drastically shifts in the last half of the book.

As far as the spooky story line goes, I am always here for haunted houses/buildings with dark pasts, so I was intrigued by the torrid past of the Milwood Hotel. I think the author did a fantastic job with those vibes.

One thing to note is that I wasn’t sold on two Muslim girls being alone in a small town in the middle of nowhere and running head on into danger since Mira and Layla do discuss how they’ve always felt like outsiders in their predominately white high school.

4.50⭐️ | 📖🎧 A Guide to the Dark by: Meriam Metoui | 📅 Pub Day: Tuesday July 18, 2023

This touching coming of age paranormal/speculative YA mystery suspense novel was MUCH MUCH MORE than I bargained for! The book follows Mira and Layla as they embark on their spring break college tour road trip. As soon as the trip starts it comes to a halt at the Wildwood Motel in the middle of a desolate town in Indiana. There are secrets behind the walls and in the hearts of many at the Wildwood Hotel and Mira and Layla are no exception!

I have to say this is one on my favorite YA thriller mystery suspense novels/audiobooks because it really went there! It was more than surface level and it had grief that was palpable, and was anything but your average YA “road trip” novel. I cried at parts, laughed at others, and even was a little spooked! The multiple pov was done fantastically in this audiobook, and really allowed me as a listener to get the full scope of every character!!!

You might like this is you like:
✨The Haunting of Hill House
✨Bates Motel
✨Teen Angst
✨Queerness
✨Multiple POV
✨Speculative and Spooky Reads
✨Sinister and Dark vibes


*check CW if need be as this book discusses some heavy topics that may not be the right fit for all*

Special thanks to Netgalley, Recorded Books, and RB Media for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

I don't read supernatural/horror/thrillers but this YA novel has made me want to explore more of this genre.

This book explores grief, and the author ties it to themes of the supernatural in an interesting way, more of a psychological thriller. It primarily focuses on the feelings of those experiencing the loss of a loved one and how it manifests differently for people.

It also briefly discusses Arab culture and immigrant families, as well as queerness. I enjoyed Mira and Layla's relationship and wished it was explored further. Mira is openly bisexual and Layla hasn't come out yet. I enjoyed the cute moments between them. Although I wish there would have been more character development, however, I understand this couldn't have happened as it was only the span of a few days.

In my experience, the audiobook narration was well done for the POVs of the girls but the third person POV was confusing until the very end. I didn't think it worked for me until I learned the source of it at the end, so this could be confusing for readers.

I had been in a bit of a slump lately and this helped me get back into the flow. It wasn't very plot heavy but I was okay with it since I don't mostly read books for the plot.

The ending did feel a bit rushed, and I wish we had had more time with the main characters to digest what had happened.

Overall, it was a good read and it will stay with me for a while.

I really enjoyed this book! I love books with a spooky tone and I think this book does that well. I would reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys books that have a spooky atmosphere. I was able to get access to an audiobook copy and I think the narrator did a great job! 10/10 highly recommend! Special Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a copy of the audiobook prior to publication!

📷 Book Review 📷
𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤: A Guide to the Dark
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Miriam Matoui
📷
𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook!

This book follows two best friends, Mira and Layla, who are on their college tour road trip during their spring break. Unfortunately, they end up getting stranded in a remote town in Indiana. The only place to stay is the nearby Wildwood Motel but their rooms are strange and have a history of sudden deaths.

I was waiting for this book to get better but it didn’t. I love hearing horror on audiobook but this felt more like a thriller. The audio wasn’t very creepy and the whole plot is so overdone. It was advertised for fans of The Haunting of Hill House and if you’ve read that book or watched the show based off of it, the whole concept of Room No. 9 in A Guide to the Dark is the same as the Red Room in Hill House. All I know or have been told about the characters boils down to Layla’s brother being dead and that Mira likes photography and is in love with Layla. Even less is known about the two other side characters. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book, it was very bland.
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️