A Guide to the Dark

May 15, 2023
Best friends run afoul of a cursed motel room. Layla and Mira's spring break college-visit road trip comes to a sudden halt with a nighttime car crash in a small Indiana town. Little do they know that Wildwood Motel's Room Nine, their impromptu lodging, has been steadily claiming lives for decades. To Layla, Room Nine's just a room. She's far more concerned with getting to show her portfolio at her dream college, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, at an event the following day and hopefully getting off their waitlist (even though her parents want her to stay close to home in Michigan--the same parents Egyptian American Layla can't come out to for fear of losing their love). But Mira--deeply grieving her younger brother's drowning death last summer during a visit to family in Tunisia--immediately feels the weighty wrongness of the room and starts experiencing impossible things. While trying to figure out if it's concussion, grief, or something else, Mira befriends the teenage son of the motel's owner, a boy who lost his father to Room Nine. As their investigation deepens, so does the sense of doom and danger. The prose is punctuated by Layla's black-and-white photographs, lending a lovely sense of immersion. The ending balances emotional growth (and a touch of romance) with pain and a horror stinger. Layla and Mira are both Muslim and grapple with their immigrant parents' expectations and their sexualities. Introspective, character-driven, and--most importantly--haunting. (Horror. 12-18)

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May 22, 2023
Following car trouble, two teens find themselves stranded at a haunted motel in Metoui’s eerie paranormal debut. Layla, a photographer, and her best friend Mira, both 17 and of Arabian heritage, are on a spring break road trip when their car breaks down. Stuck in Indiana and forced to wait for a mechanic to finish the vehicle repairs, the girls check in to Wildwood Motel. They’re given Room Nine, which Ellis, the motel’s white teenage receptionist, informs them is infamous for the eight suspicious deaths that have occurred within. When Mira begins to see ghastly apparitions of her late brother, the trio determine to solve the mystery before Room Nine claims another victim. As further harrowing incidents occur, the girls contend with private issues surrounding familial expectations, their sexual identities, and their growing feelings for each other. Layla and Mira’s introspective alternating POVs capably relay the ominous happenings alongside individual struggles, while an unnamed third perspective watches the girls from outside the room. Though truly frightening scares are minimal, Metoui nevertheless delivers both a ghostly mystery and an impactful exploration of grief and loss. Layla’s haunting b&w photographs feature throughout, strengthening the narrative’s spine-chilling ambiance. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer March Soloway, Andrea Brown Literary.

June 1, 2023
Grades 9-12 Layla (Egyptian American) and Mira (Tunisian American) embark on a summer road trip, but when they swerve off the road just outside of Wildwood, Indiana, they are forced to change their plans. A strangely guarded tow-truck driver gives them directions to a motel that fortunately has one room available. However, the owner's son is less than enthusiastic to offer them room number nine. Soon after checking in, Mira begins seeing hallucinations of her dead brother, along with other strange visions, and Layla starts to notice distortions in the photos she's taking for the portfolio that she hopes will get her into the Art Institute of Chicago. As they befriend the motel owner's son and work to confront their respective demons, the girls--both from Muslim families--are forced to confront the fact that they just might be developing deeper feelings for each other. Peppered with black-and-white photographs, this emotionally raw story explores loss, grief, queerness, and family expectations through contemplative alternating narrative perspectives. A delightfully haunting and insightful debut for horror and thriller fans.

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Starred review from September 1, 2023

Gr 8 Up-When a freak car accident derails Mira and Layla's spring break college visit road trip, the best friends check in at the nearest motel; at first glance, it seems charming enough (and so does Ellis, the cute front desk clerk). But almost immediately, Mira senses something off about their room; the nightmares she had after her brother drowned reappear, and not just when she's asleep. Unfortunately, there is nowhere else to stay while the car is being repaired. When Ellis reveals that his father was actually the most recent in a string of deaths in Room 9, Mira can't resist the chance to solve the mystery of why her brother is appearing and Layla, well-Layla would do anything for Mira, including put her life at risk in an effort to destroy the malignancy they've discovered. Mira and Layla's as yet unspoken feelings for each other give rise to a tender tension from the very beginning that heightens as they slide closer toward honesty, but the disturbing things that have happened and are happening in the hotel room provide a strong contrast to that tenderness. Metoui's use of the nuances of Mira and Layla's Muslim American family dynamics to explore the coming out experience is skillful and compassionate. Black-and-white photographs taken by the author and asides from the perspective of the darkness break up a compelling narrative, and readers will have trouble putting this one down even for a minute. Readers should be aware of mentions of suicide in the book. VERDICT A first purchase for any teen collection.-Allie Stevens

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