Do you want HGTV? Would you watch HGTV if it had a show about renovating haunted houses?
Haunt Sweet Home follows Mara as she works on a HGTV-like show where house owners are renovating their haunted houses.
This was a quick and fun novella that I really enjoyed the concept of as someone who loves to watch HGTV. This is a show that I wish was real. My biggest complaint is that I wish there was more focus on the houses that are being featured on this show. Instead the plot is more centered around Mara. But overall, I did enjoy this story line and think it’s going to make a great addition to anyone’s spooky reading list this year.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This was fine! Nothing to write home about. The plot/reveal is underdeveloped and the quirk with the form does nothing for the text.

This book may not have been what I expected when I picked it up, but I had a pleasant experience reading it. It’s a fun, sweet little story about a young woman finding herself.

Read my full review here:

https://horrortree.com/epeolatry-book-review-haunt-sweet-home-by-sarah-pinsker/

Mara's cousin, Jeremy is the host of a popular, low-calorie paranormal home show where new owners of old homes discover they're not alone as they start renovations. At a family gathering, he offers her a job as a production assistant which she initially refuses out of pride but then accepts when she realizes it's a pretty good opportunity.
This book combined a few of my favorite tropes:
-New girl on the job
-Paranormal TV shows or podcasts
-Family rivalries
-Home renovations/fixer-uppers
..
I enjoyed that this story veered off in a more subtle direction. It starts with Episode Thirteen (Craig DiLouie) vibes but then moves into character-driven, relational dynamics between some of the primary protagonists. It almost felt like a slim companion piece to DIAVOLA--riffing on some black sheep tropes and convincing readers that sometimes, paranormal activity is less threatening than family & friends.
..
My only complaint is that I wanted more time on location shooting the show Haunt Sweet Home and less time at the Motel. I could see a novella like this expanding to include more homes and backstage drama before driving inward for all the character interactions/dialog.
Recommending for readers who enjoy:
-On the job locations
-Co-worker dynamics
-Haunted Houses
-Reality TV
-Paranormal shows
-Family drama
-Identity issues
-Ghosts

Well, that’s not what I was expecting. This book was quick and short, with a satisfying payoff at the end. This was just creepy enough for an intro to the Halloween season.

My only real complaint is that I just don’t vibe with mixed media in books. The transcript sections just fell flat for me.

What I Liked:
-Haunted Houses
-MC pondering what to do with their life

What Didn’t Work:
-mixed media

This book was really entertaining at first, but somewhere down the line it really didn’t work for me! It was very short and caught my attention but around 15% in i really started to dislike where the story was going. That said I did end up finishing the book but it was slightly a bit predictable.


2.5⭐️Thank You to the publisher for the review copy of this book!

DNF - I think this just didn't work for me because I was wanting more complexity to the haunts. There will be readers who surely appreciate this for what it is.

What if a fake reality show about haunted properties ends up… not so fake? In Sarah Pinsker’s latest novella, a newly-hired production assistant ends up right in the middle of a haunting, while still trying to figure out who she wants to be and what kind of life she wants. It’s an engaging story that feels a little like house-hunting during an episode of Supernatural. I enjoyed this.

Mara is in her twenties, and struggling to figure out her place in the world. She’s been bouncing around between jobs, college, and homes, all the while struggling to feel like she belongs anyway. When an opportunity arises to get her foot in the door of the entertainment industry, she takes it, thinking it will at the very least be a decent job for a short while. Navigating the strange world of television, and keeping her connection to the show’s star mostly a secret, Mara takes to the job — setting up “evidence” of hauntings and other spooky happenings on the reality show. Every so often, she gets a helping hand from another, mysterious assistant — one who seems especially gifted at enhancing the effects intended on scaring the guests on the show. They form a bond, and are unnervingly similar in certain ways…

It’s a little difficult going into much detail without spoiling the story. What I will say is that Pinsker has a gift for writing characters and evoking spooky (but not cliché) atmosphere. The story is tightly told, and while I would have liked to spend more time with the protagonist and in her world, I think the novella is just the right length — it told a complete story, never felt rushed, and developed Mara very well. There’s also some good satire of the television/entertainment industry, which I always enjoy. The “mechanics” of the haunting that Pinsker develops were a stand-out element for me: it’s an interesting twist on some classic mythologies, but the author adds a couple of original elements that set it apart.

This is the first book by Pinsker that I’ve read, and it certainly won’t be the last; I look forward to reading more of the author’s work in the future. (I’ll start with the award-winning A Song for a New Day.)

I love reality TV, so I was already hooked - this was really interesting and I ended up reding it really quickly. It was on the lighter side for a horror novella, which was nice for a change!

This was a quick read. Easily bingeable and the perfect book to cozy up with the for autumn season reading. I was hooked on this one right from the start!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I prefer my horror novels short and sweet, so when I saw that Haunt Sweet Home was under 200 pages it instantly appealed to me. The concept of a ghostly HGTV-style show sounded really fun and kitschy in the best way.

While this book had a couple of good ideas and included some deeper themes relating to art that took me by surprise, I unfortunately found the overall plot lacking. The repetitive nature of the scene setups ultimately became frustrating after a while. The writing itself also wasn’t very strong. I couldn’t connect to the main character at a level that would make the emotional beats more impactful.

If you’re an HGTV lover looking for a quick ghost-y read for autumn, I’d say maybe give this a try. But I think there are much more effective stories out there.

3 stars / 6 out of 10

Mara is excited when her cousin lands her a job in production of Haunt Sweet Home. The haunted home/makerover reality show is a huge hit but she knows she needs to be on her best behavior as the lowest person on the totem pole. While the show is creating “hauntings,” some weird things begin to happen to Mara, and she wonders if it’s all as fake as she thought it was.

Love me a good haunted house. Well, ok, fine. I don’t really like to go to haunted houses, but I do love reading about them! This story was so dang fun and I loved every second of it! I did it on audio which was the perfect way to read it, as it felt a bit like a podcast at times. I just needed to know if there was legit some haunting going on or if it was all fabricated for the show. Overall I really enjoyed this one!

Thank you to @Torbooks for my gifted copy of this book!

I really enjoyed the premise of this novel. It was a unique setup and an interesting story line. The character of Mara felt like someone I knew. She was really in a point in her life where she didn't really know where to take herself and it felt really relatable to someone who is also a late bloomer. The novel wasn't scary in the traditional sense but still felt perfect for spooky season. I did really love the cut between prose of the novel and the tv dialogue.

I did the combo read and audiobook. I enjoyed this fast paced story. Wasn't really scary but still a spooky read perfect for spooky reading season.

3.5 stars rounded down!

Haunt Sweet Home was an entertaining and quick read, but overall kind of left me wanting more from the horror aspects. Maybe that’s on me for not fully reading synopses before going in, but overall my experience was just fine.

Thank you Netgalley for my review copy!

I would first like to thank NetGalley and Tordotcom for an e-ARC copy of this book.

What a fun little cozy/spooky novella to get me in the fall mood.

Mara, our FMC, is a little adrift at the moment. Realizing that school isn’t for her but feeling immense pressure by her family to go back to school and “find her thing,” she ultimately gets a job working the night shift on her cousin’s hit reality tv show. Think Ghost Hunters meets Extreme Makeover.

Haunt Sweet Home isn’t a coming-of-age story, rather it’s a commentary on aging and the struggle people have between fulfilling their passion versus paying the bills and familial expectations. Plus some fun commentary about how reality shows are made! How does a haunting get involved in that plot? I guess you’ll have to read to find out.

3.5 stars

I really wanted to like this but I couldn’t connect to any of the characters and the story wasn’t captivating.

I wasn't really into this one. I liked the concept because it gave HGTV x Expedition X vibes. But it fell flat. I got lost in what I was reading in a bad way.

Haunt Sweet Home is a short little book chock full of doubt, art, and growth. It’s a great addition to your haunted house lists, while also serving as a palate cleanser between darker stuff.

I liked it, but I feel like it was unfinished. It was a cool concept about "haunting" a house for a reality TV show, but once the supernatural thing started, and then got revealed, I felt a little...I don't know. Let down? Aside from that, I did love the writing, Mara felt like a legit young person. The whittling thing was cool, I wanted to know more about it.