✨ Hauntingly Kitsch ✨

Haunt Sweet Home is a super fun, super quick read that takes a look at the “reality” of reality tv! Full of manufactured plotlines, humorous hijinks and…paranormal activity?? 👻

📺 Reality TV
👻 Paranormal Activity
🏚️ Home Renovations
🧭 Finding Yourself
🏎️ Quick Read
🔍 Mystery

Method Read: 🎧
Jennifer Blom, Jess Nahikian, Matt Godfrey & Robb Moreira did a fantastic job bringing the story to life!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for sending me a copy!

Love a story about coming into yourself as a person that accomplishes that goal via Ghosts, and I love a story about someone with a weird job, so this had a lot going for it. Prose style and audiobook narrator left a little to be desired, for my taste.

Thanks, Macmillan Audio, for the gifted audiobook. #macaudio24 (Available now.)

I love it when a short book can still pack an emotional wallop and make me smile. This novella was quietly eerie while still having a ton of fun (if those two things can coexist). Aimless twenty-something Mara is the human personification of a shrug. She has no real ambition and has never been good at anything until she joins her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality show. Her job? Make creepy things happen while not getting caught.

Only…creepy things start happening that Mara isn’t causing. I do not typically read “horror,” but this was very light. There are no real scarey elements, just some supernatural aspects, delivered with snark and humor. This would be a good choice if you’re a wimp but still want to participate in “spooky season.”

The audio performances added to the story, with “recordings” of the shows mixed in with Mara’s point of view. Narrator Blom captured her dry and sarcastic tone edged with lethargy.

This was a hauntingly fun read. Home makeover TV mixed with ghost hunters. Maria's job is to create these spooky events but when odd things start happening she starts second guessing if they have found a real haunted house.

My only complaint was the ending felt rushed and I would have enjoyed another 25 or more pages once Marla had figured things out. I did not realize going into it how short it was so felt surprised when it abruptly ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audiobook for review.

Great story, thoroughly enjoyed this one and the main character is absolutely someone I'd be friends with in real life.

Haunt Sweet Home is a light, spooky read that blends paranormal elements with a reality TV show twist. Following Mara as she works behind the scenes of a ghost-hunting home makeover show, the story combines eerie moments with self-discovery. The full-cast audiobook performance adds a fun layer, especially during the TV show script sections, making it a quick and enjoyable listen. The concept is creative, though it doesn’t quite leave a lasting impression.

While the premise was intriguing, the pacing felt off at times, and the supernatural elements weren’t fully explored. Mara’s character journey adds emotional depth, but I found myself wanting more from the overall plot. Still, if you’re into a mix of mild horror and self-exploration, it’s worth checking out for a fun, casual listen.

This novel is perfect for people in the middle of a venn diagram with one side labeled "horror" and the other labeled "HGTV." It was a fun, quick listen, and the audiobook was well done! I loved the full-cast readings of the TV show scripts between chapters. I did end up giving this only three stars because it didn't provide a super lasting impression, but I do think it would make a great spooky ready for a slow autumn morning!

Haunt Sweet Home was a “lighter” horror novel if that’s a thing in the horror genre. Maybe I should say it’s a nice twist on a paranormal genre. It was a paranormal horror meets self exploration. This was quick and I enjoyed the reality tv show plot. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks @macmillan.audio for a copy of this audiobook! I think it will be a hit for those looking for spooky vibes this fall.

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!

A nice, short ghost story (that's really about self-discovery.) Definitely not a "scary" read, but I was hooked.

This was a very quick little read that kinda confused me, but also was kind of a good story. At first, I just thought it was a normal haunted house story but it’s not really a haunted house and I won’t give away any spoilers.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the story, plot being embedded in the reality TV show plot. It almost felt superfluous and not really needed for a good story. I think that was what threw me off the most. I think the actual haunting story would have had more impact if it had stood on its own. I think the story is pretty original and I really liked that about it. I also liked the ending and it slowly, but all at once is revealed, almost like the curtain gets pulled back at just the right timing.

I loved the dry tone of the narrator and have recommended this title already, it is also featured in our upcoming genre study. I haven’t read anything by the author and look forward to more by them!

**Review: "Haunt Sweet Home" by Sarah Pinsker** (3.5/5)

*Haunt Sweet Home* is a fun blend of spooky vibes and self-discovery, following Mara as she works behind the scenes of a ghost-hunting/home makeover reality show. The eerie elements—fog machines, staged scares, and mysterious happenings on set—are entertaining, and Mara’s journey toward confronting her own insecurities adds emotional depth.

However, while the setup is great, the story fell flat for me at times. The supernatural elements weren’t explored as much as I hoped, and the pacing dragged in places because nothing really happened. It intrigued me and I wanted to love it, but I wish it had been longer to fully flesh out both the scares and Mara’s character development.

This book was a page turner from beginning to end. A woman down on her luck with not much ambition picks up a job with her cousin as support on a haunted house fixer upper show. She makes an unsuspected friend and some weird things start happening. There are unsuspecting occurrences with twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

It’s the season for spooky reads. I listened to Haunt Sweet Home and it was perfect for the fall season!

I have mixed feeling about this novella. This was not the “spooky ghost story” that I anticipated, but more of a “coming of age” novel— 20something edition. The premise was engaging and fresh and interesting but I wanted something *more* to come of this. I enjoyed the sentiment that came with the ending but it made the overall flow and pacing feel a bit unbalanced.
The audiobook performance was great, but I’m not sure I would’ve enjoyed this quite as much on paper. Overall, I enjoyed the writing and the concept. I would love to explore other books by Sarah Pinsker, but this one wasn’t for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a great quick listen! I got everything I wanted from this book based on the title and cover-a little mystery, a few twists, and a touch of the paranormal. The characters were well developed and likable. The story was a great concept. I highly recommend this one!

I wasn't sure how I felt about Mara at first, but she grew on me. The wood carving she did to keep her hands busy played a bigger role than I expected. I liked how quickly Mara took to her job with the reality TV show. It was nice to see her feel competent at something. The haunting part and the explanation was not done as well as I would have liked. I listened to it on audio and I think that helped increase the creepy feeling of the locations where the filming was done.
Overall I liked the feel of this creepy little story.

Haunt Sweet Home is a Horror novella featuring a Reality TV show, part Ghost Adventures, part HGTV, wherein home makeovers are mixed with the ghosts that live there.

Our MC is Mara, who lands a job on the show as a PA. Her cousin, Jeremy, is the show's host. He knows she's been bouncing between different pursuits, trying to find her path, so at a family function he offers her the job. Mara being Mara, she doesn't commit right away. It takes some time before all the pieces fall in place. Once she is on the job though, she feels like it's going to work. She feels like maybe she's found her place.

This story follows Mara as she settles into her job, and tags along to the set of a few of the episodes. After a creepy coworker makes Mara begin to question everything though, events truly come to a head. Due to the length of this, I'm not going to say anything more about the story itself. I loved the idea behind it and getting to be on set of the Reality TV show was a lot of fun.

I also loved the various topics explored, particularly those involved in Mara's character arc. I really enjoyed how the author included excerpts from the show too. I felt like I could picture everything, and yeah, I was picturing Jeremy as Zak Bagans, sue me.

I listened to the audiobook for this and did really enjoy it. I thought the narrator's delivery matched very well with how I was picturing Mara's character. It brought it to life for me. I would definitely recommend the audio format for anyone who has that option. Particularly with the Reality TV scenes, it just makes sense to hear it play out.

Thank you to the publisher, Tor and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I'm looking forward to reading more from Sarah Pinsker!

Haunt Sweet Home is a not-so-spooky ghost story set primarily on the set of a haunted house home renovation reality TV show. It has some heart and some laughs, but it falls a bit short of a home run hit.

Pinsker gives us a main character who is a bit stuck. She's tried college a few times and a few jobs, but nothing has seemed to work. Of course, this comes to a head at a family gathering where the successful TV show host cousin offers her a job as an assistant on the set of his show.

This goes pretty normally, honestly, but eventually, things get a little bit weird. This is the primary hook of the book, and honestly, I felt it was one of the weakest. There's always a delicate line to try and straddle when it comes to introducing an element the reader may guess before the character, and even though everything in this novella has a relatively short page count, I felt the time between the twist becoming a bit obvious and the main character figuring it out drug a bit.

That being said, the found family vibes in this were pretty solid, and I always appreciate when the born family isn't despicable in found family stories.

Overall, if you're in the mood for a non-spooky-spooky-season book or a quick read that incorporates traditionally scary elements without much scare, this would be a good grab from your library.