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.

I love home makeover shows and pair that with a haunted house - such a cool concept. This audio was on the shorter side and perfectly paced. The narrators really did a great job. I especially loved how Maras character came across over audio.

This is a great one to pick up to start off spooky season and that cover is just gorgeous!

Loved the narrator and it really made me click with the short novella easier. Perfect book for spooky reading season that we are in right now. Would recommend it to all readers of the thriller genre.

Haunt Sweet Home is perfect for the spooky season! Our MC, Mara, gets a job on a ghost hunting/home makeover reality show. She quickly finds out that her job is to hide fog machines and scare homeowners. When she meets a new coworker, things start to get weird. I loved the weird and the twists. I could not put this down. I had to finish to know all the things. I enjoyed this audio. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

I liked the premise of this book being a reality show about fixer upper homes with paranormal activity. I rooted for the main character who is a struggling young adult, who has not found success in college or career pursuits, so she leans on the connections of her cousin who is the lead actor on the show to help her score this job. She is asked to do the grunt work and put in compromising positions to stage the hauntings, but she excels in her role.

I don't want to give any spoilers, but will just say not all the hauntings they are simulating on the show are faked. That's when things got more far fetched and was a bit of a stretch to tell what was real and visible to others versus a spiritual vision.

4.5 stars rounded down

Haunt Sweet Home follows Mara as she joins a TV ghost show crew and encounters spooky experiences both real and fabricated. It’s light in tone and a fun take on TV ghost hauntings.

Mara was a great character to follow and the length of this novella let her shine without becoming irritating. I love horror novellas and while this book was light on horror, it was entertaining throughout and kept me hooked.

The audiobook was great with multiple narrators bringing the story (and TV episodes in particular) to life. Highly recommend this novella via audio if available!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

Honestly this book was just okay. I really enjoyed the narrator and feel like they had a good grasp of the book and the perfect voice for it. But I feel like the book itself could have been MUCH longer. This was supposed to be horror but it wasn’t long enough/didn’t go into any depth to be scary at all. I wish we knew more about Jo’s character and how her and the main character connected after the MC found out she was a ghost. I also wish we got to see whatever/whoever the other ghost was instead of just hearing about them the last like 2-3 sentences of the book. Idk, it just felt like the START of a book and not an actual book.

Mara is having a hard time figuring out her life. She cant seem to stay focused enough to get her degree and nothing feels right. When her cousin, Jeremy offers her a job on a reality type ghost home improvement show she agrees. Not knowing what the job entails she finds herself working overnight providing some scares and spooky atmosphere for the homeowners. When a new co-worker arrives Mara finds herself questioning herself….why cant she find happiness? Why is she so unsettled? When unexplained things start to happen on site, Mara is forced to take a look at herself and make some life choices.

This was the most empathetic ghost story i have ever read. Mara was such an interesting character and exploring her feelings and insecurities was something that i didn't expect, but it worked well. This is a short story but is so much more than meets the eye, well done.

4 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review. The narration for the story was done well and I really enjoyed it!!

Thank you @macmillan.audio for the #gifted ALC.

I binged this audiobook. To be honest, I’m not sure I would have enjoyed this if I was reading with my eyeballs. They nailed the narration, and I’m adding a whole star simply for that performance.

Is cozy horror a genre? If so, Haunt Sweet Home would fit the criteria. This short novel is a coming of age story with a side of eerie haunting, dry humor, and pithy writing.
My rating: 4⭐️

Sarah Pinsker wrote one of my favourite scifi novels: We Are Satellites, but I hadn't read anything else by her. As soon as I started this novella I went searching through my Goodreads and found I'd put something else from her on my TBR (Two Truths and a Lie) and decided to read that short story first.

While there are similar threads between this and the short story like a young woman who feels disconnected from her life and her family, no future or dreams of her own, Two Truths and a Lie is much more spooky. It's got a creepypasta feel where everything is familiar and recognizable, but just off enough that you're left feeling unsettled with a persistent itch in the back of your brain.

Haunt Sweet Home feels like the much more commercial cousin that delivers more explanation, more of a moral, more of a neatly tied up ending. It's a quick jaunt that never strays too creepy and doesn't leave any lingering questions. 3.5/5

Audiobook Notes:
While I think it's appropriate for this sort of disaffected character, the narrator had a noticeably flat affectation and a fair amount of vocal fry. I'm glad the story was short because I imagine it would've started to overstay its welcome, even if it was fitting for the story.

This hooked me from the start, and really held my interest. It was super interesting take on a haunted house. It was a quick and easy read but it read like a Groundhog Day for me, and there wasn’t enough happening in the middle to completely hold my interest. Overall, the concept was super unique, and I did think it was wicked cool, which is why I gave it 3 stars.

This novella was such a fun time. While I did figure out the twist pretty early on, I didn't mind. The ending made up for it. The audiobook had a great cast that really added to the story. If you're looking for a book that's only slightly creepy and not outright scary, then this one is for you. Special thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the arc of this audiobook.

In Haunt Sweet Home, author Sarah Pinsker introduces readers to Mara, who is used to being ignored by everyone around her. She's the black sheep of her family and has no friends, no decent job, and can't quite seem to figure out how to live her life. Her life takes a turn when she accepts a position on a TV show hosted by her cousin Jeremy, which centers on renovating "haunted" houses.

Mara’s journey unfolds as she attempts to find her footing in her new job while dealing with her own life crises. Along the way, she manages to make a friend on the job, who may not be as straightforward as she appears. As Mara delves deeper into her job and her personal life, she becomes entangled in a haunting mystery of her own that she must unravel before it's too late.

Haunt Sweet Home struggles to maintain engagement with a pace that is excruciatingly slow with monotone audiobook narration that exacerbates this issue. Listeners might find themselves enduring a drawn-out recounting of events that could have been more streamlined. The narrative is bogged down by details that contribute little to the story’s progression, making the overall experience feel laborious rather than thrilling. Readers seeking a gripping, fast-paced narrative may find this book’s delivery less than satisfying.

A quick, spooky read that doesn’t reinvent the horror genre, but is unputdownable. At 176 pages, or a few hours, this book passed by very quickly. I listened to this one on audio, and think that that is the best way to enjoy this book thanks to its full cast narration. The various voice actors all did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life and differentiating the large cast. The mixed media format kept the story interesting, and while I saw the twists and turns coming, I still felt like this book was a great way to pass the time. Anyone looking for a ghostly October read who perhaps doesn’t like especially scary books, consider picking this one up!

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC of this one!

If you’re looking for a spooky season kind of read with ghosts but won’t terrifying you, this might just be the book for you! I went into this one not realizing it’s actually a novella lol so it was a nice short and easy ready for the upcoming fall season! Very light on the horror aspect and fun but also felt kind of pointless? Lol. I couldn’t find the point of this story and started it thinking I would be spooked out and it would be the perfect read to get me into the fall spirit (that I’m already full in btw lol) but the ghost action was minimal 🥲.

Wasn’t a bad story but very thankful it was extremely short and easy to get through!