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!

"Haunt Sweet Home" is an engaging supernatural novella that effortlessly blends humor and heart, making it a delightful read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! The protagonist, Mara, is incredibly relatable, and her struggles with family dynamics during gatherings resonate deeply. It’s hard not to empathize with her feelings of invisibility among relatives. The premise of her new job on her cousin's reality TV show—aimed at creating the ultimate haunted house experience—is not only creative but also sets the stage for a thrilling exploration of friendship and self-discovery.

Mara's night shift role really brings to light the quirky and eerie aspects of the job, and her friendship with Jo, a fellow worker navigating between day and night shifts, adds a charming dynamic to the story. The banter between them is witty and genuine, showcasing the bond they form while tackling the challenges of their unique work environment.

Overall, "Haunt Sweet Home" is a fun and engaging read the thrill of the supernatural. I highly recommend this novella for anyone looking for a lighthearted escape filled with relatable characters and a touch of the eerie!

A very fun listen! The switch between a fully casted transcript and a singular narrator for the rest brought the TV show to life and had us grow much closer to the characters. The suspense was well paced, fun, and original. A great kick off to my spooky season reads!

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook copy of Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker in exchange for an honest review. This was an interesting shorter novel. I'm a big fan of movies and shows about hauntings and have often thought about all the different things a ghost could become attached to. This had a new spin on it all and was also a coming of age story too, very good book.

A great start to spooky season!

Definitely pick up the audio for this one, it’s super short (less than 4 hours) and the narrator brought it to life. I did think at first maybe it was a bit monotone but the more I learned about the main character, Mara, it was so fitting and she brought her to LIFE 👏🏻

A haunted house makeover show and Mara is the new overnight manager in charge of making sure the new homeowners are spooked.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for my ALC! This one is out now.

#MacAudio2024

1. I went into this book, not realizing it was a novella.
2. I went into this book not sure I'd like it.
3. I LOVED IT.

This was short, sweet, and had just enough mystery to keep everything interesting. I would read more like this.

Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker follows Mara , a young woman who doesn't know what to do with her life. Her cousin gives her an oppertunity of a lifetime to help with his tv show Huant Sweet Home. The reality show that follows new homeowners that purchases a fixer upper. During the home renovation they film during both days and nights to catch footage of hauntings. Mara is on the night crew and is having to help out with different tasks that aides in the hauntings. The real question is are the hauntings real or not? This was an entertaining book that was also quick to listen to. Mara gives you a behind the scenes view on what it is like to work magic on a reality show. Truth is stranger than fiction! I would like to thank both NetGalley and Macmilan Audio for letting me have an advanced copy of this audio book.