I was a little disappointed at how short this book was. It started off very promising (and local to me as someone who lives in MA!), and had me hooked from the start. As the book progressed, however, things became a bit repetitive and it wasn't clear to me what the main conflict/drama of the story was. I think it would have been served by a longer format where we could have expanded on certain things (ex. the relationship with the roommate).

I would still read another book from Sarah Pinsker but this one left me a bit disappointed overall.

This horror novella grabs you right from the start. It's a wonderful blend of campy fun, realistic coming-of-age and family drama, and a dose of spooky stuff. I was hooked from the start. Who doesn't love a quirky family? We follow a young adult as she struggles to find her place in her family and the world. She takes a job as a PA on her cousin's spooky ghost-hunting home improvement reality show and in between the fake spooky sounds and haunting she gets a little bonus. This book blends tenderness with chills and I enjoyed it. It's a quiet and slow burn, and isn't a brash and loud slasher, but there is power in the quiet. It was a quick read and I wanted to keep reading until I was done. The audiobook was fantastic. I liked the change in tone when we were dealing with the reality show and the voice acting was great. The parts of the book that were mixed media were given a little extra oomph and I appreciated that as the reader. It set them apart as special and gave them their moment in the sun.

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬

Lost and trying to find herself, Mara joins her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover TV show as a night-time PA.

As Mara tries to dupe homeowners into some scares, spooky happenings start to occur. Are these houses really haunted or is someone trying to dupe Mara?

𝓜𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼:
☁️☁️☁️

This was a VERY short and fast hauntingly spooky read! A very nice TWIST! The audio version was excellent!

I received an audiobook copy for my honest review

3 Stars
This is a cozy horror, that is quick read or listen and was great for the reading slump that I had fallen into.
I really enjoyed the narrator.
I give this 3 stars because I definitely wish there was a little more spooky ghost aspect. Mara’s starts as a wonder not sure of her place both in her family and life in general until she slowly finds herself after taking the job her cousin suggested on his tv show.
I can see potential for another novel with the ending


Thank you to Netgalley for My ARC

Thanks to MacMillan Audio & NetGalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a weird little novella about a woman estranged from practically everyone around her. Mara comes from a large, close-knit family, yet always feels like an outsider. Her grandma, a wood carver, stopped carving before she could make a one-of-a-kind chair for Mara, as she had done for everyone else in the family to use around the firepit. Mara understands why this happened and claims not to feel resentful, but this situation stands in as a symbol for Mara's remove from her family. Her parents converted her bedroom to a short-term AirBnb, so she isn't even welcome to crash at home when she needs to, and she has been drifting from college to work and back again, trying to find the motivation to stick with school.

Her cousin, a model turned TV host, offers her a job as a PA on the "haunted home improvement" reality show he works on. Mara agrees, but then finds herself at the bottom of the pecking order, even shunted out of the hotel room she shares with a day crew member (Mara is night crew) on the weekends (Mara clears out then and *camps in the woods* - she's the most accommodating doormat that ever lived). Mara spends this time in the woods carving a life-sized figure out of a fallen apple tree.

Things change slightly when Mara meets Jo, another crew member who helps her out with some of her tasks, while also making her feel bad at her job, where Jo is great at it. Likewise, Jo gets along well with Mara's family, way better than Mara, when she takes her to visit (they stay at Grandma's since the AirBnb is not an option!).

The reader can pick up that something is not quite right about Jo, but it takes Mara awhile. I don't know if the ending works for me; it's kind of weird and not something I personally would want for myself, but Mara is already a pleaser, so the turn of events fits her personality.

Overall, a strange but quick listen. Jennifer Blom is not my favorite voice actor, but she does imbue Mara with a heavy load of dread and an almost cowed demeanor. She sounds beaten down by life, which I guess Mara is.

2.5 stars rounded up

What a fun, entertaining little read! I love ghost-hunting shows (even when I suspect they’re fake!) and love home renovation shows, too, so this was such a great mix of the two! I wish there was actual show like this one (but, you know, real! Lol)

This is a really quick read or listen, but I still did an immersive read because I was just eating this up. I won’t say much more to give any spoilers, but if this sounds interesting to you, you should definitely pick it up.

The audio had a full cast narration, and it was awesome! I loved how they did the scenes from the show in that manner. It added an even more fun aspect to it.

This book is perfect for anyone seeking a shorter, not as high stakes ghost oriented book. I found myself laughing out loud multiple times as ghost hunters meets house renovations governed the plot of the story. The main character is highly relatable as she tries to justify her place in her family and in the world as a whole. By the time I got to the end of the book I was sad that it was ending because I was ready to witness more haunted houses and the families who are buying them to renovate!

This was a fast and fun spooky season read that I really enjoyed. About midway through, I did find some elements to be a bit repetitive which was a distraction for me. Otherwise, this was a solid cozy paranormal story that was quite entertaining.

I was excited for this from the description, and while I expected it to be a little goofier than it was, I still had a good time. An interesting premise, and a good length to explore it. This was also the perfect lighter horror book to ease into spooky season with

The Author did a wonderful job making this story come alive. We were able to get to know the Mara's character starting from the beginning and made us feel like we were experiencing everything along side her. Her character made me feel like I was hanging out with my best friend and sharing ghost stories. I love how the story throws in some curve balls and makes you rethink everything you had pieced together already. Excited to read this story again and highly recommend to my other friends and family!

Sorry to say that this was definitely NOT for me…

I didn’t care for the characters, the storyline and/or the narrator.

Positives: Very short story with a few good moments and a couple of frights…
Cousin Jeremy was a jerk throughout, just like he was set up to be.
Interesting take on the ‘how’s’ of reality TV.
Jo was a bit of a surprise…

Negatives: Mara (the MC) was a real downer…. I’m not sure if the narrator was trying to depict her this way, but she was monotone and really showed NO feelings throughout the entire book! Except for the one time she was scared! Being as she was having a hard time finding her way in life, again, this may have been the ‘set-up’ for this character… it just didn’t work for me.
Also…very repetitive. I mean…a reality show about fixing up houses…with ghosts. Sounds great! Right?? But when you get down to the nitty-gritty of this book, well it’s just the same kind of thing…over and over. 🥱

Thanks to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Sorry it was not a good one for me…

2 ⭐️⭐️ for me. Release date was yesterday, 9/3/24.

#HauntSweetHome by Sarah Pinkser and narrated by Jennifer Blom, Jeff Nahikian, Matt Godfrey and Rob Moreira. (I’m actually shocked to see there were this many narrators. I usuallyLOVE a full cast narration.)

Being as my review is not great, limiting it to here and NetGalley.

Thanks for reading!

This is a quick and fun read, perfect for people who get scared easily, since this isn't really scary at all. I listened to the audiobook, and it was well read. A nice kick off to spooky season!

For the most part I enjoyed reading this short novel about a woman who can’t seem to find her way in life and is given the opportunity to work on a reality tv show by her cousin. The tv show is a mix of an HGTV remodeling type show and Ghost Hunters, where the night crew is in charge of the hauntings. When the hauntings start happening without the help of the night crew, things get spooky. This book delivered exactly what it set out to do. The vibes were a little spooky without being downright scary, a good ease into the spooky season.

For me personally, even in this short of a book I got tired of how “woe is me” the character was throughout. Maybe if there was a little more of a character arc I would have liked it more, but it seemed like she had to be slapped in the face at the end to make any personal progress. I also felt like the set up for the story took up too much of the bulk of the book so the lead into anything even slightly spooky was a little late and abrupt. Because of this the story felt like it dragged toward the middle and the ending felt abrupt. Overall I enjoyed the experience the multi-cast audiobook brought to the table, but if I was reading with my eyes it would have been a DNF.

A kitschy reality Tv show about renovating "haunted homes" takes a complicated twist when unexplainable events occur. Mara finds herself working as a PA, and coming to terms with aspects of herself she's long ignored. I loved this book enough to say I wish it was longer. This take on haunting was refreshing. Just when You think you know this genre, it creeps up and suprises you!

I really enjoyed this book. First, I feel that the main character, Mara, is relatable to many people given that she is a bit lost in life and is not sure what path she should pursue. She gets chided by family about her not finishing college. Even though this may not be my exact situation, I understand questioning if what you are doing is the thing you should be putting your energy into. When Mara accepts a low tier job on a show called Haunt Sweet Home thanks to her cousin, she may have bitten off more than she could chew. I absolutely loved how Mara handled what was thrown her way, and I loved the ending of this book!

It was a bit predictable for me but I loved it! I watch Ghost Adventures and shows like it and this gives off those vibes. I highly recommend this if you want a quick read especially an easier horror/paranormal for spooky season. Thanks to Netgalley the audiobook was fantastic but the main female narrator was a bit gruff for me.

This had a fun premise and good audiobook narration, but it just ended up going a certain way that wasn’t my jam. I will say that this was a shorter read and it still accomplished a decent amount of back story/character exploration and current happenings. This was a good soft launch for fall reads though!

A super short and fun read!

Our MC, Mara is kind of at a tough place in her life. She’s tried the college thing a few times and can’t seem to find her “thing”. Her cousin, a hotshot tv show presenter a la Ghost Files mixed with House Flippers, offers her a job as a PA. Mara accepts and things are going well! They pretend to haunt houses and scare the home owners and it makes for great tv.
But then other things start happening. Other hauntings that Mara isn’t doing….

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Thank you to Macmillan’s ALC program for the copy of this title!

Haunt Sweet Home is cute and quirky, which I realize is a strange way to describe a horror novella, but I think it fits in this case.

Mara is feeling adrift and aimless in her life when her cousin offers her a position as a production assistant on the set of his haunted house renovation reality TV show. Mara’s job will be to work the night shift, orchestrating elaborate haunts to frighten the homeowners. But after a series of unnerving events on set, Mara begins to wonder if maybe the haunts aren’t so fabricated after all.

Haunt Sweet Home is light on the scares, instead focusing on Mara’s apathy and ennui as she approaches her mid-20s with no ambitions for her life. Sarah Pinsker really zeroes in on the uncertainty and anxiety of early adulthood, especially when you have a family who isn’t entirely present or supportive, like Mara’s. This story is mostly about Mara attempting to cope with all of that, doing some self-reflection and trying to motivate herself to make some big decisions about her life. The way Pinsker gets Mara to her self-revelations is so clever, but I don’t want to get specific for spoiler-y reasons.

The reality TV show aspect is well-done and entertaining. Audio is definitely the way to go with this one, because not only does Jess Nahikian provide the perfect bored, nonchalant voice for Mara – there are also excerpts from the reality show itself, read by other narrators, which makes for an immersive experience. Creative and weirdly endearing, Haunt Sweet Home is the perfect not-so-scary horror novella to add to your Spooky Season reading list. Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the early listening opportunity.

This was fun! A light and quick read with all the ghostly elements. It's a bit cozy and a bit chilling. The audiobook was great! I listened to it in only a few hours and the narrator was a perfect fit for the plot.

I definitely recommend this if you're just dipping your toe into spooky season. It was the best way to start the "bring on the fall" season!