Haunt Sweet Home is a horror novella that combines the behind-the-scenes workings of a ghost hunting/home makeover reality television show and a young woman’s brief journey towards understanding herself. With a slightly spooky touch.

When Mara is offered a job as a night shift production assistant on the set of her cousin Jeremy’s reality television show, she spends much of her nights trying to scare the residents in their new homes.

Mara is very relatable as a twenty-something who is unsure of her future, has difficulty committing to long-term goals and also struggles with finding her role in a family that isn’t the most supportive or understanding of her decisions.

While Mara’s lack of enthusiasm and ambition isn’t necessarily something to be enabled, the way that some of her more-accomplished family members behave-while at times sitting on actual thrones while she is left on a stool-would undoubtedly give most people an inferiority complex.

Haunt Sweet Home isn’t scary in the traditional sense-although one scene had me wondering if the story would proceed in a darker direction-the uncertainties surrounding adulthood, the nature of existence and the decisions we make can be quite intimidating.

When unusual things begin to happen, Mara is a bit slow on the uptake and I wish the novella was longer to both build up on the growing intimidation, as well as the consequences of Mara’s eventual resolution of the issue. The novella ends fairly nearly, yet I found myself wanting more.

The audiobook is a wonderful performance, with Mara’s voice sounding wry and slightly detached and certain chapters with multiple narrators brining short parts of Haunt Sweet Home to life in a wonderfully immersive fashion.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, TorDotCom Publishing and NetGalley for access to this audiobook. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

I thought this was an interesting concept but it fell flat for me. I guess I was hoping for more paranormal that was legitimate not a completely fabricated ghost show.

This was an interesting listen for me. I am glad I did not have an e-book because I don't think I would have gotten through it. It is a short book, I would consider this a palate cleanser.

It reads like the script of a paranormal TV show Haunt Sweet Home. Mara, a night-shift production assistant on the show, adds the spook to the haunt. In a twist of fate, she ends up running into a ghost named Jo who has attached to her and a piece of wood that Mara finds out later is from the tree Jo died at. The addition of Jo into Mara's life has caused her to take a look at her life and take inventory of how she is living and how she views her position in the world.

Again, not my jam, but a sweet story once you get around the setup of the story.

Thank you Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and Sarah Pinsker for the ALC of this book and for allowing me to voluntarily give my opinion.

Ahoy there me mateys!  This book what not exactly what I expected based on the blurb.  There wasn't enough actual ghost on the reality film set.  It was not as suspenseful as I wanted.  Also, I believe this would have been stronger either as a longer novella or as a short novel.  Also the ending left something lacking.  

Mara is in her late twenties and rather aimless.  So when her famous cousin offers her a job as a Production Assistant on his ghostly reality TV show, she accepts.  Filming the show is nothing like she imagined.  She didn't expect working the night shift.  Or her roommate.  Or the other PA that comes to help her on set.  Mara has to face her her beliefs about herself and decide what she really wants out of life.

I did, in general, like Mara as a character.  I also loved how the novella portrayed that "reality" tv is staged.  From my practical experience, this was very true to how those shows get made.  And some of the elements of the hauntings were funny.  However, there was too much time spent hearing about Mara's downtime on set.  It needed more ghost and better hauntings.  It needed a better answer to the mystery.  I would have like a bit more horror elements overall.

In terms of the ending, it didn't 100% make sense.  I wanted to know what Mara was going to do next and what her new life was going to look like.  There are hints about what her path is going to be but I wanted payoff for her choices.  This is where I think a longer book or maybe an epilogue would help.  Having answers to these questions would have been nice.

I did enjoy the multicast narration but wasn't sure it was necessary for such a short book.  In the end this is just an okay story that didn't progress as I would have liked.  It was a fast read so no regrets.  Arrrr!

The concept of this novella was so good - the ‘behind the scenes’ of a haunted house reality TV show and a ‘real’ haunting. The writing style was great but I was left with way more questions than answers.

Mara was unlikeable & frustrating. I’m sure the audiobook narrator is a wonderful person, but it sounded like she was being forced to read this story. Her voice was SO monotone and hard to listen to. What I think was meant to be the introspective *wow* moment fell flat because of the narration IMO.

Maybe if I’d read the physical book I’d feel differently, but here we are 🤷‍♀️.

ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

This book just didn’t do it for me. The description sounded great but it didn’t come together. I love the mixed media approach with the TV transcript mixed in the narrative of the story. However, the story did not make sense to me. It was repetitive and the “haunting” was strange. How wouldn’t they know the TV show was filming or see those doing the “haunting” in their house. Glad it was short.

Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker what such a letdown. To start off with the beginning began in a very interesting way but I listen to the audiobook and the narrator reads each sentence as if she is reading a list of sentences as opposed to a paragraph that forms a story. The story was also baffling to me because was it a remodeling show that they purposely caused the new home to be haunted… I mean that seems like a one trick pony in my opinion not to mention the whole screaming cow situation I couldn’t even wrap my head around that. Also I don’t believe there’s enough paranormal activity in the book to consider it a haunted house story. Also for such a short read I got tired of listening to how she didn’t have a chair why she didn’t have a chair I do think the author is a very talented writer I just found Marnie unlikable the story unbelievable and repetitive and also the narrator to be almost a punishment to listen to. She did have a talent for doing the different voices the only problem with that is every voice she did was read robotically and made it hard to listen to.#NetGalley,

Haunt Sweet Home is a short, quick read combining reality TV and ghost stories. The behind the scenes look at reality TV was probably the most entertaining part for me. Unfortunately, the “twist” was very predictable, and it was just a matter of when it would be figured out. I do think the character set up and development was well done for Mara making her relatable to anyone who’s struggled to find their place. The plot felt repetitive, so I really appreciate that it was a short quick read. I did finish this in one sitting, so I enjoyed it enough to keep reading. I read this via audiobook which utilized multiple narrators. This really sold the story especially in terms of the reality TV aspect. I believe this is one of those books that would be best consumed via audiobook to get the full experience.

A perfect synthesis of theme and plot, Haunt Sweet Home is a surprisingly hopeful and cozy horror novella that I will be recommending to fellow scaredy-cats! The audiobook adds so much with the full cast of narrators, and I was especially impressed by the narrator for Jeremy who made me feel like I really was listening to an HGTV show.

Home Haunt
By Sarah Pinsker
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mara is just kind of existing, not sure what to do with her life, when at a family get-together she runs into a cousin named Jeremy. Jeremy starts in a home remodeling/ghost hunting show and says he can hook her up with a job on set. Mara is hesitant at first, but ultimately desires she has nothing to lose. The job, however, is not optimal but not terrible: her cousin won’t talk to her, she has to share her small motel room, and she has to create the sense of a ghost. What happens next is super or supernatural, either way there are surprises in store for the reader.

This audiobook was great. The narrator voices the character perfectly. There was variation in the format - interspersed throughout were scripts/scenes from the finished show. Each scene was voiced by a variety of actors, either not the narrator or maybe the narrator was just that good and it really was all her.

I zipped through this book, starting it in the evening, and finishing up the last bit the following morning. I usually listen on 2x the speed, so I can get through books pretty quickly but with this book I just did not even want to stop listening. I thought Mara’s character was simple yet complex, and relatable. The plot wove in her memories of childhood, which gave perspective to her actions and attitudes. It was engaging and flowed well. Overall, I really enjoyed this audiobook and would definitely recommend it. It’s classified as sci-fi and fantasy, but it’s grounded in themes typically explored by general fiction I am usually not into the supernatural it this audiobook was perfectly plotted, fabulously narrated, and just plain fun. It doesn’t matter what genre it was classified as , it was good.

Haunt Sweet Home was a satisfying novella. It had multiple styles-script, review, narrative, etc. and it all flowed without feeling awkward. My only complaint would be that it was too short. Instead of hearing that they did a lot more haunts, I’d have enjoyed going along with for the fun. I loved the honesty of the production crew and the humor.

This was a decent horror especially for being so short. The concept was solid and the follow through was great. It definitely felt like an episode of an old horror show. Overall this book was short but quite good.

This quirky little cozy-horror (is that a thing?!) was such a fun read. For people who love putting their toe into the genre, without the gore or too much intensity. It’s also just a quick easy way to ease into the fall spooky season! We follow Mara, who is kinda just over it. All of it. She’s feeling lost with what life has to offer and she’s floundering. Thankfully, her cousin offers her a job working on the night production crew for a hit tv show about haunted houses. (But with a fixer-upper home makeovery vibe. I would legit watch the heck out of this show!) Soon Mara finds herself tromping through freezing apple fields, hiding in sheds, groaning in her best ghostly voice- all for the show. Turns out haunting can be kinda fun. Just maybe not when you’re not the only thing doing the haunting?!

In the end, it’s more speculative fiction and Mara’s character arc feels really satisfying. 3.75 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced audiobook, in exchange for my unbiased review.

Check out my full thoughts on this book and more here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh_0TdEd1i8G4HOCgnl0FvA">booktube reviews :)</a>

Title: Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker
Publication Date- 09/03/24
Publisher- MacMillan
Overall Rating- 5 out of 5 stars

Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Audio Review: The audio is fantastic, highly, highly recommend. It is a full cast and this is the kind of story that really benefits from that. Plz check out the audio.

Review: Wow, wow, wow. I loved this book. This is a great one to get you started on spooky season. I just did a video talking about my “light horror” recommendations for spooky season. Had I read this before posting that video I would have put this on the list.

The first thing I want to mention is, in my opinion, it is not scary. If you go into it expecting a lot of jump scares, you will be let down. However, there is some really strong character development. I would consider this literary horror because we really take time to get to know the main character, her thoughts, feelings and emotions. It’s more of a character story than a plot driven experience.

That being said, my next favorite thing was the plot and atmosphere. The whole concept of the TV show and how it works and why it works I found so fascinating. I won’t go into too much detail, read the book.

Very rarely do novella’s work out for me and this one really hit the spot. Last month was not a great reading month for me, September is starting out on the right, spooky, ghostly, foot.

What a delight!

Haunted hgtv style.

Mara is kinda aimless and in need of a job so her cousin gets her assistant work on his show- basically a renovation show with a dash of ghosties on each episode. Mara is part of the ghosty team creating sound effects and scenarios that look like haunting a on screen. Until one day….

Not very scary but very fun and a quick enjoyable read. The audio is mostly one narrator with some quick bits by others. It did have sound effects for the beginning of chapters but they weren’t annoying.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan for an alc

and here we have a soft, light horror novella about mara, who's suffering from a massive case of not knowing what to do with her life. by a stroke of luck, a production assistant job comes up for her cousin jeremy's reality show called haunt sweet home - just imagine if zak bagans had an hgtv show.

mara's job is simple. she gets to scare people. weird concept for a show, imo - why does it just so happen that every single house in need of a bathroom reno end up with some kind of spectral entity? that said, the now defunct quibi had a micro-show that featured homeowners living in murder houses getting major renovations (complete with blood left over that seeped under floorboards) and i gobbled that shit up. but i digress.

after a while, a floater from daytime production named jo shows up and stuff starts getting weird. how did she make that screaming cow noise?

ngl, this is not an expressly scary novella. it kinda read like a ghost whisperer episode. i'd have read the whole thing in the dark without being too terribly flustered. it was a pretty decent read despite that, but if you're looking for an actual horror read, i'd perhaps look somewhere else.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Pub Date: 9/3
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Haunt Sweet Home is a HGTV meets Ghost Hunters of sorts. It’s a short novella that has a stead pace and is more of a cozy paranormal story which a great meaning behind it.
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I may sound contradictory in this statement but, I felt for her in her lack of decisiveness, for her not knowing what it was she wanted to do with her life and feeling like a failure because of it; buttttt, I also found her to be a bit bland. I felt like the only level I could connect with her was on that indeciciveness feeling.. I really enjoyed Jo though, she was spunky.
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Since this is a short read I flew through this one really quick. It’s a super fun read, especially with the addition of the episodes of the show intermittently throughout the book.
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I really enjoyed how light it was and how it just made it more enjoyable. The pacing is steady / fast throughout and its addicting. There’s one twist that is not overly shocking, but where Pinsker continues the story up through the ending is unique.
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I listened to this one via audiobook which has a full cast narration - my absolute favorite! Jennifer Blom; Jess Nahikian; Matt Godfrey; Robb Moreira were all phenomenal, I love how well they played off of each other. This is a really awesome audio - highly recommend!
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Overall, this was a fun read. I think that this will be super fun for people just getting into horror. It will also be a fun spooky season read! Be sure to check this out!
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Huge thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Pinsker and MacMillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.
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Do you have a favorite HGTV or ghost hunting show?If not - would you go on a ghost hunting show?
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What a fun quick read!!

This book is set on a reality show with fun little chapters with scenes of the show but also a girl whom works for the show as the main character.

It was a fun not too spooky of a read with a really cool ending that I absolutely loved!
I do think I’d enjoy reading this book opposed to listening to the audiobook, the main narrators voice didn’t match how I’d imagined.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I started Haunt Sweet Home this afternoon, and here we are at the finish line.

Sarah Pinker has put together a unique and cozy take on a haunting. I found the somewhat apathetic MC very compelling. She's lost and just sort of floating by when she accepts a job offer from her cousin to work as a PA on a reality tv show.

While filming of the show is a major part of the action here, this is really about a woman who's stagnating a bit and what/how she moves on in life.

Parts are a little slow and more introspective, but I think Pinker has penned a delightful novella.

3.5
rounded up!
A cute novella about an HGTV meets Ghost Stories TV show told from the perspective of an onset assistant. I like it, but the narrator was very monotoned and it threw me off a bit. Almost as if she wasn’t really excited for anything, really, which was strange for a book about hauntings (even if they're faked). Thank you to NetGalley for letting me listen to this cute little book!