Haunted houses are my all time favorite trope. In fact, all forms of the word haunted are my favorite. Immediately when I saw the title I knew I had to read Haunt Sweet Home.

The synopsis is really fun too. The audiobook is only a few hours so it’s a quick read. It has a lot of potential. I think I would’ve enjoyed a longer length with more of the tv show aspects mixed with actual ghosts.

The narrators all have great voices and I love when audiobooks have ensemble casts.

Overall, Haunt Sweet Home is a fun read perfect to start your spooky season! Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Pinsker and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to read it. I have written this review voluntarily.

I wish this had been longer. As short as it was, I don't really see the point in telling the story. I liked the Jo-angle, but wanted more from the story.

This book was a middle of the road book for me. It was fun and quick, but lacked some depth that I really like.

What I did like: there were a couple spooky moments but I wanted more.

What needed work: Mara was near insufferable. I get in ways that was the point, but her lack of energy and blaming her problems on others annoyed me.

The tightness of the book. If we are going to have a novella, every word needs to count and this just didn’t deliver.

The audio narration was fantastic though. I’ll give that five stars.

Overall, a decent book. It’s short so it’s one that you can slot in during an afternoon for a lighter fright. Great for starting spooky season.

Twenty-something Mara is part of a large extended family, but she feels a bit like a black sheep. She's younger than most of her cousins, so they were always leaving her out or behind when she was little. Her grandmother, a skilled woodcarver, crafted personalized chairs for everyone in the family. Well, everyone except Mara. Oma's arthritis was too bad by the time Mara's turn for a chair came up.

On the cusp of getting ready to try community college one more time (her fourth attempt), Mara's cousin Jeremy presents a more enticing offer: Why doesn't Mara come work as production assistant for the reality TV show he hosts? Haunt Sweet Home is a kitschy combination of home renovation and haunted houses. Mara accepts Jeremy's invitation and discovers she will be serving as the PA for the night crew of Haunt Sweet Home. While the day crew is responsible for filming the home renovation story of the show, the night crew helps produce the supernatural plotlines. But over the course of the summer, Mara starts to encounter spooks and scares for which she is not responsible.

This novella-length book is a compelling story about a young woman who is haunting her own life. Mara is leaning into her identity as an outcast and unwittingly committing self-sabotage. Fortunately, her new job offers her an opportunity to open her eyes and appreciate her life more fully.

I really enjoyed that the audiobook took the opportunity to use multicast narration for the episode transcript sections of the book. It helped bring an enticing flavor to the novella's hook.

I love a good ghost story, and this one hit the spot without being scary. Things may have been eerie or spooky at times, but even cowardly readers like me can enjoy this funny, moving story.

This review will be posted to Goodreads on August 28, 2024 and to Instagram (@goodquietkitty) on August 29, 2024.

This was a short little listen that kept me engaged.

I liked how real Mara's character felt in her 30's without her life together yet. She takes a job as an assistant on her cousin's ghost hunting show but soon begins to regret it.

I liked the narration of the book and had no complaints.

The book itself was just the right length because it started to get a little repetitive. I liked it for what it was though.

I'm a big Sarah Pinsker fan, so I was thrilled to have the chance to listen to this audiobook early. This was a pleasant and diverting novella. I thought the audio production was great, and the primary narrator was a good fit for the main character.

This book definitely has Pinsker's trademark tone, which I appreciated. She combines a fun backstage view of an HGTV-style reality television production with a coming-of-age story, with some nice reflections around not fitting in with your family of origin.

I think this story will hit the best for readers/listeners who are looking for a quick, light, semi-spooky read in the paranormal or "cozy horror" genre.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Sarah Pinsker, and NetGalley for providing an advanced audio copy for review!

“Haunt sweet home” is a twist on the paranormal side of reality tv.

Mara is an outcast drifter. She has changed her mind on what career she wants and what she wants to study and taken many gap years from school, and quite frankly her family seem to have given up having an expectations or aspirations for her.

When her successful cousin offers her a position working as a crew member for his TV show, she has no other options but to say yes.

I enjoyed the plot surrounding the tv show, as the reader we get to see the inner workings and an insider view to production life on a reality tv series. We also get the insider scoop on how they may set up supposed “hauntings” and jump scares on a show that focuses on renovating a ‘haunted home’.

Mara’s job is to hide out and wait for cues to set off smoke machines or scream scares and make sure she is never seen. Mara dives into the job and you get the sense she is finding her footing and discovering something she finally excels at. She is nailing the job and getting lots of praise. That is until a coworker offers assistance and shines far brighter than Mara, stealing her spotlight and scaring the bejeezus out of the show hosts and guests.

I enjoyed the premise of this book, however I also failed to find the point of it. The ending felt a little underwhelming and I thought that all of Mara’s character growth was diminished by the end. This is a book that may be better shown on screen so you get the benefit of the jump scares without the expectation of including any depth to the plot. .

Narrated by Jennifer Blom; Jess Nahikian; Matt Godfrey; Robb Moreira

Thank you to Sarah Pinsker, Macmillan audio and Tor publishing for the EARC / ALC!

Publish date: September 3rd 2024.

This is the perfect story to set the mood heading into spooky season. It was easy to take a liking to Mara right away because she's flawed and she knows it. The combination of reality TV about hauntings and her self growth really played well together here. This isn't a long story, but it was deeply developed. The multicast narration enriched it even more. I think it's one that you should go into not knowing much and that it won't take you too long to get through, but you'll leave feeling satisfied.

I really liked this book. It was an original idea/twist on a old troupe. Honestly, the story ended really fast! I was super surprised when it ended actually. This is a good book to read this fall during spooky season. I would recommend this book to friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audio copy of Haunt Sweet Home.

The set up of this book was so cool. I loved the reality tv show bits we got and the cast of characters associated with it. The main character, Mara, was honestly dreadful. Stuck in her own head and doing nothing to get out of her own way, it was difficult to listen to her internal monologue honestly. Then when the conflict with Jo happened leading to the big reveal I was kind of like ...... I don't fully know if I enjoyed that or didn't. I am glad that this book was short though, I know if it had any more length I'd be rating it lower.

This novella gets off to a slow start, but it gives the reader a chance to understand how lost and frustrated our main character, 20-something college dropout Mara, feels. The story takes off once Mara begins working as a production assistant on her cousin’s reality TV show. I enjoyed learning about how this fictional ghost hunting/home remodeling show was made. I don’t want to spoil any surprises, but what develops is a delightful blend of humorous, sweet, and spooky, with an ending that has lingered in my mind.

This story is very enjoyable as an audiobook, and the audiobook production was excellent. Jennifer Blom did a great job providing most of the narration. Her pacing is appropriate, her pronunciation is clear, she creates voices and speech patterns to suit each character, and she’s able to convey mood and emotion effectively. The audiobook also includes short scenes from the TV show voiced by Jess Nahikian, Matt Godfrey, and Robb Moreira.

This is a story best suited for fans of cozy ghost stories and new adult coming of age stories.

I received a free review copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.

I was lucky enough to receive the eARC and the ALC of this! So I was able to read this really quick. It's a novella so it's pretty short and I definitely recommend that you pick this up if you're trying to read novellas to increase your books read for the year. However... I felt like this was super slow. If I didn't have the ALC I don't know if I would have finished this. I didn't really vibe with the main character. I feel like she does have a lot that people can relate to... feeling like she's a burden, not doing anything with her life... but she just didn't have much in the way of personality. Even the narrator didn't bring much life to the character. The best part of the ALC were the bits of dialogue from the show and there were 4 narrators portraying the characters. Those bits were fun.

Basically the story is about Mara who isn't doing much with her life and she starts working as part of the crew on her uncle's tv show Haunting Sweet Home. They renovate houses and they turn out to be haunted... but they're not really haunted, the crew pretends it is for the show. While Mara is pretending to be a ghost she encounters some real paranormal activity. But there's more to it than that and you have to read it to find out.

Like many of us, Mara is drifting through life, trying to figure out what she actually wants to “do”. Sick of sarcastic comments from her family members, she accepts a job from her cousin, working on his TV show, Haunt Sweet Home, where HGTV meets Ghost Hunters.

Mara gets stuck with the night shift, creating fake ghostly moments for the unwitting participants of the TV show. She finds herself making strange noises in an orchard, throwing books in a library, the usual stuff. However, unexpected incidents happen, mostly centering around Mara’s dayshift counterpart, Jo. Are the hauntings as artificial as they really seem?

I love Sarah Pinsker’s short stories, and I am obsessed with novels involving ghost hunting TV shows, so this was a hugely anticipated read for me. Although Pinsker creates some genuinely unsettling moments, I wouldn’t say this was a flat-out horror novel. For me, it was more about Mara’s journey into finding fulfillment, albeit in an unconventional way.

I love multi-narrator audiobooks, and there were great performances all round from Jennifer Blom, Jess Nahikia, Matt Godfrey, and Robb Moreira. However, Jennifer Blom does most of the heavy lifting, with her engaging performance as Mara. Blom delivers the more humorous lines with a spectacular dry wit.

Not the scare I was hoping for, but entertaining and enjoyable all the same.

Mara, a struggling 20-something, lands a job as a production assistant on her cousin's reality tv show, Haunt Sweet Home. The show features couples who have purchased a home and are trying to renovate, only to discover it's actually "haunted." Mara is on the night shift and quickly becomes used to the "tricks" used in reality television. However, things take a turn toward actual hauntings when Mara meets a strange co-worker, who seems to be able to be Mara better than Mara inhabits herself.
This is a full cast recording, featuring some interludes where "Haunt Sweet Home" is being filmed.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this e-arc.*

Haunt Sweet Home
by Sarah Pinsker
Narrated by Jennifer Blom; Jess Nahikian; Matt Godfrey; Robb Moreira

Thank you so much partner @tordotcompub @macmillanaudio for the gifted ARC & Audiobook.

About the book 👇🏽

Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along—is herself.

✨ My thoughts:
I love a good ghost story! This isn’t your typical ghost story but it’s still a good one. It’s short and engaging, making this story a bingeable read and/or listen. I was fortunate to have access to both the physical book and the audio book and enjoyed both equally. I loved the transcripts from the episodes, especially while listening to the audiobook. The cast of characters were all phenomenal and made the audiobook an excellent experience. I also thought Mara’s character was well written and undeniably relatable. I’d recommend both versions of this story. Haunt Sweet Home is out 9/3/24!

Happy reading 📖 🍂

Genre: Contemporary speculative fiction, ghost story horror

Mara is more than a little aimless, thinking about another stint at a community college when her cousin offers her a job on the film crew where he is the star. After a couple of false starts, she lands the position as production assistant for the night crew. The show: a house hunters style show with a twist where all the properties are “haunted” and the show urges the couple to fix the house in order to make peace with the ghost. Mara's job: provide ghoulish and eerie hauntings, along with anything the crew asks for.

Haunt Sweet Home is a novella length light horror/speculative fiction book driven by the intensity of overnight shifts and manic high pressure life of a film set PA. The horror component is very light, so even most scaredy cat readers can get into this. At its core, the story has some lovely deep connections to soul and spirit and aiming to find direction in life while keeping overall tone light and fun with a bit of creepy atmosphere. It's set in Western MA primarily in a haunted house with an apple orchard, and if you know a New England morning or evening you know the fog can roll in to create that haunted feeling.

The audiobook has one primary narrator, but a couple of sections with a full cast representing the portions on set of the show, a framework that does well translated to the audio. The audio was easy to follow, but I found it as easy to read parts with my eyes.

Sarah Pinsker gives us another solid speculative fiction book in her repertoire, and this one is perfect for a light haunting for fall.

A quick paranormal read.

I found this to be just okay. The novella was strangely repetitive for being so short, and I found that led to me being distracted on occasion. There were some interesting elements but the detached way of the storytelling along with there being no true personality in this, made it feel a little unfinished to me.

I liked the HGTV aspect to this. It made it quirky. But I think it needed to come from a different angle or more plot things needed to happen to make this feel like there was substance.

The description of this as a "supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself" is probably the most accurate I've read. This novella isn't particularly scary and it doesn't even feel much like a ghost story although it is one, but it surely is a supernatural exploration and the focus is absolutely on the main character's journey into adulthood.

The audiobook cast does a fantastic job, and it's so short that if you bump up the speed, you'll get through it quite quickly. I turned it on to get some chores done, and it was a nice way to spend the time.

I can't say that I got a ton out of this story, though perhaps I'm just too far removed from that clumsy period of early adulthood. I was way more anxious about Mara keeping her job and not getting in trouble than I was about any hauntings -- that was the true terror here!

"meaningless' and "pointless" feel like pretty harsh adjectives to assign to a horror novella, but at the end of the day, I won't get those hours of audiobook listening back.

This novella is short and sweet and combines two of my favorite things: behind the scenes reality TV and ghost stories.

Mara is a 20-something who's not sure what to do with her life. Her successful cousin - host of a home reno/ghost hunter reality show - sets her up with a lowly production assistant job on set. She's part of the night crew, the ones who craft the haunting storylines and pull off the practical effects. Because obviously not all these houses are haunted, right? ... Right? Because she soon realizes that there may be something truly otherworldly happening...

This isn't very scary in the traditional ghost story sense, but you get a great idea of what it feel slike to be an overlooked, unambitious person still looking for her calling, and perhaps finding it in an unlikely place.

I listened to this one and loved the multicast narration: most of the book is from Mara's POV, and we get a singular narrator for those portions. But each chapter begins with a transcript from the show, and the narration feels like a table read or dramatization in the best way.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novella.