(3.5 stars)

Thank you to St Martin’s Press & Colby Wilkens for the opportunity to read the e-arc of If I Stopped Haunting You in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I did enjoy this book. I really loved the premise as it was one that was unique to me, however it felt slightly repetitive throughout. I am a true enemies to lovers - lover so that is all the redemption I need to make this a 3.5 star.

Thank you again for the opportunity to read, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more from this author.

If I Stopped Haunting You is a romance set in a haunted house in Scotland, somehow managing to be both spicy and scary, often within just a few pages. After a dramatic argument between Penelope and Neil during a public panel for Indigenous authors that ended with a book thrown at Neil’s head and the apparent end of Penelope’s writing career, both hope to never see the other again. When they are both invited to the same writing retreat (in an allegedly haunted castle) unaware that the other will be attending, Penelope and Neil are thrown together once again and must put the past behind them to save both of their careers and maybe even their lives- dun dun dunnn.

This is one of the best transitions from enemies to lovers I have ever read. I loved getting both Neil and Penelope’s perspectives throughout the story, and the change in their feelings feels very realistic and natural. Both of the characters felt very real to me, although I wish we had gotten to see some more of their history together aside from The Incident.
The blending of romance and horror was unlike anything I have read before and I hope to see more of it published. While there were some tense/scary moments, overall this book feels much more “contemporary romance” than “haunted house horror.” I would have liked to linger on the scary parts in the same way we did the romantic ones.

While there were a lot of things I enjoyed about this book, I found it very difficult to get a mental picture of how the scenes were set and found myself going back and rereading often to try to understand what was happening. For example, after Pen and Neil sleep together for the first time, they take a shower and the chapter ends with Neil washing Pen’s hair. The next chapter starts with Penelope commenting on his hair washing technique in a way that led me to believe they were still in the shower, until it mentions her shirt riding up. A few paragraphs later, we find out that Penelope is apparently sitting on the edge of the bed. While this may seem like a small thing, moments like this slowed down my reading considerably and added a lot of confusion.

I have a few other small nitpicks. I didn’t feel that the excerpts from their books added much to the story. I also felt that the haunting resolution came about a little too easily.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and I would read another book by this author. I’d recommend this book to fans of Lana Harper’s Witches of Thistle Grove series and The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I read this book via NetGalley. The premise of the story was interesting. It is a nice mixture of romance, mystery, and thriller. Neil and Penelope are relatable and I enjoyed watching them come to terms with their writing blocks and their growing interest in each other. Daniella and Lazlo were interesting characters in their own way. I loved the haunted castle portion of the story. I would recommend this book. Update: It has been a month since I reviewed this book. I can't get it out of my mind. The story and characters were definitely engaging.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Penelope decides to attend a retreat to help her with her next book. While their, she sees another author who she does not like, she finds that they are spending more time together than apart. An ok read.

First thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC copy.

Reading the summary of this one I was so excited to jump into it.

Enemies to lovers, yes please!

Covering a timely and important topic such as native biases, stereotypes, and racism, amazing!

I was so disappointed when this story was then bogged down right away with one of the main characters assaulting the other. In a crowded room, with witnesses, leaving him bleeding and as we find out later scared. Does she face consequences, nope just walks away and goes home to be depressed and unable to write.

I’m sorry, what now?

This story would have been so good without the assault and some other light abuse later on. It was off putting to be honest and really over shadows what was otherwise a decent story with a good message.

Let’s not normalize abuse in relationships, even written ones.

I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this Author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I was so excited to read this book as I haven't ventured into the mystery/paranormal with romance territory. Main trope is enemies to lovers.

The book opens with the tension between the two main characters (both are writers) and they somehow find themselves on the same writing retreat.

I don’t know if I connected with either character and it seemed a little heavy on lust without substantial relationship-building.

It’s a quick, fun, easy read but I wish the characters were more connected.

Ebook/Mystery Romance: I really enjoyed the first half of the book with the two writers confrontation and then winding up on a writer's retreat together. The book is written as duel narrator's POV in third person, which I readable. The author does third person narrative very well so it's more like the chapters are just listed as the characters. (Yes, I hate duel narrators and I can't wait for this schick to be over). But I did like the scenes of writers block because the author told how it feels through character.
When the book gets into the woo-woo haunted house stuff, I wasn't to crazy about that and I wanted to go back to the retreat writing exercises...and I picked this book from Netgalley because of the supernatural aspect.

I thought the author had some really interesting plot points and bigger social conversations. The ghosts were also a fun addition. It wasn’t my favorite thing I’ve ever read, but I still will be picking up other books by this author.

This book was kind of middle ground for me.

This book is about Penelope Skinner and Niel Storm to rivals in Native horror genre authors. At a convention Penelope gets angry and throws a book at Niel's head....(seriously! Who does that?)

Months later when both have writers block they go on a writing retreat to a haunted Scottish castle! Is the castle really haunted or just creepy AF? Will they continue to hate each other or become friends or maybe more?

The atmosphere was a lot of fun. The Gothic creepy castle in the middle of nowhere vibe was hot very well. Good descriptions that made it very spooky.

The characters though felt not well developed. Penelope had anger management issues and seems shallow! I don't feel anything about her except annoyance. Niel doesn't feel like he had a personality really! This makes it hard to believe their love story. Also the sex scenes felt... rushed and clinical!

I enjoyed the Ghost story part of the book though. The intrigue and trying to figure out the mystery was fun.... that being said the ending was anticlimactic and I couldn't understand why the ghost card enough to become scary and hurt people.... kind felt like there was no reason than to progress the plot!

If I stopped haunting you had an interesting premise and I am typically a fan of enemies-to-lovers. The misunderstanding between them kind of gets resolved but not enough to make their relationship seem more than anything but lust. The mystery was fun,but it lacked a developed consequence. They got hurt a few times, but it never really felt like there was true danger.

This one just didn’t hit for me. I couldn’t really get into it/have interest in the characters. Also just didn’t love the writing style.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

The pacing of the novel is steady, with tension building steadily as Neil delves deeper into Pen’s past and the secrets she wont spill. The plot twists and turns keep readers guessing, culminating in a climax that is both shocking and satisfying, but of course the main thing is the romance, which was sweet and dorky.

Pen Skinner and Neil Storm are writing rivals after what happened at the last Book Con.
Neither knew they would find themselves at an intimate, secluded writing retreat together.
While struggling to deal with their feelings for each other and their writers block, they stubble upon the ghosts haunting the castle.
They decide to work together to solve the mystery of the hauntings.
Although this was a quick read, I found it hard to follow at times as there were some plot holes and inconsistencies throughout the story. I loved the premise of a romance and a horror mystery, but the combination didn't quite work for me in this book.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC.

I struggled to get into this book and stay into this book.

The descriptive elements were well written; however, the characters development fell a little flat for me. I never really felt like I connected to the characters & I didn't love the way their enemies to lovers relationship evolved. In some ways it felt rushed.

I'm going to try picking it up again at another point because I really wanted to like this book but for now it's not for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut by Colby Wilkens! The author has great exposition, addictive pacing, and eye-capturing descriptions. I loved the enemies-to-lovers and slow-burn between our two leads: Pen and Neil. I thought their relationship was grounded in something real, and I really appreciated the Native perspective when it comes to publishing. Also, I loved the horror/mystery aspect! It is something I've never read in a romance and I love that it offers something different than contemporary romances.

2.5⭐️ Despite there being cute moments at points during this book, the infuriating FMC and the illogical choices made by both main characters over shadowed everything else. The FMC starts the books by assaulting the MMC then spends the rest of the book gaslighting the MMC into thinking he’s at fault for her actions. As for the actual ghost part of this book….. it was flawed. From the motivations of the ghosts, to the resolutions, none of it made sense.

If there is anything Pen hates more than being called Penny, it’s fellow horror author Neil Storm. He has betrayed everything she holds dear about being a Native and telling their stories. When a public smack down brings them both to their knees they look to a haunted castle to lift their spirits, but it might be more than they bargained for. While confronting the castle’s, and their own, haunting past they learn giving up the ghosts of fear and hate makes room for love.

I throughly enjoyed this book! It was such a fun and interesting read. I loved Pen and Neil and how Wilkens parallels their fear of feelings with the fear of ghosts. It has a surprising theme of confronting your own fears that I did not see coming, but kept me hooked. It had moments that made me laugh out loud and a nice sprinkle of spice. I did expect there to be a little more in the reveal of the ghosts’ stories, but it didn’t take away from the novel as a whole. Definitely would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to review this book!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I think I put myself into a slump reading this because I had tried so hard to like it but I feel like there’s not much about the characters that I like. I don’t really know if I even really enjoyed the plot. I just don’t think this book was the book for me. The writing was just okay to me.

This book started out so strong and kept me hooked til about the of way point. Two writers who start out hating each other go on a writing retreated in a supposedly haunted castle in the Scottish highlands. They find out the castle is actually haunted, and have to solve a ghost mystery to keep the paranormal activity at bay. I feel like this book was trying to be both a horror and romance novel at the same time and it couldn’t really achieve both. There was 20% of the book that was just them having intercourse and the plot was paused and then they suddenly realized they had to hunt the ghosts again. The end up not hating each other in the end and solve the mystery leaving the castle no longer haunted. Good read, cute, with a few plot holes. Thank you SMP!