I will not be reviewing this book. I want to thank the publisher for providing me with an ARC but due to the allegations of the author misrepresenting themselves as Indigenous when they are not, I will not be supporting them.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it never really worked for me. The writing flows well, but the pacing felt awkward. There were some great conversations that Wilkens had. However, there wasn't much development of the ideas or characters. I wanted to be shown a lot more about the progression of the relationship of the leads. The arguments didn’t feel well addressed. It felt like they were brushed through to focus only on the physical attraction between the leads.

Thank you to #NetGally for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was looking forward to reading Colby Wilkens novel If I stopped Haunting you. Unfortunately I feel as though this novel fell short on a few fronts for me. The first area was character development it felt forced at times. It lacked any real build up in the chemistry between them normal seen in an enemies to Lovers story. It lacked the usually emotional depth that I expected. There were a number of inconsistencies in plot, theme, and mood I was not expecting. With this being said, maybe it was the wrong book wrong time for my read of this book. However if you are a big fan of Enemy to Lovers you may want to give it a whirl.

Due to the author's misrepresentation of their Native heritage, I will not be writing a review for this book. The story is very directly influenced with Native characters and beliefs that cannot be accurately portrayed

I’m going to preface this by saying I knew about the author incorrectly saying she’s native before diving in since I received an arc of this way before all that came out and I didn’t have time to read it until now. I decided to go ahead and read it since it’s already published and she’s not getting any money from me because I received a free early copy. After slogging through If I Stopped Haunting You and finding waaaay too many coincidences between Pen and the author, I wish I just let this one stay unread.

The FMC, Pen, is extremely unlikable at best and physically abusive at worst. She starts to kind of feel guilty after physically assaulting Neil BUT SHE NEVER APOLOGIZES AND BLAMES HIM FOR HER BEING CANCELED???? Girl, you quite literally caused bodily harm and verbally tore down a stranger for essentially no reason??? Pen’s character doesn’t develop at all over the course of the story and Neil grovels over minor things when Pen should be the one repenting and absolutely making amends whilst working on her poor anger management. I could not get over the way the author tries to justify Pen over and over again - it made me so angry and frustrated I couldn’t follow the plot.

Pen felt very much like a self insert of the author. Pen is white passing but claims native heritage but has no way to prove this…sound familiar? Pen constantly complains about how Neil, an actual tribal member, has it incredibly easy in publishing while she, unable to prove her Native-ness struggles to gain representation (although she hasn’t written or submitted a book in over 5 years, but yeah it’s because she’s basically a white woman that she has it SOOOoooOoo hard). It’s absolutely wild to me not one sensitivity reader read this was like “hey guys….this ain’t it” but I’m guessing a sensitivity read wasn’t even done, so 🤷🏼‍♀️.

I’m white, so I can’t speak on the Native aspect of this story or the way Native characters were represented. However, even I can tell the rep was poorly done and felt offensive at times.

I would say, that if you’re thinking about reading this, maybe don’t and pick up a romance from an actual indigenous author, like The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava.

Thank you to SMP, and NetGalley for sending me an early copy of this.

Due to ongoing uncertainty and controversy with this author, I am choosing to withhold my review at this time.

Due to the author’s controversy, I’ll wait until things settle down before reading this and giving it a proper review

Another book I was excited for and was extremely disappointed by. I hesitated to actually write this review because as I was finishing it, I learned about the controversy with the author. I was sure everyone would be rating this book low and I didn’t want to dogpile. But I didn’t like this book before I even knew the author was lying about being indigenous so-

I loathe the main character. She blamed her own actions and failures on everyone else. She literally scarred the love interest and then joked about it later, miming throwing another book at him 🥴
and THE PLOT. It was lost. I was lost. Ghosts, publishing, jealousy, weird family drama? Idk man, it was too much.

And Colby don’t think I forgot about you 🥰
Writing about how there are so few indigenous authors, how the native stories authors want to write about won’t get published, “Fuck the colonizers!” Etc etc etc… diabolical.

It’s one thing if you were told by your family that you were native and you just didn’t know any better. But if you’re going to be claiming to be an indigenous author and writing their stories, DO. YOUR. RESEARCH. And don’t ignore the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds when they reach out to you.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc 🫠

If I Stopped Haunting You is an eerie tale by Colby Wilkins. Among those on a writer’s retreat at Skinner Castle in Scotland are two indigenous American horror authors who came to blows over their representation of fellow native people and values in the past. They now find themselves both in a writing slump and find themselves together in a supposedly haunted castle trying to overcome their blocks.

These two, Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm, appear to be the only ones of the quartet at the castle to encounter the spirit of the white lady. As they scramble to determine her path to this point and how to release her from her earthly bindings, they also learn more about one another, forming an unexpected bond.

This is an interesting story, however I was disappointed that what looked like obvious storylines were left unexplored. I did enjoy what the story offered, but would have rated it higher if I hadn’t found myself dissatisfied by what seemed to be an important aspect that was left untold.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of If I Stopped Haunting You.

The set-up of a spooky castle forced proximity romance was great, but unfortunately, I felt like this plot was poorly executed. As a white woman, I can't really speak to the authenticity of the Indigenous elements in the book, but it somehow still felt off to me. I wasn't convinced either character truly struggled, yet the book desperately wanted it to seem like they did - and constantly. I felt no sympathy for them.

Due to the recent situation surrounding the author, I don't feel comfortable reviewing this book anymore.

I just have one word for this book….oy. The description was intriguing but the execution was very subpar. Undeveloped characters, a ridiculous “spooky” arc, and maybe the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard a ghost be described as doing. Ectoplasm took on a whole new meaning in this book. If that wasn’t enough, I read that the author was lying about her native background, which is rich considering all the lecturing she does about how to be a good indigenous writer. I’m being generous with my rating because at least the sex was kinda hot (though the descriptions of being turned on were most decidedly not.)

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Enjoyable travel romp. Fun characters. Surface-level story. An easy read, that I'd recommend as a solid beach read.

Such a cute title and I genuinely wanted to love this. However, I DNF'd at 40%. Three stars simply because I understood the vision. The execution was just not there. Maybe I'll try it again next spooky season!

It took me several tries to get into this book. I found the characters to be annoying and one dimensional and the plot line sounded like it would be good but just fell short to me. I think the ghost was the most interesting character but she got short changed with an odd ending and not enough development. I also wasn't a huge fan of the author's writing style and found myself wanting more. All that said I didn't dislike the book, I just didn't feel like i gained anything from reading it and won't be reading more from this author.

I'm scoring this book based on reading, which I completed before the allegations about Colby Wilkens' heritage came out. I truly loved this story. Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm run in the same literary circles, but cannot stand to be around one another. At least Penelope can't stand to be around Neil. They're lured under false pretenses to a Scottish castle for a writing retreat, and come face to face with a lot of their own personal fears as well as their conflict with one another. Penelope struggles with her identity and Neil does a lot to affirm her-it's jarring to see this same identity issue called into question regarding Wilkens herself.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my review.

The female main character in this was too juvenile for me to take seriously. The side characters served no purpose. Ultimately this book was difficult to get through because it didn’t hold my interest.

If I Stopped Haunting You was a fun read with a cool mix of romance and spooky vibes, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. The enemies-to-lovers angle was entertaining, and the haunted castle setting was perfect for adding some tension. However, the back-and-forth between the main characters felt a bit repetitive at times, and I wasn’t fully sold on their emotional growth. I wish the spooky part of the story had been a bit more intense too. Overall, it was a fun, light read, but I was hoping for a little more depth and development.

I love the native American representation in this book. It's well written and is the a fantastic read for the fall months.

I ended up not finishing this one. It wasn't because I didn't like the story. It was the very helpful author's content and trigger warnings at the beginning of the book that gave me a warning that this might not be the book for me. And because of that warning I am able to give the review of even though this one wasn't for me other rom com readers will enjoy it.