When I read If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens, I was immediately drawn in by its unique mix of romance and supernatural intrigue. The story follows Penelope Skinner, a horror writer in a slump, and Neil Storm, her rival author. Their snarky, tension-filled relationship takes center stage when they end up at a writers’ retreat in a haunted Scottish castle.

What I loved most was the humor and how the setting added a cozy, atmospheric vibe to the story. However, I found Penelope’s character to be a bit inconsistent—her shift from anger to romantic interest in Neil felt rushed to me. At times, the romance and the spooky elements didn’t mesh perfectly, with steamy scenes cropping up during moments when I was more invested in the ghostly mystery.

Still, the witty banter and creative premise kept me entertained. If you’re looking for a fun, lighthearted read with a touch of ghosts and romance, this book is worth a try. I’d give it a solid 3.5 stars—perfect for fans of romantic comedies with a supernatural twist!

I chose not to review this book either way due to the ongoing publishing/social media discussions with and about the author.

Penelope looked up to Neil as a fellow Native American writer, until he lost his authenticity - that’s when she began to despise him. Frustrated with the outcome of her book, she publicly lashes out and it all goes downhill. A writing retreat is exactly what she needs to inspire a new book, except she could’ve never guessed the events and outcome of the retreat. Enemies to lovers but like truly ENEMIES, I feel like the FMC was a bit childish in her grudge, Neil was way too nice for her. Overall, I think the book was just not my cup of tea, I found myself losing interest.

One star review due to the author being in trouble for lying about their heritage. The audacity of people is absolutely insane to me.

It is difficult to review this book based off of the deception of the author and their behavior. I will not be reading this book or supporting the author.

Romance, authors, horror, haunted mansion!? Literally what more can you want! This was a super fun read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I so wanted to love this, but couldn't finish it in October. I finished not long ago for the sole purpose of writing a review. My main problem is that while flawed main characters are great, they need to at least be likeable, and sadly the FMC is not. Her behavior at the beginning is also never redeemed in my eyes, which makes her undeserving of the MMCs love.

Then I found out the author is allegedly pretending to be indigenous and profiting off of telling stories about native peoples she has no relation too. That just leaves a bad taste for the author and novel.
https://nypost.com/2024/10/21/us-news/author-colby-wilkens-says-shes-native-american-tribal-alliance-disagrees/

Romance and horror blended together, had me requesting this really fast. Unfortunately it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. The relationship felt forced and fast as they went from enemies to all of a sudden hooking up. The horror in the story wasn’t all that horror. This just wasn’t it for me, and it hurts to say that.

It's difficult to review this book in the context of what has since come out about the author. As such, I won't be. I am frustrated and disappointed in this book.

I had high hopes for this book but unfortunately it missed the mark for me. I didn't find the main character Pen very likable and found myself not itching to pick up the book because of that. The story itself also felt a bit tossed together and I had to power through to finish the book. I considered not finishing it due to the lack of interest I had in the story overall.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review. I enjoyed the concept of two writers at odds being brought together by a spirit. It was hard for me to stay interested in the story, but I liked the general concept of a haunted house romance.

How did this get published? Not only is the writing cringeworthy but the author is marketing herself as an indigenous person who according to the press is not the story made no sense, how can an author have such a toddler tantrum on stage and still be supported by other writers? It felt like this might be autobiographical. Just not for me.

I have tried to get into this book several times and am at a point of dnfing at 30%. I've decided I really dislike Neil and Penelope and their whole relationship. They don't make sense to me, and I don't understand why Neil would even like Penelope. She is pretty awful and does nothing other than be offensive with him and he seems to like it?

dnfed ar 17% after i learned the author has NO native heritage tho it was claimed & publicized as such. also the FMC is just so unlikeable.

I wanted to love this one so bad, but if just fell so flat😕 I felt like the cover and description sounded so cute but the story was not at all what I expected and I was so disappointed by it.

I will not be publicly posting a review for "If I Stopped Haunting You" due to the controversy around the author and publisher. I'd like to believe that Wilkens did not claim indigineous ancestry with malicious intent (as someone not enrolled with the tribe my family claims ancestors from, I understand wanting that connection to your heritage), but claiming something like that without documentation can get tricky, especially when using said ancestry to promote your book.

Author and publisher controversies aside, the characters are extremely unlikable, the relationship felt extremely weird on top of their lack of chemistry, and honestly our fmc is toxic (and lowkey the mmc too). She needs therapy badly and taking it out on the mmc was so unhealthy. I nearly dnf'ed but I wanted to see if there was some character development by the end (unsusprisingly, there was not). The side characters were also very unlikable.

.5/5 stars because this isn't the worst book I've read, actually. Thank you Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big fan of horror and romance at the same time, and this story has all the spice and all the spookiness I could have asked for.

The romance and paranormal mystery was enjoyable but I didn’t see a lot of character growth. I couldn’t really connect to the story.

I ended up DNFing this book around 30%. I felt frustrated with the FMC while reading it and could not get myself to pick it back up. I did enjoy some of the friendships being highlighted, but some of them felt a little random maybe they would have made a bit more sense if I had continued reading.

Overall, this book had an interesting premise and it had some shining moments and seemed like it was a beautiful setting, however, it was not the book for me.

3.5 stars

What I liked about the book:
1. I loved the fact that both MCs were indigenous and there was actual girth to their heritages. Instead of coming across as something to check the diversity checkbox, the author actually mentioned certain things throughout the story and made their indigenousness part of their personalities. The hardships for BIPOC authors were explored, including how their small community of writers were essentially pitted against one other to get a “top indigenous” writer.

2. I love any story that takes me to a Scottish castle. It’s an instant love item from me!

3. I loved the mystery Neil and Penelope were solving through the story. While it was an easy one to solve, it was fun nonetheless.

4. I liked the pacing of the book a lot. I felt the flow of their writers’ retreat, their enemies-to-lovers relationship, and the mystery itself worked together really well and without being overwhelming.

What I wasn’t a fan of:
1. I definitely felt like there was a lot of assaulting (literally) enemies stuff at the forefront, but it was gotten over pretty quickly once they were in the castle. Perhaps this was the author exploring the fact that they had feelings for each other without knowing for a while and so once they started to working together it was instant, but it felt a little too quick for me.

2. I really wasn’t a fan of Penelope. I felt she was very selfish. Right when I thought she had come around and had actual character growth, she did the most selfish thing yet at the very end of the book, and I was dissatisfied with this for her character growth.

3. I found it rather odd that Penelope and Neil didn't let the other two characters in the story (their friends) in on the mystery. Not only did these character feel like background characters and a means to and end to get these two together in Scotland and nothing more, but then they were totally kept out of the loop when weird stuff was going on. It was odd to me.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Colby Wilkens for the opportunity to read this book. The thoughts and opinions expressed above are honest and my own.