This was such a cute cozy romance with a little mystery with a haunted castle. It has a lot of heart and sheds a light on the difficulties that bipoc authors can go through. Really loved that both the MMC and FMC are Native Americans. Enemies to lovers and rivals to lovers with forced proximity is a favorite of mine for sure and this one did not disappoint.

This was a bit of a lackluster read for me. I think I liked the idea of the story more than the actual execution. The rivals to lovers was fine, but I didn't get the spark I wanted. The side characters all blended together for me and didn't really add much to the story. I like the spooky haunted castle setting - prefect for the tart of fall, but not really caring about the romance or characters limited my enjoyment.

This was just meh for me. I didn't hate it and I enjoyed the indigenous representation, but I'm still perplexed as to WHY Pen was so darn put-out with Neil in the first place.
Penelope Skinner is a horror writer who has an enormous grudge against fellow horror writer, Neil Storm. She feels like Neil is a sell-out and honestly, he is, but there's a reason and I'm still confused as to why Pen is SO angry at him. Anyway, she chucks a book at his head a writer's panel and she becomes this pariah of the author world.
Neil and Pen have a friend in common, Lazlo, who has booked them into a writer's retreat in a haunted castle in Scotland. Neither of them know the other is going until they are forced together and cannot leave as, of course, a blizzard is taking place. They get mixed up in the ghost story of the castle, unbeknownst to the other writers present, and end up falling for each other. There is a fine line between love and hate because the forced proximity and the passionate feelings lead to some saucy interactions. And of course, the ghost story becomes a love story.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*

I was really excited for this book, but it fell flat for me. It reads kind of like a stream of consciousness, there’s no real structure, and it’s hard to follow what’s going on or who the characters are. It’s also hard to dig into what’s happening - I was constantly aware that I was *reading*, rather than being sucked into the story myself. This also made the “scary” element fall short, and felt instead rather dramatic and ridiculous.

**Minor spoilers ahead**

This is also billed as an enemies to lovers romance, but the enemies stopped VERY early on in the story. The prologue to the book has a heavy hating scene, where the main characters fight in a public forum, and the FMC throws a book at the MMC’s head hard enough for him to bleed and scar (which should NOT be romanticized, this is glossed over and even praised, when actually this is fairly violent behavior). Despite such an aggressive start, 5 minutes into the next time they see each other, there’s a bunch of lust and feelings of connections popping up. In less than a week, they go from “you ruined my life” to “you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.

DNF @53%

This was insufferable to read. The setup of why the characters hated one another was good, but the FMC is soooo preachy and her ideas were shoehorned in and didn't feel natural. I felt bad for the MMC because she was lecturing him allll the time.

I didn't believe there were ghosts which is a part of the story I was really excited for.

But the thing that made me want to DNF this book (I still stuck it out for a while, but this was sooo gross to me), was the description of the FMC after she woke up one morning. I'm not going to put it here because it made me uncomfortable. It was used a couple of times and was ew.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.

DNF

Thanks to NG for an ARC. I really wanted to like this one. It has things that I love in it, but I absolutely could not stand the main character in this book. I gave it to 20% then I put it down.

I wavered between 3 and 4 stars on this book, What landed me on four was how much I liked the way the relationship between the two characters was legitimately messy and lended itself to nuanced thinking about how to deal with complicated issues surrounding representation of marginalized characters. What the story lacked for me was emotional heft; I didn't get pulled into the romance as much as I would have liked. I love a spooky Scottish setting though!

I wanted to like this, but I did not at all.

The characters felt so one dimensional - I need some layers to the characters. I feel like the romance got lost in the haunted mansion stuff as well. There was just too much going on, and nothing got enough attention.

I didn’t like this book. I loved how it started I felt like it had a lot of potential, but it sadly didn’t keep my attention, and most likely due to that it felt like the book jumped around a lot. The main characters were kind of one noted. They start out enemies and turn to lovers. That happened incredibly quickly, too quickly for me to believe. What I did like was them talking about them coming to terms with their community and identities vs the publishing world and its expectations. I thought that journey was very powerful and eye opening. This book as a romance and overall was a miss for me.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Technically, I have DNF'ed this one, but if I had finished it would have got a very low rating.

I was sooo excited for it – it's a romance/horror mashup featuring rival writers trapped together in a haunted castle. I've never heard of a book made more for me. I adore the cover, and it's also written by an Indigenous author featuring Indigenous characters, and I was looking forward to the representation.

The rep was my favourite part of this, but unfortunately, I just thought the writing was amateurish, and I found myself skimming pages looking for something interesting to grab onto. Things moved way too quickly overall, including the relationship, without leaving room to develop the setting, scene, and characters.

There's also a concerning scene where one character throws a book at another character, drawing blood. I had hoped there would be some redemption for or remorse from the character as I read on, but I don't think that's where things were headed.

I wish I could recommend this, but I would say look at the reviews and make your own decision from there.

I unfortunately have to DNF this one. The author’s note provided warning of what was to come, which already had me feeling unsure if I wanted to continue, but then the FMC “watched gleefully” as she threw a book at the MMC’s temple so hard that blood blood dripped down his face and he “flew out of his chair”. And all of this because she’s jealous of his success? It was a lot right out of the gate. I have to draw a line somewhere and physical assault is for sure past that line.

This is a great ghost story. Penelope and Neil are two writers who start out not liking each other. The setting is a Scottish castle haunted by a ghost couple. There are some interesting and funny moments as the characters interact with the ghost. It also has some sexy and steamy scenes. Readers will enjoy getting to know these fun characters.

This made me not want to read any other spooky books this year. How does something like this go through editing and publishing and it’s still this bad?

First off, I wanted to DNF for homegirl’s violence against her future love interest in the freaking first few pages. If the man had thrown the book at the woman’s face and made her bleed, people would be sharpening pitchforks. Men should have the same protections against violence. It did nothing to help the story, and could have easily been left out. Speaking of, story? What story? I couldn’t even remember this plot an hour after I finished the book. I’m sure part of that was the trauma I suffered but also, it’s because the story isn’t good. Homegirl (I cannot be bothered to remember their names at this point) is an abuser, a gaslighter, and a conceited jerk. Homeboy has no spine, and she basically spends the entire book tearing him apart until they get together. These two are supposed to be enemies to lovers/competing authors, but there was no competition. It was rushed abuse and then a “happy ending” was forced in there at the end, if that’s what you want to call it.

The sex scenes were bland. The horror elements were stupid and boring. The characters are awful. The plot is non-existent.

I started telling people not to read this when I was 10% of the way into it, and that did not change. Please, for the sanity of us all, do not read this book. Enough people have suffered.

I really liked the premise of this one! It's perfect for spooky season and the plotline is unique. However, I was not a huge fan of the characters, and I had a hard time connecting to them. As a result, I didn't really care for the romance between to two characters. The FMC showed a lot of growth throughout the course of the book, which was a plus, and I really enjoyed the side characters, especially Laszlo. There are a lot of cute and fun things to like about this book. I am definitely wanting to check out more by this author.

It took me a little while to get into this one, mainly because Penelope in the beginning was such a difficult person to like, but once she opened up and acknowledged why she didn’t like Neil, it got better. The best parts of the book had to do with the ghost of Georgia and the haunted castle as a whole; not necessarily scary but I like how they interacted with her. I also enjoyed learning about writing retreats and how they are run. The romance itself was OK but took a backseat to the haunting. Cute but I think there was too much going on in for the story to work.

A writing retreat ends up with the writers chasing ghosts and being chased by ghosts.

I love this cover. It is so cute. Pen reminds me of Velma from Scooby-Doo. I have to admit I picked the book because of the cover (chuckle).

Colby Wilkens brings mystery, romance, barbs, and thrown books in If I Stopped Haunting You. I like how the foundation is laid out for the adversarial relationship between Pen and Neil. The romance blends well, but doesn’t disregard the base issues that Pen and Neil have.

I love the conversations that Pen and Neil have regarding the difficulties of living in truth with your culture and the reality of the publishing world. I have listened to many real-life discussions on this topic. Wilkens also delves into the perception of color and race among white and non-white people.

Now the mystery is good, BUT I think if some mystical groundwork had been laid out to get Pen to Scotland it could be better. It’s a lot to swallow since this was a spontaneous decision on Pen’s part and her friend picked the site who had no idea of its history. Not to say that ghosts are plausible or not, but it’s just too much of a “coincidence” that Pen goes there and the mystery is linked to her.

If I Stopped Haunting You is a snarky funny romantic suspense read. If you are looking for a quick escape that involves hauntings without the gore (well there is some but it’s not gross gore (chuckle)), then this story is for you.

This has major Scooby-Doo vibes… but for adults! Set during winter with lots of snowy scenes, so that pulled me out of it for a spooky read to dive into for fall but the spooky factor was definitely there as I wasn’t reading this right before bed haha. I wish there was a bit more mystery and back story behind the ghost that haunts the castle… this book was more about the romance between the main characters. Very spooky and cozy read for the winter.

Okay this was a bit too horny for a haunted house book. I thought the enemies to lovers was a bit fast paced and considering the woman was physically violent toward the dude, it was a little concerning with how quickly they got over and under each other. Falling in love in a haunted house? Fine (I loved "Haunting of Bly Manor" ) but having hot, horny sex, in a castle that is haunted? No. Absolutely not. You would never catch me naked in a bed that could possibly be haunted. I am not getting taken out by a ghost, naked. Let's also talk about the ghost. Absolutely terrifying. The description, perfect. Why's she was haunting the place? Not so much. It was boring. Barely even a reason to haunt the place. Like what sort of reason was there to stick around? No one remembered your name? Big whoop! Your husband was literally haunting the cellar!! Just go downstairs and see him. It made no sense whatsoever! It could have had so much more potential, but I got let down soooooo bad.

Okay I was not expecting this romance to be as spooky as it was! I couldn't read it before bed because some of the imagery was so scary. I loved the mystery though! Honestly, I was sometimes annoyed with how much romance was happening because I wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery. That's a Scooby-Doo kid for ya, though.

I'll be chatting with Colby in a couple weeks about this book for my podcast.

There were a lot of things I didn’t like about this book, but the “ghost jizz” takes the cake for me.

There was no chemistry between our two main characters. I could have looked past that if the ghostie/gothic/horror elements I was promised had delivered but alas, that flopped too.