I loved this book. I thought that the characters were really distinct and dimensional, and I liked how spooky it was. I will say that I was expecting the ghost to have a big unfinished business to set them free, but the reason they hadn't moved on yet was a bit heartwarming. I do think that Pen was a little bit hard on Neil, and I wish she would have dug a little deeper before writing him off, but I do think that the feelings that she had towards him were quite complicated and necessitated the plotline. I thought the chemistry between Pen and Neil was fiery and I enjoyed their scenes together. Overall, I think that this was a fun, steamy, and creepy read and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.

4.25 rounding to 5.

thanks to a wonderful cover design and an intriguing premise, my hopes for if I stopped haunting you were high. sadly, this book didn't live up to any of them.

the most glaring issue was penelope's character. starting as early as the prologue, she exhibited quite a bit of rage and aggression that came with little remorse for her repetitive wrong behavior. because she was a difficult person to like or root for, those feelings transferred to her dynamic with neil, her love interest. in a matter of days, the pair went from pretty extreme dislike to much more, a timeline I couldn't believe given how they were first introduced.

overall, I wanted neil to have more of a backbone, more conviction. for instance, amid the final conflict, neil experienced a moment of peril, resulting in a moment of worship for pen rather than concern for his well-being. additionally, the castle setting and paranormal elements were pretty lackluster. given the genre tag of "horror" the book is being marketed with, I expected that subplot to travel in a different direction.

thanks to colby wilkens and st. martin's press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this! I don’t know what I was expecting but it was not this. I am a scaredy cat but this book gave off a very creepy vibe and just a fun read for fall!

First off, I loved Pen and Neil! All the characters are great. The events in the beginning hooked me and had me laughing. The supernatural aspect surprised and delighted. It was a great mystery added in. The romance is sexy and fun to see develop.

A rom com mixed up with a horror novel with social commentary along the way. Penelope and Neil are both indigenous authors and she believes he's sold out. No she should not have thrown a book at him but as it turns out, that got his attention in more ways than one. Now they're both at a writing retreat in a haunted Scottish castle. There's a lot going on here and to be honest, the horror section is the weakest. There was plenty to plumb with the enemies to lovers, forced proximity thing let alone with the struggles faced by writers of color. That said. it's an entertaining read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'd like to see more from Wilkens.

2.5 stars - going to mark this as read on Goodreads and not give a star because I want this author to succeed even if I didn't like this.

I really want to love this book. It certainly started with a bang which hooked me in, but then I got stuck at 19% and now picking it up I’m afraid I need to DNF at 43%.

This book had such a fab premise - an Indigenous paranormal romance in a Scottish castle? I mean, sign me up because I haven’t read any Indigenous romances before and I am HERE for it.

My problems are mostly that it is so slow and I just don’t get the romance which goes from Penny committing lateral violence to Neil (literally) over her anger that he’s sold out for a white market. To being stuck with each other on a road trip and suddenly they start thinking lustful thoughts about each other. It just went from nothing to something too quickly without developing any real opportunities for Penny (especially) to see Neil’s point of view.

Plus, the ghost stuff is SLOW that I just can’t continue, and, to be honest, I don’t care about it.

What I do appreciate is the author discussing the racism Indigenous authors face by the publishing world, and the two options they have – either stick to their guns like Penny did, or ‘sell out’ like Neil did so he could get published and build a profile. These are real issues and I liked it was addressed. However, at times Penny’s dialogue just comes off as one big social media rant.

But since I have throw in the towel at 43% I can’t judge if she gets better. So take my comments with a tiny grain of salt. Maybe that alone is a reason for someone to read the full book.

I would be interested to pick up this author’s work in the future though. Maybe another one will resonate more for me. We should support Indigenous authors, including this one. I truly do hope it sells well so she can continue to write. I’m sorry that I’ll need to pass this time around.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you for the arc!

Unfortunately I did not like this.
The premise sounded so good when I read it, but then already the start was such a red flag with our fmc. The dialogue felt very robotic and unnatural and the transitions were questionable. I really couldn’t grasp the lack of critical thinking from our FMC.

A pair of horror authors are bitter enemies since the competition to have the best book in the market. When both end up at a small writers retreat in a haunted castle in Scotland, it seems any ghosts will be the least of their worries. But as it goes with close proximity and shared misery…the two find they’re not so different and start to get closer on a new level…only to find themselves in the middle of an actual horror story full of spirits and secrets.
This had all the makings for a fun spooky romcom but the spice was a bit too much and sudden, the plot didn’t make sense most of the time, and the spooky parts of the book came way too late. Didn’t quite click with me unfortunately.
Thank you to St Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I like books based at a writers retreat, so I was excited to see this enemies to lovers take on it! Unfortunately, I didn’t especially like how this started. The FMC threw a book at the MMC because she was jealous of him? Very strange behavior. Once the book got going, it was a pretty easy read. But Penelope does not get better. And the relationship between the two main characters wasn’t that great.

If I Stopped Haunting You is an interesting mash up of genres... Rom-Horror-Com? It's sort of weird, but somehow it works. I'm a sucker for spooky castles full of hidden passageways and things that go bump in the night, and this book certainly delivered that. It also delivered quite the spice. I'm not so sure I'd have those urges amidst a ghostly encounter, but these characters sure did which made it all the funnier. If you like your horror to be campy and your characters to be, well, hot and bothered, then definitely check this one out.

Enemies to Lovers
Paranormal
LGBTQ+
BIPOC rep

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I flew through this book, the mystery aspect really had me intrigued. It was definitely more horror leaning than I expected, or have read in the past. But if you enjoy horror/romance, this may be great for you!

I really really enjoyed having two indigenous main characters, as they talked about their struggles in publishing, and how they struggle in real life. (personal note: my husband and child can trace back to the Dawes roll, and I’m familiar with that whole process)

There were some minor plot holes I still have questions about, but I did enjoy the romance aspect of this book.

I was lucky enough to get an E ARC of this book from netgalley! It’s a fun story about two authors who hate each other and get stuck together on a writing retreat at a haunted castle. I actually like how aggressive pen is. She feels and shows her emotions well (just keep her away from throwable objects). And Neil is endearing! I ultimately found this a cute story!

The premise of author enemies to lovers sounded so fun but it fell flat for me. I immediately didn't like the FMC and it never got better. I tried, I really did but I had to DNF. I really don't like doing that with arcs but I wasn't enjoying the story.

I had trouble getting into this one. The concept was so enticing, but the execution was right for me. The had trouble getting into the first half. I personally am not a fan of the alternating POVs that has become so popular in recent years in romance novels. The pace just felt so slow I think a lot of that was from having to run through scenarios twice so we could get both perspectives. I think is one would have been better off from one POV instead.

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

wanted to love this, but it just fell flat for me 😭 I found the FMC very annoying and while I liked the MMC., I just wanted more from them! I did enjoy the haunted castle element, but overall, I am just "meh" on this one.

The premise of this was cool but I don’t think I expected it to be so creepy. That’s typically not a genre that I’m drawn to or choose to read, so keep that in mind with my review. I love a good enemies to lovers trope and I felt like this one had a mature evolution into a relationship - forced proximity with a side of terrifying ghosts is a good way to talk about your feelings and examine prejudice ha

The actual ghost storyline wasn’t my fav which also brought down my rating a bit. I wanted more of a reason that Georgina had haunted the castle in such an aggressive way and I felt that reasoning could have been a bit stronger.

Thank you for the opportunity to read!

2 stars.

I did not like "If I Stopped Haunting You" by Colby Wilkens. I tried to get over the fact that Pen, the main female character, starts the book by physically assaulting Neil, the main male character, by throwing a book at him in a public setting (a book panel at a convention). Four months pass, and Pen and Neil find themselves in each other's orbits again when they stay in a haunted castle in Scotland for a writer's retreat. Repeatedly, for the next 300+ pages, Pen attempts to justify her actions by gaslighting Neil. She makes *herself* the victim of the situation and blames everyone else for her issues. This did not sit well with me at all. I love books with complicated female main characters. In fact, I frequently and actively seek them out, but there is a fine line between complicated and straight-up toxic. Pen is just toxic, full stop. *Maybe* she could have been redeemable without the assault (which scarred him, by the way!), but the fact that she does not grow at all during the entire novel leads me to believe that's not the case. She's still the same sanctimonious, self-important, angry person she was in the beginning. By the end of the story, the only difference is that Pen has convinced Neil that he wants to be with the person who assaulted him. Representing what it is like to be BIPOC in the publishing industry is important, admirable, and necessary. Indigenous romance stories are few and far between, which is a disgrace. I also appreciate the bi-representation here. We need more diverse books in the romance genre! This is, by far, the best part of the book. Unfortunately, the rest of it is a mess. The haunting aspects were also not all that spooky. It was just a letdown all around. I usually love enemies-to-lovers and forced proximity stories, but this was not my cup of tea. I do not recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Colby Wilkens, St. Martin's Press, and St. Martin's Griffin for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

I love a spooky book for the fall, and while this read delivered the spooky vibes, it fell short on the romance!

Enemies to lovers snowed in at a haunted house in Scotland? I should have devoured this, but the romance was not giving what needed to be given.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am always looking for works that are laden with native american representation, unfortunately this one fell slightly flat for me. I did not understand the chemistry between the two love interests and I found I enjoyed the ghost mystery aspect of the book much better than the romance that this is marketed out to be. I felt that the banter between friends was very strong but the leap from "enemies to lovers" seemed very abrupt to me. I definitely feel that some of the language used within the novel is a personal interpretation of the present publishing world and the way it weaves into diversity, but it has some damning implications that makes it hard to justify the position when sometimes the work put forward just isn't up to par.

I DNF this book at around 35%. I think the concept had so much potential! Spooky vibes in a Scottish castle with 2 rival authors. However, the two characters being “enemies” resulted in them just being mean to each other while lusting after the other. The writing felt a bit repetitive at times and the characters felt a little flat.

This might be the book for you with the romance, rivalry, potential ghosts and haunting, castle, and more. Sadly, it just wasn’t for me.