This book was SO cute! Firstly, I loved the Native American representation, and I was excited to see representation of my dad's tribe (Choctaw) which you never hear about. This story was a classic rivals to lovers with a paranormal mystery at the center. Easy to get into and addictive, this book had it all. The spice was spicy, the mystery was mysterious, and while this book was definitely a romance, there were prominent horror elements throughout. Colby Wilkens has been added to my auto-read list! I just wish the ending had been a bit stronger and that the character of Daniela was less...annoying to put it politely.

Feedback for the publisher- I caught a few errors, it needs another run by an editor.

I love a good rivals to lovers book and this one was well done. I enjoyed them both being authors and the huge conflict between them being about being true to their identity through their work rather than being a sell out to sell their books. The talks about what not feeling enough (in this case as an indigenous person) also hits deep. And wrapping it all up with a haunted house and some paranormal things really was a great start to the spooky season

IF I STOPPED HAUNTING YOU by Colby Wilkens was slightly creepier than the cover led me to believe.

To use spooky szn movies as a yardstick, I was expecting something between Halloweentown and Hocus Pocus and it was more Beetlejuice or What Lies Beneath. It's not a full on horror book, but it certainly creeper me out at times.

But it's also a romance! I know I would not be able to get it on immediately after encountering [redacted horrors] but life is a rich tapestry! Maybe mortal peril makes you feel alive! Emotions are running high, sometimes your feelings change just that quickly!

It's a fun, compelling mystery, perfect to get in the mood for Halloween!

Unfortunately this book fell flat for me.

I was never particularly invested in either the romance or the ghosts. The rivalry/enemies aspect really made me believe they disliked each other, but the jump into being in love was a little unbelievable for me.

I didn’t dislike the premise or writing style, just felt everything was a little underwhelming. I will likely give the other another chance as the next book looks good!

I didn't love this but I didn't dislike it. I wanted to finish it but didn't feel fully invested in the turn out. It seemed like the author wanted a reason for the characters to have conflict but it ended up making the FMC really unlikable for the sake of making the MMC the unsung/misunderstood hero. I did like the rom-com-in a horror setting idea, though. That was pretty original. I also liked that the author focused her characters on indigenous people.

Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm are both Native American authors who run in the same circle. After an author panel goes sideways, Penelope retreats from public life. When her friend invites her on writers retreat in a supposedly haunted Scottish castle, she hopes not to see him. Of course, he shows up and now she has to confront the past and her messy feelings for Neil.

I found it difficult to get into this book. The writing was mostly fine, and the premise and setting were promising, but this just didn't work for me. I found the main characters and side characters unlikeable or boring. Penelope was especially frustrating, and she literally assaulted Neil in the first chapter. I couldn't really move past that. She kept blaming Neil for everything going wrong, when she should have been blaming herself.

I wasn't sold on the romance, either. There just wasn't a real spark between Neil and Penelope. The ghost storyline wasn't very interesting. I'm sorry to say this book was just not that good.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for this eARC.

Unfortunately. the two main characters were so unlikeable, it was hard to slog through this book. I thought the paranormal aspect would save the story, and it almost did. However, the book was so disjointed with several plots, I was almost rooting for the enemies to not become lovers.

Scotland is on my bucket list of places to visit, so I absolutely love stories with the highlands or castles as the backdrop. I was lured to this book because of the ghost story and the castle in Scotland backdrop, but then I fell like I fell into a vicious spat between two struggling writers who happen to be of Native American heritage. Not sure if that was a key to the plot line, but if it was, it fell really flat. Both main characters act horribly toward each other, it was really a stretch to think they would even come to like each other.

Alas, this was not the fun and spooky read I was looking for.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

If I’m being honest, I considered DNFing this book. I’m glad I didn’t.

I ended up enjoying it more than I initially expected to. I will say that I found it hard to engage in the first section of the story and it didn’t begin to click for me until everyone arrived at the castle.

I understand background information and context are important, but I’m not sure how much of that first section actually contributed to the rest of the story. I also found Penelope to be incredibly frustrating early on.

Does she have reasons to be upset by the status quo? Yes. Does she handle things appropriately? No. She does self searching throughout the story and is able to acknowledge the actual roots of her anger. But generally I think her early actions towards Neil were excessive and misplaced, and that their story could have progressed without her blazing anger focused on him without examining why until much later.

But I did like how everything wrapped up. I don’t think it will be a satisfying story to a horror reader, and the supernatural elements are never really explained, but I see the whole situation as facilitating and supporting the romance. Both Neil and Penelope did some learning and both come out of the story better than they went in, and despite some flaws and not being a traditional entry for the genre, I think it still works and is worth it for the right reader.

Enemies to lovers romance with a spooky twist. Nice fall read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced digital copy.

This is one of my first paranormal romance books and it was a fun fast paced story. I loved the authors writing and all the banter

I feel like this was a little all over the place. The ghost with the romance felt chaotic. I like the idea behind it, but there were parts that seemed stilted. It felt like it was too fast paced and neither the ghost story or the romance was fully fleshed out. I sometimes caught myself going wait did I miss a step?
Then it felt like the fact the characters were indigenous was really emphasized. And I get that is an unappreciated writer population. But instead of focusing on Native characteristics or cultural references to remind the reader of the indigenous characters, it was just stated repeatedly. I think the idea was good, it just could have been finessed some on the delivery, for me at least.
The characters themselves were ok, none of them were particularly likable. Probably the mist likable to me was Neil and it was still only lukewarm.
So why did I give the 3 stars? The setting was amazing, and there were parts that were beautiful written. I also thought a lot about the mystery when not reading. I was a little disappointed in the ending mystery wise, but it fit the romance genre ending sooo…I think that if this had been one or the other (preferably ghost story) I would have liked it better. I wanted the blended genres to work for me, but it was only so so.

*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and LIbro FM for providing the ALC of this book as well.

It's October so it's now officially spooky season. If you're looking for a book that is both sexy and spooky, I highly recommend this book. This book has a little bit of everything. Romance, mystery, horror, and even a little bit of sci fi! Colby Wilkens is a genius writer and I can't believe that this is her first novel. If I didn't know this fact, I would've assumed she had been writing books for years!

I was also able to listen to the audiobook thanks to Libro FM and NetGalley, and I loved how Kyla Garcia and Curtis Michael Holland brought Neil and Penelope (Pen) to life. They were the perfect duo to narrate the audiobook!

I highly recommend this spooky and sexy novel this Fall!


Many thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

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Dnf @ 13%

I really, really don’t want to be mean in my review, because I want to support authors and I had such high hopes for this book, and I absolutely HATE DNFing ARCs that publishers and authors so kindly let me read. However, I feel it’s my duty to be honest in my reviews and say exactly why I won’t be finishing this book.

I will say, I love the idea behind this book, the plot, the message so far about indigenous representation in books, and the book’s representation itself. However that’s where my likings end.

First off, the writing style does not click with me. We spend sooooo little time in every scene and every emotion. The characters flip from one emotion to the next in a heartbeat. One second they’re crying, the next they’re making a sarcastic quip with no indication of tears anymore. One second they’re screaming at each other, the next second he’s reaching out to her to comfort her. It got annoying. Also, so much has happened in the first 13%, while also having NOTHING happen, if that makes sense. This is because the author spends so little time in one scene. Spread out the story, prolong the internal monologue explaining feelings.

Also, the FMC is UNBEARABLE! She’s very immature— the first scene literally has her throwing a book at the MMC because of a disagreement. She’s a child. (Also having her feet not touch the floor while sitting in a car was very cringy and very “she’s so tiny and not like other girls” which I hated, it’s like you’re infantilizing her). I understand it was a heated fight, but I’ve been in heated fights and never thrown a book at anyone— the FMC is just simply immature, and not just for this reason, there are other examples I won’t get into. I’m sure she gets redeemed in the end, but I’m not going to read to find out.

I had high hopes for this book, but ultimately I’m not clicking with it and I don’t want to hate-read it. It’s not for me, but it may be for you, and you may have a different perspective on it that I didn’t see, so pick it up if the synopsis intrigues you!

Again I’m so sorry to the publisher and author for DNFing an ARC, I just can’t finish it. Thank you for the opportunity!

If I Stopped Haunting You is a spooky romance that takes place at a haunted castle in Scotland. Our characters in this enemies-to-lovers, Penelope and Neil, find themselves on this writing retreat with mutual friends. They are both struggling with writer's block, and they had an altercation in the opening chapter that has contributed to this.

Overall, I would not call this horror, but it did have spooky aspects. How the main characters reacted to the hauntings negatively impacted the scare factor for me. The characters also react in ways that contradict what we've learned about them, and Penelope's added back and forth was frustrating and unnecessary. The haunting itself was an interesting tale that I would have liked to have seen more of in the middle of the book.

If I Stopped Haunting You is a spooky, easy to read romance. 2.5 stars, rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you @netgalley and @dreamscape_media for the ALC & ARC! This book is out 10/18!

𝑩𝑶𝑶𝑲 𝑰𝑵 𝑬𝑴𝑶𝑱𝑰𝑺:
👻📖✍️🏰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🤬👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻🌶️

👍🏻𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬𝑫 / 💗𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑫: 💗

𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫 𝑰𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬:
♡ haunted castles
♡ rivals (almost enemies) to lovers
♡ open door spice
♡ funny banter

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺:
I really liked this one! The audio was really good and the storyline was even better.

The paranormal aspect was honestly kind of creepy!! I was scared for our MCs and kept wondering what was going to happen 😱

The tension and banter between Penelope and Neil was intense (and hilarious). While I could see where Penelope was coming from with hating Neil, I was actually on his side. I was proud of his character development and sticking up for what he thought was right by the end. We also see Penelope come to realize her anger is misplaced and finally beat that writer’s block!!

Overall, such a good story 😌

I’m sorry I really didn’t like this one :( the main characters are unlikable and kind of toxic. It’s really repetitive and hard to read. I wanted to like it because it’s such a fun premise but the execution fell flat

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and St. Martin's Griffith for this advanced copy. You can pick up If I Stopped Haunting You on October 15, 2024.

I got about 10% into this book and had to stop reading. While I love the premise of two rival authors forced into a retreat together at a haunted Scottish castle, I felt viscerally uncomfortable by the character interactions and actively wanted to put down the book at times. I'm no stranger to conflict in books, but the relationship between Pen and Neil just felt vicious and almost irredeemable. I could not imagine this turning into a romance, and while I love the Native and queer representation, I fear I would be too frustrated with the characters to enjoy the rest of the story.

Definitely a fun time. The setting did it for me. The setting had a spooky and vibe. It’s perfect for the season. The dialogue was hilarious and sometimes spicy. I enjoy how diverse the story is especially in this sub genre of romcom spooky books!

This was a fun romp. I loved the spicy main characters and their Indigenous representation. The dialogue was cute and the romance was sweet. While it wasn’t very scary, I loved the setting of the haunted house and the pacing of the romance. Will definitely check out the author’s next book!

If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens is what I think you'd get if you mixed Scooby Doo with The Haunted Mansion but made everyone queer, sexy, Native (except for the token white boy) authors on a writing retreat in a Scottish castle. This spooky rom-com was a fun read and I enjoyed the ghosts and their mystery. Penelope and Neil had a chaotic dynamic and they were an explosive couple when the Lovers part of Enemies to Lovers began. I enjoyed this debut novel by Colby Wilkens and I'm excited to see what she has in store for her next book, If I Dig You.