I read this book via NetGalley. The premise of the story was interesting. It is a nice mixture of romance, mystery, and thriller. Neil and Penelope are relatable and I enjoyed watching them come to terms with their writing blocks and their growing interest in each other. Daniella and Lazlo were interesting characters in their own way. I loved the haunted castle portion of the story. I would recommend this book.

📣 an enemies to lovers featuring horror writers who face their worst nightmares at a Scottish castle

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

Is it spooky season yet? No? Okay well this book about horrible ghosts was still fun to read in beautiful, blue & green, birds-singing April.

In If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens, horror writers Pen & Neil have a pretty volatile past behind them. At a panel they were speaking on featuring Native American writers, Pen got so upset that she launched a book at Neil’s head. She’s basically exiled herself ever since.

Now, they’ve been Parent Trapped by their mutual friend to both be at a writer’s retreat he’s set up at a Scottish castle. Adding to the current tension between Pen and Neil—their past, their views on being Native & writing books featuring Native characters in a publishing world predominantly run by white people, etc—is the actual haunting going on at this castle (not the Casper friendly ghost kind).

Things that won me over in this romance are their genuine convos & how Pen comes to epiphanies about Neil & has to reconceptualize the assumptions she made about his writing decisions. Prickly Pen emerges as a real hero by the book’s end, & honestly, Neil does too.

What didn’t work for me as much is the book-throwing incident (violence like that just bothers me when it’s between leads), & as a result, I started the book with a bit of a sour feeling.

But if you’re looking for romance meets scares meets pointed convos about Native American writers encountering reductive, stifling, & harmful white expectations for their Native characters & more, check this one out.

4 ⭐️, out 10/15.

Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.

[ID: Jess is wearing a purple & white striped dress with green & blue flowers on it & an aqua cardigan & holds the ebook in a yard.]

1 🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑

DNFing at 30%

Admittedly I’ve had this ARC for a bit and forgot what the synopsis was by the time I started it. The title is a little misleading (partly my fault for forgetting (I was expecting a paranormal romcom with a ghost)) The female MC is INCREDIBLY unlikeable and borderline abusive which is NOT what I look for in a romance. The writing style wasn’t a hit with me, and I’m just overall disappointed.

Penelope and Neil. Indigenous writers. Enemies. Spending time in a haunted castle. Could it get any better? It can!! Two people who through a series of mishaps are set to be rivals. Mostly Penelope has been pushing this. Neil would like to get along. They are set up to do a writing seminar in a haunted castle. Ghosts figure heavily in this story. Creepy ghosts? Yes, but I liked them. Sometimes the living can learn from the dead. Sometimes the living can help the dead. I really enjoyed this,
If you want to be scared, but not a lot, this is a great book. Oh and if someone keeps giving you s journal to read...read it!!
Thank you, Colby Will end for a good story and NetGalley for the opportunity to read it.

Unfortunately didn't vibe with this one. I find that when I go into romance like this within the first 50 pages I’m either completely invested in the love story or I'm a cynic analyzing every move & word the characters make. It might have to do with the author's writing, it something doesn't make sense or I spot a little plot hole or just actions from the character that cause me not to like them. Maybe it's the books, maybe it my mood, research is inconclusive... Hate to say with this one I did not like Pen at all. I thought the beginning had promise but the more in depth her 'reason' for hating Neil got the less sense it made to me. It felt like her reasons we only got the surface level of & no real examples and I couldn't connect or sympathize with it. I love a good enemies to lovers but again it felt built on nothing. I did start to like the book about 170 pages in when we were finally in a haunted castle, although a bit of a cliché I loved the setting so much. The concept of a paranormal contemporary romance like this is what initially drew me to the book. The spooky element really stuck with me and I did really enjoy those parts. I felt like the ending was very anticlimactic. I was so confused with the random prank at the end & the ghost sex was more odd than it was funny. As another reviewer wrote 'the rules of the world were very unclear', the characters were flat, and overall wasn't a fan of this read.

I have been provided with a review copy of this title from NetGalley for an impartial review. This book was just so easy to get lost in. I completely got lost in the story and I just loved getting to see these new characters come together. I just absolutely love this story and I just didn’t want to put it down. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

I got this book for a review from NetGalley.

I wanted to love this book but honestly it was just hard to get into and wasn’t exactly what I expected. The opening was a little wild with Pen assaulting Neil in the beginning and then I felt like throughout the book she was just a big jerk. This is supposed to be enemies to lovers but I feel like it happened too quickly? Should have been more of a slow burn in my opinion. The amount of lust in the book was alright but it happened at such odd times. I did end up DNFing the book, Was not for me.

Haunted house + enemies to lovers = perfection! Indigenous authors Neil and Penelope have a bit of a history... that includes Pen throwing a book at Neil during a book panel! Months later, they are both struggling to put words on the page, so they go to Scotland for a writer's retreat. Little did they know that they woul dbe together - and in a haunted house!

The story definitely has its scary moments, but I love what we find out about the ghosts' stories! Super sexy... the banter between Pen and Neil is so fun, and the spice is really hot.

Very entertaining, I loved this!

This was one of my anticipated reads because of the amazing cartoon cover and plot but alas, I have been let down once again. Though the story promised a woeful tale of horror mixed with romance, it astounds me to realise that it succeeded with absolutely nothing.

I think we as a community need to either a) ban the phrase "enemies to lovers" because obviously it doesn't mean the same as it once did or b) ban the phrase "enemies to lovers". Seriously at this point, my relationship with this trope is "lovers to enemies" right now and no no, there will be no development arc here. I stand firmly with the fact that this trope needs to be eradicated immediately.

Because really...where was the enemies to lovers? We need to stop over relying on this stupid phrase to market books because whatever that was happening in this book, that was NOT enemies to lovers. In fact, there was nothing at all!

The plot? The horror? Yeah the only horror that existed was me feeling horrified was me realising that this book was not it for me

This one was a bit difficult to get through. Some of the issues I had with this book were purely my own. Turns out I am not a fan of scary ghost stories! This book had a bunch of scary ghost scenes that solidified my stance on romance and haunted stories shouldn't mix. I am sure many of you just love that, but Dead Romantics is how I prefer my romance ghosts.

Quick summary:
Pen and Neil are Native writers and fierce rivals. After a particularly catastrophic 'incident' they both have writer's block. Fast forward a few months and they are both stuck in a haunted castle for a writers retreat and low and behold the ghosts have zeroed in on spooking them. They bond over the nightmare.

Review:
If I were to table the fact that I apparently am not a 'haunted ghost romance" girl, I had other issues with the book. The writing, to me, was lacking. Pen was just not a character I was routing for and honestly thought Neil deserved better. As a white looking Latina immigrant, I understand the frustration of having to defend your ethnicity and prove you are enough. I understood where her actions in the beginning came from, however, her actions afterwards were just immature to me. I would have loved a deeper connection/depiction of both characters being Natives. I understand the author is Native, so I thought it was a missed opportunity not to have a stronger Native story. Being Native is an identity that both characters feel strongly about, but in actuality that storyline was superficial at best.

Thank you #NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review..

I was really let down with this book. I had high expectations of this book. It was nowhere near the expectations.
First of all the title was deceiving. Maybe it’s just me.
Secondly the story of the ghost just…..fell flat. Nothing really mysterious and haunting .
Main character…Penelope……there was no absolutely no redeeming qualities about her. She ‘s selfish and only think about her.
I would’ve DNF this book but I was more interested in the ghost story which didn’t really start until halfway through the book. It was irritating. There were more questions than answers.

Basically, the book needs to be redone. One star..

I received this copy of eARC from St. Martin Press and all of my opinions are of my own.

This book was not for me. I wasn’t a fan of the writing style, but I am positive there will be people who love this book! I don’t believe in rating down a book just because it wasn’t my style as I know others will love it.

This book is not so high on the spooky scale. I find the characters do some guessing when it comes to their investigative work, that I find a bit questionable. The ending of the ghost story is not as satisfying as I would like for it to have been. I feel the ghosts didn’t really have a true reason for haunting the castle the way that they did. The romantic aspect is a slow burn, and the smut is generous in this book. If this what you are looking for with a ghost twist, this is your book. Overall I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed this! I like the spooky atmosphere more than the actual ghost story but the ghost story was still enjoyable. Pacing could’ve been better. There were parts where the story would drag. 3 stars!

I didn't actually know what I was getting into when I requested this - I think I expected comedic horror w a romance twist? This felt like two stories laid on top of each other: enemies to lovers romance AND a freaky weird ghost story. I started to get stressed out with the last 50 pages, and I'm not sure it *quite delivered but also it didn't all end up being a mushroom trip or anything. I really enjoyed it. It was... Different.

This is a perfectly serviceable romance with some light (think Scooby Doo level light) horror elements. I thought the premise of two rival authors getting stuck doing Ghost Adventures-level schtick was a fun idea but I quickly got frustrated by the insta-lust. We can't call it insta-love because these two just want to bone REAL bad. Overall, a perfectly fine book just not my favorite in execution.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley.

This wasn't for me. I only made it to 17%. I found Penelope obnoxious and rude, and I didn't find myself engaged or rooting for her. I feel like this will be a 3-4 stars for the target audience. The writing itself is well-done.

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

DNF @ 37%

The premise of this book had so much potential. Enemies-to-lovers romance that takes place in a Scottish castle? That’s haunted? And two characters that are struggling with writers’ block? Sign me up.

But this book failed to deliver, mainly because of the narrator, Pen, who’s just plain mean to Neil with very little reason as to why. I get that his book outsold hers by a landslide which sucks, yes, but that’s also the publishing industry for you. It definitely didn’t warrant a book being thrown at his head. And then when they’re thrown together at the writers’ retreat, that “hatred” of course immediately turns into sexual attraction/lust, and I just couldn’t buy into it.

A disappointment because I was actually excited for this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I genuinely liked the premise of this book-I mean who doesn’t love a good spooky romance between two writers- and this was a very cute enemies to lovers read!

Pen and Neil’s energy and air for figuring out a mystery kept the story going for me and I’m excited to see what’s next with If I Dig You!!

Did not finish. The characters did not seem to have any compatibility and the whole thing felt forced