This book is everything I could've asked for! I enjoyed the romance and paranormal/thriller combo so much! The banter between Pen and Neil is top tier. I can't wait to read more and suggest this book to others!

I would give this book 3.5 stars because the start to 2/3 of the book is worth a 3 star rating while the remainder of the book really saves it.

At first, I really wanted to like it, but it felt like it was lacking a good hook to keep me focus so I had to set daily reading goals to make sure I finished it.

While it has some spice, which was very well described and felt, the horror and spooky aspect fell short, especially with the title of the book. It was a bit misleading.

The relationship between Pen and Neil felt a bit rushed and lacking, which effected the book, IMO.

I would recommended it but I would also give the warning that it might be a hit or miss.

A big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

The animosity between Neil and Pen was so convincing that when their relationship began to evolve into love, it was difficult to adjust my perception. I loved the enemies-to-lovers trope, the ghosts, and the Scottish castle setting. Overall, I enjoyed the storyline, but found Pen a bit over the top and the love story hard to believe.

Thank you to NetGalley, Colby Wilkens and the St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well-written book featuring Native American characters, which I feel like I haven’t seen a lot & enjoyed. Literary enemies to lovers is a well-liked trope. My main quibble is that the storyline behind the ghost felt a bit underwhelming.

Although it may not sound like it, this is actually a compliment. For me, the hatred between Neil Storm and Pen Skinner was so believable that it was difficult for me to buy into a romance between the two of them. There were some downright childish arguments between them. The instant shift to sexual tension was definitely perplexing for me. But perhaps being locked in a haunted Scottish castle does it for some people…The paranormal aspect is a bit of a slow burn, but it does pull you in and make you very curious how it all plays out. As an avid mystery reader, that is what kept me flipping pages.

Yay for my first NetGalley read!! It’s so cool to read a book before its publication. Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher ♥️

Ok, so this was slightly cute but mostly confusing. I am actually obsessed with the premise and the fact that we started off strong with Pen chucking a book at Storm. Here’s my thing.. yes! I get the concept of her frustration with Storm, but we get such a vague explanation as to how he whitewashed his works. WHAT on Earth constituted that extremely serious assault? It was hard to follow this plot point because I want to know more specifics about what he wrote and why it made Pen so enraged. It was hard to truly tap into Pen’s anger and feel where she’s coming from because her description was so vague and regurgitated almost verbatim several times in the novel.
Also…why does Pen chalk all of her behavior up to jealousy later in the book when she’s also adamant about her original reasons for being angry? I’d love to see this more deeply explored because like I said, it’s a cool and unique plot point that’s very relevant but it falls flat and doesn’t lead us to meaningful conclusions.

The castle writer’s retreat was, again, a pretty cool premise. Like Laszlo is equal parts menace and genius. I like him and Daniela in theory, but their presence felt awkward and limited. Neither of them actually had personalities, sporadic descriptions are all we really got. There were inklings that they had a romantic connection, but that fell flat. And how did neither of them see ghosts ?

The ghost story was extremely confusing to me and didn’t thrill me at all because I was too busy getting the facts straight. Georgina and Archie seemed like they had unfinished business but it was unclear what it was. Yes, they had a sad ending, but the book made it seem like she died before he came back from the war or right when he got back but they actually were together 3 more years until she died? And why was she storming around the castle out for blood trying to find Archie when Archie was also a ghost in the castle? This could benefit from being a “kill your darlings” situation where Georgina dies sooner so she actually has unfinished business and is out for revenge because of how everything unfolded. It doesn’t make sense that she periodically turns into an evil, murderous creature who has black liquid coming out of her pores and at the end she’s like: “lol all better thx for reading my diaries <3” and is a lovestruck little 21 year old ghost.

Storm & Pen’s connection is physical at best. To be frank, Pen doesn’t really deserve a second chance, what she did still has no concrete reasoning behind it and her “apologies” were all over the place. She claimed to care so much about Indigenous communities but it sadly seemed disingenuous because she didn’t give much reasoning, she seemed more jealous than anything. Storm was a decently written character (a lot of details about him were glossed over or left out completely) and of course I’m in love with him because I’m deranged and i have a thing for fictional men, especially fictional male writers. Ultimately, I’m glad Storm realized he needs to be true to himself by the end of the book. But Pen was a mess and not in like “she’s supposed to be a mess” type way. I usually support women’s rights and wrongs but YIKES.

And what was with the prank at the end? It was a weird thing for 30 year olds to pull and it confused me as a reader. Laszlo & Daniela didn’t deserve that! It was Pen & Storm’s choice not to warn them about the ghosts!!!

Overall, I hate being critical of books. Writing is terrifying and vulnerable, I know firsthand. But this story had so much potential! Like so much!! The premise/plot is pure gold in my opinion, but I don’t think the story was executed in a way that would elicit that response from readers.
With revision, this story could be a bestseller. 2/5 ⭐️s.

DNF

I wanted to love this book. I thought the cover was super cute, and the story seemed like a cute goth/Mary Shelly esque enemies to lovers story. Unfortunately, the characters and writing just fell flat for me. I enjoyed the male MC, but the girl seemed insuferable. I'm hoping to come back to it one day, but for now, this is a DNF.

(Love the cover though)

If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens is a romance story with a spooky twist. It's about two feuding horror authors who end up together at a writers retreat at a haunted castle in Scotland. Pen and Neil are both in writing slumps after a very public incident between the two of them and at the same retreat they end up not being able to avoid each other as they had been doing for the past half a year. They quickly find themselves stuck in what feels like a real-life ghost story as they experience strange activity at the castle while trying to get back into writing and be near each other without feuding.

I love reading books about books/authors/bookshops and so when I saw this I was immediately interested. Overall this was a fun read. It's an enemies-to-lovers romance with a paranormal haunted castle plot line. It gets pretty spicy and also pretty spooky (at one point I had to stop reading because it was late at night and I was getting the heebie jeebies!). Fans of horror and romance will likely enjoy this book. I recommend reading during spooky season!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for granting me an ARC of the eBook. If I Stopped Haunting You is expected to be published on October 15, 2024.

Penelope and Neil are two writers. Penelope very publicly insulted Neil’s books was effectively “canceled.” Suffering from writers block, she is convinced to go to a writers retreat, which ends up being in a haunted castle. Neil also shows up and the two are stuck in this castle together.

I thought the premise sounded pretty solid and was excited to give this paranormal romance a try! But it fell flat for me. The plot did not keep me engaged. The ghost’s storyline was just okay. I think this would be a fun read if you were specifically looking for a Halloween-vibe book!

Check it out if you like
✨ paranormal romance
✨ Native American MCs
✨ enemies to lovers
✨ forced proximity

Pub date is 10/15/24!

Let me begin by saying that it is extremely rare for me to not finish a book--I'll at least skim to the end to find out what happened because it eats away at me if I don't. This one, however, now becomes one of only two books ever that I remember just giving up on. I loved the blurb and was looking forward to reading the book, but it didn't take long for me to realize that this one would be a struggle for me. I found the writing style to be chaotic; there is too much going on, it's repetitive, and it's difficult to follow in places. And the characters: blech. I couldn't root for them because I felt no connection and quite frankly, just didn't like them. A more apt title for how I feel about this book: If I Stopped Reading You (I Wouldn't Regret It).

I don't believe my review would benefit the author at this time as I am not in a place to review it.

3.75 Stars
I would love to talk about this book as I don’t see many romance books by Indigenous authors. Die to the current SMP boycott I’m going to withhold my entire review for now. I will say that I’m very excited to see what this author does next!

I don’t usually reach for a spooky vibes story but let me tell you this enemies-to-lovers trope had me breezing through the pages! The story is fast-paced, and the FMC Pen is relatable (it’s giving act now think later, but low key too harsh).

The writing could have been tighter at times, there was a lot going on at times, and there was some repetition at times. Overall, I would recommend as a spooky steamy cozy fall read!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! Hope my honest review helps some :)

There are so many things to love about his book but it just didn't land for me.

Attributes I loved:
1) Enemies to lovers - never misses
2) Scotland - so magical, my favourite country in the world (internally screams just thinking about it)
3) Spooky vibes - perfect for those fall, chilling reads

I think where this book got me, and this is not due to the quality of the book or writing in any way (I thought the writing and layout of the plot was really well done), is that it is about writers writing books. I know that sounds super strange but I have just found after reading a few books with similar traits that reading about MC's who are authors, writers, bookstore owners or anything like that just don't grab my attention like they used to (I know it weird).

So I don't blame any of my dislike of the book to the quality of the work or the author themself - its definetly a me problem. I actually think this book was really good overall and even though it wasnt for me, its going to be one of the biggest releases of this fall. It is the perfect spooky vibes and Scotland is the perfect setting with all of its haunting lore and paranormal tales.

I loved the Scottish castle setting of this story and really got swept away by the atmosphere. However, I found the enemies to lovers timeline too fast to be believable, and I wanted a lot more from the ghost/spooky elements. Overall the story was enjoyable, but fell a bit flat at a few points.

A retreat for authors suffering from writer’s block is hosted at a Scottish castle with paranormal activity. Rival authors Penelope and Neil find themselves trapped together at this retreat, and their enemies to lovers relationship and hilarious banter were such a pleasure to read. This book had me hooked from the start, and I couldn’t put it down! Highly recommend this book for your next paranormal romance.

I really really wanted to love this book.
The synopsis is everything I love in books, and the tropes are 10/10

I just felt like there was a lot going on. And I didn't really enjoy the way the fmc treated the mmc. I think there is a fine line between love and hate, and this relationship ended on the hate side...in my head

Holly's family farm is struggling financially, and she is the only one who can fix it, in her mind. She is willing to do nearly anything to help keep her farm running, except allow Conor Grimm and his film crew to investigate a ghost in her fields, which she does not believe is there. But she does know if she allows Conor to investigate the farm he will find out the truth that she is hiding.

Rival authors, Penelope and Neil, find themselves at the same writing retreat in Scotland not long after a disastrous panel showcasing both of their work. Will they be able to overcome their differences in order to address the real problem: how to get out of their writing slumps? Maybe the haunted retreat will get the creative juices flowing…

The real question is how am I supposed to root for Penelope after the absolute shit show of a panel? She is the most self-centered and immature FMC I’ve read in a while. She belittles and attacks Neil in a public setting and then blames him for the consequences of her own actions. She has a victim complex for the entire novel as if we weren’t there for prologue. Babe, you did this to yourself.

This novel was marketed as an enemies-to-lovers, and maybe it is? They’re definitely enemies, but Neil’s mistake was writing a book Penelope didn’t like. Penelope’s mistake was assault. Even though she doesn’t regret her actions, Neil forgives her and they fall in love (lust?) faster than you can snap your fingers. Their chemistry was lackluster, they had the same conversations over and over, and all of their flirting felt forced.

That was not a writing retreat. That was a glorified parent trap situation. The transition from colleges to rivals to enemies to lovers didn’t feel organic, and the side characters were barely present. I get it, three side characters, but the book only has five people trapped in a castle (not including ghosts). There should’ve been more friend interactions, and the novel probably could’ve gotten away with it if the MCs were tolerable.

The haunted castle was not scary, and I know this wasn’t a horror novel, but I think I’ve seen Scooby Doo episodes that were scarier than this. It was great in theory and lacked in execution.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read and review this ARC.

3/5 Stars!
Good stuff overall. Lots of repetition in spots.
I was looking for something a little different to read and this one landed for perusal. I really like the concept of a bit of romance and some ghost story vibes. The opening scene is quite memorable between the two leading characters. But what I found interesting as the story continued to develop is that the female lead character was really kind of a jerk and I did not connect with her as much as I wanted to. The way she handled things was immature and the lack of communication between her and Neil made me like her less and less. And they fell in love kind of out of nowhere? I thought that was really weird.

Overall, I did like the story as it is entertaining and different. With some tweaks, I think this could’ve been a 4-5 star read. Maybe the other two supporting characters could have more valuable input into the story. They really did not impact the book other than some comic relief. Not memorable characters.

If I Stopped Haunting You reminded me of a cozy mystery with hauntings and sexy times. There are plenty of entertaining parts for a well-rounded good story.