I DNF'ed this at around the 25 percent mark, I loved the title and the concept. A romance that's enemies to lovers and a haunted castle? Sign me up.

However, there were issues from the jump of what makes the main characters enemies, Mostly with Penelope. She's insufferable to be in her POV. From the jump, she's victimizing herself. Even worse, she assaults Neil unprovoked in public. And then blames him for the downward trajectory of her career? Yes, there is tension between the two. But it feels like Neil bowing down to Pen as she slowly chips away at his resolve.

Also the switch up from we don't like each other to constantly checking each other out is jarring. You can have tension without them wanting to jump the other's bones all of the sudden.

This just wasn't for me.

This book was not my cup of tea. I was initially intrigued by the romance x horror premise, but unfortunately it just didn't hit the mark for either of those genres for me.

2 stars!

This was unfortunately a little bit of a yikes. The most likeable character was in fact the ghost as I hated both of the main characters. They kept going through an extremely repetitive cycle of hating each other, and then lusting after one another, and I literally started skimming because I was so over it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

"If I Stopped Haunting You" by Colby Wilkens blends a delightful enemies-to-lovers trope with a spooky supernatural twist. Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm, feuding writers with simmering tension, find themselves reluctantly sharing a writers retreat in a haunted Scottish castle. Their animosity is palpable, fueled by past clashes and professional rivalry. However, as paranormal events unfold around them and they're forced to confront their fears together, their mutual disdain begins to transform into something more complex and intriguing. Wilkens skillfully intertwines humor, suspense, and romance, crafting a narrative that keeps readers engaged with both the eerie atmosphere and the sizzling chemistry between Pen and Neil. "If I Stopped Haunting You" promises a thrilling ride through ghostly encounters and unexpected passions, making it a must-read for fans of spirited romance with a chilling edge.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If I Stopped Haunting You, the debut by Colby Wilkins, is not quite what I thought it would be judging by the cute cover which looked like a cozy mystery.

The blurb promised gothic, paranormal horror with elements of romance and humor, but overall the plot seemed to meander all over the place and could have benefited from some heavy editing. It felt like a round robin kind of endeavor where several authors took turns in adding elements that never really came together in a cohesive manner.

Parts of the story were repetitive and while I love a good enemies to romance story, this one seemed to veer from hate directly into instalust then somehow feelings between the two characters.

I enjoyed the discussion on Native representation and BIPOC authors as they’re topics that don’t seem to get enough attention usually, and it was refreshing.

If you want a fast paced entertaining palette cleanser of a book in between heavier reads, this may be a good choice. You just need to suspend your belief and hold onto this weirdly entertaining ride.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. This book is about enemies, who are competitors in their field, who are indigenous, who are also fighting to create better awareness around their culture, who end up at a castle in Scotland, which ends up being haunted and ghosts are trying to communicate with them, whilst the MC’s fall in love….. yea there was a lot going on in this book. I found it hard to keep my attention from wavering while reading this because there was so much happening. My advice to the author would be to simplify the plot in the future.

dnf @ 10%

I really wanted to give this book a try because the premise sounded so interesting, but I absolutely couldn’t do it. I don’t dnf books lightly but this just was not it for me. Pen character is inexcusable and borderline abusive and this just isn’t what I am looking for in a character when reading.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchnage of an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins for the ARC!

I had really high hopes for this book, and it was a fun read, but it fell slightly flat for me.

Native writers Pen and Neil hate each other... for no real reason. There is a lot of talk about jealousy and selling out to the white publishing world which I think is a totally realistic reason to hate a rival author, but the way it was told here just made the characters seem mildly unhinged-- especially Pen. I kept expecting there to be more backstory revealed as to why she hated Neil, but it never came. I liked Neil and I wish his struggles with being forced to "whiten" his book were fleshed out more. All in all, I think the "enemies" aspect of the relationship was kind of disappointing.

Once they got past that, the romance was great. Did I mention all this is happening in a very, very haunted castle in Scotland? The ghost story was fun, if a little simple, and I did love that their fear of the ghosts did not go far enough for them to NOT have sex in like every room in the castle. I appreciate the dedication.

The romance and the plot points about the publishing industry were the highlights of this book while the rest fell a little flat for me. Pen was blacklisted from the publishing industry by Neil, but they end up at a writer's retreat at a haunted castle together. They go from enemies to lovers and stay in the castle alongside ghosts. I did like the concept of the ghosts having backstories that Pen and Neil have to uncover, but the characters overall felt underdeveloped and surface-level. The spice level was high, but the romance happened too quick for a true enemies-to-lovers in my opinion. The discussion on the darker side of the publishing industry gave me Yellowface by R.F Kuang vibes.

I had to stop reading this one. It was incredibly flat. The characters were one dimensional and unlikeable and the story just wasn't interesting at all.

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

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and Colby Wilkens for the arc! It was an uncorrected copy, just to take into consideration with my review—
—-
Penelope Skinner, a blacklisted author, goes on a writing retreat in Scotland with her friend, Laszlo. When she shows up, she finds that her main rival in the writing world, Neil Storm, is ALSO on this writing retreat, along with another author, Daniela. The four of them rented a haunted castle to stay in for their retreat, away from any civilization. Things take an unexpected turn when Pen and Neil realize they’re the only two whom are being haunted by the woman in white. They decide they need to help the ghost and find out how to bring her peace. Along the way, Pen realizes she doesn’t hate Neil as much as she thought she did.
—-
If you’re a fan of the Glimmer Falls series or anything remotely similar to that, you’ll definitely enjoy this book.
At first I was a little skeptical about the book because of some of the reviews on Goodreads, however, I don’t agree with several of them. I thought the plot was fun, the romance was cheesy and I enjoyed reading it.

Now, was I attached to the characters? Not at all, however, I resonated with Pen a lot throughout the book. She feels like she is an outcast in her own family and her own culture, not fitting in with her Native American family. She feels like she has to work twice as hard to get recognition and respect from people. Which is why she has a vendetta against Neil. Neil doesn’t have to fight for his position in his community, because he looks Native American and his bloodline /DNA has been claimed by his community. However, Pen believes Neil uses his platform to promote colonialism and use a lot of Native American stereotypes to stay in favor with the white community, which happens to be a majority of his audience.
Laszlo and Daniela were decent side characters, I don’t have any major feedback about them. I do wish we had a bit more information about Fanny and her family!!
The plot: I felt the romance might’ve been a little rushed, I personally like seeing a little more prolonged enemies stage in an enemies to lovers story. I loveeeeeee that he never hated her, he tried to not like her but he just couldn’t do it.
The spice level, I’d give it a 2.5-3/5 stars. It was okay, I liked Neil’s POV in those scenes because I feel like he’s liked her for longer and waited for this moment more than Pen has.

I’m not a fan of major world building, and sometimes I don’t like having a lot of background information thrown at me. This novel gets straight to the point with the plot which I liked. I wasn’t really looking for plot holes to be honest, but I can’t think of any, off the top of my head. I did like the ending, it reminded me of the original Disney movie the Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy, where the ghost remembers who they were and is reunited with their love.

Bipoc representation, queer representation, spooky romance stuff. We love to see it.

Overall, knowing this was an uncorrected copy of the book, I’m giving it a 3.5, but because Goodreads doesn’t do half stars, I’m rounding up instead of rounding down. I feel like with some editing, the finished product will be about a 4 for a romance novel.

Writing retreat in a haunted castle where two writers who hate each other are forced together by their meddlesome friend.

The premise of this book is cool. It started to feel reminiscent of The Haunting of Hill House book, which was kind of funny since they reference the TV show. There is mystery in the story. But I personally felt it was missing something to hold my interest.

There is dual POV in this book. However, you don’t get the pining and longing that makes me love dual POV. It felt a bit insta-lust and the FMC was pretty unlikeable.

Love the BIPOC representation. It was interesting to see Native writers POV of the publishing world in a book.

I couldn’t get into the story just as I thought. Not disappointed but need more depth, I think. I can't remember when was the last time when I read a book in which the whole plot was 100% equal to what was written in the blurb and nothing more. There was no surprise there, no resolution to any of the plot threads and the whole story was blatantly predictable and painfully dull.

Unfortunately, I had high hopes for this debut but I just wasn’t the right reader for this one. I enjoy paranormal romances and enemies to lovers is my favorite trope, so I thought this would be a home run. However, I found the writing would benefit from additional editing and the plot left something to be desired. Ultimately I just wasn’t the right reader for this book. Hopefully others will enjoy it more!

Thank you to the author and publisher for an advance digital copy of this book and opportunity to review.

This was just not very good. The romance was weird, shallow, and unsexy, and the main character sucks a little (a lot). The horror was cheesy - I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to take it seriously or if it was supposed to be camp? Honestly the only thing that kept me reading was mild curiosity and the mystery ended up being so lackluster and unsurprising. It seemed like the author was trying to do too much and all aspects of the story ended up lacking depth. It was boring but at least it was easy to read.

"If I Stopped Haunting You" by Colby Wilkens was extreme;y a,biotious but fell short. This book blends horror, romance, rivalry and native culture. I also could not stand Penelope - and wanted to save Neil from her.

An absolute delight and stunning debut. Wilkens seamlessly blends romance and horror together giving readers both genuinely steamy and scary moments.

When I read the synopsis of this book, I felt like it had all the components to make me love it, but it didn't quite hit the mark. I love the premise, and I liked one of the side characters (a mutual friend of the FMC and the MMC), but the main characters themselves, and their other friend, were rude and insufferable, and really hard to root for. They bickered over the most ridiculous things, and I couldn't figure out why they ever wanted to hang out with each other. I usually love reading friend to lover romances, but these two didn't give me the feels at all.

All in all, unfortunately, I didn't feel like this book was my cup of tea after all.

2/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Colby Wilkens for the opportunity to read and review If I Stopped Haunting You.

If I Stopped Haunting You was unfortunately not my cup of tea.. It is a debut novel and there is potential there but I can't say this was enjoyable. Pen (the FMC) was absolutely annoying and incredibly childish - truly terrible. The MMC was also not super likeable. I typically LOVE enemies to lovers but these two were not worth the journey. Unfortunately the writing just wasn't strong enough to make up for the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Griffin for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

I feel bad giving a debut three stars, but the FMC in this book was insufferable. The romance was lackluster, and the writing itself was basic and amateurish at best. Will not be picking up another book by this author.