Thank you NetGalley for giving me an early digital copy of this book for review.
I really wanted to like this: Indigenous authors who write horror and a real haunted house in Scotland. However, I was disturbed at how outwardly hostile the heroine, Pen, was toward the hero, Neil. I can't believe he just so easily forgave her for clocking him in the head, in public, which actually left a scar. There's lawsuit written all over that! Also: both friends who attended the "retreat" with them were petty and silly, and really served almost no purpose in the story. As for the haunting, there was nothing truly scary, just your standard star-crossed lovers who want to be reunited in the afterlife.

I really enjoyed the concept, but struggled a bit with the pacing of the overall book. I felt a bit disconnected from the characters and didn’t find them particularly likeable or like I knew them well enough to like them. The ghost parts were less interesting than the romance (in this case), so they really slowed down the book when they came up, and I felt like there was already enough going on that it wasn’t completely necessary.

4 stars!

Two rival authors are forced to go on a writers retreat in a haunted castle to beat their writer's block. What could go wrong?

First of all, all the praise for diverse characters and shedding light on Native American struggles in society and the publishing industry. I loved Neil and Pen. The banter and tension were everything! Combined with the forced proximity of this castle retreat, it didn't take long for them to forget about their feud and realize their mutual attraction. My favorite part was just how bad Neil had it for Pen all these years, and how much he supported her and her writing.

Overall this was a great debut novel! Plot development could definitely use some work, and there was a bit of repitition (esecially in teh first 30% or so), but overall I found it hilarious and cute! This was definitely not horror, if though it was able as such. It's a rom com with some comical paranormal bits.

This was pretty good! It felt like Neil and Penelope kept having the same argument sin the beginning, but I think the author adapted well later one, and with some final edits, this will be great! Overall, I really enjoyed this.

Okay, when I saw this synopsis, I immediately wanted to read it. I was really hoping for some 'my roommate is a vampire' vibes, or even 'do your worst'. But this was not it.

A romance set in a Gothic, haunted castle in Scotland? What could be better!? The book follows two competing authors who find themselves snowed-in alongside a pair of restless spirits during a writing retreat.

I found that the obvious rivalry between the two characters was forced and thrown in our face so hard at the beginning I couldn't help but feel like, okay, okay, I get it. Enemies who will become lovers. I felt absolutely nothing for them, together or apart. The romance scenes were incredibly cringy, and even the language used made me wince. The story was also very SLOW.

The supernatural element to the story was fun but it was overshadowed by the worst MC and FMC I have ever read. I really think this could have been something much more, but there was just too much going on. The characters were also too forced and felt like the author was trying to fit them into a standard box, while struggling to make it different.

I DNFd this book as it put me in a slump. Please note I did not post this review anywhere else as it is not a positive one

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my opinion.

This book is different than any other romance I have read. It follows a group of writers that are going on a retreat for inspiration. It almost felt like a Scooby Doo plot. It was an enemies to lovers romance. They really made a quick turnaround. Parts of the book were funny. There was some spice. It was hard to follow in spots.

This was beyond good. Great if I must say. I can’t wait to rave about this to everyone. If you are looking for a good book, pick this up.

Let me be up front and honest with you here: I hate horror. In fact, I actively avoid anything in the scary genre. Did I actually read, “If I Stopped Haunt You”? Yes, yes I did. Well, there were a few moments that I glossed over the words (something akin to me closing my eyes during the scary part of a movie) describing a few of the scarier scences but it still counts as reading the book. Did I enjoy the plot of the story enough to make up for the horror? Mostly (you guys, I really hate horror)! Colby Wilkens does a fantastic job of weaving romance, suspense and horror so that no part of her novel feels lacking in any of those things. The romance didn’t detract from the horror and suspense and vice versa. So here I am, telling you that I, a horror hating, romance fanatic, enjoyed the mix of both! I know, who even am I??

Penelope Skinner hates Neil Storm with a passion. Their fierce rivalry comes to a head at the very beginning of the book at a reader event where she chucks her book at his head while they’re on an author panel in front of everyone! She makes him bleed and runs away. I always appreciate in an enemies to lovers story when we get the hatred right there on the page early because then we have more time to explore the “to lovers” part of the trope. Months later, Penelope and Neil are tricked by their mutual friend to join a writer’s retreat at a “haunted” castle in Scotland (because both of them are so in love/hate with each other that they are suffering from a severe case of writer’s block). The problem is, the quotes need to be taken away from the word, “haunted” because the castle is very much haunted.

Penelope and Neil work together to solve the mystery of the castle’s haunting which is actually pretty scary but for you horror fans out there but meaningful for you romance fans (you’ll understand when you read it). On the way, they find that their hatred is actually love (because obviously they have some sort of strong feeling for each other) and the spicy bits happen-a few times. The sexy scenes are awesome and you can tell that they were really well thought out. I appreciate a thoughtful sex scene and Wilkens does a great job with that!

I really appreciated the representation of Native writers and their struggles in the book industry. The background information on applying to be enrolled in a tribe and getting a tribal identification card and how Penelope didn’t feel Native enough or White enough added a lot of realism to the story.

Will I recommend this book to my bookish peeps? Absolutely, with a warning that there is spice AND ghosts!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for review consideration via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me.

To start the conflict that kicks off the book and defines Pen and Storm as enemies felt lacking. While on one hand I could understand Pens feelings towards Storm and how his portrayal of natives in his books made her feel and on the other Pens feelings seemed over the top and more rooted in her jealousy of him and his career than anything else. I felt like there was such a possibility for this to be an informative and constructive conversation between the two but instead Pen saw red and lost it.

Additionally the interactions between Pen and Storm throughout the book also felt hot and cold and not in a way I did not enjoy. One second one of them will be thinking about how attractive the other is and then the next sentence it’s about how awful they are. Overall I wanted there to be more of a build up in tension between the two of them. But I found the tension lacking and couldn’t find myself rooting for either of them.

One of the things that I did enjoy about the book was getting the dual POV from both Pen and Storm. This is one of my favorite writing styles as I like getting to see what both of the characters are thinking.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this was not the book for me. I was not into the violence that the FMC displayed toward the MMC. I love a good enemies to lovers, this took enemy a little too far for my tastes.

A cute paranormal romance that had me giggling and kicking my feet in public, like I was a ghost people couldn’t see.

A very fun October read! Overall, I did not finish it because this quickly became a book I don't typically read. I saw a friend review this and loved it and thought I would give it a go, but just not for me. Would be fun for a young adult and perfect suspense for Halloween!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

This book confused me. I want to be clear that if someone is a Gothic horror girlie (gender neutral), this may be way more up their alley than it was for me. But I found the descriptions of the castle and constant discussion of the ghosts really slowed the pace down for me. The romance was spicy but clashed in tone with the horror and I found it difficult to get into one way or another. The big reveal at the end also felt very anticlimactic to me, I don't know that a malevolent terrifying ghost would manifest from the events that happened. It could be someone's vibe during the Halloween spooky season, but I felt a bit disappointed by the ending.

I enthusiastically embraced the idea of breaking writer's block at a haunted Scottish castle alongside rival writers Penelope and Neil. Their gothic horror-filled tale, complete with entertaining banter and simmering tension, kept me glued to the pages. The representation of native writers and their struggles resonated authentically, enhancing the story. Despite some immature elements in Pen and Neil's rivalry, their professional battles hit home. The engaging supporting characters added fun to the narrative. This paranormal romance promises an enjoyable read with its gothic ambiance and fiery chemistry. I highly recommend this captivating romcom.

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

I want to take a moment to think Ness was the publishing company for providing me a copy of this book and exchange for my honest review.

This book brought me so much joy and you can never go wrong with an enemies to lovers book! I will definitely pick this book back up around Halloween because of the fun spooky vibes.

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this debut. I love a spooky, cozy read. I also like an enemies to lovers trope with an unlikeable character element to overcome. That being said, this…wasn’t my favorite. The characters were too unlikeable to overcome, and I felt like I had to force myself to keep going. The plot didn’t move quite fast enough for my taste, either. I’m not saying it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it wasn’t really mine.

It's hard to get past a character who comes off as unlikable in the first few pages of the book. Unfortunately both the hero and heroine were deeply unlikable from the jump and it stayed that way the whole book. I understand trying to instill the whole enemies to lovers trope early on to establish the eventual character development, but they just came off as unlikable and childish.

While I did appreciate the content warnings, they felt based and specifically for the pearl clutches of the reading world. While no warning is needed, I found the excessive/repetitive sexual scenes boring and wanted to skim them.

Saying all that, the premise and the characters are what really got my attention. They were the main reason I wanted to read this book. But, unfortunately, everything fell so flat to me. Maybe I was expecting too much. Maybe I was expecting more of a paranormal aspect to the story for some reason. Maybe I just went into this with the wrong mindset. But unfortunately this book was a major miss for me. Which is disappointing to say the least. Especially when we don't get enough Indigenous representation, especially in romance leaning books.

I recieved this book from NetGalley but all reviews and opinions are my own.

I felt this book was more 3.5 but definitely not a 3 star. It had so much potential with romance and horror and I feel like it fell a little short on both. The romance felt rushed and missed opportunities for more tension between the main characters as their enemies to lovers unfolds. And the haunting portion started of so strong but I was left underwhelmed with the conclusion of the haunting. I did enjoy the side characters and I loved the haunted castle in the Scottish Highlands. Just wish for a bit more here. I believe there is promise for future works.

This book was so entertaining to read! Definitely an unforgettable experience with a great ending. The characters were incredibly relatable and fascinating to read about.

Thank you for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this debut! I think this will be the perfect spooky romp for autumn and a lot of people are going to love it. With that said, it fell a little flat for me personally.

My biggest complaint is that the story didn’t flow well. I felt like a lot of the emotional buildup was created towards the end of the book when Pen and Neil had already gotten together - making their initial chemistry seem forced. I would have liked to see a little more of their backstory/history prior to arriving at the castle. (Penelope looking up to Neil as a writer and having a bit of a crush on him. Neil loving Pen’s writing so much he got a tattoo of it.) I just didn’t believe they cared about each other enough until well after they hooked up.

I think we also could have used more exposition regarding their rivalry to build tension. The panel incident/Pen’s anger felt like it came out of nowhere when the reader wasn’t let in on how she felt about Neil being a hero to Native writers in the first place. And dido to knowing how Pen’s public dis affected Neil. There are definitely some real emotions here to play with, but the payoff wasn’t there due to the placement of all this information later in the story.

Daniela and Lazlo were fun characters, but I just didn’t care about them as much as I wanted to. It was mentioned very early on that Daniela and Penelope hooked up, but there was no sexual tension between them at all. And it felt odd that Lazlo and Neil have been friends for over a decade but Neil never shared his feelings about Penelope with him. Daniela and Lazlo could have been replaced by two strangers and I don’t think it would have made that much of a difference.

The second half of the book really picked up when we started to hear more of Georgiana and Archie’s story. I would have loved to see that incorporated a little earlier and be a bigger part of the plot. It felt like prior to that there were very low stakes keeping them at the castle and working together.

Overall, I’m giving this book three stars. I loved the concept and main characters but it felt disjointed and confused. Regardless of my feelings about this book, I am excited for more work by Colby Wilkens.