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

I expected a fluffy romp from this book, and got that, but more! The romance was great fun to watch develop, but I really love genre-blending, and the book delivered on that! The mystery was intriguing, and the horror was spooky without taking over the whole vibe. Particular salutes to the author for working in some social commentary about the publishing business' attitude toward stories and characters that aren't cishet white folks. Overall, this book was a delight and I would recommend to anyone who enjoys something light but a little different!

What a delightful marriage of genres!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. So glad that I gave it a chance. It was by turns funny, romantic, and poignant.

I somehow always struggle to accurately describe the central relationship in romances without saying something incredibly boring and uninformative like ‘I thought they were good together’ or ‘They had good chemistry’, both of which are true in this case. But I think what I liked best about Neil and Pen is that they help each other find and recognize their strengths. Neil helps Pen see the strength she already possesses, and Pen helps Neil find the strength to stand for what he believes in.

While Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House gets named dropped in the book, the storyline actually more closely resembles another of his works, The Haunting of Bly Manor. Not to the extent that this work feels derivative - more like a nice little nod to the series, with shades of Henry James showing through.

The scope of this book is fairly ambitious. It’s an enemies-to-lovers romance. It’s a gothic horror. It’s a statement about the very narrow sliver of the publishing industry allotted to Native authors. I feel like it accomplishes all of these things reasonably well, but I would have appreciated a little more time being spent on Georgina and Archie’s story, as well as a slower transition from enemies to lovers for Neil and Pen.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader copy of this book, provided in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This was ultimately a DNF for me. The characters were hard to connect to. The personalities felt juvenile and overall whiny. The way the FMC used physical violence toward the MMC at the start really tainted the rest of the book for me. The violence was unnecessary and the same public embarrassment/conflict could have been portrayed differently with the same impact.

*Arc given in exchange for a free and honest review. Thanks to Netgalley*


In the spirit of crossing fandoms, I was promised a spooky enemies to lovers, but by the end, I knew this was not the book I was seeking. Honestly, there is a vibe there, that they were not strictly enemies to lovers, but more like an unrequited, unspoken crush, to friends, to enemies, etc etc.

Granted, April is a slow reading moth for me, but it took me all month to read this. I did not particularly care for the main characters, and I could not stand the two side characters. At times I was cheering for the ghost to start doing her ghost thing and pull someone into a crack in the floor.

Are people really like this, do they treat their friends this way?

One star for the spice, that was ok and one star for addressing the issue of the mainstream publishing world white washing issues to make them more palatable for the non-Bipoc gaze.

Slower start but the story picked up in the 20% mark. I enjoyed the characters, although I found the repetitive mention of their full names a little annoying. The plot was interesting. Overall 3 stars.

True enemies to lovers and slow burn that had me giggling and rooting for this couple to work through their issues. At the beginning of the book Pen Skinner throws a book at Neil Storm during a book convention and calls him a sellout. She causes both of them some serious heartburn in their careers and also some writers block.
She agrees to go on a writers retreat to a haunted castle in Scotland, but guess who shows up!?
There’s a love story embedded in this love story, one that Pen and Neil begin to realize as their stay in the castle gets creepier and creepier.
I wasn’t a fan of the story being in 3rd person, it’s just a personal preference of mine, so I struggled at some points trying to remember if I was reading about Pen or Neil.
I loved how the setting was such a big part of the story.

I was expecting a bit more horror from the description. Four authors get together in a haunted castle in Scotland for a writing retreat. Many strange things happen from the beginning and you get a sense that there’s more to this haunted castle than meets the eye. Overall it was a good read I enjoyed the bickering between the two main characters. Lots of spicy scenes for those that enjoy it.

A read that sadly wasn’t my favorite but I am sure it will be up the alley for many readers.
It was hard for me to be immersed into the story due to the lack of connection and understanding of the characters.

This was fun and spooky! A group of writers (two of whom do NOT get along) go to a haunted castle for a writers’ retreat. Things go awry when the two enemies start seeing and hearing things inside the castle & they become closer! There is Native American rep in here and I loved all the discussion about being brave with your writing! This will be a perfect fall read. Thanks to @netgalley for the ARC!