I was looking forward to reading this as October was coming to a close but due to the recent allegations that came out regarding the author, I will no longer be reading this book.

I am withholding my review for IF I STOPPED HAUNTING YOU due to the recent allegations against the author.

THE HOOK/APPEAL: A ghost story come to life for 2 characters. A paranormal romance/mystery.

THE REVIEW: Super cute! More original of a premise than others. Some of it got a little old with hearing some things repeated and being truly in the heads of the characters as they processed things (everything at times), but it's still cozy and cute and fits the season.

THE RATING: 3.8 rounded

I will no longer be reading this book due to the author lying about being Native American and co-opting their culture, identity, and heritage.

A fun entertaining read, enemies to lovers, haunted castle, a little of something for everyone A real page turner and a must read

DNF; The beginning of this book put me off instantly. I have no interest in returning to this book or supporting the author.
Although I only made a small dent in the book I am choosing to not continue or try and get into the characters.
The main character is awful and while reading other reviews it does not seem like there is going to be any remorse or change from the main character. This just turns me off. While reading the reviews I also noted the allegations towards Wilkens and I wil be investigating further but this also has encouraged me to leave the book unread.
Thank you for the oppurtunity, but this book is not a good fit for me.

The writing and setting was okay. I just couldn't stay interested in the characters long enough to finish this one. So I won't be reviewing it really on any sites, or I'll be sure to point out that I DNFed it and my reasons, but those are personal reasons, not any reasons the book itself wasn't good.

This book wasn’t a good read for me. It was all over the place and the plot was lacking. I also saw all of the controversy surrounding the author and it soured my opinion even more.

In light of the allegations around the author’s native identity, I will not be reviewing this title at this time.

The fact that the FMC through a book at the MMC in the prologue was an instant turn off and the FMC didn't get any better from there.

Also, the author misrepresenting their heritage is a no from me

Due to recent allegations and controversy surrounding this book and the author, I will not be giving feedback for this title.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Such an interesting and fun book. Penelope Skinner goes on a Scottish book retreat to work through her writer's block or just move on. The last thing she would have ever wanted would be to stuck with Neil Storm, the cause behind her writer's block in the first place. In the first half of the book, with the forced proximity and the backdrop of a haunted castle, I was all there for it! Unfortunately, the story seemed to lose steam about halfway through, and I felt like I had to push myself toward the end.

With the novel opening with an act of domestic abuse as a meet cute, as a DV survivor, I had to DNF.

Edit: in light of recent events and perspectives I am lowering my review. I don’t feel comfortable supporting this author

I will absolutely not give feedback or support to someone who claims to be bipoc and is hateful. I'm thankful for the copy, but will not platform this

I doubt anyone will actually read this, but I’m going to post it anyway. This author has been exposed to be a known bully especially to other BIPOC and queer authors. They were also apparently faking being BIPOC. When all this came out, they went radio silent and deleted all their social media except Instagram only to post a nonapology about how they’d find the documents to prove their claims. No apology or acknowledgement of all the hurt they’ve caused people. Regardless of what they come up with, I won’t be reading anything else by this author.

For the actual content of the book- I did try to start this book before this news broke. The beginning of the book makes no sense for a contemporary romance and I don’t understand how multiple rounds of people read it and decided it should be published. The main character physically assaults the love interest and scars him for life. I didn’t want to keep reading as I didn’t think I’d be able to overcome this beginning and root for them to fall in love. Rereading the opening after the news broke just makes me cringe. Clearly this author has some big personal identity issues they were projecting onto their characters.

Though this publisher is notorious for ignoring concerns and I doubt will address the controversy with this book, I ask the publisher to do better when acquiring their books. If you flip the genders and it was a male protagonist assaulting a female love interest I can’t imagine you would have published it as a romance. Physical abuse done by a female protagonist doesn’t make it cute or quirky. It’s still abuse.

Do better.

Oh jeez, this book was just not good. Cringey in so many ways. The pacing was bad, the sex scenes were awful, and the main character was the absolute worst.

Changing my rating to 1 star (from 2) after finding out that Wilkens does NOT have Indigenous heritage like they claim while promoting a novel featuring Native characters.

So I was super excited for this one, unfortunately the actions of Penelope Skinner at the start of the novel, and what fuels her "hatred" for Neil Storm, is such bad behavior that I could not understand how these two went from "enemies" to lovers - especially so quickly. Neil, DUDE, Pen attacked you on stage in public leaving you with a scar on your head... and she never really apologizes or acknowledges her bad behavior... WHY are you falling in love with her?! As someone who doesn't typically read a lot of sex on the page books, this one does have some spicy scenes, though not as many as I expected in a romance book.

Unfortunately, the side characters aren't really fleshed out and pop in and out of the narrative when Wilkens needs more living humans in a room to further the plot. The ghost story aspect started off interesting but the resolution was... lackluster to say the least, and didn't really make sense that THAT would stop the hauntings.

IF I STOPPED HAUNTING YOU is a quick read with promise, but in the end it didn't deliver for me, but YMMV.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and St. Martin's Griffin in exchange for an honest review.

would first like to thank NetGalley and St. Martins Press/ St. martins griffin for providing me with the ARC.


With that being said, If I stopped haunting you fell short for me. Not only did the story seem underbaked. But I also didn’t feel connected to the characters at all. I actually found Pen the fmc quite frustrating.

Generally, connection to a story is what makes a book memorable. It’s what makes me love it. Without that, what’s the point ? With that being said, it just didn’t happen here. It too me months to trudge through the book. I almost dnfed it.


I feel terrible giving negative feedback but yikes…. 😳

I'd like to say thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC.

This was a very interesting set up from the get-go. When I started this story, I had a vague idea of what it was about (purposely) to just see where this storyline took me. And boy was I not expecting this one. This had some fun elements to, some serious and a whole case of spicy/angry/rivalry that kept the pages turning. I found both characters frustrating yet still understandable. Overall, I had a good time with this one and would recommend for anyone that likes a dash of history and mystery with touch of paranormal strangeness.

I'd read from this author again.

My Rating: 4 Stars