Colby Wilkens' If I Stopped Haunting You was a cozy romance with some paranormal/horror aspects. I really loved Penelope, she was probably my favorite part of this book. My only complaint is that it was all a bit surface-level, and the writing style didn't really agree with me at times. Otherwise, this was a cute little read.

To enjoy a romance, I really need to like the main character and wow, was this character absolutely unlikable. This is the sort of character I would expect to find in a horror movie that I'm rooting to be killed off next. I couldn't vibe with this story at all because of how awful the character was. That is pretty much my only complaint, but it made the book such a slog to read.

2/5 stars

Yeah... I didn't love this book. I really wanted to like this book, I promise I did the summary sounded amazing but the execution wasn't great. The MMC was extremely unlikable and from that I couldn't get past really anything else in the book. The FMC wasn't much either to be honest and I found the plot to be extremely repetitive and overused.

I am really sorry I didn't like this one, but I am open to reading more from this author in the future.

I was a fan of this book for quite a while, but I got kind of bored by it in the third act. Mostly the actual ghost story stuff felt unnecessary to me because I cared more about the actual characters than the reason they were in a haunted castle in Scotland. Hopefully this will set me on a path of cozy fall reads soon!

I was originally excited to read this one, however i do feel that it fell pretty flat for me. 2/5 stars

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The premise of this sounded perfect for a spooky autumn romance read. The trend of supernatural/magical realism in romance is hit or miss for me. This one was unfortunately a miss. I never felt hooked on the story. I didn't care about the characters much or their relationship. When I'm reading a romance I want to be kicking my feet and squealing, and this just didn't do that for me.

This book was really fun! I loved the diversity. Native American representation isn't a huge market yet so it was a nice surprise in this novel. I read this book in one sitting and could not put it down. I loved getting to know our cast of characters. This book was a great debut and I can't wait to read more by this author.

Wow wow wow! I loved this book so much! The representation was exceptional and one of my favorite parts of the book. The characters are imperfect and messy and flawed but I loved them all the same. Their journey was so authentic and I adored the friendship and the romance! This was sexy and spooky and tension filled!
The writing was beautiful and romantic and so easy to follow! I felt completely immersed and it was so atmospheric! The characters felt so actualized and fleshed out I loved every single one of them!
I highly recommend, a great read at any time of the year!

I was really excited for the premise, I love contemporary romances with a supernatural twist. Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. Pen assaults the MMC at the very start of the book, and from then on is consistently combative with him in a way that made her incredibly unlikable.

My issues with the FMC aside, I found the pacing to be odd and the ghost part of the story really felt like it screwed up the pacing of the romance.

Neil was the one thing I liked about this romance, as he was very likable in a way that sometimes would make me forget how much I disliked Pen.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. I am always happy to read from a new-to-me indigenous author, and I did enjoy Wilkins story and the characters she created as well as reading of the issues they face as authors, likely reflecting real life. Unfortunately, the story fell a bit flat for me. The spooky, paranormal aspect was almost wincingly clinche and the romance aspects were also a bit off the mark for me. Still, and enjoyable read for a bit of some spooky fun time in the summer.

This one hits a solid mid-rating for me. I was entertained and enjoyed the overall story. I would have liked more back story on the mansion and ghosts - a dual timeline here would have been very interesting. The steamy scenes felt off for a reason I’m not exactly able to articulate. Character development was a bit lacking. To me, this reads as more of a spooky cozy romance, just lightly spooky and not overly romancey either.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. The premise offered a combination of romance, mystery and horror but didn’t seem to deliver effectively on any of them. I did appreciate the discussions of Indigenous authors trying to make it in mainstream publishing. However, I found the main female lead to be unlikeable and unpleasant. She’s self-pitying and blames others for her issues, including the supposed romantic male lead. When they’re trapped in a haunted Scottish castle, the stage is, supposedly, set for both their romance and solving a ghostly mystery. None of this effectively worked for me, making this book very difficult to finish.

The cover and the premise? I was excited. However, it just doesn't give what I thought it would give. I love enemies to lovers, yes, but why they're enemies needs to make sense to me. I can't just be about an FMC being awful and irate over something that could've been talked about. It's just not how I expect adults to behave. Making your FMC this unlikeable and hateable, and expecting me to be invested in her having a romantic relationship with the MMC she mistreats will never work. That's not the kind of enemies to lvoers I'm personally into. Also, I don't think this delivers on the horror and there's barely any of it. Yes, there are ghosts, but it doesn't strike a good balance between horror and romance, not even in a funny rom-com way.

One thing I do think is worth appreciating is the native rep; I don't think there's enough of it out there and I do like seeing books where it's present. Same with Latino rep, that will always be something to celebrate. I just wish the story was better.

Not my favorite. It’s a personal thing, but I don’t like when the enemies are already enemies when the story starts.

Two native horror authors stay at a haunted house. They both have issues to get over. Including each other.

The premise was fun, but I just wasn’t engaged.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

What’s worse than staying in a castle haunted by ghosts? Having to stay there with your enemy while simultaneously fighting your growing attraction to them.

Pen and Neil are both horror writers who come to blows at a conference. Months later, they each struggle with writers block and travel to a writing retreat put on by mutual friends. It doesn’t take long before strange happenings begin to occur.

Pen is a character that realizes the impetus for her actions and takes accountability. You can clearly see her growth throughout the book.
This plot took a while to get moving for me. The ghost story portion doesn’t begin till about 20% in and that was the best part of the plot for me. At first, I wasn’t sure if it would be a Scooby-Doo level caper but I was pleased that it had a true paranormal storyline.

The enemies-to-lovers portion of the book was where the book fell short for me. The enemy portion breaks down within hours of them getting to the castle which made it feel like their feud was fairly insubstantial when in reality there is a lot of nuance to it.

“They were not alone. In this castle, no one ever was.”

Given the premise, this had potential to be more enjoyable but I just couldn’t connect to the characters and wasn’t invested in the story. It was too slow paced for my liking, the chemistry between Penelope and Neil was lacking in an almost monotonous way (I’m sorry but Lazlo and Daniella somehow held my interest) and almost forced given the enemies to lovers aspect and how things happened too quickly. after everything, the build up leading to the grand mystery reveal did not surprise me at all, it just fell flat and almost anticlimactic. I’d like to think the diversity rep was done right so that is appreciated. I wish I could’ve enjoyed this but sadly did not and hope others are able to

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review

I wanted to like this book and tried 3 times to get into it. I pushed through and it was just okay. It just couldn’t keep my attention and I had a hard time following the story line. I did care about how it ended but I read this slower simply because I wasn’t as into it. I did enjoy the ghost story.

Honestly, this was good but not great. Maybe I went into it wanting more out of the romance, and was a bit disappointed. I will say that if you are a fan of rom-coms you might love this. I appreciated the blend of "spookiness" and haunted setting/ghost lore with the rom-com elements.

This book sounded amazing as it was a horror rivals to lovers romance but unfortunately it fell short with me.
I found the characters underdevelopped which in turn made me not connect with them and their story.

I’d like to think I’m a Halloween themed book girly but I’m not. I tried getting into this book but I’m just not a witchy gal. Sorry. I’m sure others will love it!