If I stopped haunting you had an interesting premise and I am typically a fan of enemies-to-lovers. The misunderstanding between them kind of gets resolved but not enough to make their relationship seem more than anything but lust. The mystery was fun,but it lacked a developed consequence. They got hurt a few times, but it never really felt like there was true danger.

This one just didn’t hit for me. I couldn’t really get into it/have interest in the characters. Also just didn’t love the writing style.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

The pacing of the novel is steady, with tension building steadily as Neil delves deeper into Pen’s past and the secrets she wont spill. The plot twists and turns keep readers guessing, culminating in a climax that is both shocking and satisfying, but of course the main thing is the romance, which was sweet and dorky.

Pen Skinner and Neil Storm are writing rivals after what happened at the last Book Con.
Neither knew they would find themselves at an intimate, secluded writing retreat together.
While struggling to deal with their feelings for each other and their writers block, they stubble upon the ghosts haunting the castle.
They decide to work together to solve the mystery of the hauntings.
Although this was a quick read, I found it hard to follow at times as there were some plot holes and inconsistencies throughout the story. I loved the premise of a romance and a horror mystery, but the combination didn't quite work for me in this book.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC.

I struggled to get into this book and stay into this book.

The descriptive elements were well written; however, the characters development fell a little flat for me. I never really felt like I connected to the characters & I didn't love the way their enemies to lovers relationship evolved. In some ways it felt rushed.

I'm going to try picking it up again at another point because I really wanted to like this book but for now it's not for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut by Colby Wilkens! The author has great exposition, addictive pacing, and eye-capturing descriptions. I loved the enemies-to-lovers and slow-burn between our two leads: Pen and Neil. I thought their relationship was grounded in something real, and I really appreciated the Native perspective when it comes to publishing. Also, I loved the horror/mystery aspect! It is something I've never read in a romance and I love that it offers something different than contemporary romances.

2.5⭐️ Despite there being cute moments at points during this book, the infuriating FMC and the illogical choices made by both main characters over shadowed everything else. The FMC starts the books by assaulting the MMC then spends the rest of the book gaslighting the MMC into thinking he’s at fault for her actions. As for the actual ghost part of this book….. it was flawed. From the motivations of the ghosts, to the resolutions, none of it made sense.

If there is anything Pen hates more than being called Penny, it’s fellow horror author Neil Storm. He has betrayed everything she holds dear about being a Native and telling their stories. When a public smack down brings them both to their knees they look to a haunted castle to lift their spirits, but it might be more than they bargained for. While confronting the castle’s, and their own, haunting past they learn giving up the ghosts of fear and hate makes room for love.

I throughly enjoyed this book! It was such a fun and interesting read. I loved Pen and Neil and how Wilkens parallels their fear of feelings with the fear of ghosts. It has a surprising theme of confronting your own fears that I did not see coming, but kept me hooked. It had moments that made me laugh out loud and a nice sprinkle of spice. I did expect there to be a little more in the reveal of the ghosts’ stories, but it didn’t take away from the novel as a whole. Definitely would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to review this book!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I think I put myself into a slump reading this because I had tried so hard to like it but I feel like there’s not much about the characters that I like. I don’t really know if I even really enjoyed the plot. I just don’t think this book was the book for me. The writing was just okay to me.

This book started out so strong and kept me hooked til about the of way point. Two writers who start out hating each other go on a writing retreated in a supposedly haunted castle in the Scottish highlands. They find out the castle is actually haunted, and have to solve a ghost mystery to keep the paranormal activity at bay. I feel like this book was trying to be both a horror and romance novel at the same time and it couldn’t really achieve both. There was 20% of the book that was just them having intercourse and the plot was paused and then they suddenly realized they had to hunt the ghosts again. The end up not hating each other in the end and solve the mystery leaving the castle no longer haunted. Good read, cute, with a few plot holes. Thank you SMP!

From horror to horror!
I really wanted to like this book; I wanted more from this story but fell flat. I love an enemy to lovers story but at times they felt like they were enemy-ing a little to hard. Their love progressed a little too fast that I didn’t feel the chemistry between Penelope and Neil.
Sad to give this book a poor rating

I want to preface this with saying I am most definitely not a big fan of horror. In fact, I was the kid (and adult, if I’m being honest) that would shrink into couch cushions and hide my face in the pillows while made to watch scary movies. Who’d convince her friends that if a scary movie is what was needed for a late night hangout, a romcom or Disney movie needed to immediately follow.

And this book had a lot of horror elements. BUT I would be lying if I didn’t note how the author was so very skilled in painting a picture for her story. Don’t let my personal rating fool you: I may not be a fan of horror, but the story itself had so many vivid moments of description. Moments where I had literal chills running down my spine and could picture (with the help of those late night scary movies) exactly how the ghost of the story was interacting with the main characters. Terrifyingly good writing.

Now that being said, there were times outside the beautifully written horrors that made me feel as I was jumping forward quickly. Moments that made me feel like I had missed something developing for Neil and Pen’s romance or the characters’ storyline in their retreat. I don’t know how to fully describe it, but sometimes it felt like we’d transitioned without filling in gaps for that transition. The horror elements were fabulous, but the romance—even with the open door policy—seemed as if it developed a bit too fast. Then again, I am a slowburn lover so that could be driving my opinion on that part.

Basically what I’m saying is, despite not usually being a fan of horror, I think that and the mystery may just have been my favorite part about this book. The author did a fabulous job in her descriptions of the haunted castle and spooky happenings that the two main characters were both experiencing. The addition of the romance was just a romance that, while I may have preferred it developed slightly more, was overall an enjoyable misunderstood colleagues to lovers storyline.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I absolutely LOVED this book! Enemies to lovers is one of my top tier tropes, and add forced proximity and ghosts only they can see on top of it? *chef’s kiss* I am eternally grateful to the author for giving us both Pen’s and Neil’s POV because I needed to know what was going on in both of their heads. ESPECIALLY the mutual pining/not knowing what their feelings were. Also the queer rep was casual and not at all a big deal to any of the characters (because they were all some flavor of queer) and I really enjoy reading books about queer characters where no one makes it a big deal. There’s enough of that in real life already that I don’t want to read it unless it’s important to the overall story.

It was also nice to see Native rep from two different perspectives. As a white person, I cannot speak to the rep itself, but I know the author is Native herself.

Overall, this was a super fun supernatural horror rom-com and I cannot wait to read more from Colby!

I really thought I would like this book but it was not my cup of tea. It fell way short for my expectations and it was a struggle for me to read it. The main characters development felt super rushed and forced instead of a build up with the enemies to lovers trope that was advertised. The horror aspect of the book I felt also lacked. I hate giving negative reviews and if I knew I would not have enjoyed this book I wouldn’t have applied. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!!

I love paranormal romance, but, unfortunately, this was lacking in a few places for me... it was very slow, and I felt this should've or maybe originally was going to be YA, but then that was decided against. It reads both ways which was a tad off putting.

A haunted castle for a writers retreat with "enemies" started off strong in idea, but just fell flat for me. I thought Lazlo and Daniella, who are not the main characters, had much more character than Penelope & Neil who's story this is for.

I did not connect with Penelope & Neil, I dont think enough backstory was given on them to do so other than "they're rival authors who are native". The enemies to lovers (is this it?) romance seemed very forced and the enemy part was over too quickly because of forced proximity of the haunted castle. There was barely any build up of it and too quickly had resolve into their new relationship.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this book at all and DNF at 10%. I was hoping for a good enemies to lovers story but it just fell flat for me.

This book fell a little bit flat for me. I really wanted to love it. I don't like leaving negative reviews. The MC just came across as very unlikeable. The romance happened way too fast. The descriptive spicy scenes felt out of place. There was so much going on and a big mystery to solve but they were busy hooking up. It got to be annoying. In the end, the conclusion to the ghost story left me feeling disappointed. I wanted there to be more to it. It didn't seem like it was enough to warrant everything that happened.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an e-arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hard to get through. It felt more of a cheesy book. It could be someones type of genre, but just not for me.

I really didn't enjoy this one. I did not fully finish the story because it just fell short for me. I thought it sounded good based on the summary, but it just wasn't there for me. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this book! I thought it was really fun and unique (I don't think I've ever read anything remotely like this and that is rare these days).

I really appreciated that there was an initial set-up of the rivalry between the two characters, I think more authors should include that sort of little background. It makes it more believable to me if I know why these characters don't like each other.

I liked the haunted castle environment and the situations that creates for the characters and the story. And I just love castles.

My only critique is that at some moments the writing felt weird and almost stunted. The writing could feel a bit obvious (making it read younger) and choppy.

Thanks to NetGalley for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My review is already up on Goodreads and my TikTok review will be up at the very end of May/very early June with my May reading wrap-up.