Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I've been reading more and more romance lately, and while the premise of this seemed really intriguing, I could not get over how much I hated Penelope. Her personality was so grating, I honestly lost interest in her completely. If that was the intent with the story, a must commend for a job well done, but personally for me, I can't read about unlikeable MC's. This book might be perfect for others, but it just wasn't meant for me. I certainly have a handful of people that would be great candidates for me to recommend them this however.

The story starts as two native authors are trying to overcome some past events that have occurred between the two. Penelope and Neil start as enemies who cannot do anything by deny their attraction to each other, however as motive become clear and past events are reviewed with more information, they inevitably become lovers. Oh, did I mention they’re trapped in a haunted castle that seems hell bent on doing something to the new lovers. Can these authors use their writing skills to solve the mystery behind the ghost of the manor?


For the most part, the writing is pretty good. However there are some instances where rudimentary lines are reused. There was also some disconnect between the lady in black (used for most of the book) then she turns into the lady in white (about halfway through). There was also some places where Fanny was named franny instead. Also it’s mentioned that the boy in the journal worked at the manor then later it says he was a soldier but it never explains how or when pen got that knowledge then later it’s brought up again.

“Neil was Native American, and that’s all that ever mattered – until Penelope Skinner opened her mouth. She came in with her hard truths, and no one had listened because she was a one-hit wonder, and Neil Storm was a household name. But Neil had listened. Even though he’d tried to block out her voice, he’d heard every word she said.”

If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens is a fantastic debut coming to you this October! I absolutely loved this one! For starters, I immediately fell in love with the premise: an enemies to lovers, forced proximity on a writer’s retreat…and there’s ghosts? I’m there. If you love the show Ghosts, you’ll probably fall in love with this debut just as much as I did. Penelope is a funny, brilliant, takes-no-crap MFC, which we love. Not to mention, Colby does a fantastic job adding in some horror elements into her story, and as a girl that reads a lot of thrillers, I absolutely love when authors can successfully mix tropes of one into other genres. The woman in white was terrifying, read her parts with your lights on!

Mark your calendars for 10/15/24 and don’t forget to pick up her stellar novel when it hits the shelves! This would be a perfect Halloween read for this year! Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my review!

✮✮✮✮✮/5!

Have you ever overreacted to someone and later realized that you merely misinterpreted that person? This is the premise of “If I Stopped Haunting You.” Penelope and Neil, two Native American authors at odd with each other, find themselves on a retreat meant to revive their literary creativity.

The only problem is the retreat is being held at an isolated Scottish castle that is purportedly “haunted.” The retreat affords the two authors the opportunity to both make amends and discover a mutual attraction for each other, all while being harassed by the lady in white.

Although the storyline uncovers the “why” the house is haunted, the remainder of the book read entirely too much like a Harlequin romance. I’m not opposed to such books, but I wasn’t expecting that I was reading such by the title. In my opinion, the at length descriptions of the two authors newly discovered attraction was not only overkill but distracting. Otherwise, I enjoyed the book!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.
5-20-2024

Penelope is basically cancelled after verbally and physically attacking Neil at a book conference where they are both speakers on a panel of indigenous author. Fast forward 4 months later Pen is invited to go along on a writing retreat with her best friend Lazslo, but when she arrives she learns that Neil is also attending. What starts as enemies ends up turning into lovers, Neil and Penelope are forced to work together and end up getting tangled in a ghost hunt at the haunted castle they are staying at.

I personally found this book so be extremely slow in the beginning, there wasn’t a lot of hooks to make me want to turn to the next page. It was probably about the last fourth of the book that finally hooked my attention and I couldn’t turn the page fast enough.

Pen’s personality was hard to relate too, she was very jaded and to me seemed superficial in majority of her actions. Neil was not much better. There was emotion to the book but I don’t feel as though the characters correlated to the emotion.

I was drawn to this book because of the "paranormal" and "romance" aspects put together and, while I do not like any scary things, this book was not scary to read.

The romance portion, specifically the enemies-to-lovers portion, lasted exactly 3.2 seconds, and they were getting ready to hump each other. As a romance reader, this was expected, but it happened a little too quickly.

Pen was not a walk in the park as an MC (and at times, I just did not like her), but what she lacked in relatability, Neal complimented her. Their banter wasn't as fun and quirky as I expected from two writers, and the fact that romance scenes jumped from steamy to scary bits actually didn't work for me, personally.

Besides all this, it was a quick read with many spicy scenes that I believe many romance readers will enjoy.

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Colby Wilkins for the e-ARC!

I had to skim in order to get through this book. Penelope is insufferable, easily the most unlikeable character I’ve read about in a long time. She starts the prologue by causing a public scene that culminates in her throwing a book at a colleague’s head, and I thought ok, we caught her at her lowest point. I expected huge character growth, but she ends the story exactly the same. She’s whiny, self-absorbed, immature, and generally unpleasant. I couldn’t believe that Neil would want to be with her, and it only felt like he did because he was sexually attracted to her. The sex scenes were also really cringe=inducing. I liked the spooky paranormal elements, but Penelope being the way she was really ruined everything else for me.

My Rating: 1/5

I was very interested in this book, it seemed like such a a cute idea. Enemies to lover, paranormal and romance sounds cool right? Well this book ultimately ended up failing on both for me.
My biggest gripe with this book and it's a BIG issue, Pen, the main character is AWFUL. First off she is just down right abusive. She constantly asserts that she is actually the victim even though she is always attacking Neil and even literally threw a book at his head. It's not his fault you got blackballed Pen it's just not, despite your many assertions it is. I disliked her throughout the book and felt sorry for Neil.
Beyond that their enemies to lovers is rushed and quite lusty. I love a good spicy book but this was just not it. The writing was repetitive at times as well

Im sorry to give such a bad review but this book was just not for me and I struggled to get through it.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Two horror writers & self proclaimed enemies snowed in during a writing retreat in a haunted Scottish castle. What could go wrong?!

I was drawn to this book for the paranormal/horror/romance cross over, but I found the execution to be a little lacklustre. This book is told using dual POVs of Penelope and Neil during their forced proximity at the castle. While I enjoyed the character development, I spent the first half wanting to throw a book at Penelope who seemed determined to hold a grudge.

The actual enemies part lasted about 30 seconds then felt forced & repetitive. The conjunction of romance scenes immediately after some creepy parts sometimes gave me whiplash & took away from the horror factor IMO. The conclusion of the ghost story was a tad boring as well.

Despite the whiplash, there is a good amount of spice in the second half of the book, if that’s your vibe. I enjoyed the ghost elements of the story & there were some parts that were genuinely scary! Even the ghosts got in on the spice - IYKYK!

Overall, this paranormal romance promises a quick, enjoyable read that I think many will enjoy. A perfect book to curl up with during spooky season! 👻

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martins Press and Colby Wilkins for the EARC!

The overview in the description had me very intrigued for this read. I usually really enjoy light fantasy romance, however this story didn’t quite work for me. The setting was interesting, and the atmosphere was set very well. I did feel that the racial topics felt a bit forced. While the pacing was a bit off at times, it was a generally easy read but I couldn’t connect with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this story and give my unbiased opinion.

During the Indigenous Fiction panel at Book Con, Penelope tosses a book at best selling author Neil due to problematic representation of indigenous people in his novels. His fans are appalled by her actions, which they see as jealousy since she only has one published work. Neil and Penelope, who are haunted by the incident, discover that their mutual friend Laszlo has invited them both on a writing retreat at a haunted castle in Scotland. As the ghosts reveal their agenda, Penelope and Neil transition from enemies to lovers.

I really liked how both Penelope and Neil were indigenous authors, but I didn’t really buy that they were horror authors. The book has plenty of spicy scenes, even in the epilogue.

The book, which is told in a duel point of view, is introspection-heavy and felt repetitious to me since the characters frequently rehashed issues. The subplot with the haunted castle takes a backseat to the romance and didn’t feel particularly threatening to me. The subplot does get cooking in the second half of the novel.

The other two people on the retreat, Laszlo and Daniella, are delightful as they try to navigate the brewing tension between Penelope and Neil. While the writing exercises that Laszlo concocts for them to do are a bit silly, they do help to advance the plot.

I liked that both Penelope and Neil were struggling with expressing their identity through their writing; Penelope because she feared that she wasn’t seen as Native enough as she is biracial and Neil because he accepted edits to his books that did not align with his vision. For me, their mutual decision that they would quit writing if they were unable to break through their writer’s block held more tension than the supernatural shenanigans.

The book contains a number of excepts of fictional texts including from Laszlo’s novel in progress. In my opinion, none of the excerpts really add anything to the story.

I love the LGBT+ elements and the idea of Penelope’s fluffy black cat, Apawllo. Unfortunately, the structure of the book doesn’t lend itself to allowing for the kitty to get much page time.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Griffin, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group, for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

Loved the spooky/spicy vibe. It’s like a cozy mystery with naughty bits? I love forced proximity and a haunted castle in Scotland is pretty forced .
2 horror writers, Penelope and Neil are snowed in together. Enemy-to-Lovers isn’t my favorite trope but the banter between the MCs made it hard not to love (and laugh)
This book comes out in October and it will be a great Spooky read to get you in the mood!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

There were components of this book I really liked: I enjoyed the dual perspectives, I thought the setting of Scotland and the castle were great, and the beginning of the horror aspect was creepy. I also thought that “the incident” was well written and that the author was great at making the scenes of the book come to life. There was a lot of spice which was great. The things I didn’t like: this is supposed to be enemies/rivals to lovers but we moved to lovers way too fast. The reader never really understood why they were enemies in the first place and once we got to the castle they were both pining for each other. I also wish that we could have gone a little deeper in their hate for each other. The resolution with the ghosts felt rushed and unfinished. Lastly, I felt like the addition of Daniela to the retreat group was odd. It felt like she was only a device to show that Pen is bisexual? Both minor characters were pretty one dimensional. All in all, I enjoyed myself reading this but there was definitely room for improvement. I will say it was great to get Native representation where the BIPOC gets to exist in the world and do something like horror in a foreign place like Scotland. It just really goes to show that you can have diverse characters doing anything, not just tied to the typical tropes or settings

This book was super cute and fun. I loved the romance that Colby wrote. I can’t wait to read something else by this author!

a cool concept and I think a horror-romance works well in theory but the execution here was uh. not great. any moments of horror-based tension were undercut almost immediately by our main characters hooking up instead of continuing their investigation. the balance and pacing could have been better throughout the story - they go from enemies to hot and heavy with very little development and the resolution to the ghost mystery was rushed and a total letdown tbh. definitely cool to see more Native rep in the romance sphere and I did enjoy the commentary on the publishing industry in the book but otherwise this was not it for me.

This was good! I enjoyed the spooky aspect more than I thought I woulr. I thought the characters and the plot were really well done and interesting, and I definitely wanted to keep reading once I started.

Normally when someone says "there is not another book like this out there" they are joking or are speaking in hyperbole, however, I believe this book is able to claim that with such a humorous, sweet and mysterious concoction of story that I absolutely could not put down. The inane respect our two lovers had for each other, even though they claimed to hate each other added such an element of maturity to the book and made the enemies to lovers portion TO DIE FOR. To mix all of the tension and yes spice in with a mysterious haunted castle and a pull for answers in Scotland of all places? Absolutely incredible, hilarious, charming and un-put-downable. You will not be disappointed!

I couldn’t finish this one. Why is Pen throwing a book at him? I just- no. I couldn’t get into it. 0 stars- did not finish.

Fans of creepy, gothic castles and forced proximity should definitely check this book out. From the moment, the characters arrive at the haunted castle for a writing retreat, the author did a phenomenal job with the atmosphere, creating a spooky setting that made me want to read more. Throw in some tension between the main characters, Penelope and Neil, both Indigenous horror authors with a complicated past, and I was hooked.
My only drawback from this book was the ongoing bickering between the main characters. I wanted to see more from their past that led to the events in the prologue, and I think it would’ve helped to strengthen the character development. There is still great tension and chemistry between the characters as they have to work together to solve the mystery of the haunted castle.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and think it would be a perfect fall read! Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin for the advanced copy.

Potential not yet reached, If I Stopped Haunting You is plagued by shortcoming typical in a debut: hodgepodge of disconnected ideas, weak characterization, and absence of an involving pacing. There are nuggets of quality throughout, and the various representations are wholeheartedly welcome, but as a whole this supernatural, hate-to-love rom-com is a miss.

The story opens immediately in the wrong foot with introducing the root of its 'hate' element; the heroine's unprovoked public shaming of the hero in this scene is so pointlessly hurtful and irresponsible (She's basically being Kayne West to Taylor Swift during 2009 VMA), there's really nothing the author can do to make me side with heroine (or rooting for this relationship) afterward—the way the hero rationalizes this as a thoughtful wake-up call (when it's basically public defamation) just further adds salt to injury.

Things does get more interesting when the supernatural element is introduced, unfortunately it turns out to be a 'non-story' as the buildup to its mystery leads to a very limp, anticlimactic conclusion—more of a scattering of creepy moments rather than a cohesive secondary plot line.

If I Stopped Haunting You is half-baked across the board: characters in their 30s read like horned-up juvenile teens (and none of them being portrayed as a believable authors), surface-level commentary regarding racism in the publishing industry, and a romance that's not compelling and subtly problematic. Everyone has to start somewhere, and I hope Colby Wilkens' next novel will only improve from here.