I'm not sure how I got this arc book, but it was a fun read. It's a fun enemies to lovers with some spooky twists. This book is about Penelope and Neil.

Pen and Neil are stuck at a retreat together and find themselves in a real-life ghost story.

With them stuck and working together will feelings start to evolve?

I would be interested in reading more from this author.

If I stopped haunting you is Colby Wilkens's debut enemies-to-lovers cozy horror rom com.

Native horror authors Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm have a years long rivalry that's lead them into a writing slump. In an attempt to find the inspiration to write their next book, their friends and fellow writers, Lazlo and Daniela, join them in a writing retreat hosted in a haunted castle in the Scottish Highlands. Hauntings and hilarity ensue.

What I liked the most about this book was the descriptions of its setting. I also enjoyed the banter between Pen and Neil and their relationship as rivals in the publishing industry. The commentary on the publishing industry was interesting as well.

What I didn't like so much was the resolution (or lack thereof) to the ghost story. It was rather underwhelming after all the protagonists went through to piece together what happened. I also felt the switch to lovers was abrupt, as they'd only spent about two days in forced proximity, after years of antagonizing each other (the book recognizes as much).

Overall, it's an enjoyable read, with interesting commentary about the publishing industry, some actual scary moments as a ghost story, and a great setting.

I really wanted to enjoy this, but I just couldn't get into it... The MFC annoyed me from the start. The entire relationship was toxic in a way that made me not want to read at times. Sadly this book just wasn't for me. The cover art is amazing though! I do often read books based off their covers, and this one did draw me in!

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a lover of both horror and romance, I can say with confidence that this was terrible at both.

Writing a book is hard. But perhaps some people shouldn't write books.

I don't even know where to begin with this review. The romance was awful, and I think it's because neither the FMC nor the MMC were fully developed. I don't know anything about them other than they're writers, supposedly (that's another thing—they're in Scotland on a writing retreat, but no writing was done), and they don't like each other. So with flat characters, a romance is going to be flat. The sex scene was awkward, there was little to no tension between them.

Speaking of characters, the secondary characters served NO purpose. You could literally omit them and it wouldn't change anything about the story. Super frustrating.

Now, the horror. Horror is definitely a YMMV, so I'm not going to say oh this didn't scare me so it's not horror. BUT it also wasn't crafted well. The ghost/horror had nothing to do with the characters. It was just a case of they happened to be there. To me, that's lazy horror writing. Again, any character could have happened upon this castle and the ghost would come out. The ghost's story also didn't make sense, and Penelope's obsession with it didn't make sense.

This was just poorly written and I still can't believe it made it through so many people and is actually being published.

This was a lot scarier than I anticipated! Reading this before bed was a poor decision on my part. Timing aside, though, this was great. The romance is hot, the ghost mystery was fun (though creepy), and I loved the bi/bi pairing and the discussions of representation in publishing. I'm even more excited for the author's next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

a romantic haunted horror is exactly what i needed! i haven’t read a book quite like this yet and i really did enjoy it. both main characters were great to get to know and see their slow burning feelings develop for each other! it was also very interesting to see the perspective of indigenous authors and the pros and cons they go through in a publishing industry and setting.

thank you to the author, netgalley, and st. martin’s griffin for the opportunity to receive an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't know "cozy horror" was something I needed in my life and yet, here we are. This is a fun cozy little horror mystery starring two feuding writers trapped at a remote Scottish castle for a writers' retreat where they, of course, find some ghosts that need dealing with. I enjoyed this book; the dynamic of a well-written enemies to lovers trope is a personal favorite and it is handled well here. There was also an excellent amount of spice in this one so you are warned!

I really wanted to like this book. Honest I did. But for some reason I just couldn't.
I loved the idea of ghosts and stuff but I think that what didn't work for me was the insta-romance.
The banter between Penelope and Neil was ok at first but eventually it became annoying.
I really wished the insta was more in depth than it was. I say this because they were enemies for so long and then bam now I feel that they were rushed.
I loved the setting of Scotland. The way the author describes the scenes I felt like I was there.
The setting became my favorite part of the book.
Overall, the book could've been just teeny tiny bit better than it was.

okay so the romance aspect of this was good, but the rest was a little meh?
i think the characters is the real flaw here:
- right off the bat i did NOT like penelope <spoiler>the book throwing was absolutely wild, and just made me upset lol</spoiler>
- neil was okay, but he was just so lackluster
- laszlo and daniela were just annoying, served no purpose, and the one time that daniela and pen slept together being brought up was just weird, like i'm not sure why that was a plot point. they just had so much potential to be these amazing, witty, side characters and instead every time they were mentioned it felt like being barged in on
and the insta-lust!! it just developed way too quickly for me, especially since they not only had unresolved anger towards each other, but like ruined each other's careers?
the commentary on the publishing industry was good, and i'm glad there was representation of native characters but at the same time, you didn't really get that aspect too much outside of the publishing industry talk, so i wish we got to see more of that.
the ghost/haunting stuff was very cool though so if you're looking for a quick, fast-paced, spooky, spicy read then this is the one for you!

Hellooooo this is so good. I loved it and the author just announced book #2 and I'm so excited. I can't wait until I can buy physical copies.

This book is about Pen and Neil, two rival novelists with writers block who find themselves in the same retreat in a haunted castle in Scotland.
The premise sounded very interesting, but somehow I couldn’t get into the book. The two had no chemistry but somehow she gets horny whatever he does, it seemed like only a physical thing and rushed. Their relationship got a bit better around the middle of the book but that wasn’t enough to make up for the start.
The whole ghost part of the story felt somehow unnecessary for the book, it didn’t really contributed anything and was partly unsensible.
The criticism about the publishing industry was good as was the discussion about the discrimination of native Americans although I wish there would have been more information about this culture.
Overall a classical enemy to lovers that just wasn’t for me.

Ps: It’s kinda ironic/funny/meta how the FMC accuses the MMC of using stereotypes in his books while this book itself does is all the time 😄

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the earc!

the premise of this book sounded so good but it ended up falling short of what i expected it to be. it’s described as “chilling haunted house horror”, but i found the horror to be lacking. it felt like any time there was some kind of creepy tension building up, it was interrupted by the romance, so the balance between the two felt a little off for me. i wanted the horror to be scarier.

the romance itself felt like it was developed too quickly - the development while reading through it initially felt okay, but then there would be a line somewhere reminding you that these two characters who have hated each other for months inexplicably fall for each other within a day of spending time together, and it kind of takes you out of it a bit.

the main female character, penelope (or pen), threw a book at the main male character, neil, at a book panel to start their feud, and although i felt like neil had decent character development, pen never really actually apologized or took responsibility for her actions in any significant way. although this helped establish the enemies-to-lovers bit, it made it harder for me to connect with pen, since i didn’t really understand why she had such a violent reaction in the first place, and then her redemption from it also just wasn’t satisfying.

the two friends that they went on this writer’s retreat with just kind of existed, and i could not tell you what their purpose was other than to serve as a buffer between pen and neil. i wish that they had been more involved in the story itself.

i did enjoy the mystery vibes to the book, and thought that the ghost backstory was interesting. the character banter was entertaining and i liked the setting of the story. the feud between pen and neil was also something i liked, i just wish it had been resolved a little differently. and the cover art is gorgeous.

This is my first paranormal romance I’ve read, so I was curious to see what this was about. I found it to be a quick and easy read with sprinkles of spookiness and some romance.

I see Colby’s vision, but I feel like the story is missing some pieces. I wasn’t able to fully connect with the characters and found it to be quite repetitive at times. It wasn’t until I hit 60% that I became more engaged in the story. If there was a heavier focus on the mystery and some believable romance, this would have been a 4 or 5 star read.

I’ll be honest, the spooky scenes did scare me enough that I had to read this in the daytime, lol. Overall, I didn’t hate it but didn’t love it. If you’re looking for a quick and easy read, this is it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! :)

I really wanted to like this book to get into the haunting romance bookish stories. She kind of came across as somewhat rude and just annoyed me.

Ghosts, haunted Scottish castle, and spicy romance. I loved this book! The characters and the story were just perfect!

The setting is absolutely perfect. Scotland is one of my favorite places to visit. There is the feeling of romanticizing the beauty of the highlands but also the eerily quiet and knowledge of the sinister history and potential for paranormal activity.

Such good character building for both Penelope and Neil. Did I want to punch them a few times for being ridiculous and somewhat clueless? Yes. But hey that’s how we are in real life too.

The ending is cute and sums up well. I loved that it ended with the play off of Daniela’s book.

The part that could’ve been executed better was the wrap up of the ghost story and why the ghosts were lingering. The reason for the ghosts not having moved on didn’t live up to the anticipation from the haunting events. There wasn’t enough resolution for me to feel closure.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️💫 (2.5/5)
This book is an enemies to lovers, haunted mystery romance that has a unique storyline.  I really tried to like the main characters, but Penelope was just off. She has a short fuse and comes across as self-centered and even abusive at times.
I did enjoy the haunted mystery component of this book. This combination is not something I have read before. It did add a unique twist to the book.
Overall, this book was a little challenging to complete. It was the haunted mystery that kept me going vs the romantic comedy.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I have mixed feelings about this book. This was sent to me & I was initially excited to read it because of the premise. I'm seeing a lot of haunted places/ghosts as a trend in new releases lately and this seemed like a fun take on that.

I did enjoy the plot and the spooky castle setting. Plus its Scotland, what's not to love? I thought that part of the book was fun and kept things interesting.

What I did not enjoy was the "romance" between Penelope and Neill. Penelope was just an awful person. I could not like her, even a tiny bit. She was just so horrid to Neill for no other reason than jealously. I don't believe these two fell in love and watching her be abusive and mean towards him was not a good time for me.

Overall, this was an okay read. Her next book seems like it would be better.

"I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

A fun read for cozy/horror/ romance fans! The mixture of mystery and romance had me wanting more! I do think the romance was rushed in some parts and I would’ve liked it to develop as slowly as the mystery of the castle but it was still cute and heart warming altogether. Loved Pen and Neil as characters! Loved that he was a fan of her books!