I so badly wanted to love this one as it has all the pieces of a perfect novel for me. However, like many reviewers, I found the tension between the two leads to be lacking. Penelope was also very vexing and I spent most of the novel rooting against her romance with Neil because of her behavior. Unfortunately this was a miss for me.

I love enemies to lover trope, but I feel like this one was lacking some of the buildup that comes with this trope. In the very beginning we understand that why Penelope and Neil are rivals. The forced proximity of the writing retreat provided a great opportunity for their relationship. However, it lacked the buildup and the banter. Sadly, I wasn't invested in Pen and Niel's character individuals or as a couple.

An enemies to lovers romance about two feuding writers who are tricked into attending a writers retreat together in Scotland, but the castle they are staying might be haunted?

oh noooo y'all this one was a doozy...
Goshhhh, first off - this one sounded so interesting and I loved the representation it was bringing to the table, but unfortunately this is where my kind words end. Within the first 15% the tension between the two is completely killed. Can we stop writing enemies to lovers that isn't that at all? So that set this off in the wrong direction early. Next on the docket is the "spooky" castle sitch...it was giving lackluster, it was giving...I gotta skim 70% of this novel. Not to mention the characters (esp Pen) weren't flushed out & were toxic - I'm talkin' zeerrrroooo character development here. Okay, I'll stop being mean noowww byeeeee

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this arc!

After Penelope Skinner has a very public meltdown with rival writer Neil Storm, ending with her throwing a book at him, she goes into a spiral. Her friend Lazlo pulls her out of it by inviting her to a writing retreat at a haunted Scottish castle with their friend Daniela. Upon arrival at the retreat, Penelope learns Lazlo also invited his friend Neil. Neil and Penelope learn how to work together as they try to solve the mystery of the castle which includes ghosts.

The parts I enjoyed most were the ghost scenes as they were genuinely creepy.

The plot sounded promising but fell flat in some areas. Penelope was insufferable at times it redeemed herself. Over a decent read to change it up!

When I saw the cover for If I Stopped Haunting You, I immediately wanted to read it. The cover’s illustration was terrific. Then I read the blurb, and my interest was caught even more. There is nothing like an enemies-to-lovers, forced romantic romance with a dash of horror and supernatural to curl up on the couch and read. But now that I have read it, I am a little disappointed.

The main storyline of If I Stopped Haunting You centers on Penelope (Pen) Skinner, Neil Storm, and the events at the writer’s retreat in Scotland. While I did find parts of the storyline engaging, I could not get invested in it for the most part.

The main characters and their relationship made me “meh” about the book. Pen did a number on Neil emotionally. She was just plain nasty to him for 85% of the book. Pen also blamed Neil for being blacklisted in the publishing community when it was her actions (throwing a book at Neil’s head and injuring him) that caused the blacklist. Because of that, I couldn’t wrap my head around her change of feelings for him. It was lightning quick and seemed almost forced.

I did like Neil and felt awful for him. He was suffering from a significant case of writer’s block, which was brought on by Pen’s actions at the conference. So, as with Pen, I didn’t quite agree, or like that, his feelings went straight to lust when he saw her. Again, it seemed forced.

I did like the paranormal angle. If the author had stayed more focused on the story of who the ghost was and why she was haunting the castle, I would have been more invested in the book. But I didn’t like that certain elements were left unfinished, like how the ghost was related to Pen.

The romance angle was a huge part of the book. I felt that the romance between Pen and Neil was forced and unrealistic. They went from hating each other to banging like bunnies within two chapters. In between, Pen kept up her gaslighting and abusive nature towards Neil. It all left a terrible taste in my mouth. Now, saying that there were some pretty hot and explicit sex scenes. I also did get a giggle over Pen busting in on Daniela while she was sexting with her girlfriend over Facetime.

Other elements were enjoyable, but they could not quite overcome what I didn’t like in this book. The author did a great job of showing how nondiverse the publishing industry was. She also created some memorable secondary characters I wished had more page time in the book.

The end of If I Stopped Haunting You was anticlimactic. I was expecting the author to end on a happy, right-now note. Instead, she fast-forwards a year later, and things are still happy for Pen and Neil.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin, NetGalley, and Colby Wilkens for allowing me to read and review this Arc of If I Stopped Haunting You. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

I really enjoyed this book. The banter between the characters is lots of fun and I loved the mix of romance and ghost story.
I know some have complained that the characters went from enemies to lovers too quickly, but as I read the book, it became obvious to me that there was more to it.
Can't wait to see more from this author.

I ended up not liking this one as much as I thought I would. Pen and Neil were hard to like. The romance felt rushed and I couldn't buy into it but the smut was good. There were parts that left me confused and the secondary characters had no depth. They were hardly there. The mystery also felt secondary to pen and Neil's bickering then immediate attraction/lust for each other. It was also very repetitive.

Penelope Skinner despises Neil Storm for writing sanitized indigenous characters to meet the demands of his publishing house in lieu of supporting authentic voices from their community. When they find themselves snowed-in during a writer's retreat in a haunted Scottish castle, the two discover a lust that pulls them together even as they are haunted by the castle ghosts that no one else can see.

I really don't know what to say about this mash-up of a book. The contrast of the gory ghosts and the heavy petting didn't really work for me. I kept expecting for there to be some type of possession happening to explain why the characters kept making out during inopportune times, but that didn't manifest. I was mostly confused by the character choices and the inclusion of Laszlo and Daniella who didn't add anything to the plot. As always, your mileage may vary.

Famous horror authors Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm are not happy to find themselves stuck together at a writing retreat. Both are already struggling with writer’s block, and the last thing they need is to be snowed into a creepy Scottish castle, with no wifi, and no escape from each other. But when spooky things start happening that only Penelope and Neil can see, they must set their rivalry aside to solve the ghostly mystery lurking in the forbidden areas of the castle. What they find there, between each other, and between the haunted crypts and secret passageways, neither of them are expecting.

“'Nothing turns me on more than solving mysteries and stopping ghosts.'”

While I was initially interested in the paranormal aspects of this story, I can’t say it lived up to the premise. I mistakenly thought the characters being horror authors would make for a fun, meta, or even parodic take on ghost stories, and allow for interesting trope subversions since horror stories are literally their job. Nope. Even more frustratingly, the characters often acknowledge how stupid they’re being, a soft of, “ha ha only idiots would go down into a creepy castle cellar, what is this, a cheap scary movie?” before immediately going down into a creepy castle cellar like they’re in a cheap scary movie. Acknowledgement of the trope is not trope subversion. And this happens a million times. I do think my disappointment here is mostly a matter of taste/misplaced expectations, though I wish I hadn’t been teased with the promise of horror so many times. Some scenes genuinely do have horror genre type descriptions. The ghosts and gore and “scary” moments were my favorite parts. At best, I would call this book horror lite, a ghost flavored LaCroix.

"As a horror author, Pen of all people knew not to creep toward the noise, but she couldn’t help it. Curiosity had won her over."

"Why he kept running toward things in this castle instead of away, he’d never understand. It probably had something to do with the writerly urge to know, to experience things in order to write about them. Whatever it was, it was foolish."

So if it’s not horror, how’s the romance? The romantic leads, and let’s be honest, the only characters in this whole book, were a bit grating. Penelope and Neil, despite being advertised as enemies to lovers, are falling into each other’s arms before they even reach the castle. Neil actually did grow on me by the end, but it was rough to get past the fact that their rivalry was fueled by Penelope physically assaulting Neil, publicly, bad enough to leave a scar on his face forever. This was not as cute as the story kept trying to convince me it was. Neither was their incessant flirting, which for the most of the book had me bewilderedly asking, is now the time? You guys JUST saw a rotting corpse. But again, this is probably a me problem, because I’m guessing the target audience for this book would prefer them to make out instead of running terrified out of the castle.Seeing something legitimately scary and then deciding it was an appropriate time to hook up felt so goofy and clunky, I was nearly expecting a Cabin in the Woods situation with pheromones being pumped through the vents lol.

Over all, the writing retreat group- Penelope, Neil, and two of their (I’m being generous when I say this) friends- came across like a lobotomized Scooby-Doo gang. Touting their experience with horror and then making the dumbest possible decisions was tiring to read. Penelope and Neil refuse to alert their friends to the fact that ghosts are not only real but able to physically harm them because they teased Penelope for getting scared the first night in the castle. This was a flimsy excuse to cut them from the majority of the novel (funnily enough, there is an opportune moment where one of the friend’s knowledge could help them, but instead of having them in the scene, Neil just paraphrases a conversation they had. Do they think to ask the friend for more information? No.) Their friends only pop out of thin air to make “ooooh are Penelope and Neil in love?” jokes and conveniently push the romance along by forcing them to together, only to poof back out of existence. When someone gets very obviously concussed and loses consciousness, they are left alone to sleep it off on the couch (!!!). I don’t think it ever crosses anyone's mind to prepare for anything, whether with weapons or appropriate snow clothes or even a half baked idea of what to do. Some of this is played for comedy, but the comedy as a whole had me so close to ending it all. Some of the peak jokes were about cheese, Star Wars, coffee being as dark as their soul, and there was an actual, honest to god “they’re right behind me, aren’t they?” moment. Again, this may boil down to personal comedic taste.

Even though I didn’t enjoy this as much as I wanted, I can definitely see other readers loving it. If I Stopped Haunting You is a poppy, easy to read romance that is well written, perfect for those who love the tropes including: he falls first AND he falls harder, forced proximity, HEA, and grumpy/sunshine.

"They would fall together and rise together, a tide and a moon connected by some invisible string of fate, whether or not they liked it."

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc!

3.75
First off I want to say that I did enjoy this though I wish I enjoyed it more. I think there was so much to be added. The main characters needed more time on the page when they were developing their lustfulness. I honestly hated the two friends and wish they either had more time with more personality or weren't there at all. That being said the atmosphere and how the author wrote it was beautiful. I loved their descriptions of the castle itself and the senses of everything in it. A haunted house romance was a very cool idea and I think people will enjoy this.

I think this was an ok read but had a lot of room for improvement.

If I Stopped Haunting You follows Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm. After conflict at a book panel ends with Penelope throwing a book at Neil's head, the two writers don't meet again until a writing retreat at a haunted castle in Scotland.

The premise had so much I was excited about. Enemies to lovers, a haunted castle and the forced proximity of being stuck together at the writing retreat. Sadly I think the execution could have used some work. My first issue was how dramatic and emotionally volatile Penelope was. I understand this may not have been Wilkens intention, yet that's how it read for me. For example, in one part of the book Neil almost kisses her and she was ready to pack up her stuff, go home and give up writing. Also she was always blaming Neil and hating on him essentially when they barely had ever talked before the book panel. I felt like Neil pined longer for Penelope and was always trying to comply with her or bend for her which ticked me off. Penelope did get better as the book went on but it was hard to be as invested in her.

Sometimes the writing wasn't outright bad just clunky. In the beginning P & N going from their first names to last names a lot just really took me out of the story. It was just written like that with no explanation like maybe she called him by his last name to create more distance or something idk. Also the two other friends in the retreat were totally unnecessary to the story. I felt like they added nothing and the moments with mentions of their past with P & N felt very out of pocket and almost like for shock or inclusion value vs doing anything. Also we need to use some varying forms of dialogue for expressing that a female character is horny. There is only so much a reader can take of reading what was going on in-between Penelope's legs.

Towards the end I did enjoy the story more and was immersed. This was an alright read but I think with some more edits and tighter storytelling it could be improved.

I DNF’d ~ 10% in. I REALLY tried with this one but there was nothing drawing me in. It was bone dry which is so disappointing for me because I thought the premise was AMAZING

A delightful debut!

When Pen and her writing nemesis Neil accidentally end up on a writing retreat, they think spending time together is the worst thing that could happen. What they don't know is the Scottish castle they're staying at is haunted!

I just loved the genre blend of horror and romance in this and found the way the scary elements pushed the characters into each other's arms to be really fun. The conversation around BIPOC authors in publishing was a really great addition and added depth to the story and characters.

Can't wait to read more from this author.

I was so excited to start this book after seeing the cover and reading the premise. It sounded adorable and had some fun Haunted Mansion vibes. Unfortunately, I didn't love the story as much as I'd hoped. I didn't really like Pen, the FMC, and the way she treats Neil, especially in the first chapters of the book. The way she verbally and physically assaulted him went too far. Plus, their relationship went too quickly from total hatred to love with a rather abrupt transition. It didn't make sense to me. And how does the relationship continue when it begins with violence? That being said, they do have some pretty sexy scenes, and their chemistry is strong. Whether they are bickering with each other or loving on each other, you can tell there are strong feelings between them.

Going to a haunted Scottish castle on a writing retreat sounds amazing, and it's a wonderful backdrop for the story. I think it's my favorite part of the novel, and the author definitely created a vivid setting. And the secondary characters were fun and had some great banter. I like the scenes with all of them together and some of the writing tasks they do together. The fun and funny scens mixed in with some scarier scenes plus the romance made for an entertaining and well-oaced read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the opportunity to read this novel. Pub. Date: Oct 15, 2024.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars
🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5 chilly peppers

If I Stopped Haunting You
Author: Colby Wilkens
Source: NetGalley
Pub Date: Oct 15, 2024


"If I Stopped Haunting You" by Colby Wilkens is a five-star masterpiece that seamlessly blends enemies-to-lovers romance with the allure of a haunted house in Scotland. Wilkens delivers a gripping narrative filled with unforgettable characters, steamy tension, and the mysterious charm of a Scottish castle that will leave readers on the edge of their seats. Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm's fiery chemistry leaps off the pages as they navigate through a ghostly retreat, facing not only their own demons but also the chilling spirits haunting the castle's halls. Wilkens' witty prose and fast-paced storytelling make this book impossible to put down. A must-read for anyone craving a unique and thrilling romance experience!

I enjoyed this book. I thought the characters and the narrative structure were very interesting. I would recommend this book to those interested in this genre. I would be interested in reading more from this author.

I am thoroughly impressed by the emotional depth and originality this book brings to the table. The author manages to weave a narrative that is both haunting and deeply touching, exploring themes of loss, redemption, and the complexities of human connections. The characters in this novel are crafted with care and authenticity. Their emotional journeys are poignant and reflective, resonating with me on a personal level. The way they navigate their relationships, both with the living and the spectral, adds a rich layer to the overall story and keeps the intrigue high.

Pen and Neil are competing authors in the small bubble of Native American voices in the horror genre and with that comes A LOT of animosity that slowly turns to understanding and...maybe love?

It took me about 20% into this book to really get hooked by the story and characters. Pen is an angry female author who is stuck trying to write her second book and has a career damaging run in with her male author nemesis Neil at a Book Con. On a writing retreat to a haunted castle in Scotland they start to discover that they have more in common than they originally thought and the slow burn romance begins.

They fall into a mystery of the lady in black that calls to Pen when she enters the castle for their retreat. Weird things start to happen, ghostly figures, doors opening on their own, creepy figures on the terrifying cellar, you name it this castle has it.

This books covers the struggle of Native voices in white dominated spheres, internal struggles with identity, enemy to lovers romance, and a compelling ghost story.

DNF at 37%

I found Penelope to pretty insufferable and Neil’s sudden intense attraction to her to be beyond belief. This was not for me at all. Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. I will not be posting any reviews of this book or any book from this publisher on social media platforms in solidarity with readers for accountability