I was really intrigued by the romance/haunted house combination. While I really enjoyed the prose and the author’s ability to write details and descriptions in really entrancing ways, I found the romance element to be a bit lackluster. The “enemies” seemed very immature, which is enough to put me off a book. Though it wasn’t my favorite romance of all time, I did have fun with it.

This is the first horror and romance book I've ever read. There should be more books like this! At first I felt thrown into the story and was a bit confused. I felt like the introduction needed more help but 4 authors are renting a castle for a writing retreat. Most are friendly with each other, except Penelope and Neal. She even threw a book at his face once. In the castle, only Penelope and Neal see strange occurrences and at the same time begin having feelings for one another. I like how there were excerpts from all their books except for the other female author.

I think the idea was great and the premise was solid, but the writing felt a little immature and it felt hard to follow. Additionally could not stand the FMC sadly. I think it’s still a fun read and I love the representation, so I hope it was just it’s not you it’s me thing.

This book is now one of my favorites. It was a frist horror-romance for me and I think it was a perfect book for that. It was so easy to read, the enemies to lovers trope was done perfectly and the pace of the book was just right. I grew attached to the charachters and would love to read more about them! Colby Wilkens is now on my auto-read list!

If I Stopped Haunting You is a book with a mix of mystery, horror, and romance. While I typically enjoy enemies to lovers, this wasn’t my favorite but was still an enjoyable read. The slow burn between Pen and Neil was killing me, but it was perfect for the story! And the spicier scenes between the two were definitely delicious!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

DNF - I have tried to read this book twice and give it the benefit of the doubt but beyond the first chapter - which is a fantastic dramatic start - this is poorly written. The cover shows two teenagish-characters and while that can come down to the art style, I assure you these two PUBLISHED ADULT AUTHORS act like children. Add on top of that that the plot delivery is soooooo sloppy - who is this random sister of Laslzo that shows up for no reason? - and seems to be throwing the plot at the reader too quickly for anything to matter.

Also I don’t think a grown ass man would yell “IM A NATIVE MAN IN A WHITE MAN’S WORLD” in the middle of a Scottish pub. Calm down, Neil. This is a Wendy’s.

I received a free copy of, If I Stopped Haunting You, by Colby Wilkens, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Horror writer Penelope Skinner is at a writers retreat with her nemesis Neil Storm, in a castle. This was a nice book, a little scary and romantic at the same time.

This was a quick read. It was unfortunately not my cup of tea. I’m sure many others will enjoy it. I normally love an enemies to lovers but this one didn’t do it for me.

I’ve never had a harder time rating a book or trying to write a review. I rated it a three just because of its more original concept.

The cover and synopsis drew me in. The concept was amazing, but…

In my honest opinion I felt this novel was a slow burn of disappointment.

I love the original idea of the concept romance and horror. I feel like I got more romance but it lacked on the horror. The horror seeped in and then I felt like it was rushed at the end for the horror resolution. It was like they just wanted skinner to see the mausoleum and then the ghosts could get it in, leave behind ghost jizz and be done with over 200 years of haunting.

The romance bit I felt like the female character was gaslighting a bit, throwing a fit, a tad abusive, and made the male character question his worth when she lacked the information. Neil pined over Pen for a long time and she was just so jealous and acted like a spoiled toddler.

The spicy scenes were in fact spicy and well written.

I also did not expect the epilogue to be that ending. I was hoping for an excerpt of their joined book or their interview panel of them together of it for her redemption not Daniela.

The final outcome when this novel is released maybe different and I do hope that it is. There is much potential in this novel I just feel it feel short.

3.5/5 stars. This book got off to a very slow start, up until about halfway through. I felt the first half was very wordy at times and was difficult to pay attention to. But once I hit the halfway point I finished it very quickly. Cute concept of an enemies to lovers storyline. A bit of a slow burn too. All it takes is putting these two in a haunted house for a weekend for them to figure out maybe they’re not meant to hate each other. They soon realize that since they’re each the reason for each other’s writing block, perhaps if they stop hating each other they may be able to write again. Seems like it was a plot of their friends who organized this writers retreat. If the whole book had the pace of the second half it would have been a 5 star book. Would read more by this author again.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced release copy of this book!

I was immediately drawn to this book by the cover and was surprised ant how much I enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed the incorporation of the ghost element. The characters exceeded my expectations for a romance novel, offering a realistic portrayal of love. The overall plot was engaging, and Colby Wilkens' writing style left me craving more. The enemy-to-lover romance trope was cleverly utilized, and I appreciated the effective portrayal of the haunted house elements. It was entertaining to see the main characters as writers and witness how this aspect was integrated into the story.

If you're looking for a quick, enjoyable read, this is the book for you. I enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters and finished the book in 1 sitting!

This is such an easy read by which I meant that it’s so much fun. I read the book in two days, I was eating it up. And I totally found myself yelling at the characters because they are totally misreading each other but not communicating. However what I love most about this book is that it doesn’t have a trope I love to hate (but eat it up anyways) in the middle of it. Side characters are amazing and I love it. The two main characters are Penelope and Neil and they’re both writers. Penelope is headstrong, but she’s scared. Neil is shaken up for once in his life because of Penelope. There’s so much diversity in this book I love it. But I also like how this book questions stereotypes in books as well and how Neil in particular is writing his books and it makes me think how often that happens to authors. Overall, it is a hauntingly beautiful romance book.

Two strong willed writers, enemies going head to head, end up bashing each other's career - and then can't avoid each other. What to do? And what about that ghost?

This book was… interesting. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t the best. I think it’s mostly because it’s not usually a genre of book I would read, which is my fault. Overall, the writing was very good!

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me early access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

this one's going to be short. i didn't like this. maybe it might just be me and the timing, but this was not a book for me. i LOVE and KNOW all things paranormal and this just did not hit the way i wanted it to :/

This review is my opinion and my opinion only. I did receive this book from Netgalley.
I thought this story is ok. There was some lines that made me roll my eyes. I would have enjoyed this story more, if it didn’t ave the cliche “romance lines” For example, “She watched him quietly as he took another long drink….She squeezed her thighs together” It seems strange to find similar lines like this through out the book because he would be writing a good story then add a line to that caliber. It almost feels like he had to put in “the romance cliche lines” to make this a romance book.
This just wasn’t for me.

I've been anticipating the release of this book since Colby announced she was working on it as the concept of horror meets romance was intriguing. Despite the anticipation I had for this story, it left a little to be desired and it could have greatly benefited from deeper character development a little stronger plot.

While horror meets romance seems unconventional, I liked how they worked in this story. It was spooky yet brought the heat and I liked the horror story of the Scottish castle, but I do think that the mystery was a little anticlimactic in the end as there was no true reason for Pen to dig into the story beyond finding a version she could write about herself. The stakes were not as high as they could've been with the horror aspect. I did like the rivals to lovers aspect and the lens on an important conversation in todays world about what it means to be "native enough" and the lack of indigenous representation in publishing. I love that an indigenous author is getting their time to shine under a main publisher.

As for the romance, I liked the spice well enough, but it did feel very superficial. The relationship was more about physical attraction and I would've liked to see more development and less "insta-love" between Neil and Pen, especially after the public falling out they had. As for the side characters, they were very forgettable and added very little to the story itself, especially Daniela. They just kind of felt like they were just... there. Both Neil and Pen's characters could've benefitted from more development, especially since Pen seemed to blame Neil for a lot of things and he just... accepted it? More growth was needed for sure.

While the writing itself was good, the pacing was a bit slow at times and I sometimes had to motivate myself to keep going. It's a unique idea with strong ideas, but not quite executed as well as I had hoped. As it's a debut, I have hopes that Colby finds her stride and will continue to read what she puts out, especially since I'd love to see more indigenous representation in publishing and book releases.

This novel by Colby Wilkens injects rarely touched upon elements in romance. Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm are two Indigenous horror writers, literally fighting over the same limited spots afforded to BIPOC authors - and even limited shelf space. While at a writing retreat in Scotland, the two writers move from enemies to lovers; and Wilkens makes sure this novel not only has the beats of a romance novel, but the beats of a horror novel as well. I was legitimately scared at some points reading this!

I loved the elements in this book: enemies to lovers, spooky mystery vibes, forced proximity.

I think the overall concept for the book was really great and the story line was enjoyable! The characters however were not my favorite. I felt no chemistry whatsoever between the main characters and was so disappointed with Penelope’s growth throughout the book. It felt like she couldn’t take any personal responsibility and blamed Neil for all her problems. She overall just was not very nice to him even after they got together.

The mystery side of the story was the most intriguing for me. I kept reading to see what would happen and how they would handle it - spoiler not very well. The romance fell very flat for me. It felt like Thor connection was so rushed. For two people that supposedly hated each other they quickly changed things up and fell head over heels very quickly despite having no chemistry together.

Overall I think the story was good! It was not my favorite but that had more to due with the characters than the plot.