Holly Smokes! The cover of this novel is what drew me in and I HAD to read it.

This book reminded me of The Haunting of Bly Manor, and that alone should be enough reason for you to give it a go. The author did a great job of mixing horror and romance just enough to where it wasn't overly romantic.

- cozy read
- for fans of minor horror (not scary)
- not an overpowering romance that makes you want to barf because its been done a million times before
- haunted castle

The idea of a horror romance was so intriguing to me, and I absolutely loved the intro to the story. I was cackling so hard at the Book Con scene, and I was so excited for the rival author enemies to lovers. I loved the Native American and LGBTQ representation as well.

Unfortunately the story fell a little flat to me. I've read so much contemporary romance and enemies to lovers, that if I don't feel connected to the relationship development, I struggle to maintain interest. It felt like the two main characters resolved their issues simply because the other was hot. I also thought the conclusion of the horror part of the story was a bit anticlimactic.

The book was OK, and I will keep an eye out for Colby's future books.

"If you're in the mood for a steamy enemies-to-lovers romance but also a chilling haunted-house horror, GET YOU A BOOK THAT CAN DO BOTH! I blazed through this book in one sitting because I just couldn't wait to find out what would happen next!" - Alicia Thompson, USA Today bestselling author of With Love, from Cold World

An enemies to lovers romance with a spooky twist where two feuding writers end up on a writers retreat together at a haunted castle in Scotland

It's been months since horror author Penelope Skinner threw a book at Neil Storm. But he was so infuriating, with his sparkling green eyes and his bestselling horror novels that claimed to break Native stereotypes. And now she’s a publishing pariah and hasn’t been able to write a word since. So when her friend invites her on a too-good-to-be-true writers retreat in a supposedly haunted Scottish castle, she seizes the opportunity. Of course, some things really are too good to be true.

Neil wants nothing less than to be trapped in a castle with the frustratingly adorable woman who threw a book at him. She drew blood! Worse still, she unleashed a serious case of self-doubt! Neil is terrified to write another bestselling “book without a soul,” as Pen called it. All Neil wants is to find inspiration, while completely avoiding her.

But as the retreat begins, Pen and Neil are stunned to find themselves trapped in a real-life ghost story. Even more horrifying, they’re stuck together and a truly shocking (extremely hot) almost-kiss has left them rethinking their feelings, and… maybe they shouldn’t have been enemies at all? But if they can’t stop the ghosts pursuing them, they may never have the chance to find out.

Full of spooky chills and even more sexy thrills, If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens is the funny, fast-paced romp romance readers have been waiting for!


i adored this book

Ughh... I wanted to love this book so much. The premise of this book was so intriguing. I've never read a "horror romance' but it sounds right up my alley. Sadly, I could not get invested. Everything felt so forced that I couldn't connect to the characters and questioned many interactions.
*mild spoiler for the beginning maybe*
There is a part in the beginning where Penelope and her "mortal enemy" Neil Storm sneak into a castle. The whole thing just left me scratching my head. They sneak in, he says it's going to be their secret, then they go different directions but end up running into each other and act like they are shocked they are in the same place. THEN someone comes to run them away from the castle and Neil pulls her to the side to act like they are cuddling? What was the point? The whole thing was so strange that it completely turned me off.
AND WHY DO THEY KEEP REFERRING TO THEM BY THEIR LAST NAME?!Jesus, just stop.
I'm just going to stop there. Its a pass for me but I really wish the author the best and will definitely check out future books!

A horror / romance that shouldn’t really work but somehow does? Enemies to lovers and forced proximity; this book delivers on spice and some pretty creepy paranormal elements (points for the Native and queer representation)! A decent balance between the romance and horror, although the conclusion was massively anticlimactic.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing this ARC for my voluntary and honest review!

OMG I absolutely LOVED this book, I couldn't put it down until I finished. I really loved the Native American representation and also the LGBT+ representation. Can't wait to recommend this book to others!!!

I devoured this book. A lot of the contemporary paranormal romances just use like a hint. But this went all out.

Penelope is one of my new favorite leads. She is very real for her first instinct to be run away and later think things through. And there being an actual mystery in the book hooked me that much more.

I cannot wait to read more. Also I loved the side characters. There wasn't really anyone I dreaded popping up.

As an indigenous woman, I was excited to see my culture represented in the romance genre. The diversity is a welcome change. It starts strongly with Pen and exploring the conflict of cultural identity. This exploration is not carried throughout and is a missed opportunity to showcase character depth. Sexual diversity is also mentioned but only briefly and served as background fodder and another missed opportunity.
The story is meandered by characters making illogical decisions and motivations that need clarity. The horror was not horrific nor mysterious. The characters needed more depth and fell flat after the opening chapter. The romantic connection was tepid as Pen and Neil lacked romantic chemistry—the arguing as a flirtation narrative was too one note to bring about believable dialogue. The conflict was there, but the chemistry was not. The prose could have been more precise to make for a smoother read. Instead, it felt wooden throughout.
While If I Stopped Haunting You aspires to mix romance and some light horror, it needs more chemistry and character development. The generic romance enemies-to-lover trope does not showcase character development, and the constant bickering quickly gets old. The mystery/ghost story also needs more tension. The blurb promises chills and thrills but could be better in both departments.

Colby Wilkens' debut novel has nearly everything I'd want in a spooky romance.

Pen and Neil are both Indigenous horror authors, but in Pen's opinion, Neil has catered too much to his Caucasian audience. So naturally, she calls him out on a panel they're both sitting on... And then throws a book at him.

Fast forward four months, Pen has been ostracized in the book community as part of the fall out of The Incident. She lost all creativity and shut herself away. Laszlo invites her to a writers retreat in a haunted Scottish castle. Pen begrudgingly agrees to go, as long as Laszlo can guarantee that Neil won't be attending... But of course, Neil decides last minute to join.

This enemies to lovers romance is so fun. We've got a little bit of spooky, a good mystery, førcëd prøximity, more thrown objects, and redemption. There's only about 3 explïcït scenes but they're hot!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Colby Wilkens for this advance copy!

Tropes :
Førcëd prøximity
Enemies to lovers

ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Penelope Skinner is in desperate need for a getaway especially after an explosive encounter with fellow horror author Neil Storm. Yes she may have thrown a book at his face, but he deserved it! The incident has left her feeling like a pariah for maiming the beloved author. So when her friend invites her to a writing retreat, she quickly purchases her ticket. Once in the picturesq Scottish landscape all her worries fade away, up until Neil Storm walks through the door. Penelope convinces herself she can handle a week with her nemesis. But when the group arrive to the castle, they are staying they find it already occupied…by ghosts. Forced to work together Penelope and Neil must not only survive one another for this week but also the spirits haunting them.

I was immediately interested in this I mean who doesn’t love a good spooky Scottish castle. Along with the spooky romance, there is also great representation as our two main characters are native American authors. This aspect of the plot was insightful and well done, showing the reader the difficulties in which they had to face in order to become published. The plot unfolds through dual POV from FMC Penelope and MMC Neil. Along with the dual POV, we are also given excerpts of each of the characters own books that they have written, which I really enjoyed. I will say I had hoped for more ghostly spooky aspects in this though. With that said this is most definitely centered more on the romance and the ghosts are a subplot. I also personally wouldn’t classify this as a slow burn as the characters did rather quickly lust for one another. Aside from the same repetitive discussion regarding their rival books with one another it seemed that they did not have many conversations to build their connection. Overall, this was an interesting read that just slightly missed the mark for me. However, I do think many romance readers will thoroughly enjoy this book and am interested to see the author grow with each continued work they create.

If I Stopped Haunting You comes out October 15th, 2024.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

"If I Stopped Haunting You' by Colby Wilkens was a quick, quirky read and I loved every minute of this book! Would re-read it again at a later time.

Pen is an author who became the black sheep of the literary community when she challenged the golden boy of fiction during an event. She ends up in another country on what she thought was going to be a writing retreat when she discovers her arch nemesis has also joined. In addition, there's a paranormal component which adds an interesting twist to your typical "Hallmark movie" type story. This is your standard guy/girl hates girl/guy plot where romance blossoms. There were a few bits in the story that seemed unnecessary (headstone same last name as Pen, but didn't seem to go anywhere), the end felt a little rushed with the wrapping of the ghost's story, but it was a good read overall.

This book was everything I didn’t know I needed. This cozy horror enemies to lovers pulled me in from the first page and had me finishing it in 4 hours! Everything in this book was done well from the plot, tension and spice. This slowburn romance will have you swooning in no time! The character growth in this book was so good! I absolutely adore Neil and Pen!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Quick, fun read. Great horror scenes. Really spooky. Totally enjoyed Pen and Neil’s banter. Pen throwing things was laugh out loud funny. Really liked the romance too. Everyone needs a friend like Lazslo. Hoping for more from this author. It’s a trope I didn’t know I needed. Well done!

Enemies to lover in a haunted castle sounded like a really fun & spooky premise, but unfortunately this book fell a bit flat for me.

The enemies to lovers made sense and felt genuine (she literally throws a book at him), but they went from hate to like really quickly and it didn’t really make any sense to me, especially when they hadn’t resolved much between them.

The spooky scenes / horror aspect was really cool, but the steamy scenes around the spooky stuff definitely pulled me out of any sort of tension or sense of danger. Like, “oh no, scary ghost lady!” But then let’s make out against this wall??? Didn’t work for me.

Also, there were a lot of questions I had in the end that were never resolved:
•Why were Pen & Neil the only two who could see the ghost?
•Where were the other two characters the entire time?
•What was the point of Pen having the last name if it isn’t revealed she’s related?

While the spooky stuff / horror aspect was chilling & fun at times, “we’ve got some Dorian Grey-level shit going on here” had me laughing out loud, overall I felt like this one just didn’t live up to what I was hoping it could be.

Thanks to NetGalley & Colby Wilkens for providing me with an advanced reader copy. All thoughts shared here are my own.

This book was such a quick and fun read! I was interested from the very start and stayed that way throughout. The slow burn actually was, and wasn’t an insta-love kind of thing. However, this was marketed as being horror, but it wasn’t at all. This was generally pretty light. It had the potential to be creepy, but that part was kind of glossed over. Overall this was an easy and enjoyable read, I’d definitely recommend checking it out! 4.5 ⭐️

This book was S...L...O...W...

And honestly, the big reveal for the haunting was lackluster. The romance was okay. I think I'm just not a person who enjoys being in the characters heads this much. Listening to the FMC's internal monologue on why she was suddenly having feelings for the MMC just wasn't interesting to me. (honestly, she said why at least 6 times in one paragraph).

The premise of the book was interesting, but ultimately it fell short for me. The story starts with Penelope, our female MC, throwing a book at the head of the male MC so hard that it leaves him bleeding (and with a scar) in public. In front of a room full of people. That left a bad taste in my mouth, even though this is painted as a sort of in-joke between them later on- I think there could have been a way to show the depth of her anger without demonstrated physical harm. The story wanted to be several things at once, but ultimately there wasn't enough time given to any one of them. The horror aspect worked with descriptions of the things that go bump in the night, but the sex scenes in and around the sightings made it feel unintentionally campy and undercut any tension or sense of danger that had been building before that. I think this book could have been great as a study of their relationship and their reckoning with the pressure of the white publishing industry because the author tied that conversation, and the nuance within it, back to their tension and distrust well. It also could have worked as a snowed-in horror (those descriptions had me turning the lights on), but combining all of those factors was tricky.

Received an ARC copy of this in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to NetGalley, Colby Wilkens, and the publisher!

This was honestly a pretty fun romp of a book. Enemies to lovers in an actual haunted castle? Writers retreat in Scotland? Yes, please. Sign me right up! The premise is incredibly fun and I loved the spooky atmosphere. There’s a point where the FMC is zoning out a bit and writing about cheese and it honest to god cracked me up, because sometimes it do just be like that.

The majority of my complaints are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. I do feel that the story started slow and that it was difficult to connect with the characters since their tension felt incredibly forced at first, but I was pleasantly surprised that things fell into place relatively quickly. It’s dialogue heavy, the romance itself felt like more of an afterthought because most of my attention was on the ghosts, and the side characters could probably have been fleshed out a bit more, but over all, this was a great read that will be absolutely perfect for spooky season.

Firstly, I extend my gratitude to NetGalley, the publisher, and Colby Wilkens for providing me with an advanced reader copy. All thoughts shared here are my own.

From the moment I laid eyes on the captivating cover of "If I Stopped Haunting You," I was eager to immerse myself in its pages. As a fan of both spooky settings and paranormal romance tropes, the premise held promise.

The narrative revolves around a group of four horror authors on a writer's retreat in a Scottish castle rumored to be haunted. While Penelope and Neil, with their tumultuous relationship, take center stage, the supernatural element adds an intriguing layer to their story.

What I Loved:

1. The atmospheric setting of a haunted Scottish castle instantly drew me in, offering a delightful blend of mystery and allure.
2. I am a sucker for a good snowed-in trope, adding an extra layer of charm to the setting and elevating the overall reading experience.
3. The enemies-to-lovers trope, coupled with a slow-burn romance, added depth to the characters' relationships and provided moments of intrigue and anticipation.
4. There are definitely some laugh-out-loud moments sprinkled throughout the narrative, adding to the enjoyment of the reading experience.
5. The representation of BIPOC characters, LGBTQ individuals, and the exploration of Native American culture within a predominantly white industry were commendable aspects, shedding light on important issues and promoting inclusivity.

Room for Improvement:

1. Despite the promise of an enemies-to-lovers narrative, the chemistry between the main characters fell short for me. Their relationship lacked the spark and depth needed to fully invest in their romantic journey.
2. Penelope's character, while intriguing, often came across as overly self-blaming and passive. I wished for more moments where she took charge of her own narrative and confronted her challenges head-on.
3. The horror aspect of the story felt underdeveloped and rushed. I anticipated a gripping mystery to unravel, but the resolution of the ghostly hauntings left much to be desired. The supernatural elements lacked depth and failed to significantly contribute to the overall plot.

In Conclusion:

"If I Stopped Haunting You" offers an enticing blend of spooky ambiance and romantic tension, making it a compelling read for fans of paranormal romance. While it excels in setting and representation, the narrative falls short in delivering on its promises of both romance and horror. Despite its flaws, it remains an enjoyable read, leaving room for growth and potential in future works by Colby Wilkens.