I enjoyed the conflict/discussion around nuanced decisions and perceiving others. I didn't always agree with Neil, but having his point of view helped the conflict between him and Pen be more reasonable. I also liked how the spooky/haunting aspect of the book increased in the second half.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for the ALC, all opinions are my own.

DNF fairly quickly in to this one. Right out of the gate is a huge altercation with the FMC throwing a book at the MMC. Now I'm expected to believe they're falling madly, deeply in lust? Characters are just too flat and one track minded for me. The blurb seemed really interesting and I love love the cover art.

I do really like the portrayal of the characters by both narrators, they had great voices but had a bit of a flat source material to read from.

Wow! Colby Wilkens can absolutely write a love story, a ghost story, suspense, authors writing, and spice that slaps and a story line that grabs me and pulls me in!
This has enemies to lovers, indigenous people ties, ghosts, ghost romances, spiteful family, monsters, oh man it has it all.
I absolutely ate this up!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5 loved it
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Thank you to @netgalley @dreamscape_media and Colby Wilkens for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook.

Get ready for If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens October 15!

A pair of horror authors are bitter enemies since the competition to have the best book in the market. When both end up at a small writers retreat in a haunted castle in Scotland, it seems any ghosts will be the least of their worries. But as it goes with close proximity and shared misery…the two find they’re not so different and start to get closer on a new level…only to find themselves in the middle of an actual horror story full of spirits and secrets.
This had all the makings for a fun spooky romcom but the spice was a bit too much and sudden, the plot didn’t make sense most of the time, and the spooky parts of the book came way too late. Didn’t quite click with me unfortunately. The narrators, however, were both great!
Thank you to Dreamscape Media for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to love this, but it just fell flat for me 😭 I found the FMC very annoying and while I liked the MMC., I just wanted more from them! I did enjoy the haunted castle element, but overall, I am just "meh" on this one.

IF I STOPPED HAUNTING YOU is a spooky enemies-to-lovers romcom featuring two Native authors struggling with their next novel, stranded together in a Scottish castle, and a delight of a read. The book starts Neil and Pen off in a rough place (as all good romcoms do), hating each other, and absolutely not thrilled to be tricked into spending time together. But, despite their grudges, Neil and Pen are deeply attracted to each other. Amidst reconciling, and kindling their relationship, they also must solve the mystery of the castle’s ghosts—ghosts the other guests haven’t even seen. I enjoyed this book a lot! The back and forth between their relationship and the ghost work was both hot and intriguing, and the spooky imagery made it feel like the perfect October book!

Thank you to Colby Wilkens, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was okay. Not well balanced, and the characters had to work to be likeable, especially Pen.

I don't care what race, gender, ancestry, etc, you are, if you're going to act that immaturely in a public setting where you're supposed to be professional, I'd lose a lot of respect for you too. I certainly wouldn't be giving you money.

That said, I love me a redemption arc, so I don't mind a character who fucks up and needs to grovel. As long as their mistake was something I could forgive, at any rate.

Tone imbalance. I'm not sure you can put horror elements in a rom-com---speaking of the grotesque visage of the ghosts and the scenes that were supposed to be scary. The tones needed are completely different---easy, light, fun vs. tense, dark, spooky. I had a hard time taking the scary parts seriously. Worse, they were kinda funny.

Second, Pen and Neil were in lust from the get-go and I got so sick of hearing how this of hers made him hard, how that of his made her throb, and oh my god how could she possibly feel this way about HIM, was she crazy blah blah blah. God, it went on and on. If you're not going to reconcile and build a relationship properly, fine, then just get in bed and get it over with so we can move on.

I really, really wish this had been more of a ghost story with a romantic element than a romance with a bit of haunting. It just didn't feel like this plot had enough going on. Waaaayyy too reliant on the forced sizzle between the leads taking up words.

Lastly, I'm not sure how ghosts worked in this story. They were able to be physically intimate. Emphasis on physically. There was ghost cum. I'm very serious. Tone imbalance, man.

There was potential here, but needed a better editor and a couple more drafts.

2 stars.

I did not like "If I Stopped Haunting You" by Colby Wilkens. I tried to get over the fact that Pen, the main female character, starts the book by physically assaulting Neil, the main male character, by throwing a book at him in a public setting (a book panel at a convention). Four months pass, and Pen and Neil find themselves in each other's orbits again when they stay in a haunted castle in Scotland for a writer's retreat. Repeatedly, for the next 300+ pages, Pen attempts to justify her actions by gaslighting Neil. She makes *herself* the victim of the situation and blames everyone else for her issues. This did not sit well with me at all. I love books with complicated female main characters. In fact, I frequently and actively seek them out, but there is a fine line between complicated and straight-up toxic. Pen is just toxic, full stop. *Maybe* she could have been redeemable without the assault (which scarred him, by the way!), but the fact that she does not grow at all during the entire novel leads me to believe that's not the case. She's still the same sanctimonious, self-important, angry person she was in the beginning. By the end of the story, the only difference is that Pen has convinced Neil that he wants to be with the person who assaulted him. Representing what it is like to be BIPOC in the publishing industry is important, admirable, and necessary. Indigenous romance stories are few and far between, which is a disgrace. I also appreciate the bi-representation here. We need more diverse books in the romance genre! This is, by far, the best part of the book. Unfortunately, the rest of it is a mess. The haunting aspects were also not all that spooky. The dual audiobook narrations by Curtis Michael Holland and Kyla Garcia were fine, though. Apart from this, it was just a letdown all around. I usually love enemies-to-lovers and forced proximity stories, but this was not my cup of tea. I do not recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Colby Wilkens, St. Martin's Press, and St. Martin's Griffin for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

This cover tho!

I thought it was a cute lil romcom with a horror aspect. Authors
Penelope and Neil have been “enemies” since a bookcon where Penelope gets in a fight with Neil about his book and ends up throwing a book at his head. Neither of them have been able to write anything since. Their friend Lazlo sets up a writing retreat in a haunted castle in Scotland. Will they make it out alive?

It was decent. I really liked the discourse on BIPOC authors in the publishing industry. Overall the romance and horror aspects were largely forgettable but it was a fun little palette cleanser.

Thanks to netgalley and st martins press for an alc and eARC.

3 ☆
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Let me say, the cover art alone deserves 5 ☆. It's so pretty and beautiful to me! The premise is what caught my attention: "An enemies-to-lovers romance with a spooky twist where two feuding writers end up on a writer's retreat together at a haunted castle in Scotland."

Now to the review. Penelope was a very unlikable character who throughout the book played the victim role, gaslighted the male character, Neil, and not to mention assaulted the man at the very beginning of the book. While her feelings were very valid, the way she handled it was poor. Despite this, they (Penelope and Neil) end up being the love interests, which gives us the enemies-to-lovers trope. Good for the spooky season.

The audiobook was good. I loved that it was a dual narration. The narrators did a good job. They were easy to listen to and follow along with.
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Thank you, Netgellay, and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Read If I Stopped Haunting You if you like:
🪶 Indigenous Stories
📚 Authors
😡 Enemies to Lovers
👻 Ghost Stories
🏚️ Haunted Houses

This book is an enemies to lovers meets forced proximity story with a sprinkle of haunted house vibes mixed in!

Pen and Neil are enemies in the writing scene as Pen has stayed true to her indigenous culture in her writing which hasn’t gotten her far, while Neil has bent to the whim of his publisher and white washed his books to make them more palatable and has become a best seller. So when they are put on a panel together and it heats up when Pen can’t help but share her opinions they both have ramifications from that day and the publicity of their public battle.

Then when their mutual convinces them to go on a writers retreat and they are now stuck in forced proximity in a haunted house, what truly could go wrong?!

Overall, for me the pacing was a bit slow and wanted more spooky vibes with the haunted house and ghosts, but what I think was done best was the discourse around minorities and expectations to white wash for public consumption as this was so well done!

Thanks so much to the Dreamscape and SMP for my ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest feedback!

I absolutely loved the confluence of a creepy haunted Scottish castle and a blossoming romance. There was some fun (but yet scary) ghost stuff but also some fun spice! This is a great book to read leading up to Halloween, especially if you really love being creeped out but also need a little romance in your life sometimes. Tropes featured include will they or won’t they and enemies to lovers. The narration for the audiobook was on point and added to the story, if audiobooks are your thing!

Cute and spooky- just in time for the Halloween season. Two enemy horror writers- Neil and Pen- find themselves at a writing retreat together in Scotland. Neither wanting to be near the other but enjoying being submerged in a haunted castle place but also unable to write anything.

Forced proximity
Enemies to lovers

So the argument that this book is centered on was weak. Pen’s anger with Neil is weak. The insta-attraction didn’t bother me, the continued bickering did. And it was really hard to like Penelope. I guess the biggest problem with this novel was the believability factors of the main events. Would this have happened in real time? And can someone be successful, be in a relationship and carry on like this?
It was not horrible but it wasn’t great.
I did listen to it also as an audiobook and thought the narrators, Curtis Michael Holland and Kyla Garcia were good. They were a good fit together.
Thanks Dreamscape Media and St. Martins Press via NetGalley.

So I was super excited for this one, unfortunately the actions of Penelope Skinner at the start of the novel, and what fuels her "hatred" for Neil Storm, is such bad behavior that I could not understand how these two went from "enemies" to lovers - especially so quickly. Neil, DUDE, Pen attacked you on stage in public leaving you with a scar on your head... and she never really apologizes or acknowledges her bad behavior... WHY are you falling in love with her?! As someone who doesn't typically read a lot of sex on the page books, this one does have some spicy scenes, though not as many as I expected in a romance book.

Unfortunately, the side characters aren't really fleshed out and pop in and out of the narrative when Wilkens needs more living humans in a room to further the plot. The ghost story aspect started off interesting but the resolution was... lackluster to say the least, and didn't really make sense that THAT would stop the hauntings.

IF I STOPPED HAUNTING YOU is a quick read with promise, but in the end it didn't deliver for me, but YMMV.

Curtis Michael Holland and Kyla Garcia do a decent job with the audiobook narration though their voices for each character are SO drastically different that it gets distracting at some points.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so fun! I loved the aspect of the ghosts and the castle. 🏰 👻 I’m also a big fan of enemies to lovers. It was cool seeing them slowly unravel the story of the ghosts haunting them while also falling for each other. The spice was great and there were a lot of funny moments. The narration was great and also the cover is to die for. 😍

I have been looking forward to "If I Stopped Haunting You" since it was announced. It had such an intriguing premise - I love when romance books deviate from the standard - and I loved the thought of getting to read from yet another Indigenous voice. Not only is the author white/Choctaw-Cherokee, but both main characters are also Native AND queer.

The book is delightfully absurd - its a writers retreat gone wrong featuring romance and amazing *against a wall* spicy scenes. The ghosts are main characters in their own right. I loved being able to follow these characters as they tried to sort out the mystery of the castle. I don't read a lot of mysteries or thrillers so I couldn't guess anything that was about to happen. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn't really anticipate such a heavy mystery element, but I really did enjoy it.

The relationship between the two main characters was also great because you really see their relationship grow from disdain and animosity into something deeper and more meaningful. The spicy scenes were also SPICING and I loved it.

I listened to the audiobook and I particularly loved Kyla Garcia's narration for Penelope. It was fantastic. The audiobook was great in general, but she was the shining star.

I can't wait for more from Colby Wilkins.

The narration for the audiobook was excellent, unfortunately the rest of the book fell flat for me.

I was never particularly invested in either the romance or the ghosts. The rivalry/enemies aspect really made me believe they disliked each other, but the jump into being in love was a little unbelievable for me.

I didn’t dislike the premise or writing style, just felt everything was a little underwhelming. I will likely give the other another chance as the next book looks good!

Thank you to Dreamscape Audio and NetGalley for sending me an audio-ARC of If I Stopped Haunting You in exchange for review.

1.5 stars

This was not for me….. I was very excited by the romance/horror aspect of the synopsis as well as the setting being in Scotland as I have an upcoming trip there.

To me, the horror was basically non existent. Just people seeing ghosts but nothing eerie or thrilling about it in my opinion.
And for the romance… enemies to lovers is my favorite trope but I think these are just enemies who are hate-banging. They’re so mean and violent with eachother (especially Penelope). The main characters have no charisma while actively hating eachother is how it comes across… but then secretly have internal monologues about being interested. My favorite quote is “How could they go from hate to this so soon… it seemed impossible.” Because that sums it up perfectly.

The plot just wasn’t giving enough for me, Penelope talks about quitting writing and moving in with her mother multiple times as if that’s an appealing option. It’s just cringe. I can see the idea of where this may have been wanting to go but personally with the lack of plot, unlikable immature main characters, awkward and frequent sex scenes, I was just pushing myself to finish and have it be done with.

I do like that the chapters switch POV and we get different narrators for each character. They did a good job and honestly I would have either DNF’d or taken ages to finish if it weren’t for them.

Thank you for sending this to me! Nothing personal this book just wasn’t for me, if you want a smutty light read this may be right up your alley!

I didn't love this but I didn't dislike it. I wanted to finish it but didn't feel fully invested in the turn out. It seemed like the author wanted a reason for the characters to have conflict but it ended up making the FMC really unlikable for the sake of making the MMC the unsung/misunderstood hero. I did like the rom-com-in a horror setting idea, though. That was pretty original. I also liked that the author focused her characters on indigenous people.

The narrator for Laslow was awful.