A review by popthebutterfly
If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens

5.0

 

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: If I Stopped Haunting You 

 

Author: Colby Wilkens 

 

Book Series: Standalone 

 

Rating: 5/5 

 

Spice Rating: 3/5 

 

Diversity: Indigenous main character, Indigenous Bisexual main character 

 

Recommended For...: Adult Readers, Contemporary, Romance, Horror, Paranormal, Ghosts 

 

Publication Date: October 15, 2024 

 

Genre: Contemporary Romance Horror 

 

Age Relevance: 18+ (Racism, Slight Violence, Language, Romance, Sexual Content) 

 

Explanation of Above: There are moments of racism mentioned in flashbacks and shown slightly in the beginning. There is some slight violence, a book thrown at someone’s head and being pushed down some stairs. There is some strong cursing in this book. There are romance scenes and sex scenes and mentions of sex in this book. 

 

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin 

 

Pages: 320 

 

Synopsis: 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. 

 

Review: So I think outside of paranormal romance books where one or both of the characters are obviously a paranormal creature, I don't think I've read a book quite like this. This book was so good. It featured two Native main characters and they basically are looking into the history of this Castle and stumble upon ghosts that are haunting them. I thought the story was really good and the romance was super cute. It was a really good enemies to lovers romance. I think sometimes contemporary books have a little bit of issue playing with. I also really like the story itself and I felt very satisfied by the end. I also really loved all of the great points about publishing male vs female and white vs BIPOC privilege and about how publishing harms BIPOC rep or sometimes doesn't want authentic new stories from and for BIPOC audiences. I think that’s a very solid message that needs to be heard.
 
 However, I do feel like the characters got together a little bit too easy for an enemies to lovers romance. I also feel like there were some little moments of pacing slow downs in the book. 

 

Verdict: I loved it and highly recommend it.