If I Stopped Haunting You is a fun and delightful spooky romance. Featuring a good dose of rivals to lovers, it’s a book that explores representation in literature and writer’s block. For fans of the publishing industry or writing in general, it’s a must read romance. Keep reading this book review of If I Stopped Haunting You for my full thoughts.
Summary
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
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Enemies to lovers, feuding writers, and conversations about representation in publishing? Count me in. I loved Pen from the beginning, who doesn’t wish they had thrown a book at someone. She’s my hero. But even more so, Pen and Neil are both haunted by that event. For Pen, her career has abruptly halted and she wonders if she can write again. What if the stories that have her heart, that are true to her community, will never sell? What is all the imposter syndrome voices will win? For Neil, has he strayed so far from what he wanted to write, all to sell the book, that he’s lost his way permanently?
While I fell first for Pen, I definitely love Neil. I love how both of these two characters, and writers, are examining publishing, representation, and identity from two differing perspective. And there’s fears, imposter syndromes, and compromises in both of them. The ways publishing pits writers against each other. All the times they say there’s only ‘room for one’ story, that they have a distinct sense of what identity is. And how can we stay true to ourselves and do what we love? If I Stopped Haunting You explores this issue while delivering a supernatural mystery and scorching tension.
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What more could you want? If I Stopped Haunting You are about those people, those loves, we cannot escape. How we can have every moment and it can still not be enough. It also sends home how I would not survive in a haunted castle. With plenty of tension and forced proximity, If I Stopped Haunting You is a delight. The addition of the mystery element is a great foil to their own romantic tensions. Find If I Stopped Haunting You on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.