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2.88 AVERAGE
2.88 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was really hoping to like this book because it had quite a few aspects that normally really appeal to me. Indigenous author/characters, bisexual female protagonist, supernatural elements, romance. Unfortunately, I feel like none of those elements were balanced, so it ended up feeling mostly like a jumbled mess that couldn't decide what genre it wanted to be.
The dialogue and internal monologues mostly felt weird and stilted to me. Pen and Neil took "enemies to lovers" faster than any other couple I've ever read, to a degree that felt hyper-unrealistic. The ghost plot unraveled too slowly, had no real point in its ending, and felt needlessly gory as if scarier physical details would make up for a boring story (it didn't). Laszlo and Daniela were completely not even needed and added nothing to the plot besides to just be oblivious and mean to the protagonists. Yeah, this one just missed the mark for me in pretty much every category. I give it points because it was never quite bad enough for me to DNF, but it was close.
The dialogue and internal monologues mostly felt weird and stilted to me. Pen and Neil took "enemies to lovers" faster than any other couple I've ever read, to a degree that felt hyper-unrealistic. The ghost plot unraveled too slowly, had no real point in its ending, and felt needlessly gory as if scarier physical details would make up for a boring story (it didn't). Laszlo and Daniela were completely not even needed and added nothing to the plot besides to just be oblivious and mean to the protagonists. Yeah, this one just missed the mark for me in pretty much every category. I give it points because it was never quite bad enough for me to DNF, but it was close.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content
Moderate: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pregnancy
Multiple 1 star reviews and other books on my shelf that I knew would be better. Found this book as an Instagram ad so you can’t trust them all.
I obtained a DRC from NetGalley for this book.
Four writers head to a haunted castle for a week-long writer's retreat. This is an enemies-to-lovers romance/horror story.
Starting with the things I liked, I have to say the horror aspects really shone in this book. The suspenseful build-up was really decently written, I kept wanting more in that department. A few moments of levity had me chuckle out loud. I appreciate the main couple are Indigenous, and the FMC is also bisexual although that didn't come in to play as much as I expected it to.
The enemies-to-lovers goes a little too hard on the enemies part for me, I found it hard to believe the lovers transition because of that. I get major red flags on the relationship considering If that had happened to me, or if I had done that to someone else, you can be damn sure I wouldn't lock myself in a castle with them for a week, let alone become romantically involved with them.
The FMC growth happens more in spurts than gradually over time, which also made for some jarring reading. I found several plot holes that I hope are sorted out ahead of publishing. At one point. The ending of the ghost's story left me feeling bereft too, in the end there just wasn't much to it.
I wouldn't strictly stop someone from reading this book, but I don't think I'd push it as a must-read either.
Four writers head to a haunted castle for a week-long writer's retreat. This is an enemies-to-lovers romance/horror story.
Starting with the things I liked, I have to say the horror aspects really shone in this book. The suspenseful build-up was really decently written, I kept wanting more in that department. A few moments of levity had me chuckle out loud. I appreciate the main couple are Indigenous, and the FMC is also bisexual although that didn't come in to play as much as I expected it to.
The enemies-to-lovers goes a little too hard on the enemies part for me, I found it hard to believe the lovers transition because of that. I get major red flags on the relationship considering
Spoiler
the whole thing starts with one main character physically assaulting the other.The FMC growth happens more in spurts than gradually over time, which also made for some jarring reading. I found several plot holes that I hope are sorted out ahead of publishing. At one point
Spoiler
the groundskeeper is on the phone with them, and a sentence later she is "suddenly there", with zero explanation as to how or whyI wouldn't strictly stop someone from reading this book, but I don't think I'd push it as a must-read either.
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
TLDR: This book made me wish it was my head Penelope had thrown a book at.
I finished this book because DNF’ing felt like I’d be admitting defeat. One of the worst books I’ve ever read, but sometimes it was funny in its badness.
FMC, Pen, publicly assaults the male love interest, Neil, because she does not like his books and feels he is doing a disservice to Indigenous voices. Sure, Pen, you can have that perspective, but you don’t have to literally scar him for it. She later realizes that he was just taking advantage of whatever opportunity he could to get published, but she still accepts his apologies for letting his publisher walk all over him. (Which: ???? Is that Neil’s fault???) They attend a writing retreat at a haunted castle with two other friends/authors, who are basically just barely-there comedic relief. I kept expecting them to be brought up to speed on the hauntings Neil and Pen were experiencing so that they could help out, but that moment never came. Then Pen and Neil have the audacity to get frustrated that they “left them to deal with the hauntings all on their own.”
The dialogue in this book made me roll my eyes, including but not limited to where bestselling author Neil remarks that Penelope should be a bestselling author after she describes a hallway to him. It felt like the author giving herself a pat on the back via her characters. A lot of romance books sometimes suffer from poor writing that gets made up for during the smut, but man, not even that was good.
The ghost story in this book disappointed me so much I won’t even describe it. “Ghost jizz” rivals Colleen Hoover’s infamous line “We both laughed at our son’s big balls.”
I finished this book because DNF’ing felt like I’d be admitting defeat. One of the worst books I’ve ever read, but sometimes it was funny in its badness.
FMC, Pen, publicly assaults the male love interest, Neil, because she does not like his books and feels he is doing a disservice to Indigenous voices. Sure, Pen, you can have that perspective, but you don’t have to literally scar him for it. She later realizes that he was just taking advantage of whatever opportunity he could to get published, but she still accepts his apologies for letting his publisher walk all over him. (Which: ???? Is that Neil’s fault???) They attend a writing retreat at a haunted castle with two other friends/authors, who are basically just barely-there comedic relief. I kept expecting them to be brought up to speed on the hauntings Neil and Pen were experiencing so that they could help out, but that moment never came. Then Pen and Neil have the audacity to get frustrated that they “left them to deal with the hauntings all on their own.”
The dialogue in this book made me roll my eyes, including but not limited to where bestselling author Neil remarks that Penelope should be a bestselling author after she describes a hallway to him. It felt like the author giving herself a pat on the back via her characters. A lot of romance books sometimes suffer from poor writing that gets made up for during the smut, but man, not even that was good.
The ghost story in this book disappointed me so much I won’t even describe it. “Ghost jizz” rivals Colleen Hoover’s infamous line “We both laughed at our son’s big balls.”
dnf @ 71%
I wanted to keep going off principle, but the more I thought about returning to this book, the more I dreaded it.
There's so much to like from the concept of this enemies to lovers, horror-romance mashup about two Native authors, but here's my gripe about this recent uptick in genre blends: there's not enough of either, and the inception of them feels like a desperate attempt to grasp the waning attention spans of the TikTok generation. In If I Stopped Haunting You, there wasn't enough emotional character development to sell the romance--where it was already lacking, because Penelope and Neil went from all-out hate to lust within, like, 100 pages--and the horror was thrown in like the flavor of a La Croix, a whisper of something you won't catch unless you're really searching for it. Don't get me started one scene in particular, where Penelope and Neil supposedly see this grotesque, skin-rotted ghost and aren't rattled enough by it to prevent them from having sex by the end of the chapter.
Genre gripes aside...Penelope was also not a very likable character--the victim complex is STRONG with this one--and the side characters (whose names I don't even remember) were thrown in as set pieces, not as actual characters.
I wanted to like this SO BAD. Truly. But the annoyance I felt reading it only built, and built...
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to keep going off principle, but the more I thought about returning to this book, the more I dreaded it.
There's so much to like from the concept of this enemies to lovers, horror-romance mashup about two Native authors, but here's my gripe about this recent uptick in genre blends: there's not enough of either, and the inception of them feels like a desperate attempt to grasp the waning attention spans of the TikTok generation. In If I Stopped Haunting You, there wasn't enough emotional character development to sell the romance--where it was already lacking, because Penelope and Neil went from all-out hate to lust within, like, 100 pages--and the horror was thrown in like the flavor of a La Croix, a whisper of something you won't catch unless you're really searching for it. Don't get me started one scene in particular, where Penelope and Neil supposedly see this grotesque, skin-rotted ghost and aren't rattled enough by it to prevent them from having sex by the end of the chapter.
Genre gripes aside...Penelope was also not a very likable character--the victim complex is STRONG with this one--and the side characters (whose names I don't even remember) were thrown in as set pieces, not as actual characters.
I wanted to like this SO BAD. Truly. But the annoyance I felt reading it only built, and built...
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated