bookishlynerdy 's review for:

If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens

4.0

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

I’m not a huge fan of any sort of horror or thriller. My brain is already messed up as it is. 

I really don’t need any external factors to ramp my anxiety up. But I can’t resist a good enemies to lovers. I’m not one hundred percent sure I would call this enemies to lovers. I feel like it’s more animosity to lovers. At least on Penelope’s part. 

I don’t think Nate ever held animosity as such aside from the normal animosity one would hold against someone who has attacked you. I do feel like the relationship (not the lust) could have been expanded on a little bit better. On Penelope’s part, it seemed slightly forced and on Nate’s part it seemed wholly lustful. 

Speaking of lust, the smexy scenes weren’t bad. At. All. I genuinely enjoyed them. The horror part of the story, though, takes the cake. I used to love watching Scooby Doo as a kid and it sort of felt like that but for adults. Mind you, I scare pretty easily but the descriptions and the language used was so captivating, I genuinely felt scared alongside Nate and Penelope. 

IISHY was an interesting read. A definite departure from my typical. But not a bad one. I liked how the story was paced pretty well and the fact that it hit on several topics in the book world that are definitely worth talking about. Mainly about BIPOC authors and characters. I liked it.