If I Stopped Haunting You

(4.5 Stars) Enemies-to-lovers in a bone-chillingly haunted castle. The perfect addition to your spooky season TBR.

It's a bit of a slow burn, with really great romantic tension. The passion that made them hate each other is explosive when they realize they don't. There's a fine line between hate and love, and forced proximity in a haunted castle is a great setting for them to cross it.

I expected this to be spooky, but not that I'd almost need to sleep with the lights on. The haunted house atmosphere is so well done. I was simultaneously cursing them for willingly going towards the danger while also hoping they would figure things out. The supernatural mystery is strong enough to stand on its own outside of the romance.

As Pen and Neil are both Native horror writers, there's a big focus on Native identity and how it's affected by society's perceptions and expectations. It gets very specific, but the debate of compromising to make yourself more palatable to other people is universal enough that it will also appeal to non-Native readers. There's a lot of casual queer representation as well.

I would absolutely recommend people pick this up when it comes out later this year. It's a fantastic and unique blend of horror and contemporary romance.

This ARC was provided by St. Martin's Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions provided are my own.