If I Stopped Haunting You

June 1, 2024

Wilkens debuts with a 75K-copy first printing for an enemies-to-lovers romp set in a haunted Scottish castle. Penelope and Neil are authors with a shared history. They find themselves at the same writer's retreat that's filled with pursuing ghosts and discover a lot more than enmity. Prepub Alert.

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September 15, 2024
Penelope has one well-respected but slow-selling book. While speaking on an Indigenous fiction panel, she angrily throws a copy of it, hitting Neil in the head, and drawing blood. Formerly friends, she is now furious at Neil for the depictions of Native American characters in his best-selling series, which she thinks are harmful stereotypes. When she is invited to a writing retreat at a haunted Scottish castle, she first verifies that Neil will not be there; but arriving, she discovers he has become a last-minute substitution at the retreat. The four writers, abandoned by the groundskeeper, and soon snowbound, have strict instructions to not venture into the haunted wing. But Neil and Penelope are teamed with each other for writing exercises that take them to parts of the castle where there are secret passageways, incidents involving visions and blood, and a scary, rotting ghost. The journey from enemies-to-lovers through multiple horror tropes leads to scorchingly hot sex.

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August 12, 2024
Enemies become first friends and then lovers in Wilkens’s uneven debut. Native American horror author Penelope Skinner’s dream is to represent Native populations in a culturally appropriate way in the genre she loves. So she’s none too happy with popular fellow Indigenous author Neil Storm when he perpetuates troublesome stereotypes in his latest blockbuster. In fact, she’s so incensed she has a very public meltdown. Four months later, thanks to the machinations of their mutual friend, Laszlo, they’re stuck together at a writing retreat in a Scottish castle that turns out to be haunted. The horror-tinged romance that follows moves at breakneck speed, careening between moments of laugh-out-loud humor and chilling encounters with the ghost of a young woman who died waiting for her love to return. The characters similarly move between extreme emotions at dizzying speeds with little room for nuance. The novel’s strength lies in its exploration of authorial intent and inequity in the publishing world, and in the spotlight it shines on Native characters, who remain underrepresented in romance. It’s not perfect, but readers who like their romances both spooky and meta will want to give it a chance. Agent: Rebecca Podos, Rees Agency.