Clementine doesn't have time to think about her dreams of pursuing a career in music. She's busy working and taking care of her chronically ill mother and has no time to indulge in thinking about her future. When an unexpected opportunity to be a back up singer for a famous rock star comes along, Clementine can't pass up the opportunity for the experience and for the money. As she dives into tour life with the band, she can't help but be drawn to the star of the tour, Tom Halloran.

Celebrity romance? Yes, please. Celebrity romance with a rockstar as the MMC? Oh, yeah! Celebrity romance with an IRISH rockstar as the MMC? SAY LESS!!! This book was an easy book for me to enjoy. It was right up my alley with the fun and exciting world of the performing arts mixed with finding love with the man who is wanted by millions. *sigh* Tom was just so swoon-worthy that there was no way that I wouldn't like this book.

Clementine is, in a way, coming of age in this book. She had been tethered to her mother for so long that she couldn't go out and explore when she became an adult. I enjoyed seeing the tour through her eyes and see how in awe she was of the different cities she visited.

This is the first Kate Golden book I've read and I enjoyed her writing style. She dives deep into scenes, providing detailed imagery alongside the vibes that makes it feel like you're there with the characters. That detail is applied to those steamy scenes as well, and it made for very sexy scenes!!!

Pick this one up for an entertaining and swoon-worthy rockstar romance!

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥

5 stars! This is the best contemporary romance novel I've read in a long while, and it is easily in my top 10 of all time.

Although Clementine was her high school's valedictorian and an extremely talented singer/performer, she finds herself living a mundane life as a waitress in her hometown in order to help care for her mom who suffers from a chronic illness. It isn't the life Clementine envisioned for herself. So, when her best friend offers her the gig of a lifetime singing backup for international superstar Halloran, Clementine can't pass up the opportunity to utilize her vocal talent. Halloran is 6'6" of pure talent and magnetism, something Clementine can't help but become enchanted by.

If Not for My Baby is laugh out loud funny at times, but it also has many poignant moments and a whole lot of yearning. I felt like a giddy groupie as I flew through the pages. Kate Golden has some incredibly unique similes and metaphors in this novel, and her observations and descriptions were all spot on. Golden also brings all of her characters to life with their unique personalities and appearances which makes you invested as a reader. I love her writing and will be seeking out more of her books.

On a personal note, my teenage daughter and I are going to a Hozier concert in August, and I will absolutely be thinking of Halloran while we're there!

Bonus for fellow X-Files fans: The book kicks off with a reference to the Frankenstein episode (a.k.a. The Post-Modern Prometheus)! IYKYK

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Expected publication date: August 5, 2025

YESSSS

This book is IT. I’ve only ever read one other rockstar romance but after this one I can confidently say I LOVE this little subgenre.

The banter. The longing looks. The yearning. I could read 3 more of these books immediately.

I loved Kate’s fantasy romance series so I knew she was going to blow me away with this contemporary.

If Not For My Baby by Kate Golden

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶/5

I'm having some trouble with this book. I really enjoyed it. Like to the point that I was thinking about it when I wasn't reading it. I love a good rock star romance, so this was definitely added to my TBR right away. I liked the FMC and MMC, their chemistry, and their banter. The spice was spicy, but didn't overtake the plot or character growth. The writing was lovely, and I loved all the mythology references and song lyrics. Good stuff, right? The thing I'm having trouble with is how similar to Hozier the MMC is. I don't know a ton about the real person, but Halloran is eerily similar to Hozier's public persona. Their physical appearance is pretty much identical. I feel like changes could have been made to make him unique, instead of just a copy of a real-life musician.

So, to sum up, if you read this book completely blind to the real person who inspired Tom Halloran, you will probably enjoy it. If you know who Hozier is, you may draw some parallels that could give you the ick.

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am a rockstar romance superfan, so I'm the best and worst person to read this book. This book is unapologetically Hozier "fan fiction" and even though I had very little knowledge about his life and career before reading this book, it is pretty obvious.

In this story, Clementine is a small town waitress that has experience in high school singing, dancing and acting. When her best friend can't make a backup singer gig, she is recommended and takes the job.

Halloran is a 6' 6" Irish pop singer ....

The majority of the book is both of them, mostly Clementine, overly analyzing their personalities and lives. Clementine's mother has fibromyalgia and was a teen single mother so Clementine has always taken care of her and can't handle the idea of leaving and living her own life, even as she is given more experience and opportunity in the theater world.

There are also some either standard rockstar romance tropes or just homages to my favorite series, Sinners on Tour by Olivia Cunning and Balefire by Tam DeRudder Jackson. There's a creepy band member that is fixated on Clementine, an "old flame" who is also a huge pop star now, and a tour manager that does whatever it takes to get the star to keep being relevant.

Overall, an enjoyable book, but with a lot of references to the songs Halloran has written and way too much angst on Clementine's part. She is constantly shooting herself in the foot with Halloran and he is patiently waiting around for her, or at least not getting over her. That theme of the book was really overdone, and I would have preferred way less song lyrics and for Clementine to not be the entire center of the book, with her relatively standard personal issues. That being said, I still recommend this book and really hope it gets popular so that there are more rock star romances published!

I received an advanced copy and am giving an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book and the characters! Clementine Clark has lived her life never venturing from her small hometown in Texas. I admired the character growth Clem experienced as being someone afraid to live for herself, afraid to fall in love, afraid of how her mom will be without her, to being undeniably true to herself. At times Clem came off a bit irritating, but I felt that the pacing of the growth she had was very realistic. Her misunderstanding of herself came off as miscommunication, but the MMC never wavered regardless of this. Tom Halloran, the MMC, is a walking green flag. He seems standoffish, but is really just an introverted sweetheart. It’s pretty obvious that he’s heavily inspired by Hozier, but I am not complaining AT ALL. The chemistry between Clem and Tom was off the charts. Tom is such a romantic, which is the opposite of Clem’s cynic. In my opinion, this book is a slow burn, but once that fire catches it is HOT. Halloran is very poetic and just a true gentleman. Beyond the relationship between Clem and Tom, I also enjoyed the relationships she has with the rest of the crew on tour, minus two of them, but no spoilers. I’m a huge fan of depictions of healthy, supportive female friendships in books, so those relationships really stood out to me. I’m so glad I read this, and definitely recommend it if it’s piqued your interest.
Thank you Berkley for the eARC of this book!

Thanks again to Berkley & Netgalley for providing this ARC for review!

I really enjoyed this one! A fun, spicy rock star romance, heavy on the musical elements.

Pros:
-I enjoyed the writing, and the chemistry on page.
- EXCELLENT use of spice. Their chemistry made for some delightful tension.
- I loved all the musical references.

Cons:
- Several cases of the main character acting UNBEARABLY stupid. The 3rd act conflict situation was a bit convoluted, and honestly showed an embarrassing amount of naivete on the FMC's part.
- Not a huge fan of the "I don't believe in love; if I fall in love it will Instantly Kill Me" archetype.
- I literally cannot get over the MMC BREAKING HIS NOSE and then going on to perform in several concerts. The broken nose is never mentioned again. YOU CANNOT SING WITH A BROKEN NOSE. PLEASE GOD I hope they fix this in the final edit - give him a black eye instead WTF!!!

Neutral:
- The inclusion of song lyrics was hit or miss. Some of them were bangers, but most of the time they were a bit cringe, mostly because they were supposed to be such deep and lyrical lines but in my heart I knew it was just some poetry the author came up with herself. I almost would have preferred she leave them out, but I do think the story would have lacked something without them.
- I must also mention some really strange word choices (typically using a word in a totally wrong context) that I imagine will be cleaned up in the final edit, so I won't hold it against her.
- I felt a little weird in the beginning with how obvious it is that this is essentially a Hozier fanfic, but once I got into the story I was able to let myself forget about it. The real crime here was her including SEVEN Hozier songs in the playlist that goes with the book. BE MORE SUBTLE, BABE.

I loved the opening chapter because I was hooked immediately after reading that she "went" on a date during her shift at the restaurant where she worked. Both the FMC and MMC were very witty, and I loved their conversations. It was such a good story, and I would love to hear any of the songs from the story in full! I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested.

I have seen some of the discourse in other reviews about this being real person fanfic, and while I do see the points where inspiration was very obviously taken from Hozier, he was not who I was picturing once I got into the story. When I first heard the synopsis and his character description in the story, I envisioned Hozier, but once we learned more about Tom's character, I began to picture someone different. There were, as previously mentioned, some things about Tom that were directly like Hozier, and that is part of why I have rated it a 4.5. I am very aware of how private Hozier is, and maybe that is why I began to picture another person once I got to know Tom's character more. Because of how private Hozier is, some of the moments we see in the book are things the public has never seen or learned about Hozier. I am not a superfan who looks into a celebrity's personal life, so there very well may be more similarities than I am aware of. Overall, by the end of the story, I was able to differentiate between Hozier and our MMC.

Anyways...I enjoyed the humor in this, and there were many times I was laughing out loud while reading. The humor in this book is very current, so there were many things that I found funny because of how relevant they were. The side characters were funny and had their own quirks, except for my enemy, Grayson.

Here is one of the quotes that I found myself giggling at: "Honestly, I might need to be sedated."

The slight miscommunication was kind of annoying, but we also know how the main character feels about love, so I almost understand why she never said anything to Tom about the conversation with Jen. The third act conflict lowkey gutted me, and I truly have so much hatred for the cause of it. My other qualm is the number of times how large the MMC is mentioned; after about 10 times, I could have done without it. While we know I enjoyed the relevance of the humor, the tiny girl mention did make me want to whither away.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the digital ARC in exchange for a review! All opinions are my own.

This had so much potential but unfortunately just fell flat for me. It was insta-love and that made the whole thing feel really rushed and inauthentic. Yes they can both sing but the attraction and feelings they supposedly have for each other I didn’t see at all. Lack of chemistry and Clementines weird attitude, being a total fangirl one minute to pushing him away the next, constant jabs at herself and jealously over her own mom? I had whiplash from her personality the whole book. Oh and Hallorans only personality trait is being tall, which is referenced 8 million times.

If Not for My Baby was straight out Hozier fanfiction and it felt uncomfortable to continue after it's made very obvious who it's about.

3.5 (rounded up) - The book started off a bit slow for me, but it quickly picked up. I love Kate Golden and rockstar/music romances, so this was an enjoyable read overall. I really liked the vibe—it was sweet and had a charm that stuck with me.

Review goes live July 14

Golden's descriptions of being on stage gave me the same feelings as Daisy Jones & The Six: I was right there on stage with our characters and could feel the tension and excitement in the air. But INFMB is a sweeping love story vs the story of the rise and fall of fame depicted in Daisy Jones.

I know we all love a possessive MMC with "touch her and die" vibes, but Tom is the exact opposite of that and is still the most swoon worthy. The scene where he just calmly extracts a drunk Clem from a man making untoward advances to her is everything I didn't know I needed in life. Tom is not a typical rockstar and just gives this chill nature vibe instead of the reckless possessive rockers usually featured in romances.

If Not For My Baby is a great rockstar romance that even people who don't like rockstar romances will love. Definitely worth picking up Golden's debut contemporary romance!

I don't know much about Hozier, but knowing this is being advertised as a "Hoziermance" and that the author has specifically said it is based off a concert experience she had at a Hozier tour did make me feel a little weird reading it. I did enjoy the story, but also with as much emphasis as has been placed on the fact that it is based off this artist made it feel like it is better kept in the fanfiction category.

I'm torn on how to rate this book. On the one hand, it was an enjoyable story...til you realize that it wasn't "inspired" by Hozier, but 1000% just a fanfic about him. Every single thing about Tom Halloran just is Hozier---his looks, his age, his height, home country, his favorite books/albums, the way he talks, his songwriting/where he gets inspiration from...I could probably go on. There's even a part in the book where Halloran and Clem are talking about his hair and he joked about that's where all of his power comes from and she comes back with a "how biblical" comment and this entire scenario, including the "biblical" comment is from an actual interview Hozier did.

I won't say much about the FMC, Clementine, other than the fact that she falls victim to the horrific romance trope of Tiny Girl ™ (and I'm not even kidding that Clem comments on and even calls it "Tiny Girl ™", trademark symbol and all) falling for a huge 6'6" man. Oh and I guess since she's from a small town in TX that makes her an idiot, because she doesn't know what hors d'oeuvres are and hasn't done anything in her 24 years of life.

The thing that bothers me the most about it all is that since it seems the author did a deep dive into Hozier then she should have learned that he's incredibly private and the fact that she wrote this, changed very few details about him, and even markets it as being Hozier-inspired is so weird and invasive.


Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was good but not great! I think for me - I struggled with the dialogue at times but absolutely loved the touring, the bus, and the concert parts of the book! I know very little of touring but it felt real and authentic while still being entertaining.

Oh. My. Lord

I finished this book in one day. One! I was hooked instantly and seriously couldn't put it down. My sister got married today and I still managed to devour this book.

I am not a fan of the rockstar/music/celebrity trope however, I think Kate just changed my mind. Or maybe it was an Irish man named Tom that wasn't afraid to have feelings.

If I could give this book 6 stars I would, maybe even 7! I don't know if I could put into words how heartwarming and heartbreaking this book was. Please do yourself a favor and give this book a chance even if the trope isn't a favorite- because you'll change your mind!

Thank you Kate, Berkley and NetGalley for the arc 🫶🏻

As a huge lover of Kate’s other books I didn’t look into what this book was about.. I seen “rockstar romance” and I LOVE that trope.. usually. What I didn’t know was this is a fanfic of a very popular.. Irish singer. This is a prime example of why we don’t pick up books based on covers. While I’m not a massive fan of said singer.. it was very obvious to me (as an outsider of this fan base) that this was about him. I actually clocked it in about .. three-ish chapters. While this may be some people’s cup of tea, it is not mine so I DNFd at 30%.
*No hate to the author again bc her other work is fantastic! This I think just should’ve been changed a bit to not.. seggulize REAL life people.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the eARC.

A rockstar romance inspired by Hozier, and he's Irish?!

We are truly fortunate. The intense chemistry between Clem and Tom ignites this entire story, leaving me gasping for breath! Picture a beautiful love story enriched with catchy, heartfelt lyrics, reminiscent of Daisy Jones & The Six and A Star Is Born—with an electric chemistry that evokes memories of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham (but rest assured, there’s nothing toxic about the fiery connection between Tom and Clem). Does that sound tempting? It absolutely should!

Introducing Clementine Clark, a girl from a small Texas town who has never ventured beyond Cherry Grove. For years, she has devoted herself to caring for her single mother, who battles fibromyalgia, a chronic illness that causes her constant pain. With costly trial treatments beyond their means, Clem has put her college aspirations on hold, working as a waitress at a diner where her longtime friend—and ex—Mike is her boss. However, when her best friend presents her with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to step in as a vocalist on rising star Thomas Patrick Halloran's inaugural U.S. tour, Clem is pushed out of her comfort zone. This eight-week opportunity could cover her mother’s medical bills and reignite the musical dreams she had long buried. Tom is like an Irish Jim Morrison meets Jesus-if-he-lived-in-the-forest—a captivating force of nature who turns Clem's world upside down. Unlike the typical rockstar lost in excess, Tom is quite the opposite—introverted, bookish, and quietly magnetic. He prefers solitude over parties and groupies. Yet, one late-night encounter at a vending machine ignites an unexpected friendship... and a passion neither can resist.

What a fun read! Im so thankful to be given arc for this book!

This was an incredibly fun ride. I loved Clementine and really loved Tom. This book was so beautifully written and I loved the music that was woven in and how the characters pursued their artistic passions together. Highly recommend!

4.5⭐!

Your honor, I love him.

This was absolutely delightful. It’s been a long time since a contemporary romance book had me so gripped that I couldn’t put it down. Not to mention this is my first book I’ve read by Kate Golden and she absolutely knocked it out of the park.

I do want to make note that I do not know a single thing about Hoizer and therefore I likely missed any nods to the artist. That being said, this book still stands on its own and you absolutely do not need to be a fan to enjoy Tom and Clem’s story.

Our story starts out with our small-town in Texas hailing FMC, Clementine, getting the opportunity to tour as a back-up singer with a famous Irish artist, Halloran. While Clem is hesitant at first, she quickly jumps at the opportunity knowing the pay will make a world of difference for her mother’s medical bills. Little did she know that Tom Halloran would be a deeply passionate, introverted, patient, and fiercely romantic man that would soon thaw the ice around her guarded heart.

The love story between Clem and Tom (aka Halloran) was toe-curling and absolutely explosive with passion and chemistry. There’s no doubt in my mind that these two characters were meant for each other. I honestly can’t say I’ve read any romance books where the MMC was so caring and in tune with the FMC’s feelings, especially considering Clementine’s aversion to commitment. The way Tom was so gentle with Clem had me honestly near tears while at the same time, so many of his quotes and actions had me turning my e-reader over and literally screaming and giggling into my hands. Also can I just say that the YEARNING was at full force in this one and it almost made me combust. Tom was so down bad for Clem it had me screaming every time Clem shied away from his intimacy. That being said, when that yearning finally boiled over, the spice was absolutely delicious. Our sweet, gentle, introverted MMC has got quite the mouth on him, if you know what I mean. I know there’s always a debate between yearning and spice, however, I truly believe Kate found the sweet spot in this delightful book that checks both boxes with flying colors. Also that ENDING? Oh man, it was sweet I loved it.

The found family aspect of this book was also so heartwarming. Every member of the band had so much personality and I loved them all (except Grayson). I’d love to see one of them get their own book one day, I’d absolutely devour it.

Overall I absolutely adored this story and our characters, it exceeded my expectations in basically every way. And GOD once again I just have to say, I love Halloran, he is perfect.

Thank you so much Netgalley and the publishing team at Berkley for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of If Not For My Baby in exchange for my honest review. All opinions above are 100% honest and my own.

For my first rockstar romance, its got everything: a rockstar, found family, a dreamy Irish MMC who falls first, and a cynical FMC who’s not ready for any of it. The chemistry? Off the charts. The lyrics? Straight out of a Hozier song. And the chronic illness rep is beautifully done.
Clementine *belongs* on stage. She’s confident in her talent, just not in love. But Tom Halloran, quiet and swoony with his books and lyrics, completely wrecks her. I loved every second of it.
The build-up to her first performance was perfection, and her inner monologue about Tom had me cracking up.
Thank you to Kate Golden, Netgalley and Berkley for the ARC!