This was such a fun and engaging read! The tension and chemistry between Clementine and Halloran felt natural and well written, and I loved watching their relationship develop. The tour setting was fresh and exciting. Between the concerts, tour bus, and forced proximity, it really stood out. The side plots added nice depth, and the writing flowed smoothly, making it easy to stay hooked

I did find myself a bit frustrated at times with the lack of communication, as some conflicts could have been resolved more easily. Also, after finishing, I noticed similarities to a real-life musician that made me slightly uncomfortable, as it took away from the story for me

Overall, though, this was a cute, fun romance with a unique setting, great chemistry, and a beautiful cover that perfectly fits the vibe

This one was really easy to race through. I finished it within two days. The writing was enjoyable and paced super well that it didn’t feel taxing to read at any point in the story.
My only issue with the story was I didn’t exactly love our MFC. I just got frustrated when she would say she didn’t want to be in love etc but then be upset when our MMC would pull away. And it felt very sex driven and didn’t feel like they knew anything about each other considering they fell in love. That being said, it was still an enjoyable read overall and I loved the music/ rockstar element of it all.

2 stars
Content warning: grief from losing a loved one (historical), struggles through caring for someone with a chronic invisible illness, sexual harrassment, injury detail, mentions of drug and alcohol abuse, toxic workplace manipulation

I came into this expecting a whirlwind musical tour full of self-discovery and romance. And whilst those elements did occur throughout, this book was an endurance to get through. The main issue I had with it revolved around the main protagonist, Clementine. I found her too self-absorbed and inconsistent to root for her on her adventure of a lifetime, and her romance with Halloran. Many scenes had potential that were marred by her character's actions or dialogue, and several instances where I disliked her so much I almost stopped reading. She doesn't show growth; if anything, the people around her let her get away with her mistakes or constantly worship her, and I never felt there was anything truly tangible to show the building of a connection. Side characters were thrown in and out to propel her along and then forgotten about until they were needed again. It was messy and lacking a solid construction for this character to convince me her story was worth reading about.

The romance lacked chemistry, and Halloran was more like a desperate teenage boy with a crush than an adult. Add on Clementine's character inconsistencies, and the romance went from juvenile to intense and back again. This was a shame, because I felt the most potential for these characters when they were together.

I'm not Irish, but even I found the Irishisms used at times to be incorrect, as if the author put an Americanised spin on what an Irish person ought to sound like, and it felt under-researched, so Halloran and Conor felt awkwardly placed into an otherwise very American-written novel. I personally hate when books are written with an accent on page, but had the author stuck to doing that instead of swapping in and out of the dialogue choices to represent their accents, it wouldn't have been so jarring.

Overall, I'm just really disappointed, as this was really hyped up and I feel like I didn't read the same book as many who marketed this as amazingly as they did.


Thank you to the author and publisher, via NetGalley, for a digital copy to review. All thoughts are my own.

This felt a lot more wholesome and sweet compared to rockstar romances I’ve read, and compared to rockstar romances I’ve heard of.

There was still a good amount of yearning and a teeny bit of angst, minus the toxicity and drama of other rockstar romances. So, if you ARE wanting something more emotionally driven, with a healthy, emotionally available MMC who is absolutely DOWN BAD, this is a fab book for you!

Oh let's go! This was so swoony and heart warming. The characters felt so real and the conflict made sense. What an amazing romance!

I ADORED If Not For My Baby!! A perfect take on the famous musician romance trope. Lots of little funny moments, and plenty of swoony scenes where I was kicking my feet and grinning like a fool!

A super cute rockstar/backup singer romance!

This hits all the classic beats you'd expect from a contemporary romance, creating a fun breezy read. Clementine is a well developed protagonist and the romance is full of chemistry. I do wish it was a tiny bit more of a slow burn, they kind of speedrun the meeting to friends to lovers plotline and this does the relationship a bit of a disservice.

Recommended for anyone looking for a sweet, slightly angsty weekend read.

This is a book I am hesitant to pick up, read and review. Have heard many things about a certain singer and his life and this being an invasion of privacy. And though it isn't fair to the author, I feel like this negativity will affect my view on the story and will be giving it a miss until a later stage. I still plan on reading it. Just not right now.

Thank you to Hachette Australia and NetGalley for the arc!

This was a bit of a mixed read for me. On one hand, the writing is really beautiful... there’s a soft, moody quality to it that made certain moments feel intimate and emotionally heavy in a good way. I loved the atmosphere of the tour, the glimpses into Clem’s life as a caretaker, and the quiet way Tom is written. It definitely had the potential to be something special.

But the romance didn’t fully land for me. It felt a little rushed, like we skipped the part where they really got to know each other. I wanted more build-up and more tension between them to make their connection feel earned. Things moved quickly, and not always in a satisfying way.

Also, Tom’s character is clearly based on Hozier, and that really pulled me out of the story. It didn’t feel like fiction so much as wish-fulfillment with a famous person’s face pasted on. It made everything feel less authentic, and honestly a little uncomfortable.

Still, there were things I genuinely enjoyed, and I can see why this book works for certain readers. It just didn’t fully click for me, but I liked it enough to be curious about what Kate Golden writes next.

I devoured and absolutely adored everygnuthing about this book. I didn't read up on this book beforehand so just went into it, unsure if its actually a fanfic of Hozier but I didn't think of it like that. I can see some people are upset by that.

This was purely a rockstar romance and I took it at face value.

We meet Clementine, a 24yo stuck in a mundane life as a waitress in a small town in Austin, when she gets a call to be a backup singer for Halloran on a US tour starting in two days time. She's not too familiar with his songs, but absolutely falls in love with his music as she frantically rehearses.

Then when she finally hears him sing live, it feels biblical.

After being on tour together, their first night off the bus and in a hotel, see them awkwardly meeting in a corridor. This is where we meet Clem and Tom. There is clear interest on both sides and this is where the longing and angst really starts.

Clem has essentially been conditioned unknowingly to not trust love and to run from pain before it can hurt you and Tom has his own battles with past relationships to overcome. Seeing them both understand their own battles and love each other was *chefs kiss*

With the Thoughtless Series by SC Stephens being one of my all time favourites, and another rockstar romance, this gave me the same feels as that book. I enjoyed every minute reading this and wanted more.

Thank you netgalley and hachette for this review copy.

Pre thoughts
- Band tour

overall
- I was not prepared for the emotional heartache in this book
- Beautifully written novel.
- It covers a range of topics and handles them in a great way.
- The amount of yearning in this is impeccable.
- I enjoyed this did not focus primarily on the tour and integrated other aspects in a great way.
- The growth of both the FMC and MMC was admirable and the epilogue was a beautiful addition.

Cant wait for this to be published so I can get a physical copy. I will be re-reading this book.

stars 4/5
spice 3/5

tropes
- Slow burn
- Forced proximity
- Band
- Fast paced
- Single POV

Thank you to Hachette Australia, Netgalley and Kate golden for the opportunity to review this eARC.

A fun rockstar romance filled with everything you could want from this genre. This is my first book by this author, but I am keep to read her romantasy series after this. It was well written and I liked the MMC a lot.

I cannot tell you how much this book BLEW ME AWAY!
I'd be lying if I said I went into this with anything except apprehension based on what I had heard online about the.. inspiration behind the book..
But ever the skeptic, colour me obsessed with EVERYTHING about this book!
This review is essentially a brain dump of things I loved about this book. What are my qualifications you ask?! I'm Irish, and also a very very very big fan of Halloran, I mean Hozier.
First off.. As an Irish woman, I'm used to my entire culture being misrepresented so I was understandably concerned but the amount of lore the author got RIGHT?! THE BARRYS OR LYONS DEBACLE?! I was so happy I wept into my tea ( Barrys if you're wondering, it's the only right answer and yes you have to read it to find out if Halloran chose correctly. ) The way she wrote in an Irish accent was flawless. It as like I was listening to voice notes from my friends at home & it read so beautifully.

In the book, we follow Clementine who ends up on tour with Irish megastar Halloran as a backing singer and obviously we are instantly obsessed with them & their chemistry. I devoured their story, literally in less than 24 hours and then had an existential crisis over what to do with my life after this book.

If you are reading this book as a Hozier fan, it's super fun to spot the lore from the fandom. You can see little odes to songs, concerts, lyrics and lore spotted through, but if you aren't a fan and just love a rockstar romance this book is perfect because the lore is subtle in a way that if you didn't know, you wouldn't know! Golden also writes literal song lyrics in the book and they are so hauntingly beautiful, I'd listen to her album.

I can go on and on but I'm just so keen for this book to be released so I can get a physical copy for my shelves.

Thank you Netgalley & Hachette!

I enjoyed the premise of this classic romcom and there were some fun moments that gave me a giggle. And it was a really easy read and flowed well.

Clementine is the inexperienced, small town girl who gets the opportunity of a lifetime touring as a backup singer for Halloran on his next world tour.
Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t the biggest fan otherwise. The FMC was young but her intense cynicism of the world and love didn’t make a huge amount of sense to me? I liked that she was a flat chested girl (unite) and the tension between her and Tom Halloran our older sexy rockstar was built nicely.
But some of the typical romance tropes just didn’t do it for me in this story and there were a lot of things that gave me the ick (can’t describe though without spoilers soz)

Tropes/themes:
🎶 rockstar romance
✨ small age gap
🎶 found family
✨ HEA

This book is exactly the kind of story about real people that belongs in non-commercial fanfiction spaces like AO3, where, at the very least, such works aren’t sold for profit.

This shouldn’t have been published in its current form, and certainly not for profit.

The book follows a touring backup singer who falls in love with the band’s lead singer. That summary alone isn’t alarming. But what unfolds is something else entirely. The male lead, Halloran, is Hozier, unmistakably so. Not “inspired by” or fictionalised in any way. There’s no disguise or distance — Halloran is simply Hozier inserted whole into a romance novel, relying on readers’ recognition rather than character development.

Anyone remotely familiar with Hozier’s music would spot this immediately. I’ve seen performances and heard his songs enough to recognise the style and public image he carefully curates. The replication is blatant. The book depends on this recognition, expecting readers to project their own image of Hozier onto Halloran rather than building a unique character. That’s not just lazy writing, it’s invasive.

This isn’t creative license, it’s replication. The story functions only if readers mentally substitute a real person for its protagonist, feeling emotions the book itself never earns.

To be clear, I’m not a diehard Hozier fan. I like his music and respect his presence. That’s enough. Even from that limited perspective, the resemblance is overwhelming and increasingly uncomfortable. This book doesn’t explore fame or parasocial dynamics; it hijacks a real man’s likeness, known for his privacy and thoughtfulness, and uses him as fantasy fodder. There’s no self-awareness or commentary, just commercialised projection.

I’ve read fanfiction, including real person fiction. I understand the creative impulse behind it when it exists within the right context, transformative, boundary-aware, and non-commercial. But this isn’t tucked away in a niche community. It’s a product, packaged and sold, turning fantasy into commodity. Even Wattpad, for all its commercial drift, usually acknowledges that boundary. This book doesn’t. It lifts Hozier’s likeness and sells it. That’s not homage. It’s exploitation.

And even if you could ignore all that, even if you separated Halloran from Hozier, the romance itself is flat. Clementine and Halloran have no development, no arc, no believable tension. Their connection is abrupt and empty. Their first kiss arrives so fast, with Clementine falling for him not because of any organic connection, but because the plot requires it.

The song lyrics scattered throughout are atrocious. The plot bored me to death.

What makes this book indefensible isn’t just awkward writing or hollow plot. As mentioned, the story only works with that mental substitution. Without it, there’s no dynamic, no emotional core, no reason for this book to exist. Once that happens, this stops being a love story and becomes something far more invasive, a fantasy built by trespassing on someone’s public image.

This isn’t a critique of fanfiction or real person fiction when it stays where it belongs: within communities where boundaries and ethics are understood. This is what happens when those fantasies are lifted without context, flattened, and sold. It’s not transformative. It’s intrusive.

If you’re drawn in by the rockstar romance premise, you might expect escapism. But what you’re actually reading is something else. This book doesn’t blur the line between fantasy and personhood, it erases it, then asks you to follow. That’s not just uncomfortable. It’s wrong.

This was the perfect rainy day wholesome, cozy, warm hug of a romance novel. As a die-hard Hozier fan this was a joy to read, fun, sexy ( like so sexy) fresh, lighthearted yet deeply emotional. Finished it in two hours, couldn’t put it down!!

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Australia for the chance to read this book early.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Super steamy and full of tension ❤️ If Not For My Baby totally hooked me. The chemistry between the characters is chef’s kiss, and the rockstar vibe adds just the right amount of drama. Some moments dragged a bit (potential spoiler - I hate a third act breakup trope!), but the emotional payoff and slow-burn romance were so worth it.

The MMC just YEARNS and is perfect. I'll be honest I am not very familiar with Hozier and did not even know this was a Hozier inspired fic before reading, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved him. The FMC annoyed me a bit with her constant flakiness and fear of commitment, but alas we got there on the end 😅

I would recommend this to romance fans who love a slow burn with yearning, plus the a bit of rockstar glam.

I absolutely ate this book up! It had me hooked from the very beginning. I love a rockstar romance, and this one did not disappoint! It was fun, fast-paced, and spicy with sizzling tension and heartwarming moments between Clementine and Tom.

I must admit, I was a little annoyed by Clem and her way of thinking at times, as well as her naivety. Otherwise, she was a mostly relatable character - small town girl who has always done everything for everyone else and finally takes a chance at doing something for herself. I actually relate hard to that haha. I loved witnessing the joy that Clem felt during this book: roadtripping across the country in the summer, experiencing new things and places, making new friends that turn into family, doing something that ignites your soul, and all the while falling in love so deeply your perception of life is forever changed. Sounds pretty damn good to me.

Halloran's character wasn't what I expected, but I love that he wasn't. I actually don't have many notes on him tbh, I just really liked that he was humble and down to earth. A normal guy with an extraordinary gift.

I devoured this book in a day and haven't stopped thinking about it since. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read it early!

5/5
10/10

A beautiful, kind, tall rockstar Irish musician with the voice of an angel who’s so very down bad for his cynical, backup singer? I couldn’t ask for more.

This was such a refreshing take on the “famous musician” trope. No groupies for him, no destructive habits. Just Tom Halloran. This man. An introvert with quiet intensity, deep passion, and a possessiveness over her nickname that had me screaming.

Clementine was hilarious. Her internal monologue had me dying. But, she also had so much emotional depth. Her yearning for Tom, and the chemistry between them? Perfection. .

This wasn’t just a love story, it was a beautifully moving romance about taking leaps, and opening yourself up to life, and love even when it terrifies you.

I had so much fun reading this and already ready for a reread

This was a perfect rockstar romance!

When Clementine is given the opportunity of a lifetime to take her friend's place as a back-up singer on Halloran's tour, she does so reluctantly. Having spent her years suppressing her ambitions to take care of her mother, Clem finally steps out on her own. Tom Halloran is the epitome of the tortured, soulful singer-songwriter genius. He's made his name unpacking heartbreak and knows it well. Painfully reserved, until he unleashes his magic on stage, Halloran is about to fall for the one girl determined to save herself from ever having her heart broken.

The thing that I most loved about "If Not For My Baby" was the fresh take on the rockstar persona that Tom's character embodied. As someone who prefers a "green flag" guy, his introspective nature and gentleness with Clem was so beautiful. As opposed to the high ego, womanising rockstars that I've read in other books of this genre.

Clementine was also a beautifully written character, with her fatal flaw of being scared to risk her heart providing the perfect tension. I also loved that she was a Musical Theatre lover. The chemistry between the characters had me. The first scene when they really speak for the first time in front of the hotel vending machine will live rent free in my mind.

Kate Golden's prose was so atmospheric and beautiful and really made me feel like I could hear the music and feel it's emotional impact on the characters. I can't wait to sell out other work from this author.

The tropes
🎸 Rockstar X Back-Up Singer
🇮🇪 Irish MMC (can I say, quite Hozier coded...)
❤️ He falls first
🚍 Found family on tour
🌶️ Yes
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐