OMG, absolutely devoured this book. I am not much of a contemporary romance girly, but this book was something ELSE! I absolutely loved the Sacred Stones trilogy and Kate Golden's work, so of course I had to read this, too, and I am so glad I did!

Clementine is so funny and relatable, Indy is THE girl's girl, and Halloran is just perfect. I love how we got to see Clementine's character development. The world building 5 stars, the characters 5 stars, and the plot 5 stars. Loved every second of it and am so thankful for receiving an ARC!

If Hozier had a romance - it would be this one.

Precisely what I was hoping for! I really enjoyed Kate Golden's fantasy series (The Sacred Stones), so I knew I would enjoy her writing—and I'm glad I listened to my instincts. I devoured this one from start to finish because it's exactly what I needed it to be.

There were so many amazing moments between our main couple, and I really loved how our heroine, Clementine, grew. It's really hard to meet someone who feels so right at such a pivotal moment in your life—figuring out so many things at once is NOT easy. Clementine's strength and humility were such a joy to read!

I'm excited for whatever Golden writes next! I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. ALSO, THAT COVER?! I will be ordering a copy!

Where do i start with this

MY GOODNESS THIS WAS AMAZING

I was balling my eyes out, laughing and feeling 100 percent apart of this amazing story ♥️

Once I had finished it was like where does my life go from here?

The love, fears, heartbreak and passion that went into this was next level and come on who can love Clem- just the name is perfection.

This is the happy ending we all wish for but are so happy to watch others have.

There have been some horrible reviews on this book but please do not judge by that! I actually read this book and it was a work of art!

This book is not without flaws, but I could not put it down.

The plot had me hooked from the start. A small town waitress, who had to turn down admission to Berklee College of Music to care for her chronically ill mother, unexpectedly gets the opportunity to tour as a backup singer for the brilliant, ethereal rock star Halloran. I love stories where both main characters are artists who find inspiration in each other, and this book did that well.

Set on the most anticipated tour in years, this book has a great cast of entertaining side characters. The male main character, Tom Halloran, is enchanting and magnetic. I will say that there’s a fine line between a character inspired by a real person and fan fiction about a real person, and this book definitely toes that line. There were a few times I felt the male lead may have been teetering into fan fiction territory, but I think the author managed to keep him on the right side of the line.

The female main character, Clementine, started this book as somewhat unlikable. As the story progresses it becomes apparent why she is the way she is, and she does recognize her issues and has some growth. She’s quite insecure and a bit immature, and I would have liked to see more development from her. Other than her voice, I did have a bit of trouble figuring out what Tom saw in her. He says he loves her kindness, but we don’t see a lot of evidence of this kindness. She certainly didn’t treat her ex/best friend/friend with benefits very kindly, and her thoughts toward female Halloran fans she perceives as groupies aren’t very kind either. But she did have some very kind and understanding moments, and at times seemed quite insightful - despite her tendency to make assumptions and act based on those assumptions.

I would recommend this book for those who like sweet and angsty rockstar romances, gentle male leads, and Irish accents.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley providing a digital ARC for an honest review.

If Not for My Baby by Kate Golden
5 stars

arc read
pub date | 8/05/2025

Tropes:

💘 Hopeless Romantic Guy & Doesn’t Believe in Love Girl
🎸 Hozier Inspired Romance
🤫 Sneaking Around
💬 Late Night Sexting
👿 “Get Your Hands off of Her”
🇮🇪 Irish Accent
🚍 Found Family on a Tour Bus
🫶🏻 He Falls First

Okay so so so hear me out, yet another top freaking read of 2025. I was obsessed with this story from page one. Have never fallen so fast for an MMC. I also really love that the MMC was Irish but the writing was not overly exaggerating in the accent.

Our FMC has grown up taking care of her ill mother and never does anything for herself. She has dreams but why would she even peruse them when she has a mother to take care of and doesn't believe in love anyways. Until an opportunity presents itself that helps her mom but it also opens up some doors for her dreams as well,maybe. *Insert golden retriever 6 ft + taller than an oak tree isolated irish man here*

Just a chef's kiss to all the characters wrote in the story, they were all so different and easy to connect with and understand, it really made the new found family trop excel in my opinion. I just had all the emotions while reading this which always makes a book ten times better for me.

Um, not me finishing this book in a day!? And let me give you an example as to why... "𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝐈𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐭."

THIS WRITING. Kate Golden is a stunning writer and this books is so beautiful. Bigger than just a "contemporary rock-star romance", this book tackles deeper themes and feelings than you might initialy expect. Chronic illness, grief, navigating new female friendships, not fitting into pre-conceived "boxes", the guilt that comes with being selfless for the first time in your life. And it is so incredible insightful..."𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇?"

While also navigating these deeper themes, the book manages to be punchy, witty and such a fast-paced read.

I can't not talk about the romance, because boy was it amazing. The spice feels fresh, full of "realness", and an insane about of tension and yearning. You'll fall in love with both Clementine and Tom Halloran. I've seen others say this and I have to confirm, Hozier lovers THIS IS YOUR BOOK.

"'𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘. 𝑵𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆.'" MY HEARTTTT.

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Random House and most importantly Kate Golden! This is going to be a top read this year.

4/5⭐️

I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who loves a concert/tour romance like I do - what can I say, I was a hardcore Directioner and read lots of 1D fanfiction when I was younger and old habits die hard. Add in musical theatre and broadway, I’m sold.

This romance was so good! I think we all need a Tom in our lives and him and Clem were so perfect together.

I also found the concept of a Hozier inspired romance so intriguing since it was kind of like fan fiction but not? Hozier is to lesbians what Ryan Reynolds is to straight men so reading this was so fun, putting together the pieces and references throughout the book.

Additionally, I am a strong hater of the miscommunication resulting in a third act breakup trope but I actually thought this one was done well and didn’t unnecessarily draw it out.

This book was maybe slightly longer than it needed to be and light on the spice (I’m a thirsty b*tch) but I still really enjoyed it and would recommend it to any and all romance readers!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an open and honest review! All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

this is easily a book that i would've read circa 2010-2011 on wattpad about harry styles. it is the definition of fanfiction and for that, it felt nostalgic and was very, very entertaining to read. however, when we see this translation to traditionally published media and pieces are not changed to at least disguise the inspiration of said book, it becomes difficult to not feel some type of a way. there are pieces of this book that feels so direct from hozier that its ridiculous, even the title alone is a bit much. there is a way to use celebrities/famous figures as inspiration for media, but please do it tastefully. this blurs the lines tremendously.

on another note, the fmc is a bit too much "i'm not like other girls" for me and for that, i had a hard time rooting for her. nonetheless, she's living out my fanfic dreams and the spice was good!

This book was PERFECTION. The angst was sooo good. My fingers were all tingly and my stomach dropped so many times . Allll the feels .

Clementine, a small town waitress who stays close to to home to take care of her chronically ill mother, gets the chance of a lifetime to tour with Irish musician Holloran. She is immediately swept up in tour life, finding her place, making friends, and faking in love. But life on the road isn’t exactly what she expects.

I'll be the first to say that the premise of this book really had me hooked. Rockstar, he falls first, age-gap? Sign me right up! And the premise was definitely enjoyable & I liked the way the author brought this story to life! I think for me, it was good but it wasn't fantastic. This could be that I didn't feel for the FMC, she was written well but I didn't feel emotionally attached to her in this book.

The spice was fantastic in this book & I thoroughly enjoyed getting to read these characters falling in love because the author really crushed the chemistry and romance in this novel!

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC!

Kate truly wrote a Hoziermance with this one!! The inspiration behind the story was clear in its delivery, but I really enjoyed Clementine and Holloran together! I’m excited to read more contemporary from Kate 💛

Give me more Hozier fan fic. I loved everything about this. I want all my mmc's to be 6'6 irish rockstars. Kate Golden this was written so beautifully, I loved every second.

I…. wanted to love this one sm more that I did lol. And I kinda guts me to say that cuz I was sooo excited for it. It was still good. A solid 3.5 read but the plot fell flat for me? It was very ____ and I need a little __^^\_<^_\_ ya know? The FMC was also from a small town and that was really drilled into us lol. Like she didn’t know what hors d’oeuvres meant… come on. Is smalltowners are that bad. We have cheeseballs, okay? 🤣 it was also VERY Hozier. Like borderline not based off of Hozier but just Hozier fanfic ya know? Kinda took me out of the story sometimes.
Thank you thank you to @netgalley and @berkleypub for allowing me to read this one early!

Loses a full star for taking such obvious inspiration from our favorite Irish singer and then not giving him even one anti-capitalist protest song.

That said, very fun. She’s the unromantic cynic, he’s the hopelessly romantic gentleman. The touring aspect was fun and I liked that we got to see a fair bit of Clem before really introducing the romance plot.

The “inspired by” aspect is a bit heavy handed, especially in the first half. At the end of the day, I wanted to read a romance about musicians falling in love impracticality and that is what I got.

I absolutely loved this take on the rockstar romance! Romances are littered with commitment-phobic bad boys lately and Tom Holleran was such an incredible break from that. Another reviewer described him as a walking green flag and I couldn't agree more! If you want a book that feels like Emily Henry mixed with Daisy Jones and the Six, this is it.

Clem is a waitress helping her mom weather chronic illness. She's not waiting for her big break, she's perfectly happy singing at the occasional open mic night and following along with her best friend's budding music career. So when she gets the opportunity to sing back up vocals for a major star, her entire life is upended. She's thrown for even more of a loop when she meets Tom Holleran - 6'6", Irish, incredibly handsome, and the most talented performer Clem has ever seen. Being on his tour bus for eight weeks gives her ample time to get to know him - and start to question all of her anti-romance sentiments.

My one complaint is that I want all romances to be dual POV - and I just know I would have been swooning from page 1 if we'd been given a look into Tom's psyche!

A small-town girl and a broody Irish rock star falling in love on tour? Instant obsession.

If Not for My Baby hits all the right notes—slow-burn, emotional, and full of that electric push-and-pull. Clementine’s guarded and grounded, while Thomas is all quiet intensity and hidden heart. Their chemistry builds with every backstage moment, and when it hits? It hits.

This one feels like your favorite moody love song—bittersweet, addictive, and impossible to get out of your head. If you’re into romance with music, tension, and just the right amount of angst, you’ll eat this up.

Starting off with the most stunning visual cover that you can’t turn away from this book brought forward all the emotions! It made me laugh, made me smile, even made me emotional I could not put it down. Start to finish I was engaged and could picture the story so clearly in my head.

4.5 ⭐️
2 🌶️

This book was soooo good. Since finishing it, I’ve learned the MMC is based off of Hozier and you know what, I still loved it. Kate Golden did such a good job creating main characters with such good (and sizzling) chemistry and side characters who really added to the story.

Clementine and Tom were perfect for each other. Their story was romantic and emotional (I cried twice). The slow burn of their relationship gave me butterflies and when they finally acted on their attraction, it was *chefs kiss*

I really enjoyed this story and if you enjoy rockstar romance with a slow burn, you will too! 🥲🎤💕☘️

Thanks NetGalley and Berkley for an ARC!

This felt extremely creepy and invasive. The author did absolutely no work to differentiate this character from how she perceives a real life person and that felt very odd. There are direct quotes that Hozier has said in interviews used in this book, jokes he makes at his live shows, nods to lyrics and his exact looks. It made for a wildly icky reading experience and I found myself forcing myself to finish it to see if it got any better. It did not, I do not recommend reading this book.