This one is sort of my fault, because I really should have paid more attention to the blurb. Or perhaps I should have just taken the blurb more seriously. I expected Hozier-inspired romance, not basically self-insert Hozier fanfic. Seems I have found the line I do not like crossing. Thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I think that this book is highly inappropriate. I know, look at me grandstanding on morals, but let me explain. I first started reading romance when I was introduced to Ali Hazelwood by a friend. I knew her books were based on fanfiction she wrote about Kylo Ren and Rey, characters from the Star Wars sequels. Fanfiction is based on fictional characters and, although it can take creepy shades, it is usually absolutely fine. The characters form a starting point from which fanfic authors build alternative universes or create their own storylines; they are something of a shortcut to characterisation, which authors eventually outgrow if they focus on the craft. So although the main characters of Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis are very clearly based on Kylo Ren and Rey, by Not in Love, Hazelwood grew into writing her own characters who still might contain hints to the OGs, but are their own creation. In my eyes, that's absolutely fine. If Not For My Baby, however is not fine for a whole number of reasons. Quick disclaimer, I am a fan of Hozier's music and all of this made me feel bad. Kate Golden's book is not based on fictional characters but on a real life person who is famously quite private. When I read the blurb I stupidly assumed that the marketing was exaggerating the connection between Halloran and Hozier to sell to his fans (already rude). Unfortunately, the blurb almost undersells just how much Golden is basically writing about Hozier. I can't even explain to you, dear reader, to what extent she has stolen his likeness and repurposed it into a romance plot. There is no Halloran without Hozier, is what I'm trying to say. Golden has not created a character, she has copied and pasted things known about a real life person into a plot and then explicitly described how he would be to have sex with. I found this gross when it happened to Taylor Swift and I find it gross here. It is an invasion of privacy, simple as that, much as creating deepfakes of people is. Another thing is that Golden engages in all kinds of weird "Irish people as magical woodland creatures" discourse. I appreciate this is also a bad thing about the Hozier fandom itself, but here it is taken to a whole new level I feel. Any of Hozier's actual political activism is erased in Halloran, while Ireland is turned into a magical green isle that has never been troubled by strife. It's wrong and the more I think about it the grosser I feel about having read it.

Clementine works at a tortilla place to make money for her mother's medicine, but really her dream has always been to perform musical theatre. When her friend needs Clementine to fill her place as a background singer for famed Irish musician Halloran, she decides to go for it because they could use the money and this might be her one taste of performing. From here, the usual takes place. Halloran is more than she expected, touring is more than she expected, and what seemed comfortable about her quiet life before now no longer fits. How much is she willing to sacrifice of herself to please others? If Not For My Baby is straightforward in its formula, which is fine. Were it not for the issue above, I probably would have had a better time with this. Even with the Halloran-issue put to one side for a sec, however, the story isn't really worked out well. Clementine's childhood is not great and her relationship with her mom one which reads quite toxic. I would have loved to have seen more of how Clementine grew in her understanding of that, for example, of how she actually confronted her own security-blanket-cynicism and grew as a character. She doesn't grow as a character, unfortunately. Golden also throws in some brief discussion of power imbalance and consent, but this is more like checking a box than engaging with the topic. The side characters are the fun kind of road crew (mostly), but I didn't really feel Clementine's growing connection to them, although it is endlessly talked about, in a case of telling rather than showing.

I'm giving If Not For My Baby the lowest rating I've given in years and much of that has to do with the invasiveness discussed above. Had it not been for that, I might have quite enjoyed the novel. If Kate Golden had taken the time to ask what it was she enjoyed about Hozier's music and then took the extra step to create a male lead that shared these elements, abstracted from a real life person who is entitled to his privacy, this could have been good. It would still have needed a bit more development even then, though. As I said, the novel's non-romance elements were underdeveloped and I felt that they did somewhat detract from the plot. The protagonist herself also veers wildly between being a responsible adult and very immature in a way that grated. I also wish that the actual connection between the leads had actually been worked out more. It's not enough for me that they like each other's voices, I want actual conversations about music, for example, not just, "yes we both liked this yay". But I feel icky even thinking about how this could have worked because Halloran simply isn't a character but a pastiche of a real person. I honestly think that publishers need to think a bit more critically about where they draw the line for these kinds of books because some things should stay on AO3, or even better, in the mind.

If Not For My Baby could have been an absolutely fine, middle-of-the-road romance, if it had made the effort of creating a main male lead, rather than throwing a filter of a real-life person who did not ask for any of this.

This book not only did justice to the romance, but to music too. As someone who has studied music, I get nervous picking up books about musicians because it's such a in depth topic. But this was perfect. I loved the slow burn, each character had its place, and the musical descriptions were spectacular.
Thank you for sharing and I will be reccomending this book.

An emotional romance filled with yearning, I spent the majority of the book screaming at Clem to get herself together. But the balance of Clem's avoidance and Tom's yearning left me tearing through the book. I loved the balance of the romance and the music industry and the chaos of touring was a fun setting to dive into. The messy and chaotic storyline only built on the the intensity of the yearning brought on by the forced proximity of the couple.

Truly the most fanfic-y it gets - on the one hand, it's compulsively readable for the most part, and there are instances when it is simply stunning at a sentence level. On the other hand, however, it is so clearly invested in its source of inspiration, that it makes it impossible for the reader to divorce the fiction from its real referent, so the reading experience fails to channel the required suspension of disbelief, and makes the whole thing feel a bit icky altogether.

I though this sounded like a intrguing book, but the over the top similarities of the mmc to a real person felt way to invasive to carry on.

5⭐ 3🌶️

Amazing! Lyrical, musical and magical. This is one of the best reads I've read in a long time. The author has an absolutely amazing writing ability and I feel that this book just got hold of my heart. This will become one of those books that I want to forget so that I can read it again for the first time.

I love the elusive Rockstar MMC. I love how the FMC grew to really understand and empathise with him. The angst that the FMC felt about not being able to care for her mother was so real and absolutely heart-wrenching. You just have to put this on your TBR but be ready for it to become your whole personality. P.S. The ending is gold!!

Big thanks to netgalley and @kategoldenauthor for a copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.

This one seriously crept up on me, I did not expect to love this as much as I did. I also did not expect to cry as much as I did but alas romance can be emotional, it's par for the course.

Clem & Tom were a dream. And a very unexpected one at that. Neither one of them anticipated finding the other but when they did? Kismet. The way they connected, of course over music and their angelic voices respectively made perfect sense, but it was the soft way they treated each other, the slight nervousness and gradual unfurling of their deepest desires and psyches that got to me. Of course Tom was a rockstar but he shirked the image and associations that typically comes along with that and from the beginning all he wanted to do was look after Clem and make sure she was comfortable. Clem for her part didn't really know of Tom or his music but as time went on, her role in the band expanded and her respect for Tom as a musician grew she fell in love not with his image but the real person behind it. They were so tender with each other.

The setting was fantastic, life on the road on a big tour going city to city, playing show after show - the adventure and transiency of it was captured so well. Spending time getting to know the band members was also brilliant. And I found Clem's background to be really compelling, putting her life on hold for various reasons, her mum being her best friend and her relationship with her boss/former boyfriend was surprisingly sweet.

I absolutely loved the ending and epilogue. I hope Kate Golden writes more contemporary romance, she has a serious talent for it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC, felt like a gift to read this.

4.5

If Not for My Baby is an emotional and hazy romance following Clementine, a small town waitress who gets her big break when she is offered the chance to tour as a backup singer for Tom Halloran, an Irish musician known for his lyrical prose and award winning albums. Getting caught up in the rush and electric energy of the tour is a given, but when Clementine also starts to feel that way after getting to know Tom, she must decide if giving her heart up for the first time is worth risking everything.

The love story in this book felt so deep and all-encompassing. It wasn’t just about Clem and Tom falling for each other—it was about their shared passion for music, the creative process, and the emotional weight of making art. I felt so deeply for both of them and loved many of the side characters as well.

Tom was such a dreamy MMC—thoughtful, passionate, and the kind of artist who creates because he has to because the music is part of who he is. He understood Clem in a way that felt so genuine and he knew how to navigate her insecurities without making her feel small. Their connection was so tangible and I truly felt their love not just for each other but for the music they made.

At its core, If Not for My Baby is a love story, but it's also more than that. It's a story of a young woman's journey of coming into herself—coming to KNOW herself—separate from the small-town life she's always known. It's a story of spreading wings and souring, and finding a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. It's a story of friendship and family, of music and life on tour, and so much more!

4.5 🌟

Thank you to netgalley for an arc of this book!

I really enjoyed this one! I felt like it was a very fresh story from others I’ve read recently and I really did like all of the characters. The touring life, the forced proximity, everything was really on point.

The chemistry between Clem & Tom could be felt from the start and I really love where they ended up and just how much Clem grew throughout the story. It has spice, it has romance, and some really sweet scenes.

Overall a great read and very much looking forward to anything else by this author.

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!

it has been such a long time since ive read a music romance and i loved it.

this book i loved
i've read this in 3 hours and i regret nothing

perfection

If Not for My Baby is my first read by Kate Golden, the eye catching cover drew me to the story which is / has:
🎤 F/M celebrity romance (he’s a musician)
🎤 Forced proximity / workplace (she becomes his backing vocalist)
🎤 Caretaking

In Not for My Baby we follow Clementine as she is forced to confront her dreams (which she had neglected) when the opportunity of a lifetime arrives; being the backing vocalist for the musician Halloran on his US tour. However, as she gets to know the man behind the music romance blossoms, but can it survive outside the confines of the tour…
I enjoyed If Not for My Baby, but it’s not a book I will thinking about much now I’ve completed it.
Thoughts below ⬇️
• The pace: The story was pacy and I flew through the first 70%.
• The FMC: I felt the characters were well considered. Clementine is loyal, caring but also self-sacrificing and quite guarded. As a reader I had great context for Clemetine’s current situation at the start of the story and why the decision to tour could be challenging one for her to make. But I did find some of her later actions harder to understand and align to my understanding of her.
• The MMC: Halloran, is the kind of MMC I think many readers of this book will adore. He is an introvert but also a talented musician. I found that his motivations and actions, were well formed. I most enjoyed seeing him open up to his band and tour colleagues over the course of the story.
• The writing: As Halloran’s music is very lyrical, poetic and metaphorical, this weaves a little into the writing.
• The romance: This wasn’t a slow-burn and I wouldn’t say that it was high tension, but I did remain invested in Clementine’s and Halloran’s relationship. I particularly liked one of their earlier interactions (which I will not spoil).
• Themes: Themes explored included care responsibilities, grief, ambition and dreams, as well as jealousy.
• Personal preference: A few things that are purely my personal preference impeded my enjoyment, this included Clementine’s relationship with her ex / friend, Mike.

I think this book would be a great read for people that enjoy romance books with a celebrity / musician element. For example, if you enjoyed When in Rome or Nalini Singh’s Rock Kiss series.

I’m always keen to support writers whose books I love, so when I heard Kate Golden was turning her writing talent to romance, I was excitedly waiting to get my hand on it as soon as I could, as her fantasy series is phenomenal.

Kate Golden’s writing has been engrossing and beautifully descriptive in her fantasy works. I feel, though, that she’s evolved to new heights in her romantic style, especially in terms of emotional impact and expression of musical elements. You can feel the pulsing energy of a massive arena emitting from the page. No spoilers, but one scene was so vivid in its depiction that I felt I was staring up at the stage amidst the roar of the crowd, caught up in the raw rapture of the music and the heartachingly beautiful performance between Clem and Tom in their duet.

With the written word alone, she’s brought to life the complex emotional vibe that a piece of music can stir in your soul. The power and vividness of the description of the music and singing were so realistic I felt I could hear Halloran’s voice in my imagination – a smoky, sensual baritone with a lilting brogue and haunting resonance.

My heart melted so many times with the wonderful characters building at the heart of this story. Tom Halloran was a refreshing representation of a rockstar – famous, poetic, and talented, but humble, introverted, and struggling with anxiety around the pressures of his fame and performing to vast crowds. Clementine is a bit of a prickly pear – hard on herself to be realistic and accepting of her lot in life, working to look after her mum, underneath a dreamer with a sweet soul longing to express her heart in music and song.

The chemistry between Clem and Tom was dreamily delicious, heart-warmingly tender and sexily swoony. Their relationship is a healing balm, supportive. It reveals a vulnerability between them that they struggle to share with the rest of the world. The connection that forms is an emotional whirlwind that tests them both and breaks down their barriers, building them stronger as individuals and as a couple.

Thank you to Quercus Books, Kate Golden, and Netgalley for approving my request for eArc of If Not for My Baby – I devoured this in one very loved-up, heart-full, and soppy sitting.

I'd been so excited to read this, and overall it didn't let me down.
I feel if you're into the rockstar vibes, and the simple plot and tropes., then this one will keep you entertained.
If you want more from the plot and the characters, maybe not.
It's not a bad read; it's quite easy to read, in fact. I might be in my cowboy era, not my rock star one, but I did enjoy the spicy scenes and connection between the two mains.

If Not For My Baby delivers a romantic, spicy, and suspenseful journey set against the backdrop of life on tour with two singers navigating their complicated feelings. The story centers on Halloran, who unmistakably feels like a direct Hozier insert rather than simply a character inspired by the musician. As a fan of Hozier’s work, this element made me uneasy, especially given how much the real artist values his privacy. While fanfiction is a beloved genre for many, the fact that this story is being sold and profited from, so closely mirroring a real person, raises ethical questions that linger throughout the reading experience.

Setting aside this significant concern, the book itself is an enjoyable romance filled with tender, swoony moments and the kind of romantic tension that keeps readers hooked. The dynamic between the characters is believable, and the emotional stakes are heightened by the life on the road, with its inevitable uncertainties and pressures. There’s a layer of suspense in the story—not just from the typical romantic push and pull but also from the secrets and challenges the characters face behind the scenes.

I won’t dive into the minor complaints I had, as they’d spoil key plot points, but they mostly revolved around pacing and a few character choices that felt a bit rushed or underdeveloped. These didn’t overshadow the overall enjoyment, however, and I found myself genuinely invested in the characters’ journeys.

For readers who enjoy contemporary romance with a rockstar twist and don’t mind the ethical discomfort that comes with a protagonist so closely based on a living, private person, If Not For My Baby offers a heartfelt and passionate story. It’s a book about love, vulnerability, and the messy, beautiful realities of relationships under the spotlight.

In conclusion, while the book raises some important questions about privacy and inspiration, it also delivers a satisfying, emotionally charged romance. I’m giving it four stars for the engaging story, the sizzling chemistry, and the emotional depth, despite the complex backdrop.

This book is basically Hozier fan fiction so it has no right being as all consuming as it was! I literally could not put this book down! If not for my baby had some of the most whimsical and beautifully written prose that almost brought me to tears whilst also managing to make me laugh out loud at parts.
It follows Cowmentine, a southern small town girl who has never left home due to caring for her chronically ill mother, spontaneously books a job as backing singer for world famous singer, Halloran. Sparks soon fly for the pair and their love story is so beautifully written. Tom Halloran is a walking green flag which was so refreshing for a change and I adored his with my entire heart. He was giving me major Ali Hazelwood MMC energy (and I’m always here for that). I also really enjoyed the found family vibes and how by the end of the book Clementine had gone from having no idea who she was as a person and existing only to serve others to following her dreams and putting herself first .
I’m praying we get a standalone sequel about Molly and Pete because I’m not ready to leave the Halloran gang behind!

3.5⭐️

This was a fast-paced, easy-to-read romance that I flew through in no time. Most of the story takes place on a touring bus, which at times made it feel a little claustrophobic, and the “rockstar” angle was a bit heavy-handed. For much of the book, the heroine’s feelings seemed wrapped up in admiring him as the famous musician, his songs, his voice, the way he played guitar, how he looked, so it felt like she was falling for the persona rather than the man himself.

Thankfully, in the final quarter, the focus shifted. The rockstar image faded into the background, and her connection to him as a person came through much more clearly, which gave the romance a more genuine feel.

The MMC is sweet and very likeable, but too perfect, always saying and doing the right thing. It’s nice wish fulfilment, but for me it felt a little unrealistic at times.

The bandmates were a fun addition, distinct enough to tell apart, but still quite surface level. I’d have liked to see them fleshed out more.

Overall, it’s a sweet romance with well-written intimate scenes. Even if some aspects didn’t feel entirely realistic, I still enjoyed it and would happily read more from this author.

I love a cowboy romance and this book did not disappoint. I adored Nashville and this book was akin to a story based on that. Singer down on her luck joins a tour as a back up singer along side a stunning hunk of a man who appears stand offish. It made me laugh and sigh and was a great read. I loved it all

#IfNotForMyBaby #NetGalley

I had such high hopes. I wanted to love this. Unfortunately it just wasn’t for me. And I am very sad about it. I hope others live it.

I was sold on this book by the cover and the contents did not disappoint. The levels of yearning in this book were exceptional. It almost hurt how much yearning there was. The slow burn of the relationship between Clem and Tom was so well done and the tension between them and the world around them was so well balanced. Even though it was single POV you still got a really good sense of who Tom was as a character and it made the whole book feel so well realised and beautiful. I love the way Golden write and this was a perfect rockstar romance.