What is the title of your latest release?
IF NOT FOR MY BABY
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
IF NOT FOR MY BABY is a contemporary rockstar romance that follows a small-town waitress named Clementine who gets the opportunity to be a backing vocalist for Halloran, an Irish rockstar on his eight-week US tour. It’s basically if The Idea of You had a baby with Almost Famous. Halloran is a hopeless romantic (so male yearning is off the charts) and Clementine doesn’t believe in love. But of course, opposites attract!
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I had always wanted to write a road trip book, and the tour aspect of this story allowed me to visit all my favorite cities! Austin, Memphis, New York, LA. Also places I’ve always wanted to go like Maine.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Oh, absolutely! I love Clementine. She’s funny, she loves music and musicals as much as I do. We’d go see concerts together!
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Selfless, witty, talented.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned how hard it is in contemporary romance to find organic sources for high stakes! Without dragons and life or death prophecies, it can be difficult to make sure your heroes have enough obstacles.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I wait until I’m totally done. If I start editing, I’ll never stop. It’s a vicious cycle!
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
There is a chocolate shop called Edelweiss that has my all-time favorite chocolates: they’re rice crispy treats with caramel dipped in milk chocolate. I could eat seventy of them.
Describe your writing space/office!
I write in my office, which has a lot of natural light, too many candles, and the same green couch I’ve written all my novels on that I will keep until it’s threadbare and lacking all cushioning.
Who is an author you admire?
I have endless admiration for Leigh Bardugo. She is beyond talented and wildly creative. In one interview she says she’d swear fealty to Stevie Nicks. Well, I’d swear fealty to her.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Probably A Court of Thorns and Roses. I would never have written A Dawn of Onyx had I not fallen in love with that book so thoroughly.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was just doing chores at home when my agents called to tell me my first book series had been preempted by Berkley. I was in total and utter shock! I think I made them explain it to me three times before I started crying.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Lately it’s been murder mysteries. Sometimes it can be hard to read romance when I am writing romance (fantasy or otherwise) but I always trust Tana French and Lucy Foley to get me out of a book slump.
What’s your favorite movie?
An impossible question but probably Almost Famous which was a huge influence on this book!
What is your favorite season?
Fall! I make a thousand Halloween-related plans (Horror Nights, pumpkin carving parties with my friends,) wear a lot of cozy sweaters, rewatch Vampire Diaries, and swoon over the leaves changing colors because I am, and forever will be, very basic.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Dinner somewhere delicious with my husband and then home to put on sweatpants and order in dessert. Or a big international trip with my best friends. There is no in-between.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I binged all of Interview with The Vampire in the span of 48 hours. It is the most fantastic show out there right now and not talked about nearly enough!! Lestat is the perfect toxic villain book boyfriend.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I could eat Italian food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pasta equals joy.
What do you do when you have free time?
I love puzzles (my favorite brand is Piecework) and baking (Claire Saffitz has the best cookbooks!) and going on hikes with my husband and my dog.
What can readers expect from you next?
The first book in my newest fantasy romance trilogy is coming out February 10th! It’s called HALF CITY, and it’s sort of like if Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer went to an elite demon slaying college located in the middle of New York City.
It’s the duet of a lifetime when a rock star and his backup singer find a new kind of harmony off stage in this sensational contemporary romance.
Clementine Clark isn’t looking for love. Growing up with a single mom who weeps over a new guy each week tends to have that effect on a girl. But Clementine doesn’t mind being the rational one—she’s even buried her musical dreams so deeply within herself that she hardly notices the hole it’s left in her life.
That is until her best friend calls her with a life-changing opportunity: to join Irish megastar Halloran on his first US tour as a backing vocalist. Clementine wants to reject the offer, but the pay is enough to change her and her mom’s life. Overnight, Clementine goes from serving enchiladas at the Happy Tortilla to belting high notes before a cheering crowd.
But the whiplash of trading small-town Texas for sold-out stadiumsis nothing compared to the rush of performing with the enigmatic Thomas Patrick Halloran. Poet, introvert, and lyrical genius, Halloran quickly gets under Clementine’s skin. The two couldn’t see the world more differently. And yet, over the course of the next eight weeks on tour, the romantic rockstar might just strike an unforgettable chord in Clementine. But will it be enough for an encore?
Romance Comedy [Berkley, On Sale: August 5, 2025, Trade Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593953419 / eISBN: 9780593953426]
Kate Golden is the USA Today bestselling author of The Sacred Stones trilogy. She lives in Los Angeles where she works in the film industry developing movies with screenwriters and filmmakers. When she isn’t telling stories, Kate is an avid book reader, puzzle addict, and game night enthusiast which she hosts with her husband and puppy, Milo. You can find her on Instagram and on TikTok.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2026