Steamy Lit

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A heartwarming story that gets stuck in your brain like an earworm. It reads like a love letter to music, not just the clear inspiration of Hozier but to musical theater and tour life. Tom is as swoony, awkward, and endearing as you’d expect, which is a nice balance to the frazzled insecurity that lives inside Clementine. This one’s for the ones so afraid of heartbreak we turn to music as preventative treatment and find that nothing can crack, peel back, and heal a human soul like a good song.

If Not for My Baby by Kate Golden, (List Price: $19, Berkley, 9780593953419, August 2025)

Reviewed by Paola Parreno Merina, Steamy Lit in Deerfield Beach, Florida