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Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine
Against the vibrant, bluesy backdrop of 1970s Austin, Texas, this shimmering debut follows the collision between hicks and hipsters that ultimately results in tragedy.
Austin, Texas is a town in the throes of social upheaval and the Rush Creek Saloon, five miles on its outskirts, is a bar without a crowd. Until a strange new house band transforms it from moribund honky-tonk to thriving blues bar. But are the throngs of people and the rowdy music worth the chaos that comes with them?
Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine is told through three perspectives, each of whom is in some ways responsible for the rebirth of Rush Creek and for the violence that follows in the afterbirth. Doug Moser, a country-and-blues guitarist from San Antonio, is seizing his long-awaited chance at fame but cannot turn away from the easy booze and drugs that come with the life. Deanna Teague owns Rush Creek. Her marriage is rocky and so is her sense of herself, but she sees a crack of light if she can just hold it all together. And Steven Francis is a boy who loves too fiercely. He grapples with his sexuality, his God, and his place in a town where he badly wants to belong.
In her heartfelt, electrifying rockabilly ode to a place in a permanent state of becoming, Collins has captured the roughhousing mood and paradoxical longings of the American psyche. The embrace of both inertia and danger, the longing for freedom and anarchy even as we crave a place to belong. Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine is a time capsule stuffed with heat and booze, electric guitar riffs and big, empty spaces. It’s about the cost of fame—the real price of attention—and what it can do to a person, to a community, to a whole damn town.
Austin, Texas is a town in the throes of social upheaval and the Rush Creek Saloon, five miles on its outskirts, is a bar without a crowd. Until a strange new house band transforms it from moribund honky-tonk to thriving blues bar. But are the throngs of people and the rowdy music worth the chaos that comes with them?
Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine is told through three perspectives, each of whom is in some ways responsible for the rebirth of Rush Creek and for the violence that follows in the afterbirth. Doug Moser, a country-and-blues guitarist from San Antonio, is seizing his long-awaited chance at fame but cannot turn away from the easy booze and drugs that come with the life. Deanna Teague owns Rush Creek. Her marriage is rocky and so is her sense of herself, but she sees a crack of light if she can just hold it all together. And Steven Francis is a boy who loves too fiercely. He grapples with his sexuality, his God, and his place in a town where he badly wants to belong.
In her heartfelt, electrifying rockabilly ode to a place in a permanent state of becoming, Collins has captured the roughhousing mood and paradoxical longings of the American psyche. The embrace of both inertia and danger, the longing for freedom and anarchy even as we crave a place to belong. Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine is a time capsule stuffed with heat and booze, electric guitar riffs and big, empty spaces. It’s about the cost of fame—the real price of attention—and what it can do to a person, to a community, to a whole damn town.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published March 18, 2025
14 people are currently reading
3323 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
June 22, 2025
Weird little story about a musician, his old love interest and possible new love interest. Told by three narrators two in first person and last in an odd dual third person. Liked the Austin references.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 14, 2025
Callie Collins transports us to the hazy Rush Creek Saloon in 1970s Austin. We get three distinct POVs - a front man and guitar player, a female bartender and partial bar owner, and a young fan who lives for the music. There is drama and loudness to the book but there is a lot of subtlety as well - Collins is able to toe that line in tension very well. I'm really thankful to have gotten an advanced copy of this book that comes out this Tuesday 3/18.
October 23, 2024
First, a big thank you 🙏 to @doubledaybooks and @netgalley for the advanced reader copy of Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine by Callie Collins!
👉 Actual pub date is 3/18/2025
Set against the gritty, soulful backdrop of 1970s Austin, this debut novel sweeps you into a world of blues, longing, and lives on the edge. Collins captures the raw essence of a town and its people searching for connection, whether through music, love, or something darker.
The story, told through the perspectives of Doug, Deanna, and Steven, gives us an intimate view of how deeply loneliness can seep into a person's soul. Each character is aching for something that makes them feel alive again - whether it's Doug's desperate chase for fame and escape in booze and drugs, Deanna's struggle to save her failing bar and marriage, or Steven's painful journey grappling with his sexuality and need to belong.
Collins perfectly captures the vibe of a time and place where freedom and chaos collide, with Rush Creek Saloon becoming the symbol of that chaotic energy. It's a powerful, immersive read that explores the highs and devastating lows that come with searching for something more.
For me, it was a vivid time capsule, full of heat, music, and heartbreak, and if you've been a fan of Daisy Jones and the Six or Mary Jane, this book would likely be right up your alley.
👉 Actual pub date is 3/18/2025
Set against the gritty, soulful backdrop of 1970s Austin, this debut novel sweeps you into a world of blues, longing, and lives on the edge. Collins captures the raw essence of a town and its people searching for connection, whether through music, love, or something darker.
The story, told through the perspectives of Doug, Deanna, and Steven, gives us an intimate view of how deeply loneliness can seep into a person's soul. Each character is aching for something that makes them feel alive again - whether it's Doug's desperate chase for fame and escape in booze and drugs, Deanna's struggle to save her failing bar and marriage, or Steven's painful journey grappling with his sexuality and need to belong.
Collins perfectly captures the vibe of a time and place where freedom and chaos collide, with Rush Creek Saloon becoming the symbol of that chaotic energy. It's a powerful, immersive read that explores the highs and devastating lows that come with searching for something more.
For me, it was a vivid time capsule, full of heat, music, and heartbreak, and if you've been a fan of Daisy Jones and the Six or Mary Jane, this book would likely be right up your alley.
September 3, 2024
Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine, the debut novel by Callie Collins, is a yearning, a hunger, a cry of silent tears for human connection. Set in an off-the-beaten-path honky tonk bar somewhere outside Austin, Texas in the early 1970s, the novel is a three-hander exploring the lonely inner lives of a musician, one of the bar owners and a hanger-on fan. Collins, in defiance of the old "dancing about architecture" chestnut, masterfully writes about music, how it feels to create it, be moved by it and try to commune with others through it. Though a small, intimate story about three nobodys, Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine thrums with life. It keens, high and lonesome. Like the songs that soundtrack your down times and lonely nights, you may not remember the words, but you'll likely remember exactly the feeling, the heartache, of Collins's lovely novel.
March 6, 2025
In Callie Collins' debut novel, "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine," the air is thick with cigarette smoke, spilled beer, and the hypnotic pull of blues guitar. Set against the backdrop of Austin's evolving music scene in the 1970s, Collins captures a time when the city was still finding its rhythm—a moment when honky-tonks and hippies collided in a combustible mix that could either create something transcendent or end in tragedy. For the patrons and proprietors of Rush Creek Saloon, it does both.
Like the best blues songs, this novel doesn't shy away from life's raw edges. Instead, it leans into them, exploring the spaces where hope and desperation share the same barstool, where belonging comes at a price, and where music becomes both salvation and siren song.
Three-Part Harmony: The Characters Who Drive the Narrative
Collins structures her novel around three distinct voices, each one carrying their own strain of longing:
Doug Moser - A talented guitarist who sees Rush Creek as his ticket to something bigger—maybe fame, maybe just escape from the disappointment he's become to himself and his family. Doug plays like a man possessed but lives like one haunted, always chasing the next high, the next gig, the next chance to feel something real. His sections hum with restless energy, capturing the internal contradiction of a man who can only truly express himself through his music while remaining emotionally inarticulate in his life.
Deanna Teague - The saloon's owner who watches her marriage to Wendell crumble like the limestone beneath the bar's foundation. Deanna's narrative carries the weight of a woman who left once but came back home, who understands both sides of Rush Creek's evolving clientele. Collins writes Deanna with a weathered grace—a woman whose desires are reawakening just as her life is calcifying around her.
Steven Francis - Young, gay, and desperately seeking connection in a place that isn't built for boys like him. Steven's sections are perhaps the most heartbreaking, tinged with religious imagery and his personal "Hick God" who both chastises and comforts him. His obsession with Doug forms the novel's most volatile emotional current, flowing toward an inevitable, tragic end.
What makes these characters compelling isn't just their individual struggles but how they orbit each other—sometimes connecting, sometimes missing by inches. Collins excels at showing how people can physically occupy the same space while living in entirely different worlds.
Setting the Stage: Austin's Changing Landscape
"Walk Softly" isn't just set in 1970s Austin—it embodies it. Collins recreates a city in transformation, where the old Texas and the new counterculture were still figuring out how to coexist. Rush Creek Saloon, situated on the outskirts, becomes a perfect microcosm for this tension:
"The difference was small sometimes and big other times, but everyone knew it, could see it, that gap between the hicks and the hippies. Between the people who knew the groove and the people who didn't know the groove, felt weird or iffy toward the groove maybe when they heard it, or were looking for something simpler than the groove."
The physical spaces—the bar with its low ceiling and sticky floors, the house across the lot where Doug lives with his wife Gwen and son Julian, the dry creek bed where tragedy eventually unfolds—all feel lived-in and authentic. Collins understands that setting isn't just backdrop but character, influencing and reflecting the human drama playing out within it.
The Sound and the Fury: Writing Style and Structure
Collins' prose has the cadence of good Texas storytelling—unhurried but purposeful, colloquial without being clichéd. She shifts between her three narrators with a deft touch, giving each a distinct voice while maintaining the novel's cohesive tone. Doug's sections buzz with the frenetic energy of someone constantly in motion; Deanna's carry a melancholic weight; Steven's spiral between ecstasy and despair, often in the same paragraph.
The novel's structure builds like a blues progression—establishing familiar patterns before introducing variations that deepen and complicate the emotional landscape. The pacing occasionally lags, particularly in some of the more introspective sections, but Collins knows when to introduce a narrative chord change to pull readers back in.
Where Collins truly shines is in her descriptions of music and its effect on both performers and listeners:
"The notes felt right coming off the walls and down from the ceiling, they were real sugar, even though it was just a box and should've felt like a sealed-up echo chamber. Even though I was playing the world's shittiest electric and could almost feel the wiring inside of it spark against my leg."
These moments elevate the novel, making readers feel the transformative power of music that drives these characters to seek and destroy in equal measure.
Thematic Resonance: What the Novel Says About Belonging
At its core, "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine" explores the universal desire to belong and the prices we pay for connection. Each character is searching for their place—Doug in the music world, Deanna in a town that's changing beneath her feet, Steven in a community that alternately tolerates and rejects him.
Collins examines how places like Rush Creek become sanctuaries for some and battlegrounds for others. The novel asks uncomfortable questions about ownership: Who gets to claim a space as theirs? What happens when different definitions of belonging collide?
The religious undertones, particularly in Steven's sections with his internal dialogues with "Hick God," add another dimension to these questions of belonging. Faith becomes yet another contested territory, another way people define themselves against others.
Where the Novel Stumbles: Moments of Dissonance
While Collins' debut impresses in many ways, it occasionally hits some flat notes. The pacing in the middle section drags, with too much time spent circling the same emotional terrain before moving forward. Some scenes, particularly in the lead-up to the climactic power outage at the bar, feel repetitive—establishing tensions that have already been well-established.
Additionally, while the three-perspective structure generally works well, the transitions aren't always seamless. Occasionally, time jumps forward or backward between sections in ways that momentarily disorient rather than illuminate.
The character of Gwen, Doug's wife, remains somewhat underdeveloped despite her importance to the plot. She serves primarily as a foil for Deanna and a source of guilt for Doug rather than a fully realized character in her own right.
Final Chorus: A Powerful, Promising Debut
Despite these minor shortcomings, "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine" announces Callie Collins as a writer with a distinct voice and a keen eye for the complexities of human connection. She captures a specific moment in Austin's history while telling a story that resonates beyond its time and place.
The novel succeeds most in its unflinching look at how we find and lose ourselves in music, in each other, and in the stories we tell about who we are. It's about the gaps between who we want to be and who we've become, between the music we make and the lives we lead.
-----------
Personal Note: Like the unexpected thrill of discovering a raw, incredible band in some out-of-the-way joint, receiving this ARC of Callie Collins' debut felt like stumbling onto something special before the rest of the world catches on. I found myself reading late into the night, almost hearing the twang and thump of the music she describes so vividly. This honest review flows from those midnight reading sessions—nothing manufactured, just the genuine response of someone who's spent time in places not unlike Rush Creek, where music can feel like salvation and damnation in the same breath. My thanks to the publisher for this advance copy; Collins is a writer whose next work I'll be eagerly awaiting.
Like the best blues songs, this novel doesn't shy away from life's raw edges. Instead, it leans into them, exploring the spaces where hope and desperation share the same barstool, where belonging comes at a price, and where music becomes both salvation and siren song.
Three-Part Harmony: The Characters Who Drive the Narrative
Collins structures her novel around three distinct voices, each one carrying their own strain of longing:
Doug Moser - A talented guitarist who sees Rush Creek as his ticket to something bigger—maybe fame, maybe just escape from the disappointment he's become to himself and his family. Doug plays like a man possessed but lives like one haunted, always chasing the next high, the next gig, the next chance to feel something real. His sections hum with restless energy, capturing the internal contradiction of a man who can only truly express himself through his music while remaining emotionally inarticulate in his life.
Deanna Teague - The saloon's owner who watches her marriage to Wendell crumble like the limestone beneath the bar's foundation. Deanna's narrative carries the weight of a woman who left once but came back home, who understands both sides of Rush Creek's evolving clientele. Collins writes Deanna with a weathered grace—a woman whose desires are reawakening just as her life is calcifying around her.
Steven Francis - Young, gay, and desperately seeking connection in a place that isn't built for boys like him. Steven's sections are perhaps the most heartbreaking, tinged with religious imagery and his personal "Hick God" who both chastises and comforts him. His obsession with Doug forms the novel's most volatile emotional current, flowing toward an inevitable, tragic end.
What makes these characters compelling isn't just their individual struggles but how they orbit each other—sometimes connecting, sometimes missing by inches. Collins excels at showing how people can physically occupy the same space while living in entirely different worlds.
Setting the Stage: Austin's Changing Landscape
"Walk Softly" isn't just set in 1970s Austin—it embodies it. Collins recreates a city in transformation, where the old Texas and the new counterculture were still figuring out how to coexist. Rush Creek Saloon, situated on the outskirts, becomes a perfect microcosm for this tension:
"The difference was small sometimes and big other times, but everyone knew it, could see it, that gap between the hicks and the hippies. Between the people who knew the groove and the people who didn't know the groove, felt weird or iffy toward the groove maybe when they heard it, or were looking for something simpler than the groove."
The physical spaces—the bar with its low ceiling and sticky floors, the house across the lot where Doug lives with his wife Gwen and son Julian, the dry creek bed where tragedy eventually unfolds—all feel lived-in and authentic. Collins understands that setting isn't just backdrop but character, influencing and reflecting the human drama playing out within it.
The Sound and the Fury: Writing Style and Structure
Collins' prose has the cadence of good Texas storytelling—unhurried but purposeful, colloquial without being clichéd. She shifts between her three narrators with a deft touch, giving each a distinct voice while maintaining the novel's cohesive tone. Doug's sections buzz with the frenetic energy of someone constantly in motion; Deanna's carry a melancholic weight; Steven's spiral between ecstasy and despair, often in the same paragraph.
The novel's structure builds like a blues progression—establishing familiar patterns before introducing variations that deepen and complicate the emotional landscape. The pacing occasionally lags, particularly in some of the more introspective sections, but Collins knows when to introduce a narrative chord change to pull readers back in.
Where Collins truly shines is in her descriptions of music and its effect on both performers and listeners:
"The notes felt right coming off the walls and down from the ceiling, they were real sugar, even though it was just a box and should've felt like a sealed-up echo chamber. Even though I was playing the world's shittiest electric and could almost feel the wiring inside of it spark against my leg."
These moments elevate the novel, making readers feel the transformative power of music that drives these characters to seek and destroy in equal measure.
Thematic Resonance: What the Novel Says About Belonging
At its core, "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine" explores the universal desire to belong and the prices we pay for connection. Each character is searching for their place—Doug in the music world, Deanna in a town that's changing beneath her feet, Steven in a community that alternately tolerates and rejects him.
Collins examines how places like Rush Creek become sanctuaries for some and battlegrounds for others. The novel asks uncomfortable questions about ownership: Who gets to claim a space as theirs? What happens when different definitions of belonging collide?
The religious undertones, particularly in Steven's sections with his internal dialogues with "Hick God," add another dimension to these questions of belonging. Faith becomes yet another contested territory, another way people define themselves against others.
Where the Novel Stumbles: Moments of Dissonance
While Collins' debut impresses in many ways, it occasionally hits some flat notes. The pacing in the middle section drags, with too much time spent circling the same emotional terrain before moving forward. Some scenes, particularly in the lead-up to the climactic power outage at the bar, feel repetitive—establishing tensions that have already been well-established.
Additionally, while the three-perspective structure generally works well, the transitions aren't always seamless. Occasionally, time jumps forward or backward between sections in ways that momentarily disorient rather than illuminate.
The character of Gwen, Doug's wife, remains somewhat underdeveloped despite her importance to the plot. She serves primarily as a foil for Deanna and a source of guilt for Doug rather than a fully realized character in her own right.
Final Chorus: A Powerful, Promising Debut
Despite these minor shortcomings, "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine" announces Callie Collins as a writer with a distinct voice and a keen eye for the complexities of human connection. She captures a specific moment in Austin's history while telling a story that resonates beyond its time and place.
The novel succeeds most in its unflinching look at how we find and lose ourselves in music, in each other, and in the stories we tell about who we are. It's about the gaps between who we want to be and who we've become, between the music we make and the lives we lead.
-----------
Personal Note: Like the unexpected thrill of discovering a raw, incredible band in some out-of-the-way joint, receiving this ARC of Callie Collins' debut felt like stumbling onto something special before the rest of the world catches on. I found myself reading late into the night, almost hearing the twang and thump of the music she describes so vividly. This honest review flows from those midnight reading sessions—nothing manufactured, just the genuine response of someone who's spent time in places not unlike Rush Creek, where music can feel like salvation and damnation in the same breath. My thanks to the publisher for this advance copy; Collins is a writer whose next work I'll be eagerly awaiting.
March 27, 2025
3.5 rounding up for debut/
Really intriguing premise that didn't fully deliver for me. It's good - well written and original, but I wanted a bit more from the characters and overall story. Collins does a great job writing place -- both the region and the up-close life on the property are shown and feel real. She also creates a great tension in the mood and voice-- this ultimately climaxes into a violent crescendo that needed a little more building to fully pay off. I'll definitely read her next book.
Really intriguing premise that didn't fully deliver for me. It's good - well written and original, but I wanted a bit more from the characters and overall story. Collins does a great job writing place -- both the region and the up-close life on the property are shown and feel real. She also creates a great tension in the mood and voice-- this ultimately climaxes into a violent crescendo that needed a little more building to fully pay off. I'll definitely read her next book.
March 19, 2025
I couldn’t put this down. Transported so easily to a time and a place. Bravo!
February 25, 2025
In a little bar outside of Austin in the 70's, a house band is hired. Then there's 200 pages of a fever dream that is mostly incoherent and has no storyline.
I loved the cover and the premise. The book started out ok, very slow and nothing happened, but I was still hopeful. But by 75% when I thought there was going to be some action, there wasn't, and it was just more rambling.
Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I loved the setting but the best thing I can say about this one is that at least it was short.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.
I loved the cover and the premise. The book started out ok, very slow and nothing happened, but I was still hopeful. But by 75% when I thought there was going to be some action, there wasn't, and it was just more rambling.
Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I loved the setting but the best thing I can say about this one is that at least it was short.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.
April 6, 2025
A style of writing I usually pass on, but I enjoyed the rhythm of the stream-of-consciousness narrative. 1975, outside of Austin, TX. Wendell and DeeAnn run a honkey tonk, but their customers have dwindled.
Enter Doug and his bandmates; they bring life back to the bar. But Doug, DeeAnn, and a young man Steven all have tortured pasts and drug problems. The book is in three parts, one for each of them.
The author writes so vividly about a music scene - I definitely felt the bass drum and the guitar solos through the pages and right into my vibrating heart. Hard to imagine keeping up with that type of life for a long time, but good music can be an antidote to many of life’s troubles.
Enter Doug and his bandmates; they bring life back to the bar. But Doug, DeeAnn, and a young man Steven all have tortured pasts and drug problems. The book is in three parts, one for each of them.
The author writes so vividly about a music scene - I definitely felt the bass drum and the guitar solos through the pages and right into my vibrating heart. Hard to imagine keeping up with that type of life for a long time, but good music can be an antidote to many of life’s troubles.
April 24, 2025
slow moving story, well written. I needed more character development and a better ending.
March 18, 2025
I think this is a story about belonging. How we long for it, where we seek it, the things we do to feel like we’ve connected to something bigger than ourselves for just a moment.
It’s smartly set in Texas, a place in constant struggle with its own identity crisis. It left me wondering—what do we owe others, in their journey to belong? When do we hold ourselves accountable for upholding what we’ve come to define as the norm? And who are the people we keep out because they don’t fit our definitions and what makes us feel comfortable?
It’s smartly set in Texas, a place in constant struggle with its own identity crisis. It left me wondering—what do we owe others, in their journey to belong? When do we hold ourselves accountable for upholding what we’ve come to define as the norm? And who are the people we keep out because they don’t fit our definitions and what makes us feel comfortable?
June 8, 2025
one of the worst books i’ve ever read. it’s set in 1975 and this insufferable wanna-be stevie ray vaughan ass mf was already talking about how “austin isn’t the same anymore” ok bro stop cheating on your wife and get a real job. and don’t even get me started on hick god. you may be asking, hm well what was it even about? to which i respond, exactly. and now you may be asking, well, why did you keep reading it? to which i say, god i wish i knew.
November 10, 2024
The beginning was boring and then in the middle was better, but towards the end it got weird with Steven in the third person and Hick God. Just know this is a book that now that I read it I'm like why did I read it and once was even to much so no I will not be rereading like I do with other books. And I would recommend nobody else pick up this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2025
Wow, this was really bad. The characters were all empty and flat, especially the female characters. All we really learned of them was how hot they were and that their dreams were broken. The plot was boring/undeveloped and the writing was not good enough to get me emotionally invested at all in the ending. The best part of this trash novel was the cover.
December 2, 2024
Absolutely and utterly genius—I hope everyone reads this book! Never read anything like it before.
March 19, 2025
Thank you Doubleday Books for my #gifted copy and thank you PRH Audio for my #gifted listening copy of Walk Softly On This Heart of Mine! #PRHAudioPartner #PRHAInfluencer #PRHPartner #doubledaybooks #WalkSoftlyOnThisHeartOfMine #CallieCollins
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐬
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬: 𝐄𝐯𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟏𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 - 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐰!
This debut novel by Callie Collins is set in 1970s Austin, Texas and the Rush Creek Saloon. Told through three perspectives, all responsible for the rebirth of the Rush Creek Saloon, and the violence that happens after. Doug is a guitarist who has waited for the opportunity to make it big, and is ready for the chance to play as part of the house band at the Rush Creek Saloon. Deanna owns the Saloon but she is watching her marriage crumble right before her very own eyes. And then there’s Steven. Young and Gay and in a place where that’s not accepted, but just wants to fit in and be accepted. Walk Softly On This Heart of Mine is about the cost of fame and the desire to belong. It’s about searching for connections. It gave off Daisy Jones and the Six vibes with the way it was written.
🎧I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Eva Kaminsky and Michael Crouch. I definitely enjoyed these two as the narrators. I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to Eva Kaminsky before, and I’ll definitely look for more audiobooks by her in the future. I would have liked to see two distinct voices for Doug and Steven, but that did not take away from the book at all. That’s just my personal preference.
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐬
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬: 𝐄𝐯𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟏𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 - 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐰!
This debut novel by Callie Collins is set in 1970s Austin, Texas and the Rush Creek Saloon. Told through three perspectives, all responsible for the rebirth of the Rush Creek Saloon, and the violence that happens after. Doug is a guitarist who has waited for the opportunity to make it big, and is ready for the chance to play as part of the house band at the Rush Creek Saloon. Deanna owns the Saloon but she is watching her marriage crumble right before her very own eyes. And then there’s Steven. Young and Gay and in a place where that’s not accepted, but just wants to fit in and be accepted. Walk Softly On This Heart of Mine is about the cost of fame and the desire to belong. It’s about searching for connections. It gave off Daisy Jones and the Six vibes with the way it was written.
🎧I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Eva Kaminsky and Michael Crouch. I definitely enjoyed these two as the narrators. I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to Eva Kaminsky before, and I’ll definitely look for more audiobooks by her in the future. I would have liked to see two distinct voices for Doug and Steven, but that did not take away from the book at all. That’s just my personal preference.
May 12, 2025
I met Callie at her book reading, and she was observably cool, composed, and eloquent. She is a native Austinite (a rarity), and demonstrated a knowing grasp of the town, its storied music scene, and the ongoing narrative that at any given point in time, Austin is cloaked in conversation about the city having been cooler moments prior to your arrival.
We joked about the book being “chuggable” (around 200 pages). It is, by the way, I took it in gulps. For that reason, I did not anticipate being deeply moved or thrown into self-reflection going into it, but was in awe upon its conclusion.
We’re presented multiple perspectives in the novel: The lead musician, Doug, and one of the bar owners, Deanna. Their sections are world-building and nuanced, but it is a surprise turn from a third perspective that propels the book into unexpected territory. The outsider in the novel, Steven, weaves unease throughout. While it takes some time for his story arc to fully form, when it comes into focus, it is a true gut punch.
On its surface, Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine is a raucous and immersive dive into the 1970s music scene of Austin. However, there are contemplative themes related to growing up queer in Texas, seeking salvation in scenes that are not receptive to outsiders, and the ill-fated Orpheus-like outcomes these choices inevitably spur.
Cheers to Callie for capturing the best and worst of Austin, a self-mythologizing town.
We joked about the book being “chuggable” (around 200 pages). It is, by the way, I took it in gulps. For that reason, I did not anticipate being deeply moved or thrown into self-reflection going into it, but was in awe upon its conclusion.
We’re presented multiple perspectives in the novel: The lead musician, Doug, and one of the bar owners, Deanna. Their sections are world-building and nuanced, but it is a surprise turn from a third perspective that propels the book into unexpected territory. The outsider in the novel, Steven, weaves unease throughout. While it takes some time for his story arc to fully form, when it comes into focus, it is a true gut punch.
On its surface, Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine is a raucous and immersive dive into the 1970s music scene of Austin. However, there are contemplative themes related to growing up queer in Texas, seeking salvation in scenes that are not receptive to outsiders, and the ill-fated Orpheus-like outcomes these choices inevitably spur.
Cheers to Callie for capturing the best and worst of Austin, a self-mythologizing town.
December 17, 2025
Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine is a debut novel by Callie Collins set in Austin, TX, during the 1970s, that centers around a bar called the Rush Creek Saloon. I was attracted to this book because I love music, and the Saloon in the novel reminded me a bit of a good old-fashioned honky tonk (in fact, Rush Creek Saloon is a honky tonk converted into a blues bar). And while the book is centered around music, the emphasis is really on the characters and how the music brings them into each other's orbit.
Walk Softly is told through the lens of its three main characters, told in three parts: Doug, Deanna, half of the couple who owns and tends the bar, and Steven, a very in-your-face 19-year-old fan whose intrusive presence drives the most dramatic plotline. How these characters interact and weave in and out of each other's lives is what drives the novel.
Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine is a melancholic book that is all about belonging and the need for community. It’s also an atmospheric novel that captures the essence of what it is like to be a musician playing in an old bar under the neon. As a musician myself, I found that Collins writes well - often poetically - about music. I will warn you, though, the ending is very tragic.
Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine was a quick, soulful read that will resonate with music fans, fans of Texas literature, LGBTQIA representation, and atmospheric/character-driven novels.
Walk Softly is told through the lens of its three main characters, told in three parts: Doug, Deanna, half of the couple who owns and tends the bar, and Steven, a very in-your-face 19-year-old fan whose intrusive presence drives the most dramatic plotline. How these characters interact and weave in and out of each other's lives is what drives the novel.
Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine is a melancholic book that is all about belonging and the need for community. It’s also an atmospheric novel that captures the essence of what it is like to be a musician playing in an old bar under the neon. As a musician myself, I found that Collins writes well - often poetically - about music. I will warn you, though, the ending is very tragic.
Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine was a quick, soulful read that will resonate with music fans, fans of Texas literature, LGBTQIA representation, and atmospheric/character-driven novels.
February 2, 2025
Morally grey is a term that could apply to all three of the main characters in Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine. Everyone is terrible, but not awful. Everyone is okay, but not great.
Set in an off-the-beaten-path honkey tonk, we meet each of our three characters: Doug, a blues musician, hired to play every night at the Rush Creek Saloon. Deanna, the owner of the Rush Creek Saloon, is unhappy in her marriage and her life. Steven is the boy who loves too hard and struggles with his own identity and sexuality.
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Callie Collins captured a slice of life for each person, but it read a bit empty to me. Doug was kind of a pain in the ass and a little too far up his own. Steven's section of the book was too weird, and I say this as someone who likes weird book.
There are ways to write about music, and there's plenty of that included in this book, but like most of Doug's songs and nights out....there was a lot of fluff and hollowness.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Set in an off-the-beaten-path honkey tonk, we meet each of our three characters: Doug, a blues musician, hired to play every night at the Rush Creek Saloon. Deanna, the owner of the Rush Creek Saloon, is unhappy in her marriage and her life. Steven is the boy who loves too hard and struggles with his own identity and sexuality.
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Callie Collins captured a slice of life for each person, but it read a bit empty to me. Doug was kind of a pain in the ass and a little too far up his own. Steven's section of the book was too weird, and I say this as someone who likes weird book.
There are ways to write about music, and there's plenty of that included in this book, but like most of Doug's songs and nights out....there was a lot of fluff and hollowness.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
March 12, 2025
A beautifully written and melancholy novel set in a bar outside Austin, Texas in the 1970s and told in three sections by three people. Doug drinks too much but he's devoted to his wife and his music so when he's recruited by Wendall to be the house band in Wendall's failing bar, he goes for it and changes the lives of everyone around him. Deanna, married to Wendall, feels something she knows she shouldn't for Doug. As does Steven, a teen who is effeminate enough to provoke bullies who beat him and sets everyone else up for a reckoning. This is infused with bar smoke, smells, and music and steeped in alcohol. The characters feel very real. This demands attention as it's subtle in spots- it will sneak up on you. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.
February 20, 2025
3 1/2 stars
Austin in the 70's where cheap music was found everywhere as was the pride in being a weird small town. Three characters interlaced by music find themselves searching for truth. A saloon keep whose business is outside the city limits and hanging by a thread, a musician searching for fame and a young needy kid clinging to his dream of being a hero and wanting a friend. The depiction of old Austin is spot on but I did get a bit lost in each of the characters rambling dialogue. I enjoyed the story regardless. It will appeal to music lovers plus those who enjoy stories of down on their luck people like those of Willy Vlautin. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
Austin in the 70's where cheap music was found everywhere as was the pride in being a weird small town. Three characters interlaced by music find themselves searching for truth. A saloon keep whose business is outside the city limits and hanging by a thread, a musician searching for fame and a young needy kid clinging to his dream of being a hero and wanting a friend. The depiction of old Austin is spot on but I did get a bit lost in each of the characters rambling dialogue. I enjoyed the story regardless. It will appeal to music lovers plus those who enjoy stories of down on their luck people like those of Willy Vlautin. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
January 22, 2025
No heroes or heroines here. Reflections on how people who do not deserve to be bullied, also set themselves up by the choices they make. Many people walking right up to the line separating them from life changing decisions, and one who crossed that line. Was it prudence for some or naivete for others? Not a pretty picture of humanity or the hidden agendas beneath the facade of a country roadhouse.
April 30, 2025
I really did enjoy Doug and Deanna’s parts in this novel, but Steven’s part is just so weird and out there with the strange convo in third person with God. I didn’t get it. If it had been more parallel to the other two it would have been easier to connect to the emotional story. Great concept and descriptive writing though! I felt like I was right there in 1975 Austin hearing, seeing and feeling the music.
July 14, 2025
Mixed views. Left me asking lots of questions and pondering deeply. At first, I thought the chapter with Steven was blasphemous, but then I realized how beautiful it was and the way God loved Steven. Hard to read at the end. Heartbreaking. Thought provoking. Love how the author is a true Texan and clearly, passionately, and deeply loves Austin.
Slow start. Put the book down for a couple of days, but the story stuck with me and I wanted to know how it ended.
Slow start. Put the book down for a couple of days, but the story stuck with me and I wanted to know how it ended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2025
2.5?
I didn’t like it while I was reading it, but now I keep thinking about it? The characters were flat. The plot was meh. It’s told from 3 perspectives. First, I couldn’t find him likeable. Second was better, but I had some confusion. Third was really disjointed and sad. Ending was not explicit. I read it twice. And I think I know?
I just wanted more from this, but I think that’s a me problem, not an author problem?
I didn’t like it while I was reading it, but now I keep thinking about it? The characters were flat. The plot was meh. It’s told from 3 perspectives. First, I couldn’t find him likeable. Second was better, but I had some confusion. Third was really disjointed and sad. Ending was not explicit. I read it twice. And I think I know?
I just wanted more from this, but I think that’s a me problem, not an author problem?
August 9, 2025
I loved this book, couldn’t put it down! The characters felt very real, the plot was unpredictable and meted out with sophistication and skill. This book also has some of the best descriptions of playing and experiencing music that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. A very impressive novel, I’m so glad to have come across it!
December 30, 2025
I read this quickly and Callie Collins' evocation of an Austin bar and its characters and sweaty beers resonated. I found it moving and the last third was poetic.
I was pleased to read in the Acknowledgements that she had drawn some inspiration from the Deep Eddy Cabaret, a dive bar I lived next to and so frequented in the 1980s.
I was pleased to read in the Acknowledgements that she had drawn some inspiration from the Deep Eddy Cabaret, a dive bar I lived next to and so frequented in the 1980s.
March 13, 2025
The writing was good but unfortunately I didn’t connect with the characters and the plot didn’t hold my interest. I would have liked it better if Steven narrated the whole story and not just a short section at the end.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.
December 14, 2025
Moving portrait of 1975 Austin, esp the music scene. The story was thumping along beautifully, and then ended before the real subject emerged. As though the author’s skill outkicked her own punt coverage.
December 16, 2025
So many memories of earlier TX, so well done. The juxtaposition between the old and the new, and the clash. Achingly awful ending, didn’t go where I expected it to or why, and the ending leaves so many open thread to ponder.
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