Thank you to #NetGalley, the author and the publisher.

I love books about songs since I love music. Each chapter was a song and artist I was either familiar with and recognized songs.

I read the backstory from the author on her FB page and knew I had to read this. I also love the song which the it was based on, Plain White T's “Hey There Delilah.”

Cecelia was a writer for The Rolling Stone in the late 90s and was conceived at Woodstock with parents who loved the music of the 70s and involved in music, so she was immersed too. A lot happens in this book not only with her writing life but with her feelings about her father who abandoned her to live with his new wife and kids when she was a teenager and her late mother and her relationship with her boyfriend Pete who she's been seeing who's about to give up on her for many reasons. Cecelia was only in her late 20s but married to her job and he couldn't handle that and I can understand why.

The other plot was about Sara Friedman, in 1979, in Miami who spent a lot of Jewish holidays and summers there with her extended family. She meets Eddie but her parents (especially her mother) don't approve because he's not Jewish. Yes, there's a connection between the title of this books song).

I'm a sucker for a good epilogue where I cry sometimes, and this was it.

If you're a music lover, this is a must read. As Tina Turner once sang, “Simply The Best.”

Combining romance, family traumas, cultural differences, and the power of music, What You Do to Me is as moving as a ballad and as inspiring as an anthem. I felt the whole gamut of emotions while reading this and loved how the mysteries ultimately unfolded. It’s a book that will stay with me and that will change how I hear “Hey There Delilah” forevermore.

4.5 stars

Music just feeds my soul, and when I read books that are based on music or musicians it makes my heart so happy.

What You Do To Me was so good. I loved the dual story lines, past and present. And just the story itself was beautiful. Cecilia’s growth throughout the book was amazing and the way the relationships she had with Peter and her dad blossomed was such a good feeling. This was such a feel good book and that ending. I don’t want to give anything away, but ugh. My heart.

Overall I thought this book was great, the writing was on par and I really enjoyed the storyline. I look forward to reading more from Rochellle in the future!

***Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC copy in return for an honest review***

Cecilia James stumbles across the muse for one of the greatest love songs. With her own relationship floundering, she becomes obsessed with finding the truth behind the story of two soulmates separated. Her journey leads her to find Eddie Vee who went into hiding years ago after his concert led to tragedy, and Sara who was his inspiration and first love.

This story switches between timelines and weaves together the past and present beautifully. I loved learning about Eddie and Sara’s love story through Cecilia’s investigation and also seeing all that Cecilia learned about love and life along the way. Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

I was hoping to love What you do to me as much as Daisy Jones because they have a similar format. But it fell short for me. Cecilia annoyed me and I just didn’t care about her journey through the years.

What You Do To Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein is a novel about Cecilia, who is a journalist for Rolling Stone. She finds some information about the inspiration for a famous singer's most popular song, and she decides to write a story about it. But in the meantime, she is having relationship issues, and she is learning more about who her family is. This story was really well done and moving. I appreciated that the musician's story and Cecilia's story were both explored in such a beautiful way. Thanks NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

This book is all mixtures of emotions and has you gripped from the start, the author did a good job as this book is well written

A powerful story of love , drive,ambition and success, with the inevitable loss and pain. I loved the characters, wanting to stay awake to read just one more page.

I thought this was a very cute story although it was slow for me at times. This is def something readers who like it slow would like. I'm not used to reading books that are back in the 70s but it was a very nice change from the books I have read. I encourage those who like cute stories with a song touch to read this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was honestly amazing and so beautiful and it’s certainly one that will sit with me for a long long time to come.

I wanted to like this book since I loved Daisy Jones & The Six, but unfortunately, this was too slow-paced for my liking and didn't catch my attention.

What You Do To Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein is a book I loved from the very first page! Have you ever wondered what the inspiration was behind a great song? Well, Cecilia does that for a living working for Rolling Stone magazine. She wants to find out the hidden story of who the song What You Do To Me was written for. So from the 1990's we go back to the 1970's where we meet Eddie and Sarah. Sarah and her family vacation in Florida every year and that is where she meets Eddie who lives with his Grandfather at the place where they stay. Sarah's Jewish family is very strict and already has her future husband all lined up for her until Eddie comes along. He is her first true love. But her parents have other ideas. Years later tragedy strikes and their lives are changed forever. Cecilia knows there is more to this story and won't give up until she finds out what really happened. I can't say more without giving too much away but you NEED to read this book!!!!!! LOVED IT!!!

Music is one of my great passions, and this book about a journalist determined to figure out the mystery behind a great love song was right up my alley. I especially loved it since it was based on the song Hey There Deliliah which I absolutely love. I don't want to say much more because I think this story enjoyed if you know very little about it, but if you love music and love stories, this is a great one.

What a compelling story!

When I got this book I mainly thought it sounded cute. Of course I like the song Hey There Delilah and thought this idea of a book based kind of on that song would be fun. But this book was completely different than I expected and I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would.

Cecelia’s whole life is music. She’s named after two songs. Her parents were huge music lovers. Cecelia was even conceived at Woodstock. She quotes song lyrics in everyday conversation. And she works for Rolling Stone. Cecelia’s life basically revolves around music.
Cecelia has a longterm boyfriend named Pete and poor Pete definitely gets pushed aside a lot. When the book starts, Cecelia puts an article before their vacation and the ending result causes their relationship to blow up.

But something else happens that day: Cecelia starts to uncover the secret muse behind a famous song. The singer has notoriously claimed it wasn’t written about anyone in particular but Cecelia has always felt otherwise.

When Cecelia starts digging into the story we also start getting flashbacks of a story of young love between Sara/Sarita and Eddie. They meet in the 1970’s in the town her family goes to on vacation. Sara is well aware that her mother completely disapproves of any relationship with Eddie because he’s not Jewish.

In the more modern storyline, Cecelia struggles with questions about her parents and her relationship. Cecelia is not always likable in my opinion. She’s awful to her dad and stepmother. She’s in her late twenties but she’s still very hurt from the way her parents’ relationship ended. Cecelia idolized her mom. And because of that she also blamed everything bad on her dad. And now her dad is the only one left.

This book is a lot about love, about music, and about relationships both with your family and others.

I wish I could describe it well enough to make it clear that this book was fantastic and really deserves to be read. I also wish it would be adapted to a movie or tv series. I found myself telling my husband little bits about the story but not everything because I kind of hope we can watch it together someday.

I got to read an early ebook edition from NetGalley. Thank you!

If you want something equal parts heartfelt and heartbreaking, then you need to pick this one up! If you love music and love stories, then this needs to be on your TBR. We get not one but two stories in alternating timelines, and I personally loved the Jewish representation. I love Weinstein's books, and I can't for her next one.

This is such an amazing story. I really like how all parts fell together near the end. The book is perfectly written. I really enjoyed reading this, though it took me a bit of time to get into it. I can honestly recommend this to anyone who feels like a well thought out story with great character development.

Thanks to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review.

Most of us are familiar with the popular song 'Hey There Delilah' by The Plain White T's and we've often wondered who the song was written for. In 'What You Do To Me' we learn of a possibility of the back story of the song. This is a fictional story, but it gives us a glimpse of how a song could have such an impact on many lives, through several generations. It has a modern day Romeo and Juliet vibe, without the whole suicide issue, but steeped with heartbreak and tragedy. Several lives and careers are on the line as the story unfolds into an epic tale of love for the ages. Make sure to check out Rochelle's playlist to go along with the book!!

This book was touted as a mix of Daisy Jones & the Six combined with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. And while I can see where the comparison draws from... this did not live up to either of those books.

Now, the premise of What You Do to Me was right up my alley. A woman in the 90's (Cecilia James) who works for Rolling Stone wants to investigate the mystery of who the woman is behind the 70's smash hit, What You Do to Me. However... there was so much in this book that just made me irrationally angry that I couldn't find myself enjoying the majority of it. Spoilers ahead, so be warned.

1) HOW DOES SHE MISS BOARDING A CRUISE SHIP THAT HAS LIKE A 5 HOUR WINDOW FOR PEOPLE TO BOARD? That was my first major red flag. If I were Pete, that would have been my last straw too. If you can't put aside your work long enough to have a romantic getaway with me that we've planned for MONTHS and spent oodles of dollars on, then you don't care enough.

2) Sara's mom. Now, this isn't to say that there aren't women like her out there that are just as restrictive and way too over protective, but I couldn't stand her. Just because your sister died due to an unfortunate accident that was 100% preventable (aka letting her date a non-Jew) doesn't mean you have to do that to your daughter. When Sara didn't want to confront her at the end... she's a better person than me.

3) Eddie's Spanglish. I believe if this were in script format on a television show, it wouldn't have been as cringey. But it felt like the author was trying to throw as many little Spanish words in as possible that Sara wouldn't understand, even though they were all elementary level Spanish words.

4) CECELIA BEING A BITCH TO HER DAD AND HIS FAMILY. GIRL YOU ARE 26 YEARS OLD. ACT LIKE IT! That's all I'll say on that front.

5) The epilogue... why?

Overall, I still had a decent time listening to this book, as the narrative had a decent flow. There was just too much that annoyed me for me to give it anything above a 3 star rating, I still think a lot of people will enjoy this book, so give it a chance if you do like books that take place in the recent past.

I enjoyed this book. The modern love story connected to this popular song is what drew me into reading this book. A good beach read.

Music means many different things to its listeners. For some, it’s nice to have on, a background noise while driving or a beat to dance to at a club. Others, like me, connect songs to pivotal moments in life. I grew up as the daughter of a DJ and have encyclopedic knowledge of more music than most people have ever listened to in their lives.

And then there’s Cecilia Caroline James, the main character in the new novel What You Do To Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein. Like me, she grew up entrenched in music, but she took it a step further. She spoke in song lyrics, learned secret languages of music, and pursued a career in music journalism. In this new novel, Cecilia seeks her big break at Rolling Stone magazine while sabotaging her personal life. When she believes she has found the muse behind the smash hit “What You Do To Me,” she does anything she can to get the story.

This novel takes place between the 1970s and present day, with most of the action in the late 70s and 1996. There are two love stories being told, which can get confusing for readers who do not have the time to immerse themselves in the narrative and try to read it a little at a time. It’s perfect for fans of books like Daisy Jones and the Six and The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own.