Pub Day Review of What You Do To Me by Rochelle Weinstein

This book has so much to offer everyone. I absolutely loved it. It’s for anyone who loves a good love story, a second chance love story , and especially for anyone with a love for the music business. I loved the two stories following a famous musician
and his muse/first love from the past, and the protagonist’s current life as a journalist and her love story as well. I loved the writing style and the overall vibe of this one and I can’t recommend it enough. It is out today, so you definitely want to get a copy if you love any of these things mentioned.

Synopsis:

From the bestselling author of This Is Not How It Ends comes a moving novel of two unfinished love stories and the music and lyrics that bring them together.
Journalist Cecilia James is a sucker for a love song. So when she stumbles across a clue to the identity of the muse for one of rock’s greatest, she devotes herself to uncovering the truth, even as her own relationship is falling apart.
While writing an article for Rolling Stone, Cecilia works to reveal the mystery that has intrigued fans and discovers a classic tale of two soulmates separated by fate and circumstance. Rock star Eddie Vee once sang with his soul, dedicating love songs to Sara Friedman, his inspiration and first love. Now, Eddie takes refuge in anonymity, closed off to the past. Sara, too, has distanced herself from their love, moving thousands of miles away to live the life she once railed against. As Eddie and Sara tentatively open up to Cecilia about broken dreams, she struggles to give them a happy ending. In the process, she learns that broken hearts can be healed―even her own.
What You Do To Me is the story of a love song and of the triumph of the heart over the greatest of odds. Even for those who have written off love forever.

4 stars!

"What You Do To Me" by Rochelle B. Weinstein is a music lover's dream of a romance book. It really is a love letter to music. The story is told over two alternating timelines that ultimately converge with one another as main character Cecilia, who is a writer for Rolling Stone, attempts to chase down the story that will make her career while also trying to mend her relationship with her boyfriend Paul. As she gets closer to figuring out who "Sarita" is to famous musician Eddie Vee, who wrote the hit song "What You Do To Me" decades ago, Cecilia's relationship with Paul suffers more and more each day. She must find herself and discover what she wants while navigating her busy, raucous work life and her fledgling relationship. I really dug this book after a while. I almost did not finish it because it was really slow to get started, but once you get over the first few chapters and into the meat and potatoes of the story, it's a touching ode to true love, music, nostalgia, self-discovery, grief, redemption, and making amends. I found this book to be touching and compelling. I did want to throttle Cecilia a couple of times, though. Her frustrating nature definitely comes across on the page! It's like she can't slow down, can't sit still, and judges everyone at their worst. Some readers will be turned off by her, but to me, she felt authentic. Weinstein gets so many points for doing what she did with her epilogue. So many readers will not be satisfied by it, but I think it stays true to her characters and her story. Check this one out!

Thank you to NetGalley, Rochelle B. Weinstein, and Lake Union Publishing for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

I recommend this book! It get me engaged, i liked the story and i liked the characters. I want to read more of rochelle b weinsteins books!

I will be honest in saying that I did not enjoy this book. I gave it a chance because I wanted to try something different but it was not interesting to me. I got bored about halfway through and couldnt keep myself interested and thought it was kinda repetitive. I just felt like it wasnt for me.

This book was beautiful and will stay with me for quite a while. It was written in a way that went back and forth between past and present and between two different storylines. Even though everything ultimately links together, it takes a bit for it to get there.

The main character, Cecilia James is a writer for Rolling Stone who uncovers the story of a lifetime when she stumbles across a woman that she believes may have been the muse for a song that has led to much speculation over the years. In following this story, Cecilia will find herself.

It's hard to explain this storyline without giving away just how special it was. It left me reeling bit when I finished and I'm definitely glad I read it. It's just one of those stories that reaches in and touches your heart.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I received a digital ARC of this novel from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I loved everything about this novel. I highly recommend it!

DNFed this book a couple chapters in. I found the writing style hard to understand and kept zoning out. I couldn't care less about Cecelia and felt that the introduction to her background was too sober. I see that there's a lot of readers that absolutely loved this book, but it's just not for me.

Rochelle B. Weinstein's 'What You Do To Me' is a heartbreaking and epic story thats part love letter to music and part love story.

Ambitious young Rolling Stone journalist Cecilia James is on assignment when she overhears a woman she later believes is the inspiration for the hit song 'What You Do To Me'.

Switching between 2023, the late 1970s and 1996, we see the parallel stories of Cecilia's dogged pursuit to find the mysterious 'Sarita' and Eddie at the expense of her relationship with boyfriend Pete, and the star-crossed story of teenage Sara and Eddie. Sara's mother disapproves of Eddie because he's not Jewish and speaks broken English.

Both Cecilia and Sara are both shaped in different ways by their parents. Sara wants to break free from her religious mother's stiffling ways with the pressure to marry the Jewish boy next door, while Cecilia is nursing anger her father's abandonment of her and her mother to start another family.

This book manages to pack a lot in it and I don't think the balance between the two love stories worked for me. By chapter nineteen I ended up skipping to the last third as the flashback scenes were becoming repetitive (especially when Cecilia interviews them later which made these superfluous). I also think it either needed to focus on one story more. When we learn what happened to Sara, it felt like overwrought Lifetime melodrama. It seemed cruel that Sara was punished for finally making an active decision to life her life on her terms after being unhappy for doing what Shira pressured into her.

I felt let down by the bittersweet and the epilogue. While Weinstein gets kudos for her bravery to go against reader expectations, I felt after all the growth she undergoes, Cecilia was robbed of a true happy ending. Hence I came away finishing this feeling saddened more than uplifted for both heroines who I was invested in.

Overall though, this is still a well-written, easy to read and be swept up into the story kind of book. Its clear with the detail that Weinstein loves music and the power of a song. For that reason alone, despite my issues with it, I still think any music and romance lover should give this book a read.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

What You Do To Me is the first book that I read by the author, Rochelle B. Weinstein. This book wasn’t my normal go-to genre so I was a little hesitant to read it at first. But when I read the blurb, I was so intrigued that I wanted to read this book and see how the song, Hey There Delilah, by the Plain White T’s inspired this book.

This book is a standalone, contemporary romance about star-crossed lovers who were impacted by music and one song in particular, What You Do To Me, by the band High Tide. It loosely follows the lives of Sara Friedman and Eddie Santiago who are our star crossed lovers, but also features the complicated romance between Cecilia James and Pete Shepard. The book goes back and forth in time between the 1970’s and the 1990’s and some in the present times, 2023. It can get confusing with how quickly the chapters go back and forth, but it isn’t too bad.

As this was the first book I have read by the author, I am intrigued to read more books by her. I would recommend this book to any music lover especially those who loved the song, Hey There Delilah.

Having recently finished “What You Do to Me" by Rochelle B. Weinstein, I am happy to have had the chance for the Advanced Reader’s Edition e-copy; thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing!

As a lover of music, “What You Do to Me" was a selection that I was excited to add to my NetGalley shelf. Both timelines of this entertaining story were full of important and complex relationships and lessons of trust.

One of my favorite parts of a memorable book is what I think of as a “full circle” moment. That moment in this story was one of the best I've read recently. It was one that solved a mystery, brought a smile to my face, and why not; a song to my heart…

“Be bold, be brave.”

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

I loved this book. The dual timelines and focus on music was such an amazing part of this story. I loved the backstory of the book and how it was inspired by the song 'Hey There, Delilah'. It's such a clever idea to incorporate the song and expand on it to create a book. I didn't like the ending of the story because I wanted more. I cried while I read this book, and I would recommend it.

I loved the concept and thought it was so cool reading about Cecilia working at Rolling Stone! I have a hard time with past/present timelines and was only able to get invested in the present timeline - it’s usually one or the other that I connect with. The past timeline chapters just felt like they dragged on forever and I just kept excitedly waiting for Cecilia’s moments. There was so much going on in this book though and Cecilia definitely wasn’t likeable half the time. BUT THE ENDING OMG I BAWLED.

What You Do To Me is a story of love making someone be very cautious about opening their heart but then realizing that opening your heart to someone is the greatest risk with the greatest reward.

Cecilia has a dream job and now that job is giving her the chance to solve the mystery of who the love song is truly written for. It has been a mystery since the song first played on the radio. The song was the main story of this book but her relationships were just as important. The relationship with her boyfriend was perfect for them both until it was not. Her relationship with her dad was also perfect when she was young but as she grew up it became something else. I felt like I was watching Cecilia grow up. She learned some very hard lessons but also was able to make the choices that were right for her to get the future that she really wanted.

Rochelle B. Weinstein wrote a book that had me cheering for the characters, invested in the story, and hoping it never ends. I would recommend What You Do To Me to anyone who is looking for a romance that is more than romance. There is family dynamics, career choices, relationship choices, and romance.

The book's inspiration is from the Plain White T's Hey There Delilah and I could not stop singing the title of the book while reading it. It gets in your head.

Cecelia James writes for Rolling Stone, waiting for her big story to break, when she accidentally gets her hands on the handwritten copy of a song by Eddie Vee. It is his big hit and no one knows who it was written for, if anyone in particular. He has disappeared since an accident at a concert and no one knows where he is. Cecelia makes it her mission to find him and to connect with the mysterious woman Sarita, that she meets. It really is a tale of love lost and love you fight for as Cecelia and her boyfriend hit a really bad patch due to Cecelia. It is also a story of what is true in life and what we tend to see instead.

Will there be healing all around? I really loved how the story played out and how all the parts made perfect sense. It is a good love story on all counts and a good read. Oh, it's what you do to me, it's what you do to me.....

Thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union for a copy of this book for review.

Rochelle B. Weinstein has written a love story to music and the stories behind songs.
I couldn’t have loved this book more if I tried. I felt connected to Sara and Cecilia in different ways, feeling their love and heartbreak through the songs and years.

Stacy Gonzalez does an exceptional job narrating this five star read. One of my favorites of 2023 hands down.

Thank you, Rochelle Weinstein, Lake Union,
& netgalley for my advance ecopy. All opinions are my own.

This novel started with the interesting premise of it being based on the No.1 hit song Hey There Delilah by the Plain Whites T’s about a guy falling for a girl who lives on the other side of the country.
In this novel, it’s 1996 (about a decade before Delilah was actually released) and journalist and music lover Cecilia is trying to get her start at Rolling Stone magazine.
She’s about to head off on a cruise with her photographer boyfriend Pete when she overhears a woman saying that she’s the reason behind the hit What You Do To Me.
The singer of that song, Eddie Vee, has disappeared from public life after a tragedy and no one has ever uncovered who his muse was.
The story then backtracks to the late ’70s, when Eddie was an immigrant from Argentina, living with his grandfather. He fell in love with Sara during her Jewish family’s vacations at Miami Beach but they needed to keep their relationship a secret.
The star-crossed lovers’ story and Cecelia’s hunt for the mystery woman dovetails with her reunion with her father and a revelation about her own past. This is a beautifully told and nostalgic tear-jerker about love and redemption, with plenty of details to keep music fans happy.

This is such a beautiful story of a love lost and of a young woman trying to make a name for herself. Written in two timelines, the narrative follows Cecilia as she navigates solving the mystery of Eddie Vee's disappearance and who his muse was for his popular love song, and Sara Friedman as she vacations in Miami Beach and befriends a boy named Eddie. I adored the characters in this book and the plot was so interesting. I love when a novel incorporates family, romance, and a mysterious past together to create a unique and intriguing narrative. The music references were a lovely flashback to the songs I grew up listening to and I didn't want this incredible book to end.

Song Vibe: Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's

I somehow missed the fact that What You Do to Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein is based on the song Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's until I started reading it. This is one of my favorite songs and one that means a lot to me, so how I missed that will remain a mystery! Moving on, this story grounded in a song was completely beautiful and I loved that Weinstein not only gave us Eddie Vee and Sara's story, but Cecilia and Pete's as well. There are a variety of timelines going on in the book and through this, we get to see quite a few facets of Cecilia's story, and we get to go back to the beginning of Eddie and Sara's. I feel that the synopsis is a little misleading when it comes to how Cecilia actually gets to speak to the pair, and this is one of those books where I think it is beneficial to go in as blind as possible.

What You Do to Me is an ode to music and the way it touches our lives, and I loved that the book started with a foreword from Tom Higgenson (writer of the song and frontman of the band). It is short but powerful and as much of a must-read as the author's note and acknowledgments. This was a fantastic book to listen to on audio, and I thought the narrator Stacy Gonzalez was incredibly talented. I do think it could have benefited from 2 narrators, one for Cecilia and one for Sara, but I enjoyed it all the same. Cecilia's character drove me absolutely bonkers at times for more than one reason, but it gave a huge opening for her character arc, and I was thrilled by the way she grew by the end of the book. I laughed and I cried, and this story brought a whole new meaning to the song for me. Weinstein is now an auto-buy author for me, and I can't wait to go back and read her other novels!

This was a sweet enjoyable read. I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the E-ARC

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.