This moves back and forth in time as Cecilia, a journalist, looks for the truth about the song Eddie Vee wrote about Sara. And it's about her own love story as well. Music fans will like this for the insight into the business as well as for the songs which headline the chapters. The characters are good, the plot zips along, and you'll root for everyone. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC, A good read,

Nothing can take you back to a moment in your life like a song. Nothing is more intimate than knowing the inspiration of the song. Ms. Weinstein captures all of this in this beautiful novel about love and music. It is also about forgiveness and hope.

If you’re like me, you’ve spent the last 17 years loving the song “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s, always imagining the story in your head of two people in love and torn apart by distance and circumstance. Well, that story has finally been brought to life in What You Do to Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein. Here, however, the girl’s name isn’t mentioned in the song, now titled “What You Do to Me” (taken from its chorus). The band behind it, here known as High Tide, saw it become a hit in the mid 1980s, but after more than a decade, people sill wonder who the mystery muse could have been.

What You Do to Me follows two timelines: In 1979, teens Sara and Eddie are in love but forbidden from being together. Sara’s traditional Jewish family won’t allow outsiders in, and even if only for being Argentine and non-Jewish, Eddie is considered dangerous. Their love is doomed before it can really get started. In 1996, Cecilia James is trying to advance her music journalism career, and she may have struck gold in finding a clue to who the inspiration for “What You Do to Me” really was. But both Eddie and Sara are hard to track down, and they may not even want their truth to be exposed.

This novel is part romance, part mystery, and it offers tons of details and nuance that make it utterly captivating. The forbidden love of Sara and Eddie may seem simple enough, but the author infuses it with Jewish tradition vs. progress, family trauma driving fear, and a culture clash with a young man from Argentina who speaks little English. They have very different financial situations, and Sara basically being betrothed to another man since birth doesn’t help matters.

Then there’s Cecilia’s story in 1996. She works for Rolling Stone and is determined to finally see her name on the by-line. She’s allowed her career to overtake other aspects of her life, putting her six-year relationship with her boyfriend in jeopardy. But Cecilia has her own family traumas to grapple with: Her father left when she was young, marrying a younger woman, and then Cecilia’s mom died only a few years after. She’s filled with rage and hatred, but her dad insists that there are some things she doesn’t understand.

I love how much music infuses this book. Each chapter is named after a song which itself has a first name in the title (“Rosanna” by Toto, “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles, etc.). Cecilia is obsessed with music, often communicating her complicated emotions through songs. Her parents raised her with that deep love and knowledge of music, and it serves her well at Rolling Stone. So much music is referenced in Cecilia’s parts, while in the Sara and Eddie portions, we see how music became his favorite form of communication, too.

As Cecilia follows the clues about “What You Do to Me,” she starts to see parallels to her own life and the mistakes she’s made. When do you fight for who you want or simply let them go? How do you determine culpability in the face of tragedy? Who deserves love despite all that’s happened? This book asks big questions and wrestles with complicated feelings, but the answers are ultimately hopeful.

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.

I'm writing this review as tears stream down my face. I feel all kinds of ways that I don't know that I can adequately put into words. What an absolutely amazing story. I am trying to remember if I have ever felt more connected to characters in any book I've ever read and the answer is no. As someone who lives her life in lyrics and uses music to describe emotions I feel like Cecilia was written for me, down to the parents in her life, the fear of abandonment, the escapism. Every word resonated with my soul.

The stories of Cecilia and Pete and of Sara and Eddie are so genuine and so heartfelt. Love, loss, self-discovery, hope.
Told on varying timelines by different POVs gives this story a complete picture of the relationships and the evolution of the characters.It carries you through the decades on the words of songs that hold meaning to each person.

If you love music. If you have ever felt like you aren't enough. If you've ever thought you have missed out on your one opportunity. If you have ever looked in the eyes of the one person who was your everything and walked away. Read this book.

♡ 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒
♡︎ 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠
♡︎ 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
♡ 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
♡︎ 𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑂𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦
♡︎ 𝐹𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑎

Hey there, Delilah by Plain White T’s is the song that set the stage for this story, and it instantly transported me back to the early 2000s when that tune was everywhere. As I read, it was like I could hear the song playing on a loop in my head.

Nostalgia is my jam when it comes to picking up a book, and this one took me on a trip down memory lane that I didn't expect. I was really struck by the way this book embraced cultural differences and how they played a significant role in the tension between Eddie and Sara as they pursued their romance. The characters felt incredibly authentic, which made their conflicts and connections all the more relatable. Rochelle did a fantastic job crafting this beautiful story inspired by the Plain White T’s song.

The music woven into the book gave it an extra dimension that I truly appreciated. Those chapter titles, named after the classic songs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, had me hooked.

This book, well, it's like a love story within a love story within another one – a real emotional rollercoaster. It doesn't sugarcoat the tough parts of life, the pain, the mistakes, and the regrets, but it also shines with love, second chances, joy, and the raw beauty of just being alive.

In the span of just a week, I experienced the rollercoaster of falling in love, reminders of enduring heartbreak, and recognizing the power that songs and lyrics can have on our hearts．

Intertwined with nostalgia from the 70s to the 90s, Rochelle Weinstein has penned a glorious story of second chances for two couples. All revolving around the mystery of who song lyrics were written for. Solid read. Rock music connoisseurs will really appreciate this novel.

This book is chock full of emotions. Forbidden love, tragedy, broken families, miscommunications, all woven together by music. Cecilia is a struggling journalist who stumbles on some clues to solving the mystery of what happened to singer Eddie Vee and who is the girl behind his lyrics to the famous song,, What You Do to Me. Cecilia’s own life and emotions are all over the places as well and she’s looking for some answers in her own life as well. I love the playlist!

What You Do To Me is an incredibly moving book following the timeline of primarily Cecilia, but also Sara and Eddie. Cecilia is an up and coming journalist. She comes from a complicated family, carries anger toward her father and just can’t seem to be on time for her boyfriend. Music is a huge part of her life and after finding lyrics to an Eddie Vee song (and possibly meeting who it was about!), she goes on a journey to find the truth and ultimately finds so much more.

By the end of this book, I was tearing up and couldn’t put it down. There was so much love, passion, despair, pain… all the emotions!

If music really moves you, and you love reading about certain times and relationships in music history, you MUST add this book to your TBR!

Thank you to GetRedPR @getredprbooks and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this book. The review expresses my personal opinions only.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the copy.

I’m a huge music nerd and I loved Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's so I thought it was cool to write a book based on a song. That lead me to jump on reading it as soon as I could. My main concern was the middle of the story dragging on. I think I was left wanting more about the couple behind the song, but it was a fine book nonetheless.

One of my favorite reads of 2023!!! Rochelle has written a story that had me singing, crying, yelling and turning the pages so quickly!!!

I loved how each chapter has the title of a song!!! It made me think of those songs and what I was doing at that time in my life!!!

This book is the love story of Don/Tori, Cecelia/Pete and Eddie/Sara. It is a story of forgiveness, understanding and the quest for the truth!! I had a very hard time putting this book down once I started and was sad when it was over.

I had so many lines highlighted in this book but this is one of my favorites….”To Cecilia, music was just not meant to be heard; it was meant to be felt. She felt it like a whispery breeze. Tender and carnal, melodies were hands, caressing her skin, tapping on deep seated emotions.

I loved the cover of this book too!! So inviting!! Highly recommend this book!!!

“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.”

Told between two alternating timelines, What You Do to Me is the story of Cecelia James, an up-and-coming reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine determined to make her mark by breaking the story behind one of modern day’s best love songs, and Eddie and Sara, the musician and his muse at the heart of it.

This love story within a love story within a love story delivers on the promise that it’s never too late to fix things.

Inspired by the lyrics to Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s, Rochelle B. Weinstein imagines a completely different backstory in her new book, What You Do to Me.

Great for fans of second chance romance, star-crossed lovers, music, the 90s, family dysfunction, first love, Miami nostalgia, Jewish representation, and the song Hey There Delilah.

This was such a fun book to read!

Thank you to @NetGalley and @LakeUnionPublishing for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

What you do to me is a dual timeline love story. Cecelia works at Rolling Stone in 1996 and it looks like she will have her first big break of a story. While covering another story in Florida she thinks she may have found the woman who inspired a massively huge song in the 80s, What You Do to Me, written by rock star Eddie Vee. Eddie has been MIA since a horrible tragedy at one of his concerts back in the early 90s. Sara and Eddie met when they were children in the late 70s, during her family's annual Florida trip. They reconnect each summer and fall in love, but their differences and family tear them apart.

Cecelia has her own issues with her father, and her boyfriend is constantly disappointed in her. it doesn't help that she literally misses the boat on their romantic Caribbean cruise because she got stuck at work.

This book was fine, but I felt the romance aspect unsatisfying. I think when you have dual story lines you have to really feel the love in both romances. The epilogue felt a little clunky.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

Cecilia is a journalist working at Rolling Stone and stumbles upon the story behind one of the greatest love songs of all time.

I wanted to love this as was hoping for a Daisy Jones, Songs in Ursa Major style read but unfortunately it didn’t quite meet the mark for me. I didn’t particularly mesh well with the writing and I found it a bit all over the place in parts, however i’m sure a certain audience who enjoy fictional stories about famous people and famous musicians will enjoy it, but it wasn’t for me.

Cecelia James is a music journalist working for Rolling Stone when she decides to solve the mystery of who wrote one of the top love songs of the 90s. The song has touched hearts with its soulful lyrics and beautiful melody, but it turns out the story behind it isn’t so pretty. In a dual timeline, the story of Eddie Vee and Sara Friedman is told. The pair meet at a young age, communicate via music as Eddie learns to speak English, fall in love, and then fall apart. As Cecelia stumbles upon the pieces of the puzzle, her own relationship begins to fall apart and she tries to mend broken bridges with both her father and her boyfriend.

The music is such an important part of this story, from Cecelia’s job and the fact that she uses song lyrics to express herself to the chapter titles named after songs. The song in the book is Hey There, Delilah by the Plain White T’s, and you will be humming it in your head over and over again. I love that the song inspired the author so much that she crafted an entire story behind its meaning, and it appears that her story about it is much more romantic than the actual story of its writing.

There are layers upon layers to what happens to break up the pair and keep them apart, including family expectations and plans and even a tragedy. I enjoyed the premise and thought it was well written. Sara’s family is Jewish, and I liked reading about her huge family and their traditions, though I couldn’t agree with many of their choices and interference.

The story is told in third person, which is always tricky for me. I don’t feel a strong connection to characters in this tone, and that was my one complaint. Things happened throughout the book that would normally move me much more, but I wasn’t fully emotionally invested.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

It’s 1990 something and Cecelia James is a journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. A lifelong music lover, sometimes she still can’t believe she works at the infamous establishment. But she still has aspirations of climbing the ranks- making herself a reputable name in music journalism.

Her love for music came from her father, a man who works in the business. As a child, she was close to her dad, until he left the family- remarrying and starting over. Cecelia never forgave the betrayal and losing her mom at a young age didn’t help much. Now a grown woman, she sees the struggle it takes to balance a home and work life, her own romantic relationship hanging in the balance.

Then one day Cecelia overhears a women referring to the famous, but elusive Eddie Vee, a singer that shot to stardom, but went into hiding after a tragic event at one of his concerts. Determined to discover the mystery women’s identity, Cecelia goes all in on finding out who she is- confident this is the key to finding not only the story behind the chart topping hit, but the path to finding Eddie as well. In an alternate timeline, we go behind the music-learning Eddie and Sara’s love story. As the worlds collide, secrets are revealed and relationships are tested. Can the power of music heal all that’s been broken?

What You Do To Me sources it’s inspiration from the Plain White T’s iconic track, Hey There Delilah. It’s an interesting jumping off point for a novel, and not one often used. But the love for melodies doesn’t stop with Delilah- each chapter named after other memorable hits. This concept, along with Cecilia’s occupation, is particularly intriguing to me as I love music as much as I love books. But even if music isn’t your jam, there’s plenty of tracks here to keep all sorts of readers in the mix.

Cecilia has a song lyric for almost every moment in life. Only problem, she isn’t so great with stating her emotions without using lyrics, which leaves her boyfriend Pete feeling less than stellar. When a moment blows up her relationship, while also giving her the story of a lifetime, she has a hard time not following the story. Can she write a story for Rolling Stone that moves her to a regular columnist and save a relationship?

Trigger Warning: you will have ALL the great songs stuck in your head while reading this book!

Seriously, Hey There Delilah was on repeat in my head the entire time I read this book…actually maybe it still is. I am not a music/musician aficionado, actually pretty much any celebrity could be standing in front of me and I would have no idea…but I really adored this book! I loved the story of Cecilia and her estranged family, plus her story with Pete, and I fell head over heels for the story of Eddie Vee and Sara. I enjoyed every second of following Cecilia on her journey to find out who this woman the song was written for was, and where Eddie had disappeared to. I could not stop reading, I just needed to find out if she was solve the mystery! This book did make me wonder who/what was something that really happened, and left me googling a good bit!

I loved the concept of this book because I am a huge music lover. I love that all the chapters are named after songs. I like the time jumps between past and present. If you enjoy Taylor Jenkins Reid books and the celebrity stories she has created you will like this book.

This novel was okay. The characters I couldn't connect with in this genre. I think I need something with more meaning as this felt very materialistic.

I thoroughly enjoyed this musical tale of one strong woman’s drive and ambition to work in the crazy world of music journalism. Through dual timelines, this book weaves together two love stories. I really enjoyed the chapter titles named after famous songs, as well as all of the music references throughout. The Jewish representation was really well done.

Read this if you enjoy:
🎤 Taylor Jenkins Reid
🎤 music
🎤 dual timelines
🎤 Rolling Stone magazine

A nice romance with complex characters. Some of the decisions made by the Cecilia I didn’t understand but think it was ton to show her trauma. I enjoyed both timelines equally. I loved all the nostalgic music references.