Have you ever wondered who inspired a song you love? Rochelle B. Weinstein did and 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗢 𝗧𝗢 𝗠𝗘 is the result. Intrigued by the backstory to the Plain White T's 2006 hit "Hey There Delilah" (sorry for getting it stuck in your head!), she wrote this book about how a fictional famous love song called "What You Do To Me" (also a lyric from "Hey There Delilah") came to be.

I really enjoyed being immersed in the worlds of Sara, the inspiration behind the hit, and Cecilia, a music-loving, up-and-coming reporter who's determined to uncover Sara's connection to the song. Cecilia is working at Rolling Stone in 1996, which is the same year I started working at MTV and the artists and music she covers brings back a lot of memories for me. (Fun fact: Plain White T's performed "Hey There Delilah" for an episode of "My Super Sweet 16" I produced.) I also loved reading about Sara and her large Jewish family in the 1970s and 1980s, and their need to preserve their culture is especially poignant in light of current events. Music brings people together in this book in so many different ways, and with each chapter named after a famous song, you're sure to be touched by it as well.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing for the copy to review.

Master storyteller (favorite) Rochelle B. Weinstein returns following When We Let Go with her seventh novel, WHAT YOU DO TO ME —a captivating, nostalgic, clever tale exploring the story behind the song—the reimagining of two unfinished love stories and the music and lyrics that bring them together.

Fun, Illuminating, and endearing! A romantic story of star-crossed lovers— Eddie, a musician, and Sara, his muse, and Cecelia, the journalist who is trying to rewrite their ending

Meet Rolling Stone reporter Cecilia James. She has become emotionally invested in her story as she dives deep into the truth behind a hit love song. All the while, she tries to detangle her messy love story and family of secrets.

Cecilia overhears a conversation about the famous Eddie Vee, a famous singer who went into hiding after a tragic event at a concert. She is obsessed with finding the woman and learning her identity.

As the worlds connect past and present, secrets are revealed while relationships are tested. Can the power of music heal all that's been broken?

The author follows Eddie and Sara's love story with short, fun chapters, including the song's name, year, and city. We travel from the 70s, 80s, and 90s to 2023 past/present. We learn about all the hit songs and their reimagined inspiration. We visit LA, Miami, New York, and others. My absolute favorite is Bisbee, Arizona, a unique, memorable place.

Like Delilah, the song title at the beginning of each chapter includes a name. As the author references, she has always believed that the songwriter was inspired by someone, real or imaginary, illuminating the music. Those chapter titles remind those who impacted a life enough to write about it.

The author writes poignant books about people, places, and experiences. She has a rare gift for getting into the hearts and souls of her characters and vivid settings that jump off the page.

Songwriters write music about the same, from love, friendship, loss, and pain. Storytellers use these experiences to share their feelings about the work. Musicians, songwriters, and authors are all part of what brings joy to readers/listeners.

Spectacular! Music lovers will devour WHAT YOU DO TO ME, rewinding the past with songs that bring us joy! If anyone could tell this story, it would be Rochelle B. Weinstein! Well done! #CoverCrush. If you loved Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six, this is for you! (However, I liked WHAT YOU DO TO ME better). From love, mystery, song, and second chances —it has it all!

A massive fan of the author, I have read all her books and highly recommend them!

Thanks to Lake Union and NetGalley for a gifted early reading copy for an honest opinion.

On a personal note, BISBEE, AZ:
As a hotel consultant, investors would send me to these areas where I would spend weeks or months learning about the community, the competition, other hotels, restaurants, historical research, sites, and real estate. I would write the business financial plans and city reviews and choose the name for the new hotel, inns, rooms, suites, software, and interior design while designing their website and marketing plans. This was so much fun! Bisbee is full of writers, songwriters, and artists and is often where creatives hide, write, create, and inspire. I agree; it is peaceful, cozy, and in a world of its own. I loved visiting all the places and seeing the projects come to life. So many fabulous art galleries!

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JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Oct 17, 2023
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Such a beautifully crafted novel. In this dual timeline tale, we follow the journey of Cecilia in 1996 who is a budding music journalist. Alongside that we also get to experience the the story she is looking to uncover that begins with Sara in 1979 Miami. Woven within this captivating tale are themes of grief, forgiveness, family and love. There is also mystery and betrayal and tragedy. I felt many emotions as I read. Most importantly this book is a tribute to music and the way it shapes our lives, how simple lyrics paired with melody have the power to express love and to help us heal.
Highly recommended to anyone who is deeply moved by music or just enjoys a good love story.

I so wanted to read a story with layers and deep stories of human interactions. But I got a Taylor Jenkins Reid knock off without an understanding of the true people behind the stories. It just seemed shallow and unfinished. It may be my fault for coming in with the expectations I did. It was OK if I take out a bunch of the middle. The name dropping was meant to evoke our musical heroes, but came off as forced.

Just like a good song, this had all the feels- love, despair, longing, loss. I was absolutely wrapped up in this story, told by music journalist Cecelia as she tries to break the story of who the song What You Do to Me (yep, you know it by another name) is really about, and Sara, a Jewish teen in the throes of first love. Their stories weave together, and I definitely felt the emotional pull throughout this story. Sara is trying to find her way through the expectations of her family that she find love and marry within her faith, and Cecelia is struggling to find a balance of career and personal life. I really loved and connected with this story, and I think a lot of other readers will too.

DID NOT ENJOY THIS AND DNF AT 30%. WHY WOULD I READ A BOOK ABOUT A WOMAN OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW TO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES OVER AND OVER.

What You Do To Me explores what happens when one chance encounter has the potential to solve a mystery, launch a career and reunite lost loves.

If you love music and music trivia you'll get a kick out of this book, especially as it's inspired by the song "Hey there Delilah" and has an introduction from the singer who wrote that track. Every chapter begins with a well known song and famous musicians are mentioned throughout.
If you like dual narratives and timelines and the parallels between both, you'll enjoy this book. It's one for the romance readers too.

Personally, though I enjoyed the mystery of the song, how it came to be and what happened afterwards, the couples didn't really get under my skin, and I found the main character really unlikeable. I didn't feel the impact of the events in the plot, or get invested as much as I might have done, if I was rooting for the couples. It was an easy read but perhaps not a memorable one.

Thank you to the authors, publishers and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book, in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Five stars! I read this one in one sitting. I loved every single word. Rolling Stones journalist, Cecilia James loves to find out the backstory of a song. She speaks in lyrics and music is a huge part of her identity. She becomes invested in finding the real story behind a huge hit. The story weaves her own relationship, her family history in with the story behind the song. Inspired by “Hey There Delilah” with a “Daisy Jones and the Six” vibe….this is one of my favorites of 2023. I just reviewed What You Do To Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein. #WhatYouDoToMe #NetGalley

I thought this was going to be one thing and it was completely another -- it actually reminded me a lot of Jackie Collins or Judith Krantz, but missed the mark a bit. It was sort of like an 80s epic a la those authors (maybe fitting since part of it is set in/around 1979) but I didn't love it. I found a lot of it to be trite, almost sickly sweet, and told in a lot of sweeping prose. The story felt so farfetched to me not in that it couldn't happen but that these characters were living in some fantasy that wasn't romantic, just pathetic. Hope you have better luck!

What You Do To Me comes out next week on October 17, 2023 and you can purchase HERE.

This inquisitiveness, the inherent need to understand every song, every story, has made Cecilia Rolling Stone's darling. Decades ago, at twenty-six, she discovered a career gold mine when a chance encounter sent her on a quest to find the woman who inspired "What You Do to Me," the hugely popular love song by the band High Tide. The song topped music charts and broke records, but it was also personal for Cecilia. Desperate to unearth the truth and prove herself, Cecilia broke the story behind the hypnotic track, resulting in one of the magazine's most popular columns, the Backstory. And tonight, she is being honored with an award. Not the Lifetime Achievement, something less "your career is nearly over" and more "we're ready for even greater things from you."

I'm always happy when Rochelle Weinstein has a new book out!

What You Do To Me is the story of Cecilia, Sara and Eddie. Sara comes from a large, and very successful, Jewish family who lives on Long Island but spends the holidays and summers in Florida. Eddie immigrated from Argentina after the death of his parents and lives with his grandfather, the super of the apartment building in Florida where Sara's family vacations. Cecilia's a California girl who's upbringing was infused with music and now, at age 26, has the opportunity to make her name in the world of rock and roll journalism at Rolling Stone Magazine.
While their lives intersect at different points, Sara's and Eddie's is the most poignant. They meet on a beach in Florida when she's 11 and their relationship continues over the years. Even then, Eddie is a budding musician and this storyline continues to develop and be one of the key ones in the book.
Their stories flip back and forth between Sara and Cecilia and the timeline in the 1970's and 1996. I loved the contrast between Sara's family as she grew up and that of Cecilia. Cecilia grew up in a very different environment, but one that was infused with music. Her relationship with her father and stepmother were also interesting and added additional depth to the story.
There are lots of musical elements in the book, including the author's inspiration from the song, Hey There Delilah, by Tom Higgenson from the Plain White T's. Another feature for the music lover is that each chapter is named for a memorable hit song.
What You Do To Me features well developed characters and family stories and the author included story lines I didn't anticipate! Thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read What You Do To Me in exchange for an honest review.

For years, the muse behind the hit song What You Do To Me was a mystery, one that was made even more intense by the disappearance of the band's lead. Now, Rolling Stone writer, Cecelia is on the hunt for both while also coming to terms with her broken relationship with her father and trying to win back her long-term boyfriend.

This book had such promise for me. I loved the fact that this was based upon an actual popular song! The narrative runs back and forth in time with two different storylines going on. You get a lot about Eddie and his love who he wrote the song about and Cecelia navigating her life in the present.

Overall, there was a bit of a miss for me. I'm sure this will find its audience and some will really love it, but I found it to be too disjointed at times. I also didn't connect with Cecelia and wanted her to come to some realizations earlier.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the gifted copy. My reviews are always honest.

I heard great things about this one, so I was so thankful to receive an early copy!

In the spirit of books focusing on music, a la Daisy Jones, Mary Jane, and Groupies, What You Do to Me focuses on an actual song - Plain White T’s Hey There Delilah, and gives it a unique spin.

Cecilia James is working at Rolling Stone and desperately wants her own column. She sees the opportunity to solve a mystery that’s intrigued the music world for years: who was the famously loved song “What You Do to Me” written for? And where is its reclusive author and singer, Eddie Vee?

Told in dual timelines with multiple POVs, WYDTM is about overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds, and the necessity of being vulnerable to fall in love.

I enjoyed this one, especially Cecilia’s story with reference to her past. The middle did drag a bit for me, and I found myself frustrated with some of the character’s terrible choices (and extreme naivety at times), but by the last bit I was flipping quickly through the pages, anxious to see how/if everything would be resolved.

I am a massive fan of Plain White T’s Hey There Delilah, so I was intrigued when I had the opportunity to read this book. This book had a compelling premise, and I enjoyed reading about Eddie and Sara's story. I loved all of the music references, including the song titles as chapter titles and the idea of forming a fan-fiction tale about a popular song. Creating a world where you can see the inspiration behind a piece is fascinating and something most people seek out about their favorite songs.

This story switches between the present and the past. At present, Cecilia is a journalist for The Rolling Stones. She is determined to discover who inspired a popular rock song by The High Tides. The past reflects on two star-crossed lovers whose lives were impacted by music and their fate as their family forbade them to see each other. I enjoyed reading about Eddie and Sara's story, and I loved their ending. I had mixed thoughts about Cecilia's story. I loved the narrative about her investigating the meaning behind the song, but some of her decisions about her personal life were questionable. I also loved that Tom Higgenson from the Plain White T’s wrote a foreword supporting the book. I recommend this book to anyone who has researched the inspiration behind a song.

Thank you to NetGallery and Lake Union Publishing for giving me a copy of the book.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆
Cecelia James is a young staff on the Rolling Stone magazine in the 1990’s. When she’s sent to Miami to do an interview the day before she’s meant to leave on a cruise with her boyfriend. When the arrangements go haywire, she meets a woman by a memorial near the Orange Bowl stadium, and finds a missing piece of songwriting history. On her chase to find the missing songwriter, her own life becomes contorted but she finds truths about herself.

𝗠𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
This beautiful story contains two love stories where the connections are hard to break despite all the challenges facing the lovers. I remembered reading Daisy Jones, and had similar urges to research the characters, the writing felt so real. This is a totally different timeline, different events, but it was l equally hard to put down. There is deep emotion, sadness and joy, all interspersed with song references that talk to the story. It you listen to the lyrics of the “Hey There Delilah” sort by the Plain White T’s, this fictional reimagining fits like a puzzle piece. A gorgeous read ❤️

My rating 4.5/5 - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫

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.