What You Do to Me

We’ve all heard the Plain White T’s hit “Hey There Delilah” countless times since its release in 2006. I’ve loved the song all these years, and the lyrics have always made it easy for me to envision the story like a movie. Now, that story has been reimagined into a whole novel: What You Do to Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein. Combing two timelines and mixing romance with a touch of mystery, this novel brings the characters to life (albeit with new names), adding new dimensions and colors to the iconic love story. 

Special thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

In 1979, Sara and Eddie are teenagers from two different worlds but pulled together by a bond they can’t ignore. Sara’s conservative Jewish family forbids her from being with Eddie, a man they consider an outside and therefore dangerous. But Sara and Eddie see each other as much as they can, resulting in Eddie writing a song for her. Later, “What You Do to Me” is a massive radio hit… but no one knows who Eddie wrote it for, or if a specific muse even exists. 

In 1996, Cecilia is a Rolling Stone writer who’s determined to prove herself and rise up in her career. She finds a clue about the mystery woman who inspired “What You Do to Me,” and she follows this lead even as everything around her crashes down. Her longterm boyfriend is tired of being an afterthought to Cecilia, and her relationship with her dad is even worse. But could her finding the muse behind the greatest love song also be the cure to solving her own love-related issues? 

Review

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.  

Final Thoughts

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. 

Get the Book

You can buy What You Do to Me here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

What You Do to Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein
Audience	Adult
Genre	Romance; Women’s Fiction
Setting	Miami; Los Angeles; New York; Arizona
Number of Pages	363
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	October 17, 2023

Official Summary

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.