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.

Excerpt + Playlist: What You Do To Me

Much had changed in the five years since she first met Eddie. When they had collided on the beach, he introduced himself. “Yo estoy Eddie.” And Sara, recognizing they were from different worlds, picked herself up, dusted the sand from her knees, and kept walking. After that, they frequently ran into one another—in the ocean, by the pool—Eddie with his brown, messy hair, tanned skin and big blue eyes which lingered on hers longer than they should.

“You are not very nice,” he had said to her one winter day when she was seated by a cluster of rocks near the water reading Danielle Steele’s The Promise. She’d ripped off the paper cover, so her mother would think she was devouring Dickens.

She ignored him, flipping the pages with a zest she’d hoped would send him away. She was thirteen that holiday, and Sara had begun to feel the trickle effect of her father’s metamorphosis, his own transition taking shape within the cocoon. After Morah Emily had completed the lesson on the subject, Sara went home and searched their World Book Encyclopedia, and what she read had frightened her. And because the boy had made no effort to leave, she decided she’d scare him too. “Do you know what happens to a caterpillar when it’s in the cocoon?”

“Claro.”

She wasn’t sure if that meant yes or no, so she continued.

“It eats itself from the inside out.”

“Bruto. I no believe you.”

“It’s true. The acid that’s supposed to help it digest food ends up eating its own body.”

If she thought that would make him leave, it didn’t.

“That is what you read?” he asked, pointing at her book.

She laughed, and she could tell he wasn’t sure if she was laughing at him or something else, and when he lowered his eyes, it tugged at her.

That afternoon, the temperatures lingered in the sixties, and the birds sailed across a cloudless sky. Sara’s gaze landed on her family down the beach, huddled close. They were building sandcastles and skipping along the shore, shrieking when the waves nipped their feet.

“Why do you sit here alone?” he asked.

She eyed him. “I’m not alone.”

“Away from them.” He nodded in their direction.

She followed his gaze to the cluster of beach chairs and colorful towels and the imaginary line forbidding others to cross. Had she purposely put distance between them? She had chosen this private spot, where the rocks jutted into the turquoise, the spray of saltwater a surprise every time. It was where she came to read. To get lost in stories. To imagine being reckless and fiery like the women in the pages. They were glamorous and wore bright red dresses and men swept them off to faraway cities and did this thing to their bodies that made them quiver. Her face flushed at the thought.

She studied the boy. There was a sadness in his eyes that spoke to her.

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