Wow, what a beautiful book - I loved it so much! I've struggled to convey how joyous the story is, despite the themes of mental illness and family dysfunction. I read it in one go and loved Peppa and her new friends so much - I think this book would make a fabulous Netflix film. And the ending.... brilliant! Very VERY highly recommended.

When you have a bit of inherited mental illness and an extraordinary mind, there are a lot of things that come into play in everyday life. Peppa’s successful attempt to break out of the family mold to pursue her own dreams comes at a cost to her self confidence and skewed world view, but her courage and innate abilities are what keeps her going.
I truly enjoyed this story, Peppa's ‘voice’, the plot, the writing, up until the last couple of chapters. It felt to me like the story took a rather sharp turn so far into the story, which changed it for me. The ending events were rather apropos of nothing and felt rushed to tie up ends, and was ultimately rather unnecessary. Just my opinion. However, I did still enjoy the book and would absolutely recommend it.

Somehow I was lucky enough to receive the audiobook and ebook as an arc from NetGalley. Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me.

I was quite excited about this book but after attempting to read the ebook for about 10% and then switching to the for the next 30%, I ended up putting this one down. While it isn’t bad, it felt like it was intended for middle grade readers. I didn’t mesh with the writing style.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and listen, I hope this book finds it’s audience!

Thank you to Central Avenue Press and NetGalley for an advance readers copy of this book.

In this modern fairy tale for grown-ups, 20-year-old Peppa Ryan is hired as the assistant to a wealthy partner in a Manhattan investment firm. Peppa, from a working-class, Irish, Queens family, has excellent business and administrative skills, honed by helping her parents in their small but successful construction business. She is eager to leave their enclosed world; they want her to stay.

Despite her own concerns about her appearance – she thinks she is plain and overweight – she is hired to help her new boss in his private goals: to find and fund unique non-profits that help underserved populations. Spurred and soothed by a crisp clear voice in her head, whom she identifies as Virgina Woolf, Peppa makes her way, trying to balance others hopes and needs with her own. Her mother’s mental illness, at first alluded to and minimized, begins to take a larger role in her life, as does her parents’ hopes that she will marry the Irish plumber who has recently arrived in America. Her initial encounter with Brendon is rather bizarre, and while she can’t seem to control telling him about all the anxieties she has, they nevertheless bond over a love of Virgina Woolf’s work.

Although she has many strengths, Peppa also is quite fragile, psychologically, and the strains of her situation lead to a mental crisis. Buoyed by the care of her boss and his former rock-star boyfriend, she moves forward to a somewhat sad but ultimately satisfying resolution. The humor and sympathy in the writing, as well as the varied and well-realized characters, make this a good read.

Short, sweet, and unexpectedly emotional - this one was a joy to read. For as long as Peppa can remember, Virginia Woolf has been in her head giving her advice. Now, Peppa is 20 years old and about to start her first job at a Wall Street investment firm in November 2000. Her parents are upset she isn't helping out with the family business, but she's determined to make her own way. Peppa starts her job and then also starts dating a man her parents set her up with, and things slowly start to fall apart in her life - both related and unrelated to that man.

Peppa is a darling character who tries so hard the entire book to make sense of everything going on in her life and her parent's lives, even though she doesn't always have all the information and things definitely do not make sense. New York really comes alive in this book, and it's wild to imagine being in the city pre-9/11 - Peppa even works in one of the twin towers. The author is gentle and compassionate in handling mental illness in this book, and every character is treated with nuance and understanding despite their flaws. I loved the found family aspect of this book. This was a quick, lovely read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

It was fine. It didn’t engage me as much as I hoped that it would. Loved the setting and certain aspects of the story but it just fell a bit flat for me

I tried to read this, but the writing and tone came across as juvenile despite being a story for adults. I could not wrap my head around the tone to get very far.

Dear Virginia, Wait For Me is a beautiful story! It has strong characters with a heart of gold and an endless supply of love and empathy. I loved it so much!
💫💫💫💫💫

Penelope Ryan, aka Peppa, is a very different and very peculiar young woman. She hears Virginia Woolf in her head, often guiding her on her day to day. Peppa landed a job at an investment law firm with a very sweet and generous boss, Ivan Scherbo. She is a math genious and has phographic memory, which immediately puts her in her boss' good graces, and they soon become friends.

Her parents are distant folks who believe that giving her a roof over her head and food is more than enough, and she is beholden to them. They want her to marry a plumber named Brendon. After a date and sex, Peppa is pregnant, and she finds out some information about Brendon that does not sit well with her. While pregnant, she has a mental episode and finally confronts the reality of why she has suxh harsh views about herself and why Virginia Woolf lives in her head.

Thank you, Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing!

I really loved this book. It’s such a thoughtful, emotional story about a young woman trying to figure out who she is and how to live her life on her own terms. Peppa Ryan is super smart but struggles a lot with self-esteem and anxiety. She barely ever leaves her house, until she gets a job at a Wall Street firm and slowly starts stepping into the world.

Oh, and she also hears a voice in her head that she believes is Virginia Woolf. That part totally caught my attention, and honestly, it kind of works. The voice isn’t weird or overwhelming, it’s more like a quiet companion that helps her get through tough moments.

This book made me feel so many things, sad, nostalgic, hopeful, frustrated, inspired. It’s not a big dramatic story, but it’s honest and heartfelt.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I’d definitely read more from this author!

This was an OK read. The premise sounded really intriguing. Unfortunately it didn’t quite deliver. I was engaged for the first few chapters, then it fell apart. Just about the time we were getting to know Peppa and the trauma in her life as she tries to get away from her domineering parents, things start working out for her. She is successful in her job, her boss takes her to lunches and dinners at fancy restaurants, she becomes friends with her boss’s boyfriend as well and everything is rosy. Yes, she did still have her issues and insecurities, but they were presented and quickly glossed over. And when her world did fall apart it was put back together too quickly with long periods of recovery skipped completely. The characters were wooden and somewhat stereotypical, which made it hard to relate to any of them. The ending is left to the reader’s interpretation, which was a nice touch. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

I have been a fan of Virginia Woolf since school and this book reflected on her and showed mental illness in a very poignant way. Peppa was such a fantastic character overall.

Interesting novel unlike anything I've read! Peppa gets a new job working for Ivan and she's wonderful at it as she "channels" Virginia Wolff and "hears" her voice giving her advice. As an overweight and odd woman, she's delighted to be so useful in her job as she can remember things easily and Ivan is incredibly impressed with her. But her parents keep trying to fix her up with eligible men so she's at a crossroads in her life. It's one of those crazy-fun books that keep you on your toes as you never know what to expect!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

I was very intrigued by the premise of this story and I found Peppa to be an interesting character who I grew to love the more I read.

It took me a while to find my feet with this one, but I loved the early 2000s' NYC vibes, and the 'inner voice of Virginia Woolf' who Peppa takes courage and guidance from in her mind, was a great touch.

Whilst there are many heavy topics such as mental health issues and a dysfunctional family dynamic, it was actually a lightish read which still made me smile on many occasions.

I think this was a lovely coming of age novel that many will enjoy.

Butler has crafted an interesting story about a young woman dealing with the pressures of family, work, love, and coming of age in NYC. The story flows quickly, and the main character makes you think about life and how we get to where we are later. The experiences that shape us. A great book! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I had great expectations for this story, but "Dear Virginia, Wait for Me" turned out to be just an OK read. It wasn't bad, but it didn't quite live up to what I had hoped for. While it didn't completely captivate me, there were aspects that I appreciated. I liked Peppa's voice, her perspective, and her growing hope for the future. There was also a lot of strength in her weaknesses, which made her a complex, lovely character. The setting was also great! Y2K in New York seemed perfect. The first chapters provided a great starting point, but then it felt like something shifted in the story. Characters were introduced that I couldn't quite grasp. What I loved so much at the beginning of the book (Peppa's strong voice) faded into the background for other voices. Some chapters felt completely unnecessary, and it didn't feel like the story was going anywhere.

I wanted more Peppa, more of her dynamic one-on-one with her boss, more from Peppa's mother. The ending contributed to a positive upswing, but unfortunately, there was too much uninteresting content in the middle. Virginia Woolf's voice was a nice touch to the story and could have been explored even more.

Marcia Butler does it again. One of my favorite authors and it makes me sad that more people don't know who she is! Her voice is singular and each book is very different from the last so you never know what you're diving into, or what story is going to be told.

In DEAR VIRGINIA, WAIT FOR ME, we have a coming of age story in New York in the early 2000s. Peppa is a naive but highly intelligent girl from Queens who gets her first job at a financial firm in downtown Manhattan. She lucks out with an actually good boss who understands her unique perspective, and her overbearing parents who seem to have been holding her back all these years, wanting her to be a part of the family plumbing company instead of finding her own way. She is also obsessed with Virginia Woolfe, who is a voice in her head, so this book is peppered with quotes from Woolfe that enhance the reading experience.

One Peppa gives a chance to a boy her parents set her up with, things go a bit haywire and dormant mental illness that she has inherited from her mom come to the surface. It's a short book, but full of life with wonderful characters and realistic world building. It reminded me of the book BROOKLYN a bit. Once you get to the end, you will NOT be able to put it down. Can't wait for more from Butler.

A dysfunctional family, mental health issues, the Twin Towers and...Virginia Woolf. This is an odd one in many ways and it won't be for everyone but Peppa's story is different from anything I've read lately. She's struggled mightily with those voices but she's gotten herself a job in investment banking and gained a little independence from her family. Can she be happy? That depends on how the Woolf voice speaks to her. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I really enjoyed this character driven book. Dear Virginia, Wait for Me follows Peppa Ryan a first generation American born to Irish immigrants. They live in Queens. Peppa has a very strained relationship with her parents and has long since been a witness to her mother's mental illness. Peppa gets a job in The Twin Towers in 2001 and finds herself slowly become free of her parents grasp. Peppa has a voice in her head always giving her advice which she imagines is Virginia Woolf. I absolutely loved characters Ivan and GoGo and how much they loved and protected Peppa throughout this book. I'd recommend this if you're into contemporary fiction. Thanks to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for this ARC.

I absolutely loved reading this book. Peppa was such a lovable character and hard topics were thoroughly explored.

I'll be reviewing this one on my Instagram @stressiereads and Goodreads.

When this book started off with the main character getting a job in the World Trade Center in November 2000, let me tell you I was STRESSED. I spent this whole book thinking there was going to be some Remember Me twist.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for sending me this book!