From the author of Mercury and Shiner comes a novel about the bond between two female folk singers, the love stories that haunt them, and the music that brings them together to burn bright.

Young folk singer Elle Harlow reaches the height of her prowess in 1973, with two wildly beloved albums to her name and a hidden history of impossible heartbreak. When she sets foot on the famed Grand Ole Opry stage, a far cry from the mountain that raised her, Elle gives the biggest performance of her life. Then, to the dismay of shocked fans, her producer, and the man who still loves her, she vanishes.

Almost two decades later, eighteen-year-old Marijohn Shaw is spending her summer pumping gas, writing songs on her broken mandolin, and longing for a mother. Her father, Abe, has always sworn he was the last person to see Elle Harlow alive, but when a meteor strikes the woods of their sleepy Pennsylvania town and a piece of Elle’s past emerges from the wreckage, the truth of her disappearance sets fire to everything Marijohn believes about herself, her music, and her ability to love with abandon.

Wait for Me exalts the lush hills of Appalachia and the bright lights of Nashville as it reveals the legacy of Elle Harlow, the bold voice that defined her, the intimate betrayal that undid her, and the unexpected faith of another young woman determined to resurrect her.

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

I read and loved Mercury by this author a couple of years ago, so I was super excited when I was offered a copy of this book. While I didn’t love it the same way I loved Mercury, I still really enjoyed the story and especially the characters.

I’ve grown kind of tired of books focusing on the music industry. I feel like Daisy Jones and the Six was so good and so powerful that it’s become the gold standard, and nothing has really lived up to it since. What I liked about this one, though, is that it doesn’t focus on the music industry so much as it focuses on the lives of two women who want to be stars. The music is there, but it’s not the centerpiece. The women are.

The book is structured in three parts. The first part focuses on Marijohn, an eighteen-year-old who spends her summer pumping gas and writing songs on her broken mandolin. She’s longing for a mother she’s never known. Her father, Abe, has always claimed he was the last person to see folk singer Elle Harlow alive before she disappeared back in the 1970s. Elle is believed to be dead, but Marijohn has always wondered if there’s more to the story. When a meteor strikes their small Pennsylvania town and unearths something from the wreckage, Marijohn becomes convinced she’s found proof that Elle Harlow might actually be her mother.

The second part flips to Elle’s story, and this is where the book really comes alive. We follow Elle growing up poor in the Appalachian mountains. She’s gifted with a voice and a dream, but she has no clear path to making that dream real. A friendship with a mute healer becomes a turning point for her. This woman sees something in Elle and helps pave the way for her to chase her dreams in Nashville. We watch Elle navigate the industry, release two wildly beloved albums, and reach the height of her career. And then we learn what happened before she disappeared. Elle’s story is rich and deeply human. Burns does a great job of showing the cost of chasing a dream when you come from nothing. The sacrifices Elle makes, the heartbreak she endures and the choices she’s forced into all felt very real.

The Appalachian setting is beautifully rendered. Burns has a real sense of place, and you can feel the mountains, the small towns, the isolation, and the beauty. The contrast between the quiet hills and the bright lights of Nashville works really well, and it underscores the tension Elle feels between where she comes from and where she’s trying to go.

The third part is where the two stories converge, and this is also where the book lost me a bit. I don’t want to give too much away, but there were personal things in this section that didn’t make sense to me. Some plot points felt too convenient and some reveals felt rushed. The first two acts brought so much depth, and the third act didn’t quite deliver on that setup. It wrapped things up, but it didn’t feel as strong as the rest of the book.

That said, I still think this is a good read. Burns is a talented writer, and she has a gift for creating characters you care about. I loved Elle and Marijohn. I loved their individual stories. I loved watching them both navigate their dreams, their heartbreak, and their longing for connection. Even though the ending didn’t fully work for me, the journey to get there was worth it.

If you’re someone who loves character-driven stories about complicated women, this will probably work for you. If you’re drawn to books about mothers and daughters, legacy and loss, and the sacrifices people make to chase their dreams, this is worth picking up. And if you loved Shiner or Mercury and are curious about what Burns does next, I’d definitely recommend giving this one a shot.

While it’s not perfect and, in my opinion, the third act stumbles a bit, the first two acts are strong enough to carry it, and the characters will stay with me. I think this book will strike the right chord with certain readers, even if it didn’t fully hit the five-star mark for me.