A lovely novel about moving on from pain and grief. Jack and Tegan both have darkness in their past and both are trying to find a new place in the world. An unusual set of circumstances puts them in a car together driving across the country. It's not roast trip romance, although there are hints of it, but rather a shared journey. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

This is a new author to me and I really enjoyed this latest book by her. It grabbed me from the very first page and I loved driving with them across the USA and making all the wonderful stops they made. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review. I really liked this one!

This is my 2nd Melissa Weiner novel and it is just as good as Her Family Secret. I was totally engrossed in Tegan and Jack's road trip and couldn't put the book down until I had finished.
Tegan's brother Jamie has looked out for her from a young age, as a terminal illness threatens to take away the person who she has always relied on she embarks on a trip to find them the house and state of their dreams.
Following a tragedy Jack sets off on a road trip from his old life in San Francisco to New York City to work once again in the family law firm. When their paths collide neither Tegan or Jack know what the future holds but both know their Life's won't be the same without their lived ones in it
A story about coming to terms with grief and moving on
Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

This book was so very good! I felt like I had stepped into the story from page one. I was invested in their story and couldn’t wait to find out what happened. It was the perfect romantic book!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

A BOOK PERFECTLY PORTRAYING ALL THE BEAUTY OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF LOVE WE HAVE ON EARTH(especially siblings)
AND THE IMPACT OF HOPE & STRENGTH WITHIN US .

This book has just made my made, I remember the night I completed reading it.. my tear traced cheeks fully dried and a small smile on lips with a contented sigh and longing to be a better human and show more love to those all around me
To be wanted to remembered for my love and character

This was an Amazing road travel love and life journey ,there was humor laced all through with honesty.

Oh goshh! This was an patchwork quilt of an stunning sunset replicating all the truths, joys, love, ugly hurt and sufferings of life overcome with a desire for hope and love

Truly, the characters face everything life throws at time.. I am just pulled into it right away from the first line.. I was torn for Tegan .
I always wanted stories to see harsh reality and overcome it .. This was excatly that.
Trust me, you'll fall in love with every character
Those characters and all that they went through was worth my tears

Highly recommended !!

This up-and-coming author has a refreshing writing style that instantly hooks readers! It’s no coincidence that Wiesner’s writing will give you the sense that you’ve been dropped into a scene. She studied film production in college and as a filmmaker she was a visual storyteller before a written one. Wiesner has been trained to write as though you are sitting in a theatre and it shows in her novels.

After film school, the author got a degree in counselling and entered social work. She admits that she’s used her training as a therapist in her writing. Much of her work, both writing and counselling, is about personal interactions – learning people’s struggles, their history, and empowering them to overcome obstacles. Her fictional characters have complicated and compelling backstories that brought them to the moment readers encounter them. Wiesner uses the strengths-based perspective in her writing and tells stories of strength, resilience and overcoming adversity. Her characters get knocked down, experience hard times and always pick themselves up and keep going. They follow their dreams, work hard at healing from painful pasts and fall in love. Wiesner believes in facing adversity with humour and readers will notice her characters are stronger for it.

Wiesner lives in the city where the protagonist and her brother live in this story, and although a city girl, she is fascinated by the country and seeps through into her writing. Her desire to be somewhere where everyone knows her name, where neighbours work together and where generations grow up in the same place is reflected in the setting of Copper Canyon and Falls Creek.

You can read the synopsis online, but at the core of this compelling tale are two characters who are trying to deal with grief and overcome painful losses. It’s a story about the lies we tell ourselves, how far we’ll go to protect the ones we love and what it means to be lost and then found again.

Wonderfully penned and laced with authentic emotion-filled scenes, I was truly hooked from page one to the last sentence. I loved her debut novel, “Her Family Secret,” but I feel this novel will always have a special place in my heart. I was filleted open and empowered with raw emotion….her authentic characters will stay with me for a long time. I look forward to her third book, which also deals with a heavy topic and has no release date yet. It is about a young woman who has to face the fallout of her mother’s battle with opioid addiction.

If you haven't read anything by this author yet, please take a chance on her novels. You won't be disappointed.

Publishes August 23, 2021.

I was gifted this advance copy by Melissa Wiesner, Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

As soon as I started reading this novel I just couldn't put it down. It just has so many good, bad, and real scenarios that made me reconsider life itself. I have had my heart broken into pieces and put it back together in every chapter of it.

So, if you are looking forward to reading it, get ready, because I don't think any review can capture what going through these pages feels like.

- Don't stop believing.

Not just another road trip romance, but a really satisfying read about moving forward after dealing with the worst that life has thrown at you. Jack and Tegan are two lost souls with enough grief in their past to last a lifetime. Maybe a trip across America will help them both to learn what they want the future to look like. A great read!

the girl in the picture by melissa wiesner
my rating: 4.5/5 stars
tw: cancer, death, suicide, sa
genres: literary fiction

this book was so amazingly heartwarming, both in its deepest and brightest moments. im sure the author would laugh if i compared it to jack kerouac’s ‘on the road’, so im not going to, although it did have similar vibes ;)

there were so many beautiful scenes of laughter and love which were wonderful to read, but what i loved about this book were the bittersweet and often heartwrenching moments that tethered this story back to reality.

the characters of jack and tegan whilst stereotypical on the surface underwent some amazing development as the book prgressed, and had an amazingly crafted depth of history and personality. also the romance!! so incredibly written, i could not put it down :)

cons: none to do with the writing style, which i loved, or the plot, which i also loved. i would have enjoyed a little more representation of minorities as the book was not very diverse.

thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review, i loved it!

I absolutely fell in love… Utterly unputdownable, it will have you hooked from the first page.
Wow! What can I say about this book in one word! Tremendous!!! Although I would recommend all books from this author, this book was definitely on another level! I can not recommend this book enough to anyone that enjoys a gripping read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tegan has had a difficult life. Her mother left her and her older brother when she was a child. Her father is an alcoholic. The one positive in her life is her older brother Jamie. Right now, Jamie is ill and needs the solace of country and small-town life, something Tegan has dreamed of since she was a child and had the best time of her life with a grandmother. in her country home. Looking for that again, Tegan sets off across the country in search of that kind of peace. After a brave stance with a molester, she meets Jake and embarks on the journey of a lifetime, for both of them. Unknown to Tegan, her rich traveling friend Jake has faced trauma of his own. He is driving his luxury SUV (full of artifacts from his other life) across the country to return to his family and the main office of his law practice. They are an unlikely pair that start on an incredible journey that provides solace and friendship for both. Can they overcome the many obstacles in their relationship, fraught with differences and challenges but fed by love and connection of the heart and soul? I loved this book. Refreshing characters, beautiful travel scenery, love, romance, family, and at the center of it all what we all want, a break from trauma hardship, and life. A really good read that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. Thanks to #TheGirlInThePicture#NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture also known as my My Favorite Pub Ever! And Melissa for an early copy of The Girl in the Picture for an honest review!

So I read Wiesner's first book Her Family Secret when it released May 2021.
And I'm here to say I'm a major Wiesner's Fan now!
She writes so beautifully, the characters just come to life while you're reading on of her books.
Tegan's character I just soaked it all up. The love between these two siblings is something fierce and tight!
Trying to protect her brother from their parents bad past she has to get away herself and Jamie her brother far away. Jamie is sick and and its the way he can recover.
Tegan packs her bags and starts looking for a safe place.
Struggling and running out of money she has a hard time trusting other people.
So she gets a ride from Jack and he also doesn't talk much about his life.
She arrives in the mountains of a small town.
This is the place she will bring Jamie. Its small, quiet, no one knows them here. She likes it.
Until she notices some pictures and old paper clippings in the back of Jacks trunk.
Why does the lady on the front look dang familiar? She knows her from somewhere!
She has to keep her family's history in the past. But she has to know who this lady is and why does she seem like she knows her from somewhere?!
Discovering the truth could be the best thing that's ever ever happened to Tegan and Jamie or it could destroy them both and rip their lives apart!

WoW! WoW! WoW! What an absolute mind spinning, beautiful story this was!
I had a really hard time putting my Kindle down to do my Adult responsibilities.
This book is a masterpiece, perfection.
I loved the emotions this book puts the reader through. Stunning absolutely stunning!
All I can say is Wiesner has gained a forever reader with me!
Because she is damn good at what she does and that's making me glued to my kindle and forgetting about life!

Thank you again for the amazing opportunity to read this powerful book!.
I will post to my platforms closer to pub date!

Strong Road Trip Romance. This is a really solid road trip romance full of misunderstandings, some hijinx, tragic backstories for our main characters, and an element or two of danger - all while traveling the backroads of America as two strangers who happen to get thrown together due to, well, a major misunderstanding. :D You'll laugh some, you'll cry some, you'll imagine yourself getting a bit wet - from rain, get your mind out of the damn gutter -, and yeah, you'll probably fall in love with these two yourself. Very much recommended.