The Last Song

One of my students recommended this book for me to read and then lent it to me. She ranted and raved on and on about it and so, that of course, left me curious and anxious to start reading the book. One of my favorite books – “Dear John” – was written by the same author, Nicholas Sparks and so I already was accustomed to his style of writing which is easy to read. And so I started the book. At first I wasn’t super enthralled by it and thought it was just another romantic-teens-on-puberty novel; but as I read it, somehow it just caught my interest and I couldn’t let the book down and would even read it as I was walking in the bus terminal going to catch my bus. I started this book one day and finished it the very next day. It wasn’t a “big revelation” book or a “changed my life” book but it was definitely a nice read and made me think a bit more about how family bonds are important. If this book had a word to define it that word would be “sweet”. I know they also made a movie with it but I still didn’t have the chance to watch it. Nonetheless, I am still adding here the trailer of the movie as a “sneak peak” review on both the book and the movie.

Book Review:

In this wonderful story, seventeen-year-old Veronica (better known by her nickname Ronnie) Miller goes off to spend the summer with her dad in a small North Carolina beach town. She is reluctant for several reasons. Chiefly, it's because she has become estranged from her father over the past five years, ever since her parents underwent the proverbial messy divorce.

Ronnie has also been the typical big city girl. She's used to the high-fashions, private school, and nightlife of New York City, in meccas like Greenwich Village, SoHo, and the Upper West Side. Dropping her in a sleepy southern town seems apt punishment for Ronnie's recent episodes of angry rebellion. These included a run-in with the law for shoplifting, newly dyed jet-black hair with a screaming purple streak, and sporting Goth style fashions.

These factors, and the various challenges Ronnie faces, make her a character that tween and teen girls can easily associate with. They also drive this book's inter-generational appeal.

Mr. Right or Mr. Wrong?

As the novel progresses, though, Ronnie falls totally in love with her new life: with the town, with sea turtles and other native marine life, with her bothersome younger brother, and also with her father -- and the music he'd abandoned along with his family. Most importantly, Ronnie falls in love with a young man.

The guy she runs into (literally) at a boardwalk fair and beach volleyball match, initially seems all-wrong for her. He is a jock, a preppy, the would-be prom king, and a townie; in short he represents the very things Ronnie has been rebelling against. At first, Ronnie is more attracted to a girl named Blaze, and the troupe of dangerous, beer swigging street performers she hangs out with, than to Will. But as romance novel fans know, love always finds its way.

The Power of Love

As the jacket copy of this Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group novel says, this romance is "...an unforgettable story of love in all its myriad forms -- first love, love between parents and children. The Last Song demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them."

Whether the reader is already a Nicholas Sparks fan or The Last Song is his/her first introduction to the beloved author, he/she will fall in love with Ronnie, the other characters, and this story. Some readers, such as this author's 15-year-old daughter, will have trouble picturing Miley Cyrus as Ronnie, Nevertheless, they will root for Ronnie as she struggles with her emotional turmoil, stands up for the turtle nest, and ultimately wins.

You Must Read The Last Song !

Or does Ronnie lose her quest? The only way to find out is to read The Last Song, the latest romance novel by Nicholas Sparks. The next reader may devour it from cover to cover, even in a single day, as many fans of Sparks books say they do.