The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alienated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.

I have this thing that if a movie is adapted from the book and I want to see it, I need to read the book first. I've come to find that the book is almost always better than the movie. Some of my YouTube subscribers urged me to read this one (I'd already bought it) and I'm glad I did.

The story at first was kind of obnoxious and shallow, mainly because Ronnie was. She didn't care about anyone but herself and was the typical teenager. As the novel continued you could see that soften and by the end of the book, I found myself really loving and connecting with Ronnie. You could see the character development and I felt like Nicholas Sparks included me in the journey of this teenage girl in becoming a woman.

The ending was beautiful and I loved it, however I did think the epilouge left something to be desired. I don't want to reveal much about it but I wanted more. I found myself not wanting to put it down and I highly enjoyed reading from the different perspectives, especially Will and Marcus because of their dark secrets. The story has a romantic feel and completely screams 'summer romance' to me.

All of the characters were rich and real, easily believable as well as relateable. Jonah was absolutely adorable, and I really enjoyed reading about his antics with Steve and Will. As usual, the writing was wonderful and Nicholas Sparks didn't disappoint at all. I completely recommend this one and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

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