The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

The Last Song
by Nicholas Sparks
Pub. Date: September 2009
Genre: Fiction
400pp

Synopsis from BN.com:
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.

Why I Picked It:
A movie trailer made me decide to listen to this audiobook immediately after I finished listening to Dear John.

My Review:
It's a carry-over from 2009. Just finished this audiobook last night - refusing to go to sleep until it was finally over. I liked it in some ways more and many ways less than Dear John, not that I should be comparing them. I felt like Dear John was a much stronger romantic love story, but The Last Song is a family love story.

The book is told from 4 voices: Ronnie, Steve - her father, Will - her boyfriend, and Marcus - the antagonist. Ronnie supposedly comes to stay with her father as a troubled, rebelous youth, but there wasn't any real destructiveness to her character. She was very responsible, compassionate, mature, caring, and so her outbursts and purple hair just didn't really fit who she really is. Will is just that perfect boy she meets on the beach. Marcus is a sociopathic, pyromaniacal (is that a word?) a-hole, and Steve, a genuinely caring father.

I liked that I didn't figure everything out about these characters right from the start. I caught a few things and knew they were coming, but there were several elements that I just didn't figure out. So for an easy "listen", it was compelling, interesting, and I truly felt for the characters caught up in a messy family situation.

So far so good on the 2010 book choices!

2010 Challenge: 2 Read, 48 to go!