“The Last Song”. Five stars. While many teenage girls have been giddy and excited about Nicholas Sparks’ latest novella turned major motion picture, Dear John, I’ve been reading “The Last Song” (which is scheduled for theatrical release in late March). The novel is the story of a seventeen year old girl, Veronica “Ronnie” Miller who is shipped off with her brother to spend the summer at her estranged father’s house in North Carolina. There, she finds friendship, love, faith, and forgiveness in the places she would have least expected it. That summer, her life changes forever, in both good and bad ways. Despite the hardships she has endured over the months she spent at her father’s and the truths she has learned, Ronnie became a brilliant young woman. Ronnie found who she really was that summer in North Carolina; the most interesting summer of her life.
I won’t spoil the book for you, because I highly recommend it, but I will elaborate on why I loved it so much. It was a story of love and faith. It was romantic, heart-felt, and touching. It really captures the essence of what true love is and what it means to be a friend. It showed how much God will be there for you, and how everything really does happen for a reason. It was everything a person would want in a story about that one important summer. While Nicholas Sparks never fails to add a poignant twist, he could not have created a better book. For me, it came at an important time in my life, when I was losing faith and didn’t know if I could trust anyone again. “The Last Song” was an eye-opener to me and in a way gave me back what I have been missing; hope. Full of life lessons, this novel may be one of the most fulfilling and rewarding stories you ever read. “The Last Song” is truly one of the most realistic, gratifying, emotional books of our generation.