The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Sparks wrote this novelization of a movie after he wrote the script for the movie starring Miley Cyrus.

This is another teenager sent to get to know absent parent story. I just wrote about Beige by Castellucci. In this story Ronnie is a rebellious goth girl and her father has a terrible secret. Things get off to a bad start when Ronnie meets the equally rebellious Blaze and scary Marcus at about the same time rich, perfect, athletic boy runs into her causing her to dump her drink down her front. There is also a sweet younger brother Jonah aged ten but sometimes sounding much younger or older.

Rather too easily Ronnie connects with Will the perfect boy rather than Marcus though Marcus and Blaze are always in the background, always causing problems.

Will and Ronnie further connect over their efforts to protect endangered turtle nests and their work at the local aquarium. Ronnie feels sorry for Blaze and tries to befriend her only to get in trouble with the law.

Jonah and his father are making a stained glass window for a church which was largely ruined by a fire of suspicious origins.

Ronnie was a concert pianist with great promise before her father left home, in her anger she abandoned her piano playing. Her father, also a concert pianist still plays and Ronnie is hateful about this.

Those are all the various conflicts that play themselves out in this lightweight story that is more popcorn & peanuts than Escargot and Caviar.

Sparks doesn't seem to have the dialogue of teens down very well, wording sometimes sound very stiff and old fashioned. I think Jonah's dialogue suffers too. Having said that teens who have enjoyed other Sparks novels should like this one as well. Its teary eyed chic lit with a little spirituality thrown in.