The Last Song is a romance novel written by Nicholas Sparks.
Veronica "Ronnie" Miller Used to Be a Sweet Kid - she was cheerful and considered a piano prodigy under the tutelage of her father Steve. But when her parents divorce and her father moves away supposedly because he was cheating on their mother, her life is turned upside down. Upset, she stops playing the piano. Three years later, she has alienated herself from her family, becoming a rebellious, angry, stubborn eighteen-year-old who regards anything regarding her father with disdain. This is forced to change, however, when her mother Kim drives her and her brother Jonah to their father's cabin in an attempt to get them closer to their father.
Ronnie initially hates the town of Tybee Island, and not just because it was where her father grew up. Her attitude towards her father remains condescending and apathetic, despite the fact that Jonah and her father reconnect easily - Steve even lets his son help him on a stained glass window he's working on for the local church (gossip says that it was Steve who'd set fire to the local church). She's clearly miserable, and this shows in her attitude towards everyone, including handsome, athletic Will Blakelee, but they reconcile later. In the interim, Ronnie's already met Blaze, a rebellious outcast who lives with her beautiful, abusive boyfriend Marcus. Marcus hits on Ronnie which leads to Blaze jumping to conclusions and she gets revenge by framing Ronnie for a watch theft. She is, of course, promptly arrested.
Will and Ronnie begin to fall in love when, on his aquarium volunteer work, he meets her guarding a nest of sea turtle eggs she'd committed to guarding. As their relationship deepens, Ronnie also begins to reconcile with her father and brother. All's fine and good, though, until Steve collapses in a coughing fit and it's revealed he'd been diagnosed with cancer prior to the start of the story. What follows is a story of redemption, love, and forgiveness as Ronnie is faced with the task of caring for him.
Yup, definitely everything you can expect from Nicholas Sparks.
Sparks wrote the movie, which premiered in 2010, as a star vehicle for Miley Cyrus, who stars as Ronnie, and then he wrote the novel to go along with it. Co-starring are Greg Kinnear as Steve and Liam Hemsworth as Will.
Contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: The song "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5 is played on the radio. Kelly Preston appeared in the song's music video.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Blaze to Marcus, who treats her like crap, indulges in drugs and alcohol and openly cheats on her.
- Alpha Bitch: Ashley. Will's mother too, paired with Rich Bitch. Although, in the latter's case, by the end of the book, it's obvious she's more of a Lovable Alpha Bitch.
- Award-Bait Song: When I Look At You
by Miley Cyrus - Bad Butt: The "rebellious" Ronnie does not smoke, drink, take drugs, have sex, or do anything worse than committing petty larceny and snapping at her parents.
- The Big Damn Kiss: When Ronnie argues with Will about all the girls he dated previous to her and tries to end their "relationship", Will kisses Ronnie with the camera rotating 360 degrees around them.
- Broken Bird: Blaze, who starts off bitchy but gets mistreated by Marcus too many times and left abandoned by him on the road during a fight. Leaving her financially broke and reduced to tears.
- Crash-Into Hello: How Ronnie and Will meet - he crashed into her while playing volleyball and spilled her strawberry milkshake all over her shirt.
- Color Wash: And how, Will brings sunny daylight to otherwise somber occasions.
- Embarrassing First Name: Blaze's real name is Galadriel. Her mother was apparently a big fan.
- Falling-in-Love Montage: After Ronnie's and Will's first kiss.
- Floating Head Syndrome: One of the posters might just contain the most literal example ever of Floating Head Syndrome. Liam's Hemsworth's face is shown in profile, framed against the sun, with his neck cut off at the base of his jaw and skull, making it absolutely nothing but a floating decapitated head.
- Kick the Dog: At a record store, Blaze fights with Ronnie accusing her of trying to steal Marcus from her. And then, knowing her history of shoplifting, frames her for theft by putting a bracelet in her bag. She then smiles evilly as she exits the store and Ronnie gets caught.
- At the wedding, Marcus fights with Blaze about her ending their relationship and tries to steal her away from the party telling her "we're done when I say we're done!". Then he throws her aside, saying he's changed his mind and wants to have Ronnie instead. All while purposely throwing champagne on the girls.
- The Last Title: The title.
- Mood Whiplash: One night goes from Ronnie, Jonah and Will joyfully watching the baby turtles crawl to the sea, to Steve's health suddenly declining and ending up in the hospital with Ronnie worried for her father's safety.
- Morality Pet: The turtles, of all things, seem to be one for Ronnie.
- The Mourning After: After Steve dies. The following morning, his funeral takes place with Ronnie preparing his eulogy.
- Not What It Looks Like: When getting something to drink out of the cooler, Blaze looks up and falsely believes Ronnie is fooling around with her boyfriend at the campfire when in reality, Marcus was attempting to cheat on her with Ronnie but she rejected him.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: The first one between Will and Ronnie.
- Secretly Wealthy: Will, who grew up in a very rich upper class family. He doesn't tell Ronnie because he doesn't want her to feel intimidated.
- Standing Between the Enemies: Ronnie stood between Marcus and Scott to stop them from fighting.
- Talent Double: Averted. Miley learned how to play the piano for this movie in just three lessons.
- Tsundere: Ronnie, who is cold, sarcastic and brutally honest to Will. At first she rejects his flirtation but as time passes, she begins to soften for him.
- Tuckerization: Nicholas Sparks got Miley Cyrus to choose her character's name. She chose "Ronnie" after her grandfather Ron Cyrus, a former Kentucky State Representative.
