review: the last song by nicholas sparks

I haven't seen the movie, but I couldn't get out of my head that The Last Song was first written as a screenplay specifically for Miley Cyrus. So much of the book read like a movie. For example, "Already planning his trip, [Marcus] barely noticed as Blaze soaked several cloth balls in lighter fluid directly above the shirt she would later wear in the show." That's a great scene for a movie because I'll see the action and think, "uh-oh." Reading it on the other hand wasn't so great; I just groaned, "And now I know exactly how this is going to play out." Based on what I read in the book, the screenplay is likely pretty good and the movie might be great if acted and directed well; the book was merely average. Besides reading like a movie, there were other things that detracted from my overall enjoyment. For example, Ronnie's father is asleep when she returns from the wedding. Circumstances arose that had Ronnie driven home by Will's father, but her father was supposed to pick her up, so why was he asleep? And even if she called to say she had a ride, surely he would've wanted to hear about the evening. I also found it hard to believe that so much about Scott having money for college rested on a beach volleyball tournament. I'll admit to not having thoroughly researched it, but the information I found indicates beach volleyball is a college sport for women that was only just recently approved.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing.