Whether you have read the books or watched the movies, you are either familiar with or have heard the famous name "Nicholas Sparks" at least once. He is known for his all-time cliche love stories—but with a twist, which makes his movies even MORE addicting.
These are my top three favorite movies from him and what I took away from each.
1. The Last Song
"Life is like a piano. The white keys represent happiness and the black sadness. But as you go through life's journey, remember that the black keys also create music."
This movie focuses on family connections and the portrayed struggles of a father-daughter relationship. After her parent's divorce, Ronnie is despondent, angry, and rebellious. She even declines her offer to a music school she has aspired to go to since she was younger.
After her mom drops her off at her dad's for the summer, she discovers a local carnival on the beach where she meets the man that changes her life forever: Will. He taught her forgiveness and that you just have to see the good in everything, even when it's invisible.
Throughout the summer, Ronnie builds an everlasting relationship with her father again. Of course, every Nicholas Sparks movie comes with a plot twist. Her father gave her the news that his cancer came back and that this time, it's terminal. Through his treatments, Ronnie finds passion in writing music again and writes a song for her dad and while she plays it for him, he passes peacefully.
With the human in us, we are vulnerable to making mistakes. But that's the point. We. Are. Human. We are supposed to make mistakes, but we aren't supposed to keep blaming ourselves for our faults committed in the past. We learn from them and move forward. We have to learn to play our music again.
2. A Walk To Remember
"I don't think we're meant to understand it all the time. I think that sometimes we just have to have faith."
In every other love story we've ever seen on screen, boy meets girl, they fall for each other, boy and girl end up happily ever after. But this storyline is unique. In this movie, Landon finds Jamie at the point in her life when she has finally made peace with her illness and how much time she had left. Jamie continues to live her life as normally as she can, doing the things she loves. But when she meets Landon, everything changes.
He teaches her how to live "freely" and not to adapt to the feeling of normal. She is introduced to a whole different aspect of life through his eyes. Their love story ends in the most unique way of all. Landon knows Jamie only has months left, so got down on his knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life with him.
After Jamie dies, Landon goes to school to accomplish his dreams but still continues to pray to her each day. This movie is the definition of a beautiful tragedy.
3. The Best Of Me
"I knew even then how rare that kind of love is. Only the luckiest people get to experience it at all."
Your typical young love story.
High school sweethearts are torn apart by the contradiction of both families. Dawson comes from a family of criminals and abuse, while Amanda comes from the complete opposite: wealth. Throughout this movie, Dawson meets Tucker, a sweet old man who takes him in as if he's family. Then, Dawson's father finds him and demands him to come home, resulting in an incident that lands Dawson in jail in defense for Tucker.
He knows this isn't fair to Amanda, so he breaks things off, knowing the love is still there—he believed that this was the "best for her"
Years pass. Amanda and Dawson are reunited through the death of Tucker, which rekindles the flame of their timeless love. Their connection with each other never faded and fate brought them back together in the end.
