THE LAST SONG

By Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing, $24.99, 400 pages)

Didn't you always dream of a sweet summer romance? Of going on a trip and meeting the person of your dreams? Of having a "Grease" kind of experience? When Ronnie Miller is forced to spend the summer with her father in North Carolina, she is sure it will be the worst thing ever. The 17-year-old New York City kid harbors resentment toward her father, who left the family and divorced her mother. She and her little brother, Jonah, move from the city to their dad's ramshackle beach house. Much moping ensues. Then she meets Will. Things change. She changes. Don't let the familiarity of the story line turn you away. Sparks makes the tale seem fresh in his touchy-feely way, and there are plenty of bends in the plot. You will be sucked in to this book, and you'll enjoy the emotional ride.

JUDY ROMANOWICH SMITH, NEWS DESIGNER

SECRET SOCIETY

By Tom Dolby (HarperTeen, 343 pages, $16.99)

"Secret Society" certainly starts with the makings of a best-selling teen thriller: Three talented, trendy students of an exclusive Manhattan prep school are initiated one night, in a drug-induced state, into the "Society." The initiation comes with a tattoo of an ankh, the Egyptian symbol for life, and admonitions never to speak publicly about the group. But in the age of "Twilight" and "Harry Potter," it takes more than a clever plot idea to hang a teen franchise on. Nick, Phoebe and Lauren are fleshed-out characters, full of teenage insecurities and confusion over what to do about the secret society they were essentially forced to enter. But even with the murders of two society members, the thriller action never fully materializes, and the story ends abruptly in a cliffhanger. Author Tom Dolby writes on his blog that he's working on the next installment of the "Secret Society" series, but he's going to need to amp up the action to get readers to buy into it.

KATHLEEN CLONTS, NEWS COPY EDITOR