The Final Note

"Fans of Nicholas Sparks will enjoy this uplifting novel about second chances, circumstance, coincidence, and, of course, happiness."--Booklist, on Sweet Misfortune

"With all the awkward intensity of first love, Milne's latest (after Sweet Misfortune, 2010) ushers along its characters with flourishes worthy of a sweet yet haunting song. Ethan and Anna meet in romantic Vienna while young and idealistic. Committed to the idea of being together forever, they plunge into matrimony and real life with a starry-eyed love. Yet as Ethan's songwriting career steadily rises, they find their marriage suffering from internal pressures that begin to appear insurmountable. Life deals them some hard blows, as well, which fosters even more doubt that the potential of forever in a marriage actually exists. Just as Ethan seriously questions his continuing connection with his wife, a horrific accident thrusts everything into a closely examined background as Anna lingers in a coma. A wise, life-scarred grandfather, relatives who serve to highlight Ethan's own feelings of inadequacy, and a precocious child round out the cast. Stirring and dramatic, Milne's work echoes

Kevin Alan Milne's THE FINAL NOTE is a beautiful soliloquy on the power of love. The opening Prelude forcefully grabs you--you find yourself immersed in Ethan's rage against the perpetrator of his wife's catastrophic outcome.
Milne separates his book into segments entitled; First Verse: Solo, Allegretto Scherzando; Second Verse: Duet, Adagio Dolcissimo; Third Verse: Trio, Accelerando Staccato; Interlude; Fourth Verse: Solo, Lente Grave; and Postlude. Ethan's life breathes music, his passion is conveyed with every note he composes in his younger days and as he grows older, music has slowly diminished into the background. I listen to the entitled pieces that evoked the emotional turmoil suffered by Ethan, and I felt wrapped up in his anguish. THE FINAL NOTE moved me continually for the wealth of hardship suffered and for the infinity of faith. There were times where I did rage against the injustice of Ethan's life only to be reminded that there are greater things beyond our understand