Do you like “The Sound of Music”? Do you really, really want to know EVERYHTING about the movie, about the family von Trapp, about the filming of the movie, about the premier, the life of the actors and the people that made the movie? Do you feel the need to know about all the problems with the filming, the problems before the filming and stuff like that? Then, this is the book for you!

Personally I found that the book contained way to much information that I just felt wasn't really that interesting to know or that I already knew from watching a documentary about the movie that I have on my DVD version. I mean, the von Trapp family history is interesting and of course the filming of the movie is always nice to read about, but much of the information after the premier wasn't really that interesting to read about. You get the van Trapp family's history, what happened to all the children. You get to know how the life turned out for the actors that played in the movie. You get statistic about the movie.

But in the end I would watch the documentary again instead of reading this book, I get the information I want/need and I get to watch the actors instead of reading about what they think about the movie. It's just so much cozier and there are no dry parts. The book felt sometimes a bit too heavy to read, too much information that just didn't interest me so much and also sometimes I felt that it lost the thread when it discussed other movies then "The Sound of Music”.

And, I wished that had been photos with the book. This is an ARC so I hope the complete book will have photos. 

I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review! Thank you!

Book: The Sound of Music: How a Beguiling Young Novice, A Handsome Austrian Sea Captain and Ten Singing von Trapp Children Inspired the Most Beloved Film of All Time

Author: Tom Santopietro

Release date (if applicable): Published

Synopsis: In 1965, The Sound of Music hit the big screens. What is the back story to this long held, classic family favorite that remains popular to this day?

My rating: 5 Stars

My opinion:  OK, first a disclosure: I am a HUGE Sound of Music fan. When I say huge, I mean behemoth huge. I have seen this movie well over 200 times in my 47 years on this earth. I own three copies of the DVD. I have scenes from this movie memorized. I have read almost every book put out on this movie and, I believe, all of the von Trapp family books and it is on my bucket list to visit the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. I found Mr. Santopietro's book to be incredibly well researched and beyond detailed oriented. I find it easy to say that of all the books on this subject I have read, Santopietro's is easily the best. The book did have periods of dryness or that seemed to drag in over describing occurances, but those were few and far between and I found that I was able to overlook them with some new things that I had learned. This book would have been 10/5 stars if photos were included. Especially with this book, couldn't figure out why photos weren't included. I will say that a member of Goodreads did comment on my preliminary review that she had purchased a copy and that there were pictures included in her version.

Source: Publisher for review

Would I recommend? : Not only would I recommend it, I have a copy in my Amazon cart waiting for purchase. Even though I have already read it, I found it worthy to add to my personal library.

Stand Alone or Part of a Series: Stand Alone

I've been reading this for two weeks now and I have twenty pages left. I can't seem to put this book down it's that good. Steve just went into the hospital because he has cancer. He didn't want to tell his kids because he didn't want them to worry while they were there for the summer. Steve only has a few weeks left and Ronnie doesn't want to leave him and go back to New York so she's staying with her dad. Will just left for college, so Ronnie is super sad that her love of her life and her dad are both leaving. 

The Last Song is so far about a girl that goes to California to visit her dad that she hasn't seen or talked to in three years. As the book goes on she meets a boy named Will and soon falls in love with him. I'm so hooked into this book I cant set it down. If you want a good love story to read read "The Last Song" By: Nicholas Sparks