As it turns out, I’m far more uncomfortable with intimacy than I realized. This is by far the most beautifully written romantic relationship I’ve ever read and I was uncomfortable for all of it. If you’re looking for realistic, relatable romance with the tiniest hint of spice, this is the one for you. If you are emotionally stunted and possibly afraid of intimacy, steer clear 😅

This was a great 'second-chance at love' story. I really enjoyed getting to know Shiloh & Cary through the flashbacks, and seeing how they still fit together, despite their very different life experiences after high school. The characters were interesting, the story intriguing, and the world-building was top notch. Definitely recommended!

Shiloh and Cary are the perfect story of young love that isn't ready to be yet. They show how people can make mistakes, sometimes a lot, and still return to that foundation of friendship and love in the future. Some of the back and forth timelines could have been a bit clearer for me in terms of when in their lives the flashbacks were happening, but that didn't take away from the story.

4.5 stars and my infinite thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the eARC, even if this review is a little late.

Y'all. Rainbow Rowell can fucking write a love story. Can write people with personalities that clash so much they almost don't make sense and make them fall in love and it fuckin works.

Slow Dance follows Shiloh and Cary as they navigate their best friendship, and more, in high school and beyond. Their high school years were so vivid and believable, it almost hurt to read. They were aching to just be next to each other, let alone Cary being in love with her the whole time.

I loved that it the Before didn't follow a linear timeline. It jumped around and changed POV between Shiloh and Cary, and I got lost a time or two, but it was easy to catch up.

The only issue I had with Slow Dance was how long it took for Angel and Cary to reconnect. I wish we could have gotten that sooner and fleshed it out. a little bit more.

I tend to struggle a lot with books about your Average Person managing their Average Life, so I was surprised by how invested I felt in this story and its characters.

Rainbow Rowell herself is clearly not an average person, evident in her talent and success as a writer, and perhaps it’s a credit to this that she’s able to get us to invest in the regular guys and gals love story trope.

As the story progresses and we get to know characters, it becomes evident that the central characters are people who likely have more to offer than the constraints of their lives allow, which is part of it too, and perhaps this idea of a person trapped by their circumstances rather than their limitations or lack of ambition is where the appeal comes in.

I actually liked Shiloh a lot, even if the weirdness about dancing felt silly and as though it existed more to feed the title and give her an obvious hang up than it did a legitimate issue, more of an idiosyncrasy than evidence of a deeper issue. That said, I love that there’s no true tragedy to this story, and Rowell is so good about making you feel for every little thing in a character’s world without ever needing to resort to the all-too-common tragedy porn and emotional manipulation common to the plotting of far too much of Women’s Fiction.

Slow Dance is an adult romance by Rainbow Rowell. I recommend the book for those who like second chance romances, flawed characters, and/or Rainbow Rowell books. This is a current Reese's Book Club pick.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced digital copy of the book.

I’ve loved all of Rowell’s books in the past, so I was thrilled to get a copy of her newest release and it didn’t disappoint!

Slow Dance is a romance, but rather than a fast-paced rom com, it’s more of a slow burn love story. Our main characters — Shiloh and Cary — are both nuanced and flawed, but likable, and I couldn’t help rooting for both of them. Through the story, we see them grow up, grow apart and then we get to watch their relationship rekindle when they reconnect as adults. I just love Rowell’s writing so much! I love the way she develops character and I felt so invested in these characters’ lives!

If you like a slow burn, character-driven love story, definitely pick this one up! You won’t be disappointed!

Rainbow Rowell never disappoints. The story, the characters were all relatable. I simply need more of Cary and Shiloh. I want to know what happens lol.

I am grateful to Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I wanted to love it, but it fell a little flat for me. I wasn’t really invested in the characters and thought the story dragged a bit. I am glad to have read it and overall consider this a 3 star read. I wasn’t in a hurry to pick it up between reading opportunities but it was fine.

I loved this one so much!!! This book was such a refreshingly beautiful love story between two best friends and let me just say Shiloh and Cary are so loved by me they are everything!! There were so many moments I found myself smiling reading this and the storytelling was done so seamlessly and so good between the past and present!! A really great read and I highly recommend picking it up!💚

This book was everything I wanted. A love story about two adults that fell in love as kids and have been trying to find their way back to one another. It had drama, it had heartbreak and arguments. It depicted a real love story- one that isn’t always easy.. but one worth fighting for.

Oh how I love Rainbow Rowell's writing! And paired with narration by Rebecca Lowman- Slow Dance was perfection! I love how real and raw the characters and their emotions are- I just find myself relating so much to her heroines. (Are they enneagram 9s too???) Slow Dance was everything I'd hoped it would be, and more. The past chapters that took place in the 90s made me feel so much nostalgia and the imperfect love story just felt SO REAL. Slow Dance was a slow burn, but totally worth it.

Slow Dance was a mesmerizing romance told through a present day lens with significant use of flashback to fill in the history of before for Cary and Shiloh.
Cary and Shiloh both live in the same neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska in the 80s- their friendship gradually evolves as something more - after graduation Cary joins the Navy and Shiloh goes to college.
The novel explores their teen relationship to their young adult relationship and now their reunion 14 years later. Now Shiloh is a divorced mom of 2 and Cary is headed to retirement from the Navy.
Rainbow Rowell has an authentic voice and knows how to write a nostalgic novel that has you rooting for her characters at every step of the slow dance. I admit I was going to write her a letter if the ending was not as sweet as a slow dance. I can’t say more, but you need to read this if you love slow burning and solid love. I also loved the supporting cast of characters, how Rainbow makes you sentimental for the 80s and 90s - one of the best romances of the summer.

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell is a second chance romance between Cary and Shiloh and switches between 1991 and the present with a few time periods in between. The two main characters are best friends and high school seniors in 1991. The present day has them meeting up at an old friend's wedding (Mikey, who I found to be extremely loveable) after not having spoken to each other for 14 years. The story revolves around the second chance they have at love together. Things I really liked about the book include how real the characters are, how real the setting is, and how wonderfully gen-x the whole book is. Things that I didn't like as much include how the book seems to lag in some places, how weirdly pokey Shiloh gets around Cary (like seriously, she is always wanting to poke him or put holes in his clothes), and finally I found the miscommunication trope to be frustrating in that it lasted way too long and seemed a bit extreme to me. I still liked this book and this author will continue to be one of my must reads but this is never going to be my favorite of her books.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is a classic story of high school friends who didn't realize they had something more than that until years later. Shiloh, Carey and Mikey were a high school trio of friends that reconnect at Mikey's wedding where they take many trips down memory lane and realize Shiloh and Carey should be together now. But how? The flashbacks through the coulda, woulda, shouldas is one most of us has either experienced, or lived vicariously through a friend. Very relatable, very in the high school or first love feels, very entertaining banter between the friend group.

Rounded up to a 3...
Second time reading a Rainbow Rowell book after quite a few years so when I heard about this one I thought I’d try it. My reactions were definitely up and down. I was astounded by some of the “spot on” insights in early chapters - they ended up being an outstanding positive for me. But, as it turned out, the philosophy reflected in the quotes I bookmarked didn’t seem to quite line up with Rowell’s characters. Another plus, the setting, especially in terms of place as well as time periods, seemed very realistic and built a solid foundation for the plot.

On the flip side, there were some minor but troublesome negatives. I actually had trouble identifying the intended audience for this novel – on the one hand this was described as Rowell’s first novel for adults yet, especially during the “before” sections, it read like a YA. The two main characters had depth and evolved over the course of the story. Each with their own quirks which, in some cases, particularly Shiloh’s, the pokes and incessant urge to touch or set fire – both puzzled and worried me. This side of Shiloh (fortunately) did not appear in her relationship with her children. Messy I get but in this case it was too hard to either like or root for either Shiloh or Cary. In contrast, Junie and Gus were delightful – they were believable as were most of the secondary characters.

Even though I finished it and some aspects are still in my head, not sure I'm destined to be a fan.



FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a charming and heartfelt exploration of friendship, love, and second chances. I loved how the author weaves together the past and present lives of Shiloh and Carey. Their story is sweet but filled with emotion and the complications of everyday life. This was such a delight! I couldn’t put it down and I loved the ending.

Not sure why this is my first Rainbow Rowell but this definitely won't be my last.

Full of themes of longstanding friendship, unrequited love, and second chances, this book was such fun little journey. I adored getting to watch Shiloh and Cary's relationship evolve from the present many years after highschool to the past in numerous flashbacks, giving us key insights to every moment that molded them into the people they are. I liked that they were imperfect characters, as it made them more realistic and relatable and I liked how naturally the romance progressed.

The only thing that annoyed me about this book was the pacing. Some parts seemed to drag and then other parts seemed to be too quickly resolved.

Despite that, I still adored how honest and genuine this book felt and how the story was character driven over plot driven.

4/5⭐

Rainbow Rowell is back with her newest title Slow Dance, a second chance romance that has it all!

Shiloh and Cary were the kind of best friends that everyone in high school thought would end up together. Fourteen years after high school, the two are reunited at their friend Mikey’s wedding.
Shiloh is a prickly, impatient and messy character who planned on going to college and escaping her hometown in Omaha to become an actress. But her life goes nothing like she planned and she finds herself divorced with 2 children living back in her mother’s house. Cary has a career in the Navy just as he planned in high school. When his mother becomes ill, his messy family life gets even more complicated.

The reader routes for these two to finally resolve their long history of miscommunications. An emotional, up beat, funny and thought provoking story with realistic characters. I highly recommend this title to romance lovers and readers of Emily Giffin and Annabel Monaghan. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader’s copy.

I like to think that I am above nostalgia. I sniff at kids-on-bikes. I roll my eyes at the latest 90s film remake. I am steely when a favorite song from my teen years is used to sell soda pop. But Rainbow Rowell puts out a book set (at least partially) in 1990s Omaha and I’m jumping feet first into that river of rose-colored memories. An Omaha native myself and about the same age as the author, my relationship with Rowell’s Nebraska-set novels is different than that of my nieces, who have only really known Arizona. Rainbow Rowell is writing about places and people know. That said, I thought her other more adult novel, Landline, was fine. Slow Dance, on the other hand, I couldn’t put down.

I define YA as stories where the main characters asks, “Who am I going to be?” Adult novels often ask, “How did I end up here?” Slow Dance combines those two plot kernels and weaves them together in a story about friends who have grown apart and then find each other again. What could be kind of sappy isn’t because Shiloh and Cary feel like real people. They are complicated and occasionally contradictory, but relatable. And besides, who doesn’t want a second chance (or a third chance) to get something right in their life?