I had wanted to try Rainbow Rowell's writing and I did end up enjoying this book. This was a story about Cary and Shiloh and how their deep friendship from the time they were kids grew into a much different but still much the same relationship years later. The story was different and the characters were different than your usual romance novel, but they grew on me. The characters had more depth than some other novels, and more tragic history, which also made the story a bit slow at parts. There were constant flashbacks which, at times, interrupted the flow, but we're also relevant to the story being told. Overall, it was a good book, although not a favorite. I will try more of Rowell's work though. Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC! #slowdance #williammorrow #netgalley

I have been waiting years and years for Rainbow Rowell to write another adult novel. Her book "Attachments" is one of my all time favorite reads. So when I was offered an early copy of her latest "Slow Dance," my excitement level was sky high.

"Slow Dance" did not hit for me the same way her previous novel did, but I did enjoy this cute second chance romance. I appreciated that the present day time line was set in the not so long ago past instead of the technology fueled world of today. I connected with these characters because they were experiencing the events at a time where I would have been the same age. I found myself routing for these characters even with their flaws. The kids were written adorably.

This book is light and sweet and can be read in a day. I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy for my honest review.

More than a decade has passed since Shiloh and Cary even saw each other. But when the third from their high school trio invites them to his wedding, they both show up and reconnect.

They've each followed their expected adult path, to an extent. Cary is a Navy man, and Shiloh has a career in the arts. But maybe there's enough of the people they were back when they were the closest of friends that they still recognize in each other.

Of course, if they'd actually dated in high school, as everyone had expected, it would have undoubtedly been easier. Now they've got plenty of adult problems in the mix as well. Shiloh is divorced and a single mother who lives with her mother in the house where she grew up. Cary is the most responsible member of his childhood family, and now continues to try to manage everything for his mother from a distance.

Overall, the story went pretty much as expected. High school relationships can never end up as simple as they appear in the beginning, and adult live makes everything harder. The book earned 3 out of 5 stars and was a nice cozy friends-to-lovers romance for a pretty quirky girl and they guy she never thought she'd be with forever.

I have loved Rowell's other novels and had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately it was just okay. Not bad but not great.

Second chance romance and friends to lovers are my favorite tropes but this is a mash up of those and I was frustrated with the characters for making the same decisions/mistakes over and over.

It had some sweet moments and ultimately was satisfying but the middle was just meh.

This book really turns the tables on a trope I normally hate: miscommunication. Shiloh and Cary were best friends in high school who haven't spoken in 15 years. Sparks fly when they are reunited at a friends wedding. Unfortunately Shiloh doesn't think anyone would want to make an effort to be with her and Cary is still hurt from their last encounter. There wasn't one misunderstanding keeping them a part, it's decades of history. They can't seem to have that big conversation and get together.

The book goes back and forth between their high school selves and the present. After the wedding they slowly come back to each other. Supporting characters and the realities of daily life provide wonderful color to the story. As always I enjoyed the Omaha setting.

Rainbow Rowell is back! This was a fun book, and I really appreciated the opportunity to read it! I will recommend this book.

Love, love, love this book. I loved the timeline changes and the character growth. The two main characters were relatable and likable. Their story is one that is relatable for so many and the authors writing is so realistic. One of my favorite reads from this summer.

I am a big fan of Rainbow Rowell's young adult books so I was very excited to try an adult novel from her. I'm going to be honest I struggled a bit wit this one. I found that the younger characters were written really well and realistically but the adults didn't work. I especially found Shiloh to be immature and honestly didn't really want Cary to be with her. I loved Cary and wanted so much more for him. I loved the setting. We need more books that take place truly in middle-America and feel that way. I look forward to what Rainbow writes next.

I have been WAITING for a new Rainbow Rowell adult romance, and I was absolutely not disappointed.

This was a second chance romance between two best friends who couldn't speak their feelings for each other in high school/college and then reconnect fifteen years later at their third best friend's wedding. Complicated family dynamics, plus Cary's Navy life and Shiloh's divorce and kids, made this really really interesting to see how everything would be navigated. SO MANY FEELS!!!! I loved it. 4.5 stars!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

I’ve been patiently awaiting a new romance by Rainbow Rowell for years and she most definitely did not disappoint. This story line was especially intriguing to me because I am also a recentlu divorced single mom of two kids. Shiloh was so well developed and I loved watching her grow and find herself (and Cary, again) after so much hardship and trauma. Couldn’t recommend this one more. For fans of Emily Henry and Annabel Monaghan.

I love Rainbow Rowell. All of her books seem to strike a chord with me weather or not its something I've actually experienced. As for this gem? Thank you, Rainbow, for giving me characters that I was able to so immediately and so deeply fall in love with. And to all the best friends secretly in love with each other out there? I'm rooting for you to figure it out. However long it takes, I'm sure it will be well worth the journey.

I am so sad I didn't love this book. I have adored Rainbow Rowells past books. Fan Girl, Eleanor & Park, Attachments love them! So I was super excited for Slow Dance. I honestly got tot he 85% and just didn't want to finish it but knew I'd be upset with myself if I didn't finish it.

This landed at a 3.5 for me

I still love her writing style but the story felt like the end was 80% on and that needed flushed out for me more and a lot felt rushed and I was missing that something. I don't want to get into a lot here for spoilers.

Shiloh and Cary are the main characters and I loved the kids more than them. Cary felt like he was quick to getting mad but he NEVER fully expressed how he felt and Shiloh I didn't like her the flash back scenes mad me like her less. She also couldn't express how she felt and both of them wasted so much time and then it was all or nothing really out of left field.

I am very sad I didn't connect to the story more and that the end felt rushed.

Thank you to NetGalley for this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

The sweetest second chance book ever! Relationships never last from high school, but Shiloh, Cary and Mikey gave it a go. After fourteen years of not seeing each other a wedding brings the band together. Mikey is the third wheel, sort of, and is secretly supportive of his friends. Cary is a career Navy man with some familial issues he’s working out. Shiloh has two kids, a manipulating ex, and lives with her mom. Every person has changed and evolved since high school, except how Cary and Shiloh feel for each other. Their path is slow going, bless Cary for being an understanding and patient man. Their story was a joy to read, easily losing my thoughts to their world, and wanting to witness their relationship in person. I was thrilled to get an early copy from NetGalley and have left my review voluntarily.

Sometimes you really just need a light read. I was captivated right away but lost interest in the last part of the book. The characters became less likable and story kind of dragged on and the outcome was always a given. 3.5 stars rounded up.

By Gail Pennington
Special to the Post-Dispatch

Free spirit Shiloh and upright Cary were best friends in high school. But she headed off to college, he joined the Navy, and their lives went in different directions.

Now, though, 14 years after they last spoke, their friend Mikey is getting married, and that will bring Cary back home to Omaha. What will Shiloh say to him? Will he even want to see her?

Rowell, author of the first-love classic “Eleanor & Park” (2012) and the delightful “Fangirl” (2013), which spawned a fantasy trilogy based on its protagonist’s fan fiction, may be best known for her Young Adult novels. But her newest, “Slow Dance,” is for adults, albeit ones for whom high school still resonates.

Shiloh, free spirit no more, is a divorced mother of two, living with her own mother and helping to run a children’s theater. Cary, a career Navy officer, spends months at sea. Can they find common ground to restore their friendship? Do they even want to?

If this were just any author, we might expect a will-they-or-won’t-they scenario to follow. Rowell, though, gives us a leisurely back and forth of “why did they never” and “might they still,” told in 84 chapters bouncing from the present (it’s 2006) to “before,” high school in the 1990s.

“Slow Dance” is a slow dance indeed, but a charming one. Over 400 pages in which nothing really happens, we learn about Shiloh and Cary and their intense young friendship, with Mikey as the third Musketeer.

Shiloh, then, was pointedly quirky, a girl who “would shave her head not to look like anybody else.” A teacher once commented that “a little of her goes a long way,” and that’s true — teenage Shiloh is sometimes so annoying, we might not want to spend time with her if we didn’t know her adult self.

Even the grown-up Shiloh has a crippling fear of exposing herself, of being seen, whether on the dance floor or in bed.

All she had to do, she tells herself in one happy moment after reconnecting with Cary, “was keep her self-consciousness at bay. (Her self-consciousness. And her bone-deep desolation. She could be desolate tomorrow. And the next day. She could table her ennui.)”

We learn little, initially, about Cary. His family life is messy. He believes in duty to his country. He lets Shiloh and Mikey supply the crazy for their friend trio.

Rowell cleverly delays bringing adult Cary’s (eventful) story into the picture until we’re wondering whether this yarn is ever going somewhere. Hang on; it will and it does.

Throughout, “Slow Dance” really triumphs with its supporting cast, each one richly detailed. (My favorites: Shiloh’s 6-year-old daughter, Junie, and Cary’s ailing mother, Lois.) This could make a fun TV miniseries with very little adaptation, just some good casting.

What I’m trying to say here is that “Slow Dance” won’t be for everyone. You can probably tell already whether you’ll take to the floor or sit it out. But if you already are a Rainbow Rowell fan or are ready to become one, she’s playing your song.

(Reviewed in print and online for the St. Louis Post-Dispstch.)

Mikey, Cary, and Shiloh were a closed-knit trio at their Omaha, Nebraska high school. Fourteen years later the three meet are together again in Omaha at Mikey's wedding. Cary is in the U.S. Navy; Mikey is an artist; Shiloh is a divorced mother with joint custody of her two children. The novel is constructed of "before" chapters that tell of the trio's high school friendship and messy family lives; alternating chapters detail the trio's current lives with taking care of their mothers and managing daily life. What unfolds is the romance between Cary and Shiloh--it was the spark that was never lit in high school. Readers will enjoy discussing finding a love from years ago and acting on a crush or curiosity. Recommended for escape weekend or long plane ride reading.

Adult! Romance! From the queen herself!! Gosh I loved diving back into a Rainbow Rowell world - I have loved her YA books for what seems like my entire life and I was not left disappointed by her foray into the world of adult romance. This was genuine and authentic and awkward and everything I expected from someone who took me through the awkward and difficult stories of my teenage years.

DNF'd at 35%

I usually love Rainbow Rowell's works, but this one is falling flat for me. The premise is really interesting, but God can I NOT stand Shiloh. I won't spoil anything, but her character is very unlikable to me and I hate that she treats Cary.

I can see it turning into a great second-chance love story, but all of the build up has only put me against our main character and I do not really want to spend the time to see if she is redeemable.

I would perhaps pick this up as an audiobook once the wait on Libby is down, but I have been putting this off reading this for a month and I rather dnf it than feel like I should be forced to finish it.

I see other people really like this book so maybe you will as well! It just was not for me!

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC!

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024, and it was everything I hoped it’d be and more. Ever since finishing it I’ve wished I could crawl back in its pages and spend just a little more time with Shiloh and Cary. Rowell’s portrayal of the teenage years, in all their awkwardness, is authentic and refreshing. What I loved most were the characters (Shiloh’s kids, Junie especially, are some of the best I’ve read) – from Shiloh and Cary, to each of their complicated families, and everyone in between – were so carefully crafted. The dialogue is sharp, the humor is spot-on, and the emotional moments are poignant without ever veering into melodrama. In Slow Dance, Rainbow Rowell has crafted a story that resonates with anyone who has ever experienced the bittersweet journey of growing up and finding love. It’s a celebration of the small, yet significant moments that shape us and a testament to Rowell’s enduring ability to touch readers' hearts. For fans of Eleanor & Park and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

I love this authors work for years and this book is no exception. The characters is the dialogue the plot the story. Everything is quite delectable! Really can’t wait for her next book.