This book grew on me as I got deeper into it. At first, both of the main characters were honestly kind of annoying to me. There was something off-putting about them that’s hard to explain. This story was told from two time periods of their lives: high school and adult.

This book captured the messiness of real life and trying to date as a divorced mother with kids. On a personal note, I loved hearing about Omaha since that’s where I live! There was such a sense of nostalgia for how things used to be.

This story is about two people who know each other so intimately but refuse to admit it. It’s about allowing yourself to have what you deserve, what is good for you. The ending felt a little rushed but was still sweet and nicely wrapped up.

Shiloh and Cary thought they missed their chance to be together and now she has 2 small kids and an ex-husband. Cary doesn't care about baggage from the last 14 years. He still cares about Shiloh, but he doesn't express himself very clearly.

Shiloh's immaturity was frustrating to me at the beginning of the story, but she grew on me, just like she grew up as a person. I like Rowell's writing and the depth of her characters.

I'm a big Rainbow Rowell fan, so I was very excited when this book was announced, and it didn't disappoint! Slow Dance follows Shiloh and Cary, best friends in high school with big dreams for their future. Those dreams don't exactly go as planned, and we meet Shiloh and Cary in their 30s as they reconnect at a friend's wedding.

I think Rowell's biggest strength as a writer is her characters. They always feel real. They're full of imperfections and contradictions. They make bad decisions which can be difficult to read but also feel authentic to life. I enjoyed following these two characters as they fell apart and came back together.. A very satisfying read!

4.5⭐️ Rowell knows how to write 2 characters you can root for. She did this in a way where I wasn’t like “just have a conversation and this book would be over” - which is a HUGE compliment for a romance. It was sweet & funny & utterly engaging.

Slow Dance is the third book that I've read from this author. Prior to this I read one YA and one adult novel by her. This new release is an adult contemporary romance novel, but it is quite different tonally from what I would consider a romance novel. I think Rowell veers more towards women's fiction. Overall, I don't quite vibe with her writing style, and this is precisely why I docked one star and gave it four rather than five stars. Her novels and by extension her characters "sound" the same in the three books that I've read. I think she is trying to go for vulnerable and authentic, but the way she describes the world and the way her characters see it is so different from how I perceive or relate to things, that it is difficult for me to buy it as authentic. But I do appreciate it, and I do allow that some people might see the world as she describes it.

Ok, with that aside out of the way, let's get to the characters and the plot. Slow Dance is a second-chance romance. Shiloh and Cary were inseparable in high school. But then she moved away to college and he joined the Navy. In high school, they never dated, but it is clear that they were absolutely in love with one another. Then in college, Cary came to visit her and they gave in to physical attraction, but things somehow still did not work out between them, and they ended up completely losing touch with each other. This was the part that irked me. I really dislike miscommunication or lack of communication tropes in romance. However, Rowell did somehow manage to make this more realistic and thus more palatable for me.

Fourteen years later, Shiloh and Cary run into each other at a friend's wedding and have a second chance at happiness. What I truly liked about this book is the messiness that you can never find in a romance novel, but which abounds in our every day life. Shiloh is divorced with two kids, her ex-husband is very much in the picture and is NOT a nice guy. Cary's family is a complete mess. Adopted by his grandmother, he calls his real mother a sister, who clearly has alcohol problems. His biological sister Angel has a creep of a boyfriend and is barely making enough money to be able to support her three young children. The entire family clearly relies on his financially supporting his grandmother/mother and by extension the rest of the family with all the half and step-siblings.

Sex in this book is definitely not the "spicy scene" from a typical romance novel. It is awkward, filled with anxiety, and for Shiloh, at least in the beginning, it is more about intimacy and connection, than passion and orgasm. It felt very human and real. I really appreciated this about this book.

Yes, there is an HEA (happy ever after). This is the one thing I love about romance novels. It alleviates my anxiety of not knowing whether the main characters will end up together. There is however no third act break-up, which I dislike, so this this was just fine by me! So overall, Rowell managed to write my ideal romance novel: with realistic characters and life situations, realistic libidos and sex scenes, with HEA and no awkward break-up in the second half of the book.

Now, I do want to say that it is a slow read. Not much really happens. Right before Slow Dance I read Ever Summer After by Carley Fortune, which is also a second chance romance, but it had much more drama and tension, and had a much more emotional impact on me than Slow Dance. But then again, it might also be Rowell's writing style. I do recommend this book as a great alternative for your run of the mill "spicy" romance novels that we've been inundated with lately.

I received an e-ARC copy of this novel from NetGalley.com.

*All of my reviews are spoiler-free!*

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC!*

I have been a big fan of Rainbow Rowell’s books for years. I have loved all of her YA novels, so I was exited to pick up this newest adult novel. It ended up not being quite what I was expecting.

I did really enjoy the overarching story. I liked the second chance romance aspect of this book. An opportunity for two friends to explore a romantic relationship that they both always wanted, but didn’t realize was mutual. I liked the military romance, as I have not read many books where someone was in the Navy. And, I really liked that they had so much history, and yet they continued to discover new things about each other.

I have to be honest though, I didn’t really like Shiloh. I found her to be kind of grating and I had a hard time empathizing with her. I enjoyed the relationship between her and Cary, but I also had a bit of a hard time seeing the attraction on his part. I felt like her side made sense, so maybe Cary’s side just got kind of lost.

Also, I usually like books that go back and forth between past and present, but it wasn’t my favorite in this. The timing felt disjointed to me, and I kept feeling like I was ripped out of the timeline when I was finally starting to enjoy it.

So, overall, the book was well written and had really great storytelling. I liked the plot and idea behind the story. I just didn’t like the execution as much as some of Rowell’s previous works. This might be the perfect book for you, but it was just okay for me. I gave it an extra half star because I did think it was very well written. It just wasn’t for me.

My Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

I gave Slow Dance 3.5 Stars!

3.5* Rounded up
This was a lovely slow burn friends to lovers romance. It felt like I was right there with them, living through all the times they almost got together but didn't and I could fell the frustration they had. I enjoyed that we had a dual timeline and dual POV's it made it so the reader has the full picture of this relationship. I enjoyed reading a romance book where the characters are in their 30s with pretty established lives and must then see how they fit together. This was a solid romance!

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for granting me access in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. Rainbow Rowell has written such likeable characters. It reminded me of being young with a love story waiting to happen. A great novel for readers of rom coms. I highly recommend!

I'm a big fan of Rainbow Rowell, but this one didn't cut it for me. It's long and slow paced and not much happens. I get that she leans heavily onto developing well drawn characters but this one wasn't backed up by a noteworthy plot. I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Has Rowell ever made a non five star book? Not in my opinion!

This back and forth utter masterpiece had me ENTHRALLED! I never wanted it to end, and yet I HAD TO KNOW!

I think a reread will soon be in store!

Thank you to the publishing team for the advanced copy! It was MARVELOUS!

It has been a few years since I've read a Rainbow Rowell book and man I have missed her. There is something about her characters and stories that just pulls me in. I read all the time and I caught myself sneak reading at work and staying up until 2am to finish this book, which is almost unheard of for me now. Her characters always feel like real people, full of imperfections and quirks that make them all the more interesting for them.

Cary and Shiloh almost happened in high school, sorta happened in college at least for a weekend but then it all fell apart. Cary was in the Navy while Shiloh was finishing school. Now it is over a decade later and they might have another shot at figuring this thing that is between them out. Shiloh is a divorced mom of two, living with her mom. Her life is messy and Cary is still in the Navy, only in town for a wedding, but there is something between them that has lasted through the years. All they need to do if figure out how to be the friends they once were and move into the lovers they should have been.

***She’d spent more years missing Cary than knowing him. All those years burnishing his memory with nostalgia.***

I pulled so hard for this couple. I was beyond invested in how they were going to work out the hurts of the past and fall in love all over again. The story unfolded letting us see the Shiloh and Cary of the past while we got to also know them in the present. It is all teased out how Cary, Mikey and Shiloh were like the three musketeers in high school. But everyone assumes Cary and Shiloh were or would be together. How they didn't figure themselves out at nineteen and now at thirty three, maybe just maybe they will find a way.

***"We were friends."
"No." He motioned between them with his fire stick. "we were friends. You and Cary were caught up in some sexually charged will-they, won't-they fuckery."***

I adored that Shiloh and Cary are not prefect and absolutely pretty people. They are real with blemishes, freckles and moles. Shiloh is a little on the spectrum (in my opinion) and struggles a bit with intimacy. Cary likes to be in control and in charge. He is a natural at it but when his mom's health takes a dive he needs to lean on Shiloh to help while he is away for the Navy. I enjoyed the struggles they overcame as they hashed out some of the past and figured out their now and their future. I thought that the parts with the kids were written by someone who definitely has kids and knows what it is like to try to date while also being a mom. The parts with how the kids reacted to a new person in their moms life seemed very true.

I'm not sure what it is about Rainbow Rowell's writing but it just works for me. I get so drawn into all of the stories I've read by her and absolutely adore the characters that feel like real people. After getting to the end I was almost ready to start the journey all over again just to hang out with these characters a little longer. If you have enjoyed Rainbow before, this should fit right into the catalog. If you are new to Rainbow then this will be a good tester if you will enjoy that magic of her writing like I do.

***“It’s just embarrassing. I kind of hate to tell you all this. I’d rather you remember me the way I was when we were young.”
“Manic and relentless?”
Shiloh kicked him in the ankle. She wasn’t wearing shoes. “Shiny and full of potential!”***

Growing up I really enjoyed Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor and Park so I was really excited to receive an ARC of Slow Dance. I didn't necessarily dislike this one, but I did have a hard time connecting with the relationship between Cary and Shiloh. I enjoyed the snippets of before, but I don't feel like the relationship was all that flushed out. I normally don't say this, but I think this book could've benefited from being longer. There were a lot of aspects that i wanted to see developed or touched on (i.e. more of what happened in Shiloh and Ryan's marriage), that were just kind of glanced over.

This was my first Rainbow Rowell novel and I requested it because of the overwhelming love and praise from ARC readers and I can see why . it's set in the late 90s to early 2000s , providing nostalgia . The writing style was very distinct not very flowery but still humorous and succinctly expressed complex emotions.

As someone who's very picky about second chance romances I thought that it was well done here . We got the who , what , when , where and why for their split from both perspectives and how both characters dealt with the fallout. Another reviewer said that if you were to pick this up, they'd recommend eyeball reading or reading AND listening if you prefer audiobooks and I totally get why they said that now. We flit from the past to present but it wasn't always indicated that we were reading a past/present chapter and the past chapters were not linear . Meaning that if you're. not paying attention you may get confused REAL QUICK ( I didn't have a hard time following though!)There's a lot of miscommunication which didn't bother me to be honest humans are notoriously shit communicators but teenagers ??? EVEN WORSE.

With all that being said, the reason I didn't LOVE this was because I wasn't that invested like I was but I wasn't INVESTED invested , you know? . I didn't get that wow factor feeling (as of right now) I can see why people love this but i felt rather...fine ? idk

I'm always gonna be hesitant when a character in a book is in the military / is military adjacent . I don't believe that the presence of such a character is automatically military propaganda , it just depends on the framing . Cary is in the navy and a large portion of this book details his journey from the ROTC , to his academy training to his deployment. I don't know much about the navy in general (lol) but especially in the aforementioned time period so I can't really say if this book is harmful but it's just something to note because I know this can be a dealbreaker for a lot of readers

Pub date: 23 Jul
Thanks to the publisher for the ARC!

I loved reading Cary and Shiloh’s story. This was a second chance, friends to lovers romance that did not disappoint! Shiloh is a divorced mom in her 30s who lives with her mom in their hometown of North Omaha. She attends a wedding and reconnects with Cary- one of her high school best friends who always could have become something more. This story is told from multiple timelines. Cary and Shiloh are both imperfect characters, and while Shiloh frustrated me at times, I couldn’t wait to see how her and Cary’s story ended up.

I’m a huge fan of Attachments and Eleanor and Park, and have been eagerly waiting for another romance novel from Rainbow Rowell. Slow Dance did not disappoint! A sincere thank you to the author for writing Slow Dance, and to NetGalley and William Morrow for the electronic arc. All thoughts in this review are entirely my own.

If to you Rainbow Rowell is synonymous with brooding wizards or comic book heroines, you may be surprised to learn that she also writes romances that are somehow realistic, extremely beautiful in heartwrenching ways, and also filled with laugh-out-loud banter.

Because she does – so if you’re new to this side of her writing: welcome. You’re in for a treat.

In Slow Dance, Rowell transports us to the early 2000s, where former best friends Shiloh and Cary reconnect at a friend’s wedding after 14 years of silence. Shiloh is now a divorced single mom living in the same home she grew up in, and Cary is a career officer in the Navy – and though they have a complicated history, they’re still drawn to each other.

The story bounces between present day and high school in the ‘90s, detailing the ways Shiloh and Cary have changed, what they’ve experienced together and separately, and the ups and downs of getting to know someone you used to know intimately.

I really enjoyed this – it felt very tonally different from many of the romances I read these days, but in a way that I really appreciated.

The book doesn’t romanticize the harsh realities of life, casting things like having someone over for dinner with your family as chaotic and awkward rather than adorable and heartwarming. In my opinion, that makes the love story here that much more satisfying. It feels real even though it’s fiction, as if you’re hearing the love story of friends who finally figured out how to make it work, despite everything.

And also: if you loved the email format Rainbow Rowell used in Attachments (which is SO GOOD omg read it if you haven’t), the good news is that emails play a delightful and charming role in this book, too!

So if you’re looking for a second-chance romance that is extremely realistic and feels a little more grumpy than sunshine (or, at least, more like an overcast day), definitely give Slow Dance a go.

4.25🌟
1.75🌶️

Best friends through high school, Shiloh and Cary had a weekend of maybe before they completely fell apart and lost touch. When a mutual friend's wedding brings them back together, they catch up and 'what if' and try to figure out what sort of relationship they want and can have now that they're finally reconnecting.

Rainbow Rowell again shows us her range in storytelling abilities with Slow Dance. With her signature quirky dialogue and unique descriptive language, Rowell delivers an adult novel with all of the realistic adult problems (romantic and otherwise) sure to be relatable for any reader.

I absolutely love Rainbow Rowell and I love a good friends to lovers story, so I knew I had to read this book. And it was absolutely delightful!

I loved the pacing and the weaving of both the past and present stories of Cary and Shiloh. They were both so real, relatable, and flawed. I loved how they fell in love with the imperfect things about each other. The chapters were short and I felt like I was witnessing a story unfold, while also getting a peek into quick, but meaningful moments from their past.

I was giddy the whole time I was reading. Even though they both dealt with tough family situations and divorce and other hard life things, the thread of their love story was so heartwarming that I just wanted to keep reading to experience them doing life together.

I am so thankful for the ARC from William Morrow through Netgalley and that I was able to read this early! I would definitely highly recommend this one!

3.5 I think. I’m having a hard time coming to a consensus with my thoughts on this. I might have to sit on it and then decide to leave it at a 3 or round it up to a 4.

There’s a lot to love — for me, personally, it’s the quirkiness, Shiloh (I loved her), the yearning (Rainbow is a master of this), the various family dynamics, and the dialogue. I also just liked that it’s about people in their 30s who fully already have established lives! Though they definitely feel older than early 30s to me. (I don’t know! It’s probably relative. They just feel like they are older than me.)

But there are things that put me off as well. I don’t mean to say I completely don’t like him (and maybe it’s just that I think he’s a little boring) but Cary just doesn’t do it for me. Him being in the navy is immediately a strike against him and it ended up being a strike against the book for me. I’m not really sure what Rainbow’s intention with this was.

Like on one hand, yes, the military is realistic for someone of Cary’s background (doesn’t mean I have to like it!), but there are other careers Rainbow could have gone with that could also have set up this sort of forced distance between Shiloh and Cary. Especially if Rainbow isn’t using this plot point to actually *say anything* about the military. The earlier timeline with Shiloh being so against Cary going into the Navy made me think ‘alright let’s see where this goes’ and then…it didn’t go anywhere. Adult Shiloh just kind of waved it off and it wasn’t a problem for her anymore. It didn’t sit well with me.

The only other criticism I have is that some parts of the book dragged whereas others felt like I was reading an outline. The dialogue, as always with a Rainbow Rowell book, was fantastic and pushes a lot of emotion, but I wish there was more internal thoughts and feelings. It was more “Shiloh did this and Cary did this and in 1991 this happened” and I would liked a little more focus on what they are thinking, especially from Cary.

All things considered, I did like this book! It was my first adult Rainbow Rowell book. I’ve read Fangirl (also enjoyed) and the Simon Snow books (absolutely love and am obsessed). I definitely am going to check out her older works, probably starting with Attachments.

GOD I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH

i always find it really hard to talk about the things i love so deeply so bear with me here

i don't know how to explain how special this book, this story and these characters are to me. from the first chapter i was captivated by the nostalgia and the longing and the yearning this story holds. two friends who fell in love as teenagers but didn't realize it, only to go on and live their lives separately for years before a reconciliation

that's so equally poetic and heartbreaking, like i know we gush about second chance romance all the time but 14 years without your soulmate?? i could cry just thinking about it.

cary and shiloh invented "it's always been you but i didn't know it then." they are the definition of right person wrong time and it was so painful and angsty and beautiful to see where they left and where they came back together.

a book always hits harder when you can relate to the story or the characters in some way and this one just hit for me. i feel like know cary and shiloh like they are my own friends and i will always hold such a special place in my heart for them.

thank you netgalley and william morrow this this arc. it comes out 7/30!!

I l0ve Rainbow Rowell! This book gets 10 stars... no! 20 stars! I love Shiloh and Cary. I love their relationship. I love the trajectory of their relationship. This book made me so happy. I think one of the reasons I loved it so much is because so much of Shiloh's story resonated with me. This was a beautiful book and I highly, highly recommend!