Rainbow Rowell gives us all the feels in her latest novel Slow Dance. The sense of nostalgia and aching slow burn romance was absolutely wonderful.

Rainbow Rowell does it again with another amazing romance. The main characters in this story take a long time to finally come together, but when they do, it is so rewarding. The characters are so realistic, and I loved that this was an unconventional structure and setting for a love story. It's not often we see characters with children and ex-husbands getting their whirlwind romance. Slow Dance was a sensational slow burn. I loved this book, would recommend it to a friend, and will definitely read it again, which is why I'm rating it five stars.

No one does quirky and heartfelt loves stories like Rainbow Rowell. Her authorial voice is utterly authentic and 100% captivating—a breath of fresh air. Shiloh is very much a 30-something damsel in distress. She's divorced, her kids are pull-your-hair-out young, her ex is a jerk, and she's never left her hometown. She never became the person her angsty, outspoken, justice-seeking 16-year-old self thought she would be. For starters she never imagined a life where she didn't know every single thing about Cary, her best friend from high school. But it's been so long and when she runs into him at a mutual friends wedding... it feels like fate. And then if feels like a mistake. Something too big and all encompassing for her small, messy and complicated life. I fell in love with Shiloh and Cary HARD. I loved their relationship as kids and the many realistic hurdles of their relationship as adults. But, mostly, I loved the way they loved each other. As friends. As humans. Love stories are great. Romance is yummy. But Rainbow Rowell will make you believe in earth shattering, messy, soulmate deep love, like no author you've ever read.

Shiloh and Cary were best friends in high school. Everyone could see they were perfect for each other. But no, they were just friends. After high school they each went their separate ways; he joined the navy, and she went to college. Fast forward 15 years and they are 30-somethings attending their friend's wedding. Time for them to reconnect.

One thing that worked for me: Love is love and appearance and odd behavior don't matter. Shiloh and Cary are not traditionally attractive people. Shiloh is very touchy with Cary (like poking and pulling hair), and he is fine with it. He is described in a way that makes him seem unattractive, or at least not conventionally attractive, with moles all over his face and body.

One thing that was a problem for me: Shiloh and Cary act like teenagers. Is it because they're developmentally stunted? I'm not sure. They are both quirky (Shiloh more than Cary), so maybe this is just one of the quirks. They have trouble talking about anything that matters and they have a hard time being honest with each other and with themselves. I kept whispering, "find a good therapist."

I really like Rainbow Rowell and I wish I liked this book more. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

beautiful little work with some awesome romance in there. totally love it and would recommend it, tysm for the arc

I enjoyed this and the writing style, and the story was compelling. I am very interested in reading this author’s future work and this was a very solid romance. Would definitely recommend to others.

When they were in high school, Shiloh and Cary were best friends. They were both committed to leaving their hometown— Shiloh for college and a new life somewhere far away from where they grew up and Cary for the Navy. Everyone thought they would get together. But despite their strong connection, that never happened.

Nearly 15 years later, Shiloh is divorced, with two kids, and living in her hometown with her mother. Cary pursued his goal of joining the Navy and has spent the years since high school traveling the world. When Shiloh attends the wedding of one of her old friends from high school, she runs into Cary for the first time in years. Shiloh senses they still have some of their old connection but isn’t sure what can come of it now their that their lives are in such different places…even though Cary still feels like the only person who has really ever understood her.

This is a touching story about the enduring power of first love. As the novel moves back and forth in time, from present day to the past, we see all the ways that Shiloh and Cary both find connection in one another but also can’t seem to get out of their own way.

Highly recommended.

I've liked some of Rainbow Rowell's books, this is not one of them. It felt like something fished out of the unbaked slush pile and then fussed with some more in hopes it'll turn out good. The idea had some promise but it just didn't sing off the page, give me all the feels and keep me on edge to read all night/nor was this a book that I wanted to savor and read slow. This was a book I picked up, stopped to read other books, get back to in an effort to finish, wander astray again in hopes of something better, etc. 1.5 stars

This book!! I'm obsessed! Rainbow has outdone herself. I had trouble putting this book down. Really great character development and it has me thinking about my highschool years and the things I was too shy to say then. Thought provoking and so well written. I love this book with my whole heart! So many feelings and a must read! Highly recommend! Shiloh had my heart from the very beginning.

While I love Rainbow Rowell, I’m not the biggest fan of the second chance romance trope. However, I did have to read this to see if maybe just maybe, Rainbow could make me love just one second chance. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Shiloh, I just couldn’t connect with her character like I was hoping to, I really enjoyed the story. I think Shiloh was just a little bit immature for a woman who was supposed to be a divorcee with kids. If you can get past that though, you can will absolutely love Slow Dance. I gave it a 3.8. Definitely a book I think those who enjoy the second chance trope will enjoy.

*Slow Dance* is a heartfelt exploration of friendship, lost dreams, and the complexities of love as Shiloh and Cary navigate the passage of time and the choices that shaped their lives. Set against the backdrop of their shared childhood in north Omaha, the story captures the bittersweet nostalgia of their once-promised future together. Now, fourteen years later, Shiloh grapples with her unfulfilled aspirations, a failed marriage, and the weight of her past as she prepares to confront Cary at a friend's wedding. Their reunion holds the promise of rekindled feelings, but both must come to terms with the changes life has thrust upon them. This poignant tale will resonate with readers who appreciate stories about second chances and the enduring power of connection, making it a compelling read for anyone reflecting on the roads not taken.

I loved Slow Dance, just like I’ve always loved Rainbow Rowell so much! Her books always suck me in and I leave feeling so many emotions oh my god. <3

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I can undoubtedly say I have never read a main character like Shiloh before.

Rainbow Rowell has such an excellent ear for dialogue and character development. While some of the themes between books can be similar, she always writes such different characters. It's easy to sink into their lives and watch as they grow and change over the course of the novel.

In this case, it's Shiloh and Cary. They were best friends in high school, but lost touch for multiple reasons after graduation. Cary went into the Navy, and Shiloh went to college and wound up back in their hometown, married and divorced with two kids. They run into each other at the wedding of a mutual friend, and thus begins a new phase of their story. Rowell interweaves the Before and After, filling in the blanks for readers and creating a compelling narrative. The will-they or won't-they is fascinating, because Shiloh especially is afraid to repeat past mistakes and lose Cary, and struggles with just letting go and hoping for the best. This is another beautiful story from Rowell. Highly recommended. Received from Netgalley and Libro.fm in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Rainbow Rowell’s Slow Dance is a beautifully crafted story that captures the magic of quiet, everyday moments. Her signature warmth and relatable characters make this a heartfelt, engaging read that lingers long after the last page. Perfect for anyone who loves stories with emotional depth and a touch of nostalgia.

****1/2

Midwestern childhood best friends turned sweethearts get a second chance at love in Rainbow Rowell’s latest luminous novel about the mundanity of your thirties and reconnecting with the one that got away.

Shiloh arrives at Mikey’s second wedding (to a local girl, this time) wondering if Cary, the other member of their high school triumvirate of best friends, will be attending as well. Mikey was the artist, Shiloh the theatre geek, and Cary, in ROTC uniform and the only one who drives, the lynchpin. Now a career Navy man, they’ve only seen one another once since basic training, when home on leave before his first deployment, Cary went to visit Shiloh at school. They spent a magical weekend in bed together, confessed their love, and then Shiloh broke Cary’s heart when she sent him off thinking it meant nothing, since she couldn’t see a feasible way to be together if she was in school in Iowa while he was off seeing the world. Practical maybe, but painful.

The novel moves back and forth from their high school and college years in the nineties to the present (2006). Shiloh and Cary spend Mikey’s wedding slow-dancing to every song, but Shiloh, divorced with two kids and back at home living with her mom while she runs a children’s theatre non-profit, is in the same head space as when they were nineteen year-olds, in love with each other, yes; but how can they make it work when he’s stationed in California and deployed six to nine months at a time? When Cary’s mother slips and falls at home, it’s Shiloh that Cary reaches out to for help. And when he goes back to his destroyer in the middle of the Pacific, they email and send care packages until he returns to Omaha again.

Rowell has a gift for choosing just the right details —not too many, not too few — to make a scene pop, like a chef subtracting ingredients to create a dish where every perfect bite is a knockout or the delicate balance of making custody work with the ex-husband who cheated on you. While Shiloh is often angsty, pushy, annoying, second-guessing, and handsy, her many funny self-deprecating thoughts that give insight into how her mind works, like in a scene where Cary invites her to grab a bite to eat and decides heels are date territory but eyeliner is platonic (nice throwback many chapters later to a non-platonic dress). Even Shiloh’s small children are fully formed with distinct personalities: Junie, at six a miniature perceptive old lady, and Gus, at three, a cranky teenager. Constant intimacy, careful boundaries mark their long friendship. The sense of knowing and knowing an old friend is tenderly rendered as Shiloh finds Cary both less (contradictory) and more (angry, forthright vulnerable).

The 2006 setting allows for just the right amount of contact challenges for a couple separated by an ocean and the US military, while allowing Rowell to indulge in the music and fashion of the era (including the “never with a girl he loved” that recalls Reality Bites). It also leads to some uncomfortable moments of non-consensual touching–Shiloh, for all her claims that Cary is just a friend, can’t seem to keep her hands off him. Also, not sure if I misread this or missed it both times I read it, but we slip into Cary’s point of view whenever he and Shiloh are consummating their relationship, and it’s a bit jarring after she’s been the only voice we hear. The dance scenes that mark the story throughout are pivotal touchstones, a metaphor for the push-pull of the relationship, and a nod to the slow burn.

I highlighted so many phrases–42, to be exact–reading and re-reading this amazing novel: “kids are like water–you see other people’s faces pass over them,” which calls to mind the way one sees the youth and essence of a long-time childhood friend in middle age; the way you can see at once who they are and who they were in a way that is familiar, dear and new all at once. Having just spent a day with someone I dated in college and haven’t seen in thirty years, the line that resonated most for me was “If Shiloh closed her eyes and pretended her lower back didn’t hurt, she could be seventeen again.”

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #SlowDance via #NetGalley courtesy of #WilliamMorrow.

Achingly beautiful & painfully honest, Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell is like giving in to the urge to stare into the beauty of the sun. If a reader comes to this book expecting a commercially standard romance, that’s not what this is. But it IS another example, maybe the perfect example, of why Rowell is one of my favorite writers of all time - no one else writes a love story like she does. And this love story is real & complicated in ways that break your heart & put it back together over & over & over.

It’s the love story between childhood best friends Shiloh & Cary, & while it’s set in ~their~ now (the early 2000s), we get to experience their journey from high school to college to their time of disconnection to the now. We bounce back & forth between time frames & points of view, getting a chance to witness their love from every possible angle. It’s not quite a “will they, won’t they” but rather a “will they just sort out their shit already?” And I love it so goddamn much.

The Shiloh & Cary of it all is that their love is a slow dance. We experience them pulling apart & coming together over & over until they are finally dancing to the same song, at the same time. They show us that there can always be another chapter, even if you think the story has already ended.

(Slow Dance also reminded me just how much I used to love wearing dresses over jeans &, well, I’m not sure what to do with those memories now ha.)

Thank you to NetGalley & William Morrow for providing a digital advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions & thoughts expressed are my own.

The only other Rainbow Rowell book I've read before this was Eleanor & Park, which I really enjoyed. Slow Dance had some similar elements, particularly the strength of the characterization and the opposites attract romance storyline. This was one of my favorite contemporary romances so far this year!

I love Rowell's great writing and the authenticity she brings to her characters and dialogue. But I didn't love this book because I just couldn't jump on board with these characters... I didn't need to root for them, but I had to care about finding out what happened to them and honestly I just didn't.

The writing is wonderful as always, it just wasn't for me. The narrator of the audio was also great.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the eAudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.