So heartbreakingly beautiful. I found the main character incredibly annoying, yet somehow relatable. The characters are weird, the situations feel just outside of normal, and I cried the entire book. It really got to me emotionally, and I loved it.

Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me the opportunity to read a readers advanced copy. The title of this book is so appropriate, as the writing itself was a slow dance. The author alternates between the two main characters, and tells their love story by weaving current day and past together. I started out not loving the lead female character, but as her character is slowly developed, I understood her better and was happy for her at the end. What I thought was a slow start appears to be a deliberate act of making characters really come alive, sharing the good and bad as life happens.

This was a different kind of read from the other books I've read by Rowell. It gives a very honest portrayal of what it might be like growing up with unreliable parents and not feeling nurtured or protected. It also shows how that might affect adults—how safe they feel, who they trust, how they control their lives so as not to feel the powerlessness of their past.
The main character, Shiloh, is a single mom with two kids and an ex who sought his own happiness more than anyone else's, hence their divorce. Now Shiloh has to figure out if the one man she has loved for practically forever, Cary, could be her future.
It's not that Shiloh thinks she is enough—she never feels like she is, and that's why she keeps pushing him away, so sure that he has better things to do, better people to be with than just her. Her entire life is about making sure other people come first, making sure they're happy, looking after them without caring for herself. She has reduced life to being practical and numbed what she can so she doesn't have to hope life could be good anymore. And sometimes Cary seems to confirm that because of his own past.
All in all, Slow Dance reminded me in places of Landline in the fight to stay connected and not let people disappear because of a string of misunderstandings. It was a bit of a slow read, though, and it was easy to get frustrated with both Shiloh and Cary when they kept assuming they knew what the other meant or wanted.. Probably my least favorite of the five of hers I've read so far.
Many thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for sending me this advanced reader's copy so I could give my honest and voluntary review.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6482415631

Slow dance was slow. I love character driven but there was zero conflict except for the two MCs figuring out how to not let their complicated selves and past get in the way of them being together now. It felt long for that reason. I love how Rowell writes in a way we can know the characters immediately, intimately, through their thoughts and actions. In this way it’s similar to Rooney’s normal people. But for me the depth was missing and I was not invested or connected to the characters like I have been in her past books. Thank you for the advanced reading copy!

If Rainbow Rowell writes it, count me in. She's just that good at crafting heartwarming and relatable stories that really tug at your heartstrings.

“Slow Dance” follows Cary and Shiloh, who were best friends throughout middle school and high school. Everyone thought they were destined to be together, but life took them in different directions—Shiloh went to college, got married, had two kids, and then divorced, while Cary pursued a career in the Navy.

Fourteen years later, they reunite at a friend's wedding, and it's clear that they can't ignore their feelings for each other any longer.

I've read Rowell’s “Landline”, “Attachments”, and “Fangirl”, and let me tell you, they all left a lasting impression on me. They're easily among the best books I've read since I was ten years old. And “Slow Dance”? It's just as amazing. I was on an emotional rollercoaster the whole time—heartwarming, frustrating, uplifting. I was rooting for Cary and Shiloh at every stage of their relationship.

Rowell created strong characters in Shiloh and Cary, although they're both pretty bad at expressing their feelings, which drove me crazy at times. But the slow-burn romance, fourteen years in the making, was so worth it when they finally worked through their personal insecurities and doubts.

The only downside for me was that the ending felt rushed. After all that slow burn, it kind of wrapped up abruptly. Still good, but rushed.

That said, let me leave you with these favorite lines of mine from the book and let you decide if you want to dive into it and fall in love with the characters.

“When I think of high school, I will remember that every good day started with you walking down your steps and getting into my car. I will remember that every bad day ended with meeting you out by the flagpole.”

“‘I just feel like I’ve wasted so much time,’ Cary said, trying to explain himself. ‘I want to get right with her. And myself. I want to start living and dying in the right direction.’”

Isn’t Cary every girl’s dream? 😍

“Slow Dance” hits shelves on July 23rd, and I'm thrilled I got to read and review this gem in advance thanks to Rainbow Rowell, William Morrow, and Netgalley.

I enjoyed reading a digital ARC of Rowell’s new novel for adults, #Slow Dance.
This ARC was provided by @William Morrow Publishing through @NetGalley.
After reading the book, my favorite novel by Rowell is still Eleanor & Park (a Young Adult novel.)

As in all her novels for adults so far, the setting is Omaha, Nebraska, which is also where Rowell lives. I like that the characters are flawed and realistic. There are “before” and “after” chapters, multiple timelines. Shiloh and Cary have known each other since high school, but they have been through many ups and downs and changes in their separate lives. At one point, they go 14 years without seeing each other. How will their story end?

I loved this so much. The beginning was a little jarring for me, maybe it was the pacing? But once RR found her footing with the story, I was beyond invested. This is a romance with plenty trials and tribulations, where the couple has to fight for their future, make concessions and compromises and sacrifices, where they have to overcome all their inner flaws and their messy family lives. It just all makes the ending so so much sweeter.

Shiloh and Cary felt very real to me. Authentic, imperfect, earnest. They weren't two centerfold models where their only flaws were her being too quirky and him being too brooding. They had very real wounds that needed to be patched up and overcome, and I loved seeing their growth from their middle school days to their thirties. Speaking of which...childhood friends to lovers? You know I'm always here for it. And Cary being a man in uniform? Even better.

If you like slow burn romance with lots of drama and angst and killer will-they-won't-they, this is the perfect book to stomp kick you right in the feels. Highly recommend.

Quite possibly the Rainbow Rowelliest book that Rainbow Rowell has ever Rainbow Rowelled. Which, if you've read her other adult fiction, should make plenty of sense. If you haven't, then idk how to explain it.

Am in a v emo place right now, and cried a few times while reading this. Read half of it in one sitting before bed, then the other half in a second sitting when I got up.

If you don't like stories where the premise hangs on mis/poor communication, you're probably going to have a bad time with this. But it worked for me.

It started off a little slow and hard to connect to the characters, but they (Shiloh especially) grew on me by the end.

It’s hard at first, because the “before” chapters are in random order and don’t explain when it is, so it takes a second to find out if they’re still in high school, or college, or middle school, etc. I think it would have helped the flow if there were at least dates/the era of their lives listed at the beginning of the chapters other than just “before”.

Shiloh was a flawed character in the “before” moments, and that made it hard to connect with her. Granted, the best characters are all flawed in some ways, but she was tough to take in. But I think Rowell tends to write more flawed, atypical characters, and I like that Shiloh grew as a person. She had a tough childhood and the “before” is mostly her in high school, so it does give extra reasons for her to be so manipulative and sort of a mess.

Not only were the characters atypical and flawed, but so was their relationship. It’s a big shift from the current era of romcoms where there’s conflicts but everything is a-okay, and I like that Shiloh and Cary were in their own way at first before things could happen as they were meant to. Love can’t make everything work, it wasn’t the right time for them, and they needed to settle in their own skins before they could connect with each other like they wanted. I do wish we had a bit more of Cary’s history, especially once we started getting his point of view, but he was always fun to read. His entire perspective is basically Shiloh! (it did get a bit weird at one point) and that’s always nice to see.

There are a couple of chapters I can’t quite tell if I’m missing pages or not? I don’t think so because the page always ends in a period, but it would be a page-long chapter that feels like it’s building to go somewhere and then doesn’t. The first few times it happened, I kept trying to close and reopen the app to see if it was a me problem haha.

It’s not a Rainbow Rowell book I’m used to, but it’s definitely still a good one.

thank you NetGalley for the arc

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion. I have been a fan of Rainbow Rowell since I read Eleanor and Park when it first came out, so when I tell you I screamed when I saw I was approved to read this book, I SCREAMED!!! I am so glad I was approved, because this is such a beautiful love story that I think everyone will enjoy. The fact that everyone could see that Cary and Shiloh would end up together, the mutual pining, the slowburn.....UGH!!! This is an amazingly written book with just amazing characters that make mistakes and are so REAL. I have always been a fan of Rainbow Rowell's YA, and now I know I love her adult novels too!

I found this piece to be exceptionally well-crafted, and I'm eagerly anticipating the opportunity to delve into more works by this author. Given its potential popularity among our library patrons, we're certainly looking forward to adding it to our collection

Slow Dance is a poignant and beautifully crafted story of love, friendship, and the passage of time.
Shiloh and Cary were once inseparable, dreaming of futures beyond their small town. But as life took them in different directions, their friendship faded into distant memory. Now, years later, with lives that look nothing like they imagined, they find themselves drawn back together by the pull of old memories and unspoken feelings.
The author masterfully captures the bittersweet essence of lost love and the longing for what could have been. Through Shiloh and Cary's journey of rediscovery, we are reminded of the enduring power of connection and the resilience of the human heart.
Slow Dance is a tender and heartfelt exploration of second chances and the complexities of growing up. It's a story that will linger in your mind long after you've turned the last page, reminding you of the beauty found in the most unexpected places.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Rainbow Rowell, keep breaking my heart with your books! Slow Dance is romantic, it's nostalgic and it's heartbreakingly lovely. It's a second-chance romance without feeling trope-y, with two characters who are both determined to get in their own way and *still* keep sliding towards each other. The writing and story pulled me right in and took me along for the ride, peeking through time at Shiloh and Cary in high school, Shiloh and Cary in college, and now 14 years later, in 2006, reunited as adults. I loved the way Rowell flips through each of these vignettes, each one bringing more depth and context to the way these characters move around each other and through life. I loved the way you get to see these characters change and stay the same all at once, how reuniting forces both of them to take control of their lives and themselves in new ways. Rowell is the queen of character-driven stories and Slow Dance is one of her best yet. I loved it and highly recommend.

**Many thanks to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!!

Rainbow Rowell has done it again. I didn't think I could love her stories, her characters, her dialogue any more... but this was so lovely!

Loved it! Such a beautiful, nostalgia filled story. I loved the little flashbacks. It was painful but also beautiful to experience the story of a couple who has loved one another when they were kids and, as adults, face the reality of the time that was wasted. A lovely reminder that you can always change course and not to let a second chance pass you by.

Ratings
Quality of Writing 5/5
Pacing 4/5
Plot Development 4/5
Character Development 5/5
Overall Enjoyability 5/5

Thank you NetGalley for the fre ARC in return for an honest review.

Rowell writes great characters and dialogue. I enjoyed the banter between Cary and Shiloh… and Mikey. As their relationship progressed, I was so worried something wouldn’t work out. I recommend this to fans of Emily Henry. Romance for moms.

i read this book as slowly as possible because i couldn’t bear for it to end. this was the most beautiful love story i’ve ever read. i want to read it again and again and again. rainbow rowell’s “fangirl” changed my life when i was a teenager and sent me down the english major/writer path that im on today. and reading this book just confirms to me that i made the right decision and that she is and always will be my favorite writer. goddamn.

Landline one of my favorites and Slow Dance did not disappointl. and SLOW DANCE did not disappoint! The characters were so real, so achingly authentic and relatable, that I was rooting for them from page one.

Thank you NetGalley.

I received a copy of this book as an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. Slow Dance is told in a way that mimics a slow dance, meandering back and forth between the past when the main characters (Shiloh and Cary) are 16-20 years old and in the "present" (2006) when they are 33. Shiloh is an interesting main female character in that her eyebrows are a little to thick, she's not perfectly thin nor exactly fat, her dark hair is very thick and long (usually) and she has strong opinions which may be uninformed. She was raised by a single mother who works in an airport bar in Omaha. She is described as "too much", "incessant", and quite frankly half the time I found her unlikeable and unnecessarily miserable, yet I still rooted for her. Instead of manic pixie dream girl, I think she was more manic super-tall chaos agent. But by the end of the book I was fond of her.

Cary is a stoic, serious, handsome guy who's hair smells of apples when he is young. He joins the Navy immediately out of high school as a way to earn a living and get away from his fractured home life (he finds out the woman he thought was his mom is actually his biological grandmother, and his "sister" is really his mom).

Cary, Mikey, and Shiloh are inseparable best friends when they are younger and this story shows them falling in and out of love, navigating life sometimes together and other times apart, and drives home the fact you can't make new old friends. There is a lot of untraditional home life depicted in this story and the characters are very well developed. I don't want to give too much away because I think the story developing and unfolding is what makes it shine.

Somewhat YA, somewhat women's lit, somewhat romance, this book has elements that I think will allow it to be appreciated by a wide audience. Definitely light enough to be a beach read but deep enough to keep you interested.

Oh my god I loved this! I love a sweeping, torturously slow burn friends-to-lovers romance that takes place over years and years. Rowell's prose is sparse but specific and cutting. It's clever, but never silly. Shiloh and Cary felt 100% like real people, just so perfectly drawn, perfect for each other but in imperfect circumstances that requires a lot of growth on each of their parts. I loved the title and the conceit, I loved how the narrative took us out of order between years and perspectives. It's a character study for sure without a fast-moving plot, but if you love Normal People or even Emily Henry I think you'll love this as much as I did. Just gorgeous.

Thank you to William Morrow and Net Galley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.