A slow-burn adult romance with Rainbow Rowell’s signature irreverent writing, worthwhile for fans of the genre or the author.

This is a second chance romance, with chapters that jump from the present (well, it’s 2006) to various points in the past to fill in the background. This is written in third person, though it feels like it should have been first person. As mentioned, the writing style is the same as with the author’s previous books, which can feel juvenile and YA at times, but it is light and easy to read.

One thing I really appreciate about Rainbow Rowell’s books is how real her characters are. With romance books, you usually have protagonists who are drop-dead gorgeous and have amazing dream jobs. Cary and Shiloh, the main characters in this book, have down-to-earth occupations, real struggles, and normal appearances. It’s refreshing. This is not a romantic fantasy; this more closely resembles reality, for better or worse. It’s slow, it’s quiet; no big fireworks moments.

Slow Dance is a classic Rainbow Rowell treasure. She knows how to wrench my heart strings and make me root for the underdog—in this case, the elusive happy-ever-after that seems more common in fiction than reality. And the reality is what I love about her books and characters.
Shiloh and Cary aren’t flawless beauties who are one miscommunication or one unconquerable roadblock away from wedded bliss. They’re messy. They’re average. They’re broken. They’re complicated. They’re human.
They’re also best friends who’ve tried to be together but hurt each other instead, and have to put in real work to be ready for commitment. They’ve both been through hardship and will continue to face that hardship, even after the final pages of the books. But in spite of the conflict and pain, I couldn’t stop turning pages, because Ms. Rowell writes compelling scenes and vulnerable interactions. Her stories sweep me away from my own reality and immerse me in a new one.
I did have to skip a chapter that was too open door for my comfort level, but I could understand how it was relevant to the plot and character development. I just prefer to stay out of other people’s bedrooms.

If you’re a romance fan or a Rainbow Rowell fan, definitely give this book a go!

An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Man, what a wonderful book to read just before I get married!

I have been very hit or miss with Rowell's work in the past. I remember loving Eleanor & Park but I'm not sure how well I'd love it now, and the rest of her work is 4 stars or less...apart from Landline, my beloved. When I requested Slow Dance on NetGalley, I really hoped this would be a lot like Landline...

...and in spirit, it is! It even has the same non-chronological structure that carefully doles out information to you at exactly the right moments, no sooner, no later, and it gives the book a nice stream of consciousness as you feel the characters reminiscing about the past before you're then reading about the past, in the moment with them.

This is simply a beautiful, honest, relatable treat of a book. Rowell's prose here is frank yet sweet, and by the time I was about a quarter of the way into the book, she had me melting over these childhood friends turned lovers turned estranged ones who got away.

This book is very simple. Its prose is simple, its story is simple and straightforward and it probably goes exactly where you think it might go, but that doesn't make the warm blanket of nostalgia Rainbow wraps around you any less cozy or heartwarming.

Cary and Shiloh are truly a couple you root for, and the obstacles they face never feel melodramatic, contrived, or frustrating like many will-they-won't-they romances do, while simultaneously feeling interesting and gripping, really proving that a couple doesn't need to fight all the time to have interesting drama and misunderstandings.

All in all, I just loved my time with this book and I'm over the moon to be able to give it the title of best Rainbow Rowell book after Landline. I can only Rainbow gives me number three!

Shiloh and Cary were inseparable in high school but grew apart after graduation. Told in a non-linear way, the reader is taken on the journey of their friendship, the rift in their relationship and their reunion. The characters were insufferable at times but weren't we all as teenagers in the 90s? lol

I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've read recently. I couldn't put it down! I will keep an eye out for this author's future work!

This book was so good. Pulled at my heartstrings. Will definitely re read. Flawed characters and so much emotion. Loved every word!

Netgalley review, possible plot points mentioned below.

First off, what an absolute honor to have been able to arc read a Rainbow Rowell book.

Slow Dance by far wasn't my favorite Rainbow book, I don't think any could compare to my deep love for Carry On. If I'm going to be for real, I didn't get into it until I was roughly about 40 percent through. I think a lot of the backstories are what took me our of it because Shiloh is so annoying during them.

I do think the back and forth between back story, letters shipped, and the present are an interesting take on povs. It adds a lot on context to the book you might only have been hinted at without.

I hate to say I'm annoyed with only Shiloh but love almost everyone else (except you Ryan) but it's true. Shiloh caused almost all of the miscommunications, she went back and forth constantly about do I love him enough to be with him or should I never see him again and it's painful to read.

I really liked Cary for the most part, he definitely added a lot to the miscommunication (I'm not a misscommunication trope kinda guy I guess) but not on the same level as Shiloh. I loved how he fit so easily into Shilohs family and how he never once tried to get rid of the kids. (I think Juniper was a little weird during the Cary scenes)

Did anyone else think there were too many weird ankle scenes or was that just me? The amount of times Cary just like grabbed Shilohs ankles? Even at a restaurant he just grabbed them and held on while they were sitting down and eating - I genuinely cannot imagine how they were sitting for him to be doing that. Was he leaning down face first into the table to grip them, does he have freakishly long arms? How and why?

Overall what I did love about the book was when everything went down hill with Lois (sorry Lois) and Cary was back in town for a few days. I think the most was solved and the most felt natural in their relationship.

I almost wished we got more Mickey, Cary, Shiloh hangout where they got to relive their friendships (other than just the arcade scene)

I thank the authors and netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book.

Wow!! This is one of the most beautiful, human love stories I have ever read. This follows Shiloh and Cary, two former best friends who see each other for the first time in 14 years. It is told in past and present chapters so you get to see their friendship in the past plus their reconciliation in the present. What I loved most about this book was how realistic and human the characters felt. While I’ve never been to Omaha, Cary and Shiloh feel like people I would see walking down the street. Their love doesn’t eliminate all their struggles like money, coparenting, and family drama but it is a boon that helps them get through tough times

I’ve been a fan of Rainbow Rowell for years and was very excited when I heard about a new book from her. This one just wasn’t for me and that’s okay—not every book is for everyone. I had a hard time with the story at various points and even at the end still didn’t feel sure. Also something about the open door scenes made me uncomfortable. If you’re into character-driven storylines with a lot of history between the characters, this book may be for you.

Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced reader copy on exchange for my honest opinion.

I adore Rainbow Rowell - she has a way of writing that's open and uncomplicated, but still very engaging. And I loved this book, so very much.

One of the things I most appreciate about Rowell’s writing is how grounded and realistic her characters feel. This is a romance, yes, but the characters are not romanticized, if that makes sense. Shiloh and Cary’s relationship is tough and oftentimes messy. They aren’t perfect people, by any stretch of the imagination, but they are perfect for each other, and I love them all the more for it.

This book provided a fresh take on some of my favorite tropes: second-chance and friends-to-lovers. Technically speaking, Shiloh and Cary’s relationship is also a slow burn, but the book doesn’t necessarily read that way because of the unique story structure.

This was the first of what, I am sure, will be many readings. I can already see this becoming a favorite.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing the advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

I am a long-time reader of Rainbow Rowell and generally love her writing and her quirky characters. Slow Dance was challenging for me at times, but let's start with the good stuff.

I really enjoyed the story itself of high school best friends who were obviously in love with one another but didn't have the mental load or maturity to act on those feelings. While there are no secret surprises and the ending is obvious from the beginning it's enjoyable to see how the characters get themselves from those early days of high school to their happily every after in their thirties. Some of the characters are wonderful, particularly the third best friend Mikey who deserves some sort of Nobel prize of friendship for putting up with Cary, Shiloh and their array of bizarre behaviors with patience, kindness, understanding and love. Mikey is friendship personified.

Cary and Shiloh each bring plenty of baggage into the relationship which keep them from one another at various times; much of that baggage is realistic, but just as much of it is manufactured. Cary joined the Navy right out of high school and Shiloh went to college in another state, and they never figured out how to communicate with one another. The book alternates between current events and "before" and are presented from the viewpoints of all the various characters at different points.

Now for the bad and why I can't give this book more than 3 stars. Oh my word was Shiloh a challenging character to like. Rowell often writes characters who are quirky or on the spectrum without making a big deal out of it, but Shiloh's quirks or tics were often violent and borderline abusive, quite frankly. She was irrational, incredibly self-centered and I suspect would seriously benefit from some therapy. It was painful to read how she treated others and more painful to watch everyone - particularly Cary - just indulge this behavior. She did seem to grow out of some of them, sort of, but you can love and accept people for who they are while also not allowing them to hurt you. I also was just infuriated by both Cary's and Shiloh's inability to just talk to one another. I've never seen "best friends" who lack the ability to communicate with one another.

Second, if you are going to write a character who is in the Navy, for the love of stories, PLEASE talk to someone who is IN the Navy and have them check your work. I spent 30 years as a Navy spouse and still work in that community and I never got angrier at this book than I did at the glaring inaccuracies about Navy life - particularly the stupid ones that could be easily checked. For example, she has the main character, Cary, who is supposed to be a lieutenant commander wearing his summer whites but describes his cover as a chief's cover (with an anchor), not an officer's cover (with an eagle, shield and two crossed anchors). I mean, you can Google that. And yes, it ABSOLUTELY matters. She also spends half a page talking about how much Shiloh doesn't want to be a Navy wife because Navy wives... write blogs and she doesn't like their "vibe." A fictional character, doesn't like the "vibe" of a group of people who support and love the men and women of our armed forces? Thanks. (Pro tip- Navy spouses have book clubs and read a lot, it may not be a great idea as an author to talk about how lame you think they are.) Also, Cary is on a destroyer - he would never say he is on a boat. A destroyer is a "ship," submarines are "boats." There's more, I won't bother to point out because it clearly doesn't matter to Rowell or the editorial team. I mean I was willing to just note it to myself and overlook a lot until I got to the uniform bit & laughed out loud - and not in a good way - particularly because it was followed up by the part about how miserable military spouses are. It got a lot harder to feel much empathy for Shiloh (or Rowell) after that point.

So, I will say if you like a slow building, awkward romance, you'll enjoy Slow Dance. If you have spent time in or around the Navy, you will find lots of lazy writing to be annoyed by (though can we hope that will be corrected prior to publication?). Don't say I didn't warn you.

Slow Dance is scheduled to be published July 23, 2024.*

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the Advance Reader Copy.

*Goodreads review posted now, blog and FB posts will go live closer to publication date.

I love Rainbow Rowell's writing but this one was not my favorite of hers. The main characters were really hard to like (Shiloh was super annoying) and the story felt too long and drawn out. I kept waiting for some really horribly catastrophe to happen bc they kept dragging out the "will they, won't they" and miscommunication tropes so much.

This was my first Rainbow Rowell book and I'm now a fan. The story follows 3 high school best friends and where life took them as their relationships became more distant. The characters were soooo real and relatable and unlike almost all other book characters that I have read. From their real appearances to their personalities and insecurities, I related to them and their story so much! This was a patient, beautiful story about love and second chances.

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and the passage of time. Through her lyrical prose and deeply relatable characters, Rowell crafts a story that resonates with raw emotion and authenticity. With each page turn, readers are drawn deeper into the lives of the protagonists, experiencing their triumphs and tribulations with a palpable sense of empathy. Slow Dance is a beautifully written novel that captures the intricacies of human connection and the beauty of embracing life's fleeting moments.

Ever since I picked up my first Rainbow Rowell book, I knew there was talent there. Every story interweaves characters, story, and plot in a way that takes the reader to new places. Slow Dance did that for me and I am very grateful for the opportunity to read this one! Thank you.

It's so exciting to have a new Rainbow Rowell book to read! This is a wonderful slow burn, best friends to lovers, second chance romance, flashbacks to high school, dual 3rd person POV book.

Shiloh, Mikey, and Cary were inseparable friends back in high school but things changed along the way and it has been years since Cary and Shiloh have spoken. Cary has been away fulfilling his Navy career and Shiloh has stayed back in Omaha, married, divorced, and trying to balance work/family/life. They encounter each other at mutual friend Mikey's wedding and talk for the first time in years. The story shifts back and forth from current time to Shiloh, Mikey, and Cary's past--the time skips highlighting interactions and important moments that lay the groundwork for what happens later in their story. Circumstances happen that allow Cary and Shiloh to reconnect and find their feelings for each other and work to move from their past to something better and brighter.

As always, Rowell's characterizations are brilliant. Cary and Shiloh feel real, familiar, relatable. You yearn with them (no one does yearning like Rowell), you ache along with them, you laugh and cry with them. It's so satisfying to watch the progression, to see the walls come down, the feelings surface, the way they try to build something together.

The "before" chapters shed so much light and insight into who Cary and Shiloh are, how they got to this point, how their own perceptions and self-protection, and care for each other pulled them apart and the "now" chapters show how they are so carefully weaving their lives back together.

There is miscommunication, there are arguments, there is banter. There is no question Cary and Shiloh were pivotal in each others lives. Their deep understanding and care for each other is evident--but they've managed to muddle things in a way that's hurt them both.

This book is about second chances. About the depths of friendship. About communication and care and consideration and distance.

Family plays a huge role in the setting of this book. The realities of caring for young children, dealing with the vagaries of divorce, handling complicated family dynamics, and caring for family members are dealt with deftly, realistically. So realistically. People are messy and complicated. Feelings are messy and complicated. Love is messy and complicated. The characters live and breathe on the page, they feel like friends you could meet at the coffee shop, people you see at the grocery store, friends you've not seen in years but click with as soon as you see them again. It was comfortable to sink into this world, these characters, to be engaged with the day to day of their lives and the complications they are navigating that resonate to personal life experiences.

Some things I loved:
•the time skips from "before" to "now"--they give such points of reference for the characters and who they are, and add layers to the narrative.
•the dual 3rd person POV--it's great getting scenes from both Cary and Shiloh's perspective and see how their individual perceptions colored the same events and communicated different things to them both
•the side characters--Rowell’s side characters are richly drawn, three-dimensional even when they are only briefly part of the narrative. Mikey was such a good friend and such a joy on the page. Cary and Shiloh's moms were great parallels and contrasts. Shiloh's kids were funny and unique and so full of their own personalities.
•the humor and the banter--as always with Rowell, this was top notch
•such a sense of place and time--the flashbacks were so accurate, from clothes to music, to the settings.

This book drew me in and I read it over the course of two days--I had to know what would happen and how the story would progress.

Slow Dance is a beautiful story, tender and funny, kind and compassionate to its protagonists. It draws you in and holds your attention and the characters feel like old friends by the end, so vivid are their portrayals. Genuine. It made me ache but in a such a good way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. This is my personal opinion.

I feel like I took my heart out of my chest and set it on the kitchen table and I’m not sure how to proceed from here.

Cary and Shiloh are so perfectly notched into each other that neither of them can even see it. They’re both so eager to please the other that they’ll let themselves fall apart and I am GNASHING MY TEETH I can’t handle them.

Their almost-not-quite-friendship; the way they tip so easily back into each other immediately upon being reconnected, the way neither of them knows quite how to show the other how much they care about them but they just know that they love them so much it hurts.

I am also biting. I am also a teenager again. I am crying and faintly nauseous and my heart hurts and is also beating furiously in my throat and I think I need to go stand on a rooftop and scream.

No notes 5 stars

There was a lot I liked about this: the dialogue and the characters. The conversations made me smile multiple times and the main characters were very vivid to me. I loved the premise of the entire story and how the timelines were laid out.

I expected to be my first 5-star read for a while but then there were some big problems that held me up. There were so. many. parentheses. (I would get hung up on them.) The main lady could be just very unlikeable at times and a bit unreasonable. Those moments stood out even more because of how fleshed out she was. I like how she was clearly meant to be “too much” but sometimes it just didn’t play out well.

I think when her crooked bottom teeth were outrageously sexualized for the fifth time I knew this wasn’t going to be a favorite of mine. I read this very quickly and I enjoyed the ride though!

I received this from net galley in exchange for a review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of Slow Dance.

I have always loved the Rainbow Rowell books I’ve bought over the years. I was really excited to read her latest book.

For some reason I could not connect with Shiloh and Cary. The switching between the past and present didn’t help me stay interested in their relationship.

It’s definitely a slow burn but I just found it to be a bit too slow for me.

Slow Dance is an emotional slow burn romance, about Shiloh, a recently divorced mother of two reconnecting with her past, and finding her true self again.
If you like books that are bittersweet, full of nostalgia, relatable characters, and have a nonlinear storyline this book is for you!
This story had lots of fine detail, and really round whole characters. What stopped it from being a 5 star read was the ending. After reading the thorough, and full history of Shiloh and Cary’s lifetime love for each other, I really wanted to experience more of their happily ever after. The ending felt rushed, and tossed together in comparison to the rest of the novel.
Readers that enjoy romances that offer a second chance at love will find this read satisfying, and wistful.