I have read all of Rainbow Rowell's other books and really enjoyed them. This one was a miss for me. I didn't really like Shiloh's character (and couldn't see why Cary did) and the story took too long to really get going. I was really disappointed because I had higher hopes for this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I struggled with this story. This just wasn’t my cup of tea. I thought Shiloh was the absolute worst. I honestly couldn’t stand her character. She was so annoying and if I were Cary I would have moved on and stayed moved on. Cary wasn’t great either. He’s the definition of the miscommunication troupe. I think the whole “I was in love with you how couldn’t you tell” is the worst and he uses this as an excuse during all of the conversations in the first half of the book. Junie and Gus were highlights of the story. There is a HEA but geez you have to go through so much stuff to get there. I felt mentally exhausted by the time I hit the end that the HEA didn’t even feel worth it.

The perfect lil sappy read I needed.

YA romance - but fast forward to age 33 with a divorcee and a naval officer. Best friends since childhood always dancing around the truth….

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

heartachey and earnest and raw and human—in other words, a rainbow rowell special

rainbow rowell’s books are always so easy to read; i always love how she puts words to thoughts you’ve often had but never consciously realized. i had a hard time putting this one down.

We’re the three best friends that anyone could have… But what happens when two of those best friends become more?

Mikey, Shiloh and Cary are the best type of friend group and I loved their friendship! But what really pulled me into this book was Shiloh and Cary. Following them as they navigated their own feelings as more than just friends had me unable to put the book down. From flashbacks to present time, I found myself completely immersed in their story.

Rainbow Rowell is a favorite of mine and this book did not disappoint. I’m a sucker for a love story and this one truly knows no bounds.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for an arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

OH MY LORD. Rainbow Rowell knows how to write 'Swooners." In all of her books, she has the uncanny ability to write real characters. Characters with anxiety. With problems. Characters who aren't 110 pounds and blonde with giant blue eyes. Her characters are real, they have normal people flaws, they have normal people jobs and fears and dreams. Rowell knows how to develop a character, to develop relationships and histories and friendships and it is, for me, absolutely the most remarkable part of her books. I expect it every time and she delivers every time. Slow Dance was no different for me. Naturally, Cary and Shiloh made me a giddy, swoony mess. I'm pretty sure I read the entire story with a big stupid grin on my face (even during the hard scenes). I could have read many more hours worth of their history and where their story goes. It was hard and beautiful and full of all the good and bad things that relationships go through. I loved every single minute of this book.

Rainbow Rowell also knows how to write banter like no one else I've ever read. I bet she is a giant hoot in real life. I bet her grocery lists are even quirky. I want to meet her. I want to be her.

Please read this.

Thanks to NetGalley/Publisher/Author for the eARC.

This book is dedicated (by me, not the author!) to all the dudes who never, ever said what they wanted but only dropped a sort of vague hint here and there and still expected the woman to pick up on the hints, and then blamed the woman when she took them at their word instead of reading too much into it.

Anyway, as you can see this book kind of has me riled up. It follows Shiloh and Cary, best friends in high school, as they reconnect at their friend Mikey's wedding. Mikey is the only likeable person in this book. I love Mikey.

"You can't make new old friends" is something that is said multiple times in the book and it's definitely true. But for god's sake, why is everyone (except Gloria) trying to force Shiloh to change?? No, she really didn't want to dance at prom. And that should have been okay! No, she really doesn't like going to parties and socializing. And that should be okay too! Throughout the developing romance, Cary both laments that Shiloh is the same person he knew and acts put off by the fact that she dared to move on, have kids, and divorce. I think my main beef with this book is that Cary didn't seem to love Shiloh at all - he loved the trumped-up, half remembered high school days where he wouldn't even give her a chance because he didn't want to ruin things/didn't know where else the relationship would go.

I liked this book a lot, don't get me wrong. It's well written (obviously) and a compelling read that blends present day with past memories to help paint a picture of a second-chance romance with Cary, who never even tried to give Shiloh a shot at the first chance. I kept alternating between loving the cute anecdotes about their pasts and hating how Cary turned out in the present day.

Thank you NetGalley & William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review can also be found on Goodreads.

I've loved Rowell since I began reading her YA novels in middle school, and I was just as pleased with 'Slow Dance'.

Shiloh and Cary were inseparable in high school, along with their best friend Mikey. While they never dated, everyone assumed Shiloh and Cary were an item. And there was always an unspoken tension between the two of them, always a question of 'what if' with each other even as they were teenagers. Cary joins the Navy, and Shiloh heads off to college. 48 hours in Shiloh's dorm room her freshman year when Cary shows up as a surprises changes the trajectory of their friendship. Now, fourteen years later, Cary and Shiloh reunite unexpectedly at Mikey's wedding.

Written in a split time line, we get glimpses of Shiloh and Cary's past together while also enjoying their present day friendship reignite. Shiloh is still in Omaha and is now a divorced single mother of two. Cary is still in the Navy, and he has never allowed himself to settle down with someone. Shiloh and Cary set out to get to know each other as adults, and they quickly realize those feelings from high school still linger.

Shiloh and Cary are frustrating at times with choices they make, but that makes them real and lovable. They are both relatable and their story is one of friendship and redemption. If you're a fan on Rowell or if you're looking for a good high school friends to lovers story, this one is for you.

DNF @ 8%

I really wanted to love this one. The cover is gorgeous. But, I’m just not a fan of slow burn romance. This felt overly slow and very repetitive. And personally, it’s just not the lfor me.

But, I know a lot of people will love and recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for a voluntary honest review!

I love Rainbow Rowell's characters. I love Fangirl, I love Simon Snow, and I love her adult novels (even when the plots feel hard to describe to people!). I re-read her books perhaps more than any other author's. The structure on this one isn't linear, but the past feel like authentic memories seeping into the present. I loved getting to know Shiloh and Cary, and I know I'll be returning to them again and again.

i don’t mind a second-chance romance and even if i have had a hit-or-miss time with rainbow rowell’s other books, i’d say that this one is more of a hit. rowell does a good job balancing the timeline and each character pov in different parts of the book, and is able to keep the dialogue well-paced for the flashbacks. i think this is a great showcase of rowell’s ability to write YA and contemporary adult lit all in one book, and allows readers to see the main characters’ respective growth arcs.

I got the approval for this book and immediately started devouring like a starved world.

This book gave me a full day of tears, full and warm hearts. I squealed, I screamed, I even threw my kindle.

I loved every single second of this book and how imperfectly relatable everyone is. It's not a romance book where everyone's a perfect barie with clean plastic lives. It's messy real, and the only time the miscommunication trope hasn't made me Dnf a book. I will think about this book, and recommend this book for years to come.

It's perfect for fans of When Harry met Sally, 500 days of summer or people who just want to have their hearts completely eviscerated. Thankyou to rainbow Rowell for writing this, and thankyou netgalley for blessing me

Rainbow Rowell has done it again.

Cary and Shiloh are the perfect embodiment of the friends-to-lovers trope. The two friends who are so close you're surprised to hear they aren't together.

Both characters had their flaws and it's nice to not have them all magically fixed. They acknowledged the other had flaws and loved them anyways.

This was almost a 5 star read but the timeline seemed a bit too fast for my taste but it was pretty easy to ignore and just enjoy the story

Well, I cried multiple times while reading this book, and I read it in roughly 48 hours.

Every time I read a Rainbow Rowell novel, I'm amazed by the authenticity of her dialogue, the specificity of her characters' personality traits, and the intention behind every single word on the page. This story specifically brought back so many of my own high school memories, and the sense of nostalgia was so potent, I ended up having conversations with some of my old friends in between reading sessions to reminisce. There's something about people you've had in your life since childhood that is so unique and special, and this book captures that feeling perfectly.

Will this book tug at your heartstrings? Yes.
Will this book make you wonder about all the different paths your life might have taken? Yes.
Will this book make you regret the time you wasted because you were afraid to admit what you really wanted? Yes.

But, in the end, this book will inspire you to finally stop wasting time, appreciate your life for what it is, and work towards making it better than you ever allowed yourself to imagine it could be. That, to me, is the power of a truly good book.

(Also, I read the last chapter two times in a row and cried wistful tears both times. That's how perfect it was.)

I really loved this one. It had been a while since I read something by Rainbow Rowell, and I was quickly reminded how much I admire her writing style. Her character development is so deep but also feels natural and seamless, and I love how much she develops scenes and sets the stage for how characters are feeling. I was invested early, and dove right in. Rowell also has a unique ability to tell interesting stories that feel very real and realistic - she doesn't have fantasy or whimsy but you're still rooting for the characters and engaged in a way that is unique to her. It was lovely. Can't wait to recommend to all my friends once its published! [ARC received via NetGalley]

“I love you, Backwards and forwards. Coming and going”

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one and it lived up to every single one of my hopes and expectations. No one writes quite like Rainbow Rowell. Her stories are just uniquely hers. They are honest and beautiful and perfectly crafted. Her characters are written with such depth and in a way that is both unpredictable and real.

Cary is Shiloh’s person and she is his. They are inseparable as teens but after a mishap they each go their own way and before they know it fourteen years have passed. Shiloh gets married, then divorced and has two kids. Cary joins the navy and is based on the west coast. It is not until a friend's wedding that they finally reconnect and realize that neither of them wants to let the other go ever again. The book shifts back and forth between multiple timelines as Cary and Shiloh reconnect and come to a new understanding about past hurts.

At times their journey is uncomfortable and raw but it’s okay because no matter what is happening between them you can feel the love they have so strongly. Their desire to be there for one another, however awkward it may be, makes this story what it is.

I truly believe that Slow Dance is the absolute perfect title for this book. Cary and Shiloh’s love story is one long slow dance with them circling back and forth, and around and towards each other.

If you like second chance, soulmate, slow burn romance then this is the perfect book. I enjoyed it immensely and hope you do too!

ok the promise of Slow Dance was great and I loved jumping into this second chance/friends to lover story. The MCs were quirky and I loved reading their relationship as it progressed. I really loved the layout of the book and how it kind of switched POV and switched from past to present. The chapters were also short which I liked, it was a quick read and hard for me to put down. I liked how it all played out, it was frustrating that a lot of their problems were around them being bad communicators but that was mostly from when they were young, which I guess made sense for 18 year olds!!

Slow Dance is a second chance, friends to lovers romance. This is the first Rainbow Rowell book I've ready in awhile, and I was excited to jump in because it's an adult romance as opposed to her usual YA. I have to say though, that it ended up just being ok.

There were a few things that threw me off about the story, the main being the pacing. It truly was SO slow. I kept waiting for something to happen, but honestly nothing ever really did. It was very just day to day life for them, so if that is something you enjoy then you will probably really enjoy this book. The other thing that bothered me the use of the past/present storylines. There was chapters of the past weaved throughout the story, but it was non-linear so it felt so disjointed to me. There was no flow, no reasoning to the 'past' chapters, that I often found myself wondering why they were included. I wish it had been a progression, so you were able to feel the growth of their relationship from when they were young to adults.

Now looking at the main characters, I have to say that I struggled to connect with Shiloh. She wasn't nice, or likeable and it made me not fully root for her. I did relate to a lot of her anxieties that she struggled with, but it just hindered any type of growth in their relationship. She was one foot out the door the entire book, and none of the issues were ever resolved. Cary was a little better, but he just did not communicate AT ALL. I hate miscommunication in stories, and this had so much of that. So many of their problems would have been easily solved if they just bothered to talk to each other. And considering they were best friends, it was weird that they didn't. I enjoyed when they reconnected at their friends wedding, and how their relationship built from there. I didn't love the midwest feel of the story, it just felt so down in the dumps and I wanted to scream at the book multiple times for Shiloh to just clean her house. Even reading about it gave me the ick when she constantly talked about how dirty it was, and how she just had no time to clean because like job and kids. Sorry lady, no excuse I also have a job and children, and my house is not disgusting like yours is described. When I'm reading a romance, it's usually a palette cleanser for me, so I want something fun and I don't really want to read about dirty houses, and main characters covered in moles with eczema, or called sasquatch. If I want something that feels real, I would go to literary fiction where their dire circumstances were part of the plot.

This is all to say, it was a sweet story, and if you like your romance with a lot of realism, that takes place in Omaha, and is super slow paced you will probably enjoy this a lot! As it stands, it was well written, but just not really for me. Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first time reading a book by Rainbow Rowell and it won’t be my last. I might be slightly biased since this story takes place in Omaha, NE.

5 ⭐️ Stars!

Shiloh and Cary are such real characters. Their love story made me so happy 🥰 Second chance romance. Best friends to lovers.

Past: Shiloh and Cary are best friends growing up, they do everything together. Present: Shiloh and Cary haven’t spoken in 14 years.

Shiloh is now 33, divorced, with 2 kids. She gets invited to a mutual friend’s wedding and has anxiety and anticipation about seeing Cary again. This story follows Shiloh as she navigates single motherhood, sharing her kids with an ex she despises, and confronting her feeling for Cary. Rainbow wrote such real characters that show love is messy and complicated. This story is a lot about character development. There are also the struggles of living in poverty in North Omaha and dreaming of moving away. Shiloh has to grow and come to terms it is okay to move back to your hometown.

“I can’t give you the past,” Cary said. He squeezed her hands. “But we could have a future.”

Slow Dance is a beautifully written novel that will linger in my heart for a long time. Highly recommended ♥️

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Rainbow Rowell does character studies so well, and this is yet another example of how she brings to life individuals in ordinary or mostly ordinary circumstances for her readers. Shiloh and Cary and their relationship are the feature here, and all the other characters are definitely in supporting roles. Which works really well. The alternating POV between Shiloh (mainly) and Cary (occasionally) as well as the glimpses into their past together work well to build out the story and make you really root for these two to figure things out. My one complaint is that it felt like they took forever to actually talk to each other and realize that they had missed opportunities.

Shiloh is a mom struggling to find the balance between being a mom part time, since her ex has the kids part time too, and a woman who wants to move on. Cary seems to be more stuck in some ways, never moving past his feelings for Shiloh from when they were kids, even as he has to step into a role with his family. I do kind of wish we had seen his relationships with Angel and Jackie play out just a little more, and I did wish there was more interaction with Shiloh's ex towards the end of the book. No spoilers, but there was just a lack of full satisfaction where that one was concerned.

If you enjoyed Landlines and other Rowell books, then you'll like this one. I felt like it had some Eleanor and Park vibes to it, but without being as draggy. I really did not like Eleanor and Park!