I've read Rainbow Rowell's previous adult fiction books some 10 years ago & I do remember liking them, "Landline" and "Eleanor & Park in particular, so I was excited that she's finally released a new adult romance title - "Slow Dance". I did enjoy this story about two Nebraska teens, Shiloh & Cary, BFF's who go their separate ways after high school and then meet up again 15 years later at a wedding. I found both MC's very likable & relatable & I enjoyed how this novel is focused on their character growth and less on passion - it totally worked for me :). My sincere thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the complimentary DRC, my pleasure to review it.

Shiloh and Cary are best friends from high school, but Cary knows there is something more in their friendship. Told in both the past and present, it is impossible not to fall in love with these characters. Rainbow Rowell did such an amazing job of setting up the first part of the book, I didn’t want to leave the first 10 chapters. Instead, like the title, I wanted to slow dance through Shiloh and Cary’s meet up years after their high school friendship, and revel in their feelings for each other. The later chapters didn’t disappoint- Rowell does an amazing job of letting us experience the connection that happens with a first love, and the tension trying to reconcile what is with what could have been.

I enjoyed Landline by Rainbow Rowell but I think I am just too old for this story. There is too much detail also for my liking. I am sure it will appeal to younger readers. I will not rate this on Goodreads since I didn’t finish the book. 40%.

For years, I've been diving into Rainbow Rowell's young adult romance novels, even though I'm not exactly in the targeted audience range. However, her queer Simon Snow series stands out as a favorite of mine. So, when I heard she had written an adult romance, I couldn't contain my excitement. This heartwarming and realistic new adult fiction resonated with me more than I had expected. Interestingly, my recent binge-watch of the adaptation of "One Day" on Netflix only intensified the emotional impact of this book. The themes of long friendship, unrequited feelings, flawed and realistic characterization, second chance love, and found family are strikingly similar in both concepts.

Shiloh and Cary are both likable characters, despite occasionally frustrating the reader with the choices they make and the patterns of their thoughts that lead them down the wrong paths. Their imperfections make them unique, lovable, and real.

Shiloh, raised in the troubled side of Omaha, first crosses paths with Cary at the age of sixteen. Cary, the boy who can make her laugh and tolerate her eccentric antics, dreams of joining the army. They become good friends throughout high school, secretly harboring crushes, but both have other life choices mapped out and deal with their own insecurities that prevent them from taking a step into vulnerability that could lead to more than friendship.

Fast forward fourteen years, and we find both of them unhappy with the hands life has dealt them—or perhaps, the hands they have chosen. Shiloh, now thirty-three, is a single, divorced mother of two, working at the Children's Theater. She realizes she has become the very mother she once criticized, a less entertaining version of herself without the flirting and enjoyment of life.

A wedding ceremony for a common high school friend brings Cary and Shiloh together again. Cary takes a leave from the army to address his family issues, and he also has complex feelings about seeing Shiloh, who is barely containing her excitement, wearing a new dress and a silk flower over her heart, showing effort after years to be seen by the boy who got away. The same boy she never realized how much she cared for until he was gone.

I would give five stars to the storyline and the perfectly developed characterization of this book. The dialogues, banter, level of sauciness, and sassiness blended in humorous and sentimental moments make you smile and also bring tears to your eyes. The numerous flashbacks take us on a journey through the 90s and 2000s, which didn't irritate me; in fact, it provided a much more realistic picture of the characters' life stories, struggles, fears, potentials, and dreams. The only thing that bugged me about this book was the pacing, which led me to deduct one star from my rating. Some parts of the book felt a little rushed, and the last third was a bit repetitive and dragged for my taste, making me wish the story would cut to the chase and give us a happily ever after.

Despite the slightly unusual pacing, the genuineness, honesty, and poignancy of this book warmed my heart. I truly enjoyed it and highly recommend it to contemporary and second chance romance lovers, as well as Rainbow Rowell's devoted fans.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for sharing this wonderful book's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Another slam-dunk from one of my favorite authors. Very nostalgic, lots of fun, glad to have another book from her!

God, I loved this book. I loved this book so much. I have been a fan of Rainbow Rowell for nearly a decade and this felt like a homecoming.

3.5 stars, rounded up

I enjoyed the first half of Slow Dance, but by the second half, the ultra-slow pacing started to drag for me. I found myself getting a bit annoyed with the characters, and I felt like I lost some of the connection that I had been building with them.

I really liked a bunch of things about this book—the emotions felt authentic and deep, Mikey's third-wheel character was fun and well-developed, and the throwback to past decades was a nice nostalgic touch. But halfway through, things started to feel repetitive, and we continued to go over the same old stuff and cover the same ground again and again. Unfortunately, this made me less invested in whether Shiloh and Cary's relationship would survive and progress to the next level. When we got to the final resolution, things suddenly picked up speed quite quickly, making the conclusion feel a little rushed in comparison to the rest of the story.

I mostly enjoyed this book, but I think it would have hit the mark better for me if it was a bit shorter, maybe two-thirds of its current length.

Rainbow Rowell’s new novel Slow Dance is about reconnecting with that one that got away … but in the case of Carey and Shiloh, is it possible to lose someone that you never really had?

The emotionally aching Slow Dance is told through a series of flashback moments and present day snippets. Going back in time to the early 90s and the start of main characters and love interests Carey and Shiloh’s nascent friendship turned not-quite-relationship, the story continues to further explore Carey and Shiloh’s feelings for each other over time up until a much-anticipation reconciliation at their shared best friend’s wedding in 2006.

Carey and Shiloh’s not-quite-relationship is complicated, having never officially been a couple, but the two have been harboring secret, bubbling feelings for each other since forever. When Carey, on leave from the Navy, is forced to spend some time in their hometown due to his mom’s failing health, he and Shiloh find themselves exploring and sharing everything they have kept from each other over the years.

This is a love story unlike any I have actually read, but I like that it rings true to so many people that I know in real life. It is common in relationship fiction for the two main characters to basically be perfect and to fall perfectly in love with each other. Carey and Shiloh are not those people, and theirs’ is not that love story. I appreciated that they are incredibly flawed and that their relationship has been built on shaky ground. Furthermore, I like that they move forward with their feelings for each other against better judgment. I find that it is far more common in the real world for people to make the WRONG choices in love and relationships, yet in fiction, love is often displayed without grave consequence. Everything always works out just right in the end, but I do not feel that this will be the case for Carey and Shiloh. And I like it because it is real. Kudos to Rainbow Rowell for daring to write a romance that just may not have a happily ever after.

This book is magic—the second chance romance of my dreams. It’s one of those books that makes me wonder why I’ve ever given anything else five stars. It’s one of those stories that speaks so directly to my soul it makes me wish I had written it. Something about the way Rainbow Rowell writes just completely pulls me in, and I feel like I am experiencing every emotion along with her characters — almost like I am the characters themselves — and this adult novel was no different. I loved everything about this story, especially the non-linear timeline that slowly revealed new facets of Shiloh and Cary’s history. Each character was authentically and realistically flawed but it had me rooting for them even more. I’ll be immediately preordering this one and adding it in a prominent spot on my shelf.

I'll buy this one, because I know it will be in demand; however, I found the main character, Shiloh, to be annoying and frustrating. I did not love the writing style, either.

I’m no stranger to Rainbow Rowell’s books, Slow Dance was another winner from Rowell. She hasn’t written an adult fiction book in a while, so I was very excited to read this eARC.

This book is set in ‘90s and ‘00s, so much of it is pure nostalgia. Shiloh and Cary are childhood best friend—and they don’t realize they are in love with each other until it’s possibly too late.

I loved reading a romance with characters in their early 30s, and I also appreciated the messiness of the characters. Both of Shiloh and Cary have some baggage and personal challenges, but that’s what makes them relatable.

Read if you like:
🩵 Childhood friends to lovers
🩵 Found family
🩵 Nostalgia

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. Don’t miss Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell when it’s released this summer!

HOLY SHIT! I am so glad that Rainbow Rowell decided to write another adult Romance cause it's her best contemporary book by a landslide. Cary and Shiloh's story made my heart ache, my pulse race and my cheeks hurt from smiling. I am so freaking PROUD of these two. Rainbow has always been exceptional at writing relatable characters and these two were so damn realistic and flawed it was a joy getting to see them grow and change (and not change sometimes). Rowell did an amazing job at taking romance tropes that are king (friends to lovers, second chance, single parent) and making them her own by grounding them in reality. I felt like I was reading about real people going through real shit who had an undying real love. I am obsessed with the same Rainbow Rowell describes love and intimacy and how there was so much space here for each character to be honest about what they wanted from another. God I can't stop thinking about how Cary was obsessed with Shiloh's messed-up bottom row of teeth and how Shiloh loves his cracked under-moisturized elbows. SIMPLICITY!!!

My favorite part outside of the romance and friendship aspects of the book was the portrayal of Cary's time in the military. I loved that we got Shiloh's distaste surrounding the entire thing and the nuance of why Cary joined the military and what he did. So often in military romances or in fictionalized military media period the main character will be some tortured war vet who almost died on top top-secret mission. So it was nice to have a hero that wasn't that. It reminded me a lot of my parents' military service and how they needed a way to stay afloat and provide for their loved ones.

Overall this book was a knockout for me and I hope Rainbow continues to write more in the adult space.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. Shiloh, Cary and Mickey were all old friends in high school. Years later they are all reunited at Mikey's wedding. Cary and Shiloh are drawn together even after all the years. However, they take a slow path to get there.

Huge thanks to William Morrow for this ARC!!

Oh god oh god oh god I have so many feelings and words how do I write them all down.
As someone who adores Rainbow Rowell, I knew I was going to love this book, I just didn't know how much. Something about her writing makes you feel every single word in your bones and even when it hurts, it's so worth the pain.
The relationship between Shiloh and Cary was so mundane, yet completely extraordinary. It was like seeing a rainbow (no pun intended); yeah, they're pretty common, but you'll always rush outside to find it because something about it is just so magical.
I want to read this book over and over again until I have it memorized. I want to be their best friends. I want to shake them both for being so stupid and annoying. I want to send this book to every person I know and tell them they have to read it.
It would be a HUGE disservice to anyone to not read this book.
5 stars through and through.

thank you to net galley and william morrow for this eARC!

i really enjoyed this book! it was very fun, i liked the characters and i liked their relationships with each other.

i think my only real notes are that the pacing felt a little weird to me. some parts felt like they were too fast and just totally skipped over and others were too slow, but not so much that it took away from my reading experience, it just felt a little odd in places.

!!!MINOR SPOILER!!!


the other note i had was about how the chapters were labeled. some chapters, the “flashback” chapters, were labeled as before, and, in theory, i really like the idea of this. i think the concept of chapters being either “before” or “after” an event in the book is really cool and can work really well, however in this case what the chapter was before kept changing. it kind of spoiled the effect for me. if it had been that all the “before” chapters took place before the wedding or before some other important event i think it would have worked really well for me, but because that timeline kept jumping it didn’t really hit the way i wanted it to.


!!!SPOILER OVER!!!

all in all, i really did have a good time reading this book. it was cute, it was fun, it had me giggling and kicking my feet. good read! :)

Heartfelt fiction at its best! Interesting format. Loved the characters that reminded me of high school. Will be a pleasure to sell this summer and I can’t wait to read more..

I am excited for 10-15 years later when someone explains to Shiloh about girls being under-diagnosed with neurodivergence.

The best parts of this book are in Shiloh's head, and the second best part are in Cary's as he navigates the family life he created by absenting himself. This book isn't about poverty, but it's there threaded through their childhoods and the resulting anxiety in adulthood. It's not a ROMANCEY romance and it shouldn't have to be to be loved for what it is: the story of two teenagers who loved each other, and the adults they became.

HUGE fan of childhood friends to lovers here, so there was no way I was going to miss Rainbow Rowell's newest offering. And as always, she takes the mess of life and turns it into something poignant, touching, beautiful, and real. Very happy to add this to our order list for our collection!

I LOVE Rainbow Rowell. Landline, the Simon Snow series, Fangirl… I’m so happy for a new novel from her. I’m not a huge fan of short stories or graphic novels, so this was a welcome surprise.

In Rainbow Rowell's poignant and heartwarming novel, "Slow Dance," we are introduced to Shiloh, a woman navigating the complexities of life and longing for a sense of escape. Growing up in the wrong side of Omaha, Shiloh finds solace in her friendship with Cary, a kindred spirit who provides laughter and support amidst their challenging circumstances. As Shiloh embarks on her journey to college, Cary joins the Navy, and their paths diverge. Fourteen years later, Shiloh finds herself back in her childhood home, divorced, and working in a theater, not quite fulfilling her dreams of being onstage. When she receives an invitation to a high school friend's wedding, she reluctantly attends, hoping to reconnect with the past and perhaps find closure. As she prepares for the event, Shiloh grapples with emotions she never fully acknowledged. She realizes that her feelings for Cary were deeper than she had ever allowed herself to admit. With a mix of anticipation and trepidation, she wonders if she might see him again, the boy who held her heart without her knowing it. Rowell paints a vivid picture of Shiloh's inner struggles and longings, delving into the complexities of relationships, missed opportunities, and the enduring power of first love. "Slow Dance" is a beautifully crafted story that explores the nuances of human connection and the resilience of the human spirit, leaving readers with a sense of hope and a renewed appreciation for the relationships that shape our lives.