This is a good book. The two main characters are Shiloh and Cary. They know each other for all their lives. They lived just down the street from each other. They were best friends all through school. Once they graduated they took different paths. Shiloh went to college and Cary joined the Navy. They saw each other when Cary had leave. Shiloh married someone and had 2 kids and got divorced. They finally meet back up when Cary came home on family emergency because his Mom was ill. They meet back up and fell in love.

There were things I loved about this, and some things that didn't ring true for me. There was some extra-quirkiness with the characters that just didn't feel natural at times, but overall I was rooting for Shiloh and Cary the entire book. Be prepared for a lot of quick-witted dialogue, but also some conversations/conflicts that literally lasted the entire book (There were a few times where I was ready to move on to a new discussion). 3.5 stars overall.

And thanks again to Netgalley for the advanced copy!

I really enjoyed this book! It highlighted what it's like to be lower class without centering the whole story about that. It was a great will-they/won't-they, friends-to-lovers romance, and I really felt like the main characters were meant to be together.

3 5⭐️ - this was very uneven for me. I loved the concept, and parts of the execution. But overall, it just never hooked me like I expected it to. There were a lot of moving moments that kept me from DNFing, but in between those moments, a lot of frustration/boredom.

For the first half of this book Shiloh was literally the worst. She was such a brat to her friends and honestly just mean. That got a little better as the book went on, but Cary deserved better. Maybe didn't though because he put up with her for so many years. Every time I thought I would DNF this, something pulled me back in, so I guess there's that. There was a little redeeming quality towards the end, but overall this would be a recommended skip from me.

Have you ever wondered if risking your relationship and kissing your best friend would be worthwhile? This predicament is at the center of “Slow Dance,” a character driven modern romance with just a little sizzle.
Shiloh and Cary have been best friends since Junior High. Along with their buddy Mikey, the trio was inseparable. After 14 years, Shiloh and Cary reconnect at Mikey’s wedding. How did they all lose touch? Is there a way forward for all of them and are Shiloh and Cary really just friends?
I fell in love with these characters. I could have been the fourth wheel in their high school crew. Rainbow Rowell creates authentic, endearingly flawed characters and her third person omnipotent narrative allows you to see the same scene from different perspectives. The reader will understand the complexities of everyone’s emotions while rooting for a happily ever after.
No doubt this will be one of my favorite books of the year. Last year, “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” was my number one pick and “Slow Dance” has many of the same themes. It’s likely appropriate for ages 16+ there’s some profanity and a little spice (slightly more than PG13). Highly recommend!!

I hate to say this because I was genuinely so excited about this release, but I ended up DNFing this. It's a very character-driven book (which I usually love), but I ended up not liking any of the characters enough to want to read about them for 400 pages. This is likely a case of "it's not you, it's me". I bet a lot of die-hard Rainbow Rowell fans are going to love this though.

This book was unfortunately a disappointment to me. I have been (and still am) a huge fan of Rowell's writing. This book was not for me. I found the main characters annoying and messy. I understand part of the premise is that they are in their thirties and don't have it all figured out ,which I did like, but I found their miscommunication and inability to speak about their feelings frustrating. It felt like they could not find anyone else to date so they dated each-other, I did not even feel chemistry.

Thank you to netgalley for sending me a book in exchange for a review.

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for an advanced copy!

This was a great read! I am a Rainbow Rowell fan, and this was a great one to add to her collection. It had a great romance, but it felt more realistic than it usual in most romance novels today. I loved the characters and the hope for second chances.

I do not know how Ms. Rowell did it, but this book just just sounded, smelled, and tasted the Midwest. Slow Dance does not contain a story of any great importance to the world--just the two main characters, Cary and Shiloh. It is a story told in snippets of time and the present. It is the story of typical atypical families--the reader sees the good parts of the families and the bad parts and how they coped with each other. As the end of the book approached, (spoiler alert)I was so afraid it would have a tragic ending (just a feeling), but am happy to say the author carried out the themes and the tone of the book clear to the end so the reader has a smile the whole time.

Yikes! I thought i would love this because, yes it’s written very well but these two main characters were insufferable. First of all, Shiloh girl, she’s aggravating and I feel like she never grew up. Even though she’s been married and has two kids. She was a bit much at times and I just didn’t care for her.

Cary, had no personality. I couldn’t get a sense of him. Idk if the author toned him down because Shiloh is a lot but it made it hard for me to decipher if he really wanted a romantic relationship from her. And he also was a little douchy at times.

I gave this 3 stars though bc this author knows how to build chemistry, and authentic relationships and dialogue with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Deciding to DNF/maybe come back later to this one after about 30% of the book. Despite making it almost a third of the way through this story, I didn’t feel any chemistry between the two characters and felt like neither of them had grown over the 15 years and the continuation of miscommunication over a decade and a half.

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell is a step back into the past, a nostalgic visit, especially for those of us who lived it. And especially if you were a teen in the 90s or a young adult in the early 2000s. The music, the clothes, the pre-smartphone days. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to devour this book or read it slowly, savoring each page. I did a little of both.

Reading Slow Dance reminded me how good Rowell is at creating complicated humans, how she excels at telling a story, and how realistic her characters become. If you were a fan of Attachments, you should enjoy this one, too.

I have seen some mixed reviews for this one and that’s probably because it’s being promoted as a Romance with a capital ‘R’, but it’s more about two best friends who have lost touch trying to heal from life’s traumas while also finding their way back to one another. Their lives are messy and lonely, it takes time to heal, and Rowell warns you in the title: it’s a slow dance to the end. Settle in and enjoy the waltz.

I saw some reviewers who said they couldn’t stand the miscommunication—AND it is my least favorite trope—but I never even registered this one as containing miscommunication. For me, it was more that they were young, unable to understand what they were feeling in the past, and scared to admit it in the present. They couldn’t discuss feelings they didn’t understand yet. It took time for them to process and accept. I relished the angst and slow-burn of it all.

Rowell is a blunt writer, which I know not everyone appreciates, but I prefer her less descriptive style. Every word is chosen carefully and means something. Some chapters are short and some are longer, but it’s always enough to give the reader what they need. The chapters also alternated between the past and present but not in a specific order, just as the story unfolded. And it’s told in third person, mostly from Shiloh’s point of view with a few chapters from Cary’s point of view, as well.

Slow Dance is a quiet book that gave me big feelings. Nostalgic. Romantic. Humorous. Healing. It’s real life, which I found hopeful and refreshing.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book was published July 30, 2024.

This is my fifth book by this author. It was an easy read but felt a bit long.

I was so excited to read this advanced copy of Slow Dance! I am a big fan of Rainbow Rowell. Unfortunately, this book was not for me. It took me a while to get into it and it was almost a chore to get through. I am usually such a fun of second chance and friends to lovers romance. For me, I had a hard time relating to the main characters. I really did not like Shiloh. Thank goodness for June and her one liners, otherwise I don’t know if I would have finished the book.

I should have known this one wouldn’t be for me because second chance trope stories rarely are. But I’ve really enjoyed Rainbow Rowell’s books so wanted to give it a try. I decided to DNF at 15%. I might have liked it more if it was more of current day and less of their high school past but I couldn’t wait long enough to get there. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free book to review.

This one is not for me just because I cannot handle this level of second hand embarrassment and teenage angst but I’m sure it’s great for someone else

I’m a fan of all Rainbow Rowell’s books and this is no different. The characters are always so well-written and you really get to know who they are. Shiloh is such a quirky character and I wasn’t sure how I felt about her at first, but I learned to love her as I read. Cary is just a solid human being and the kind of guy everyone deserves to have in their life in some capacity. The characters show humor and I really appreciate that in any book. There were parts that were frustrating in the “will they or won’t they” kind of way, but that is how most romance books are, so I definitely recommend.

Really enjoyed this book! It was an easy read and the author made the characters very relatable and lovable. The story follows two friends who everyone believes should end up together, other than the two of them. By sprinkling chapters of the "before", we get an insight into how Shiloh and Cary were as their younger selves and how everything that happened in the past led to the now. There's also some emphasis on the different family dynamics, which I appreciated. It does seem like a slow burn if you are looking for something spicy, but the plot made the wait worth it.

Fans of Landline will love this one. Fans of Slow Dance will love Landline.

Unrequited love? Realistic characters? Second-chance romance? Yes to all.

Shiloh and Cary, the main characters, are likable and genuine. Shiloh, now a single, divorced mother, realizes she’s lost the spark she once had when she was 16 years old. A mutual friend’s wedding brings Cary (her high school crush) back into her life, just in time!

Rowell's signatures are all present: character arcs, plot, tenderness, and smart dialogue. For me, the addition of 90s flashbacks drew me in further.

My one "wish" with this book was that it would pick up the pace. I joked with a friend that it should be titled "Slow Book". However, the book’s overall effect still won me over.