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.

This story follows two friends who everyone thought would end up together except them. I read one of Rainbow Rowell’s book, Fangirl, and really enjoyed it so I was excited to hear she wrote an adult romance book. I really enjoyed the storyline of this book. The writing style was still the Rowell style and I loved the past writing style feeling. The setting is in a small town of north Omaha which was well told. I enjoyed the conflicts that the author incorporated into the story which kept me entertained until the ending of the book. This book is told from the past and current perspective of Shiloh and Cary’s life.

Shiloh is divorced with kids but doesn’t know where she’s heading in her life. I loved reading about a woman finding love even after having young children. As a person, I didn’t truly like her because I was getting munipulative but bland vibes that threw me off but I liked how strong she was. Then we have Cary who poor man was so into Shiloh but was getting so many mixed signals from her. There are many side characters in this book and I believe my favorite were Shiloh’s kids. The romance was well done with the friends to lovers and slow burn trope. It’s a messy type or romance and not the cutesy stuff but the real stuff.

The ending was well done and overall I really enjoyed this book. This was a great read and I can see how it’s a book club pick because it can hold an amazing conversation.I recommend checking this book out especially if you love The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

*this arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Like many, I have loved Rainbow Rowell’s past books and was excited to see another one from her. I will admit that this book was a little slow at the beginning and took me awhile to get in to, I really loved how well developed the characters were. It felt much more like a “real” story than the many trope filled romances that are popular lately (that I also like, to be fair). Recommend for those who like complicated love stories, just be wary of the pacing.

Best friends since before high school everyone thought it would be Shiloh and Cary forever. Except, neither Shiloh nor Cary knew how to bridge that gap in their relationship. What happens is many missed opportunities.

Now, they're reunited at a friend's wedding for the first time in nearly fifteen years. They have both lived full lives in the intervening years. Can they pick up what they put down so long ago, or has too much time passed between them?

I love Rainbow Rowell's simplistic approach to writing about life and love. I say simple when in reality it's anything but simple. I should more appropriately say she truly captures the nuances and complications of everyday life in the most relatable way.

I absolutely adored Cary and Shiloh and I was so pulled into their story. The book is laid out in that we get chapters in the present and chapters in the past. I liked that there's such a dichotomy between Shiloh and Cary past and present that I didn't need the "before" sub-headers to indicate when we were getting a glimpse of them in the past. I think this perfectly highlights how different they are, how much they've grown, as individuals in the intervening years, but also the subtle ways in which they've remained the same.

I will say that I had the most difficult time reconciling the past Shiloh from the present Shiloh. I just think this is because she's had a much more substantial change with everything she's gone through. Instead of becoming the actress she wanted to be Shiloh was married, now divorced, and is mother to two young children and back, again, living with her mother in the house she grew up in, and teaching children's theater. Shiloh doesn't want to be living with her mother, and I think she wishes some things had turned out differently with her life, but she cannot see a way to change any of that.

On the other side is Cary who, after graduation, joined the Navy and has been enlisted ever since only coming back to Omaha occasionally to look after his mother. I think it shows a sense of steadfastness. He had one trajectory for his life and he has stuck with it for the long haul. The only thing, or someone, who could have moved him from his course would be Shiloh.

They've each carefully circled around one another, not wanting to rock the boat, not wanting to risk losing their friendship. The will they/won't they is pretty spot on as is their undeniable connection to one another.

I really liked how all the other characters surrounding Shiloh and Carey are rooting for them, it's just Shiloh and Carey themselves that are the biggest obstacles.

I'm happy that Rainbow Rowell decided to return to an adult title this time around after having spent the last few years in the YA and YA Fantasy realm. I was first introduced to her writing through her first book Attachments and these types of books of hers have always held a special place for me. I can now honestly say that Slow Dance fits perfectly in there as well.

I had wanted to try Rainbow Rowell's writing and I did end up enjoying this book. This was a story about Cary and Shiloh and how their deep friendship from the time they were kids grew into a much different but still much the same relationship years later. The story was different and the characters were different than your usual romance novel, but they grew on me. The characters had more depth than some other novels, and more tragic history, which also made the story a bit slow at parts. There were constant flashbacks which, at times, interrupted the flow, but we're also relevant to the story being told. Overall, it was a good book, although not a favorite. I will try more of Rowell's work though. Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC! #slowdance #williammorrow #netgalley

I have been waiting years and years for Rainbow Rowell to write another adult novel. Her book "Attachments" is one of my all time favorite reads. So when I was offered an early copy of her latest "Slow Dance," my excitement level was sky high.

"Slow Dance" did not hit for me the same way her previous novel did, but I did enjoy this cute second chance romance. I appreciated that the present day time line was set in the not so long ago past instead of the technology fueled world of today. I connected with these characters because they were experiencing the events at a time where I would have been the same age. I found myself routing for these characters even with their flaws. The kids were written adorably.

This book is light and sweet and can be read in a day. I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy for my honest review.