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.

I MISSED RAINBOW ROWELL'S VOICE SO MUCH! I've read Fangirl an obscene number of times and I could recognize RR's voicey writing in a blind sample. Her writing is so comforting and funny and witty and wonderful and it was so delightful to be back in Omaha with her for a while.

I think people will be divided on this book. The two main characters are incredibly frustrating, bordering on unlikeable in moments. But they have their reasons and there's so much to unpack with both Shiloh and Cary and their issues. It takes a long time for them to work through their issues, both together, and apart, and I really loved the process of this. There are a lot of quick scene cuts, and it felt a lot like a play, which maybe with Shiloh's theater background that was purposeful.

In the end, this is truly a beautiful slow dance and I really enjoyed everything about it.

2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.

Overall, if you want a second chance romance that has a lot of realism and family drama, this book is for you. However, it was not for me. I struggled to get through it and it was moslty becasue of the two main characters. Shiloh is severly unlikable, she pokes and prods at Cary constantly as a kid and then has 0 emotional intelligence as an adult. I also suffer from anxiety, but it was her entire personality and her own character never grew becasue of it. Cary cannot communicate to save his life, which is very real for CIS/Het men but I don't need to read about men like that. He is quick to anger and jump to conclusions instead of having a single real conversation. He was more likeable than Shiloh, but not by a lot. I never felt like she and Cary actually connected fully because they were both holding back so much. The proposal came out of left field and made no sense at all. I think I yelled at my phone while I was reading that section.

I didn't dislike the writing or the other characters, but the sadness of 2006 Omaha was a bit overwhelming too. It was all just a bunch of sorrow and depression wrapped in a romance cover with two characters I wasn't rooting for at the center. A tough read for sure.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC!

If you are looking for a second chance, slow burn, with the emotional reconnection then look no further!

Slow dance is about childhood best friends who fall apart and then reunite years later. We are brought on a story where we see decisions being made and the consequences from them.

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for this eARC!

This book follows high school best friends Shiloh and Cary from when they meet as teenagers and reconnect at 33. There is a lot of switching between present day in the book and flashbacks that help understand how each of them grew over the years. I really enjoyed both of the main characters in the present day and did find their personalities frustrating when there we flashback to high school. Around the middle of the story, I understood more of why we needed to understand them as their younger selves to see the growth in both of them.

The story was very well written, and I felt like I really got to know all the characters. Some of the flashback chapters were short but helped fill in many gaps in both Shiloh and Cary's story to understand they was they acted as adults. To be honest in the beginning of the book I did not think I was going to like this and thought it would be hard to get through mainly because of their personalities from high school but I kept going and truly started to love both of them and wanted to know how it would end.

The ending was a little rushed, but I truly enjoyed the ride and the friendship of Shiloh and Cary.

I devoured this book! I read and enjoy a lot of romance novels, but it was so great to read a romance between characters who felt like real adults with real lives, not just a series of TikTok checkboxes. Rainbow Rowell has such a talent for writing about the messiness of relationships (romance, friendships, parent/child, siblings, etc.) and the messiness of your expectations for yourself vs. your reality. If you're looking for escapism and grand gestures, this is not the book for you. If you're looking for a story and characters with the highs, lows and mundanities of real life (especially if you're over 30 and have kids), this is well worth your time!

I’ve been a fan of Rainbow Rowell since her debut Attachments (I read it every October). Her first stand-alone novel in over 10 years did not disappoint. I finished it a couple of weeks ago and keep thinking about it. 

SLOW DANCE (pub 07.23))  poignant story about 2 high school friends who had a special connection, lost touch during college, and reconnected in their 30s. Thank you to  William Morrow and Netgalley for the early copy.

My favorite bits: Elements of 1990/2000's nostalgia.Real characters with messy, complicated lives and endearing flaws. Unique pacing that gave a true glimpse into the characters fears and dreams.The flashback/before chapters provide a heartwarming backstory while also anchoring us to the present. Banter and dialogue that was both sassy and sentimental. Rowell perfected the duality of teenage awkwardness and angst alongside the lifelong impact those friendships leave. I related to this story and characters in such an unexpected way. What a pleasant surprise.
If you like Rainbow Rowell, add this to your TBR. If you haven't read her before, add this to your TBR.

Fangirl is one of my absolute favorite books and I've enjoyed most of Rainbow Rowell's books. This was a bit of a miss for me though. It felt pretty melancholy even though it's somewhat of a romance. I'll still pick up any book Roweel writes, but was a little disappointed by this one.

Synopsis: Cary and Shiloh are high school best friends who reconnect at a mutual friend’s wedding.

Thoughts: This was adorable! I loved the jumping bath and forth between their teen years and current day. The plot was adorable and I was rooting for Cary and Shiloh since chapter 1! I devoured this book and could not put it down!

Thank you to Rainbow Rowell, William Morrow and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

My favorite Rainbow Rowell book is Attachments, hands down. While I didn't like this one as much, they are very similar in their vibe, and I couldn't put it down. It was a very sweet story, and I loved how it ended.

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 loved this book so much. Rainbow Rowell knows how to write honest, flawed, endearing characters no matter what genre she’s writing. Shiloh and Cary’s friends to lovers arc was so real I felt like I was reading about people I know in real life, and I love that. I was engaged from start to finish.

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