I've read all of Rainbow Rowell's short stories, it's been on my "to buy without even reading the plot or seeing the cover" list for years.
Slow dance, like all her other stories, is a very sweet story, initially perhaps a little slow, but little by little the author's unmistakable style
will make you devour this story.
The tropes are: second chance, friends to lovers, flashbacks, and slow burn.
The main characters are Shiloh and Cary, we meet them in high school, they are BFF. Like I said, the story has flashbacks, so we go back and forth between Shilosh and Cary's present and past life, This was a bit confusing at first, because everything isn't in chronological order, but after a while, as you get into the heads of the characters, the story flows smoothly.
After high school, Shiloh goes to college and Cary joined the Navy instead. They meet each other after 14 years, for Mikes' wedding (another friend from High school).
Shiloh is now divorced with two kids, and she goes to the party with the sole purpose of seeing Cary again.
How can you not root for them?
Thanks to Netgalley, William Morrow and Rainbow Rowell for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.
#SlowDance #NetGalley

Shiloh and Cary have known each other seemingly forever. And while they used to spend every waking second together, they never actually got together. The timing was always off, or Shiloh was always off, she's not really sure. But when they finally meet back up at their other best friend's second wedding, things start to happen.
Rainbow Rowell tells the will they/won't they story through a mix of past and present. The story moves quickly and the characters have that trademark Rainbow Rowell quirkiness.

Goodreads says this is my eighth Rainbow Rowell book, and while this isn't my favorite one, I think it will appeal to a lot of people who enjoy second chance/friends to lovers romances. Though also, this isn't heavy on the romance aspect and is more about knowing someone and choosing them, if that makes sense. A practical romance, maybe? More of a focus on the day-t0-day vs. lots of perfect dates and big romantic gestures that you'd see in a typical romance book.

The characters are done well, and this is where the book really shines. They are flawed and feel real. The kids aren't perfect and precocious and always saying funny things. Family members have complicated relationships and fight. It's not all cookie cutter perfect and it feels honest, even when it's hard.

While I liked the flashbacks and they felt necessary to help make the story feel whole, sometimes it took me a second to adjust (we're in the present, oh we're back in high school now for two pages for a quick story, okay, let's go back to the present, aaaand now we're in college). Sometimes I felt pulled away from the current story and had to remember where it had left off due to jerky transitions.

The end 20-ish% dragged on and felt watered down. It was like all the decisions had already been made so instead of things unfolding, I felt like I was being quickly told instead of shown what happened. I get that a lot of questions aren't going to be answered, but after all we'd been through I expected a little bit more.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars - I put this down at a little over a third through this book. Second chance is one of my favorite tropes and I really wanted to love this, but I couldn't get into it. I know often with second chance there are past and present chapters which I don't mind, but in this book the past chapters were not in chronological order which made it a little bit difficult to follow.

I'm a longtime fan of Rainbow Rowell and so I jumped at the chance to read Slow Dance. It's a New Adult, angsty, slow burn romance and even though it’s pretty long, I didn’t want to put it down.

Shiloh, Cary and Mike were best friends in high school and always together as teens. Their friendship helped them survive high school and their rough neighborhood. The story alternates between present and flashbacks to the past and we can see that Shiloh and Cary have longed for each other since they were teens

After high school, Shiloh went off to college and Cary joined the Navy. It’s been fourteen years since they all graduated and they are getting ready for Mike’s wedding. Shiloh is divorced with two kids, working at a Children’s Theater and hoping to see Cary at the wedding. He’s working on a ship in the Navy and trying to help his family with their challenges and my heart broke for him.

The characters felt so real. I didn’t always understand Shiloh’s actions (more so when she was young) but I liked her and rooted for her and Cary. There’s some sass in their comments, especially Shiloh’s. There were times when it was hard for them to communicate their feelings for each other and that was hard. There were also some funny moments that I loved – even a few that made me laugh out loud.

This is a slow burn romance and I couldn’t put it down, 4 1/2 stars for me. It was special when they found their happiness in the end (HFN).

Reviewed for NetGalley:

I have loved every Rowell novel, and it’s been a while since she released a new one, so was very happy to get my hands on this one early.

A slow burn, or slow dance if you will, 14 years in the making. Told through a dual perspective, and dual timelines, Rowell tells the story of childhood best friends Shiloh and Cary, and all their missed opportunities. Until Shiloh and Cary reunite at a friend’s wedding, maybe things will be different this time around.

Beautifully written, I could have read another 500 pages just seeing Shiloh or Cary fold their laundry, for how entranced I was in their story. Already can’t wait to reread.

Another fabulous Rainbow Rowell book. It was so lovely to follow along with Shiloh and Cary finding their way back to each other.

This book is about two people who care so deeply about one another but just can't seem to get the timing right. It's a Rainbow Rowell book for adults, but if you think that means there won't be questioning or yearning, you'd be incorrect. The *yearning* in this book!!

It took me a little while to connect with the two main characters, perhaps because they were so immersed in the responsibilities and minutiae of their everyday lives and responsibilities. But when they reconnect, the everyday moments seem more special, heightened by the presence of another person. Little things, like a drive to run errands, or a cup of tea, feel so different when there's someone special by your side.

I also appreciate how well Rainbow writes about financial struggles and what it's like to grow up without having much.

Also, I absolutely adored Shiloh's children, Junie especially. She reminded me of the precocious, overly-dramatic kids that I'm currently raising.

I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley, but I'm fairly certain I'll still end up buying it when it's released. Not my favorite Rainbow Rowell book, but still lovely.

The way I squealed when I got approved for this ARC 🫣😭

This book was so charming and aching and lovely and everything I've come to expect from
Rainbow's ability to capture this melancholy nostalgia is genuinely remarkable. The persistent friendship between Cary and Shiloh and the natural evolution of their relationship was a joy to witness. The mature yet playful banter added a delightful layer to the narrative. Shiloh's journey of self-discovery, grappling with her expectations and reality, resonated deeply with me. Rainbow's portrayal of emotions like insecurity, embarrassment, anxiety, and rejection is truly unmatched!

The pacing was a bit unusual -- We journey with the characters in the present, then transition to non-sequential flashbacks from the 90's and 00's. Occasionally, we return to present-day memories, providing additional context to our main storyline. This unique narrative style, while unusual, never felt jarring and kept me fully engaged.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Romance the Rainbow Rowell way!

By that, I mean the characters are deeply flawed, real, and beautiful. Their insecurities brought my own to the surface. I knew Shiloh's fears because they were my own. I knew Cary's communication issues because they were so relatable. Maybe too relatable.

And it's spicy! (For Rainbow Rowell)

So much about this book is right. The setting is standard Rowell: Omaha. The world-building is spot on, with these characters dealing with bad neighborhoods, aging family members, and real-world dynamics that should sound depressing, like divorce, shared custody, and the logistics of being a military family. However, somehow, Rowell paints a magical story that's still a romantic fantasy come to life. The story taps into how no matter how old we get, or how much our lives change or divert from that ideal we thought we'd have when we were in high school, life can still be a fairytale. Thank you, Rainbow, for showing readers that the magic is never gone.

Story: 5 stars
Character Development: 6 stars!
Writing: 4 stars

I. Love. This. Book.

It’s been 7+ years since reading Eleanor and Park, and 1/3 of the way through this book I realized it was making me feel all the same things.

It feels like real people in real love. Not the glossy romance novel love, but complicated and true.

I love that there’s no contrived “breakup” at the 70% mark. There are real struggles and the couple figures them out together.

I’ll be honest, for the first 50 pages I wasn’t sure- I wasn’t sure I liked these characters. We’re so used to reading shiny perfect people- who don’t have quirks or anxieties or weird little habits. But then I just fell in love with them- The timeline jumping is perfect. I love it! Can’t wait to get this book into the world!

Slow Dance was a perfect name for this book because that’s exactly what it was-a slow burn romance where everything happens at a tortoise’s pace. That’s not to say that I didn’t like it, but I usually prefer things a little more fast paced.

I loved Cary and Shiloh’s second chance love story. I especially liked the before flashbacks as it painted a picture of the two falling in love at the wrong time and not acting on feelings sooner. I loved the character development and the growth that was shown from high school to adulthood.

At first, I didn’t like Shiloh as a character, but she grew on me. Her realism and her life in general felt so relatable, like you were reading about an actual high school friend you knew once. I liked Cary right away but wanted to shake him for how blasé he was about everything in the past. I definitely teared up at some parts, especially when certain things were revealed. If a book makes me feel something, anything, that’s already a win.

The pacing overall was a bit unusual and a little too slow for my taste, but I liked the early 2000s feel of it. While this wasn’t my favorite book from this author by any means, however I did enjoy the beautiful love story that reminded me of my own best friend.

Rainbow Rowell does it again. Like Landline, in Slow Dance Rowell takes on adulthood and mines the interior lives of folks who are-- not past their prime exactly, but perhaps learning how it feels when the bloom is off the rose. What really sells her work though, is that she hasn't forgotten the rose and knows how to make someone like me, in their forties, both feel seen and nostalgic for the best parts of being young.

I was, of course, rooting for Shiloh and Carey from page one.

Typically, books and films where miscommunication plays such a large role drive me mad, but Slow Dance held on to me the whole way through. I can't wait for it to be released so I can recommend it to all my friends!

PS- "That's Where I Am" by Maggie Rogers has to be the main soundtrack cut for the movie!

Thank you Net Galley and William Morrow for this ARC!

It’s been so long since I’ve read one of Rainbow Rowell’s books and I was really looking forward to reading this adult novel from her. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I wanted to. I really loved Shiloh’s awkwardness and her moments of overwhelming emotion really hit home for me. While I liked Cary as a character, I didn’t love the two of them together and was mostly rooting for them because it was a second chance romance. Since it was second chance I understood the flashbacks, but the way that they were in no particular order gave me whiplash and made it hard to care for their relationship and feel them grow together through the years. The flashbacks made this feel so long, and yet the ending felt rushed to quickly tie up every loose end. I definitely think I would’ve been more attached to the characters if the flashbacks were in chronological order and told more of a story than out of order bits and pieces of their lives.

Overall, I really appreciated these two flawed, normal adults working on ways to come together for one another! I just wish the timeline and writing evoked more emotion from me.

I received this book as an ARC copy to review.

How does Rainbow Rowell able to devastate readers emotionally over and over again with her storytelling? Slow Dance is an amazing story of young love, what could have been, and how we can grow old, grow apart, and still be the same person we were when we were 17. This book has so much hope, loss, and overall angst.

Shiloh is a mom of two kids, who goes to her close high school friend's second wedding hoping and not hoping to see the best friend she had in high school. While struggling to find who she is amongst divorce, coparenting, and navigating adulthood she reconnects with a Cary, and nothing goes as planned from there.

I loved everything about this book, I couldn't put it down from start to finish. I have already recommended to friends, and will be buying a copy when it comes out in July.

Always a fan of Rowell and how she tells the story of a relationship. These characters are messy and messed up, like most humans are in some way, especially in our precocious younger years when we think we known it all but totally do not. But thankfully we grow beyond our teenage selves. I thought I would hate Shiloh at the beginning and I ended loving her and rooting for her. Her commentary on making friends "out in the wild" was brilliant and relatable. And Cary... what a damaged boy always hoping for love in his life but broken down by his family of origin. Well done.

BOOK REVIEW ✨ SLOW DANCE BY RAINBOW ROWELL ✨

Big thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the eARC (baby’s first arc!!)

Slow Dance is a new upcoming adult novel by Rainbow Rowell that centres around Shiloh and Cary and their relationship as they go from teens, to college students, to adults. i loved this story! the story spans their 14 years of friendship as they navigate love, change, divorce, and distance to name a few challenges. initially as i began reading i found myself comparing it to normal people, but as i got further in i saw deeper comparisons between slow dance and talking at night by claire daverley. both explored characters who were so deep into their own experiences and trauma that it made it hard to communicate and open up to the person closest to them, who they wanted the most.
this felt like rowell’s most mature novel yet, both in themes and writing style, but it still had that rainbow rowell flavour i love so much. the characters and relationships were complex and at times the characters weren’t always likable even though you’re always rooting for them, which is exactly what i look for in a novel.
i’ve been a fan of rainbow’s since 2014 so was a little nervous at her departure again from YA, even though i loved landline by her, but this was brilliant and heart wrenching and had me shaking my kindle in the best way!

i would have loved just a little bit more exploration on shiloh’s time away from cary. we got a brief look into why her marriage ended but i couldn’t connect why she would have married anyone but cary in the first place so that would have been the cherry on top for me, exploring her psyche and choices just a little bit more because she was so interesting as a character.

overall this was a 4 star read for me! can’t recommend enough especially if you love character studies!

4.75/5 (spoiler in final section)

First of all, thank you William Morrow, Harper Collins and Netgalley for the eARC of Rainbow Rowell’s “Slow Dance.” Throughout most of my teenage and early adulthood, Rainbow Rowell was an instrumental author in who I was and what I loved to read and it was an incredible thrill to see the email that I had gotten approved for this.

If you are starting this, please - give it time to really set in and feel these characters.

Slow Dance follows Shiloh and Cary, a second chance romance pair that ultimately never knew they had feelings for each other but really knew they had feelings for each other. Shiloh is taking care of her family, so is Cary and ultimately their romance is slowly built over the whole novel.

What I loved:
- How relatable and honest these characters felt. Their houses were messes, they had grilled cheese for dinner, they ditched real life to go get ice cream. It made me fall in love with them instantly because I felt like I could see myself in them.
- They weren’t typical romance or adult characters. They had responsibilities, they weren’t perfect or going out to fancy dinners. They reminded me of people I knew in real life.
- How much their friends were cheering them on. It felt like it was truly a HUGE moment when they finally connected. A giant smile on my face and a giant clap from all of their friends.
- Non-Tropey romance. While this may not be classified as a romance book (or it may be), it didn’t feel like classic tropes or something I expected. I never knew what was coming and didn’t feel like this was predicted.
- The “spicy” scenes felt like LOVE, not like sex. I felt like I was finally experiencing love between two people, not just a random hookup.

What I didn’t expect to like:
- I am fully used to Rainbow Rowell’s adult writing style and it took me a little while to let my guard down and understand how this book was different than something like Fangirl or Eleanor and Park.

The ONE thing I could have lived without:
- Some anatomical wording during the love making scene. It just gives me the ick in general and feels a little medical.

Wow. Wow. I LOVED this one and breezed through it in a day.

📖 The Details
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

⏱️ Quick Summary
Shiloh and Cary grew up together in a rough neighborhood with some rough family dynamics. They didn't date as teens, but they were just..."beyond" that with their bond. The story follows them over the year, switching from past and present, through hardship and heartbreak.

💁‍♀️ My Take
This was just... beautiful. Rainbow Rowell never disappoints, and I think this is my favorite by her by far. Shiloh and Cary were just such REAL characters with flaws and growth. They grow up together then grow apart then back together, and it's just heartbreaking and sweet the whole way through. I loved the dialogue and the FEELINGS and the side characters and the whole backstory. Would definitely recommend.

5 stars ⭐️

Another Rowell hit novel. I loved the look back through time throughout the story. Normally I don't always enjoy popping back and forth in the timeline, but this was different. It felt much more linear and well-done than others I've read. This novel has something for everyone and we will definitely be purchasing several copies for the collection.