I've enjoyed previous books by Rainbow Rowell and was looking forward to her latest release. In this novel you follow Shiloh and Cary, who've been friends since childhood. You alternate between when they are teenagers to their now adult lives. In their current time Cary and Shiloh have drifted apart but are reconnecting at a fellow friend's wedding. From there Carey and Shiloh find they are still drawn to one another just like they were back in high school. They both wonder if now is their time to be together.

While I did enjoy parts of this book, I did have a harder time getting through this one than Rowell's previous books. I enjoyed seeing Cary and Shiloh's alternating timelines, seeing how they were in high school and seeing them finally reconnect after all those years they drifted apart. Seeing them reconnect was interesting too, they both have obligations and obstacles in their way and it's not an easy path, they have to find ways to make it work.

I haven’t read Rainbow Rowell since I was a teenager, and honestly, it just didn’t resonate with me like it used to! I liked it, I just couldn’t relate to the characters or the story. It was totally a me issue!

Heartbreakingly real. A devastating slow burn.

I've not read Rainbow Rowell since Fangirl (which I loved), and I missed her vivid descriptions. In almost every Friends-to-Lovers story, I find myself asking: why haven't the two got together yet? Surely, friends would just know. But with this book, there are answers galore to that question. Every reader gets it: we don't always comprehend what we deserve, or we settle for much less. What we say versus how we feel inside can be so divergent. The teenage versions of ourselves are ill-equipped for romantic declarations and the adult versions travel in a short loop each day. Life's circumstances can keep you away.

This one was a deep read for me, and I found myself thinking about it for hours after. Gorgeous writing.

Special thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Absolutely loved this book! I read it in one sitting! Thus has become a one click author for me! Thanks to the publisher

Loved this one! I think we will be seeing it as a highly-sought after pick for a lot of book clubs. I highly recommend this unique story. Rainbow Rowell does it again!

Slow Dance

Thank you to William Morrow, NetGalley, and Rainbow Rowell for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5/5

I’ve been excited about Slow Dance since it was announced, as Rainbow Rowell is my favorite author. I knew I was in for something good. Rainbow has a way of telling stories that sinks into your skin. The way she writes makes you feel what the characters are feeling. I can visualize her stories so well. The balance of telling enough detail and not too much is perfect.
Slow Dance is no different. A love story about not quite the right time and communication not on the same wavelength. Usually, I hate communication issues tropes. They can be a lazy way of writing a love story, but Rainbow makes it more believable, more real. It’s more understandable and makes sense. The characters are so well developed, so complex and realistic.
Was it my favorite Rainbow Rowell book? No. I didn’t love Cary as much as some of her other male lead characters. But it was still hard to put down and gave me all the feels. Highly recommend Slow Dance!

4.5 stars. I haven’t read a Rainbow Rowell book in a long time so I forgot how it feels to read her books and why I love them so much. This book’s depiction of a unique love story was so beautiful and heartfelt and it made me cry multiple times.
Slow Dance tells the story of Shiloh and Cary, two best high school friends who have not seen each other in 14 years. It deftly explores their past (in an interesting non-linear way) as they find their way back to each other in the present. The books deals with difficult subject matter and does not gloss over how hard making a life together will be. This book is wonderfully written and I hope Rainbow Rowell blesses us with many more adult stories.
Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Five Word Book Review: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁.

Slow Dance is a book about best friends in high school who lose touch and come back together in their 30s. It’s visceral. Sad and hopeful, selfish and prodding. There’s an unendingness to it that will make you shiver. They were and continue to be terrible communicators. They think they’ve shared how they feel about each other but they never do. Not sufficiently. And they can’t get past it. It’s maddening in its reality.

There’s no way I can summarize this book with enough gravitas so you just need to trust me and read it. Rainbow Rowell never lets you down.

Shiloh, Mikey, and Cary meet in middle school and grew up as best friend oddballs in Nebraska. While Mikey had a proper middle class upbringing, Cary and Shiloh lived on the wrong side of the tracks, in single parent homes, struggling in all ways imaginable. Except, not, because they had each other.

After 14 years of radio silence, Cary and Shiloh reconnect at Mikey’s second wedding. And it’s rough. Cary is a Naval officer, Shiloh a recently divorced mother of two. Their lives are complicated, but they’ve always been. The biggest complication? They’ve been in love as long as they’ve known each other but have never gotten out of their own way to be together.

Told expertly in both real time and flashbacks, it’s the story of two heartbroken teenagers who have to learn to love themselves before they can love anyone else.

It’s such a beautiful, tender story that had me in tears one minute and laughing out loud the next. The supporting cast is so full and expertly written and I dare you not to fall in love with Juniper and Gus, Shiloh’s kids.

This is what fiction should be. It should fill you up.

I have my own Cary, who, ironically lives in San Diego, and while texting him as I was reading this book, he frustrated me so greatly that I texted, “I hate you so much sometimes that my heart swells with love.”

That’s what this book feels like.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for the ARC to read and review. Available July 23, 2024.

"Slow Dance" by Rainbow Rowell is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and self-discovery set in Omaha. Shiloh's journey back to her hometown leads her to confront past regrets and rediscover a lost love in Cary. Rowell's tender prose and vivid characters make for a compelling read, with themes of identity and personal growth adding depth to the narrative. Overall, "Slow Dance" is a beautifully crafted novel that resonates with its bittersweet portrayal of human relationships and the pursuit of authenticity.

I loved this book so much! I just want to keep reading about Shiloh and Cary even more! They were bestfriends in highschool but then couldn’t communicate well after and parted ways. This book shows how you should say what you really mean not what you think the other person wants to hear. I love how the author made the characters so real with serious real life problems even while they try to reconnect. Go read this!

I would give this book 10 stars if I could. The exact kind of Rainbow Rowell book I like the best, like an excellent combination of Eleanor & Park and Landline. Love the back and forth on the timelines, love the way in which trauma and background play into character reactions and development in totally realistic ways, love both Cary and Shiloh. I always end up with Rainbow Rowell books that the inside of my chest hurts for awhile, and this one did not disappoint.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am in LOVE with these characters. I went into it only knowing Rainbow Rowell from her Simon Snow trilogy and her YA works. This book surpassed my expectations.

bestselling author of Landline, Fangirl, and Eleanor & Park-Slow Dance tells the humorous and heartbreaking love story of best friends Shiloh and Cary from their inseparable teen years to their far-flung adulthoods as they try to figure out what their relationship is, where it went wrong, and how to finally make it right.

I genuinely didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did and these characters were so relatable and flawed that they felt real.
I loved the way it was written, and the way their dialogue flowed so well between mental and verbal.

I will definitely be going back to read it again once it’s been published and will likely be buying the physical book too!

Thank you to NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Rainbow Rowell finally writing another adult novel, I knew I would eat this up.

Alternating between the past and the current timeline we see two people who are meant for each other find their way back into each other’s lives.

Rowell has a way of writing characters that feel so real, so tangible that it’s absolutely heart wrenching to read in the best way.

There was a line in this book I had to put my kindle aside and do a lap around my house because it was so good it made me ache. The yearning is unmatched in this book.

There is some of the miscommunication trope but in a way that makes sense because the miscommunication happens when they’re young and dumb and comes back to haunt them later, so I didn’t mind.

Overall I devoured this book in 24 hours and Rainbow Rowell has not let me down. I can’t wait to read whatever genius she comes up with next.

Rainbow Rowell writes characters that feel like they exist off the page. While it took me a little bit to connect with Shiloh and Cary, once I was into their story, I was fully in. I flew through this, and wish now that I’d slowed down a little so I could spend more time with them.

If you loved Attachments, you’ll love this too 🩷

I’ve even waiting for a new adult novel from rainbow Rowell but to be honest I will read anything she writes. I love the dialogue which is one of the reason I love her books. I loved the setting and 90s references. I graduated in 1993 so…. Yeah. The characters were challenging. They drove me crazy but in the end i understood their motivations and reasoning. I loved it. They frustrated me but I loved it. You did it again Rainbow!

Rowell just never disappoints. Shy and Cary are such terrific characters, and their relationship is written with such beauty and honesty. It is heart wrenching and powerful as you will find yourself hoping these two will find a way to find their way to each other.

What a roller coaster! I almost DNFd this book and looking back there were multiple times I think I could have. This was not your fairy tale, too sweet and give you a toothache romance. For a lack of a better word it had some grit. I found myself wavering on my like for the FMC but found her to be just as flawed as I imagine myself in my own head so I read on. I felt the beginning and middle to almost drag on and the ending felt rushed. It jumped perspectives in a way I would have imagined myself to get lost but found it to make so much sense. It would jump backwards to a point in the MCs timeline that would fit so beautifully with the present time. Never once did I feel lost in the story. My adoration for the FMC only grew as the story went on because of this. She felt like a real persona. The story didn’t feel all polished and glittery that you find with many contemporary romances. I can’t say this would be one of my first rereads on the list but the story will stick with me because of how real Rowell made the characters. Rowell found a way to make the MCs feel so real and the drama not over the top. Even though I felt the ending rushed and really felt like there was no way for a happy ending I couldn’t have felt more satisfied.

I'm fairly confident in saying that this is my favorite book of 2024. I have always been a fan of Rainbow Rowell but the way she wrote Shiloh and Cary is next level. She brought up feelings that I've had buried for years and broke my heart and repaired it again and again!

I’ll read anything Rainbow Rowell writes and was thrilled to be approved for this book. This author’s strength is creating characters who are genuine, and whose story you become invested it. She did it again with Cary and Shiloh as the reader follows their connection from teen years to present in alternating timelines. I loved the banter between the two, and also appreciate how the characters are shown as real people, flaws and all. This is another beautiful book to add to my Rainbow collection and I’ll recommend it at publication. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read in advance.

The best of Rowell's YA and adult titles, all in one book! The time jumps are done masterfully, with plot elements unfolding in such a way that the reader builds understanding of Shiloh and Cary's deep but complex relationship at a pace that keeps the reader wanting more.