While I love Rainbow Rowell, I’m not the biggest fan of the second chance romance trope. However, I did have to read this to see if maybe just maybe, Rainbow could make me love just one second chance. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Shiloh, I just couldn’t connect with her character like I was hoping to, I really enjoyed the story. I think Shiloh was just a little bit immature for a woman who was supposed to be a divorcee with kids. If you can get past that though, you can will absolutely love Slow Dance. I gave it a 3.8. Definitely a book I think those who enjoy the second chance trope will enjoy.

*Slow Dance* is a heartfelt exploration of friendship, lost dreams, and the complexities of love as Shiloh and Cary navigate the passage of time and the choices that shaped their lives. Set against the backdrop of their shared childhood in north Omaha, the story captures the bittersweet nostalgia of their once-promised future together. Now, fourteen years later, Shiloh grapples with her unfulfilled aspirations, a failed marriage, and the weight of her past as she prepares to confront Cary at a friend's wedding. Their reunion holds the promise of rekindled feelings, but both must come to terms with the changes life has thrust upon them. This poignant tale will resonate with readers who appreciate stories about second chances and the enduring power of connection, making it a compelling read for anyone reflecting on the roads not taken.

I loved Slow Dance, just like I’ve always loved Rainbow Rowell so much! Her books always suck me in and I leave feeling so many emotions oh my god. <3

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I can undoubtedly say I have never read a main character like Shiloh before.

Rainbow Rowell has such an excellent ear for dialogue and character development. While some of the themes between books can be similar, she always writes such different characters. It's easy to sink into their lives and watch as they grow and change over the course of the novel.

In this case, it's Shiloh and Cary. They were best friends in high school, but lost touch for multiple reasons after graduation. Cary went into the Navy, and Shiloh went to college and wound up back in their hometown, married and divorced with two kids. They run into each other at the wedding of a mutual friend, and thus begins a new phase of their story. Rowell interweaves the Before and After, filling in the blanks for readers and creating a compelling narrative. The will-they or won't-they is fascinating, because Shiloh especially is afraid to repeat past mistakes and lose Cary, and struggles with just letting go and hoping for the best. This is another beautiful story from Rowell. Highly recommended. Received from Netgalley and Libro.fm in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Rainbow Rowell’s Slow Dance is a beautifully crafted story that captures the magic of quiet, everyday moments. Her signature warmth and relatable characters make this a heartfelt, engaging read that lingers long after the last page. Perfect for anyone who loves stories with emotional depth and a touch of nostalgia.

****1/2

Midwestern childhood best friends turned sweethearts get a second chance at love in Rainbow Rowell’s latest luminous novel about the mundanity of your thirties and reconnecting with the one that got away.

Shiloh arrives at Mikey’s second wedding (to a local girl, this time) wondering if Cary, the other member of their high school triumvirate of best friends, will be attending as well. Mikey was the artist, Shiloh the theatre geek, and Cary, in ROTC uniform and the only one who drives, the lynchpin. Now a career Navy man, they’ve only seen one another once since basic training, when home on leave before his first deployment, Cary went to visit Shiloh at school. They spent a magical weekend in bed together, confessed their love, and then Shiloh broke Cary’s heart when she sent him off thinking it meant nothing, since she couldn’t see a feasible way to be together if she was in school in Iowa while he was off seeing the world. Practical maybe, but painful.

The novel moves back and forth from their high school and college years in the nineties to the present (2006). Shiloh and Cary spend Mikey’s wedding slow-dancing to every song, but Shiloh, divorced with two kids and back at home living with her mom while she runs a children’s theatre non-profit, is in the same head space as when they were nineteen year-olds, in love with each other, yes; but how can they make it work when he’s stationed in California and deployed six to nine months at a time? When Cary’s mother slips and falls at home, it’s Shiloh that Cary reaches out to for help. And when he goes back to his destroyer in the middle of the Pacific, they email and send care packages until he returns to Omaha again.

Rowell has a gift for choosing just the right details —not too many, not too few — to make a scene pop, like a chef subtracting ingredients to create a dish where every perfect bite is a knockout or the delicate balance of making custody work with the ex-husband who cheated on you. While Shiloh is often angsty, pushy, annoying, second-guessing, and handsy, her many funny self-deprecating thoughts that give insight into how her mind works, like in a scene where Cary invites her to grab a bite to eat and decides heels are date territory but eyeliner is platonic (nice throwback many chapters later to a non-platonic dress). Even Shiloh’s small children are fully formed with distinct personalities: Junie, at six a miniature perceptive old lady, and Gus, at three, a cranky teenager. Constant intimacy, careful boundaries mark their long friendship. The sense of knowing and knowing an old friend is tenderly rendered as Shiloh finds Cary both less (contradictory) and more (angry, forthright vulnerable).

The 2006 setting allows for just the right amount of contact challenges for a couple separated by an ocean and the US military, while allowing Rowell to indulge in the music and fashion of the era (including the “never with a girl he loved” that recalls Reality Bites). It also leads to some uncomfortable moments of non-consensual touching–Shiloh, for all her claims that Cary is just a friend, can’t seem to keep her hands off him. Also, not sure if I misread this or missed it both times I read it, but we slip into Cary’s point of view whenever he and Shiloh are consummating their relationship, and it’s a bit jarring after she’s been the only voice we hear. The dance scenes that mark the story throughout are pivotal touchstones, a metaphor for the push-pull of the relationship, and a nod to the slow burn.

I highlighted so many phrases–42, to be exact–reading and re-reading this amazing novel: “kids are like water–you see other people’s faces pass over them,” which calls to mind the way one sees the youth and essence of a long-time childhood friend in middle age; the way you can see at once who they are and who they were in a way that is familiar, dear and new all at once. Having just spent a day with someone I dated in college and haven’t seen in thirty years, the line that resonated most for me was “If Shiloh closed her eyes and pretended her lower back didn’t hurt, she could be seventeen again.”

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #SlowDance via #NetGalley courtesy of #WilliamMorrow.

Achingly beautiful & painfully honest, Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell is like giving in to the urge to stare into the beauty of the sun. If a reader comes to this book expecting a commercially standard romance, that’s not what this is. But it IS another example, maybe the perfect example, of why Rowell is one of my favorite writers of all time - no one else writes a love story like she does. And this love story is real & complicated in ways that break your heart & put it back together over & over & over.

It’s the love story between childhood best friends Shiloh & Cary, & while it’s set in ~their~ now (the early 2000s), we get to experience their journey from high school to college to their time of disconnection to the now. We bounce back & forth between time frames & points of view, getting a chance to witness their love from every possible angle. It’s not quite a “will they, won’t they” but rather a “will they just sort out their shit already?” And I love it so goddamn much.

The Shiloh & Cary of it all is that their love is a slow dance. We experience them pulling apart & coming together over & over until they are finally dancing to the same song, at the same time. They show us that there can always be another chapter, even if you think the story has already ended.

(Slow Dance also reminded me just how much I used to love wearing dresses over jeans &, well, I’m not sure what to do with those memories now ha.)

Thank you to NetGalley & William Morrow for providing a digital advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions & thoughts expressed are my own.

The only other Rainbow Rowell book I've read before this was Eleanor & Park, which I really enjoyed. Slow Dance had some similar elements, particularly the strength of the characterization and the opposites attract romance storyline. This was one of my favorite contemporary romances so far this year!

I love Rowell's great writing and the authenticity she brings to her characters and dialogue. But I didn't love this book because I just couldn't jump on board with these characters... I didn't need to root for them, but I had to care about finding out what happened to them and honestly I just didn't.

The writing is wonderful as always, it just wasn't for me. The narrator of the audio was also great.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the eAudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For fans of “One Day.” I loved meeting the characters in this book. The secondary characters were so well-developed with deep personalities. I appreciated seeing representation of characters who grew up in poverty and the pressure they feel to support family as adults.

The book switches between now and the past, and the main character switches in each chapter. I found it challenging to follow who was stepping into narration and the time period for each chapter.

Overall, emotional, lovable characters, great representation.

An endearingly ordinary and romantic novel. Rowell writes so much love and longing and hunger between her two lead characters, and she grounds this romance in the mundane, domestic details of their lives—there’s often descriptions and discussions about their schedules, jobs, bills, families, messy homes. Much of the novel feels like a negotiation between the characters: It’s not a question of do we want to be together but how will we make our lives fit together. And that’s where the book feels more mature than other romances I’ve read recently; the characters talk and talk and talk, trying to find ways to be together and build a life. (“Slow Dance” is dialogue-heavy, and their banter is book heaven for me.) There is also specificity and idiosyncrasies to the characters that bring the story to life (“His elbows were still knotty and chapped-looking. She felt almost painfully fond of his elbows. Like she might cry if she kept looking at them.”)

As always, Rainbow Rowell's latest title makes me wish I could write the way she does. Her descriptions of places, people, emotions are just MAGICAL, even if, as in Slow Dance, the people and places are messy and less than glamorous. I fell a bit in love with these realistic characters, their challenges, and their big (and repressed?) emotions. Rainbow Rowell writes in a variety of genres, some I am going in sure are not right for me, but I always end up loving at least some element of it. I want to consume every word she ever writes.

this was so good! I saw so many positive reviews that it made me curious. I didn't think I would like it based on what others were saying but holy wow this was amazing. I totally related to the characters and I couldn't get enough.

the thing about Rainbow Rowell that I've loved since Fangirl is her ability to write characters that feel so REAL. They're never perfect, and I feel like I could know them or see them at the grocery store. They're flawed and in a way, that's whimsical as it's hard to capture that in a romance. The same can be said with Slow Dance. We follow Shiloh and Cary as they reconnect after being high school friends, and ultimately this is a second-chance romance the story is littered with flashbacks to their first attempt as teens. But remember how I said these characters are flawed? They struggle with communication as the reader I wanted to hit them, but I'd recommend picking this up for a more grounding romance read.

I’m inclined to say I’ve never read a book by Rainbow Rowell before but Goodreads says otherwise. In the 11 years since the last one I read I have completely forgotten what it’s about, so I am counting Slow Dance as my first redux.
Shiloh and Cary were best friends in since middle school. Platonic friends only, they just got each other. After high school Shiloh went to college and Cary joined the Navy and, as sometimes happens with good friends, they grew apart and lost touch. Now, 15 years later, Shiloh is a divorced mother of 2 living with her mom in the house she lived in before college. Cary is home on leave for a friend’s wedding and both he and Shiloh spit each other from across the dance floor. 15 years have passed, but they pick up directly from where they left off, only with the wisdom and mature of adults.
This second chance romance is unlike any other I read. While there are funny moments and romantic ones too, this is definitely not a romcom. The depth Ms. Rowell puts not only into her writing but also into each character elevates this to the next level. Her characters are lovable yet flawed and feel like real people.
I loved how this goes back and forth between present day and the past seamlessly. In my mind, the present day scenes leading in to and out of the past dissolved much like what happens in a movie flashback. I cannot believe this is the first book I’ve read (in more than a decade) by Ms. Rowell, but it certainly won’t be my only.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced copy of this. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to it. Slow Dance hit the shelves on July 30th.

This was a nice Rowell book, if a little simple. A fast and enjoyable read, but nothing special for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of Slow Dance.

There were bits throughout the book where the moments of connections seemed genuine and hit well, but they were outweighed by angst, miscommunication, and assumptions that seemed overdone. I can’t say that I liked Shiloh or Carey very much, neither seemed to grow out of adolescence. Shiloh was abrasive and Carey seemed underdeveloped. I also couldn’t get past the teeth and biting line.

That being said there were moments of writing where I appreciate Rowell’s way with words and nostalgia. I really enjoy her other adult novels and was looking forward to this one a lot. It feels very YA in character maturity, and while I expect the “before” sections to read this way, it seemed to still hold true for the 30 something versions as well. That could be where it didn’t fit well with my expectations.

I really ended up enjoying this book a lot. It was a really realistic portrayal of a relationships ups and downs. And the progression of their reconnection and ultimate happy ending felt earned and believable. Contemporary romance can sometimes feel a bit fantastical even despite its roots in reality but this story read as something real. Something that could and has happened in real life. It was a breath of fresh air.

Highlights:
- While Shiloh did frustrate me at first, this was largely because I related to her anxiety spirals and her self-sabotaging thoughts. It was hard to watch from an outside perspective and see myself reflected there. However, as the story progressed, she became more clear to me as a character and I very much enjoyed her perspective.
- Cary was adorable and so sweet. I also respected that he admitted when he was wrong - what a treat, what a dream! My only qualm is that I wanted more of his POV.
- Their emails back and forth when Cary was deployed. Top notch banter.
- The flashbacks had such a nostalgic feel to them. Definitely had me reflecting back onto my high school/childhood experiences.
- Juniper and Gus were hilarious.
- Shiloh constantly wearing dresses over jeans cracked me up. What a 90s/00s vibe.