I'm sad to say that I found Shiloh and Cary irritating. It just wasnt a book that I enjoyed. But thank you for the chance to read it.

DNF

Too slow for me. I didn’t warm to the characters and felt like I’d been reading it for ages but was only 1/3 through. Couldn’t keep going at this time.

Grateful to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

this book felt really authentic and shimmered a light on adulthood. I enjoyed the angst between the characters and overall enjoyed it.

I both loved and was frustrated by this (and more accurately by Shiloh and Cary), which I think was the point.

A great read. Raw, authentic and captured people perfectly. I loved the characters and their true angst, whilst growing up and navigating life and adulthood.

*ARC received from Netgalley - all opinions are my own*

TLDR: Another fab book by Rowell that I believe both fans of hers and those new to her work will love! Slow Dance is an imperfect romance between two older adults with heaps of baggage and makes you feel all the feels - the good, bad and ugly!

The way that Rainbow Rowell writes will (at least so far) always get me. I’ve been a fan since reading “Fangirl” many years ago and she has only gotten better at creating complex characters that get you so invested in their lives even when they’re going through the everyday and mundane things in life

Even if you’re not a fan of contemporary romance I think Slow Dance is worth a look at as it’s a genre that I have no love of either and only read Slow Dance as Rowell has yet to let me down with her books.

My only gripe is that Cary gets a bit strange near the end and the dialogue takes a turn that doesn’t seem to align with his character - I’m talking about the “teeth” bit. I was thrown out of the story so quickly and had to check if it was Cary speaking. It would have been weird coming from Shiloh too, but equally could imagine it coming from her.

Overall, Slow Dance is another hit from Rainbow Rowell showing the lives of two people whose friendships have gone off track over the years and how they find their way back to each other many years later - but with some broken bits and lots of baggage. They aren’t perfect characters, living amazing lives and finding a picture book romance but that realness is what makes Slow Dance as great as it is.

My first Rainbow Rowell book but I'll be sure to look out for her in future. This book follows the friendship of Shiloh and Cary who everyone thinks should be together but them...
This book gave me the feels, I'm a sucker for a slow burn and this delivered. Great characters and a pacy plot. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is very far from a fluffy romance linking back to the good old school days. This is sad, and emotional. It shows what happens when things don’t go right and the dream that you have as a teenager isn’t the life you end up living, the plot weaves between the then of school and the now of meeting up again. Both Cary and Shiloh are different people and their nerves at being together again are palpable. The sorrow is bittersweet and very well told as part of their love story..

Shiloh and Cary were best friends for a long time and then they weren’t. After high school life went in separate directions but with the help of old friends they find each other fourteen years later… but is fourteen years too long to look down memory lane? Will life always get in the way or will Shiloh and Cary have their happy ending?

A beautifully crafted story of friendship, love and letting yourself find your happy ever after..

Slow Dance is such a perfect title for this slow-burn romance following Shiloh & Cary's relationship over decades, as they circle each other, first as friends, then as more. Yes, it is slow-paced, but I enjoyed that once I'd adjusted to the rhythm of it. The layering and deepening of the characters via the alternating time frames is such a great way of showing how a person changes and develops over time. I loved how Shiloh found herself and her confidence as an adult after the painfully awkward and spiky moments in her younger days. Shiloh's kids' personalities were a highlight for me too - give Junie her own book, please! Satisfying, quirky, believable, this is a different kind of love story, with a sweetly melancholy note at times. It made me think about my own life and the relationships that last and evolve. Many thanks to the publisher for sharing this ARC.

A beautifully written romance about second chances.. It follows Shiloh, Cary and Mikey' who were high school best friends. Shiloh, who is now newly divorced, receives an invitation to Mikey's wedding where she reconnects with Cary. The story alternates between past and present, showing how although their lives went in different directions, their feelings remained the same.
I would recommend Slow Dance to those who like slow-burn and second-chance love stories or books that focus on character development and emotional journeys.

Thanks to Michael Joseph/Penguin and Netgalley for a review copy of this book. Rainbow Rowell is an author I first read years ago and had to immediately read everything published by her at the time. I loved all of them. I have to say it’s been a few years since those heady days and I was wondering if it was a case of right time, right place for loving her books. This happily proved not to be the case as I delved into this book, thinking, ‘ah yes, this is why I loved her.’

It’s a case of misses. Missed chances and miscommunication. Two of a threesome best friends, Cary and Shiloh danced around each other through their teen years, teasing, smacking and poking each other with their own style of banter. Shiloh was convinced that Cary had nothing but a platonic interest in her, despite her own growing amorous feelings and so all her interactions were couched in hidden codes or language that would protect her heart. So when it came time for them to leave high school—he off to the marines as his only chance at an education and she to college—their promises to stay in touch were loaded with such vague terms that Shiloh was certain she’d never see Cary again. With the exception of one brief meeting during Shiloh’s college year it seemed she was right and now, newly divorced Shiloh receives an invitation to the wedding of the third of their threesome, Mikey and the past comes rearing its head, and Shiloh wonders if this is a chance to make it happen, or close the door once and for all.

Full of wonderfully poignant moments this is a novel to sink into, to immerse yourself in their world and feel all the feels. Written with Rowell’s characteristic sensitive style and understanding, it’s full of real, credible feelings and an understanding of human nature.

This is one of those books where you just want to grab the main character, shake her and ask what's she's doing.

Shiloh and Carey were always best friends in school. Nothing could separate them, but life pulled them in separate directions and now years later they re at a wedding. It's a will they won't they story, with all the real life messy stuff, honesty and fear.

I loved reading this book but the name Shiloh frustrated me. I just couldn't pronounce it in my head!

I love Rainbow Rowell, she could have written anything and I’d have been keen to read it! The story was predictable but it almost made it extra enjoyable to be able to sink into the feelings and storytelling of it all. The author is so good at conveying the complexities of life, the characters were so well written and the pace was great. I’d love a sequel!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6516570110

A well written, thoughtful, insightful book which is nominally a romance but touches on some bigger themes as well - dating post-divorce, dating with kids and dating with anxiety being a few that resonated with me. My only gripe with it (and maybe this should have been clear from the title!), is that it is quite slow paced. While I enjoyed it, and enjoyed getting to know the characters, there were a few places where I got a little impatient with the gentle trajectory, and wanted things to move forward more quicky - and perhaps less repetitively. So probably a 3.5 overall for me. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

You can’t help but fall in love with Rainbow Rowell’s writing. Her characters are sublimely likeable and whole, and her descriptions of emotions are spot on. I lost myself in this book at times - it felt so very….real. Beautifully written and well executed.

Having said that, it was perhaps a bit TOO slow for me (although I appreciate that it’s meant to be slow!). I did find myself losing interest in some places. However, all in all a good book.

Slow Dance is a slow burn romance of the “will they, won’t they” variety. Cary and Shiloh have had an intense relationship since high school when they were very close friends, extremely comfortable in other’s company, then an absence of contact for many years when they missed each other intensely. Their eventual reunion at a friend’s wedding would surely be their chance to begin again.
The timeline flips back and forth between then and now with “now” driving the plot whilst the flashbacks filled out the backstory. Wasted time due to missed opportunities and missed signals perfectly captures the bold assumptions of youth – that there will be other people, there will be other chances so there’s no need to hold on to this one.
The pacing is slow at the start and it took me a while to connect with the characters and become invested in the outcome but it was well worth reading to the end.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC

This is the story of Shiloh and Cary, best friends back in high school who reconnect at their other friends wedding 15 years after not seeing each other. There's a lot of history between these two and issues to work out, it's at times sweet, frustrating, hopeful and possibly the least sexy sex scene I've ever read but overall a cute read and I'm glad Rainbow Rowell is back writing non fake fanfic stories!

Wow wow wow, I loved this so much!
How your person you're meant to be with is right under your nose. Even if things seem hard. If it's the right person then they are worth fighting for

Aching with romance this is a beautiful love story with a quirky and swoon worthy couple who you can’t help but wish to be together. Some of the old references dated the book somewhat and made it feel like a dusted-off re-release instead of something fresh and exciting but I still enjoyed.