Synopsis:

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK!

Back in high school, everybody thought Shiloh and Cary would end up together . . . everybody but Shiloh and Cary.

They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha—Shiloh would go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change.

Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed.

Now Shiloh’s thirty-three, and it’s been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She’s been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she’s back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned.

When she’s invited to an old friend’s wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there—and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything?

The answer is yes. And yes. And yes.

Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. Two friends who lost everything. Two adults who just feel lost.

It’s the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start.

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell is a step back into the past, a nostalgic visit, especially for those of us who lived it. And especially if you were a teen in the 90s or a young adult in the early 2000s. The music, the clothes, the pre-smartphone days. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to devour this book or read it slowly, savoring each page. I did a little of both.

She imagined herself holding him at every moment she’d known him, like a pearl-ended pin stuck through time and space.

Reading Slow Dance reminded me how good Rowell is at creating complicated humans, how she excels at telling a story, and how realistic her characters become. If you were a fan of Attachments, you should enjoy this one, too.

I have seen some mixed reviews for this one and that’s probably because it’s being promoted as a Romance with a capital ‘R’, but it’s more about two best friends who have lost touch trying to heal from life’s traumas while also finding their way back to one another. Their lives are messy and lonely, it takes time to heal, and Rowell warns you in the title: it’s a slow dance to the end. Settle in and enjoy the waltz.

Shiloh had wanted Cary before she knew what that meant—and now it was too late for her to ever truly have him.