Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
SPOILER FREE!!!!!!!!!
Rating: 3.8/5
Summary according to Harper Publisher and as posted on Google Books:
"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"--
The Pros:
It was cute. Shilo and Cary are likable characters for the most part. They compliment each other nicely in a way that I wish more romance authors would pay attention to. I appreciated that their younger selves sounded like younger people and were noticeably different to their adult counterparts, because that’s life and we change! (Thank God I don’t have the same beliefs now that I had at 17.)
Rainbow has a knack for dialogue writing; that seems to be her strong suit. The style gave me strong Sally Rooney vibes, which makes sense because this is a character heavy book. That’s not to say the environment was lacking, though. I felt like I had a really vivid image of North Omaha at the same time.
Overall, this is a breezy read because of the dialogue and I could see it easily being adapted into a screenplay. I enjoyed myself. I read it in two days–laughed, cried, and cringed right along with the characters. My favorite scenes usually included Mike saying something outlandish.
The Cons:
Where this book stumbled a bit for me was the side characters, but not because they were bad. I really wanted to spend more time with Tom, Mike, Juniper, Gus, and even Shiloh’s ex husband. The flashes to the past seemed to take away from their screen time. I could have used maybe an extra fifty pages just hanging out with them more, which is kind of a pro in a roundabout way.
Another point that took me out of the story was the conflict caused by miscommunication. That’s a personal thing, though. It feels lame to me and lacks tension, but it does make sense for two young people, and I related to them in that way. It was just frustrating.
Shiloh, although overall likable, is also a character that I wanted to throttle sometimes. She’s so anti-people that she lets people who genuinely care about her slip away just because she can’t be arsed. It’s even mentioned that she probably wouldn’t be friends with Tom if they didn’t work together.
There was also this weird moment during an intimate scene where we’re in Cary’s POV and he mentions something about wanting to aggressively “fuck her teeth.” That felt tonally really jarring and also…what? Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
Lastly, because this book was dialogue heavy it felt rushed during certain moments, or like it was missing vital beats/pauses, buuuut that is super nitpicky, so make of that what you will.
TLDR:
The book is a fun, light time that’s bound to make you feel good. It has some spice but it’s pretty tame. If you like second chance romance I would definitely include this on your TBR.