Review of Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell has a new book! Here’s my Review of Slow Dance, her latest adult romance. How does this Reese’s Book Club Pick compare to her other adult titles? Will YA readers enjoy Slow Dance? Is this book more proof that Rainbow Rowell wrote Corinne? Let’s Discuss!

Review of Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

Quick Overview

• Published on July 30, 2024 by William Morrow
• 400 pages
• I read this book in July 2023
• Thanks to the publisher for the Review copy
• Also by the Author: YA books Eleanor & Park (2012), Fangirl (2014) YA) plus The Simon Snow Trilogy (2015-2021), Attachments (2011), and Landline (2014)
• Possibly by the author: Corrine by Rebecca Morrow (see more below!) Is Slow Dance kind of a more commercial do-over of Corinne? Maybe??

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Rainbow Rowell and YA Lit

Back in the 2010s, YA was hot and many writers of adult fiction also started writing young adult books. Rainbow Rowell’s first adult book was Attachments in 2011 and in 2012, she became part of “Green Lit” and published Eleanor & Park.

Having read Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, both Rowell’s adult books, I feel like this book combines a little of each of these.

• The 1990s chapters set in high school definitely reminded me of the “two quirky kids” vibe of Eleanor & Park
• With its focus on life transitions, Slow Dance also reminded me a little of Fangirl
• Some epistolary element for fans of Attachments

Slow Dance is a “rOad not taken” romance. Or a time-delayed friends to lovers romance.

Shiloh and Cary were friends in high school in the 1990s. They were part of a trio of friends that included a guy named Mikey, and this friendship helped both Shiloh and Cary survive their tough home lives.

Fourteen years later, Shiloh is a divorced single mom. Mikey is getting married, and of course both Shiloh and Cary are invited to the wedding.

Here they are reunited and begin their slow, SLOW dance toward a relationship.

At 400 pages, Slow Dance is long and these two take quite a while to figure things out. It was interesting to see their idealistic high school selves as opposed to their more battle-scarred and cynical adult selves.

Reading YA as an adult, you see the all-encompassing rush of first love and cynically think “well, that might not last.” Shiloh’s story felt a little like that.

BUT luckily in adult books, second chances are a thing and you read this book hoping that Shiloh will get hers.

I didn’t feel like Slow Dance had the usual romance novel pacing.

Yes, getting these two together does take a while. But once I accepted the very slow pace of Slow Dance, I enjoyed it.

Did Rainbow Rowell write Corinne?

The somewhat awkward sex scenes in Slow Dance make me even more convinced that Rowell is (writing as Rebecca Morrow) the author of Corinne, a book about two high school students in a fundamentalist religion who are intensely attracted to each other. AND CORINNE SPANS 15 YEARS. JUST LIKE SLOW DANCE. mmmmhmmmmmmm…….

Is Rainbow Rowell also Rebecca Morrow? Give me your thoughts in comments!