A review by betweentheshelves
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The format of this definitely reminded me of Colton Gentry's Third Act, weaving together storytlines from past and present. Since both are also YA authors, the high school/college age portions feel just authentic as the main storyline set when they're adults. That's not always easy to do, and I applaude them both for that!

I wasn't necessarily a fan of Shiloh at the beginning of this, but she grew on me thorughout the story. I liked getting to see her and Cary's relationship unfold throughout the book, with Rowell pulling things from their past to align with their present day. Rowell always excels at writing interesting characters and witty dialogue, and that is definitely true in this book as well.

Shiloh also explores her own sexuality in this book as an adult, but it is a small part of the story. You could make an argument for Shiloh being somewhere on the ace spectrum because of her conversation with Cary about sex, but it's never really exclusively named on the page.

All in all, not a bad adult romance from a favorite of mine! But reading this made me want to re-read Carry On, so I'm about to go and do that.
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