I’m a longtime fan of Rainbow Rowell and so I jumped at the chance to read her new book, Slow Dance. It’s a New Adult, angsty, slow burn romance and even though it’s rather long, I didn’t want to put it down.

Shiloh, Cary, and Mike were best friends in high school and always together as teens. Their friendship helped them survive high school and their rough neighborhood in Omaha. The story alternates between present and flashbacks to the past and we can see that Shiloh and Cary have longed for each other since they were teens. Everyone thought they were a couple in high school but they were afraid to act on their feelings and remained just good friends.

After high school, Shiloh went off to college and Cary joined the Navy. It’s been fourteen years since they all graduated and they are getting ready for Mike’s second wedding. Shiloh is divorced with two kids and living with her mom. She works at a Children’s Theater and is adjusting to life after her divorce, learning to manage coparenting with her ex. She is glad to be out of the marriage especially when her friends tell her that her ex is dating again. She hopes to see Cary at the wedding–she even buys a new dress, wanting to look her best.

For his part, Cary also very much wants to come to the wedding–he gets leave from the Navy and heads to Omaha. They reconnect at the wedding and finally get to slow dance – Mike even votes them the cutest couple there. While Cary’s home for the wedding, he’s trying to clean up his mom’s home to sell so he can pay for her assisted living but there are family members that have been sponging off of her and don’t want things to change. He’s stressed and begins to open up to Shiloh about it and while they work together, they begin a love affair.

After the wedding, they email each other and even though they are just sharing everyday things, it makes the characters feel very real and relatable. Shiloh and her daughter send him homemade baked goods and he can’t quite tell what they are but he likes them. Shiloh is wary to love again, remembering how her husband cheated in their marriage. She also worries about how her kids would adjust to having Cary in their lives. Cary only has five years left in the Navy before he can retire but he is on a ship for six months at a time so they have some challenges. But they’ve wanted each other for so long and now that they’re adults, they are better at recognizing their feelings and sharing their love for each other.

This is a slow burn romance and I couldn’t put it down. There were times when it was hard for them to communicate their feelings for each other and that became frustrating. I didn’t always understand Shiloh’s actions (more so when she was young) but I liked her – she could be pretty sassy – and that brought about some funny moments and even a few that made me laugh out loud. I was satisfied with the ending although I wished for a longer epilogue to see more of them together as a family so I could truly feel the HEA. Rowell has a series of DIKs at AAR (my favorite is Fangirl) and though this one misses that grade by a hair, it’s still a gem of a novel.