#I really loved Cary and Shiloh

[adamarks]

Trying to parse how I feel about Slow Dance

[ilikebigbooks-and-icannotlie]

@rainbowrowell I was looking for your email so I could nicely send you an email about the impact that Slow Dance has had on me, and then you didn't have one posted anywhere, and then I was just not gonna say anything at all, but then I decided what's more Slow Dance/80s-power-balad-y than openly screaming my feelings to you on my tumblr blog and hoping you hear them, in that standing-outside-your-house-with-my-boom-box kind of way. So, here it is:

Dearest Rainbow,

While most people read books and connect to a character, I have always had a hard time 100% superimposing myself onto characters. Even characters that I SHOULD relate to, that are mostly similar to me, I just. I've liked them, but they've never spoken to me in my soul. That said, something about your books have always touched me. Eleanor, Cath, Simon, these characters have always spoken directly to me a little more than average. This is all to say though, that never in my entire life have I felt so deeply seen by any book ever, until Slow Dance. From the very first "your mom" joke, I was smitten. I was listening to the book, and after laughing, my immediate reaction was that my husband needed to listen to that book too. And as soon as I finished, I listened to it again with him.

Somehow, I knew it would gut me. And it did. I felt so understood by Shiloh in ways I never knew were important to me. Her sexuality is something I relate to so strongly, and never before have I been so perfectly represented like that. Her sense of humor, her nervousness, her self-sabotage.

As a lover of Emily Henry, while her books make me grateful for the love I have, one that always somehow always fits into the kind of love she's describing, her books also always make me yearn. For the location, or the larger than life friends, or something that just. I always end up yearning.

Slow Dance took root in my chest when I read it within the first few days it came out, and sits there to this day. This feeling of. Of a character who grew up wanting more, and came back home, and still wants more, but also feels kind of defeated, and also learns to be happy. This deep friendship that's always realistically been love. This idea of being known so intimately but also not being known at all in other ways. Of only really romantically loving one person, and being nervous because they've been with other people and you really haven't. Of the different shapes of family. Of overthinking because it feels like you have to, of needing to be ready for an ending just in case, even though you so badly don't want something to end, of trying to convince yourself that less is perfectly okay and maybe it's supposed to be that way. Every part of Shiloh spoke to me, every part of Cary reminded me of my husband, every part of this book, as a childless plus-sized 5'3 27yo that has never set foot in Nebraska, made me feel so so deeply seen. And though I don't completely understand how or why, I know it is a book that will sit with me for years to come. So I thank you sincerely for gifting us with it, and for giving shape to so many thoughts in my head I've never been able to really say. Hearing them out loud was shattering.

[bookishbethanyerin]

• arc review: slow dance •

If to you Rainbow Rowell is synonymous with brooding wizards or comic book heroines, you may be surprised to learn that she also writes romances that are somehow realistic, extremely beautiful in heartwrenching ways, and also filled with laugh-out-loud banter.

Because she does – so if you’re new to this side of her writing: welcome. You’re in for a treat.

In Slow Dance, Rowell transports us to the early 2000s, where former best friends Shiloh and Cary reconnect at a friend’s wedding after 14 years of silence. Shiloh is now a divorced single mom living in the same home she grew up in, and Cary is a career officer in the Navy – and though they have a complicated history, they’re still drawn to each other.

The story bounces between present day and high school in the ‘90s, detailing the ways Shiloh and Cary have changed, what they’ve experienced together and separately, and the ups and downs of getting to know someone you used to know intimately.

I really enjoyed this – it felt very tonally different from many of the romances I read these days, but in a way that I really appreciated.

The book doesn’t romanticize the harsh realities of life, casting things like having someone over for dinner with your family as chaotic and awkward rather than adorable and heartwarming. In my opinion, that makes the love story here that much more satisfying. It feels real even though it’s fiction, as if you’re hearing the love story of friends who finally figured out how to make it work, despite everything.

And also: if you loved the email format Rainbow Rowell used in Attachments (which is SO GOOD omg read it if you haven’t), the good news is that emails play a delightful and charming role in this book, too!

So if you’re looking for a second-chance romance that is extremely realistic and feels a little more grumpy than sunshine (or, at least, more like an overcast day), definitely give Slow Dance a go.

4.25🌟

1.75🌶️

[blurrypetals]

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 15, 2024 - ★★★★★

An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Man, what a wonderful book to read just before I get married!

I have been very hit or miss with Rowell's work in the past. I remember loving Eleanor & Park but I'm not sure how well I'd love it now, and the rest of her work is 4 stars or less...apart from Landline, my beloved. When I requested Slow Dance on NetGalley, I really hoped this would be a lot like Landline...

...and in spirit, it is! It even has the same non-chronological structure that carefully doles out information to you at exactly the right moments, no sooner, no later, and it gives the book a nice stream of consciousness as you feel the characters reminiscing about the past before you're then reading about the past, in the moment with them.

This is simply a beautiful, honest, relatable treat of a book. Rowell's prose here is frank yet sweet, and by the time I was about a quarter of the way into the book, she had me melting over these childhood friends turned lovers turned estranged ones who got away.

This book is very simple. Its prose is simple, its story is simple and straightforward and it probably goes exactly where you think it might go, but that doesn't make the warm blanket of nostalgia Rainbow wraps around you any less cozy or heartwarming.

Cary and Shiloh are truly a couple you root for, and the obstacles they face never feel melodramatic, contrived, or frustrating like many will-they-won't-they romances do, while simultaneously feeling interesting and gripping, really proving that a couple doesn't need to fight all the time to have interesting drama and misunderstandings.

All in all, I just loved my time with this book and I'm over the moon to be able to give it the title of best Rainbow Rowell book after Landline. I can only Rainbow gives me number three!

[dkehoe]

Temperatures are stretching into the upper 90’s in Nashville and I’m staying indoors to beat the heat. This is the perfect weather to really get into that book you’ve been looking forward to coming out. There are several on this list (ok all five!) that I’m going to be reading as soon as I can! #5 BOOK RELEASE I’m a sucker for sports romances and this series by Liz Tomforde has been really entertaining. Despite landing in my #5 spot, I’ll probably pick this one up first. LOL Synopsis: Kennedy I’m the only woman on staff for the Windy City Warriors, and after years of putting up with a sexist lead doctor, I’m desperate to land my dream job with a new team next year. All I have to do is maintain my professional reputation for my final season in Chicago. But a Las Vegas run-in with the team’s shortstop threatens it all, leaving me with a fuzzy memory and a ring on my left hand. Now, not only am I legally bound to the most persistent man I’ve ever met, but thanks to Isaiah’s scheme to save my job, I have to pretend the whole thing was a planned elopement and not a drunken mistake. Isaiah Rhodes is reckless, impulsive, and frustratingly charming. He’s also my brand-new husband. They got the saying wrong. What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas… sometimes it follows you right back home. Isaiah As the shortstop for Chicago’s professional baseball team, I’ve had my fair share of fun. But that all ended the day Kennedy Kay became a single woman. I’ve crushed on the team’s athletic trainer for years. I’ve flirted to no avail, so imagine my surprise when I woke up in Sin City with a ring on my finger and my favorite redhead in my bed. We agree to stay married for one baseball season, just long enough to keep her job safe, but in my mind, I’m using our time together to prove to her I’m husband material. Kennedy might be reluctant to join in on our game, but it’s one I refuse to lose. So come on, wife… play along. Click this link to purchase this book!* Play Along #4 BOOK RELEASE This cover is just it for me! It makes me want to pick up the book and read it, even before reading the synopsis! Synopsis: Two opposites decide to test their chemistry with one steamy night together. But will once be enough? Nova Porter isn’t looking for love, and she certainly has no explanation for her attraction to buttoned-up, three-piece-suit-wearing investment banker Charlie Milford. Maybe it’s his charm? Or maybe it’s his determination to help her fledgling business however he can. Either way, she’s distracted every time he’s around. With her new tattoo studio set to open in her hometown of Inglewild, she doesn’t have time for frivolous flirtations.  In an effort to get Charlie out of her system once and for all, Nova offers a proposition. One night. No strings. They’ll kick their uncomfortable attraction to the curb and return to their respective responsibilities. But their explosive night together scatters their expectations like fallen leaves. And with Charlie in town as the temporary head of Lovelight Farms, Nova can’t quite avoid him.  And Charlie? Well, Charlie knows a good investment when he sees one. He’s hoping he can convince Nova he’s worth some of her time. Click this link to purchase this book!* Business Casual *Amazon Associate- if you purchase a book through any of these links I’ll receive a small stipend. #3 BOOK RELEASE Rainbow Rowell has a deft hand in enveloping her characters in all the emotions. I admit, sometimes I don’t want to go there but this synopsis makes me think “this is the one!”. Synopsis: 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 go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friends...

[random-emerald-thoughts]

I have not read Cari Mora and I started Black Sunday but didn't get into it the way I did with the other novels. Thomas Harris has a style of writing that is hard to pinpoint... It tends to change in subtle ways that you don't tend to notice the first go around, unless your actively looking for it.

Of the four novels i'd have to say Silence is my favorite if only for the dialogue between the Doctor and Starling. It always gives the impression of a fencing match and I adore that sort of back and forth.

Of the lines Thomas Harris has produced the ones that have stuck with me

"What is left in you to love?" - Hannibal Rising. Murasaki's parting words on the boat were brutal to read.

"Yes, he had been wrong about Shiloh. Shiloh isn't haunted- men are haunted. Shiloh doesn't care." Red Dragon

Will Graham really got the short end of the stick by the end of Red Dragon and the last sentence really encompasses the mess that was the aftermath of Dolarhyde case. The Bureau got their man at the expense of the life Graham had built, and the Bureau didn't care.

A Single Bright Object #4

Question 1 | Question 2 | Question 3

QUESTION #4

Of the four novels in the Hannibal Lecter series, which was your favorite, and why? 

Asked by @deadhead31 and @filthybonnet In addition to the Hannibal Lecter series, Thomas Harris has also written two other books - Black Sunday and most recently Cari Mora.  Have you read them? What did you think of them? The plot, the characters, etc?

What are your thoughts on Thomas Harris as a writer in general? Do you have a favorite line or quote from any of his work?