Second chance love in Nebraska by the author of Eleanor and Park.

Genre: Romance

Pages: 412

First published: 2024

Original language: English

The plot: Shiloh and Cary meet as teenagers and begin a life-long friendship, that both knows has the potential to blossom into something more, but neither quite gets around to pursuing. When a single weekend fling at university ends in a furious argument and crossed wires, they lose touch, during which time Shiloh marries and has two children. When her husband is unfaithful a few years later, the marriage ends in divorce and she finds herself at the wedding of another old school friend. There, she reconnects with Cary, and their friendship recommences. Will there be a second chance for them, post divorce and with the added complication of children?

What did I think of this book?

I had high hopes for Slow Dance. I really enjoyed Rainbow Rowell’s young adult novel, Eleanor and Park – it was clever, funny and sharp in equal measure – and, given the hype this book received from Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club, I suspect my hopes may have been a bit too high. It’s intended as a big, powerful love story (in the style of a power ballad – hence the title). In reality, it is a very cozy, gentle novel. It’s a simple love story between two people who know each other perhaps better than they know themselves. Is it a masterpiece? Not really.

Is it this generation’s Persuasion (Jane Austen’s novel, also about second chance love)? I don’t think I’d go quite that far.

I read Slow Dance during a difficult period of insomnia, and it was a welcome distraction during the long sleepless nights. Although I found comfort in its pages, I expected to enjoy it more than I did.

What was most interesting about this book?

I’ll admit I spent much of this book expecting either Shiloh or Cary to die at the end (!) I anticipated that much of the hype would be due to Rowell not giving her characters a traditional happy ending (as she does in Eleanor and Park). This would have explained the hype, and placed Slow Dance firmly in the canon of similar stories such as One Day and Normal People.

I was wrong.

Slow Dance is a simple love story and very much a traditional romance – teenage love is revisited during adulthood, with adult complications (children, elderly parents and ex-husbands). It’s not a rom-com either – there is some serious stuff around Cary’s elderly mother, his complex relationship with his sister, and Shiloh’s equally complex custody agreement with her ex-husband, Ryan.

The characters were fairly one dimensional. Admittedly, most radical it gets is when lonely Shiloh, having known for years that she identifies as bisexual, finally goes on a date with a woman. The evening ends in nothing more than a chaste kiss, and there the sub-plot ends. No more, no less.

What am I going to take away from this book?

Rainbow Rowell is primarily a writer of Young Adult fiction – Slow Dance is her first novel for adults in 10 years. I wondered idly, during the long nights spent awake, if this novel would cause me to reflect on my past loves, and what might happen if I were to see them again. But it didn’t. Perhaps that’s because I’m happily married, perhaps that’s because I don’t have any desire to see my exes again. It just didn’t have that effect on me. That surprised me.

Overall, Slow Dance is a diverting, easy read. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t love it. Parts of it were long, drawn out and Shiloh’s indecision over her relationship with Cary (a recurring theme throughout the novel, both in the present day scenes and flashbacks), began to irritate me towards the end.

Will I enjoy this book?

I think you will, as long as you ignore the hype, and don’t expect too much. Treat it as a fun, easy read, and you’ll be satisfied.

Rating : 3/5