What I Liked:
1. Diana - I loved Diana as a character. Initially I was on the fence with the whole towel dropping scene because who decides to go corral a cat while naked…? But I appreciated seeing her dedication, work ethic, and passion for things in her life. She worked two jobs, full-time student, cheerleader, dancer, and she did all of them with a ton of dedication. I also enjoyed seeing her banter with Shane. There were multiple times I laughed out loud at their exchanges in the beginning of the book. But I loved that Diana wasn’t perfect and we saw that with her anxiety after Percy and her insecurities around her mom. While this book is REALLY long, it did allow us to learn a lot about our two leads and see their depth and growth.

2. Shane - Similar to Diana, I loved seeing Shane grow throughout this novel. Truthfully, I think he grew more than Diana did. He went from arrogant hockey player skating through life (bad pun, sorry) to someone who understood his privilege and finally understood grown up responsibilities. I also loved seeing Shane protect Diana after the whole Percy thing. Even though they were technically still pretending, you could tell he was already past that and genuinely cared for her.

3. Maryanne - she didn’t have a huge role in the story but I loved just how opposite she was from Shane. I loved that she was passionate about science and just an overall adorable kid.

4. Slow burn - this enemies to lovers story was paced really well in my opinion! Throughout all of the interactions and months that go by it was a lot easier to be onboard with Diana and Shane transitioning from enemies to lovers. And it was definitely still entertaining along the way. With a book this long, it’s easy for things to feel drawn out or boring.

5. No third act breakup - for two college kids, these two were pretty mature. They communicated well (for the most part) and there was no miscommunication that ruined everything. Even though they had that moment where Shane met up with Lynsey, I knew it wasn’t going to last and it was resolved so quickly and maturely, which was refreshing.

What I Didn’t Like:
1. Side characters - there were a bit too many side characters. Between Shane’s team, Diana’s team, the neighbors, the exes, and their families, there are a LOT of characters to keep track of. And sometimes I had to remind myself who was who.

2. Shane’s Dad - while I think this plot point led to Shane experiencing the most growth (as one probably would), it felt a little unnecessary. He already had his epiphany after he turned down Lynsey and officially got together with Diana. Honestly, it could have ended there and it would have been fine. The extra bit definitely gave Shane a lot more depth as he took care of his mom and sister but we probably didn’t need it. The guy’s only 21/22 years old after all so I feel like I could cut him some slack for his childish behaviors/naivety

The Dixon Rule - Likewise Book Reviews

9 Reviews