I’ve been obsessed with Elle Kennedy’s writing ever since I picked up The Deal on a rainy day last year. EKâs writing is fun and light but still packs a punchâboth in the feels and the deep empathy you feel for her characters.
Honestly, I thought Iâd be icked by Campus Diaries, her (I believe) third installment in the Briar University universeâbut I WAS WRONG. I adored The Graham Effect, the first book in the series, but nobody prepared me for how much I would love Shane and Dianaâs story.
Donât get me wrongâit had a rocky start, but I did a complete 180 very quickly. Now, Shane sits at my second favorite Elle Kennedy MMC (which is saying a lot).
Read my recap and review of The Dixon Rule below!
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The Dixon Rule Full Recap With Spoilers
This synopsis contains spoilers. Please check trigger warnings!
The Dixon Rule basically continues the events from where we left off at the end of The Graham Effect. Gigi and Ryder are happily married, and as hinted, this time, we follow Shane and Diana. Diana has inherited an apartment from her late aunt and took over a mortgage. Shane’s parents bought him the apartment next door. As summer begins, Shane moves in next door to Diana’s apartment.
Diana, the daughter of a SWAT team leader and an absent mother, is persistent. She gives 100% to everything she does, whether it’s cheer camp or school. This summer, her goal is to enter an amateur ballroom dancing competition with her partner, Kenji.
Shane is heavily focused on hockey and is set to play for the Blackhawks at the end of his senior year. He plans to spend his summer sunbathing, swimming, golfing, and working out.
Diana deeply despises Shane, while Shane enjoys riling her up. So, when Shane moves into her building, Diana takes it upon herself to make sure he feels shunned and unwelcome.
Despite how it looks, Shane isnât working his way through Dianaâs cheerleading squadâheâs actually a relationship guy. Heâs broken up with his girlfriend, Lynsey, whom he still carries a torch for and hopes to get back together with. When Lynsey decides to transfer to Briar, his hopes are raised. When she visits Briar to see if itâs a good fit, she asks to crash at Shaneâs place, which he takes as a sign that theyâre getting back together. However, when Lynsey arrives with her new boyfriend, Tyreek, Shaneâdetermined to save faceâclaims he also has a new girlfriend: Diana.
Meanwhile, Diana is going through a breakup of her own. Her long-term boyfriend, Percy, became possessive and insecure, so she ended things with him. However, Percy refuses to take no for an answer, continuing to harass Diana and growing increasingly jealous despite their breakup. When Percy canât handle Diana moving on, he punches her in the face.
Diana is embarrassed and unsure how to handle being assaulted. Despite documenting the incident with photos and text messages, she doesnât report it.
When Percy moves into Meadow Hill, their apartment complex, Diana claims she, too, has a new boyfriendâto keep him away from her. That boyfriend? Shane.
So, the two of them start fake dating.
When Dianaâs dance partner, Kenji, drops out of the competition, she asks Shane to step in, and he reluctantly agrees.
To maintain their fake dating ruse, they tell their friends and family that theyâre together. They meet each otherâs loved onesâShane hits it off with Dianaâs dad, and Shaneâs family loves Diana.
However, Diana begins experiencing anxiety attacks due to everything sheâs been through, and Shane is there to support her.
Lynsey and Shane remain in touch, though not often. She tells Shane sheâs proud of him for finally putting someone else first, referring to him entering the competition with Diana. In reality, Shane has been to every single one of Lynseyâs dance competitions, while sheâs never shown interest in his passions.
As Diana and Shane spend more time togetherâwatching reality shows and keeping each other companyâthey grow closer. Eventually, their arrangement shifts from fake dating to friends with benefits, leading to A LOT of spicy moments, includingâahemâone right in front of Will.
They spend the holidays at each otherâs familiesâ houses, becoming even more inseparable.
While looking through the photos Diana took at Gigi and Ryderâs wedding, Shane stumbles upon the photos of Dianaâs assault. Enraged, he confronts her, and she finally tells him everything. Shane is supportive and convinces Diana to report Percy to the police. She eventually agrees, and itâs revealed that this is Percyâs second known assault on a girlfriend. Dianaâs father arrives, devastated.
Meanwhile, Lynseyâafter seeing how happy Shane is with Dianaâdecides she wants him back. Shane goes to talk things out with Lynsey despite Dianaâs protests. Diana, heartbroken, confesses her feelings for him. But when Shane still leaves with Lynsey, she ends things with him.
Shane and Lynsey talk. He realizes heâs been nothing more than an accessory to herâsomeone she only wants now that heâs happy with someone else. Shane finally lets go of Lynsey and rushes back to Dianaâs apartment to tell her he loves her. He has to get past Gigi and Mya first, but he wins them over, and he and Diana finally start officially dating.
After the holidays, tragedy strikesâShaneâs father is hospitalized and diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Shane is devastated and says goodbye to his dad, who passes away a few days later. Struggling to cope, Shane moves back home to support his mom and baby sister, Maryanne.
Shaneâs mother, knowing her husband wouldnât want Shane to give up on his dreams, encourages him to leave and return to hockey.
Meanwhile, Percy shows up at Dianaâs door, furious that she ruined his life. Heâs been expelled from school and lost everything. Diana tries to escape, but Percy attacks her, beating her so brutally that she ends up hospitalized.
Shane rushes to her side at the hospital, refusing to leave. Together, they decide they want a future with each other. Shane returns to school and hockey, and the two of them move forwardâhappily ever after, with a bright future ahead.
The Dixon Rule Review
LOVED THIS. I’M FERAL ABOUT IT. I didn’t think I was going to like it so much, because how many hockey couples can one author write in the same universe and still have it feel different enough? NOPE. I was wrong. It exceeded my expectations beyond belief and then some.
I’m not going to lie to you. Diana starts off as annoying AF. She’s kind of a mix of an “I’m not like the other girls pick me girl” and the girl that sits at the front of the class the entire time. She tries hard. She’s intense. But the more you read it, you realize⊠you’re annoyed by her because she’s someone you know. Someone you recognize. She might even be you. So you st
And Shane is amazing from the get-go. Like yes, most of these hockey guys are hot, but Shane is amazing. He’s a relationship guy. He’s funny. He has an amazing relationship with his family. He lets down girls he’s not interested in easily. He commits. The man wants kids in his early twenties. SIGN ME UP.
The side characters are interesting, but honestly, per contemporary romance they’re there as B plot outlets for the main charactersâwhich occasionally went on too long. I know we were doing the whole girl-next-door neighborhood romance thing, but I could’ve done without the entire Meadow Hill/HOA subplot.
Elle Kennedy’s writing remains addictive. Elle Kennedyâs writing remains addictive. I’ve been obsessed with her ever since I picked up The Deal a year ago on a rainy day. EKâs writing is fun, light, but still hits pretty heavy both in the feels and empathy you feel for her characters. It made me feel like I was laying on clouds. My face hurt from grinning. Shane and Diana’s bickering is extra in a way where you can’t stop bickering with them.
I loved Shane’s relationship with his family. I’m so glad we didn’t have the classic “I have secret trauma” plot line. TBH Elle Kennedy did that enough times for me that I’m a bit past it. Instead, Shane deals with something we all have to: losing our parents. And I was pretty afraid he was gonna pull a Dean DiLaurentis, but I’m glad it didn’t go that way.
I didn’t expect Elle Kennedy to tackle something as serious as domestic violence. I didn’t see it comingâlike you usually don’t with these things. And when she did, I wasn’t sure how she’d handle it. She handled other abuse plot lines pretty well, but something so raw and unexpected had me at the edge of my seat. But I think she shined the light into Diana’s inner turmoil and anxiety without making the book very heavy, which I appreciated. I prefer it when the message is weaved into the story instead of right in my face, and I think she handled this topic respectfully and gently.
If you read my reviewsâyou know I was deeply disappointed by Ali Hazelwood’s Deep End for a variety of reasons, but number one being the caricaturization of a power exchange relationship. In my humble opinion, The Dixon Rule does what Deep End tries to do effortlessly and perfectly. Instead of treating someone’s preferences as their sole personality trait, it weaves the power exchange dynamic and importance of consent in a subtle but powerful way.
At this point, we’re pretty familiar with the Briar U world. I love it when the characters I’ve gotten to know for years at this point weave in and out. Her books are like bookends to one another: we got final closure on Gigi and Ryder while setting up Beckett/Will and Charlie, all while being treated to Diana and Shane’s story. In addition, we see the previous generation in every book. Every time I see Garrett, Logan, or Dean on the page, I feel like I’m being welcomed by old friends, and it makes me want to tear up.
I’m such a sucker for fake dating. Every time I see this happen and we just know it’s going to be a slow-moving train from fake dating to friends with benefits to them being a couple without being a couple, to them confessing their love, it still hooks me. But Elle Kennedy does this in such a special way that even though we’ve already seen fake dating with Garrett and Hannah, it felt novel and special this time too.
Honestly, there isn’t much I wish didn’t exist in this book other than the fact that it’s too long for contemporary. I feel like 360 pages is perfect for contemporary, and a hockey romance doesn’t need to be 500 pages. I’d like to go back to more snack-sized books instead of treating contemporary books like an epic fantasy novel.
Aside from that, this is a perfect 5-star Elle Kennedy book. Oh, and did I mention I think this contains the best spicy chapter I’ve ever read in my entire life? I was fanning myself, then fanning some more. I’m talking about Chapter 48 of courseâit got me SO EXCITED for the next book.
If you’re an avid hockey romance fan, want something relatively light and that makes you giggle the whole time, this book is for you. And if you’re already an Elle Kennedy fan and haven’t read this, this is CRIMINAL. Go read it right now! I’m counting the minutes until I finish this review so I can start The Charlie Method. Did I mention Beckett is supposed to have an Australian accent?
Who’s your favorite Elle Kennedy couple? Do you have a go-to hockey romance author besides Elle Kennedy? Drop your thoughts in the comments!
âš New to Elle Kennedyâs universe? Start with The Dealâyou wonât regret it!
đ Just getting started with Campus Diaries? Grab your copy of The Graham Effect here!
đ All caught up on Briar University and ready for The Charlie Method? Get it now!
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