Book Review | Bending the Rules (The Dating Playbook #1) by Mariah Dietz

Before anything, I believe this book deserves some applause and appreciation because this is the first book that I've read in a month and some odd days! At this point, I've truly lost count.

So please bear with me as I untangle the thoughts I had during reading this book after an involuntary hiatus.

“I’m not a villain. I just know where this would lead: a long road to a longer recovery.”

I want to start by saying that almost every side character was downright lovable and someone you would love to be friends with. They are genuine and caring and just all-around good people.


Raegan and Lincoln, our main leads, from the start, come across as two headstrong, driven individuals with their own goals and personal hang-ups.


Where Raegan is goal-oriented and very sure of what she wants from her career and life, it is the opposite when it comes to Lincoln. A crush that she has harboured for three years without any reciprocation, Rae decided that it is time to move on and test the waters.
She does go out and test the waters, but alas, when you've had a crush that has crossed every line of not being a crush, it's hard to move on.



Lincoln, oh you mysterious person! You think you know Lincoln, you have him pegged like a certain type of person but then here he comes with a wishy-washy attitude where Raegan is concerned. At one point I was cursing him in my head to let Rae move on (some shipper I am, I tell you.) But once, Rae was in college and the interactions increased between the two, it was clear as day to see what he wanted but why he was not going after it isn't one hundred per cent clear.
Something is holding him back.

Until there isn't...

“I need you, Rae. I need all of you.” I’m not sure if I’m more afraid of the past or the future as I stare at him, recognizing the same vulnerability I see in my reflection when thinking of him. “You already have all of me,” I whisper.

With her signature monologue-ish writing style and infrequent use of dialogues, Mariah Dietz brings in all the angst from the first chapter.


The one thing that I've come to understand and not only appreciate but love is the use of dialogues. There aren't a ton of them. You don't have pages upon pages of dialogues but the ones that you do get have some significance and meaning. Even the most mundane conversations, like Rae's mother asking how her day was and vice-a-versa, it feels like there is some importance or motive behind those "talks".


As is the usual case with any of Dietz's novels, the story starts slow laying the foundation stones for the future chapters to build on. But for someone who has been unmotivated, the initial 20% - 30% seemed slower than usual for me and I was *kinda* getting a hard time getting into the story.


It was when Rae's thought process started to evolve and as you read about the multiple things you notice from her perspective, I was getting invested. I was gauging every character, their moves and their facial expressions. I was so focused on Lincoln, visualizing his facial and body description, and how he reacted to Rae being around him.


The last 20% was when things went topsy-turvy and I was up until 3:ooam to finish the book! (My sleep schedule is wackier than usual)
This is the part with the maximum action and I was gobbling up the words and chapters like someone was going to snatch away my phone.

And then it ended...


ON

A

FREAKING

CLIFFHANGER!



Holy crap that cliffhanger! It was the most unexpected thing for me. The build-up was there, it was leading to that point, Mariah had dropped bread crumbs but my slow ass was still shook AF! In Ross Geller's voice 'I'M FINE! TOTALLY FINE!



The only thing that is keeping me sane at the moment is that I know that the second book is only 6 days away! Not too long of a wait... Right?