Review – Rules of Entanglement by Gina L Maxwell

Publisher: Entangled

Publish Date: Out Now

How I got this book: eARC from publisher

 

Seven days. And seven rules to break…

District Attorney Vanessa MacGregor firmly believes that structure and order are the stuff that dreams are made of. Happiness can be planned—and it starts with the seven rules she’s laid out for her future. But as she’s organizing her best friend’s wedding in Hawaii, all of Vanessa’s best-laid plans are about to meet their match in a wickedly hot MMA fighter…

Jackson “Jax” Maris is focused on surfing, training, and fighting. That is, until he opens up his big mouth and finds himself having to pretend he’s engaged to his little sister’s best friend, Vanessa. When they’re forced to share a romantic bungalow, however, their little charade suddenly takes a turn for the seriously sexy. And while Jax is definitely not part of Vanessa’s long-term plan, he has seven days—and seven naughty nights—to turn her seven-rule plan upside down.

*Blurb from Goodreads*

 

I’ve always been a sucker for sports related romances, and although MMA fighting isn’t my thing, I’ve found that there are some books featuring MMA heroes that I enjoy. While we didn’t see a lot fighting in this book, I did enjoy the story overall.

Vanessa is in Hawaii helping her best friend plan her dream wedding, but since Lucie got sick, Vanessa is making most of the plans solo. Lucie’s brother was supposed to pick her up at the airport, and when he shows late, Vanessa rips him a new one.

Jax is intrigued by Vanessa’s attitude, and he knows instantly he wants to spend more time with her. So, Jax lies and tells Vanessa that have to pretend to be Lucie and her fiance in order to make this wedding happen. As they spend more and more time together, Vanessa and Jax can’t deny the attraction. But when Vanessa finds out the truth, she will be forced to deal with the fact that Jax had her breaking all her own rules, and she doesn’t know if she can live with that.

This book had a really complicated setup. Between Vanessa’s rules and Jax’s lies, there is a lot going on at the beginning of the story. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book, however it did take awhile for me to really get into the meat and potatoes of the story. I would have liked to have gotten pulled in quicker, but it took me a few chapters to really find my reading stride.

Poor Vanessa has so many rules to live by in life, it kinda felt like she was letting life pass her by. She had her flings, and her work, but other than that she led a pretty solitary life. I felt bad for her and wanted her to really take a chance on Jax, especially since he was so immediately smitten with her. Although she let him in, it was gradual and took her a long while to figure out just how important he was to her.

I really liked Jax. Despite his lies and manipulations to get Vanessa to spend more time with him, he was a loveable hero. He was sexy as sin, and was able to somewhat readily accept that his feelings for Vanessa were vastly different from all the previous women in his life. For that alone, I adored Jax. I liked that he allowed himself to really open up with Vanessa, and although he kept a few secrets about himself close to the vest, he was also more ready to lay it all out there than Vanessa was.

While Vanessa’s rules were somewhat convoluted and, at times, annoying, I liked the way they played into the story. I especially enjoyed the no fighting rule, and how she had to come to terms with Jax’s career, his temper, and the discovery of her own temper. It was one of the better rules that she broke, and probably my favorite aspect of the book overall.

All in all I found this to be an enjoyable read. Despite the complex beginning, it all evened out for me and once I found my reading mojo, I was able to really get into the story and enjoy it. I loved the Hawaii setting, and Jax was a sex hero that I found myself enjoying. I’m looking forward to reading more from Maxwell in the future.

I give Rules of Entanglement a B-

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