I can never decide what the best books to read in wintertime are. Obviously, if there’s something new by one of my favorite authors, I’ll dive into that. Aside from those books, though, I’m undecided. Would it be better to read something that takes place on a sunny beach? Or should I read a story set in a cold mountain range, because it’s all too easy to imagine icy winds right now? I still don’t know which I’d rather read, but I was happy to have images of sunny Hawaii filling my head as I read Rules of Entanglement.

Vanessa MacGregor’s best friend, Lucie, is getting married. As her maid of honor, it’s Vanessa’s job to help out with the wedding in any way possible—so when Lucie gets food poisoning the week before her big day and can’t fly down to Hawaii to oversee preparations, Vanessa offers to go in her place. She can meet with the wedding planner at the luxury resort and make any important last-minute decisions. All will be well—Lucie’s older brother Jackson “Jax” Maris even lives in Hawaii, so he can pick her up from the airport and help show Vanessa around.

Jax takes one look at the woman waiting for him at the airport and loses his mind. One minute of conversation and he’s sure that the only thing he wants to do in the week before his sister’s wedding is get to know her best friend better. Unfortunately for Jax, Vanessa is already mad at him for being late to pick her up, and she’s not inclined to spend a minute longer in his presence than she has to. Realizing this, Jax blurts out that Vanessa needs to hang out with him all week, because the hotel is expecting them to be Lucie and her fiancé and they won’t be allowed to check in as themselves.

Vanessa, surprisingly, falls for this outrageous fabrication and goes along with Jax’s story. They spend the week together, fall in love, and fight when Lucie arrives and Jax’s lie is revealed. Vanessa has a list of “Luck 7” rules to live by (thus the title Rules of Entanglement) which Jax is constantly violating, making it hard for her to accept that she loves him and wants a future with him. Eventually, however, she decides he’s worth all the trouble and they have their Happily Ever After.

One of the best things about this book was how Jax laughed at his own lie. It definitely seemed far-fetched to have Vanessa believing that she needed to pretend to be Lucie for a week, but having Jax acknowledge that and marvel at the fact that she didn’t question him made Vanessa’s gullibility tolerable. I also really loved the character depth—both Jax and Vanessa struggled with different issues from their childhood, which allowed better insight into their actions.

Overall, I would say I liked Rules of Entanglement. Although the plotline might have felt a little far-fetched and unrealistic, it was by no means unbearable. The characters had depth, too, which balanced that out. At the end of the day, this was a good book—and a perfect read for the middle of a colder-than-usual winter.