USA TODAY BESTSELLER!“A romantic comedy that’s fun and flirty, young and fresh.” – PopSugarNamed one of the Best Romances of 2020 by EW, OprahMag, Buzzfeed, Insider, and NPR!Mia Sosa delivers a sassy, steamy #ownvoices enemies-to-lovers novel, perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory, Helen Hoang, and Sally Thorne!A wedding planner left at the altar? Yeah, the irony isn’t lost on Carolina Santos, … left at the altar? Yeah, the irony isn’t lost on Carolina Santos, either. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina’s offered an opportunity that could change her life. There’s just one hitch… she has to collaborate with the best (make that worst) man from her own failed nuptials.
Marketing expert Max Hartley is determined to make his mark with a coveted hotel client looking to expand its brand. Then he learns he’ll be working with his brother’s whip-smart, stunning–absolutely off-limits–ex-fiancée. And she loathes him.
If they can nail their presentation without killing each other, they’ll both come out ahead. Except Max has been public enemy number one ever since he encouraged his brother to jilt the bride, and Lina’s ready to dish out a little payback of her own.
Soon Lina and Max discover animosity may not be the only emotion creating sparks between them. Still, this star-crossed couple can never be more than temporary playmates because Lina isn’t interested in falling in love and Max refuses to play runner-up to his brother ever again…
“The Worst Best Man is rom-com perfection. . . Sosa has a gift with words that’s infectious and wry, one that keeps the pages turning in delight.” –Entertainment Weekly
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The Worst Best Man is about Lina and Max. Lina is a wedding planner who was left at the altar by Andrew. The flaky groom, Andrew, made his younger brother, the best man, Max, tell Lina after he disappeared. Jump forward in time and Lina is offered a great career opportunity. The catch is, she has to work with Andrew or Max. Of course, she chooses Max because even he is better than having to work with her ex-fiancé. Max has to help Lina win the job she’s up for so that he can prove that he can be successful without his older brother. The result of this crazy situation is a hot mess of a ride. I mean we have enemies to lovers, fake dating, one bed, forced proximity, secret dating, oh and ex-fiance’s brother. I really enjoyed the story and omg there are some steamy scenes. I love how Max makes an effort to get to know Lina’s Brazilian culture. I did a mix of reading and listening. It was pretty nice to hear the Portuguese pronunciations. I wasn’t a huge fan of the male narrator when he did female voices. Also, I had to turn down the volume during some chapters when listening in my car, just in case. Lina has a nosy family and they were a lot of fun, but majority of the story is focused on Lina and Max with dual POV. The Worst Best Man is a fun read if you’re looking for a funny steamy romcom.
Ok now see THIS is what I needed after reading Columbine and Flowers for Algernon. I absolutely adore Lina and Max. I was laughing pretty much from start to finish. What a fun, Rom-Com. I’m so glad I started reading more of these.
I started this book with high expectations and was not disappointed. The atmosphere, the characters, the visual projected through the story were all vibrant and colourful.
The moral about trust and not comparing yourself to others but taking your best and improving it, was for me a much needed visual to encompass.
I honestly couldn’t put the book down. Max and Lina stole my heart. I laughed, got angry, cried and cheered along with every chapter.
Wonderful contemporary romance set in Washington DC, between a no-nonsense Brazilian American wedding planner and the brother of her ex-fiancé. Clever, warm, and with an appropriate amount of sizzle — highly recommended.
Sweet, sexy, and funny rom-com with a pair of leads who are instantly engaging. While the set-ups might be predictable, the results are often anything but. I smiled and laughed so much. Max is terrific. I loved the interaction between him and his best buddy. Lina’s family is wonderfully warm and funny and super protective. She doesn’t need a father figure to put the fear into a suitor; her mother, aunts, and Natalia do that just fine. It sort of reminds me of While You Were Sleeping meets the Wedding Planner. The cover worked to draw me in too.
I really enjoyed this delightfully fun read! I was a little dubious at the beginning because I don’t generally enjoy books that center around weddings – but I’d heard good things, and I’m so happy I stuck it out. The story rapidly turned into a delicious enemies-to-lovers / ex’s brother romp that is set very close to where I live in Maryland, so I was 100% here for it. The characters were terrific on their own and together, the pacing, humor, and steam were all top-notch – but for me, the icing on the cake was the heroine’s Brazilian heritage and family (I spent a part of my childhood in this community so I have a real soft spot for it). I loved all the side characters and the interplay between them so much and by the end, I was wishing that little family store was real.
Highly recommend this rom-com read anytime, but especially for those times when you need some cheering up. It’s impossible not to feel better after spending time in this book!
I may need Lina to step out of the way—I’ve added Max to my book boyfriends. Mia Sosa has written a flirty, sweet, sexy book that gave me all the feels. Great cover, writing, and of course, the HEA I needed.
Such a delightful and fun read!
Max will be your next book boyfriend!
Just okay. Easy to put down, hard to pick back up.
This started off good and I liked the premise but it slowed way down really fast. It was hard to stay in the story, some parts really dragged. I think it needed to be edited for content. It was easy to put down but hard to pick back up.
I just didn’t get any feels that I think I was supposed to get.
This was a great romantic comedy! I enjoyed learning about the Brazilian culture through this book about a jilted bride that is reunited with her ex and his brother (her worst enemy) through a contest for a job. The author has great comedic timing and the reader won’t be disappointed.
A contemporary romance with a work competition, exes, misperceptions being sorted out, and a strong sense of Brazilian family community. I’m a sucker for capable people working together on a project (is there a catchier name for that trope?).
Lina was once engaged to Andrew… but he bailed on her on their wedding day. As far as Lina knows, it was because of something Max (Andrew’s brother and best man) said.
Their paths cross once again when Lina gets a chance to work for a well-known hotel group. She partakes in a long-term interview against another wedding coordinator who is vying for the same position — and to get the job, she has to work with Max, her ex-fiance’s brother.
I love Lina. My god what a strong female lead. She’s the type of character that has her walls up, but they’re there for a reason. Women — especially women of color, and Lina is Afro-Latinx — in a workplace setting are often given negative labels for showing emotions. It’s one of the reasons Lina keeps her composure at all times. When she showed her emotions at her previous job, her co-employees lost some trust and respect for her and she was fired. The only upside from getting fired from that job is that she is now working as a wedding planner, a job she thoroughly enjoys.
What I like about Lina’s dynamic with Max is that she’s able to show her emotions towards him because they give each other a safe space. As for Lina, she doesn’t doubt Max’s abilities nor compare him to his older brother Andrew (and Lina’s ex-fiancé. yup this does seem like a soap opera), which is a source of insecurity for Max since people have done it to him all his life. I love that they also had a chance to talk about all the things that were hindering them from having a relationship and then they worked on it.
So much of Brazil’s culture is featured in this book, I just love reading #ownvoices books because it feels extra special.
I LOVED this! Like, so much, I kept tweeting the author Mia Sosa with page numbers that made me snort-laugh. If you haven’t read it, you should definitely check it out. Hilarious, real, swoony — I thought it was fantastic.
I loved this book! It hit all my sweet spots, and I actually found myself laughing out loud numerous times while reading, which was a real treat. If you love enemies-to-lovers rom-coms, then this book is right up your alley.
This is the first book that I have read from this author, so wasn’t sure what I was going to find. It is a LOL enemies to lovers ROMCOM, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
While I dislike the trope- being left at the altar via an email to someone else, who then has to inform the jilted partner, here it works, because Lina Santos is a Wedding Planner. Max the brother of the groom, is force to bare the message, and he figuratively does get shot. But Lina learned years ago to control her emotions, so remains stoic. Three years later, when the the rent on her business property is about to be raise above her means, she is offered the chance to compete for the position of Wedding Planner for a large prestigious hotel in DC. But when she is introduced to the marketing team that she would be working with- it is her ex groom and his brother. She panics, pretending not to know them, and they go along with the ruse. Lina is teamed up with Max and first tries to sabotage herself to hurt Max, but soon realizes, that Max is a good guy, with his own issues with his brother and an ex. Their working together provides lots of emusing banter and funny situations. And of course the required HEA at the end.
Fantastic rom-com that had complex characters, steamy scenes, and an all-around fun storyline. Highly recommend.
This is my first book by this author and I can see how there are more stories to tell for the characters in this book. Carolina “Lina” Santos is a wedding planner with a past that her clients don’t know about. She was a jilted bride. This was several years ago and she has moved on, or so she thinks, but when she comes face to face with her ex-fiance and his brother things don’t go so well. This is the beginning of a fun story with a lot of spicy scenes. I liked how the characters really got to know each other over the course of the story and I liked the mention on Lina’s Brazilian heritage throughout the story. I hope that there will be more books in this series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
The Worst Best Man is a absolutely beautiful! And Max really is the “Best” man. Max and Lina’s story is a heartwarming tale full of humor, great movie references, fun characters (most of them) and yummy food. All in addition to a heartfelt romance.
Kudos to Mia Sosa for a masterfully crafted tale.
I definitely recommend!
A cute romance with an initial enemies-to-lovers storyline. It’s the typical cliche about wedding planners who have messed up love lives but the characters did save this book from being an utter bore. Overall they were likeable and I enjoyed the MC’s Brazilian background. Diversity always makes things a bit more interesting. I recommend this light summer read!