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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I like that the story is diverse. With Lina being from a different nationality it helps to bring flavor to the book. These two characters are loving provoking each other, specially Max. But with the best intentions. Because even when they started with the wrong foot forward they recognized that they had something in common. Both are desperate for control, desperate to succeed on their own merit and both have a need to prove themselves. Always putting up a facade. Plus both of them are very talented so it makes it fun and entertaining to read how they manage to put out fires while poking each other, while getting to also know the vulnerable parts of each other that no one else knows.
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book. It was a wonderful read that I finished in a few days. I loved that it had a dash of Brazilian culture and some of the best romantic scenes I’ve ever seen on the page.
Mia Sosa managed to shift some of what we expect from a traditional romance while still delivering a sweet and wonderful and authentic story.
And it was funny. Hysterical. I highly recommend.
The food, language, and family dynamics all added so much to this fun, romantic story. Sosa managed to make even the most minor characters seem authentic and necessary to the storyline. Natalie’s extra behavior had me in stitches every time she was on the scene.
After being left a jilted bride, Lina has clambered her way to the top as a successful wedding planner and small business owner. Her character is fierce, witty, intelligent, and someone that I would love to be friends with. I loved the slow build from enemies-to-lovers between Lina and Max. Occasionally, I get frustrated with the yo-yo of relationship progress and then back to step one but I was fully invested in this somewhat forbidden romance.
Beyond the relationship, Sosa has gifted us with an insightful look into the pressure a daughter of the first generation has to build upon the foundation of her family’s efforts upon arrival to the US as well as the pressures that come with being a woman of color. I highly recommend this contemporary romance for fans of Jasmine Guillory and Helen Hoang.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this story. This is my first book from this author. I loved the culture and wonderful characters like Tia Vivienne, Natalia, etc. it was very witty and funny. It was so sexy too. My only complaint was I don’t care for books where the characters speak a different language and there is no translation. The language was Portuguese. The heroine was not Portuguese. I don’t speak the language and it’s a pain to use goggle translate. I highly recommend this book and will look for more works from this author. I received this ARC from Netgalley for a honest review.
The Worst Best Man is the first book I’ve read from this author. The book cover and the blurb really pulled me in . It’s a cute and sweet enemies-to-lovers rom-com that also brings beautiful aspects of Brazilian culture, sense of family and community, the hard work immigrants were putting in to fit into a foreign environment and to make a better future for their next generations.
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Carolina Santos was a first-generation Brazilian American, smart, hard working, and loyal. She ran her own business as one of the top wedding organizers. After being left at the altar by her fiancé on her wedding day and finding out none other than the best man, her fiancé’s little brother Max, who played a role in this catastrophe, Lina could have never imagined she would face both of them again, and that she needed to work alongside with Max to snatch a life-changing opportunity for her career.
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Being under his brother’s shadow and in competition with him since young, Max alway wanted to break free, to be on his own. He’s talented, funny, charming, sweet, and caring. Working with Lina gave him a chance to see her beyond her tough and nonchalant facade. Their relationship eventually developed beyond professionalism while both were trying hard to resist their attractions to one another.
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I quite enjoy the smart, funny banters among the characters, and learn more about Brazilian foods, culture, and some Português . It’s well written with nice character development and slow building of their romance from what seemed to be a disastrous beginning. I just wish it could go a bit faster and less dragging in some parts. There are , , touching moments that will make this book quite enjoyable to readers. 4.5-.
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*ARC received from Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.*
This is a delightful Enemies to Lovers RomCom. Carolina “Lina” Santos is a woman who is always in control. When she gets a great job opportunity, she ends up having to work with her almost brother-in-law Max Hartley. Since Lina partially blames Max for being unceremoniously dumped on her wedding day, she isn’t thrilled working with him. This is a nice set up for a romance with a lot of laughs. I loved Max! He is in an unhealthy competition his older brother Andrew, so falling for his brother’s ex is a problem. Lina was a little harder to warm up too, but since her character is always trying to lock down her emotion, that makes sense. This was my first book by this author, and I will definitely be reading her other books. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.
Lina is a wedding planner who was jilted at the alter when her fiancé Andrew decided that he just couldn’t marry her, and he sent his younger brother Max to deliver the news an hour before their wedding. That was three years ago, now she finds herself with the job opportunity of a lifetime planning weddings for a high end hotel. The only problem with that is the marketing agency that’s supposed to help her happens to belong to her would be mother-in-law. Caught completely off guard Lina pretends that she doesn’t know Andrew or Max when they walk into the meeting with Rebecca, the hotel director. Deciding that Max is the lesser of two evils they’re paired up to put together a pitch.
This is such a great book, It has everything, tons of humor, plenty of heartbreak and angst, and diverse characters. I thoroughly enjoyed that Lina is Afro-Brazilian and that her culture was a huge part of the story. An important point this story addresses is the difference between how men and women’s emotions are treated so differently in the work place. It’s absolutely spot-on, it’s acceptable for men to be upset, stomp around and express their displeasure at a situation, but if a woman does that or has a few tears over the same situation, she’s unstable. It’s a definite double standard. I was cackling during several scenes, the eyebrow situation, the spicy peppers, the mortification cloak, and many others. As I was reading this the cast of Fools Rush In kept popping in to my head playing out the chapters. Over all this a fantastic, well written book, highly recommend.
I found this romcom very enjoyable. The storyline and writing was excellent.
The characters were totally relatable.
A couple of issues I had were:
1) the characters kept bringing up the past, over and over again. I just didn’t understand why it was necessary to hash and rehash.
2)There was too much of the dialect in Carolina’s native culture but it wasn’t her native language. It confused me and it distracted from the story.
The witty banter was fantastic. Steamy sexy times and overall and great read.
~BREAKDOWN OF RATINGS~
Plot~ 4/5
Main Characters (hero/heroine)~ 4/5
Secondary Characters~ 4/5
The Feels~ 4/5
Pacing~ 4/5
Addictiveness~4/5
Angst~ 4/5
Steam/Hotness/Chemisty ~ 4/5
Theme or Tone~ 4/5
Flow (Writing Style)~ 4/5
Backdrop (World Building)~ 4/5
Originality~ 4/5
Ending~ 4/5
Book Cover~ Whimsical
Series~ Stand-alone
Source~ Kindle eBook – ARC provided by NetGalley
Would I read more from the author? Yes
Would I recommend this book? Yes