Review: The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa (2020)

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This book was great! I read it in one sitting. 

Max and Lina are in a sticky situation. Lina is being interviewed for a wedding planner position at a big DC hotel and Max is the marketing guy who’s supposed to be supporting her in the process. (Yes, it’s a weird interview, and Sosa addresses that in the book.) Thing is, Max is the brother of Lina’s ex-fiance. An ex-fiance who left her at the altar. And she blames Max for the desertion. Whether or not this is reasonable is immaterial. We have ourselves an enemies to lovers trope.

Max has been competing with his brother, and coming out the loser, for his whole life. All he wants to do right now is get out from his brother’s shadow and make a name for himself in his mother’s marketing business. He’s good at what he does and wants to be recognized for it.

Lina is doing pretty well for herself. She’s operating her own wedding planning business in greater Washington, DC. It’s no picnic, and she has concerns about her operating costs, but when it all boils down, she’s got a great family, a good business reputation, and it looks like she’s living the life she wants. Until we dig deeper. 

Lina and Max are thrown together because Lina sees the opportunity of not having to worry about her own business and she knows that getting this job would solve a lot of problems for her. At the end of the day, working with Max to get the job is the smart approach, so that’s what she does. Max thinks Lina’s deal is just that she unfairly hates him after he somehow accidentally managed to make his brother abandon her on her wedding day, but it’s much bigger than that. Lina is a woman of color, and when she embraces her emotions, it doesn’t go well for her. She’s learned the hard way that even-keeled is the way she needs to operate, so she can avoid adverse repercussions in her life. Max thinks what Lina needs is someone who will embrace her spirit and be with her to live life to the fullest. Lina thinks that’s the opposite of what she needs, and if Max thinks he’s going to explain to Lina what she needs, he can step. Off.  

Max doesn’t necessarily think he’s Lina’s happily ever after, but he definitely finds her irresistible, and then they end up in a ONE BED situation (that’s right, for those in the back, there’s only one bed) and Lina realizes that she also finds Max irresistible. As expected, Sosa’s writing of sex might make you bite your lip a little bit. Maybe shift a bit in your seat. She’s so good at it. Max and Lina are so good together – in bed and out – and you’ll never doubt it.

But Max doesn’t want to be second skimmings (To his brother. Again.), and Lina needs to keep it together in a big way. If she doesn’t, as I said, bad things will happen. Or she could be deliriously happy. Either / or. You know how it goes.

For funsies: Sosa’s also all in on the Brazilian culture in this one. I probably wouldn’t have realized to what extent if I hadn’t lived with a Brazilian au pair for two years, but having all that culture brought sweeping back into my mind was delightful! And it’s perfect with the greater DC setting. I could just picture Lina’s family’s shop in a strip mall in Wheaton. Mm, mm, mm! Just gives me all the warm fuzzies!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

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