Book Review: "The Worst Best Man" by Mia Sosa

Over the last 12-18 months, I've read a lot of rom-coms. They're the perfect foil for some of the heavier stuff and thrillers I read, and they never fail to put me in a good mood—and in some cases, even choke me up. (Not that that should surprise anyone who follows me, given that I cry watching television commercials sometimes.)

I've found that rom-coms fall into one of a few tropes: friends-to-lovers, where long-time friends suddenly realize their feelings for one another but are afraid to voice them for fear of ruining the friendship; meet cute, where there's some unexpected encounter that sparks an interest between two people, often strangers; second chance, reuniting former lovers or former rivals after a long separation only to see there's still (or suddenly) a spark; and hate-to-love, when two people who can't stand each other for whatever reason suddenly realize the animosity is covering up some serious chemistry. And with most rom-coms, once you can identify the trope, you can generally predict how the book is going to go, and that often doesn't diminish its appeal.

Mia Sosa's new book, The Worst Best Man, falls squarely in the hate-to-love category. Lina is a wedding planner who takes total control for her clients, but she is utterly thrown for a loop when her fiancé, Andrew, decides he doesn't want to get married—the morning of her wedding. The coward can't even tell her himself; he gives that assignment to his brother, Max, who apparently said some things while the brothers were drinking the night before that led Andrew to cancel the wedding. (And the worst part of it is, Max doesn't even remember what he said to his brother.)

Lina has never forgiven Max for his role in ruining her life. So needless to say, she’s unprepared to come face-to-face with Andrew and Max in the midst of an interview for an exclusive wedding planner job for a hotel chain. She has to pair up with Max on a marketing presentation to win this job, while Andrew will work with her competition. When she realizes she has no choice but to collaborate, she lets her guard down, only to discover her animosity might be hiding something else, something stronger.

Max desperately wants to win this job to prove he’s his own man, not just a carbon copy of his brother. He also can’t deny that he wants Lina—but he isn't interested in playing second fiddle to Andrew once again.

I loved how Sosa incorporated Lina’s Brazilian heritage into the book. The Worst Best Man is steamy (super steamy, actually) and fun, but it just didn’t wow me. Even though I know how rom-coms usually end, I found this almost too predictable, and the story seemed to drag for me.

Still, lots of others have loved it, so I may just be cranky. If this sounds like fun to you, give it a shot!