The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

E-Audio, 10:01:17
Narrated by: Rebecca Mozo & Wayne Mitchell
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Published by: HarperAudio
Read from: June 12-15, 2020
Stand-Alone
Source: Library (Overdrive)
TW: 
For fans of: Rom Coms, Contemporary Romance, Adult, POC MC, POC on Cover, Enemies to Lovers, Adult

       Critically acclaimed author Mia Sosa delivers a sassy, steamy enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy about a woman whose new job requires her to work side-by-side with the best man who ruined her wedding: her ex-fiancé’s infuriating, irritating, annoyingly handsome brother. 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, either. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina’s managed to make other people’s dreams come true as a top-tier wedding coordinator in DC. After impressing an influential guest, she’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.
     Tired of living in his older brother’s shadow, 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 survive the next few weeks and 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.
     But even the best laid plans can go awry, and 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… 

*MY THOUGHTS*

Let me just start by saying this was EXACTLY what I was in the mood for. I laughed, I got frustrated and fussed at the characters, and I swooned in some spots. Definitely what I needed at the time.

Lina is so excited about her wedding…. That is until she’s left at the altar. And to make it more humiliating, she works as a wedding planner. Despite this, she goes on to make her business successful. Enough to make someone from a ritzy hotel take notice. Unfortunately, they also take notice of three other people, another wedding planner and two promoters. And they just so happen to be her ex and his bone headed brother. To get the job, Lina must impress the head of the hotel with a presentation that brings her and her partner closer than she ever expected.

As for everything else, I really liked this one. The characters for me made this book. Lina definitely showed the struggle of being a woman (and a woman of color at that) who can never show emotion for fear of being too emotional and too angry. But she was also outgoing and so very smart. She was just very, very proud. And then Max who seemed to be beating himself up over this situation and knowing that he didn’t deserve to be with Lina after what he did. I didn’t like him in the beginning, but his growth throughout the story definitely made me change my mind.

The reason I couldn’t give this 5 stars was the chemistry. Although there is a steamy romance (umm car hood?!) and I did recall swooning at some of the better Max quotes, I just didn’t feel they were really for each other. I at first attributed that to the fact that Lina was closed off, but whatever the reason, I just didn’t feel it was believable.

The writing style was simple, but I really enjoyed it. It was hilarious! And I mean actual laugh out loud funny. I found that even my husband (who doesn’t actually laugh out loud at all at anything) was laughing at some events. (He walked in on the Wedding Singer scene) I hope there are more rom-coms to come from Mia Sosa.

I had a lot of conflicting ideas when I was trying to write a review for this, but ultimately I loved it. I’ve been watching Sosa’s Twitter to see if her next rom-com is from a character from this novel, but nothing yet. No matter, I’ll read whatever she has next!

Overall, I give this