There’s room for different kinds of greatness. Even if you cry doing it. Hell, especially if you cry doing it.
Max Hartley in The Worst Best Man
Title: The Worst Best Man
Author: Mia Sosa
Publisher: HarperCollins
ASIN: B07RDKHV64
Mia Sosa is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance. She is half Puerto-Rican and half Brazilian. She was raised in the USA by her mother and her mother’s two divorced sisters.
Carolina Santos is jilted at the altar by her fiance, Andrew Hartley, all courtesy of the best man and Andrew’s younger brother Max. The last Lina remembers of them is Max informing her that Andrew won’t be showing up for their wedding, while also confessing that it was because of something that Max said.
Fast forward three years, Lina is a wedding planner, who helps women achieve their dream wedding. She is offered an opportunity to interview for the position of a wedding coordinator at the Cartwright Hotels. However, it requires a small sacrifice at her end; she has to work with the man because of whom her wedding fell apart. Max Hartley needs to make this collaboration a success to finally get out of his elder brother’s shadow and prove his worth as a marketing expert. The only challenge is that Lina loathes him. As they both struggle to look beyond their differences to make this work, hatred is not the only emotion they have to battle with.
Similar to the author, Lina is the daughter of immigrants and is raised by her mother and divorced aunts. I adored Lina’s portrayal by the author. Lina is of the Afro-Latinx heritage and is an over-achiever. She has witnessed the struggles her mother and aunts had to face and uses this as a constant reminder to drive herself. She is a tough, ambitious, sassy woman who believes in maintaining control over her emotions.
The characters in the book are hilarious. Lina’s family is close-knit, and stands by her; it is amusing and touching to read about it. Max suffers the brunt of it multiple times. The chemistry between Max and Lina is sweet and delightful, though developing feelings for one’s ex-fiance’s brother sounds far fetched.
Max Hartley is swoony and charming. The author has done an excellent job of exploring Max and Andrew’s relationship. It adds substance to Max’s character as well as contributes to the plot.
I enjoyed the book, and give it 4/5 stars. The author’s writing is funny, sweet, and refreshing. I look forward to reading the next in the series- The Wedding Crasher. It follows the life of Dean, Max’s best friend.