The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Shout to Mia Sosa, author of The Worst Best Man for not blocking me or reporting my account on Instagram as I shared my real time reactions to characters and plot. She opened Pandora’s box when she replied to my Instagram story of a screenshot of the audiobook, in which I included the animated graphic “currently listening to” and tagged her.

To my delight, Sosa replied “Hope you enjoy it!” with the heart eyes emoji. I replied with “I am. Poor Max. Andrew is an asshole. Good for Lina for not crumbling (yet?).” Even with the open-ended question, I thought it would go unanswered, or at the very least simply earn a double tap, but Sosa replied with “Max will be fine.” Crying laughing emoji.

I’m not going to sit here and write a transcript of our chat. That’s between us, not to mention it contains some spoilers, which I am adamantly against. Mia was amused by my reactions and probably appreciated that I appreciated and posted about her book. I know I appreciated her taking the time out to acknowledge me. Authors are my favorite people. Let me get to why Andrew, a character in the novel, is not.

At first, I thought it was weird that Max, best man bestowed with the label of being the worst, is the character who opens the book with his own narration. I thought Carolina Santos, the jilted bride, would be the sole narrator. That’s my bad because I had nothing to base that on. I’m glad Max was one of the two narrators. The male perspective is always nice. Lina, short for Carolina, is the other. For three agonizing years, Lina blamed Max not only being the bearer of bad news, but for pouring ice water over his brother Andrew’s already cold feet.

Of course, because this is romance (more like a rom-com), Lina eventually crosses paths with the brothers—at the same time, no less! She owns and runs a wedding planning business. The brothers work for their mother’s marketing firm. Both businesses are commissioned by a prestigious hotel chain to come up with a business plan for partnership and expansion.

All throughout the novel I ping-ponged between feeling bad for Max and rooting for him. The poor thing has always lived in his brother’s shadow and here he goes falling for his brother’s ex-fiancé. I know what you’re thinking: that’s against bro code. Not when the Bros barely act like Bros. Hell, Max wasn’t even Andrew’s first choice as best man. Others declined. Andrew is a dick and can go eat a bag of dicks as far as I’m concerned. Read the book and you’ll see why I feel this way. Still, it is trifling that Max and Lina start a “thang.”

Lina’s not totally off the hook either. How does a woman once betrothed to one man fall for his brother? In her defense, she fought her feelings and didn’t want the relationship to happen. Not to mention, she only intended for it to be a fling. Having said that, she couldn’t resist because baby bro Max really is the better person, the better brother, the better partner, the better man. He still deserves title of “Worst Best Man” because he got wasted and could not properly recall events the night before the wedding. Get yourself together, man!

The Worst Best Man was a fun read. The characters, including Lina’s family, were well developed with their own background stories that tied into how they supported Lina. There are no mixed feelings when it comes to Lina, Max, or Andrew. I like that Sosa sprinkled in plenty of Portuguese, Brazilian customs, and delicious-sounding dish descriptions that made me want to hop onto Seamless and search Brazilian restaurants that deliver to Bed-Stuy. I’ve only had a few Brazilian eating experiences, one being on the company dime at Fogo de Chao. My taste buds were not the least bit disappointed with the savory meats and side dishes. The same can be said for my experience listening to The Worst Best Man.