A review by jenzhg
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

3.0

3.5/5 ⭐

This book was honestly a very high three in the beginning but gradually became lower and lower. The romance in this book was honestly mediocre. Don't get me wrong, I think that they were there for each other and that in itself is very adorable and charming but I just felt like the ending was so abrupt? Not only that but the conflict gets forcibly fed into the plot like less than 100 pages away from the finish line (imagine how rushed it felt)?

Anyways, in other words, I felt like some of the plot devices used were not used in the best possible way and that caused the book to feel rushed and abrupt. The first 20+ chapters or so of this book was a pure slow burn and I was super fine with that. And then the reader thinks they're gonna final get together, but then comes this problem that loosely links with the plot and could be seen as a minor issue yet somehow becomes the major conflict in terms of their relationship.

I want to give kudos to Mia Sosa for the personal conflicts both our female and male leads had to go through and learn from. I really liked how the author acknowledge not just the double standard of women showing emotions vs men but also the prejudices and harmful stereotypes surrounding WOC showing emotions specifically. It was a running theme throughout the entire story and was executed perfectly. Sometimes, rom-coms only briefly acknowledges these issues and very quickly dismisses it because "the man can save her"...smh. I also think that Max's discovery and realisation about choices and competitiveness were quite endearing as well. Overall, I just really loved both of these characters.

I also think they had a great dynamic. Max was more of the sunshine, more easy-going whereas Carolina was definitely the grumpy one, the one who easily panics and stresses but not a single emotion flick across her face. She's honestly such a girlboss. Their relationship is definitely a slow burn though but for a very understandable reason.

Regardless, I felt myself wondering how the plot would unfurl during the last 50 pages of the story and was starting to panic because there were still so many points the story needs to touch upon. To be honest and fair, I can't even be mad at the plot devices Mia Sosa used because they all were somewhat logical and fitted loosely with the plot. However, I felt like having the story end right when they confess feels very...short and abrupt. Therefore, I'm whacking down points for that.

I was also promised for some a lot of blushing, giggling and gasping scenes but found myself robbed of many. Sure, there were some scenes that had me smacking my hand to my face in shock (in a good way) or turning away because of how sweet Max was being, however, the spice was so bad