After finished The Worst Best Man by the same author, I couldn’t help but want to jump into this novel. I knew that the characters from the previous book were intertwined into this one and, while I enjoyed Lina and Max a good bit, I was almost more excited to jump in so that I could get more of the bustling Brazilian family that I had come to love. But if I’m honest, for me, this one lacked a lot of the charm of the book that came before it.
The Premise:
When Solange’s wedding planner cousin (Lina, from The Worst Best Man) ropes her into helping with a wedding, Solange figures it should be a relatively easy day. Lina is good at her job. But when she finds the bride can’t keep her hands off another man, she can’t – in good conscience, at least – not get involved. And when it comes time to ‘speak now or forever hold her peace’, Solange opts to speak now.
Dean (Max’s bestie from The Worst Best Man) knows that the marriage he’s about the embark on isn’t for love – it’s for convenience and both of them are going into it with their eyes wide open. But when someone – a woman not even on the guest list – exposes their plot at the alter, Dean takes the hit in stride. But word of the breakup starts to get around Dean’s office and he soon finds out that, without a show of long term commitment (ie. a committed relationship. And yes the story does get a bit weird here.) he’s no longer up for a promotion, he declares the wedding crasher is actually a woman he’s been dating and that they’re in love. In fact, breaking up the wedding was the right thing to do.
Of course, rather than be caught in another lie, Dean now has to seek out Solange and convince her to go along with his fake dating scheme. Coincidentally, Solange has some events coming up that would be easier if she had a boyfriend on her arm and she decides to go along with it. If it’s beneficial to the both of them, then it’s ‘no harm, no foul’ right?
Patrick, Dean’s coworker, can tell something fishy is going on though and – in hopes of scoring the promotion for himself – is determined to figure out exactly what’s going on.
My Thoughts:
If that premise sounds a bit confusing and convoluted, you’re not wrong. While this book was more ‘spicy’ than The Worst Best Man, the plot itself was hard to follow at times and felt like a bit of a mess. And as the story goes on, things start to feel less and less realistic. By the time Patrick tries to expose the fake dating couple by inviting them (and then bailing himself) to a swingers party, I was pretty sure the plot of this story had rolled far off the rails as an excuse to add more sex appeal to the story.
Which is a bit of a shame, in my opinion. Sure, spicy, sexy books are fun, but in her previous book Sosa made a great impression with how she is able to develop interesting intercharacter relationships and bring a zest for Brazilian culture into her works. And while the scenes with the aunts in the family owned bakery are fun, they are obviously not the central plot. (Though I’d happily read an entire novel about them. I’m sure one of them needs to find love too.)
So, overall, I think I might have DNF’d this one if I hadn’t been listening to the audiobook. It wasn’t, in my opinion, so bad that I needed to shut it off. (I may or may have been playing a grindy videogame and welcomed the audiobook for something to do with my brain while I played.) And, listening to it, it took me two sittings, so it wasn’t a huge investment of my time. But if I’d been reading a copy of it, being the slow reader I am, I’m pretty confident that I would have put it down somewhere around halfway through and not worried about picking it up again.
Lasting Impressions:
I didn’t hate this book, but I didn’t love it. And, while there’s a chance I might pick back up Sosa’s previous book in the future, this one made me thankful I borrowed it rather than bought it. Solange and Dean didn’t have the same heart or spark as Lina and Max did in the previous book, so I’d be more likely to recommend The Worst Best Man to someone and let them find The Wedding Crasher on their own. And, while I’m a sucker for the fake dating trope when it’s done well (I loved The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood despite my better judgement), The Wedding Crasher just didn’t do it for me. *shrug*
