Review: Sweet as Pie

It's always a delight when the inside of a novel is as sweet as the cover. That was the case with Alicia Hunter Pace's latest novel, Sweet as Pie. The cover made me want to devour it and I was happy to find a romance story that was just as delectable. I really enjoyed it and am so excited that this is the first in a series - so I know there are more lovely novels to come!

Here's the book's description:

Evans Pemberton has always had a problem saying no. To her overbearing Mississippi Delta family, to her business mentor’s push to expand her thriving pie shop and to her lifelong crush, Jake Champagne. But Jake chose her beauty queen cousin three years ago and ghosted on their close friendship. When he comes to her small town in Alabama with a new pro hockey franchise, Evie fears she’ll lose her heart all over again. Of course, she'll forgive him like the good Southern woman she is, but anything more than that is off the table.
So why can’t she stop baking for him?
Jake is looking forward to a new team, a new town and a clean slate in Laurel Springs. After a disastrous year, the hockey hotshot is leaving his past behind—even betting his best friend that he can stay away from women. But he’s happy to reconnect with a piece of home when he visits Evie. Between slices of Mississippi mud pie and chicken potpie, he’s starting to remember all the good times they had and the man he always intended to be. Not to mention what a fool he was to let Evie get away…
How will they find a future together when she can’t say no and he can’t say yes? The path to true love isn’t quite easy as pie, but it sure is sweet in the end.

There are all sorts of my favourite tropes in this novel - small town, sports, and friends to lovers. Plus, there was a bakery! Yum! Though - can it really be a small town when an NHL franchise is playing there? I feel like there's some sort of contradiction happening but that's far too much analysis for this sweet little book.

Evie and Jake are both lovely but they have a lot of issues to work through. Jake is acting like an idiotic twentysomething year old divorced hockey player (I had to constantly remind myself that the pair were really young, I think 21 because they sometimes acted a lot older, even when they were being dumb) and Evie is a Yes Girl which causes all sorts of trouble. Even though I love friends to lovers, it's a tad bit harder when it's obvious that one of the friends has wanted to be lovers for a long, long time and the other is totally unobservant and had no idea (cough Jake cough). But the friendship base is still there and makes for a really great relationship.

After not reading a sports romance in a long while, I finished two this month! The Dating Playbook (review here) had a football player, whereas Sweet as Pie featured a hockey player. I know a lot more about hockey than football (I live in Canada and like sports so it's no surprise I've picked up a lot about the sport) which can help when reading a hockey romance. Of course, it's not really about the hockey so if you're an avid hockey fan, you'll likely find yourself wanting more. But, I liked the balance in this novel and enjoyed the hockey, baking, and small town romance vibes that all worked together. I don't really know how salaries work in the NHL but I know hockey players make a ton of money. That said, I don't know if Jake really made enough to be able to throw money around on all that he did. Maybe my frugal nature just couldn't help but judge his spendy ways! I'm glad that Evie made fun of his "bug car" because it drove me nuts too!

The next book in the Good Southern Women series will be Smooth as Silk and will release in February 2022. There was an excerpt in the back of Sweet as Pie that has me super excited to read Hyacinth and Robbie's story. And not just because I'm hopeful for a "trip" to Scotland in that book as Robbie is a hockey player from Scotland. It should be an absolute delight as well.

Sweet as Pie is just as sweet as you'd expect. Alicia Hunter Pace's novel doesn't lend itself well to picking it apart for a review, as I've realized, but I would definitely recommend this if you want a fun and cute story to get lost in for a little while.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Harlequin, in exchange for a post on Instagram. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Take Me Out

It's been awhile since I've read a short story anthology so I immediately requested Take Me Out on NetGalley when I saw it listed. I was really interested in this one because I'm a baseball fan and I've read and enjoyed other Crimson Romance anthologies in the past. I devoured the book in one day because it was so much fun!

Here's the description for this anthology: 

The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd… Four rising star authors celebrate the love of the game with these sweet and seductive baseball romances.
Trade Off by Elley Arden: Traded and jaded, catcher Ben Border is considering stepping out from behind the plate. Then he runs into former flame Scarlett Dare. Turns out the sexy marketing executive still sends him into a fever pitch. But is she willing to trade Fortune 500 success for a happily ever after?
Slugger Gone South by Alicia Hunter Pace: When New York Yankee Marc MacNeal comes to Merritt, Alabama, for a charity golf tournament, he’s shocked to be reunited with his ex-fiancee Bailey Watkins. It could be the perfect chance to get some long-awaited closure—or the start of a whole new ball game…
That Ol’ Team Spirit by Bea Moon: Someone’s haunting the Sharks’ stadium and creating some major league mischief. So psychic Peg Noonan and her granddaughter Trish are determined to discover who’s menacing their concessions stand. With the help of Trish’s high school love, sportswriter Rob Hanks, they just might have a ghost of a (second) chance.
Safe at Home by Leslie P. García: Amanda Warner hates baseball, but knows it’ll take a swing for the fences to save her dad’s hardware store. Hoping his star power will bring the crowds in, she sets her sights on Scorpions’ All-Star Josh “Hotstuff” Arrevalos. But is her heart ready to play ball again?

With all anthologies, there is always a story that stands out as the best, in my opinion. In this collection, I think my favourite was Trade Off (though it's hard to tell since it was the first one I read). There was just something about that one that stuck with me and kept me turning the pages (well, technically pressing the button on my Kobo...). All the stories were pretty good but that one was particularly enjoyable. I think it was the history between the two characters that made it stand out.

I found it interesting that three of the four stories featured couples that actually used to be a couple. I think that really helped when reading about the romances because things always move so quickly in short stories. Which I think was one of the issues I had with Safe at Home - I just couldn't quite understand where the attraction was coming from because there weren't many typical romance indicators. Not only were most of the couples former lovers but they had all been apart for different amounts of time. If I remember correctly, Ben and Scarlett had been apart for twenty years, Marc and Bailey for eight, and Trish and Rob for five. That really helped make the stories different since all couples were different ages and at different stages in their lives.

I mentioned in my intro that I'm a baseball fan. I've always played sports (basketball was my sport of choice) so when I started dating someone whose first love was baseball, I figured I should probably pay attention to the specifics of the sport. I've learned a lot in the past eight years (nine ball seasons) so I'm probably way more into the sport than the average romance reader. I tried to make sure that didn't affect how I read the stories and it didn't, for the most part. Terms were used correctly, the feel of the sport and the players were right. There were two instances, however, that had me shaking my head. One was the use of the acronym for Major League Baseball. Well, it was supposed to be the acronym. It was actually MBL. Say oops. I really hope the editors caught that before the official published copy went out (remember, I was just reading an advanced e-copy). Another issue popped up in the final story, That Ol' Team Spirit. Rob, a former ball player and currently a sports journalist, has written a story about a former pitcher who was involved in some sketchy dealings fifty years previous. Rob said the pitcher had "pitched a perfect no-hitter game." That, my friends, is a redundant term. You can pitch a no-hitter or a perfect game but you wouldn't say perfect no-hitter. This really wouldn't bother many readers but it irked me so I wanted to include it.

Take Me Out was a really enjoyable anthology. I liked that it was sports focused, not too common in romances, and that it included four great stories. I would still recommend this one to romance readers even if they're not a baseball fan, or even a sports fan. I do have to say that was also nice to read about the ball season now that I'm gearing up for winter. Is it April yet? :)

Happy reading :)

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*