Sweet as Pie

Good Southern Women #1

by Alicia Hunter Pace

A pro hockey player learns that home is where the heart is in the first novel of a delightful new series from USA TODAY bestselling author Alicia Hunter Pace

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.

Good Southern Women

Book 1: Sweet as Pie

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Friends To Lovers, Sports, Fiction, Hockey Romance, Hockey

368 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2021

About the author

As Alicia Hunter Pace, Stephanie Jones and Jean Hovey write contemporary romantic comedy and light fantasy with a distinct southern voice.

Stephanie lives in Jasper, AL, where she teaches third grade and wishes for a bigger bookstore. She is a native Alabamian who likes football, civil war history, and people who follow the rules. She is happy to provide a list of said rules to anyone who needs them.

Jean, a former public librarian, lives in Decatur, AL, with her husband in a hundred-year-old house that always wants something from her. She likes to cook but has discovered the joy of Mrs. Paul's fish fillets since becoming a writer.

Reviews

[Tina Loves To Read]

This is a Friends to Lovers Sport Romance. I found this book so very cute and a fun read. I loved the characters so much. I wish I had a Pie shop near me like what was in this book. I loved the ending so much. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Carina Press) or author (Alicia Hunter Pace) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

[Wendy W.]

Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sweet as Pie by Alicia Hunter Pace needs to come with a warning. “Will make you hungry for pie”. Besides feeling hungry while reading, I enjoyed this book very much. It’s a heartwarming book set in a town in the south and has all the charm you would expect from a book about a pie shop! Sweet as Pie is the first book in Alicia Hunter Pace’s Good Southern Women’s series, and I will be anxiously awaiting the next books in this series.

Evans Pemberton finally has opened her dream of owning a pie shop in a small town in Alabama. Her ‘silent’ partner is also the owner of a new professional Hockey team, and Evans is chosen to cater a breakfast for the players. Evans is distressed to learn one of the new players is none other than Jake Champagne, an old friend she grew up with back in the Mississippi Delta. She has a history with Jake, and when she finally decided to change their relationship from friend to more, Jake fell for Evan’s beauty queen cousin and was soon married.

Jake’s marriage soon fell apart, but he can’t figure out why his best friend Evans stopped contacting him. When he arrives in Laurel Springs, he’s happy to find his old friend Evans, but can’t figure out why she’s polite but reserved with him. He soon realizes the hurt he caused her when he fell for her cousin and decides to try to make up for his past behavior.

This book is as sweet as the pie on the cover. I enjoyed the sports aspect of the book and learned a lot about professional hockey. Jake and Evans have a complex past, and it takes some twists and turns for them both to realize they are perfect for each other. The author did an excellent job of making the town of Laurel Springs come alive, and I felt like I want to live there. I highly recommend this book to lovers of small-town romance with the caveat that you should read this book on a full stomach! I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[Susan]

Be warned! You will be craving pie while reading this delicious story! SWEET AS PIE by Alicia Hunter Pace is the first book in the Good Southern Women series and I loved every minute of it! Can once best friends become more than friends but still stay best friends? I really loved Alicia’s writing and I’m on a quest to read her older books now. She will now be an auto buy author for me. Ms. Pace, you have a new fan!! Once I started reading SWEET AS PIE it was very hard to stop! The twists and turns made it impossible to put down, as I had to know what was going to happen to Evans. What an awesome story. All of Alicia’s characters feel genuine and relatable and put your emotions on one heck of a roller coaster ride.


Evans Pemberton finally has her dream of owning a pie shop in a small town in Alabama. When her old childhood friend, Jake comes back to town to join a new local hockey team, they once again become a part of each other’s lives. SWEET AS PIE is all about family and the past and the secrets that come out are heart tugging. It had me flipping through the pages like a woman on a mission. I had to know what was going to happen to Jake and Evans and all the secondary characters. Evans and Jake are two old friends who reconnect as Evan’s seemingly perfect life falls apart, and their story is one of dreams, secrets, second chances, surrender, and love. I really wanted to reach in to the story and give them both a hug. The bantering between these two is hysterical and I was giggling out loud more than once. SWEET AS PIE is a heart tugging story that will hold you hostage until the very last page. Once you start reading, it will be very hard to put down!


If you’re a fan of slow burn, small town romances with lots of different pie, SWEET AS PIE is the one for you! Evans and Jake have never been anything more than friends, but Evans has always wanted more from Jake, only she has never told him. When she thought Jake might actually take it to the next level, he ended up marrying her cousin, Channing. I was instantly emotionally invested in all of the characters. My heart broke for Evans and for all she was dealing with. I can not wait to read more by this wonderful and heart tugging author. I have never read anything by this spot on author but I am now on a quest to find many of her older books to read and that brings me so much joy and happiness to know they are waiting for me! She has the most beautiful covers! Check them out!!


I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harlequin/Carina Press through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[Richelle Robinson]

Thank you Harlequin Publicity Team for my finished copy for review purposes.

My 💭:

This story centers around Jake, a hockey player and Evans, a bakery owner. Since I love hockey, sweets, and small town town romances with meddling family members it was a no brainer for me to read this story. Evans is a sweetheart and I did like her, but she needed a backbone. ASAP.


At times I felt the pacing was a little off and that the story dragged in certain parts due to the excessive internal dialogues from Evans and Jake. I felt like the last few chapters were rushed and I really didn’t get to feel the connection between the couple. They had a good friendship, but I didn’t feel that crossover to romance territory like I hoped I would. I also felt this story could have been 100 pages shorter.

This book doesn’t read as a contemporary romance for me it was more of a women’s fiction. I don’t have anything against women’s fiction, but I thought I was getting a romance novel and this didn’t quite fit the bill.

[Carla]

Being a hockey fan, I was intrigued by this series. Of course it was a made up team and location, but that was okay. Jake Champagne and Evans Pemberton have a past. In Sweet as Pie, they rekindle that friendship and it blossoms into more. Evans (Evie) was in love with Jake back in the Mississippi Delta. Jake thought of her as a friend and broke her heart when he married her snobby, beauty queen cousin. She moves to Laurel Springs, Alabama and opens a Pie Shop that is flourishing. With her two best friends, also business owners, she is happy and making a new life for herself. Jake is a hotshot hockey player who has been traded to a new team stationed in Laurel Springs. He has had a scandal filled year and he and his BFF, Robbie, have been traded to the same team. Jake bets Robbie that he can refrain from sex for the rest of the year, trying to build up his reputation. That is fine until he begins to realize that he has lingering feelings for Evie.

This is a fun, sweet story that I really enjoyed. All the characters were wonderful from Jake and Evie to their friends and the local community. Of course pie plays an important role in this story and it was quite funny how it all plays out. I always enjoy books set in the south with all that comes with Southern Hospitality and the expectations of well bred southern women. Evie often makes decisions based on family expectations, but does finally stand up for herself. Jake is swoon-worthy male lead and I enjoyed watching him try to get through to Evie. There was There was some not a huge storyline dealing with hockey, but there was enough to keep the sports an important part of the story, but not too much to turn people off if it is not there thing. There frustration and angst, but this friends to lovers story was just what I was looking for. This story is definitely, "Sweet as Pie".

[Guylou (Two Dogs and a Book)]

📚 Hello Book Friends! SWEET AS PIE by Alicia Hunter Pace was definitely a sweet read. I love the friends to lover trope and how these collaborative authors brought it all together in the end. This is a low heat story with likable characters. Perfect for the beach.

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[Ancillar]

I am grateful to the good folks at Carina Press who made it possible for me to get an e-ARC of this delightful rom-com in exchange for an honest review. This is my first Alicia Hunter Pace and I am signing up for all her books because this beautiful book was a delight. This book made me hungry but then again it's called Sweet as Pie. The book is set in a town in the south and is a friend to lovers /sports romance and a first in the Good Southern Women’s series, and I will be anxiously awaiting the next books in this series. The book follows the relationship between longtime friends Evans and Jake and......it's as messy as my attempts at pie baking. Evans is a small-town pie shop and is happy with her life just the way it is )or she assumes). When Jake comes back to town to join a new local hockey team, they once again become a part of each other's lives. Evans and Jake have to work out what's going on between them.. I enjoyed this delightful read.

[Nancy]

Thank you NetGalley, Alicia Hunter Pace and Carina Press, for the book Sweet as Pie. This is my personal review.
I am huge hockey fan; romance book fan and I love small town southern settings for books and this one had it all.
Jake and Evans are so right for each other, and the author did an amazing job of making them so real to me as I read this book. The path to happiness in this book was wonderful. My heart was in this book from beginning to end.
I am excited to read the next book in this series- Good Southern Women. Sweet as Pie was a great first book.

[Jess]

3.5 Stars
I’m actually a little disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this one more then I did since I fell in love with this duo’s previous hockey series. Overall, I did enjoy this one. It was just hard for me to fall in love with the main man, Jake. He wasn’t a very good friend. He just expected her to forgive him and move on from his ghosting her. Maybe it’s just me.

[Harlequin Books]

Categories
Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance, Small Town & Rural Fiction
Miniseries
Good Southern Women (Book #1)

[Sara | sara.reads.too.much]

Small town, hockey, friends to lovers. What more could you want??

This is a sweet book about friends that fell out of touch throughout the years, lived different lives, only to come back to each other and find one another. How much cuter are you expecting this to get?? Because it does get cuter. Also, add hockey. I love hockey so, this was heavenly.

If you're a fan of slow burn, small town romances with lots of different pie, this book is the one for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press for the earc in return for an honest review.

Pub date: August 24, 2021

[Sahara]

3.5/5 ⭐️

[Andria Potter]

The girl character is a pushover and the guy is annoying af. Pass. Dnf at 45%.

[Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read]

It doesn't bode well when I find myself setting a book aside for something more interesting and have to force myself to pick it back up. I did that a lot with Sweet as Pie, which was really disappointing. This book is a combination of some of my favorite romance tropes - friends to lovers, small town, sports, Southern - so I should've enjoyed it so much more than I did. I love the charm of a small-town romance, but that fell short here in my opinion, and the story was way too repetitive. Plus we spend a lot of time inside Evans and Jake's heads when I'd rather have had more interaction between them. I got that they were friends, that came through loud and clear, but the romance fell flat. Telling me that there is romance and chemistry does no good if the emotion doesn't come through. I don't know, maybe this author's writing style isn't for me or maybe it was just the combination of issues I had with this particular book. Either way, this one did not work for me at all.

[Gladys]

Overall I enjoyed this book. The story was fun, sweet and emotional. For me the characters were just OK. I did think Evans was quite relatable though because lets be honest here, a lot of us have a very hard time saying no and putting ourselves first. As for Jake, I would have liked him more if he really owned his actions and the hurt he caused instead of just basically brushing it aside. Even though these things bothered me and occasionally feeling that things got bogged down, I thought this book was good. I am posting a volitional, forthright review.

[Kini]

This story opens with a MMC going back home to his Southern town. There is a brief scene where his mother/family member mentions the long time housekeeper. In 2021 I have a hard time with books in the south that even hint at throw back days of yore. I had just finished reading some heavier non-fic about race in america, so this might be a me thing. But it was a DNF for me.

[Lynn Spencer]

Ever have one of those months where the TBR prompt doesn’t match your mood? Normally a prompt like “baggage” would have me hauling out quite the angst fest. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Deeply emotional stories, often with leads who have to really work for that HEA. Maybe it’s the winter blahs or maybe it’s my dumpster fire of a timeline, but I just wasn’t feeling it for anything too heavy. Instead I pulled out 2021’s Sweet as Pie by new-to-me author Alicia Hunter Pace. This is clearly meant to be a warm and fuzzy small-town (or at least suburban) contemporary, but the leads are carrying some serious emotional baggage under all that Hallmark goodness.

Evans Pemberton and Jake Champagne grew up in the Mississippi Delta and both clearly come from well-to-do families. Their mothers are BFFs and the two were well on their way to move their own very close friendship into something more when things abruptly fell apart. Instead, college hockey star Jake married Evie’s beauty queen cousin and basically ghosted Evie as he rose into the ranks of pro hockey. Needless to say, this has done a number of Evie’s self-confidence.

For his part, Jake’s marriage crashed and burned and he’s basically been something of a ‘bad boy’ in hockey circles. As the story opens, he gets a wake-up call in the form of his uncle/mentor dying suddenly of a heart attack. This throws Jake for a serious loop and just as he’s feeling the need to actually be an adult and think about his life, he gets the opportunity to trade into an expansion team forming in Birmingham, Alabama. He seizes the opportunity and when he moves to Alabama, he finds himself thrown in with his long lost old friend, Evie. The team practices in the small nearby suburb of Laurel Springs, where Evie has established a bakery.

On the one hand, I liked that Evie and Jake don’t fall into instalove. In fact, Evie, especially, isn’t ready to simply pick their friendship right back up again. Jake should have done a bit more groveling, but the two do at least talk through their past history and clear the air a bit. Even better, the romance is fairly slow to develop, a pacing decision that makes sense given the rebuilding these two need. As they spend more time together, Evie realizes that she isn’t happy simply being a doormat and giving in to whatever Jake needs. That realization is the springboard for her sometimes going too far in the other direction, but then settling back into learning how to communicate.

This is a partial review. You can find the complete text here: https://allaboutromance.com/tbr-chall...

[Hannah]

*ARC review for NetGalley*

Evans Pemberton has achieved her life long dream of owning her own pie shop. Established with the help of a local business woman in Laurel Springs her shop, Crust, is thriving. If only she could say the same thing about the rest of her life. Her childhood best friend and lifelong crush Jake Champagne has just moved to town as a part of the new pro hockey franchise and he seems intent on restoring their friendship. Evans is just as inclined as always to forgive, but finds forgetting the past this time is just a little more difficult, especially since it involved Jake marrying and subsequently divorcing her golden haired cousin and ghosting on their friendship. But as Evans and Jake spend more time together, it seems like he may be interested in more than just friendship, but can they take all the best ingredients from their friendship and turn them into something as sweet as pie?

Cute contemporary romance novel with a little bit of hockey team antics on the side. I thought the backstory between Evans and Jake was really good and provided some nice tension up-front as they tried to get their friendship back on track. The family dynamic was also fun with their mom's being best friends, although I thought we could have used a little bit more of that drama aside from just the one weekend. Jake and Robbie's friendship is fun and we see a bit more of that as things get wild than we do of Evans and her friends. The moment Evans has with her mentor Clair during all the upheaval is great, but I would have liked to see more female support and friendship all around (it was alluded to, I just didn't see it on the page). Cute fun novel if you're looking for a quick read!

[Beth]

This is the classic rom-com. Can best friends become more than friends? Evans has a good life. She is the owner of her own pie shop in her town of Laurel Springs, Alabama. But then that idyllic life gets turned on it's heel when her former best friend moves to town. Jake the handsome pro hockey player has requested a trade to the new Yellowhammer team in Laurel Springs. He has wounds to lick and fences to mend. He and Evans have grown apart ever since he married her cousin. That marriage ended in disaster. Yet another reason to leave his old team and Nashville. The will they or won't they tension continues throughout the book. Just when you think they might make it one of them does something stupid, mainly Jake, to ruin things. Will Evans ever feel like she is enough and worthy of being loved by Jake and will he stop putting his foot in his mouth? There's some great southern charm in this book and I can't wait for the next one in the series.

[Monae Doyle]

This book should come with a warning label ⚠️. This book will definitely make you want pie. This book is a small town sports romance.

In this story you meet a woman named Evie Evans Pembertin. She owns a pie shop called CRUST in Laurel Springs, Alabama. She was once friends with a guy named Jake Champagne. Jake met her cousin and ghosted Evie and their friendship. He moves to Laurel Springs and to a new Hockey 🏒 franchise. He wants to revive his friendship with Evie. Between all of the many slices of Mississippi Mud Pie and chicken pot pie he starts to remember all of the good times they shared. They start to spend time together and fall for one another. I liked meeting the other guys on the hockey team. I wish there would have been some steamy moments between Evie and Jake in the book but there weren’t. I did enjoy the story and the book overall.

[Beppa]

The concept and writing for this book were fine, but the characters were somewhat frustrating. Jake consistently pushes Evans around and is insulting, while Evans can't figure out if she wants to stand up for herself or not despite being a successful and knowledgeable baker who doesn't need someone who didn't respect her efforts for so many years. I was honestly hoping for a red herring throughout as it did not feel like a romance novel to me until the end. I really liked Evans struggles with control in her job and how she adapted to the changes in her life with the new team moving to town. I would have loved to read more on that, with maybe a romance between two other characters instead if it was still needed. Overall not bad, just... not good, either. I may also just be picky in how characters' chemistry is portrayed.
Happy reading,
-Beppa

[Celeste]

It took me 12 days to finish- that’s like 12 books time.

I was really interested because of bakery and hockey and then saw two people write together to create this series, but I just felt it was slow. Maybe other readers like a slow burn, but this one just didn’t have pacing I need as a reader. There were lots of things happening that just felt dropped in but didn’t propel the story. Somethings were frustrating, when he tells her to stop saying yes, but what he really means is just say yes to me 😝 I wanted to like the ending but after having this creepy few chapters of her hating him then suddenly “falling” back in love, I just couldn’t. Appears the next book will be another player on the team.

End of the day, I will stick with Bromance novels.

[Kate Vale]

First in the Good Southern Women series, in which Pro Hockey player Jake Champagne demands to be traded to the new team headquartered in Laurel Springs, where his best friend for life, Evans Pemberton runs her bakery. He wants to renew their friendship and maybe move it to something more. She has always said yes to him, but not after he broke her heart by marrying her cousin who then divorced him. What an emotional mess--for both Evans/Evie and Jake.

Trouble is, when she says 'yes', it isn't in her best interest, and he insists on saying 'no' to anything resembling matrimony. So how are they going to change things up and give her a backbone and him a willingness to go eagerly into the serious relationship he wants but still fears?

Super characters with tons of quirkiness.

[Caroline (readtotheend on IG)]

3.5 stars. Easy to read little friends to lovers hockey romance that flew by. Almost comfort reading with the yummy pies, hockey players and small town setting. It felt like it could write itself. Oh yeah and add in the typical characters who are clearly in love but can't get it out thing that often happens. It truly was just comfort reading to cozy up on the couch with. I can't recommend this on audio though because when the narrator took on Jake's voice, I could not stand it!! I had to switch to print because it grated on me but I realize this is a very personal thing so you may be just fine with it. But listener be warned! :)

[Penny Leidecker]

This is a beautifully written story that is emotional at times. It is centered around Evie, the owner of Crust, a pie shop in Laurel Springs, Alabama, and Jake, the newest member of the Alabama Yellowhammers, a new pro hockey team. They’ve known each other for years and she’s had a crush on him for a while. When she thought something might happen between them, he ended up marrying her cousin, Channing. Grab your copy and see what happens, now that he’s a divorced man. I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley and this is my voluntary and honest review.

[Amy]

This is a fun, flirty book with all of Pace's normal wit and sass. I enjoyed getting to know Evans and Jake, as well as the community of friends around them, but even more I liked watching Evans and Jake dance around one another and try to deny their attraction and "rightness" for one another. I appreciated that both of them were still growing as individuals and needed to learn more about who they were and who each other was before they could truly come together as a couple that would last.

[Angela]

I always love reading friends to romantic lovers and this book delivers. Fun and sweet. I actually enjoyed more the successful female and the bond they have. Their mentor, a strong and feisty female was a joy in reading . I hope that a story for her is in the works

[Emily]

Hopefully you know going in that this isn’t a holiday book. Going by the name and the cover I had assumed. Fortunately, I enjoy hockey romance. This was a new to me author. I still liked it even though it was nothing like I expected.

[Hannah G]

This is really slow going...and the romance just wasn't it.

[zen_s]

[did not finish @ 9%]