Smooth as Silk: A Small Town Southern Romance

Smooth as Silk by Alicia Hunter Pace is her second book in the Good Southern Women series and can be read as a stand-alone. The small-town magic of Laurel Springs combined with the competitive spirit of the professional hockey players makes for a unique backdrop to this story. Hyacinth Dawson owns Laurel Springs’s only bridal boutique, Trousseau, and she has plans to build up the business so she can afford employees and she can devote her time to wedding dress designing. Keeping schedules, making lists, and sticking to her plan isn’t enough for her to grow her business, she also wants to get a celebrity client so she can be on a wedding dress show and take her business to the next level. Robbie McTavish is a defenseman for the Birmingham Yellowjackets hockey team. His family runs a wedding business back in Scotland in the “wee castle” his family owns. When he peeks in the window at Trousseau, he sees a woman in a wedding dress that is all wrong for her, and he can’t just let a woman get married in a dress that isn’t right, so he barges into the shop to try and fix it. Naturally, Hyacinth isn’t happy about the intrusion, and when a video of the disruption goes viral, Hyacinth believes her business is ruined. But, the wedding show producer calls her up and wants to film an episode in her shop, she’s elated until they tell her the one condition is that Robbie must be in the show with her. It was fun to go back to Laurel Springs, and I enjoyed visiting with Evans and Jake from the first book in the series, Sweet as Pie. I enjoyed Robbie and his over-the-top personality. His wild, fly by the seat of his pants attitude is perfect for the hockey rink, but not when it comes to dealing with the schedule-obsessed Hyacinth. Robbie and Hyacinth had some good banter, but I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. I thought Hyacinth was too harsh for Robbie, although she did warm up a bit near the end of the story. I enjoyed the first book in the series a bit more than this one, but I’m still looking forward to her next book in this series. I recommend Smooth as Silk to anyone who enjoys a sports romance. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.