There is something so comforting about apples. They are beautiful as well as nourishing, colorful, tart, sweet, and give you something enjoyable to take a big bite of. And just like a good, ripe apple, Amy E. Reichert's new novel The Simplicity of Cider is completely tempting. The author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake and Luck, Love, and Lemon Pie offers up this new novel of family, sacrifice, and home. 

Sanna Lund and her father run their family orchard in Door County, Wisconsin. It's been in the family for generations, and Sanna feels like the trees run in her blood. Gifted with a way to see apples and their juices, she is trying to blend hard apple cider to help renew their business, but so far it's just not taking off. She knows that the right recipe is in her reach, but time is running out. 

Her father Einars has cared for the trees all his life. A man always in motion, his life is the orchard and his children. But an accident leaves him unable to work the apple trees, leaving Sanna to depend on hired help for the summer. 

Single father Isaac Banks has taken his son Sebastian ("Bass") on the summer trip of a lifetime as a way to protect him from the heartbreak of his mother's chaotic life choices. After traveling halfway across the country, Isaac found himself with a job offer at the Lund's orchard, and he grabs at the chance to spend some time in a beautiful part of the country. 

But when Einars' accident puts him out of commission for awhile and greedy real estate developers come sniffing around, will Isaac and Bass's help be enough for Sanna to save the family business? Or will her stubborn self-sufficiency keep her from accepting the help she needs to save her family farm?

Alternatively heart-wrenching and heartwarming, The Simplicity of Cider is a sweet story of renewal and hope that reminds us that our roots are just a important as our fruits, and that while the answers we seek are in front of us, sometimes it just takes longer than we expect to see what they are. 

Galleys for The Simplicity of Cider were provided by the publisher through NetGalley.com.