Like a cup of hot apple cider warming the body on a cold day, the Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon anthology will warm the soul.

The fourth in the Hot Apple Cider series, the latest volume contains 67 stories – some true, some fiction and a few are poems – all based around the theme, and subtitle, of “finding love in unexpected places.

In the foreward, author and speaker Sheila Wray Gregoire explains the theme: “Real love is seeing your neighbour, your family and your friends with new eyes. It’s deciding to laugh, to love, to live in the knowledge that pain in the world is inevitable, but love is a choice.”

For those unfamiliar with the series, it started in 2008 as a partnership between World Vision Canada, The Word Guild and That’s Life! Communications. The Hot Apple Cider anthology featured the work of 30 Canadian writers who are Christian and was, initially, part of a package of gifts given to those attending a World Vision Canada-sponsored event – as well as being distributed through traditional channels eventually reaching best-seller status. This success spawned A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider and the shorter anthology A Taste of Hot Apple Cider.

Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon is as comforting as an old quilt

With the format set – think of a Christian version of Chicken Soup for the Soul – readers will find Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon as comforting as an old quilt. There are stories that will make you laugh like “The ‘Other’ First Prize” by Martin Smith or “Kosovo Canteen Concert” by Adele Simmons. There are stories that will make you cry like “Mother, Go Gently” a poem by L. June Stevenson and “Until Death Do Us Part” by Ray Wiseman. And a few that will make you laugh and cry like “Champ!” by David Kitz and “The Cat We Didn’t Need” by Ruth Ann Adams.

There are a couple of significant strengths Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon. The first is the richness created by the variety of voices used and tales told. The second is the rigorous selection and editing process which has honed the stories into polished gems.

So grab a cup of your favourite warm beverage (hot apple cider preferred) and curl up with Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon: Stories of Finding Love in Unexpected Places and prepare to have your body and soul warmed.

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For more information on Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon or any of the other Hot Apple Cider anthologies go to http://thatslifecommunications.com/hot-apple-cider-books/

To listen to an Arts Connection interview with That’s Life! Communication’s (and Hot Apple Cider co-publisher) Les Lindquist go to http://tinyurl.com/j7ml3dx