Sunday, March 10, 2024

About the Book

Book: Forever Free

Author: Hope Toler Dougherty

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: January 24, 2024

Phoebe Sinclair combines her love of flowers and teaching to nurture a cut flower business on her grandfather’s land. She’s got her hands full growing the farm, growing her customer base, and dealing with her growing attraction to the aloof man who’s volunteered to help make her farming dream come true.

Can she focus on her main job, or will a pair of yearning eyes and a hurting heart divert her worthy goals?

Heath Daniels has resigned himself to a life of singleness as he watches his siblings couple up and set wedding dates. Tracking their happiness, however, is more difficult than he expected. A real struggle, in fact.

Feeling the old troubles from his college years creeping back to tempt him, he’s propelled to volunteer for manual labor, leaving him exhausted, but out of danger, at the end of every day. His additional hours of agri-business, however, lead to different struggles with an intriguing farmer.

Does he have the strength to resist old temptations as well as a beautiful new one too?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, and York Technical College in Rock Hill, SC. Her early novels are Irish Encounter, Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts. Her Forever series includes Forever Music, Forever Home, and the novella, “A Hatteras Surprise,” which is featured in Candy Cane Wishes and Saltwater Dreams.

A chronic volunteer, she’s a member of ACFW, NC Writers’ Network, and Triangle East Writers. She and her husband live in North Carolina and look forward to visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

More from Hope

A few years ago, I decided to write a series since readers enjoy reading stories with familiar characters. Four siblings came to mind, perhaps because I have four children, and the Daniels family from Charlotte, North Carolina, burst onto my computer screen.

I’ve loved spending time with Ben, Heath, Sam, and Josie for the past several years and sharing how three of them found their happily ever after. One, however, always appeared on the fringe of the story, participating, yes, but always a bit set apart from the family.

Heath Daniels is the second oldest sibling, the middle brother between Ben and Sam. Readers will discover him first in Forever Music and then in a larger role in Forever Home, but he never disclosed too much about himself in those stories.

Before I began the series, I didn’t know to plan key plot points and goals for each story as well as the whole series. As a panster, I wrote each story as it came to me or as I needed to like, for instance, the novella, “A Hatteras Surprise.”

When it came time to write Heath’s story, I hardly knew him. I wasn’t sure about his backstory, his occupation, tastes…nothing. He grudgingly released those missing pieces bit by tiny bit.

At the beginning of Forever Free, Heath feels like the black sheep in the family. In the high achieving Daniels clan, he’s the one who dropped out of college, the one who struggled with substance abuse, the one who feels less than. With all his siblings coupling up, he’s staring at a single future because of old misguided beliefs.

Guilt from an early tragedy along with bad choices play important parts in Heath’s personality. Phoebe Sinclair has her hands full nurturing her cut flower farm, plus she has to deal with a cute, but distant employee, the mysterious Heath.

I enjoyed getting to know Heath and watching his growth from the sullen, misunderstood character to the confident businessperson who wants Phoebe to achieve her dream. I hope you’ll enjoy his story, too.

Here’s a recipe Phoebe bakes for her grandfather in Forever Free. I’m not sure why it’s called Swedish Nut Cake, but I’m sure it’s delicious.

Swedish Nut Cake

Ingredients for cake:                                       Ingredients for icing:
2 C flour                                                          1 8 oz pkg creamed cheese
1 ¾ C sugar                                                     1/2 stick butter
2 eggs                                                              1 t vanilla
2 t baking soda                                                1 ½ C powdered sugar, sifted
1 t vanilla
½ chopped nuts
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple with juice

Directions:
Mix all ingredients for cake and bake in a greased 9×13 pan at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. For icing, mix all ingredients and frost the cooled cake. Store in the refrigerator.

MY REVIEW

This is a beautiful story of redemption and forgiveness . I adored learning more about running a farm filled with flowers that bring beauty to the world. The characters oh my are they good. Phoebe and Heath are dynamic together. The author is very well versed in creating depth to her characters.

Phoebe has this dream to make Honeysuckle Farm a place to teach about flowers as well as sell them. It is hard work but she gets joy from hard work and being around her grandpa. I liked how she is persistent in making the farm a success yet she has flaws of being a bit unsure of herself. Her confidence is lacking but along the way maybe someone will be able to help her out.

Heath is not really a complicated character just has this guilt he carries around. An accident that happened years ago still affects him even today. He refuses to allow anyone to get close to him for fear of losing them. As he volunteers at Phoebe’s grandpa’s farm, they start to build a friendship. Heath needs to keep busy so he won’t slip back into drinking again.

I liked how Heath used his business background to help Phoebe develop programs to bring people to the farm. I would love to be there as the food truck set up and feel the excitement from the families as they get ready to watch fireflies dance in the sky.

What I like best about this story is how the author illustrates how our guilt can keep us locked up in depression, being alone and bottling up anger. Heath is harsh towards Phoebe at times which causes friction between the two. Surrendering to God is the only way to be free. The ending is sweet and shares how God can heal a broken heart while allowing forgiveness to happen.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.