Real-life Romance: Good First Impressions

Did you have a good first impression when you met your forever person? Author Hope Toler Dougherty talks about how sometimes first impressions can be right ... and sometimes they can't. Keep reading to find out more. And check out her new book! It looks so good!

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​My future husband and I began dating in Charlotte, North Carolina, way back in the mid to late 80’s. We’d go out with friends and then during the evening, people would start to couple up. Relationships formed, and several grew into marriages.
The night we met, I was hanging out with my roommate at a nice restaurant bar with lots of wood and lush ferns. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. My husband likes to joke that we met at a bar.
When we started talking, I was immediately attracted to him, impressed with his career, how he carried himself, his plans, his humor. I thought, “This guy has his act together.” All the other guys I’d dated seemed like boys in comparison.
When he grabbed my fingers and noticed my college ring, he said, “1983. That’s when you graduated?” I said, “the first time.” 

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​Now. Let me just say, I don’t normally respond with such audacity, but I wanted to hold his attention, too. When my roommate and I decided to leave, I stopped at the front door and looked back at him. He was looking at me! Just like the old Buck Owens song, “Looking Back.” We began dating in December 1986 and married in August 1988. Through the years, he’s proven my first impression correct. He’s a solid real deal, a man of God who loves his family.
Merritt Hastings and Sam Daniels don’t hit it off at first in Forever Home. A piano teacher without a piano, Merritt practices and gives lessons on her church’s piano until she can find one of her own. (Discover the circumstances of losing her piano in the first chapter.)
Sam eavesdrops on her solo practice session and is intrigued because she’s playing Christmas carols in May and talking to herself. When she asks out loud what to play next, he answers, “‘O Come All Ye Faithful?’”
Scared out of her wits, she jumps off the piano bench. Fright turning into embarrassment, she leaves Sam in the sanctuary dust, puzzled but intrigued with the cute piano player.
Read Forever Home to discover if Merritt gets her happily ever after with Sam, her possible knight in dented armor.

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With a fulfilling job and a home of her own, former foster child, Merritt Hastings, relishes her stable, respectable life. Dreaming for more is a sure way for heartache. When a contested will turns her world upside down, she must reevaluate what’s important to her, what’s worth fighting for, and what’s worth sacrificing.

Patience has never been Sam Daniels’ strong suit with his history of acting quickly and asking questions later, and he’s ready for changes in his life…now. Too bad the plans for acquiring a radio station didn’t include a contract. Now he’s out of a job, out of a radio station, and out of prospects.

While his life is in flux, at least he can help Merritt steady hers, or will he rush in and overstep …again?

Will the sparks flying between these two opposites lead to a happily-ever-after or heartbreak for both? 

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Hope Toler Dougherty holds a master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her novels include Irish Encounter, Mars…With Venus Rising, Rescued Hearts, Forever Music, and Forever Home. Her recent novella, “A Hatteras Surprise,” appears in Candy Cane Wishes and Saltwater Dreams and is also available as a standalone novel. She and her husband delight in visits with their daughters and twin sons.

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