About the Book

Book: Beach House Rescue

Author: Hope Toler Dougherty

Genre: Christian Romance

Release Date: June 23, 2026

Two strangers. One beach house. Zero plans to share it.

Tessa Trask expects a quiet summer restoring a friend’s beach house—not waking up to an intruder and defending herself as best she can. Wyatt Henry isn’t a burglar, though. He’s just as surprised to find her there—and just as determined to stay.

Under protest, the two agree to an uneasy truce. Tessa is creative and spontaneous. Wyatt is disciplined and guarded. Keeping their distance should be easy…until a surprise visitor arrives and turns their temporary arrangement into something far more complicated.

As sun-soaked days lead to deeper conversations, irritation softens into a fragile peace and grows into something worth protecting. While Tessa begins to trust God’s leading for her future, Wyatt wrestles with a past that makes trust feel dangerous.

Are their growing feelings worth the risk—or is walking away the only safe choice?

 

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 and York Technical College. She’s written seven novels and one novella. Forever Free, won the Faith, Love, & Hope Reader’s Choice Award for 2025. Beach House Rescue is her newest release. She and her husband live in North Carolina and delight in visiting their two daughters, twin sons, and new daughter-in-law.

 

 

 

More from Hope

Have you ever heard of Vinegar Pie? This interesting dessert is Tessa Trask’s snack in the first scene of Beach House Rescue.

Vinegar Pie is a real dessert created generations ago when creative cooks didn’t always have fresh ingredients like lemons. Sometimes they were also called “desperation pies.” They’re similar to chess pies in texture and in their use of whatever ingredients the cook could find in the pantry.

The pie became very popular during the Great Depression when money and ingredients were scarce, but Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about her mother’s vinegar pie in Little House in the Big Woods.

Even though I grew up in the South, I’d never tasted this pie until I visited my parents after I’d moved to Pittsburgh, PA. A local shop was called Vinegar Pie, and I was intrigued. The store sold southern items and baked goods, among them Vinegar Pie. I tried a slice and enjoyed it!

Don’t worry. The pie doesn’t taste like a pickle. The flavor teases the taste buds with the tang of lemon and offsets the sweetness of the sugar.

Here’s a recipe if you’re intrigued, too.

Vinegar Pie

Ingredients:

4 large eggs
1 ¼  C sugar
2 T vinegar (apple cider or white)
¼ C butter, melted and cooled
1 T all-purpose flour
1 regular pie crust (not deep dish)

Directions:

1. Bake the crust for 15 minutes at 350. Use beans or baking weights to keep the crust from puffing up.
2. While the crust bakes, make the filling. Whisk the eggs and sugar until combined.
3. While continuing to whisk, drizzle in the cooled butter and add the vinegar.
4. Pour into the crust (after removing the weights) and bake for 30-35 minutes. The filling should just be set. If it’s a little jiggly, but golden brown on top, the filling will firm up as it cools.

Enjoy straight or with some whipped cream or ice cream. Tessa, Wyatt, and Skylee would take theirs with ice cream, for sure!

Author Interview

• What is your favorite genre of books? Why?

I’m admitting this secret for the first time here: I love the romance genre.

As an English major and then teacher, I’d always have another book to discuss if anyone ever asked what I was reading. I was embarrassed to admit I read romance. I was uncomfortable writing romance for a long time. Finally, in the last few years, I’ve come to be grateful for the genre and grateful that God chose romance as my genre.

I like happy stories. What’s wrong with that? Don’t we need happy stories, especially now? Romance movies are some of the most popular at the box office. Favorite songs in many different types of music are love songs.

My point is other creatives get to produce romance without being looked down on. Why do romance authors get the side eye so often? I’m pushing back. I love romance!

• Are you a one project at a time author or do you have multiple projects going at once?

I can read several books at once, but I write only one story at a time. I’d rather not write other projects like blog posts or social media posts and just write all the time, but that’s not realistic.

• Who is your favorite author? Why?

Sorry, I can’t choose just one!

Non-fiction: David Grann—His non-fiction reads like a novel; Rick Bragg—I love the way he puts words together.

Fiction: Liane Moriarty—She’s a master at characterization; Karen Witemeyer—I love her humor; Katharine Center—She writes clean romance with loads of humor and a love of the genre; Anne Tyler and Kaye Gibbons—These talented women will always be the top of my favorites list.

• Do you have extensive outlines when writing or do you write a book as you go?

I’m a pantser which means I don’t write an outline for my stories. I write by the seat of my pants, as the story comes to me. The process is almost like reading to discover what happens next. A scene may not work in the rough draft, but subsequent drafts will work out the problems.

• What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?

Quiet. I don’t write in coffee shops because I’m too nosy. I like writing at home. I find that writing in new locations (maybe on vacation or even in a new spot in my house) helps spur creativity, but I always need quiet, not even soft music while I’m trying to create.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, September 22

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 23

Simple Harvest Reads, September 24 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, September 25

Artistic Nobody, September 26 (Author Interview)

For Him and My Family, September 27

Guild Master, September 28 (Author Interview)

Devoted To Hope, September 29

Fiction Book Lover, September 30 (Author Interview)

Avid Reader Nurse, September 30

Fruitfully Planted, October 1

The Bookish Ledger, October 2 (Author Interview)

She Lives to Read, October 3

Cover Lover Book Review, October 3

For the Love of Literature, October 4 (Author Interview)

Holly’s Book Corner, October 5

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Hope is giving away the grand prize of a $75 Amazon gift card and a signed copy of Beach House Rescue!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://gleam.io/8sIt8/beach-house-rescue-celebration-tour-giveaway