Tuesday 27 January 2015

Blog Tour + Review + Giveaway - Withering Hope by Layla Hagen


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Withering Hope by Layla Hagen
Publication date: January 19th 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance 

Synopsis:

*This will be a STANDALONE CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE.*

Aimee’s wedding is supposed to turn out perfect. Her dress, her fiancé and the location—the idyllic holiday ranch in Brazil—are perfect.

But all Aimee’s plans come crashing down when the private jet that’s taking her from the U.S. to the ranch—where her fiancé awaits her—defects mid-flight and the pilot is forced to perform an emergency landing in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

With no way to reach civilisation, being rescued is Aimee and Tristan’s—the pilot—only hope. A slim one that slowly withers away, desperation taking its place. Because death wanders in the jungle under many forms: starvation, diseases. Beasts.
As Aimee and Tristan fight to find ways to survive, they grow closer. Together they discover that facing old, inner agonies carved by painful pasts takes just as much courage, if not even more, than facing the rainforest.


Despite her devotion to her fiancé, Aimee can’t hide her feelings for Tristan—the man for whom she’s slowly becoming everything. You can hide many things in the rainforest. But not lies. Or love.

Withering Hope is the story of a man who desperately needs forgiveness and the woman who brings him hope. It is a story in which hope births wings and blooms into a love that is as beautiful and intense as it is forbidden.











*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Xpresso Book Tours and Layla Hagen*

3/5 stars

Aimee is on a private plane to Brazil where she is going to marry Chris, her fiancé and best friend. But the plane doesn’t make it to Brazil. Instead, Aimee ends up in the middle of the Amazon rainforest with only the pilot, Tristan, and the Amazon’s dangerous inhabitants for company. With low food supplies, Aimee and Tristan must try and survive until they are rescued. But can they endure in a place filled with the potential disease, starvation and animal attacks?
Throughout all this, Aimee is consumed with guilt as she struggles to come to terms with her growing feelings for Tristan.



Withering Hope is a thought-provoking read filled with learning to let go of the past and learning to hope.

Aimee was a good protagonist although it did take me a while to warm to her. At the beginning, before the plane crashed, it seemed to me that the author set Aimee up to seem like a control freak who wouldn’t cope well being stuck in the middle of nowhere, but Aimee was strong and coped very well. I felt so sorry for her as she struggled with the overwhelming guilt of her feelings for Tristan and I liked that it wasn’t insta-love, that her feelings grew over time.

 Tristan was a complicated character who was haunted by his past. After being in the army, Tristan had post-traumatic stress disorder and his marriage broke down. Tristan had always had feelings for Aimee but he’d kept them hidden. As a result of his time in the army, Tristan has bad nightmares which only Aimee can stop, which I thought was sweet. I liked Tristan and was glad that he was able to overcome the guilt that caused him to have the nightmares. It was lucky that Tristan had survival training otherwise they probably wouldn’t have lasted in the rainforest. 

It took me a while to get into the book and I enjoyed the second half a lot more. The writing style was good and, while it didn’t feel like a lot happened, I was interested to see what happened and wanted to read on.

I was relieved at the happy ending – for a moment I wasn’t sure there would be one! There are two epilogues which I thought were a good touch, although the second one had me in tears.


Overall this was an enjoyable read.










AUTHOR BIO

My name is Layla Hagen and I am a New Adult Contemporary Romance author.
I fell in love with books when I was nine years old, and my love affair with stories continues even now, many years later.
I write romantic stories and can’t wait to share them with the world.
And I drink coffee. Lots of it, in case the photo didn’t make it obvious enough


Author links:









Tour-wide giveaway
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