Blog Tour ~ Withering Hope by Layla Hagen ~ The Diary Of Book Enthusiasts

Welcome to my stop in the Withering Hope blog tour (reviews only), organized by Xpresso Book Tours. I loved this book so much. Read on for my review and a giveaway of $20 Amazon Gift Card. Also, don't forget to visit all the stops for different feedback about the book!

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 rain forest.

With no way to reach civilization, 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.

Purchase links:

Amazon | Amazon UK | B&N | Kobo | iTunes

Review:

On a scale of one to ten, I am rating this book a clear TWELVE, plus an extra hundred brownies. How is it that when I read something from Layla Hagen, “I love it” seems to be always an understatement?

I must admit I’ve had my doubts with this one. Secondary characters are very important, and sometimes I end up liking them even more than the main characters. I tend to get bored fast when I don’t see anything but the endless interaction of the main characters. But Withering Hope doesn’t have secondary characters for about 97% of the book, so I was bracing myself for a loooooong read, and even prepared myself to write a review for an unfinished book.

Was it boring? Na-uh, nope.

Imagine my surprise when I actually finished reading this book from cover to cover. That’s how much I enjoyed it. I didn’t even mind that there were no supporting characters and all I can see are the MCs. That’s how good it is. The way it is written, it’s as if the author was there, not letting me put the book down and just keep reading until I get to the end. That’s how much I was into it.

Do I think it’s amazing? Heck, YES.

Withering Hope is not just a story of survival and inevitable romance, but also of friendship, passion, hopelessness, fear, and hope. It’s not an InstaLove (is that how they call it?) nor a love-at-first-sight thing (which pleases me to no end). It’s a beautiful beginning of an unexpected friendship and astonishing romance.

This book is incredibly beautiful. It’s the type of romance that is very sweet without being overdone. It pokes at your heart and, in some moments, squeezes it until you’re holding your breath. There are some inconsistencies in the plot, yes, but it’s nothing major.

There are too many moments when everything is just too much and I just had to take a breath, and those breaths, I later realized, were needed because something else is going to be thrown in my way to catch me off guard.

Withering Hope is beautiful because Aimee and Tristan’s chemistry and romance didn’t start instantly. Instead, it started as a necessity; each of them making sure the other is safe, which then turns into a profound friendship. You know that line that Fitzwilliam Darcy said when Elizabeth Bennet asked him when he fell in love with her? He said, “I cannot fix the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew I had begun.” I think that’s the perfect description of how I was feeling when I was following their story. I can’t pinpoint where exactly Aimee and Tristan had fallen in love. The way the plot is weaved together took me right into their world, and I was very carried away to pay attention to how and when they fell in love. I was in the middle of everything when I realized that they were. Does that makes sense?

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, right there, is what makes this book so much more beautiful. It has a natural feel to it. It’s very easy to get lost in it. Have I mentioned how sweet this book is? Yes, sweet enough that if I have a paperback of this in my shelf, there’ll be an anthill beside it.

I do not know how else I can pour my heart out in regards of this book, because my emotions are still all over the place and too messy to make sense of.

Pardon me for saying it again, but Withering Hope is just very beautiful. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, it finds a way to surprise you in a way that tugs at your heart strings. If you think it’s just another sweet romance, just wait until you’ve read everything. It’s not your typical Happily-Ever-After, but it’s equally sweet yet heartbreaking.

I believe this is Layla Hagen’s best yet.