Title: Withering Hope
Genre: Contemporary Romance (Adult)
Release date: January 19th
*The pre-order price is $0.99. The price will go
up to $2.99 shortly after release*
Pre-order links:
Amazon: no pre-order available. Purchase link will
go live on January 19th
*This is 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 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 rain forest.
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 rain forest. 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.
Excerpt
(Aimee’s POV)
"Just stay with for a little while,
please. I need you so much, Aimee." The sound of my name from his mouth
awakens something in me that has me writhing in a blazing torture. It’s doing
things to me it shouldn't do.
"Shh, okay. I'll stay. I know it helps
having someone."
"Not someone. You. You make the
memories bearable, the present better. You have an unbelievably strong will to
keep going, even if you don't know where you're heading, hoping you'll find
something worthy at the end of the road. You have an inherent ability to pick
up the good on the way—those that give you strength, the happy things, like
your poems—and you go on. You pass that strength onto others, even if it costs
you sleep and peace.
“I used to hate waking up every morning.
Now I look forward to every day, even though we're stuck in this place. Because
it means one more day with you." He caresses my lips with his thumb. I
open my mouth, but he shakes his head. "Don't say anything, please."
For a long moment, we are silent, our gazes
locked. I breathe in his hot breaths, tension crackling in the short distance
between our lips. Then he pulls me into a kiss. The touch of his lips on mine
electrifies me, shimmer after shimmer coursing through my nerve endings. His
tongue takes mine in a primal claim. Icy shivers splinter my skin, and at the
same time, fire awakens deep within me. I've never been kissed like this.
Ferociously, with absolute, desperate need. I try to temper the heated emotions
building inside me. I try to remember it's wrong. But that fleeting thought is
drowned by the heat igniting his lips and hands, and I surrender. Tristan
deepens the kiss until I'm out of breath. I become aware of his hard chest muscles,
of every line and every ridge, as my hands roam wildly with a greed I don't
recognize. His hands graze my body, traveling from my back to my thighs,
spreading the fire in my center; I'm convinced it will consume me. With a jolt,
he pulls me even closer to him, so I'm all but straddling him. His fingers
fumble with my hair, as his blessed mouth cradles mine, coaxing a whimper from
me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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.
Guest Post: Fun
Facts about my writing in general and Withering Hope J
1. Though
I have a series titled „Lost“ and „Withering Hope“ is about a plane crashing in a remote
location, I have never actually seen the TV series Lost. Seeing it is very high
on my to-do list though, especially since I adore Ian Sommerhalder.
2. There
is a character called Chris in Withering Hope. Wonder how he got his name? I am
a big fan of Chris Hemsworth (have been for a while, apparently still didn’t
get over him). While I was looking for a name for that character, I watched a
movie starring Chris Hemsworth and I was like YEAAAAAAAAh :-D So, um, if I name
a future character Ian, you’ll know why (see point 1 :-D)
Author links:
