TBT #38 - Review: Withering Hope by Layla Hagen

★TBT #38★
Withering hope by Layla Hagen is on this week's #ThrowbackThrusday. It is an inspiring story of finding love in the darkest place, a story of healing and discovering oneself in time of distress, a story of living and loving every small things you are grateful in life.

Title: Withering Hope
Author: Layla Hagen
Series: none
Genre: 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.

Note: This novel is recommended for 18+ due to sexual content and mature themes.

Amazon US | Amazon UK

SANDY’S REVIEW

"4.5 hope stars"

“I’ve found something here I’ve never had before. Hope.” 

Aimee is on her way to Brazil, flying in a private jet owned by her fiancé to get married but all her dreams are shattered when Tristan, the pilot had to perform an emergency landing on the hills of Amazon rain forest due to engine failure. Now stranded in middle of a dense wild forest, where there’s no sign of a rescue the only hope of surviving is each other.

As days turns into weeks and weeks into months being stranded in forest takes its toll, with wild animals lurking in every nook and corner, where even pretty looking flowers could been dangerous their chances of surviving becomes slim to none. With only each other to lean on, they grow very close and fight to stay alive every day and night not only battling with danger outside of their very plane but also with their inner turmoil. In midst of all this, they are in constant battle with desperation, loneliness, danger, hunger and disease. Will they survive in nature’s cruel environment or will their WITHERING HOPE destroy their chances of living yet another day?

“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.” 

I will go ahead and say that this story is no different from any other survival stories you have read and I’m not the one to read a recycled plot and devour it, but still I rated it 4.5 stars, because of its SIMPLICITY.

Ok, let me elaborate that! At about 20% mark I predicted what’s going to happen and how it’s going to end, like any other survival story there were two helpless people alone in the harshest environment, put together some romantic moments, wild animals, disease which will almost kill them and no sign of rescuing. It was everything and nothing like that! As I started reading further I was lost in world of Aimee and Tristan, I lived every moment of their distress situation and their constant struggle to keep each other alive and happy.

See the thing is this author didn’t go to any extent exaggerating their already horrendous living condition or make the characters look like super humans or add any unnecessary danger to make it believable, even she didn’t add any OTT romance to make it enjoyable or glue to the pages. The writing itself was quite simple yet the story was very much consuming with humble, lovable characters and their love so subtle and pure, adding right amount of passion, humor, keeping the story very grounded. It happens so rarely that an author takes a used plot and makes it an amazing story, delivering a wonderful message of hope, love and will power.

Withering hope is an inspiring story of finding love in the darkest place, a story of healing and discovering oneself in time of distress, living and loving every small thing you are grateful in life. A beautiful story which had me crying for hours after I read it and the one to always remain close to my heart.

So why not 5 stars?
This story definitely deserves a huge appreciation and the quote "There is beauty in simplicity" sits well with this one but I didn’t get the tone of the ending or even the epilogue! It’s not that I disliked it but

[ I wanted to see them having a happy and beautiful life instead of fast forwarding to 10 years and many years from there. I felt like Aimee died in forest and not when she was old and in hospital because the sudden time leap didn’t give me enough time to be happy for them being rescued and spending rest of their life together but rather sad that they DIED. Period!]

All in all it was an emotionally overwhelming great love story!