*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 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.

Tristan’s POV

No rescue helicopter arrives. Not the following morning, or any morning after it. I expect Aimee to break down, but she doesn’t. It shouldn’t surprise me, though. I’ve suspected she is strong since I first met her.

Chris Moore hired me as his pilot two and a half years ago, giving me the chance for a fresh start I so desperately needed. I was grateful to him, and even liked him. Despite his wealth and success, he was grounded and unpretentious. When I first met Aimee, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she was just as unassuming.

And so much more.

She went out of her way to be friendly, making it easy to adjust to my side job as her driver when Chris didn’t need me as a pilot. I suppose I came off as cold to her, because I only acknowledged her effort with a curt thank you. But I wasn’t used to anyone being friendly to me. Over the past years people had either shown me pity or feared me. Not Aimee. Of course, she didn’t know anything about my past—Chris kept his word and never told her.

When first I drove Aimee to Chris’s parents’ mansion, I realized Aimee hadn’t given me any special treatment. She was genuinely friendly to everyone on the staff. They all liked to be around her.

So did I.

I liked it a little too much.

She had a way of growing on people without even trying. She was warm and eager to get to really know people. A bit too eager… and the secrets I carried were best left buried. So I was content with being around her, or observing her from a distance.

From where it was safe.

Here, where our lifeline depends on working and sticking together, where I’m prepared to do just about anything to keep her safe, it will be hard to keep that distance, but I will do my best.

 

$20 Amazon Giftcard

Welcome! My name is Layla Hagen and I am a 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 ;)

Chloe knew she was giving up the quiet life when she married Hollywood A-lister, Jason Vanderholt. She expected harassment from paparazzi but not from the writers of Blood Ritual, a television crime drama that brought national attention to a tough case she is trying to solve as a forensic scientist. While she and the rest of the Albuquerque Police Department once collaborated with the show, now relations have gone sour, and details that the police are trying to keep secret in the investigation are cropping up in episodes watched by millions.

If that weren’t enough, everyone in Chloe’s life seems to be going through a rough patch, from her best friend, Lori, who is trying to plan a wedding, to her niece Kyra who is upset about Jason’s choice of television roles, to Jason himself who is inexplicably moody and withdrawn. None of this drama is the type of thing Chloe knows how to resolve.

She is trained to do one thing: hunt down the big bad wolves of the world. But with her connections to fame compromising her work, she may not even be allowed to stay on the case. The clock is ticking as law enforcement agencies across the country try to find a serial killer before he strikes again. Chloe is faced with a choice, to help catch one of the most evil criminals in history, or provide support to the friends and family who have always been there for her. Either way, she feels she might make the mistake of a lifetime.

Kenji got me onto the set of his show at night, after everyone had gone home. He told only Jason, who came with us. The security guards gave us curious looks, but our presence didn’t seem like a big deal to them. We acted nonchalant so that they wouldn’t be too curious.

This ensured that no one else knew that we were poking around. I’d had enough time beforehand to get the supplies I needed.

The set at night was an eerie place to be. I was used to seeing it crawling with people and activity. I scanned this week’s crime scene carefully. It was a convenience store that had been firebombed, so it was all charred and looked as if it should reek of chemical fumes. Since the charring had been done with paint, though, there was no real ash. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted it. At the back of the store, in a place where it might not even appear in any of the shots, was a box of crackers standing by itself.

That had been in the final Esperanza Dominguez crime scene. Same brand, same size, same everything. I tiptoed over to it, knelt down, and began to dust for prints.

“Why that?” asked Jason.

“It may look like nothing,” I said, “but it could be a taunt. Someone messing with me.”

Someone Else’s Fairytale Series, signed print copies

Emily Mah Tippetts writes science fiction as Emily Mah and sweet romance as E.M. Tippetts. A lifelong New Mexican, she lives with her family in Santa Fe, though she’s been known to spend years at a time in the UK, her second home. Aside from being a writer, she’s been a lawyer and jeweler, and is currently a stay at home mother, polymer clay artist, book designer/formatter, and owner of E.M. Tippetts Book Designs.