And ghosties, bump in the nights, and the witch abound. This second book is background and filler to this trilogy and I enjoyed every second, as we continue on the quest. Cleo and Owen along with some of the brides get a glimpse into their own stories and the manor and its history “rock on”. Love the Clover and music inserts, Jack and Yoda make a sweet aside. Relax and enjoy, if you have not read the first book, grab it now because the next book will be the crescendo.

The cover got me on this one as I was at the library volunteering.  I’m not one for romance but the Gotham in the title swayed me and I liked the illustrations.  After reading this graphic novel, I couldn’t believe this was actually, the one and only Mr. Freeze.  I was floored!  No way!  This story was actually about Mr. Freeze and his future wife. I think that there’s a great story inside this book but the way that the story is delivered could have been better. The writing felt choppy and the story felt awkward as the characters cope with what life has given them and they find that perhaps there is more to life.  The illustrations were fantastic and they saved the book for me.

When we meet Victor, he’s visiting his younger brother again, like he does every year, at the cemetery.  Victor is proving to be quite the successful cryogenics cold tech and his work on perfecting his Accela-Freeze compound is coming along. Oh, what that compound could do, if he could just get everything perfect.  Victor is proud of his accomplishments and he conveys everything to his brother as if his brother could actually hear him from beyond.  Nora interrupts Victor’s talk when he spots her in the distance.  She’s also at the cemetery, visiting her mother’s grave, a surprise since Victor normally sees no one. 

Nora.  This girl got on my nerves.  She was a total flake.  Between her words and her actions, I didn’t know what to think of her.  The words that came out of her mouth were all over the place.  “So, come here often?” yep, that’s what you say to someone that you meet at the cemetery.  It doesn’t get better than this for a while and then, she starts to get all romantic with Victor.  What’s wrong with her?  I knew that she had a disease but I doubted that caused her to act like that.  Victor is hesitant at first (and he should be) yet he continues to hang around Nora when he should be running for the hills.  Nora does look amazing with her flowing hair, her spaghetti-strapped shirt, and her spunky attitude but is he really listening to her?  He needs to take off his glasses and really see her. 

The illustrations are great!  With attention to detail, the illustrator has created some wonderful text boxes that showcase the story.  I appreciated his attention to detail and the colors that were used, provided the atmosphere that I expected for this story.  These fantastic illustrations make this a good book for me but I felt that the writing alone didn’t work for me.  3 stars    

Nach einem Treffen mit ihrer Freundin Linda gerät Dina Martin in Not. Die 36-jährige Nageldesignerin wird in ihrem Kleinwagen auf der Autobahn von einem Mann bedroht. Mit seinem dunklen SUV treibt der Unbekannte die Frau per Telefon vor sich her. Um ihre Tochter Lydia zu beschützen, leistet die verängstigte Dina den Anweisungen Folge. Doch was will der Fremde von ihr? Und wird sie sich noch vor ihm retten können?

„Eskalation“ ist der erste Spannungsroman von Nora Benrath.

Meine Meinung:
Das Buch besteht aus 84 kurzen Kapiteln. Die Handlung erstreckt sich über mehrere Tage. Das letzte Kapitel ist vier Monate später angesiedelt. Einheitliche Zeitangaben erleichtern die Orientierung. Erzählt wird in chronologischer Reihenfolge aus vielen unterschiedlichen Perspektiven. Dieser Aufbau funktioniert sehr gut.

Sprachlich ist der Thriller recht einfach gehalten und wenig variantenreich. Eingefügt sind Zeitungsartikel und Nachrichten.

Überrascht hat mich das breite Spektrum an Figuren. Neben Dina gibt es weitere Protagonistinnen und Protagonisten, die ich an dieser Stelle nicht vorwegnehmen möchte. Die Hauptcharaktere wirken authentisch, ihre Gedanken sind nachvollziehbar. Dennoch bleibt genügend Distanz zu den Figuren, um miträtseln zu können, wer von ihnen verdächtig sein könnte.

Auf den etwas mehr als 300 Seiten flacht die Spannung zwischenzeitlich nur kurz ab. Die Autorin legt mehrere falsche Fährten mit interessanten Ansätzen. Erst im letzten Drittel des Buches hat sich für mich herauskristallisiert, wer die Taten verübt hat. Aber auch dann konnte mich die Geschichte noch überraschen. Das Motiv ist ungewöhnlich und schlüssig zugleich. Besonders gut gefallen hat mir, dass die Hintergründe der Taten psychologisch gut analysiert und erklärt werden.

Der Thriller sensibilisiert dafür, umsichtig mit den eigenen Kontaktdaten umzugehen, und zeigt auf, wie leicht man zum Opfer werden kann. Eine wichtige Botschaft. Inhaltlich schöpft die Geschichte ihr gesamtes Potenzial allerdings nicht aus. So hätte die anfängliche Verfolgungsfahrt besser ausgebaut werden können. Realitätsfern erscheint mir ein nachlässiges Verhalten, das gleich zwei Personen unabhängig voneinander an den Tag legen. Für meinen Geschmack hätte außerdem etwas weniger Brutalität der Geschichte gutgetan.

Das stimmungsvolle Cover passt nicht nur hervorragend zum Inhalt, sondern hebt sich auch von der Optik anderer Bücher des Genres positiv ab. Der knappe Titel ist treffend formuliert.

Mein Fazit:
„Eskalation“ von Nora Benrath ist ein spannender Psychothriller mit einer schlüssigen Story und authentischen Charakteren. Trotz kleinerer Schwächen hat mich die Lektüre gut unterhalten.

Ehhh not too much to say. I loved Hope and loathed Ryder. I am glad for the most part that Roberts latest contemporary romances do not have the whole alpha male who is an asshole, but secretly has a heart of gold thing. Most of the crap Ryder did to Hope was "negging" in the first two books (he refuses to use her name and calls her innkeeper) and I thought too many people kept giving him passes. The only reason why I gave this three stars was that Hope was great, that the trilogy seems to take place over a two year period, and it was nice to read a romance that didn't take place in New York. I think Roberts skipped past some really good sub-plots in order to get back to the "investigation" into Lizzy which I still didn't care about.

"The Perfect Hope" finds the Inn Boonsboro ready for the summer. Clare is married and expecting, Avery is engaged to get married the following year, and now Hope feels a bit lost. She was left hurt by the end of her last relationship and realizing that the man she was with, didn't love her, and his family really didn't care about her at all. When her friends propose Ryder (why you guys? Are there no other men) Hope considers it and then proposes a "situation with no strings" with Ryder. 

I just have to say this, Hope was too good for Ryder. I really wish that Roberts had some tension develop with her realizing that Ryder was set in his ways and wasn't opening himself up to her. The way he talked to her in this book and the last two books really set my teeth on edge. And I hated that Hope's supposed friends made it seem like well maybe he has a thing for you. Nope. Nope. Nope. 

Ryder doesn't change at all (IMHO) he just stays the same and then goes around and does the He-Man crap when a situation comes up involving Hope. I just wasn't feeling him at all since it didn't seem to me he was in love with Hope at all. The story put them together, but I wasn't seeing true love through the ages. 

The resolution to the whole ghost thing was eyeroll inducing. I went really a few times and just didn't care. I think for me that the series was just a platform to showcase Roberts new business and I wish that there had been more development of the last two romances in the series. I loved Clare and Beckett, loved Avery and felt meh about Owen, and then loved Hope and loathed Ryder. 

Well not too much to say except this was kind of boring. Roberts seems mostly fixated on the decorations in this one and not actually developing the characters. We have one moment of tension/plot that is quickly dealt with which didn't feel realistic to me. I liked Avery and Owen separately, but didn't really find their love story engaging at all. Also I just realized the whole ghost thing is reminding me way too much of "In the Garden" and it just started to bug me after a while. 

"The Last Boyfriend" follows the events of the last book several months later. We now have Clare and Beckett planning for their wedding and that of course has Avery thinking about romance. Avery starts to wonder about Owen after the two of them have a moment together. Owen likes his life and business perfectly ordered. When he decides to get involved with Avery, he realizes that he's going to have to let some things go if they are going to be able to have a future together.

I don't know. This book felt off to me somewhat. Too many things were happening. Owen and Avery are thinking about and then do start dating. We had Owen and Hope still trying to figure out "Lizzy's" identity. The Montgomery boys mother has more and more plans and Avery has a secret dream that may involve all of them. Clare is trying to get her wedding plans together. Someone from Avery's past returns and then we have a misunderstanding that left me wanting to smack Owen. Everything was just thrown at you in this book with people still screeching about the picture perfect inn. 

I do agree with some reviewers that Avery really was a great heroine and I have to say she was. I liked her spontaneity and why she got into cooking and I loved her dream and how that all came about. I do think that Roberts rushed through one of her sub-plots though. It could have given the book some needed tension.

Owen was just boring and reminded me of a dozen of Roberts male character tropes in her trilogies. 

The writing was fine, the flow was eh and I was ultimately bored when we got to the ending. I am going to say that I am glad that we get to see seasons/months change in this series. Often Roberts trilogies take place over a couple of weeks/months and it doesn't feel realistic to have people just falling in love back to back.