Druxel Manor

After receiving a telegram from her brother Trevor Angel gets in her car and starts the long drive to some place called Druxel Manor in Cedar Pines.  She only leaves a quick message on the answering machine for her adoptive parents, to let them know she'll be in touch so that they won't have to worry.  Trevor has been searching for their real parents despite Angel's pleas for him to stop searching and just be happy they had been adopted by such a loving family.   She has no interest in meeting the birth parents that gave her away and she doesn't want to hurt her adoptive parents.  Trevor's search would devastate them, which is why she’s keeping it a secret from them.  She's exhausted, hungry and sick of driving.  Why didn't he want her to fly? It would have made more sense than driving all day!  When she spots the man following her she becomes nervous and pulls off the road near a police station.  James, the man that has been following her, is hired by her brother to make sure she arrives at Druxel Manor unharmed.  He loses track of her after she pulls off at the police station and has to call into his partner to see if she is listed at any motels and checked in.  Since Trevor has been so very secretive about whatever’s going on, Angel has no idea that she’s even in any danger until, after pulling over to the side of the road to make several phone calls, she’s grabbed out of her vehicle by a man wearing a tuxedo.  Then suddenly James attacks the attacker and runs him off, informing Angel that she’s coming with him . . .  without even letting her know what’s going on or who he is. 

Angel isn’t about to go with James, and so she escapes the confines of his car and runs into a nearby field where James promptly tackles her and forces her back into his car, promising to send to someone to retrieve her car and belongings.  Finding out that this stranger knows her name but won’t tell her what’s going on frustrates her more than anything, when she figures out that he is actually hired by Trevor she’s hurt, angry, and still has no clue why she would need protection.  Finding herself more attracted to James than she is to her boyfriend, Scott upsets her and she’s swamped with feelings of guilt.  The only way to escape her tremulous emotions is in sleep so that’s what she does.  Only waking up when they arrive at the gated entrance of Druxel Manor, where she’s faced with only more questions and while everybody around her seems to know about the danger she’s facing, nobody is willing to tell her anything.  When Trevor sent someone to get her vehicle, they find out the police had already found it and her belongings and she is now listed as a missing person.  What is the big secret?  Where is the danger?  Trevor has been looking for their birth parents, is that somehow involved? 

Druxel Manor is a story sure to keep you guessing.  There are so many undercurrents and secrets it’s impossible to figure out how they’re all connected until the very end of the story.  The sexual tension between James and Angel pulls you in almost from the very beginning of the book.  You could literally feel Angel’s hurt when Trevor interferes and she overhears a conversation between James and Trevor where Trevor accuses James of having sex with Angel just to keep her distracted.  Tarra Young has done a fabulous job penning a tale so full of emotion that once you start reading you’re compelled to continue turning the pages to find out what mysterious danger Trevor is trying so hard to protect his sister from.