Slumber by Tamara Blake (re-post)


Once upon a time, Ruby believed in magic…

When Ruby volunteers to take her mother's housecleaning shift at the gothic Cottingley Heights mansion, she thinks it's going to be business as usual. Clean out the fridge, scrub toilets, nothing too unusual. But nothing could prepare her for the decadent squalor she finds within. Rich people with more money than sense trashing their beautiful clothes and home just because they can. After the handsome Tam discovers her cleaning up after him and his rich friends, Ruby has never felt more like a character from her sister’s book of fairy tales.

Tam sees beyond Ruby’s job and ratty clothes, and sweeps her off her feet, treating her like a real princess, but Ruby is sure this beautiful boy is too good to be true. And as one tragedy after another befalls Ruby and her family, Ruby painfully learns that magic is all too real, and it always comes with a price


Ruby's mother is sick and they are barely making enough money to live on. Residing in a mobile home, with her mother and little sister. Ruby takes over her  mothers job to be able to say afloat. She is already on the verge of dropping out and when her mother becomes ill. Keeping her alive is the only thing on her mind. 

The cleaning of  Cottingley Heights is not an easy task. Especially just one person for a couple  of hours at a time. Honey on the floor, stains in the carpet and clothing thrown onto every open spot in each room. Very expensive clothes, jewelry, drugs and alcohol are to be found everywhere, tossed aside as if they don't cost or mean a thing to any of them. Which sickens Ruby to the bone considering her own circumstances. 

Tam makes his appearance in the story right from the beginning. Yet Ruby is a little cautious with opening up to him because of his lifestyle. But the interest he shows in her and the idea of a somewhat stable paycheck, she continues to work at the house. 

Needless to say Ruby gets caught up in some mischievous agendas of the residents and it puts her and her whole family in turmoil. She will have to overcome several tests to regain any glimpse of normality back into her life. Least of all get out alive.

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