Ruby
Hill
Sarah Ballance
ISBN: 9781622662258
Book Description
From her earliest memories, Ashley Pearce
has been drawn to Ruby Hill Lunatic Asylum, and she's not the only
one. Decades after the abandoned hospital ended its institutional reign of
torture and neglect, something lurks in the shadows. Since she’s
a paranormal investigator, it's Ashley's job to find out what.
Crime scene expert Corbin Malone doesn't
believe in ghosts. A born skeptic, he has no interest in entertaining the
hype surrounding the mysterious deaths at Ruby Hill, but he won't
turn his back while more women die. He agrees to an overnight
investigation, never expecting his first encounter would be with the woman he
pushed away a year ago. But when he discovers Ashley is a target, he learns his
greatest fear isn't living with his own demons, but losing her for good.
Excerpt:
Death had a flavor. Equal parts bitter and bland, the damnable taste was more sickening than the stickiness in Corbin Malone’s throat. It soured his gut, leaving him with an unease he couldn’t quite swallow, and the deeper they drove into the countryside—the closer the car brought him to Ruby Hill Lunatic Asylum—the more potent the flavor. Five years a cop, he’d neatly sidestepped the ugly aftertaste until things got personal.
Death had a flavor. Equal parts bitter and bland, the damnable taste was more sickening than the stickiness in Corbin Malone’s throat. It soured his gut, leaving him with an unease he couldn’t quite swallow, and the deeper they drove into the countryside—the closer the car brought him to Ruby Hill Lunatic Asylum—the more potent the flavor. Five years a cop, he’d neatly sidestepped the ugly aftertaste until things got personal.
Until the body belonged to his brother, Cash.
Nearly six months had passed since Cash Malone fought for his last
breath inside the dismal, abandoned halls of Ruby Hill. Though his body now
rested six feet under a distant patch of cemetery grass, Ruby Hill remained his
tomb—a giant, crouching headstone marring acres of otherwise beautiful, rolling
hills. And for Corbin, a visage of murder.
Guest Post:
13
Shocking Reasons Real People were Committed to a Lunatic Asylum
If you
thought you had to get your crazy on to land in a place like Ruby Hill, you’d
better think again.
The
following list of reasons folks were locked up for “treatment” between 1864 and
1889 at the RUBY HILL-esque yet very real Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum is
absolutely true. (My commentary, however, may be prone to exaggeration.) (Source)
1.
Bad
Whiskey – I don’t know if this guy drank bad whiskey, sold bad whiskey, or
manufactured bad whiskey, but you’ve got to feel for anyone forced to sober up
a lunatic asylum. I’m pretty sure that type of residence is exactly where I’d
most need whiskey, bad or otherwise.
2.
Drospy – I
admit I had to look this one up. It’s the old word for edema, which is what
happens when you carry excess fluid.
Basically this means if you’ve ever taken off your socks to find they’ve
left dents in your legs, you could have been committed. Now THAT is lunacy.
3.
Fighting
Fire – Not setting them, but fighting them. Apparently firefighting in the
1800s wasn’t always considered the heroic profession we know it as today. And
someone at the admissions desk is a pyromaniac.
4.
Menstrual
Deranged – What does that mean, exactly? Aside the menstrual part – we get
that. Monthly, even. But deranged? We probably don’t want to know, but what do
you want to bet a man came up with that one?
5.
Masturbation
for 30 Years – Erm, okay. But why THIS GUY and not EVERY OTHER GUY ON THE PLANET?
I’m just sayin’….
6.
Suppressed
Masturbation – So what we’ve just learned is there is clearly a target zone for
this particular activity—somewhere between once and 30 years’ worth. Good luck
with that, boys.
7.
Ill
Treatment by Husband – Okay, so he’s a jerk so they lock HER up? I bet a man
thought of that one, too. (I’m gaining a whole new appreciation for my fabulous
husband, who—in over 16 years of marriage—has not once sent me to an asylum.)
8.
Seduction
and Disappointment – I’m not sure who was seduced in this scenario and who was
disappointed, but apparently this was not the time to oversell oneself. (No wonder that one guy just stuck to
masturbation for 30 years.)
9.
Scarlatina
(Scarlet Fever) – You there, with the contagious disease. Into the criminally
over-crowded asylum. Yep, that’ll fix you. That will fix all of you. Muahahaha.
10.
Medicine
to Prevent Conception – To be fair, all forms of contraception were made
illegal in the United States in 1873, so this was at least technically a crime.
By the 1880s, though, there was a handy-dandy sausage casing device (yes, that
would be animal intestine) alternative. Might have been worth a shot because…
11.
Dissipation
of Nerves – There’s nothing to indicate the dissipation of nerves was in any
way related to conception rates, but my husband and I have six children (one of
whom was conceived after I was surgically sterilized) and I’m telling you,
asylum people. YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS. It a classic inverse proportion,
and if you don’t believe me just ask all those people who see me with six kids
and immediately assume I’m crazy. But I
digress.
12.
Carbonic
Acid Gas – I’m not sure of the particulars here, but just so y’all know, this
is a byproduct of breathing. BREATHING WAS A CRIME.
13.
Novel
Reading – ERMAGERD, YOU GUYS. First we can’t breathe, and now they take away
our novels! But fear not, for RUBY HILL is not a novel, but a novella. Which
can only mean READING RUBY HILL WILL
KEEP YOU OUT OF AN INSANE ASYLUM!
Okay, so
my logic might be a bit flawed, LOL, but I’m going to distract you quickly so
you won’t notice. ☺
Here’s a
related little historical twist that blew my mind.
In
September, Entangled Scandalous released my historical romance, HER WICKED SIN,
which is set during the Salem Witch Trials. Back then, the Salem in question
was actually Salem Village, which has since been renamed Danvers. Danvers is
home to the Danvers State Lunatic Asylum (reportedly one of the most haunted
places in the world, and they turned it into APARTMENTS, y’all!), which sits on
Hawthorne Hill, the very site of the gallows where the Salem witches were
hanged. Nice little coincidence, right? But it gets better. Back in 2011—long
before I’d given any thought to writing about the Salem Witch Trials or a
haunted lunatic asylum—I had out there a little novella about a haunted house.
Its name?
HAWTHORNE.
Mind.
Blown.
Now that
you’ve been properly wooed (yes-I-said-wooed), are you ready to dive into the
dust, abandonment, terror—and yes, romance—of an abandoned mental institution?
(Come on—you’ve got to see how the romance fits in there, right?) If so, I hope
you’ll consider a dark, dangerous trek (or, you know, just click over) to your
favorite e-tailer for the scoop on RUBY HILL!
PS: I’m
probably hiking with grizzly bears as you read this, so bear (ha!) with me if I
don’t respond immediately to your comments. I do look forward to your
replies—and I have been promised nightly wifi—so if I’m not mauled, eaten, or
otherwise incapacitated, I will SO come back for you! ☺
About the Author:
Sarah and
her husband of what he calls “many long, long years” live on the mid-Atlantic
coast with their six young children, all of whom are perfectly adorable when
they’re asleep. She never dreamed of becoming an author, but as a homeschooling
mom, she often jokes she writes fiction because if she wants anyone to listen
to her, she has to make them up. (As it turns out, her characters aren’t much
better than the kids). When not buried under piles of laundry, she may be found
adrift in the Atlantic (preferably on a boat) or seeking that ever-elusive
perfect writing spot where not even the kids can find her.
She loves
creating unforgettable stories while putting her characters through an unkind
amount of torture—a hobby that has nothing to do with living with six children.
(Really.) Though she adores nail-biting mystery and edge-of-your-seat
thrillers, Sarah writes in many genres including contemporary and ghostly
paranormal romance. Her ever-growing roster of releases may be found on Amazon , Barnes & Noble, Kobo, For the Muse Publishing, and ENTANGLED PUBLISHING.
Website: http://sarahballance.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahBallance
1 comments:
Thank you for hosting my Ruby Hill guest blog!
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