Blog Tour: The Glamourist by Luanne G. Smith (Interview + Giveaway!)

Happy Thursday and welcome to my stop on the The Glamourist blog tour!! I am so excited to be a part of this tour, and I’m even more excited for you to discover what Luanne would do if she spent the day with Yvette and Elena! Read on to find out more about the book and author, plus follow the rest of the tour and enter to win a print copy of The Glamourist!

Abandoned as a child in turn-of-the-century Paris, Yvette Lenoir has longed to uncover the secrets of her magical heritage and tap her suppressed powers. But what brave and resourceful Yvette has done to survive the streets has made her a fugitive. With a price on her head, she clings to a memento from her past—what she believes to be a grimoire inherited from the mother she never knew. To unlock the secrets of her past, Yvette trusts in one woman to help solve the arcane riddles among its charmed pages.
Elena Boureanu is the vine witch of Château Renard, noted for its renowned wines. Even as she struggles with her own bloodline—and its poisonous threat to her future—Elena can’t ignore a friend on the run. Joined by a cunning thief, the proprietor of an enchanted-curio shop, and a bewitching black cat, Elena and Yvette are determined to decode Yvette’s mysterious keepsake. But what restless magic will be unleashed? And what are Yvette and Elena willing to risk to become the witches they were destined to be?

If you could trade lives with any YA character for a day, who would it be and why? What about a week? A month, year, or forever?

I started thinking about this question and the first thing that came to mind is if I traded places with a YA character, I’d either be dead or running for my life. They live in very dangerous worlds! But I did adore Eleanor & Park. And at least their problems were human-made, which we all have to deal with, rather than a total government-led dystopia…oh wait. 

What would you do if you spent the day with Yvette and Elena? Where would you go to eat, hang out, relax, etc.?

Well, Elena would want to go somewhere nice and respectable like a sidewalk cafe to drink coffee in a demitasse cup or a museum where she could learn something new. Yvette would probably yawn at that and suggest they go to a nightclub or climb the Eifel tower to take in the view of the city lights. Me, I would probably say yes to all of the above as long as there was a glass of wine in the mix at some point. 

If Yvette and Elena were to hang out with characters from other YA books, who would they be and why?

My books are generally more adult fantasy, but they would certainly enjoy hanging out with any of the characters in Harry Potter (more MG than YA I suppose). None of my characters would have likely made the cut to enrol in Beauxbatons, but Elena would be endlessly interested in the old spell books housed in the library at Hogwarts, and Yvette would no doubt seek out the mischief makers and get into trouble trying to brew up a potion for 80 proof alcohol. 

What was your favorite bit of research you ended up not using?

I did a lot of research for book two involving the Symbolism movement during the late 19th century in Paris. A lot of artists, musicians, and writers were caught up in the idea of art being a vehicle for metaphor and interpretation. The dream state was fertile ground for artistic expression. It was all about getting away from the natural form of an object and finding a way to represent it through something symbolic instead, thus elevating its meaning. And while the information would have worked with the story’s themes, I couldn’t quite fit that big of an idea into Yvette’s story in the The Glamourist. Plus it was all just a little too pretentious anyway. 🙂

What books would you recommend to Yvette and Elena?

Yvette would be more into reading Glamour or Vogue magazine, though she would be up for the movie version of some Jules Verne books. She adores moving pictures. For Elena I would recommend something with a little more heft to it, like Circe by Madeline Miller. I can see her reading that novel and nodding her head at certain passages. 

Do you have a favorite quote, scene, or moment from The Glamourist?

I like the back and forth in the prologue. Anytime Yvette and Sidra are going at it is a fun scene to write. Toss in some prognostication with fire and I’m a happy writer.  I also really enjoyed writing scenes with the black cat. He was not originally planned, but Yvette needed someone to talk to when she’s alone, so Monsieur Whiskers trotted onto the page. He ended up being a key character with a lion’s heart. 

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