Luanne G. Smith Interview - The Vine Witch ~ JeanBookNerd

Photo Content from Luanne G. Smith

Luanne G. Smith is the author of THE VINE WITCH, a historical fantasy novel about witches, wine, and revenge set in early 20th century France, and the forthcoming second book in The Vine Witch series, THE GLAMOURIST. She’s lucky enough to live in Colorado at the base of the beautiful Rocky Mountains, where she enjoys reading, gardening, hiking, a glass of wine at the end of the day, and finding the magic in everyday life.

Print Length: 263 pages

Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1542008387

Publisher: 47North (October 1, 2019)

Publication Date: October 1, 2019

Language: English

Praise for THE VINE WITCH

An ambitious debut by a promising author. —Publishers Weekly

A grown-up fairy tale with a twisty-turn-y storyline of magic, love and betrayal that holds your attention. A great book to read while savoring a glass of wine. —Forbes

FROM THE EDITOR

It starts with a toad. A slimy one, too, warts and all. But as you may have guessed, with witches involved, this toad just happens to be enchanted. This toad, in fact, is the witch—and now that she’s free, she’s out for revenge against whoever has cursed her.

Elena Boureanu, former toad, is a vine witch. Her magic is responsible for creating some of the best wine of the age, and her legacy is all but ruined when she finally returns home. The vineyard’s new owner may be handsome, but he’s a city man of science who knows nothing about the valley’s vine witch tradition. And on top of that, Elena can clearly detect dark magic surrounding the estate. She knows her own curse must be connected to the hex on the fields, and she vows to put her world back into balance.

Elena’s story of redemption may be fantasy, but it feels real enough to touch. Reading this novel is like falling into an Instagram picture—atmospheric, and surrounded by the smells and tastes of the natural world. I hope you’ll fall with me. ―Adrienne Procaccini, Editor

What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
The internet is my biggest distraction forever and always. Especially while writing historical fiction when it's necessary to look up even the smallest detail to make sure it's accurate to the time period. Gah, one click leads to another and I might not emerge until thirty minutes later.

Has reading a book ever changed your life? Which one and why?
Can't say a book has overtly changed my life, but reading My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George as a ten-year-old girl growing up in Colorado, whose family liked to backpack in the summers, definitely made an impression. I later earned a degree in Environment and Resource Management and worked for a few years as a park naturalist, in part because of reading books like that one as a child.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. The Vine Witch is my first published novel. But I have to say it has been a pleasure reading emails from people who enjoyed the novel enough to write and let me know. Some of them have stated they've never been moved to write an author before. Love that.

What part of Elena did you enjoy writing the most?
Oh, by far the magic spells she uses. So. Much. Fun. It's poetry and magic combined.

Choose a unique item from your wallet and explain why you carry it around.
I carry two "safe journeys" inukshuk tokens in my wallet that I picked up in a tourist shop in Victoria, Canada. I dropped them in with my coins seven years ago and haven't taken them out since. My particular superstition.

If I came to your house and looked in your closet, what's the one thing that would surprise me the most?
It isn't my closet that would surprise most people coming to my house, it's the walk up to my front door. You see, I bought the house I'm in because of the three standing stones in the front yard (tallest is maybe six feet). It was a unique landscaping choice by the previous owner, but I knew as soon as I saw them that it was the house for me.

In your new book, THE VINE WITCH, can you tell my Book Nerd community a little about it and why they should read your novel?
The Vine Witch has been described by readers as being somewhat of an adult fairy tale. It's about a young woman who wakes from a curse eager to get revenge on whoever hexed her. Elena is a vine witch by trade, a witch who specializes in growing grapes and then coaxing the best wine out of them at harvest. But when she returns home to her vineyard after seven years, she learns it has been sold to a man from the city, one with little patience for superstitions or magic. Unfortunately for him, the vineyard is overrun with jinxes and spells. To get the revenge she's hungry for and remain at her beloved Château Renard, Elena is forced to hide her magic while repairing the damage done in her absence. Then just when she thinks things are back on track, a murder upends everything, and she finds herself asking, once again, if she's been cursed.

A young witch emerges from a curse to find her world upended in this gripping fantasy of betrayal, vengeance, and self-discovery set in turn-of-the-century France.

For centuries, the vineyards at Château Renard have depended on the talent of their vine witches, whose spells help create the world-renowned wine of the Chanceaux Valley. Then the skill of divining harvests fell into ruin when sorcière Elena Boureanu was blindsided by a curse. Now, after breaking the spell that confined her to the shallows of a marshland and weakened her magic, Elena is struggling to return to her former life. And the vineyard she was destined to inherit is now in the possession of a handsome stranger.

Vigneron Jean-Paul Martel naively favors science over superstition, and he certainly doesn’t endorse the locals’ belief in witches. But Elena knows a hex when she sees one, and the vineyard is covered in them. To stay on and help the vines recover, she’ll have to hide her true identity, along with her plans for revenge against whoever stole seven winters of her life. And she won’t rest until she can defy the evil powers that are still a threat to herself, Jean-Paul, and the ancient vine-witch legacy in the rolling hills of the Chanceaux Valley.

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