INTERVIEW: Jenn Leblanc

Today we have the extremely talented Jenn Leblanc here sharing a bit about herself. Please make her feel welcome.

Please tell our followers a little about yourself. What is a typical day in the life of ‘you’?

Hi everyone! My name is Jenn LeBlanc and I’m an author and photographer. My typical day is spent in front of my computer editing, writing, posting, chatting with my readers and friends on twitter, and arranging the next big shoot for my studio. That’s a typical day. A non-typical day, er...or well, a fun day is a shoot day, where I get to pay in my studio with my real-life muses. 

Can you tell us a little about ‘The Rake and the Recluse’

TRATR is a six-part serial novel, and because I’m a photographer, and why not, I illustrated it. It’s the story of two brothers, Gideon (The Duke of Roxleigh)and Perry (his brother). It’s a bit of a time-travel, though it’s more fish out of water than HG Wellian. Really it’s a good bit of fun in Victorian England. 

Do you have a current work in progress? If so, can you tell us a little about it?

My current work is nicknamed #Twitchy. She is a sweet girl who has a bit of tourettes with a side of OCD, though it might be Asperger’s as well...she’s an interesting one though. And she’s been fun to work with. I’m excited to bring such a different personality to a book. Getting inside her head has been amazing. 

What has been the hardest emotionally or time consuming thing you’ve had to research for one of your stories?

Oh goodness. The peerage has taken up the majority of my research time because most of my characters are related to the peers in some fashion. But emotionally I touch on mental illness in each of my books, and researching mental health practices in Victorian England is a practice in sadness and terror, really. My characters walk a dangerous line between reality and committal quite often, and some of them have no idea how close they come to being locked away permanently. It was tragic, the way the mentally ill were treated. 

Have any of your characters resembled people in real life?

Physically? None of my characters were molded after real people, I did have some personality types in mind when I worked on the emotional and characterization bits. But none of my characters are directly related to anyone I know. 

What is your favourite thing about being an author?

World building. Getting to know my people. Bringing people together. I just love my characters, and they’re a part of my family now. I imagine what they’re off doing. That’s actually how I meet new characters at times, just daydreaming. 

Quickie Question Round

Sexiest feature in a man? Smile.

If you were deserted on an island and could only have one man with you – who would it be (no significant others allowed)?

Is my bestie considered my significant other? Because I would take Derek, we might be stranded, but we would laugh incessantly. It would be fun. If not Derek, then Bradley Cooper, I imagine he is a funny guy, and he isn’t bad to look at, and he speaks French fluently which is just...gorgeous. 

 

Tell us something on your bucket list. 

My bucket list keeps changing. Right now it’s to tour England and Scotland, to see the Eildon Hills where Roxleigh’s manor sits, to see the Teviot, to stand where Roxleigh lived his life. 

Your bookshelf is on fire, you can only save what you can carry what do you save? 

Well, my bookshelf is actually my dresser, and I have only my iPad, BREAKING POINT by Pamela Clare, FOREVER AND A DAY by Delilah Marvelle, STEEL HEART by Meljean Brook, THE SIREN by Tiffany Reisz, SEDUCING THE DUCHESS by Ashley March, ONE NIGHT OF SCANDAL by Teresa Medeiros, and my personal copy of TRATR signed by the entire crew who helped me with it. These are all signed by the authors, most of them dear friends of mine, so they hold a great deal of importance to me. I actually only read ebooks so grabbing my iPad is essential to my survival. 

And lastly, If our viewers wanted to find out more about your work where can they find it and you?

JennLeBlanc.com - this is my author site

IllustratedRomance.com - this is my cover photography site

FaceBook <- this is me on facebook

TWITTER - this is me on twitter (that’s where I hang out and chat the most :)

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The Rake and the Recluse

by Jenn LeBlanc 

Book Blurb

Francine Larrabee woke up on the wrong side of the century. She was fairly certain she went to sleep in her own comfy bed, but she doesn’t quite seem to be there now. Only adding to her problems is that she has no voice, is constantly being glowered at by a large, stunning man who is obsessed with propriety, and she is apparently betrothed to another horrid little man, determined to ruin her, and any other girls that get in his way.

How does she find herself in the past, when she couldn’t even find herself in her present? How does a self sufficient businesswoman survive in a time when women were still considered property for the whole of their lives and what is she going to do with this man who draws her to him so fiercely.