1. Tell us a 5 things about yourself that readers may not know about you. 

My great-grandmother was a flapper who passed down to me what she believed to be a glamorous Kolinsky mink stole with the little faces of the animals still on it. I enjoy silent films like, most recently, The Artist. When I think something is fantastic I say it’s the bee’s knees. I own an electric tea kettle, and when it comes to tea, I hate Darjeeling.

2. What does a typical writing day look for you? 

The publishing business is kind of screwy. It’s a lot of hurry up and wait. So one day I might be writing frantically to meet a deadline, in which case I roll out of bed, grab the laptop and don’t stop until it’s time to roll back in bed. But the next day my publisher may want me to work on writing up ad copy or go on a stock signing tour. So I keep trying to figure out what the typical day is like, but nothing I do ever seems typical! 

3. Tell us a little bit about It Stings so Sweet and why readers should check it out? 

This historical erotic romance is narrated by three different women from very different social classes who each experience a sexual awakening. It’s seductive, sassy, and scorchingly hot. But my mission is to write very smart books for very bad girls, so it’s about more than just sex. These days, you can’t swing a cat-o-nine-tails without hitting someone who has read Fifty Shades of Grey and wants to experiment but what was it like to have these urges in a time when there wasn’t a vocabulary or a community for it? I try to explore what it was like to come of age in a time when women had just won the right to vote and were trying to find themselves inside and outside the bedroom.

4. What kind of research did you have to do for It Stings so Sweet? 

In the author’s note for this book, I said that I spent more time researching word etymology than actually writing the stories and that wasn’t much of an exaggeration. Trying to make sure that the phrases I used were in circulation during the Jazz Age was enough to make me tear my hair out! 

5. What inspired you to write It Stings so Sweet in the 20s Era? 

The Twenties were a revolutionary time of women’s liberation, exploration, and sexual license. The women were glamorous but they were also strikingly modern in their outlooks and ambitions. Flappers were more like today’s woman than any generation since, so I couldn’t wait to write about them! 

6. What was the easiest and hardest scene to write in It Stings so Sweet? 

The easiest scene to write was the one where WWI Flying Ace and American Aviator, Leo Vanderberg, decides to blackmail a silent screen siren into going on a date with him. Leo is the kind of guy who knows what he wants, draws up a battle plan on how he’s going to get it, and doesn’t stop until he gets his girl. There’s nothing Clara can do to shake him, though she puts up a good fight. The hardest scene to write, hands-down, was an erotic encounter at a liquor-soaked party where society girl Nora Richardson begs her aggrieved husband to slap her in love play. Nora feels pain as pleasure and she’s desperate to get her husband to let out his inner animal, but I have a family history of domestic violence in my past and I was very worried about sending the wrong message. I couldn’t do away with the scene because it was essential for helping Nora and her husband to discover the boundaries of what they wanted to do together in bed, but I must have rewritten it a hundred times and I’m still not sure I got it right.

7. In your bio it says you live in Baltimore, MD, the question is are you a Baltimore Ravens fan and are you ready for the Superbowl? (Baltimore is where I was born so my father, aunts, uncles, and brother are going crazy over the Ravens going to the Superbowl...LOL...I plan on watching even though I am not a NFL fan and I know my family will constantly call me if I don't. LOL) 

I plead the Fifth!

8. Fun Question: If you could escape to anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? 

I’d love a time machine so that I could escape to the 1920s for a day to see what it was really like!

9. What is up next for Stephanie Draven? 

I recently had a great deal of fun writing a contemporary romantic comedy called IN BED WITH THE OPPOSITION, and I think I’ll be writing more along those lines. What do your readers want to see me write?

10. Anything specific you want to shout out to your readers? 

I’m sending my love out to all those very bad girls who love to read very smart books!