Romance star Stacey McEwan: ‘You wouldn’t recommend Fifty Shades of Gray to your Catholic grandmother’ | Books

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done in love?

I used to work in a bakery on the Gold Coast and there was a go sushi across the street, and I was interested in a guy who worked there. I was 16. We closed almost immediately in the evening, and I had to throw away the bread that we didn’t sell and they had to throw away all the sushi. He always finishes first, so sometimes he comes to help me – illegal, by the way. And I thought it would be funny, at one such time, I would have done a little bit where I dug up a loaf of cob bread and put it on my head and kept the loaves of bread in my hands, and put Vienna loaves of bread on my shoes and started sliding down the floor and called myself the Bread Girl, thinking that they would obviously find this interesting. They laughed together, then five minutes later he asked me if he could give me my boss’s phone number.

Give me a word that shouldn’t be used for sex.

Cream. Seeds. I also don’t really like the word engorgement. That’s just a preference.

Some of your recent TikToks are about men attacking BookTok for comment. If you could turn a straight man into a fantasy romantic, what book would you start with?

I’m going to be selfish here and say A Forbidden Alchemy, my first book. I think it would be difficult to confront me directly and argue why the book is bad. The kind of people who come online and say that all this means that they are real, really brave on the keyboard, and they turn to water in their eyes. I have converted quite a few straight men to romance fiction with my book. That was a proud moment for me.

The second book I would use is Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, which is very scary but has all the fantasy elements in it and a nice little romance. From there, I would take them to something written by a woman where romance is central – something like Shadow Reaper by Lynette Noni.

You often start your TikTok videos by pretending to share cute ideas to get men to wander. But what is your most beautiful tip?

My biggest beauty is getting down with dad. The bottom and the natives will give you a better glow, brighter skin, brighter eyes. Pretend it doesn’t exist, pretend misogyny is nothing and go on with your whimsical life as it should be.

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Who is the most popular person on your phone?

Katherine Heigl. We talk a lot on social media and message each other from time to time. He is very supportive. I am not his best friend. I just want to be.

Without looking, what do you think your viewing time is?

I know it’s four hours a day, because I’m like a kid who’s been given enough iPad time. I have an app on my phone that only allows me four hours of screen time a day. It gives me a little warning that says, “You have five minutes left”, and it’s usually 11 o’clock in the morning at that time.

What is your favorite “micro trope” in romance?

The nightmare trope. If two characters sleep next to each other, one of them wakes up after a nightmare. Someone should comfort and console them. It works best if they don’t have to fall in love.

If you could have an animal that could talk to your friend, what kind of animal would it be and what would it say?

A real horse, unhappy and angry. And I think the horse would have received a British name, if it was more noble. It would follow me around and be endlessly frustrated with my own antics and inadequacies.

If you could learn one lesson in your life, what would it be?

Stop complaining to please the people who are close to you. I had this need to make sure that all the people around me who were consuming my work were impressed by it, so it hurt if they weren’t. And this is an industry where people are very open about their criticism. I had to learn to let go of that hope.

You used to work as a teacher. What level of spice in a romance novel is too spicy to be acceptable to a co-worker?

If it’s older, I just ask them what they like. What kind of romance do you want? You’re looking for an open door, a closed door?” An open door means open sex, on the page, and a closed door is where we’re not there for shenanigans as readers. Everyone’s tastes are different. And then I would make an idea based on that. You don’t do Fifty Shades of Gray for your Catholic grandmother, you know what I mean? You have to use some common sense there.

I don’t know. Can they like it?

He can. He might like it. You should ask him, though.