Julie's Review: We Love to Entertain

Author: Sarah Strohmeyer
Series: None
Publication Date:  April 25, 2023
Publisher: Harper
Pages: 368
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Behind the scenes look at reality tv with a bent
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Holly and Robert Barron are attractive young real-estate investors and contestants in a competition run by To the Manor Build, the nation’s most popular home renovation app. With millions in product endorsements and online followers at stake, they’re rehabbing a Vermont home they scored at a bargain price into a chic hilltop estate ideal for entertaining. It’s all camera-ready laughs and debates over herringbone tile until Holly and Robert go missing hours after their picture-perfect wedding—leaving behind a bloody trail. Suspicion falls quickly on Erika Turnbull, the Barrons’ twenty-something assistant—eager, efficient, and secretly in love with Robert. Did Erika let her misguided passion turn her into a murderer? So claim the townsfolk of Snowden, Vermont, who still haven’t forgiven her for a tragic accident back in high school. But Erika’s mother, Kim, is not about to let small-town gossip and a cop with an axe to grind destroy her daughter—again. With time running out and their own lives at risk, the mother-daughter duo set out to find what really happened to the Barrons. First, though, they’ll have to confront the vengeful former owner of Holly and Robert’s estate, ruthless reality-show producers, and a secret that might bring their own house down. ~amazon.com 

Review: I do love a good HGTV show but I'm not really into home competition shows but Ms. Strohmeyer wrote one of my favorite books ever, Kindred Spirits, so I wanted to read her latest. Let me just start by saying I love reading books with unreliable and unlikable characters; We Love to Entertain fits. Holly and Robert are the golden couple of the home building competition, To the Manor Build, but are things what they seem? Are they really the "perfect" couple? Of course nothing is how it seems on tv. The story is told from Holly and Robert's assistant, Erika and her mom, the town clerk, Kim. 

Erika is a bit infatuated with Robert because honestly he's got charisma oozing out of his pores and how can you not like Holly who spins the made herself into something from nothing cliché. Plus for Erika, she's still spinning from an accident in high school that made her close herself off to everyone and there's not a lot of jobs in Snowden, CT. She's in charge of their schedules, plus organizing all the deliveries for the house. It's the day of their wedding though that changes everything for her and others in her orbit. 

Things quickly start to unravel for Erika and the show as Holly and Robert disappear. 

I loved the pace of this book and how things unfold in the 2nd 1/2 of the novel. I'll definitely be grabbing Ms. Strohmeyer next novel. 

Author Interview: Sarah Strohmeyer

Yesterday, I reviewed Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer. Today we are lucky to have her answering some questions for us.

GJR: Was the knowledge of martinis already yours or did you have to do research? And by research I mean, how many did you drink?

SS: Hah! Actually, I’m not a big martini drinker. What happens is I drink one or maybe two and then, suddenly, I realize I need to lie down – now! But, I do have a wonderful friend who’s been my bestie (not beastie!) since age four. She was my maid of honor, etc. and she makes terrific cosmos. So, while I was visiting her in New Jersey while thinking up this book, I turned into the kitchen to find her with a cookbook open to a cosmopolitan recipe and pouring vodka into one of those Pyrex four-cup measures. I just burst out laughing. She said, “What? I’m only following Martha Stewart.” That’s when I realized there’s something about mixing drinks with your girlfriends and being away from your family that’s kind of…liberating.

A lot of the martinis are based on my favorite flavors – ginger, lemon, chocolate. Those flavors also represent moments in our lives – spicy, tangy, sweet. So, I’d try to coordinate the flavors with what the women were going through in Kindred Spirits. Having tasted them all (and dumped about fifty in the sink) I heartily recommend the lemon and ginger. Super! The chocolate raspberry is waaaaay over the top. But for pure punch, nothing beats the old gin + vermouth. I searched for the original recipe and I think I found the classic.

GJR: I know that Kindred Spirits is a very different book from what your fans are used to. Why did you decide to break from your usual writing style for this book?

SS: The truth is my writing was leaning toward a more “mature direction,” as they say. Also, my next door neighbor, Trish, was going through chemo, etc., and I saw a story there of how she relied on her friends and also taught her friends – almost enlightened us – as she bravely met the challenge of cancer with humor, wit and grace. We got something from her and I think she got something from us. What it showed me was that women’s friendships are transcendent, especially as we slide into middle age. We value and nurture each other in surprising, subtle ways. We support with steadfastness. We diminish the pain and emphasize the glory. True women friendships are powerful and magical and very private. I tried to capture that in Kindred Spirits. That said, I’m looking forward to writing something totally lighthearted from now on.

GJR: I found pieces of myself in all 4 of the women. Who did you see yourself reflected in?

SS: Me, too. I related the most to Mary Kay because I’m horribly impulsive, a kind of love before you leap person. But, like Beth, I can be troubled by insecurities and doubts and financial worries. Carol’s a workaholic and so am I, unfortunately, and, like Carol, the PTA meetings, being forced into playing the ideal suburban mother – whatever that is – didn’t work for me. If there’s anything I’ve learned after raising kids in an environment where everyone’s trying to be the Best Mother Possible, it’s that we’re all flawed. We all suck at some part of parenting and that’s okay. Now that our kids are mostly grown, we can look at one another and ask, “Uhm, what were we trying to prove again?” And laugh. Seriously, it’s so refreshing to be out of PTA hell.
GJR: Female friendships aren’t easy. What do you think helps friendships endure over 20+ years?

SS: That’s a really good question! Mostly, I think it’s acceptance. You just accept that you’re going to love one another and be there for each other until the end of time. You might not call every day/week/month, whatever. You might miss the kids’ birthdays. But it’s understood that in an emergency you’d drop everything to go to her and vice versa. I also think that, like marriage, you have to work at it. You have to try to get together and carve out time just for your friends. It’s hard for women because there are so many other demands on us and being with your girlfriends seems almost selfish. But it’s important. So important, that after my mother died, her ashes were mixed in a church planter where her good friends were also buried. My father’s ashes were scattered in a river in Alaska. I thought that said volumes.

GJR: I know that this book is very personal for you and that you lost a dear friend recently to cancer. What can you tell us about Trish that made her so special? What did she mean to you?

SS: Trish and I weren’t really close until she got sick. In fact, as my next door neighbor, she set my teeth on edge with off-the cuff remarks about how great her kids were or how small my house was, that sort of thing. It wasn’t until I started driving her to chemo sessions – and she started relying on me – that I understood her humor and came to appreciate her feistiness. A school psychologist with a PhD, Trish chose to work in one of the tougher school systems where she found unique ways to reach troubled children. She would sashay into chemo and brighten the whole place with her sass. I came not only to admire her, but to love her dearly and when she lay dying on Christmas Eve, I brought my quilt into the hospital and covered her thin little body and assured her everything would be okay. And everything WILL be okay with her husband and three kids because she trained them well, she gradually eased them – and us – into accepting that life is short and some of us go now and some of us go later but we all go eventually.
I miss her so, so much.

GJR: Being a brand new Sarah Strohmeyer fan, what book(s) of yours would you recommend for me to read next?

SS: I’m so glad you’re a fan! I guess my most popular book is The Cinderella Pact which became the basis of a Lifetime movie called Lying To Be Perfect. Sweet Love is more on the sweet side, about a mother who tries to correct a mistake she made years before by separating her daughter from her true love. My Bubbles Yablonsky mystery series has a loyal and rabid following – unless you’re looking for literary fiction. Jennifer Egan it ain’t – Bon Jovi, Spandex and humor it is.

GJR: What are you currently working?

SS: I’m doing revisions on a young adult novel for Balzer + Bray at Harper Collins entitled Smart Girls Get…Everything which happens to be about smart girls getting, uhm, everything. Having been a smart girl in high school and the mother of a smart girl now in college, I wanted to write the ultimate fantasy for us. It’s been great fun, full of laughs and friendships…..Just wonderful. It should come out next spring.

GJR: When you write do you have to have total quiet or background noise? Has this changed over time?

SS: Having worked as a newspaper reporter for over twenty years before I started writing novels, I was used to background noise. Now, however, I need total quiet. I wrote much of Kindred Spirits while my father was dying (it was a hell of a year) and would have to play white noise through my headphones in the hospital waiting room in order to concentrate.
GJR:What motivates you to write? How do you avoid the dreaded writer’s block?
SS: Well, I think true writers can’t help but write. When I’m not writing, I think about writing. Also, it’s my job – hah! The combination means I spend a lot of time on my butt tapping on the computer. It’s a lot easier than it looks, trust me. Writer’s block is an invention. Don’t pay it any mind. Just write. Write anything. Even if it’s lousy drek, just write it. Like Nora Roberts says, you can fix a bad page. You can’t do anything with a white one. Therefore, on days when it’s like chiseling into concrete and cleaning the bathroom grout is a tempting option, just tell yourself you’re going to bang out 1,500 words and see what happens.

GJR: If you had to only pick one kind of martini to drink for the rest of your life, what would it be? Why?

SS: I think that would be the classic vodka martini. It’s classic for a reason – crisp, clear, no nonsense. It’s been the downfall of many a writer, though, and perhaps the muse. The trick is to know the difference!

Thank you so much;this was fun!

My sincere thanks to Sarah for taking the time out of her schedule to answer our questions.

Kindred Spirits will be released on June 30, 2011

Julie's Review: Kindred Spirits

Summary: When life gives you lemons, call your best girlfriends and whip up some lemon martinis. Such is the mantra for the Ladies' Society for the Conservation of Martinis, which was established after one fateful PTA meeting, when four young mothers-Lynne, Mary Kay, Beth, and Carol- discovered they had more in common than they ever thought possible. Meeting once a month, the women would share laughs and secrets and toast to their blossoming friendship with a clink of their sacred martini glasses. The Society was their salvation, their refuge, but when life-shattering circumstances force the group to dissolve, their friendship is never quite the same...until two years later, when a tragic event puts the Society back in session. When Lynne passes away suddenly, she leaves behind one simple request: that her old friends sort through her belongings. Reluctantly, the women reunite to rummage through her closets. There's nothing remarkable; no kinky sex toys, no embarrassing diary. But buried deep within Lynne's lingerie drawer is an envelope addressed to the Society. And inside they find a letter that reveals a shocking secret and a final wish that will send the women on a life-changing journey...proving that nothing is more powerful than the will of a true girlfriend and a good, strong martini. ~amazon.com

Review: I adore books about friendships. I love them more when the author gives those friendships real, mature problems. In Kindred Spirits, Sarah Strohmeyer does just that. She creates a circle of friends who are mature, have real problems and who are at times struggling through life.

We are introduced to Lynne first and then the other 3 friends: Beth, Carol and Mary Kay(MK). They've been friends for 20 years from being new moms in the same town to having their kids grow up and go away to start their own lives. Now they are perhaps dealing with the biggest change yet; death of a dearly loved friend. Years before Lynne made them promise to be the only ones to clean out her personal items after she was gone. She had planned this so that she could reveal a big secret to her friends and have them conduct her final wish. I think she also intended to do it this way so that the 3 of them would reconnect and make that bond even tighter. She was savvy that Lynne. I also think she's the glue that kept these friendships together. Without her and her forward thinking, they might have unraveled.

Usually in a book with 4 main characters, I tend to identify with one of them distinctly but what Ms. Strohmeyer does so well is she made me find some of myself in each of the characters. These characters are so identifiable and real that you can't help but like them all and of course want to shake them all at the same time. They have problems that we all have gone through or could face at any time in our lives. What Ms. Strohmeyer does is makes it so that you know there are no easy answers, that they struggle with the decisions they have made and that maybe things will be alright in the end.

I cried, I laughed and at times I got angry. Sounds a bit like life, eh? These women are extraordinary in their own ordinary ways. Beth, the shy bookworm who doesn't take chances; Mary Kay, the nurse who was a single mom and is now getting to live her own life; and Carol, the rebel who through her "perfect" life to the wind and went out on her own. Each woman learns something during their trip and they grow.

Lynne was lucky that her friends took upon them her dying wish and did it without really questioning why she never told them about this secret. We all have secrets, things that we want to keep to ourselves for our own reason. Not everything is meant to be shared. It's what makes people interesting and unique.

Often, we get so busy in life that friendships fall aside and are left unattended. Friendships take work just like anything else in life; some more than others. As I get older and have less time with 2 little kids, I find myself evaluating the people I have in my life, weeding out those who I don't think would be there if the going got tough. I'm not about having the most friends these days; I'm about having quality friends. I think this is a lesson you learn as you grow up.

This is my first Sarah Strohmeyer book, but it won't be my last. She said that this book is different from her others and I think that's great. I know this book is extremely personal for her and probably therapeutic as well. She is a gifted storyteller who can make you cry and laugh all on the same page. You will also learn recipes for some of the best sounding martini's ever. (Tiffany - We will have to concoct some of these this summer).

If you are a fan of Women's Fiction, then I highly suggest that you go and buy (pre-order) perhaps, Kindred Spirits. I don't think you will regret it.

Final Take: 4.75/5

Kindred Spirits is on sale June 30, 2011

Thanks to the author for sending me the book!