I had so much fun listening to We Love to Entertain by Sarah Strohmeyer, and I enjoyed it a bit more than her previous novel Do I Know You? The plot and storyline were really easy to follow, and I loved that it is based on a home renovation competition since I love all things HGTV along with reality TV. There are a number of viewpoints, but I thought that the characters were all so different and unique that I never found them blending together and they were easy to keep straight. I got a real kick out of Erika's mom Kim, and she was probably my favorite character of them all with her smarts and quick wit.

As mentioned, I listened to the audio and was thrilled it provided me with a full cast. Vivienne Leheny, Caitlin Davies, Megan Tusing & Jamie Renell were all spot-on picks for their characters and brought the story to life in an impressive way. I saw a few reviewers call this a cozy mystery, but I can't say I agree based on other cozies I have read in comparison to this one. I also don't think it is a full-on thriller since I didn't have the 'thrills' I would expect to get from one. Instead, I would consider We Love to Entertain more of a suspense/domestic fiction/mystery set against the backdrop of a reality TV show competition. I loved the uniqueness of the premise, and the cover is really eye-catching as well! I will be holding onto this for a future reread and would 100% recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Sigh, I hoped this would be a win, but it fell incredibly flat. We Love To Entertain had a lot of potential, but really the plot never felt like it took of or captured me. Holly and Robert are contestants in a reality tv show competition. The two love birds are great on camera and have a great shot at winning for their rehab of a Vermont hilltop estate.

Erika Turnbull is their amazing assistant who keeps all the to do lists in order and is ensuring the project continues to move forward on time. Unfortunately, Erika has a bit of a soft spot for her handsome employer, Mr. Barron. When the couple decides to marry on camera, Erika's luck completely sours, when the cameras catch her jealousy on tape.

When Robert suggests a spontaneous honeymoon, Erika is hesitant to see the couple ride off into the sunset a week away from wrapping, but she has no power to tell them no. When the couple remains silent, minus Holly's pre-schedules posts, things start to get tense and suspicious falls quickly on Erika.

Erika's mom, Kim, is unwilling to let her daughter take the fall. She's seen more than she should and is working behind the scenes to put the pieces together to clear her daughter.

Sounds captivating, right? Wrong. it's drawn out. Little happens. What you learn is at such a snails pace it's hard to for this book to hold your attention. Also, it doesn't fully make sense when everything is revealed. I get it, but it just could've gone so many other ways.

I hope to read something else by Sarah Strohmeyer in the future. This one just was a miss for me.

This cover just absolutely spoke to me when seeing it come across the netgalley shelf and huge thank you for the ARC.

“Details flit in and out of my brain like butterflies through a field. Nothing sticks.”

Most of the time, book reviewers don’t quote from an ARC, because things in the book can change before publication. I’m going to just hope this quote was left in the final version, because at times, it was the perfect way to describe my experience of reading this book.

Holly and Robert are one of three couples on a home improvement show, “To the Manor Build”. The show takes people who want to renovate a property, films them for the months-long process, then the voted-upon winner gets back all the money they put into the home. Robert found a house in Vermont at a tax auction, and bought it for a mere $8500. He turned it into a completely emission-free home, using expensive technology with the hope that they’d win and get their money back. Well, his money back.

You see, Holly and Robert (or H&R as they are known online) only met because of the show. They were professional, then friendly, then - as the show played out - they fell in love and got married (another bonus episode for TMB). The night of their wedding, Robert ends up at their assistant Erika’s house. He wants to take Holly up to Montreal for a small honeymoon, but is worried there wouldn’t be charging stations for his Tesla, so he asks to trade cars. Erika is adamant they not go - this is the final week of the show! The big reveal! So much still needs to be done, but Robert insists they’ll be back in a couple days.

After they leave, they go incommunicado, which is where the mystery and suspense come into play. Why are they risking blowing their chance at winning the show? Why couldn’t they honeymoon the next week? Why are they not getting in touch with anyone? Erika is trying to keep everything going, but she’s getting (rightfully) worried. After six days, hope was definitely fading…

I thought this storyline was good, and the writing was decent. The ending was great and pretty unexpected. I think my problem with this book is the quote from above - it was very long-winded and had a few unnecessary characters, and I started to lose sight of the point a few times. Overall though, especially if you don’t mind a slow book, this is a pretty decent one. 3.5 stars, rounded up because I loved the HGTV vibes, Reddit threads and other media scattered throughout.

(Thank you to Harper Collins, Sarah Strohmeyer and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

This book was so much FUN!! Very tongue-in-cheek sarcastic humor plus a lot of mystery. It was as if HGTV and SNL had a baby, LOL! I can’t wait to read more by this author. Thank you!

We Love to Entertain by Sarah Strohmeyer is a recommended psychological thriller.

Holly Simmons and Robert Barron are on the property rehab show To the Manor Build and hoping to win the grand prize with their hilltop estate in Snowden, Vermont. Erika Turnbull is Robert’s assistant, who is efficient and secretly in love with him. When Holly and Robert go missing hours after their livestreamed "flash" wedding, Erika is a suspect. Erika's mother who is also the town clerk, Kim, is not about to let anything happen to her daughter and she becomes a detective to find out what really happened.

There are plenty of twists and the plot is entertaining, but you also have to suspend some disbelief in order to fully enjoy the turns the plot takes. It's been awhile since I watched any reality TV, and the narrative kind of confirmed why. While the interesting and enjoyable narrative will keep you reading, the characters are a little less compelling. The story is told mainly through chapters from the point-of-view of Erika and Kim. Neither character really captured my interest so I relied on the plot alone for the entertainment. This is a twisty tale that will likely appeal to many readers.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

This book was just okay for me. I didnt really connect with any of the characters or really the story line at all. I was pretty bored the whole time.

Hands up if you like to watch House reno shows. I've got both hands waving!
Well, house renovations and contests are the vehicle for Sarah Strohmeyer’s latest book. We Love to Entertain. But it’s not all fun and games - there’s murder in the mix.

Is this a cozy mystery you ask? I would say yes, to a degree it is. But, instead of a retired librarian who loves tea and scones, we have we have Kim the town clerk and her (not so often helpful) assistant Doreen. Kim’s daughter Erika is working on the set of the reno. We Love to Entertain is told through alternating chapters from Kim and Erika. Kim sees things as they and worries about her daughter who comes up with excuses time and time again for what's happening. There’s definitely trouble on the set. Strohmeyer plants a number of red herrings along the path to the final whodunit. And what is happening you ask? Well, I'm not going to spoil the book for you, so I'll leave it for you to find that out. Suffice to say, it's a clever plot that I think takes inspiration from Strohmeyer's own life. She too is an elected town clerk in a small Vermont town.

I really enjoyed the skewering of the whole house reno/decorate thing. The reno couple, Holly and Robert, have the funniest (and spot on) newsletters and blog post. We also get a behind the curtain look at what it takes to achieve that final reveal. And I bet Strohmyers depiction isn’t that far from the truth!

We Love to Entertain was a fun read with lots of humor, a good plot - and a few bodies.

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. When Holly and Robert go missing hours after their picture-perfect wedding—leaving behind a bloody trail, suspicion immediately falls upon Erika Turnbull, the Barrons’ assistant, who also has a bit of rocky past in the community after a tragic accident when she was a teenager. 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.

I normally love this author's books, but this one was not my favorite. I am not a fan of home renovation shows, so all of those descriptions made my eyes glaze over - but that is just me. Holly and Robert were despicable people, and Erika just didn't feel like she had a lot of depth to her. There was a lot of suspense, and the mystery of who kidnapped Holly & Robert. I really enjoyed the comeuppance at the end the best, when people got what they deserved, I felt like. That was my favorite part of the book, I think. Overall, I would give this a 3.5 rounded up to a 4.

Sarah Strohmeyer’s We Love to Entertain is a gripping domestic suspense novel combining elements of mystery, thriller, and even the cozy sub-genre. This tale will have wide-spread appeal and it satisfies on multiple levels.

After securing the property at a deep discount, Holly and Robert are renovating a Vermont home to transform it into a net-zero masterpiece—meaning that it is completely energy efficient and environmentally conscious. They also happen to be doing this as part of To the Manor Build, one of the world’s most popular reality renovation competition shows. In an effort to boost ratings and increase their chances of winning (against fellow contestants who are building homes for more altruistic reasons), Holly and Robert have decided to have a lavish—and televised—wedding to celebrate the love they discovered during their renovation.

Robert has kept under wraps the threatening letters he has been receiving, but on the day of the wedding decides that extra security is needed to keep his bride safe. Their personal assistant, Erika Turnbull, does everything she can to make the ceremony a success—despite harboring deep love for Robert herself—emotions that she is not very good at hiding. In fact, many of the reality show fans have noticed her longing stares and unnecessary caresses and often comment about it on the shows dedicated Reddit threads.

Late on the night after the wedding, Robert shows up at Erika’s residence asking to borrow her car for an impromptu honeymoon, despite it being the final week of renovations before the big reveal and the fan-based vote for the winner. Erika lives in a studio connected to her mother’s place and Kim Turnbull notices Robert arrive and watches as he throws something into their trashcan before speeding off into the night in Erika’s car.

That is the last time Robert and Holly are seen. What everyone first assumes is a simple miscommunication quickly turns into a missing persons case—and maybe worse. And Erika is the prime suspect. As she and her mother grudgingly partner up to investigate, they must keep all the secrets they know under wraps or else the whole house of cards will come crumbling down.

Sarah Strohmeyer has crafted a convoluted tale in We Love to Entertain with many different avenues of exploration, sudden detours, round-abouts, and more than a few dead ends. Thankfully, this is an author working at the top of her game, so she manages to keep readers invested in the various possibilities before bringing things to a very satisfying—and unexpected—conclusion.

The storyline is told via two main points of view—Erika and Kim—with some asides from Holly and Robert’s To the Manor Build blog posts and the social media chatter on the Reddit threads. This serves to bring home one of the themes which is the inevitable clash between the “glamourous” reality television façade and the realities of small-town life in America. Not surprisingly—given Strohmeyer’s work as Town Clerk for a small Vermont town—the scenes that involve property law and the mundane work done by these government employees seems ultra-realistic and undeniably fascinating.

We Love to Entertain is a fun and fast read that is perfect for the upcoming summer season. Readers will find themselves invested in the characters—although they may not necessarily like most of them. Even when things get so twisted it seems there is no way this story will ever make sense, the author remains completely in control and slowly starts to untangle the various plot threads. This is to say, both mystery/thriller fans and HGTV addicts should check out We Love to Entertain by Sarah Strohmeyer.

A great story that gets a bit into the behind the scenes of a home competition show and how it’s all a hit staged. Also, are those people always who they portray them to be. I liked the dynamic between Erika and her mom, Kim but the comedic relief is with Kim’s assistant, Doreen.

A highly entertaining thriller that has its share of twists and turns.

As a lover of the HGTV-style home renovation setting for my rom-coms, I was excited to pick up a thriller with this backdrop. We Love To Entertain was a fun, quick read that I blew through in just a few sittings (only pausing to wait for my buddy readers to catch up!). I loved the little extras thrown in like the Reddit threads and news articles. I also was a big fan of the Vermont setting.

I thought Erika was pretty whiny and annoying, but I don’t think the author wanted the reader to like her. While I didn’t think Kim’s POV added much to the thriller plot, I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes real estate parts like the property appraisals.

Overall, this was an easy-to-read popcorn thriller. I read most of it on vacation, so it will forever remind me of downtime in Iceland!

Combining a home reno show and interstitial bits from Reddit makes this feel very current, and there are plenty of nicely placed twists in the story that keep this well paced. This is definitely a plot driven story, and readers who depend on character development might be a little disappointed.

It starts out as a HGTV reality couple (Holly & Robert) just bought a house. They have a pop-up wedding. Their assistant is secretly (not-so secretly) in love with Robert. The night after their wedding, the two claim they are going on a honeymoon (even though they have an important competition coming up). Erika, the assistant, can’t reach them nor can anyone else. Alarming signs of foul-play continue to pop up. Erika and her mom Kim work separately to uncover the facts in alternating POVs.

•••

I really loved the concept! I’m a big fan of reality TV and all the drama that comes with it. This was a really unique storyline and setting. I hav e never read a book quite like it.

I didn’t really vibe with any of the characters. None of them were relatable. Erika was annoying. I was also confused at Kim’s reasoning for being a main character. I enjoyed the side characters more than the main ones.

The plot had multiple holes. Many plot points were left unexplained. It doesn’t make sense for the author to include these points in the plot, if they were never going to be explained.

I didn’t see the twist coming at the end. It definitely shocked me, but I wasn’t sure I enjoyed the direction the storyline went. Because of the twist, you’ll find out that a lot of the “clues” and characters are irrelevant.

This one was an okay read.

**mild spoiler ahead

What in the Sherri Papini (IYKYK) did I just read?

If you love HGTV and ID then this book is a certainly a mix of those two things. With some side plots thrown in that don’t necessarily amount to anything. Not a likeable character in the bunch but the show must go on.

We Love to Entertain by Sarah Strohmeyer
Published: April 25, 2023
Harper Paperbacks
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 338
KKECReads Rating:
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Sarah Strohmeyer is the award-winning, nationally bestselling author of eighteen novels for adults and young adults. A former newspaper reporter, she is currently the elected Town Clerk of Middlesex, Vermont where she lives with her husband and cat. Two adult children occasionally drop by.

“…the truth doesn’t set you free—it makes you crazy.”

Erika is excited to be working as a personal assistant to two contestants on a popular house rehab show. She has a little crush on Robert, but no one knows. Robert and Holly are the newest reality stars, making waves with their relationship and decorating choices. But when they disappear, Erika becomes a person of interest.

This was a wild ride. I enjoyed the build-up and the alternating perspectives. I found the storytelling well done and engaging. I enjoyed the writing style.

I liked Erika; she was resilient, intelligent, and hardworking. I liked her mom, Kim, as well. She was every bit a devoted mom. The side characters were great and added depth to the plot development.

The build-up was intense, and things went crazy for a bit, but the way the story fell back together was well done. It was interesting seeing the behind-the-scenes of a reality show.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper publishing for an advanced copy of We love to entertain for a chance to read and review. This was a very easy read, there was not much depth to the characters in my opinion but this is a good palate cleanser novel. This is told from Erika’s point of view and her mother Kim’s point of view. Erika has landed a job as a personal assistant to power couple Holly and Robert, they are rehabbing a house in Vermont for a home improvement show where the winners get everything paid for. They got the property at a steal essentially kicking the prior owner off their property. They are receiving threatening letters and abruptly disappear leaving Erika behind to clean up the mess. I didn’t really care about any of the characters and did not but into the mystery. A lot of plot holes, the story never really came together for me, I rated 3 stars as the author is a solid writer but this novel didn’t really work for me.

3 stars....

This was a quick read, but unfortunately fell a little flat for me....

I think the title threw me off; I went in thinking it would be able a couple in their new fixer upper, entertaining guests, someone gets murdered/disappeared/etc..... however, the "We love to enterain" was more toward the TV show? Idk, it was a creative plot, but I overall was just left with a blahh feeling.

Thank you to the publisher for my gifted review copy, in exchange for an honest review - out 4/25.

Book Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 stars
We Love To Entertain
Author: Sarah Strohmeyer
Pub date: 4/25/2023
Publisher: Harper Perennial and Paperbacks
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers/Gen. Fiction Adult/Literary Fiction

Erika is the assistant to Robert and Holly, who are in a home renovation competition show. Erika has a history in her small town for something that happened years ago. Erika’s Mom, Kim, is the town clerk. They have strained relationship.

Robert and Holly decide to go on a honeymoon and are never heard from. Erika is left trying to hold down the fort with the renovation and also a suspect. The local law enforcement get involved, but is it too late?

The novel is told in the POV’s of Erika and Kim and interspersed with social media posts from Holly and Robert.

I didn’t like the social media posts because it broke up the flow of the story in some ways. Also didn’t find out about Erika’s past until three quarters of the way through the book. The ending was good.

Thank you
@netgalley @harperperennial and @sarahstrohmeyerwriter for an ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#welovetoentertain #mystery #thriller #mysterythriller #literaryfiction #fiction #NetGalley
#reviewer #bookstagram #bookreview #bookreviewer

This is not the genre I typically read from this author but this book was such a pleasant surprise! It was definitely thrilling and I loved the rural Vermont setting. This is everything I wanted this book (also a thriller/murder mystery set on a home renovation reality tv show) to be when I read it last summer and so I am happy to finally get all those wishes fulfilled. Definitely recommend!

We Love to Entertain comes out next week on April 25, 2023, and you can purchase HERE!

This is why people detest Listers. First they act like they have a divine right to butt into their neighbors' bedrooms and then they automatically assume their fellow residents are up to no good. They're forever accusing some innocent homeowner of sneaking in an unpermitted addition or hiding a kitchen remodel, converting a closet to a powder room and hoping the town doesn't add in the extra fixtures to up the property's value. They're wired to suspect the worst in others.