Sarah Strohmeyer's "We Love to Entertain"

Sarah Strohmeyer is a bestselling and award-winning novelist whose books include The Secrets of Lily Graves, How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True, Smart Girls Get What They Want, The Cinderella Pact (which became the Lifetime Original Movie Lying to Be Perfect), The Sleeping Beauty Proposal, The Secret Lives of Fortunate Wives, Sweet Love, and the Bubbles mystery series. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Boston Globe. She lives with her family outside Montpelier, Vermont.

Here Strohmeyer dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, We Love to Entertain:

Because We Love to Entertain was inspired by the already fictional world of HGTV property rehab, that medium was lurking in the background as I wrote about a privileged, white, well-educated couple legally “stealing” a prime piece of real estate - a Vermont mountaintop retreat - for which they pay the consequences when the former owner exacts his revenge.

Or does he?

Anyway, I love Southerner Parker Posey, so she would be by prime choice to play Haylee aka Holly Barron, a Florida girl who’s remade herself into the glamorous co-owner of this estate, along with her new husband, Robert Barron, aka The Robber Barron, who fancies himself the genius of snatching real-estate bargains. There’s a guy who lives near me on whom I modeled this character due to his appearance and behavior. That said, the closest actor would be Joe Manganiello. I realize Parker’s nearly ten years older than Joe, but let’s go with it.

Erika, their aspiring assistant who just…wants…to…get….out…of…this…goddamn hick town, has to be Maya Hawke from Stranger Things. She’s simultaneously vulnerable and edgy. And since Erika gets herself in life-threatening danger, I can see Maya conveying the fear and resilience Erika experiences as she desperately tries to stay alife.

Her mother Kim, the Town Clerk who’s got her own secrets but doesn’t take no guff from no one, has to be Jean Smart. (Now that I think of it, Hannah Einbinder who plays her assistant on Hacks wouldn’t be bad as Erika, either.)

Hannah would also be great as Doreen, the brash Assistant Town Clerk, though she might be a little young. This is a book with quirky, strong and equally vulnerable women. It’d be so exciting to see them interacting on the screen.

Since We Love to Entertain revolves around these women and has lots of humor, I bet Paul Feig would do a great job directing. Bridesmaids is my go-to stress buster and I hope We Love to Entertain serves the same purpose for its readers!

Visit Sarah Strohmeyer's website.

My Book, The Movie: This Is My Brain on Boys.

--Marshal Zeringue