This book kept popping up as a book that I would like, so I was excited to read it! I enjoyed the book and becoming a part of Sadie’s journey. The twist was fairly easy to guess (as with most rom-coms), but it was a unique journey to get there. I loved watching Sadie grow as a character and deal with some difficult scenarios and medical complications. I was unfamiliar with the medical condition and thought the author did a great job weaving it into Sadie’s story. I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend to my friends!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this copy to review!

One word - Obsessed! I love this book so much. I love the characters, the unique plot, and the details. Everything about it, I love it! It's one of the best reads I have had in 2023 so far. I kind of guessed what was going on, which doesn't bother me as there were plenty of other little surprises. Sadie and her crush have the cutest, most intimate relationship. It was so pure, and for Sadie, it was 100% only off of emotional attraction.

Hello Stranger is about so much more than the romance. There is family trauma, learning to trust yourself, growth, and overcoming fear. I had to read this one in one sitting, and I absolutely could not put it down. Katherine Center made the characters quirky and easy to love. Her writing is fun, and she goes into great detail to place you in the characters' shoes. My first Katherine Center read, and I will be moving her other books up on my tbr!!

🎆HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center🎆

📆PUB DATE: July 11th, 2023
➡️Swipe for synopsis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: E-book
Read if you like:
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family drama
❤️Happy books
🐶Very cute dogs

Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery gets selected to participate in an art competition, one that her late mother also was in. When she gets in an accident that results in prosopagnosia (aka face blindness) she struggles to paint any faces. While recovering she meets her dog’s new handsome veterinarian and her neighbor and she’s suddenly dating two people (love triangle?🫣)

Sadie’s family was absolutely awful to her, to the point where it was just unrealistic and overdone. Sadie was a bit immature and overall unlikeable. Without spoiling anything, I don’t understand how the plot twist wasn’t discovered by either person earlier in the book. If you can suspend disbelief, the last 25% of this book was actually really cute and heartwarming and bumped my rating up to 3 stars. I’m glad I didn’t DNF, but the first 75% was a bit of a slog to get through.

Thank you so much to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the advanced copy of Hello Stranger in exchange for an honest review!

While this book wasn't anything revolutionary rom-com wise, I absolutely had a ball reading this and finished it in a day. Some aspects were a bit frustrating (at times I wanted to take the Sadie by the shoulders and shake her because the reasons behind certain things were SO obvious), but overall it was a sweet and fluffy story with some deeper, more serious familial undertones. I appreciate the author doing actual research and including an Author's Note on facial blindness, as it easily could have been something that played off as cheesy and depthless. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone looking for a short, cute rom-com that will make you feel the feelings!

This was a super cute and fun read with a plot concept I hadn't read before! I did guess the "plot twist" fairly early on but it made reading the book more fun for me to kind of laugh along as the main character missed many, what felt like obvious, signs. This is a fun read that I think most people would enjoy!

I read The Bodyguard a few months back, so I was excited to read another Katherine Center book! It started out strong for me, and had a short lull, but I overall loved it! I liked the science/medical stuff (albeit weird in a book) and the “twist” I definitely predicted very early on. I thought Sadie was a relatable and funny character, and Joe was so sweet!

This started strong but ultimately was just okay for me. I thought the FMC was insufferable and ungrateful. All of these people, mostly strangers, were doing such nice things for her and she barely showed gratitude. I also thought some of the prosopagnosia stuff was far fetched. I know its a real thing but there are other factors you can use to describe/sense someone and it felt like they wanted the reader to be completely stupid to believe she couldnt detect anyone, especially her love interests. It was well written as most KC books are it just wasnt my fav.

Katherine Center took a medical condition I never heard of and weaved it into such a unique love story. I love authors who teach me something new and give me a wonderful romance full of anticipation, longing and a beautiful happily-ever-after.

Prosopagnosia or face blindness is a condition that effects over 150 million people, she shared.
I honestly spent the first part of Hello Stranger just thinking about what it would be like to acquire their condition like Sadie.

It has to be so surreal but to someone who paints portraits for a living- devasting.

And yet, I loved how “looks” to a point (because she does deduce that Oliver and Joe are quite handsome) are taken out of the equation when it came to her falling for the vet and her neighbor.

I knew where the love story was headed between the “two” men she was falling for and I loved it.
I didn’t rate this 5 stars only because some things didn’t line up for me when it came to her knowing these men.

Like she recognized Parker from her scent and Oliver had a distinct scent so wouldn’t that trigger something for her the next time she was in his presence?

Granted, the last chapter answered some of my hang-ups and they didn’t keep me from enjoying the story.
I also had a hard time not asking questions like:
-Why didn’t she get a second opinion or why didn’t she learn more about the surgery?
- Why did she just let her Dad bully her into it when so much was at stake?

But alas, that’s where my mind goes with health stuff.

While Joe had an interesting back story, this book was all about Sadie for me and her strength in addressing these changes in her life.

I would have liked to have had the found family aspect with the Kims flushed out more and had Parker really get what’s coming to her because she was the WORST!

But overall, I was enamored with this unique storyline and stayed up all night to finish it.

I enjoyed it and can’t wait for more from Center.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Loved this charming, romantic and completely absorbing women's fiction title. Katherine does a great job with pacing from start to finish. I'm a huge fan and this one may be my fave of hers.

This book was a journey. It introduced me to a condition that I've never heard about before like at all. It almost seemed made up but it's very real. Heck, even Brad Pitt has it. It's called Prosopagnosia (face blindness). It's the part of your brain that can recognize faces. It's either you've had it since birth or it's acquired, like you've been conditioned with it because of a complication in that part of your brain or like in our heroine, Sadie's, case, an affect from a brain surgery. What I like about this book is how you're almost just as frustrated with... everything about Sadie's life just like her. To the point that you can't really blame her for how she's acting and all her emotions. If I were her, I would be more of a mess than her like I honestly don't think I would've done as well in that six weeks as she did. Good for her. I also love how this is such an invisible string moment for Sadie and Joe. All's well that ends well, right? I've read in the Author's Note how this is one of the first attempts of Katherine Center at the romance genre. Not bad. Could've been better as a romance novel but it's there you know? I can't wait to see her grow in the romance genre.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars, rounded up. I initially found the main character to be a bit grating and self-centered, but she grew on me (as did the book!) Thanks to Netgalley and St. Marten's Press for the ARC.

After being saved from almost being hit by a bus, Sadie finds out she has a rare neurological condition called Prosopagnosia which causes face blindness. Imagine suddenly not being able to recognize faces AND you’re also a portrait artist. As Sadie tries to navigate her new (hopefully temporary) reality, she’s also faced with family drama, her own dog’s illness, a new love interest AND figuring out how to manage a huge career competition in which she’s a finalist.

As always, Katherine delivers a funny, heartwarming, light story with noteworthy significance. Her main characters are so well-developed and not only witty but also relatable. Even with a dysfunctional (and downright mean) step-family, Sadie manages to RISE ABOVE and I almost screamed in excitement when she finally found her voice and spoke her truth! The love triangle added to the swoony, even if unlikely, romance. I was not expecting the final reveal/twist so that whole bit just solidified my love for this story!

The audiobook narration was great! I will say I deducted half a star because sometimes it was easy to get distracted while listening, especially when her immature, evil step sister stepped in.

But overall, I LOVED the message and Sadie’s growth through her challenges! The medical/nurse nerd in me appreciates the research that went into her brain condition and how it was effectively written into the story. 👏🏽

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up

After loving the Bodyguard, I knew I wanted to give Katherine Center's newest book a try and I was very excited to get my hands on an ARC. I thought Hello, Stranger was an interesting romance. It read more like a contemporary fiction with a sideline of romance. It spent a lot of time on the main character's recent face blindness diagnosis which was interesting, but the face blindness thing seems to be overdone in recent new releases. I thought the romance was cute and fun, although a little predictable (but that's what we love about romances, right?) Overall, it was a quick and easy read.

This is my first of Katherine Center books in awhile. I read things you save in a fire a long time ago. It was a nice easy read. I enjoyed it. I kind of predicted what would happen so that’s why it didn’t rate higher but a cute easy read that I really enjoyed. :). Can’t wait to read more of her books! Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

Other than a few grammatical errors in the book, it was a fantastic read. I really enjoyed it. The characters are wonderful and the storyline kept me intrigued. And the twists and turns? Perfection.

Wow, just… wow. I had such high expectations for Hello Stranger, after the brilliance of The Bodyguard (still one of my favorite books)… and not only did Hello Stranger deliver on my high expectations, it totally surpassed. The characters are nuanced and are so vibrant, complex, and well-developed they practically jump off the page. The storyline - in which Sadie, a portrait artist, develops face-blindness after an accident - is unique and thoughtful. We learn about characters through their personalities, not their looks, as she experiences meeting and further getting to know new people, including two love interests. Honestly, I tore through this book in less than a day, I could not stop flipping pages because I just couldn’t get enough of these characters. Probably one of my favorite ever books now.

An enjoyable read about Sadie Montgomery who just finaled in a portrait painting contest only to have a nonconvulsive seizure, causing her to need brain surgery. A result from the surgery is swelling in part of the brain that causes Prosopagnosia, aka face blindness. This is not good when she needs to be able to paint a portrait in weeks!

To top that off, her dress that she was wearing the night of the accident has been trashed, her beloved fourteen-year-old dog gets sick, and her evil (truly evil) stepsister, Parker, moves into her apartment building and won't stop messing with her. Seems like too much too handle for one person.

Sadie meets the veterinarian, Dr. Oliver Addison, and soon has visions of marrying him. Then, there's Joe from her building. Soon, she is spending a lot of time with him. What's a girl to do? It's a love triangle in the making, sort of. I loved Joe's character. He is super sweet and truly "Helpful."

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hello Stranger is the perfect summer read. Sadie is a talented artist who has a medical emergency and must have brain surgery. When she wakes up, she discovers that she can no longer see a persons face, including her own.

Kathleen Center did a beautiful job creating a story that was funny, loving and also heartbreaking at times. The story is fast paced and easy to enjoy. This book just makes me love Center even more.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for their generous ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

4.5- I was a little wary to read this because while I liked the last book I read by Katherine Center the ending ruined it for me. I decided to give this one a try and I’m so happy I did!
Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist. It doesn’t bring in much money, but she loves painting and it makes her feel closer to her late mother so she’s pretty happy- despite the fact that she isn’t close with her father, she hates her stepmother, and she has a genuine wicked stepsister. After a near miss with a car, she ends up needing surgery that leaves her with facial blindness, pretty catastrophic for a portrait artist. During this time she falls for 2 different men and needs to figure out how to go on working and living in a world that makes no sense.
I loved every bit of this book. All of the characters are so well developed and Ms. Center created fantastic anticipation with the love story aspect. Watching Sadie learn who she is as both a person and an artist while missing this pivotal part of our senses (she can see, but faces look like a separate pieces instead of a cohesive whole) was truly a joy.
Strangely, I’ve read a bunch of books with characters who have prosopagnosia and this is the first that describes what a sufferer sees in a way that my brain could imagine. The amount of research Ms. Center did on both this and portrait artistry is truly commendable. I’ll definitely be checking out more of Ms. Center’s works. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this. This gem hits the shelves on July 11th.

Ok, I enjoyed the writing. I was hesitantly vibing with this book until a pivotal scene between Sadie and one of her love interests. It’s a moment that I didn’t want to happen but I kind of knew it would and would require you to ignore a lot of questions that come up while reading. Questions such as “If you live in a tiny hovel of an apartment, where do you hide your dog?” “Is Joe a trust fund baby because he has a bougie apartment and always seems to be home?” “Sadie, you’re falling in love with someone but never take the time to get to know them?” There are so many more questions but I’ll be falling into spoiler territory if I keep going. There were quite a few plot choices that could have gone in another direction that would have made this story a bit more plausible. Anyway, if you’re the type of person who can easily see that the math isn’t math-ing then you may not get on with this book. If you can ignore the questions popping into your head, then you can happily fall into this sweet romance.