Sadie has finally gotten her big break as a portrait artist when she is named a finalist in a competition. Unfortunately, she also needs brain surgery which completely alters the way she can see faces.

This book was a great read and included themes surrounding honesty with yourself and others. Another hit from Katherine Center!

Thank you SMP & NetGalley for my gifted eARC. 💕

About: Sadie Montgomery, a portraitist just like her late mother, finally gets her big break: she's placed as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition. Unfortunately, that same day she lands in the hospital with a "probably temporary" condition called prosopagnosia - AKA face blindness. The timing couldn't be worse!

As she struggles to cope with this new condition and the impact it will have on the competition, she's also dealing with a sick pup and a dysfunctional family: a mostly-absent father, an overbearing (but well-meaning) stepmom, and a wicked step-sister.

So meeting not one, but TWO, men is the perfect distraction! But Sadie's inability to see them clearly will cause problems galore!

Thoughts: This was an absolute DELIGHT! This is only my second Katherine Center novel but call me a fan! The humor is perfect, and I found myself smiling for most of the book. Sadie is so charming and I couldn't help but love her and root for her. The romance is slow-burn but very sweet. And I appreciate the way the author handled Sadie's family issues, and I thought that backstory added a lot of depth. Overall a very solid read that I binged in just over 24 hours 🥰 I read this along with the audiobook and Patti Murin delivers a wonderful performance from start to finish. Katherine Center+ Patti Murin are a dream come true! Add this one to your TBR ASAP!

4.5 rounded to 5.
Review to be posted on my Instagram prior to pub day.

This is my second Katherine Center book and I loved it just as much as the first one!

I had never heard of face blindness so I was very intrigued by the blurb. I feel like it was very well researched and was so interesting.
Sadie was such a relatable character. I felt like I really knew her. And Joe? SWOON.

I will definitely recommend this book forever

2.5 stars
Thank you to St, Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

To be honest, if this wasn't an ARC copy, I probably would've quit reading this at about 35%. I did end up finishing it, and I did enjoy the ending and the author's note especially. But the rest of it I mostly sped read through because I just wanted to know what happened. There were cute parts of the story, like Sadie's dog Peanut, and I was interested in reading about her painting and her experiences with prosopagnosia. I did like seeing Sadie's growth in the very end of the story, and I enjoyed reading about her relationships with others like her friend Sue and her family. However, I just felt like this book was too long, and I was tired of Sadie's monologue. To me she came off as whiney and kind of superficial. I know she had a lot going on, but I felt like she was constantly complaining and it was just a lot to read through. I would've liked if she'd had a little growth throughout the whole story and not just all in the last 10% of the book.

I'll give other Katherine Center books a try, because I did read another of hers and I did enjoy it. However, this one just wasn't it for me.

Thank you, St, Martin's Press and Netgalley for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars
I read The Bodyguard by Katherine Center and fell in love with her writing style. I was so excited to be approved to read this book early! Overall, I enjoyed the story. I didn't swoon as hard for this couple as with Hannah and Jack in The Bodyguard. I felt like they were lacking a solid emotional connection. Despite this, I did enjoy reading about face blindness and the complexity behind it. Watching Sadie grow as a character throughout the book with her struggles was fun. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a lighter, fun read.

P.s. the cover is absolutely gorgeous

Hello Stranger is a story with big emotions. After the main character, Sadie, is struck with a medical condition that impacts the way she sees the world around her, she begins to confront questions about who she is and wants to be. This is a unique romance and I liked the way it made me think about confirmation bias and assumptions I make in my own life. Even though I didn't relate strongly to Sadie, I was rooting for her and interested to see how her story would evolve and resolve. As a bonus, I love Sadie's relationship with her dog Peanut!

This book was a light-hearted, fun romance. The premise was certainly unique, and I’d never read anything quite like it before in a contemporary romance. I was able to guess the twist, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book. A solid read.

4⭐️

Thanks so much Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I’ve been hearing a lot of great things about this book, and I have to say I can’t disagree with that. This book was super fun and light romance read. I thought the fact she couldn’t recognize faces AND she was a portrait artist was a really interesting take.

I also really enjoyed the main character, Joe (who may or may not be Joe?) and of course Peanut. The characters were just super likeable and made this that much of a better read.

I was able to guess the plot twist at the end, but it’s okay because it didn’t ruin the story as a whole.

Overall, it was definitely a fun romance read that I read in the span of probably a day or two. I’d definitely recommend.

Cute book!
From the beginning I truly loved this book. The romance is super cute and reading about Sadie and what she went through was sad. But, it didn’t hit a home run for me. Something was missing. But overall I did enjoy it!

THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING. I loved it so much...I figured out the twist at around 70% but I didn't even care. That's how good it was. HIGHLY recommend.

Okay, this book was super predictable yet super cute, and I really enjoyed reading it. I flew through it! I really like Sadie’s POV and understanding from her side how this diagnosis affected her and her life/livelihood. I loved her found family with the Kims and how they loved her and helped her. Getting to see the relationship with Joe blossom was sweet.

I knew I’d enjoy this story because I enjoyed The Bodyguard, and I loved how different this story was that I am used to.

Why oh why did I put off reading this book? It was an absolute delight! Katherine Center is definitely one of my favorite romcom authors and HELLO STRANGER is my new favorite.

First of all, where can I buy a Pajanket? Because I need that in my life. Second, this story was full of so many emotions but it was still lighthearted and fun. I loved every page.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. ⭐⭐⭐

This is a slow burn which builds up to the final.
Sadie who has face blindness must rely of her other senses, which only gets her in trouble. The message I got from this book is this... Don't judge a book by its cover. Get the full story before making judgement.

I received Dan advanced copy of this book for my honest review from NetGalley

“Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness.”

This book was a DELIGHT.

I might have liked it even better than The Bodyguard, which is saying something.

The characters were fantastic, the plot of prosopagnosia was clear, and interesting, without being tedious, and THERE WAS A DOG.

Was the ending predictable? Sure, but it was also SATISFYING – exactly what I wanted.

My only complaint was that I do wish the step-sister got more of a karmic b!tch-slap.

8/10

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for this gratifying ARC.

Another knock out of the park for Katherine Center. Getting lost in Sadie’s world was such a cathartic dose of reality that everyone can relate to in some capacity from money woes, career crisis, to finding out about a her medical emergency! This isn’t my first Center book and I can see why; her books are light and easy reads. Overall this was joy to read and I can’t wait for more!!

This was super cute! I love Katherine Center books, but I’d say The Bodyguard and Things You Save in a Fire are still my favorites. This one was a delight to read, although I think the ending was broadcast from a mile away. If that could have taken me a little more by surprise, I think it would have been a 5 star!

I think this is a unique read that is a great beach read if you are looking for something light that will make you smile!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the copy in exchange for my honest review!

I had not heard of prosopagnosia before reading this book. It provides for a very different plot device and brings awareness to face blindness. Sadie is a portrait artist and just found out that she is a finalist in an important contest. After having a seizure while crossing a road and being saved from being run over by a good samaritan, it is discovered that she has a life threatening lesion in her brain. Swelling after the surgery leads to Sadie having face blindness. I was really intrigued by this storyline and the affect that this has on how you interact with people. It kept me reading to find out how it all worked out between the contest and other people in her life.

I received a copy of this book to review through NetGalley and thoroughly enjoyed it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61884987

Grateful for the opportunity to read this new book from one of my favorite writers prior to it being released. Hello, Stranger is another great one from Katherine Center. The thing I appreciate the most is that her books will give you not only a love story but also a story about personal growth. The secondary characters are also always interesting.

I enjoyed this book - learning about face blindness in particular. The growth by the main character was really nice to see, and I was happy for her to find happiness and love.

Katherine Center, she knows how to write a book. I’ve read 5 and they are all hearteyes to me. I want sure about this one but I experienced an audible gasp at one point, and cried more than a handful it years toward the end, and ended with a smile on my face. Big yes from me!

I’m giving it three stars because two is too harsh and it doesn’t represent my rating.

I’m going to start off strong. Go read the blurb and come back.

First of all, I really, really, really, really freaking hate love triangles. Second of all, I really really hate when everything and everyone in the heroine’s life is bad. Not one thing goes her way and that makes my blood boil. If I had know it would be like that, I probably wouldn’t have read it in the first place. I know it’s not for me so why bother. But I loved Katherine’s previous book so that.

This is a cute romance and everything, if you like the blurb then try it out. That’s all I’m going to say about the romance.