Katherine Center often says to read for joy… and, her latest book is full of joy.

What happens when you paint portraits for a living and lose the ability to see faces? Sadie is on top of the world one minute, celebrating the amazing news she is a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition, and then wakes up in a hospital the next minute. Sadie develops face blindness due to a complication after a brain procedure. How will she paint portrait if she can’t see a face? And, how long will this side effect last?

Sadie has to learn to navigate her world without being able to know who is in front of her. Sadie also has to deal with her estranged family - a father who married quickly after her mom died when she was 14, a step-mother who doesn’t understand boundaries and an evil step-sister who still lives to make Sadie’s life hell.

Sadie soon meets two very different men, and falls for both, for different reasons. It seems the only constant in her life is Peanut, her beloved dog. As Sadie starts to realize there are different ways to see those around you, she must also learn to accept help from those around her who want to help her. She also has to reset how she handles emotions. One of my favorite lines from the book - “Our thoughts create our emotions. So if you fixate on your worst-case scenario, you’ll make things harder for yourself.”

Katherine Center’s author’s note at the end was spot on too - so many look down on romance novels, but why not read a book that leaves you feeling better than when you started it? Read for joy indeed!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for early access to this book for my honest review.

Hello Stranger
By Katherine Center
🌟🌟🌟🌟
Sadie Montgomery was finally getting the chance she’d been waiting for to show her father who ignored her very existence and her mother posthumously that she could make it as a portrait artist! That is until something turned her world upside down. How could a portrait artist recover from “face blindness?” I was so amazed at the way the author explained a true condition unknown by most in a way the reader could understand and sympathize with the character! It was fascinating! I was rooting for Sadie page after page! I loved how I was surprised at many turns and changes Sadie made throughout and how her growth enhanced her relationships. I listened to this book on audio and it was phenomenal! Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the amazing Katherine Center for the ARC.

The day after I got home from vacation I was a little depressed so I knew it was time for me to read this one. The authors books are always like the warmest and softest hugs for me and this was no exception. While I love every aspect of her books where I think she really shines is in her great characters and Sadie was the most relatable and overall likable character I’ve read about in awhile. She made me laugh, I cried a little for her and I really admired her resiliency. I normally don’t like a love triangle but the author made me enjoy it here and that’s really saying something. Charmed was my overall takeaway here, I was charmed by Sadie from the moment she had a grocery store dance party by herself. I was also charmed by Joe after thinking there was no way he would ever win me over after his first scene and I was charmed by the amount of heart and passion this book emanated. Pure sunshine and delight here, loved it!

I went into this book without reading the blurb (because I trust this author that much) and I was pleasantly surprised by the plot. It's shocking and serious yet there are light moments. I'm not going to relay much about it here to give you the chance to go in blind too, because it was a fun experience.

This isn't a straight up romance novel, it's more contemporary fiction with some romance aspects. It's about Sadie's journey and that should be the focus. I liked her a lot, she was easy to relate to and root for.

I highly recommend this novel for Katherine Center fans, I think it's one of her best yet. I also recommend it for readers of chick lit and contemporary fiction.

Thank you NetGalley for this early copy! I absolutely adore Katherine Center and will read anything she writes. The Bodyguard was one of my favorite books last year. Hello Stranger was no exception!!! I predict this will be a favorite read of the summer. Absolutely loved it!

Imagine not being able to recognize faces; not even the faces of those you know. That’s what happens to Sadie Montgomery in this captivating novel from Katherine Center. Sadie is a portrait artist who is about to get her first big break in a prestigious art competition. Before the competition she has a medical emergency that requires brain surgery. Once she wakes up she’s unable to distinguish faces otherwise known as facial blindness.

Along her journey she meets two men. Joe is a neighbor in her building she initially dislikes after overhearing a disturbing phone conversation. Then she meets Oliver the vet who saves her beloved dog Peanut. She has an instant chemistry with Oliver and fantasizes a future with him one day. But Joe is not all he seems and as Sadie spends more and more time with him she starts to question her own skewed perceptions and assumptions.

Sadie’s mother died when she was young and since then she has made choices in her life that mirrored those of her beloved mother. This often puts her at odds with her father and toxic step family which leaves her feeling like she doesn’t belong. Her best friend Sue and Sue’s family are her lifeline. They provide a wonderful found family for Sadie.

As Sadie prepares for the art competition she’s faced with the choice of painting as she always has, like her mother or developing her own sense of style and identity.

I devoured this book in one night. It was captivating and sensual and the anticipation of what would happen next kept me wanting more. An absolute feel good romance. The author did such a great job painting the picture of facial blindness, something of which I had no prior knowledge. And the surprise … or not twist at the end was a nice touch.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC opportunity.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy in exchange for a fair review.

This is the third book I’ve read from Katherine Center and I just really enjoy her writing style. I found this book to be so fun and enjoyable for the very reason a few readers complained about it. It’s a delightful fairy tale with villains, true love, and a heroine who can rescue herself but also learns it’s ok to ask for help. It’s a story that problem seems to incredible to be plausible and that’s what makes it fun. You just have to roll with it.

Here’s the thing about rom-coms: they aren’t meant to be realistic. One should automatically assume that disbelief will need to be suspended to enjoy it. Let’s be honest- real life love stories are messy and don’t always end happily, which is probably why rom-coms appeal. Anyway, Center has a fantastic author’s note at the end that talks about this.

I absolutely loved that Center created a medical reason that drove the plot and created all the rom-com tropes we all read rom-coms for, like the big third act misunderstanding. And it worked so well because it wasn’t like Sadie, the MC was a total idiot for the misunderstanding- her acquired face blindness was the cause. Brilliant.

The face blindness was used very deftly to explore change, adaptability, and Sadie’s significant childhood traumas. At first I kind of thought Sadie was a victim and a whiner and as her story develops and she reacts to her medical condition, which also impacts her livelihood as a portrait painter, you start to discover the depth of the trauma and grief her family has experienced and why she is the way she is. I did get frustrated with her complete lack of awareness - with or without the face blindness.

I was blown away towards the end when I unexpectedly bust into tears at the sadness of her experience. And in this case, the unspoken conversations that usually create the romantic tension, were also used to explore BIG topics like grief and forgiveness. This novel has a lot of emotional depth.

I really liked the love interests - Joe the Weasel and Oliver the vet. You can probably guess the ending early on, but even if you do the rom-com journey is so fun. The supporting characters had some fun, developed personality traits. The rich descriptions of Houston and portraiture were interesting.

In terms of constructive criticism - I don’t have many notes. Parker as the villain sometimes felt too cartoonish even though she is proper psychopath. That didn’t quite work for me narratively. The pacing in the beginning felt slow and too much time was dedicated to trying to verbally describe experiencing face blindness. I thought some tighter edits could have resolved that. Center’s endings tend to be pretty long. I have still enjoyed them, but when an ending is like 50 pages it’s hard not to get impatient for it to end. I think some tight edits here would also help with pacing. The last 50 pages specifically felt too wordy. I’m sure the final version will be typo free - the e-ARC I received still had some typos.

That’s all I’ve got. I really liked this book and highly recommend it.

Funny, moving, and instantly engaging, Hello Stranger has one of the most fascinating set-ups I've ever encountered in a romance novel. With a great main character and a unique premise, this book is impossible to put down.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

I honestly don’t have much criticism of this one. The premise is intriguing—broke, portrait artist, Sadie, winds up needing brain surgery which results in a questionably temporary condition known as “face blindness”—meaning that she can no longer process faces. They look like puzzle pieces of features that haven’t quite been put together. But that’s not all: Sadie had just finally gotten her big break by becoming a finalist at a prestigious portrait competition. In a matter of weeks, she has to adjust to her new life and attempt to paint what she can no longer see.

Not only is the premise great, but the characters are quite lovable. Sadie’s life is really taking a turn, but she’s incredibly resilient and unintentionally charming. The story is told through her experiences, so we find things out as she does, making her an unreliable narrator and causing a lot of hilarious confusions. It’s been a long time since I’ve genuinely chuckled at something I’m reading, and this one had me laughing out loud by the end.

I also really appreciate that it didn’t wrap up too quickly. The pacing at the end felt perfect, and don’t even get me started on the warm and fuzzy feelings I got from these characters. And, the love story did not disappoint. Joe and Sadie’s dynamic is so funny. I could have gone without some of the sub plot about her evil stepsister—that felt a bit too juvenile and over the top—but I was satisfied when it played into the central conflict moment. Overall, great story-telling, funny moments, and lovely characters.

Why are you still reading? Go put this on your wishlist! It’s out next month—July 11th!

Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

📖: (5/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC for an honest review. This is hard book to review, because it’s really not like anything i’ve ever read. Certainly not like any other romance i’ve read. This is a very emotional book, that had me tearing up quite a few times. I really liked Sadie as a main character, i really felt for her, and enjoyed her inner dialogue. What she was struggling with was very complex and hard to describe and i think the author did a great job making it understandable. I would definitely say this was more of a women’s fiction than a traditional romance, it was definitely Sadie’s story, with more of a romance side-plot. And the writing was so good, it definitely kept me invested despite that. I will say, i did get a little impatient with the plot with Joe/the vet, just because as a reader you basically knew what was going on, but Sadie didnt, and you were just waiting for him to say something, and for her to find out. and he could’ve said something and cleared everything up so easily! Also i did not love the evil stepsister side plot, she was just a little TOO psychotic where it just felt a little unrealistic. But i did like the resolve of her and her father.
Overall, really beautiful writing, and once i got into it, i really couldn’t put it down, just some parts grew a little tedious. 3.5/3.75 stars.

I can't believe I'm giving such a low rating to a Katherine Center book, but this one was really not for me! The concept is absolutely fascinating: Sadie, a young woman who makes her living as a portrait artist, has to have lifesaving brain surgery that leaves her with a condition called face blindness; suddenly, she cannot recognize the faces even of people whom she has known for years. Not a great development for someone who has been accepted into the finals of a prestigious art competition, which requires her to complete a portrait in six weeks' time!

My main problem with the book is that Sadie decides she is not going to tell anyone (except her best friend) about this condition. This, obviously, leads to HUGE misunderstandings that could have been cleared up if she'd simply been honest. It's a (possibly temporary) disability, and her reasons for being so secretive just didn't add up to me! It made me think of what film critic Roger Ebert once referred to as "the idiot plot," a storyline that only functions if people behave like idiots.

Also, Sadie has a stepsister who is so evil she practically runs around cackling, "Ha ha ha, I just love ruining your life" (only a slight exaggeration). I can't get into the ending because I don't want to spoil it, but it was just one wacky misunderstanding after another. Very disappointing!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the review copy, via NetGalley.

Katherine Center has delivered another delightful novel! Center is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, and this book continues to confirm this. The story is fun, warm, and heartwarming. As Sadie copes with the diagnosis of face blindness, she begins to learn how to love, accept help, and forgive. I truly enjoyed and appreciated the mix of self-discovery and comedy in this sweet book.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC!

I really enjoyed this book. I think the author perfectly captured how a person might fixate on all the negatives in a life-changing event. The characters were fun to follow, and the family drama/emotions were well done. While some of the event were predictable, it was still a very fun summer read.

Katherine Center is slowly becoming one of my favorite authors after reading two of her books and loving them!

This one included a very original storyline. It was such a halerious and sweet read! I love the way we are inside Sadie’s head and we get to see her amazing commentary on her unfortunate situations (reminds me a bit of myself ).

For this book I can truly say you will be rooting for the FMC throughout the book. I thought I didn’t enjoy closed door romances, but I just hadn’t found Katherine Centers books!! It doesn’t feel like something is missing, but close the book satisfied with the ending.

Sadie is a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition when the worst possible thing happens to her. She’s in a hospital bed after a procedure and is diagnosed with a condition known as face blindness. This makes painting a portrait into her own nightmare as all the faces she sees are jumbled jigsaw puzzle pieces. As she struggles to cope with her new and “probably temporary” condition and achieving her artistic dream, she falls for two different men.

I had never heard of face blindness (otherwise known as acquired or developmental prosopagnosia) prior to reading this novel so I learned a little something while diving into this cute romance. I thought this was a really interesting feature to be added to a romance novel and really well done.

I loved Sadie as the FMC, as with all the other main characters in Katherine Center’s novels, she’s down on her luck and experiencing what feels like the worst weeks of her life. Even still, there’s a note of levity, of humour, and hope to her story. I really enjoyed reading Katherine’s author’s note because it really hits home on how romance novels are novels of anticipation and hope. They’re the silver lining of a story. And that rings true here.

Katherine is a master at finding humour in even the most dire of situations and that is ever present here with several laugh out loud moments or moments that brought a smile to my face as I read.

I loved all the quirky secondary characters - they really rounded out all the edges of this novel, making it feel tangible and complete. I thought the romance aspect was really sweet. I did figure out the twist in advance, but loved how it all came together in the end.

<i>I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed are my own.</i>

Though I did enjoy this book, it was not my favorite Katherine Center book.

I will start this review by saying that even though I have notes, I DEVOURED this book. I had a hard time stopping myself from reading when it was time to put it down.

Here are the issues I had first so that I can end on a good note: 1) The miscommunication is STRONG in this one. It is basically a book ABOUT not being able to communicate properly so if that is a turn off for you PREPARE YOURSELF! I am not a big fan of miscommunication troupes so this was a hard one for me. 2) I did not like the added obstacle of her having an “evil stepsister”. I felt like there were enough obstacles for Sadie to endure without having that girl hate in the book.

All that being said, this book still had the bones of what I love from Katherine Center books. Great banter, absolutely hilarious, and so much joy! I loved that both of our characters in this book were just full of life even though they were both going through BIG and life altering obstacles. As usual, I found myself laughing out loud on multiple occasions and then ugly crying toward the end.

Over all, this was a 4⭐️ read for me. I enjoyed myself!

Katherine Center's books are like a warm hug. She has a great formula for her stories, and I really enjoyed her notes at the end of this book.

Hello Stranger was a fun and different read. Sadie is a portrait artist who just won a coveted spot in a portrait competition. Winning this thing could really make her career. Her plans are completely derailed when an unplanned medical procedure leaves her with face blindness. As if things weren't difficult enough, Sadie is also dealing with family issues, a sick dog, and the possibility of two new love interests. They say when it rains, it pours... How will Sadie manage to navigate through these challenges in her life?

4.5

Have loved this author since I read “How to Walk Away” (still my favorite). But, I will say this one came close. Sadie is her mother’s daughter, promising portrait artist making it to the Top 10 in a prestigious competition. Until the unthinkable medical emergency makes her take a detour and reevaluate how she sees herself and her past, present and future!

Center writes beautiful love stories that wrap their arms around you. Interesting plots and characters. Subtle twists, but yet somewhat expected. I love how she brings such unusual elements into her stories. From her beautiful covers to her engaging and relatable characters, Katherine Center is always my go to for a great, feel good read.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

Swoonworthy!

Sadie is a portrait artist who receives an opportunity to enter into a contest that could launch her professional career to the next level. Unfortunately, just as she gets this news, she has to undergo surgery that has detrimental consequences; the surgery leaves Sadie with facial blindness....

How is Sadie supposed to make a living as a portrait artist when she can't see faces?! Sadie's life is blurry and she begins to see people differently: by characteristics, gait, voice pitch, their clothes... While dealing with underlying personal and family issues, she meets two love interests.. one is a "womanizer" and the other is a kind veterinarian who saved her dog's life. She knows them through the clothes they wear and where she 'sees' them.

There were many secondary characters that brought this story together. Hello Stranger is a story about following your dreams through adversity, resilience and definitely not judged people based on pre-conceived notions. All of Katherine Center's books have a feel-good, hopeful component. I loved this one!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley and Katherine Center for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book releases 7.11.23!

I really enjoyed this story. I don’t always love an unreliable narrator but I think with this story line it worked well. As an aside it was interesting learning about face blindness and how it would affect someone’s daily life. Maybe it’s just me but I didn’t know where we were going with the ending and I really enjoyed it. The pacing was good and the writing was good, this would make an excellent beach read this summer.