Super cute & happy read. A little slow to get into but once you get to about 40-50% it starts to get interesting. Joe gives off golden retriever vibes. It’s wildly predictable, but still a cute story. It definitely spiked my curiosity about Prosopagnosia (or face blindness which I had no idea was a thing). I wish we got more of why Sadie and Joe fell in love because it doesn’t feel like there was quite enough to be head over heels in love with each other in just a month basically. I think it’s a great story of judging people not off of their looks, but their warmth and personality. I love the woman in the beginning that looked at Prosopagnosia as a gift and how she treats every interaction, even with people she might not know, with warmth and love.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. I really enjoyed this!

Katherine Center does it again with this whimsical yet substance- packing romance. Sadie Montgomery, a struggling portrait artist is left with acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia after brain surgery for an inherited cavernoma. The timing couldn’t be worse, she’s a finalist in a competition that could make her career but now she can’t see, or paint, faces. And she needs this win, to validate her choices and herself to her family.

But as much as Sadie wants to stay home and mourn her before operation life, she can’t. Her beloved fur-sibling Peanut becomes sick, she has a hopeless love at first sight crush on her vet, Dr. Addison even though her neighbour Joe is working his way into her heart, and she’s determined to still submit a portrait for the competition even though she can't paint faces anymore.

It’s a lot for a woman to manage. But yet somehow she does, in her own imperfect way. I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t go further into the plot but it’s a delightfully sweet romp with moments of heavy, yet tender emotion. The twist was delightful, if somewhat predictable but that's what romance is about.

Katherine Center fans are going to love this one. I certainly did. And as someone who works in Neurology, I greatly appreciated all the research that Katherine Center put into prosopagnosia.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is such a cute story and a very interesting set of complications to get to her current predicament. The family medical history and her discovery that she also has this possible fatal condition. Only to have surgery that results in her not being able to recognize faces, hopefully temporarily. Since she does face portraits and just got selected for a contest. This is literally how cruel timing can be sometimes, so suspend your disbelief if things always go right for you.

I loved the relationship with Joe but there might be some miscommunication just cause she can't see him. And loved all the talk about the brain and the senses. Cause it's true that your brain can have you believing certain things to be true based on certain metrics. I would be so upset if faces were all mixed up.

This was so cute and def shows that people have different sides they show with work and personal. And dang evil stepsister hope she to rots in.. h3l1

Thank you stmartinspress for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

I fell in love with Katherine Center when she wrote “The Bodyguard”. I am not a big Romance reader but I love and enjoy her books so much.
This book is such a unique premise. I loved the love story. I want to be friends with Sadie the main character.
This book was such a great read. Highly recommend reading it!

I’m not fully sure how I feel about this story. Overall, I really enjoyed it. I found Sadie’s story really interesting and found her desire to not ask for help and to not let anyone know she’s not okay completely relatable. Sadie and “Joe”s budding relationship was absolutely precious and so much fun to watch unfold.

I always appreciate how much research goes into each of Katherine Center’s books. Every book is so well-informed and this one was no exception. It was extremely interesting to read about Sadie’s condition and I learned a lot but it never felt like a textbook.

While I did enjoy the story, I will say that I found parts of a to be a little silly, a little too much. Katherine Center tends to write at least one side character in each book who is just absolutely AWFUL to the MC. Usually it’s an ex, but in this book it was Sadie’s stepsister. I didn’t feel like Parker’s antics added anything to the story and generally didn’t see the need for her and her horribleness at all.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. All opinions are my own.

Ohhhh Katherine Center 🥰 Can we be friends? I lovvve Katherine’s writing so so so much. The way she incorporates depth, but also a lightness to her characters is something I just adore in her novels. I adored this book and loved the plot of this one too. I was also completely fascinated by the face blindness and I felt all of Sadie’s struggles that came with it. The romance storyline was predictable for me, but I totally enjoyed the ride still. I laughed, I swooned, I loved and I recommend it to you!

4.5 stars for me.

Another cute Katherine Center read. I was looking forward to reading this after The Bodyguard!

Sadie is working toward her dream and suddenly everything becomes blurry. This book was predictable but SO cute and light hearted. Definitely a little slow to get started but I did love the stubbornness of the main character.

*I received a digital copy for review from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read this new release!

4 ⭐️

Katherine Center has never let me down. She’s been on my “auto buy” list before I even knew I had such a list. I finished it in about 12 hours - the cast of characters were super lovable! The little twist was somewhat predictable (even if it was something I’ve never encountered in a story before!), but with contemporary romance, I rarely ever care about that. It was still a fun read!

Sadie is an artist who specializes in portraits, & one day has a nonconvulsive seizure resulting in her needing brain surgery. Once recovered, she discovers that she has acute prosopagnosis or “face blindness”. Scared of what this means for her dream career - she has to re-learn how to live in a world where we only recognize people by their faces.

This is a story about life, self discovery, love & persevering in the face of a lot of obstacles. Sadie’s growth throughout the book was SO inspiring & I absolutely loved the relationship that formed with a man named Joe, who lives in her apartment building. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a story about overcoming obstacles & stumbling your way through life doing the best you can.

Hello, Stranger releases July 11, 2023!

This was a delightful romcom from Katherine Center. I loved the cast of characters and I absolutely loved Sadie! After suffering from face blindness after brain surgery, she finds herself struggling with painting and falling for two different men. This had me laughing out loud and crying at the same time. A great romance that I'll be recommending to anyone needing a happy and hopeful book!

I have been anxiously awaiting the release of this book (as I do with all of Katherine Center's books) for months and was so excited when I was approved by NetGalley to read an ARC. Hello Stranger did not disappoint - I loved everything about it, down to the Author's Note, which I admittedly often don't read. The characters were lovable, the relationships heartwarming and it was completely unputdownable. I may have neglected my daily tasks in favor of reading for the two days it took me to read start to finish. Another 5 stars for Katherine Center! Can't wait for her next book.

Sadie thinks she may have gotten her big break, but then a series of events leads her to temporary (maybe) face blindness. This is tragic especially considering her whole career is built around her ability to paint portraits. It's not all awful though, she finds herself drawing the attention of her dog's new (probably) handsome vet, and her (maybe) womanizer neighbour.

********SPOILERS AHEAD********

This was a pretty fun and quick read. It was predictable in a lot of ways. I don't know why she wouldn't tell Joe/Dr. Oliver about her condition. Also, why didn't he ever say anything to her that would give away he was the same person, either talking about his job or mentioning they were neighbours at the clinic.

Anyways, if you can suspend some disbelief, it is still a really enjoyable read. I will say, Sadie's whole family is awful. I don't think there could be any level of redemption.

I liked that this book featured face blindness. It's something I remember learning about in University, so it was a nice refresher on the condition.

Read this if you want something light and fun!

This was a fun read!

<i> Hello Stranger </> is about Sadie Montgomery, a portrait artist who has been struggling in life. Her mother had passed away, she has an estranged relationship with her father, her stepmom and stepsister are nightmares. and she is in desperate need of some money. In a stroke of luck, she is a finalist in a prestigious portraiture competition. One day, she has a sudden seizure that puts her in the hospital, where the doctors uncover a anomaly in her brain. After getting brain surgery, Sadie develops a temporary side effect called acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia aka face blindness. This condition is not easy to adapt to, meanwhile the portrait competition is 6 weeks away, her dog gets sick, and her best friend elopes. ITS A LOT, to say the least. The upside, is she develops a ridiculous crush on her vet, and gets a smidgen of feelings for her neighbor, Joe. Anyways, chaos enuses.

There were some things I really loved about this book, I loved Sadie's relationship with peanut - a dog eating pad thai had me chuckling. Sadie's relationship with the Kim's (Mr. Kim especially) was so heartwarming since she was missing that familial connection with her own dad. Lucinda, was also surprisingly likeable. When she Karen'ed her way into getting back the dress, my heart was full. Regarding the loved interests, I loved Joe, I also loved Dr. Addison. While I found it predictable, I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Some things were a bit far fetched - ie. the girl at the portrait show who was Sadie's <spoiler> high school friend/art history lover/ girl with the dress was ridiculous </spoiler>. Parker was the worst, she reminded me of every awful mean girl in 2000s teens movie (early Sharpay Evans vibes). I could have done without her irrational mean girl vibes.

Definitely devoured this book and can't wait to read more from the author!

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I have been (impatiently) waiting to read Katherine Center’s latest book ever since her first post about it, so when I was finally approved for an ARC I jumped in immediately.. and read it in 24 hours. She is one of my “auto read” authors and her books never disappoint!
This storyline was so unique and included a plot line I’d never read before— I loved it! I found the main characters so likeable and I LOVE me some good banter! After I finished it late last night (okay, early this morning tbh..) I immediately had to go back and reread certain parts of the story after all the puzzle pieces had clicked into place. The only downside to reading a book before it’s even published is now having to wait even longer for the next one.. 🙃
I highly recommend reading Hello Stranger ASAP!! It comes out July 11, 2023!

📱Hello Stranger, Katherine Center - Uncorrected Digital Galley ARC from NetGalley with St. Martin’s Press. Romance. Publication date July 11, 2023. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book so much! I loved learning about face blindness and put myself in the shoes of the protagonist throughout the story. I loved the journey this book took me through her medical issues, her past and her love story. I couldn’t get enough of it! Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Katherine Center for an opportunity to read this book in advance of the publication date for an honest review.

As with all of Katherine Center’s lead characters, Sadie is super likable and I really enjoyed reading her story. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. This novel journeys through a difficult time and teaches us a valuable life lesson about how we see others. “Color outside your own lines. Allow yourself another way of seeing.” Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. I really enjoyed it!

!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!


I was so happy to snag this ARC because I've been wanting to try a Katherine Center for a while. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the writing style, which dampens my enthusiasm for the story, however much I like it.
So, I did like the premise of this story - it reminded me of an old NR book where the FMC thinks <spoiler> she has feelings for these two people who turn one to be the same person </spoiler>.
I really enjoyed Sadie's tongue-in-cheek, dry humor. However, the pages and pages of inner monologues are not my favorite things to read in a book, and those parts did not work for me.
I loved the MMC. It's tricky to give any details without spoilering, so I'm just gonna day that I loved how it all turned out.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Every Katherine Center book just gets better and better! I’m so excited that this was my first ARC, it was a highly anticipated read for me!

This was such a unique story, and I feel like I could give so much away easily, so I’ll keep this review short and sweet.

Katherine Center books are like warm hugs from someone you love! This is my third book of hers that I’ve read and it was so good! I had never heard of prosopagnosia before, and it was such an interesting concept to build into a romance novel. I highly recommend this book, it’s release date is July 11th!!!

My favorite quote from the book, that’ll stay with me for a while, was: “It takes a certain kind of courage to be brave in love. A courage you can only get better at through practice.”
Even though I’ve been married for almost 8 years, and with my husband for nearly 12 years, I feel like this quite still remains true! Love takes courage and work!

Struggling portrait artist Sadie Montgomery has just gotten her big break: she's a finalist in a prestigious portrait competition. The only problem? Following a recent accident, she's developed face blindness... an issue for someone who exclusively paints faces.

I've only also read The Bodyguard by Katherine Center so far, but she's clearly got a tone and style to her writing that this matches, so if you've been a long time fan, I think you won't be disappointed - and if you're just starting out, this is a delightfully fun rom-com romp with the best excuse for the miscommunication trope I've seen. (Or not seen. Get it?)

You've got a swoony veterinarian, a geriatric dog named Peanut who loves Pad Thai, and a potentially womanizing neighbor who has an inexplicable love for bowling jackets. I enjoyed all of the characters with the exception of Parker - she felt almost too over-the-top villainous to me. There's some background given, but I would have preferred a little more nuance.

Overall, I absolutely flew through this and laughed out loud more than once. I recommend this if you're looking for a fun summer romance!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

My first Katherine Center novel....and this book was phenomenal!! I loved every part of it. It had a little bit of everything, it was funny, heartwarming, family drama, loss and super sweet moments....and OH!! the twists and turns!
Sadie was such a fun character. I loved that she was strong and i was cheering her on.
Sadie is an artist and she is a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition, one of her biggest achievements. Suddenly Sadie is in the hospital being diagnosed with temporary face blindness, Sadie struggles to cope and is worried about her upcoming competition. she deals with family drama and is juggling two love interests at once....sort of!
This novel had good character development, i loved the friendship between Sadie and Sue, and im happy that Sadie and her dad's relationship is on a good path to healing.

Definitely recommend this book!!

I’ve heard so many great things about this author and had her recommended so many times, I couldn’t resist trying this newest read from her.

From the start, I could tell that the writing itself was great and I’ll definitely be trying others from the author.

The premise of the story itself was intriguing, but overall not a perfect fit for me as a reader. I had trouble connecting with our main character- which for me is necessary to really vouch with a story. However, I really do look forward to trying more from the author and already have two more lined up on my TBR shelf.

Thank you to NG and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy!