Book: Hello Stranger
Author: Katherine Center
Genre: Romance
Places Featured: United States
Review Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 (rounded up)
Review: Sadie Montgomery is an artist struggling with a lot more than just art–her mother died when she was young, her beloved dog is sick, her stepsister torments her, the relationship with her father is strained, and she’s so broke she’s living in a “hovel” that’s actually her art studio owned by her best friend’s parents. And just to make things really bad–she needs brain surgery and ends up with a possibly/hopefully temporary case of face blindness. (And how does a portrait artist enter the contest of her dreams with face blindness?) Two men do appear in her life, though, that give her a little bit of hope. I really liked Sadie and I liked her relationship with Joe. Katherine Center has a knack for writing likable believable female characters who are struggling with relatable feelings and although Sadie’s problems are a little over-the-top and the “twist” was VERY predictable, it's still an enjoyable love story.

Love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.

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. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into―love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?―with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.



an interior journey thoughts

From the very beginning of Hello Stranger, I was caught up in the whirlwind of confusion that now marks the life of Sadie Montgomery, an artist whose life has been literally turned askew.

Rapidly turning the pages, I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. Face blindness couldn’t have happened at a worse time for our heroine as she struggles to make sense of the world around her, while also trying to keep her enemies at bay. Enemies in her own family, like her stepsister and stepmother. Could anyone be less deserving of the mayhem these characters create?

Would Sadie find a way to turn her life right again? How do the men in her life seemingly turn awry as well? I loved this book and can’t wait to see what the author brings us next. 5 stars.

***My e-ARC came from the publisher via NetGalley.

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🥰 All the F E E L S Tuesday featuring “Hello Stranger” by Katherine Center

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling (but talented) portrait artist who is broke and doing her best to get by. She is an ex premed student who decided to follow her dreams and her deceased mom’s footsteps of being an artist!

However, Sadie has big news .. she has entered a big portrait contest and has made it into the top ten finalists! The grand prize is $10,000 which would change her life! On her way to buy celebratory wine for a party, she blacks out and ends up in the hospital. She has a serious genetic brain condition and needs surgery right away! The surgery goes well …. except that some swelling has caused a case of face blindness. Is it temporary?? Or will she live with this forever??

Sadie must learn to cope with this face blindness and put all her focus in prepping for the big competition!

This was my very first Katherine Center book and I cannot wait to pick up more after seeing so many amazing reviews! Thank you so much to @katherinecenter @stmartinspress @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on July 11, 2023!

In the author's note to Hello Stranger, Katherine Center writes that she "write[s] stories about things getting better--about people healing from hard things, and trying to connect, and working like hell to become the best versions of themselves, despite it all." I agree that that's a constant among her books, and I think it's an excellent goal for a novel. I LIKE seeing people get better; that's one of the reasons I turn to Center's novels again and again. Sadie, the central character of this novel, has a lot to recover from--she's still mourning the sudden death of her mother when she was a teenager and the subsequent shredding of her family, she's spent years isolating herself from almost everyone, she's struggling to establish herself as an artist (she paints portraits), and just as the novel begins, her life seems about to change dramatically when she places as a finalist in a national painting contest only to have her health impact her life in equally dramatic ways. Abruptly finding out she needs brain surgery, that leaves her with prosopagnosia or face blindness, she doesn't know if she'll be able to return to the art she loves or even complete her painting for the contest or feed herself. The problem is, with a character as successful at separating herself from other people, plus a new difficulty in identifying people, we spend both too much time and not enough with Sadie herself. We get her lack of connection to people, but not enough about the disorientating new ways she perceives the world (which are central to the plot). Maybe because she's so good at not letting herself appear vulnerable even to herself, we don't see much of the challenges of brain injury (just the confusion with particular people), leaving me uncomfortable with the way ability is used in this particular plot. We also don't learn much about the specific ways she navigates the world before (both as an artist and as any particular human). And we see less of the side characters because Sadie has so far to go make those connections (and side characters are often one of the best things in a Katherine Center novel for me). As a result, I didn't feel like we quite earned the book's resolution. I'm ready to read the next Katherine Center novel, but this one didn't quite work for me.

Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for my earc in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are all my own.

First let me say that I finished this in one sitting…. I loved the premise of this book. You don’t typically see representation such as this in romance novels. It was nice to see a ch age in the “typical” romance trope. I consume so many romance novels that they can feel mundane and repetitive after a while but this one was not. I really loved how the author told Sadie’s story. I felt that you could really get inside of her head and understand how she was feeling before and after her diagnosis. I loved Sadie and Joes love story and how he so effortlessly helped Sadie even without knowing the full extent of her story.

I will be honest and say that I think I liked The Bodyguard more. I felt like the beginning of this book was slow and took me some time to get into it, but wow, once I got hooked I couldn't stop reading it. Stayed up until 3 am to finish the last 100 or so pages.

I LOVED the characters in the story! I loved the representation of face blindness and the struggles that Sadie felt throughout the whole book. I loved how her mindset changed from helplessness to I am not going to let my face blindness define who I am. I loved how Sue was a sensible friend who never sugarcoated anything for her and how supportive Sue's parents were. This book had SOOO many aspects that I liked, let's not even get into the love interest (Joe has my heart and goes to show what an actually nice guy is). I'm not a re-reader, but I would 100% re-read this book in the future.

Some tropes (he fell first, She is a bit of a grump and he is a bit of a sunshine, Cinderella kind of story with a stepsister and stepmother, Art, Slow burn)

Thank you, NetGalley, Katherine Center, and St Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The more good things you look for, the more you find.”

Thanks to Katherine Center and NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

I absolutely adored this book! The premise was so different from any other romance I’ve read and had me hooked the whole time. I figured out at some point what the “twist” was going to be, but it didn’t make reading any less delightful. The whole book was in parts funny and heartwarming and made for a super speedy read for me, even though Iwould have read far more pages! I also really really loved the authors note at the end, which talks about how romance is stereotyped and how the genre brings joy to people’s lives. Will definitely be reading more Katherine Center from here on!

You can expect: artist FMC, constantly helpful MMC, face blindness, love triangle-ish, a cute dog, portrait painting, closed door romance!
Recommended for fans of: romcoms, Abby Jimenez, Emily Henry, Christina Lauren, Chloe Liese
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CW: brain surgery, abusive stepsister, death of a parent (past, off page)

I was going to give this book 4 starts until I read the author's note and decided to give it 5.

While reading this book, I realized that I have been gravitating toward romance/rom-coms. Why? Probably because I've found myself smiling while reading them, always knowing it will probably have a happy ending and would give me an ending to look forward to.

Rewind to me wanting to give it 4 stars because it was predictable. I remember reading the ending and out loud I said "well that was predictable - but in a good way". Then I read the authors note. Katherine Center literally goes through all of the thoughts I was having. "romance novels don't give you things to dread, they give you things to look forward to" The structure is predictable and knowing you're heading toward a happy ending lets you relax and look forward to better things ahead" "They will say it is predictable - but in a good way" "We should start using anticipation instead of predictable because the love story really created fantastic anticipation"

Well.. that's one way to start looking at things more positively.. which was really the main goal for Sadie after she was diagnosed with acquired prosopagnosia right before the biggest career event of her life. This book takes you through grief, friendships, relationships, and for Sadie, learning about who she really is and who she wants to be. This book was absolutely adorable and another 5 star read from Katherine Center.

I am definitely becoming an ardent fan of Center's work.

I didn't think the story could pull off "face blindness" but I totally bought it.

I can only say that this cute, sleepy sweet book made my week.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC for a honest review.

I struggled to get into this book at first, I'm not sure if it was the artsy or medical content, or maybe both, which slowed me down. But after a while I realized that I was rooting for Sadie and Peanut a lot! I needed Sadie to find love, and the twist actually surprised me.

I loved this book! It easily got me hooked as it was a quick and easy read. Although Sadie is such a pessimist, I understood where she was coming from. Who won’t be when you lost your mom, when you don’t get the support of your dad, when you have an evil stepsister and when you are suffering from prosopagnosia, right? But the important thing is, she was able to overcome everything she was feeling.

And Joe? Plus Dr. Oliver Addison! My goodness. I love the chemistry. It was not feel forced at all. It wasn’t too much. It was just enough dose of kilig.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 SHINING STARS! They don't call Katherine Center the queen of cozy romance for nothing! This is probably my new favorite, and trust me I didn't think she could top The Bodyguard, but alas here we are! This is a heartwarming story about a young unsuccessful artist whose world is turned upside down after a prosopagnosia diagnosis. Her "face blindness" couldn't come at a worse time as she is gearing up for the competition that will finally give her a big break, but the problem? She paints portraits! As in, human faces, of which she cannot distinguish their features.

Sadie Montgomery is a quirky, loveable FMC and I loved seeing her journey as she grieves the loss of her mother, and her childhood that was shortly ruined by her father, step-mother and evil step-sister Parker. Sadie's main relationships in this book revolve around her best friend, her pup, her dreamy veterinarian, and the guy who lives in her building who she is learning more and more about each day.

I did ultimately guess the plot twist in this book, but I don't think it was intended to be a surprise! It was fun being "in on the secret" while Sadie was so blissfully unaware of what was occurring in her own life. The way it all tied into a perfect package at the end was delightful and honestly couldn't have been written any better.

I also enjoyed the development of Sadie, as we learned more about her childhood and the grief she still carried so deeply for the loss of her mother. Watching her find her mom in clothes, in art, in her traditions was so sweet and had me tearing up at times.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for gifting me this digital copy in exchange for an honest review! Make sure you pre-order this one for its July 11th debut!

This is an adorable story, one that I know will be enjoyed and loved by a lot of readers! Although some things didn’t work for me in the execution, I think the central romance and structure of the story worked really well. I couldn’t put the book down for the last third of it! It was interesting to learn about face blindness, and Center did an amazing job researching and weaving facts into the storyline.

Our main character Sadie is going through A LOT as a struggling portrait artist. She finally gets a big break in a Portrait Society’s annual competition, but then she has a seizure and learns she requires immediate brain surgery. After the procedure, Sadie learns it has caused acquired prosopagnosia (face blindness) and the doctors are uncertain how long it will last.

I found Sadie likable and funny, but fairly immature for her age (29 felt like 19, a lot of the time). I primarily loved relating to her creativity and innate desire to make things. The story reads like you’re scanning through Sadie’s diary entries, with all her detailed inner monologue. It’s not my favorite point of view as a reader, but I did laugh out loud a few times!

This book is a quick, uplifting, and easy read. Even though it wasn’t my favorite, I am looking forward to reading more from Katherine Center!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Katherine Center, and NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was so happy to get this early copy of Hello Stranger. Katherine Center is an automatic read for me when she has a new book come out and this is another great one. Sadie can no longer recognize the faces and then proceeds to fall in love with 2 different people. This introduces something that I didn't know anything about and I enjoyed reading it. Katherine Center has written another great book.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC of this novel!

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center follows portrait artist Sadie Montgomery who finds out that after a life-saving brain surgery, she can no longer recognize faces. Of course, this is a huge problem since she paints portraits for a living. Plus, she is a contestant in a big portrait contest that could jumpstart her artistic career. So, what's an artist who is face blind to do?

I highly enjoyed this book! I found Sadie's character to be relatable in that we all struggle to be okay when everything we've ever known is threatened. Sadie also learns that it is okay to ask for help when it's needed, and sometimes we all will need help. Additionally, I enjoyed the witty banter between all of the characters. From reading Katherine's books before, I have noticed that she is very good at writing dialogue like this.

The way she wrote this book was well done, too. It was written almost as if Sadie were writing a memoir of this time in her life, while also feeling like you were walking with her moment by moment through her story.

At times throughout the book, I thought the pacing was a little slow. However, that is not the case as a whole with this book. Ultimately, I would recommend this not just to lovers of Katherine's books already, but to anyone who has never read her books and would like to.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sadie has been diagnosed with acquired face blindness and now has to make sense of her life - a life that was already giving her some bumps and bruises. Grief from the loss of her mom, an emotionally absent father, an annoying step-mother, and a vicious step sister. Along with all this, she also has to make a romantic decision between two guys that she can't even see their face, she just has to go with her gut feeling on who she likes more.

Hello Stranger was utter perfection. I loved the relationships - I loved the growth and the fact that they did not immediately resolve at the end, but you at least saw progress. I loved Joe SOOOOO MUCH and I may have absolutely cried my heart out at the end once (long spoiler statement redacted).

Katherine Center can literally do no wrong and I've decided that I want to be a character in one of her stories.

In all seriousness though - this was an absolutely beautiful story and so incredibly full of emotion & depth. It's one that I will highly recommend and makes me absolutely angry at goodreads for not letting me rate higher than 5 stars.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. It had no impact on my opinion and I can guarantee that no matter when/how I read the book, I would rate it as high as I did.

This book! This is my 2nd KC book and I already have the rest of her books on my backlist tbr. And I need to trust her and I know I’ll already love it. I was drawn to the cute cover, and the plot was so intriguing!
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Sadie is a hot mess but on the brink of changing her life. As a portrait artist she has won a spot in an art contest, only shortly after hearing the great news she has a near death experience, as a side effect she has face blindness and can’t see faces. This changes everything!
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I was interested from the beginning by my ignorance of never having heard of this. There’s a love triangle, friends to lovers, great women’s fiction character arc and beauty in the small things of life. KC sees that beauty and she has a gift with prose by painting the whole picture of her fantastical and whimsical world. Patti Murin narrates Sadie and hits the emotion right bring Sadie to life during this turning point.
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Katherine swept me up in the story, pulled at my heart in multiple directions, kept me guessing and making me fall in love with love stories all over again. Make sure to read her Author’s Note at the end 💜
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Be kind to all you meet. You don’t know what they’re going through or what they have gone through. “The more good things you look for, the more you find.”
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This book releases next month on July 11th. You won’t want to miss it! Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the e-arc and alc of this book. These are my own thoughts and opinions.
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Content: near death experience, bullying, manipulation, some language, closed door, mention of past loss of parent

Katherine center never fails to exceed my expectations! I love everything about every one of her books. The plot line was phenomenal and I fell in love with the characters from the beginning. I found myself wanting more and can’t wait to read more of her books!

First of all, thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for allowing me to read this book.
I'll be honest. This was not my favorite. It was fine. I'd recommend it. But, it was super predictable and I just couldn't. I did enjoy the family dynamics and the little doggie.

I am a huge fan of Katherine Center, but this one fell a little short for me. Sadie was a little too unlikeable for me at the beginning. As the book is written in first person from her perspective there was no "break" from her. I don't think women need to always be likeable to be interesting, but her one note obsession was a little too repetitive. My opinion of her (and the book) soften towards the middle. I wanted to love this book, but I ended up merely liking it instead. The ending was a little too neat, and in my opinion a little rushed. Overall a good read, just not quite a great one.