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.

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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.

Hello Stranger packed much more of an emotional punch that I was prepared for. Center really knows how to weave together personal growth and romance seamlessly.

Sadie is getting ready to celebrate one of her biggest achievements when the unexpected happened - which resulted in her having to have brain surgery that ends up giving her a condition known as face blindness. I can't even imagine what it's like to not be able to see faces correctly and Sadie's struggles with it really came through. Through Sadie's journey you also learn a lot about the condition, which I liked.

Sadie is a portrait artist so her new face blindness really impacts how she is making money and the big art competition that she is in. Unsurprisingly she has a hard time dealing with it, as well as dealing with family issues. Her mom passed away a long time ago, her step mom keeps pushing her after her accident/surgery and her stepsister is the wicked witch of the west.

There is also Joe, a neighbor who ends up giving Sadie the help she needs, in more ways than one. I adored Joe and loved how their relationship slowly developed.

When life as you know it changes and you have no control over the future. This gives you the opportunity even if it doesn't feel like an opportunity to find the life you always wanted. Sadie had life-altering medical event. As she relearning how to identify people she learns about herself and how she sees others.

This story is about Sadie, a portrait artist who after a minor brain surgery is suddenly unable to recognize people’s faces. This is a real medical condition called Prosopagnosia. To say I was intrigued would be an understatement. Apparently, 160 million people live their lives with this condition. They can see faces, but they look more like a disjointed Picasso painting.

Sadie’s life is in shambles, and it’s not just because of the prosopagnosia. She has long standing family issues, a recent breakup, and with this new diagnosis, she can no longer paint portraits to make a living. The one thing she has going for her is her dog Peanut and her love at first “unrecognizable” sight, with Peanut’s Vet Dr. Oliver. She is literally head over heels in love with a man that she cannot recognize.

If there’s one thing Katherine Center is going to do, it’s give us a cinnamon roll, golden retriever of a man. In this story, she gives us 2. While falling in love with her vet, she is also growing closer and closer to her very helpful neighbor Joe, another man she can’t recognize.

This book was lovely, as all Katherine Center books are but it also contained a level of juvenile interactions that are unfortunately too common in her adult romances. Sadie has an evil stepsister, who is literally evil, but somehow also believed. She is a cartoon level, mustang twirling, evil bully that does things so blatantly cruel it’s hard to believe anyone would put up with her. We’re expected to accept quite a lot at face value (no pun intended) and while I enjoyed the book overall, it asked me to suspend disbelief a few too many times. Similarly, while Sadie was very understandably going through a very hard time, I found her constant inner monologue tiresome.

I still enjoyed my time with this book and recommend it highly to those her love a good comeback story, as well as a sweet as pie love interest(s). If you’re a fan of Karen Center’s other books you will devour this, and if you’re new to her stories there’s a lot to love. Just know it leans heavy on the fiction.

At first, I was unsure this was going to be another great book by Katherine Center. It was still one I couldn’t put down of course the further I got in to the book the more I couldn’t put it down and it become the Katherine Center type book that I love.

Katherine center knows how to get emotion out of a reader. This one especially. It had twists that were hilarious! And that Parker Character really got on my nerves. But the joe character! That was one well built guy and story line. I was also frustrated that DR Addison wasn’t able to give his side of the story. Luckily, all the answers I was looking for came out later in the book. I should have trusted the process.

This book also really looks at what assuming looks like. That seems to be Sadie’s favorite thing. But that’s the part that makes this whole thing hilarious at the end.

This one had a factual base, which is cool. She talks about face blindness and even provides resources to dive deeper in to the topic. With that topic, she really built Sadie’s world and I felt like I was in her shoes the whole time.

And as always, she knows how to wrap up a book. It’s cool when some authors want you to make an assumption on what happens. The thing that Katherine Center does best is wrapping up the story. And thank goodness! I think it helps avoid that hives book hangover from her books if she didn’t do that.

Overall, this was another great, couldn’t put down, hilarious, and sweet, Katherine Center book. How long until the next one comes out?!

It took me a bit to get hooked on this story, but I'm really glad that I stuck it out. The main character is a difficult one to root for--initially--because she is so stuck in the past and so negative about everything (understandably, since she's been dealt a really tough hand). But, once Joe enters the picture, along with the hint of two other possible love interests, things really start to pick up. It's also nice to see more positive attributes to her character, since for the first 40% of the book or so she's quite dull and closed off.

The ending is worth the wait and very sweet, though. I also learned a lot about face blindness, which I had never heard of before and now have a newfound respect and empathy for those suffering from it.

4.5 Stars - Such a delightful reading experience! and an easily recommendable romcom.

Center does an excellent job of capturing the emotional journey of Sadie as she copes with her condition and strives to pursue her artistic dreams while keeping the tone hopeful and lighthearted. I also appreciated the inclusion of family and friends who play significant roles in Sadie's life which rounded out the story beyond just the romance.

While the plot may be somewhat predictable, the engaging writing and well-balanced pacing made Hello Stranger a quick and fun read. If you enjoyed Center's previous book, The Bodyguard, you'll love Hello Stranger!

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

This story was the sweetest. I absolutely loved it.

💕 Sadie, the main character, is just really loveable. She’s sweet and a bit goofy, and I love her heart.
💕 The growth. I loved seeing Sadie look at life so differently because of her face blindness.
💕 the swoony love stories, the flibberty jibbet way Sadie just dives into them… it was fun to watch.
💕 Just the whole storyline dynamic. It really gives that “unreliable narrator” vibe because she can’t trust her own brain and mind. So interesting to watch it play out.

I love the romance, the plot twist, the sweet nature of Sadie’s love story. Definitely on my top 10 for the year.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

I have the popular book "The Bodyguard" by Katherine Center waiting on my kindle to be read, but I wanted to give this one a shot too because even though I havent read the other book yet, I've heard such great things about it. This book really gives a good perspective on overcoming something that you may see as a detriment. The good vibes were basically pouring out of the book as I read it, and I'm thankful that even though it did touch on a heavier topic that mant people have to deal with, it still brought lighthearted humor throughout it. I definitely predicted the "plot twist" early on and this would probably be one of those books where if the main characters just communicated, there would be no issues. Usually this drives me insane but in this book I actually didn't mind it, despite it being pretty obvious what was happening during the third act conflict before the plot twist was revealed.

Needless to say, I'm definitely looking forward to reading more from Katherine.

Also extra points for cute dog.

dnf 40%
I struggled with this one from day one. I wanted to give it a fair chance as I've heard great things about the author but I just hate Sadie so much. The most interesting thing about Sadie and the book as a whole is the face blindness she develops after brain surgery. This would be a big deal to anyone but is even more disastrous for Sadie as she is a portrait artist who is about to enter a prestigious competition. I was annoyed with Sadie before she lost her face recognition. She was sooooo whiney and self-centered. She was constantly complaining but when someone tries to help she rejects them so she can continue to be miserable. She also claimed she did not want her family to be a part of her life, but the moment she got into the portrait competition she immediately called here dad to brag. Which is it? do you want a relationship or not? Stick to your boundaries. I get it, her step sister is cartoonishly awful, but if you want boundaries, you have to set them and stick to them. I also found the inconsistencies with who she could and could not recognize to be really really annoying. Why could she instantly recognize the voice of her friend but had no clue who her step sister was? If she really did have trauma from her step-sister there is no way she wouldn't recognize her voice. Also if she can still distinguish bodies, why didn't she figure out the whole veterinarian situation? it just didn't make sense and I was tired of trying to wrap my brain around the whole thing, so I'm done.

I want you to imagine your best friend, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your mom, your dad, hell your DOG. Now, imagine that you can vaguely think of them but you just cannot remember their face. You know that your best friend usually wears her hair in a high ponytail (but what about when she doesn't?) but nothing about the way she smiles. This is how we meet the main character, Sadie. She just had a random seizure and is now diagnosed with face blindness, which yes, is a real thing. As if that's not enough, she is supposed to be competing in a portrait competition that she's been dreaming about for so long.

I love Katherine Center's books. They're always interesting in the way that many of them bring in medical issues that are very much possible, yet pretty rare. It adds a little more to the romances that she writes. This story would have gone so much differently if Sadie were able to see the people that she was talking to.

I really enjoyed this story. It brought me back to her books like How to Walk Away, which is around where I started reading Katherine Center. I definitely would recommend this book and the audio was very well done also.

Sadie is ecstatic that she has been selected as one of 10 finalists in a prestigious Portrait competition. Unfortunately, the same day, she lands in the hospital needing brain surgery that leaves her with temporary face blindness. Probably temporary, maybe...? Sadie is devastated as the portrait competition requires her to see and paint faces and she's unable to see them. She tries multiple times and yet her best friend, Sue, truthfully lets her know that they are terrible. Winning the competition is necessary for Sadie as she wants to prove to her father that she made it as an artist and the prize money would also help since she's bumming a less than desirable place in Sue's parents' apartment building. Adding to the complications, she finds her self swooning over her dog's vet but also possibly interested with Joe who lives in her building. Life feels messy and especially hard since she can't see anyone's faces, but, as Sadie soon learns, there are ways of seeing and connecting with people other than their faces.

This was definitely a sweet read with humor and heart and a twist that I didn't see coming. Just like Center's other novels, this one has a strong female protagonist who overcomes obstacles and finds that maybe there are other ways to win at life than the path she had originally planned for. I really appreciated her Author's Note on why she loves romance novels. I'm not a romance reader but so much of what she said resonated with me that maybe I'm willing to dive back into romance with a new perspective.

This book was so much fun to read and the perfect summer book! She is a quirky artist and he is the supposed douchebag of the building. However, she lost her ability to see faces and she is losing fate in her senses. This is a story about love and finding one's self when everything seems to be failing.

The only reason for me that this is not a five-star read was because she was 30 years old. She was acting way too young for her age so if she was in her early 20s the story would make more sense in my opinion.

“Hello Stranger” by Katherine Center
The gift of SIGHT often undervalued
There was a time while reading this story that I wondered why I thought I wanted to read it. Thankfully I persevered because I am so glad I did read this story. There really is a condition called ‘Face Blindness’ check it out… I did. I think this would make a very good ‘book club’ read. This story has lots of discussion opportunities. And, yes, I really did enjoy my time within this story with an ending that surprised me. Happy Reading ! !
Note: This review expresses my honest opinion.
I received an ARC of this story via NetGalley.

I rarely gravitate toward Romance novels, but something about Katerine Center's writing really draws me in. Her stories are so well-researched about interesting topics. In the author's note, she says that "romance novels, rom-coms, happy love stories --- they all run on a blissful sense that we're moving towards something better." Center has a unique talent for bringing the reader into that happy feeling.

Hello Strangers focuses on Sadie Montgomery, a portrait artist who has just been accepted as a finalist in a major juried art competition in her hometown of Houston, Texas. A hereditary condition causes her to have brain surgery, which results in acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. How will she be able to paint a portrait when she can no longer see faces? As Sadie tries to recover, she must also deal with long-seeded emotional issues. And of course, there is romance in the form of a neighbor whose face she cannot see as well as a lost opportunity with a cute veterinarian. Yes, one of the results is foreseeable, but it is still a cute plot twist.

4-plus stars.