Huge Katherine Center fan since reading The Body Guard. Hello Stranger is another enjoyable read! Lovable characters, interesting story, and charming romance. Feel good fiction at its best.

Thank you St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the early copy for my honest opinion.

I recently dove into Hello Stranger during a plane ride and found myself captivated by the unique plot and relatable characters, and the exploration of prosopagnosia.

Comparing Hello Stranger to The Bodyguard, I found myself favoring the former. I was uncertain about continuing with Center's books. However, Hello Stranger convinced me to give her writing one more chance. The plot was more engaging, the characters more relatable, and the overall storytelling more captivating.

Hello Stranger book did have a few predictable moments and leaned toward some clichés, yet it didn't hinder my overall enjoyment.

I have received an ARC on NetGalley, but my experience with the book itself and my review remained untainted.

This was a great story and a great romance. Sadie’s neurological condition was so interesting and made for a very unique obstacle on the way to her HEA.

What a great romance novel by Katherine Center, with a twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Sadie is a portrait artist who is selected to enter her artwork into a gallery where should could finally prove to her father that she is making it on her own. He wanted her to become a doctor, but she chose to be an artist instead, and follow in her late mother's footsteps.
But a seizure lands her in the hospital, and with that, she finds out she needs brain surgery due to a cavernoma. A complication from the surgery causes facial blindness, which may or may not go away. She needs to figure out how she can still paint her portrait for the art show. Meanwhile, there is an evil step-sister who she has to deal with, who has caused so much anguish for Sadie growing up.

Sadie feels she has only her beloved dog Peanut, until he gets sick. When she brings him to the vet, she imagines her entire life laid out in front of her, which consists of marrying the vet, Dr. Oliver Addison. (He doesn't know this, of course.)
What transpires in the days of Sadie trying to deal with her facial blindness, her evil step-sister, the vet, and the guy in her building, Joe is all part of this great novel. You'll have to read it to find out how it all goes together. It is such a great story, and an easy read. I highly recommend it!! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced copy in return for my opinion.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
SPICE: 🔥🔥
When you're having a crappy week(end), sometimes a feel-good story is just what one needs, and Hello Stranger was an excellent pick.

Sadie is a portrait artist who is on the verge of a big break. Unfortunately, a mishap during brain surgery has resulted in face blindness. Add family drama and a sick doggy to her now-struggling career, Sadie's headline ought to be "if it weren't for bad luck, she would not have any."

The only upside to her life right now is love, but her bad luck streak strikes again by making her fall in love with not just one man, but TWO. She hits it off with her dog Peanut's veterinarian Dr. Addison, and her neighbor Joe is so incredibly helpful and sweet.

I really enjoyed this read. If life did not get in the way, I would have read it in one sitting. I thought it was clever of Katherine Center to turn Sadie's unfortunate series of events -- especially her medical condition -- into a fun romcom, and she certainly did it effectively. This is my first Center read, but I thoroughly loved her character development. Parker was such a delicious villain to hate, and I fell in love with Sadie's friend Sue and her family.

This is a spoiler-free zone, so I won't say anything about the twist other than it exists. It becomes more obvious as you get further into the story, but I still liked it nonetheless.

** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Katherine Center, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing an ARC. **

Hello, Stranger.

I love a good romance novel. I love a story that teaches about a real-life condition. And Hello Stranger? Hits both nails on the head. Center does an excellent job detailing and showing how Prosopagnosia (face blindness) affects those who suffer from it.

This book is one POV, that of Sadie Montgomery. I personally can really connect with Sadie. If you tell me I can’t? I will, even if it breaks me. Ask for help? Nope. After losing her mom, and having an estranged relationship with her father (who thinks being an artist is ridiculous), step-mother and step-sister, Sadie will do anything to try to make it in the art world. But then the unthinkable happens. She can’t see faces. And at the worst possible time as a finalist for a portrait contest. However, art is the one thing that keeps her connected to her late mother so she is determined to make it work.

Then enter Joe and the veterinarian who saved her precious pooch. Who will she choose, when love is blind? Or at the very least…pixelated.

This novel, wonderfully written by Katherine Center, will leave you with the life lesson “The more good things you look for, the more you find.

I’ve heard good things about this author and the premise of this one sucked me in. But I saw the big plot twist coming from a mile away, which made the book kind of drag on because I was awaiting the inevitable reveal. The obviousness of it all made me frustrated with the FMC even though it’s not entirely her fault.

I think the ending was a little lackluster overall, but I did like the journey there, so that counts for something! The creative premise kept me reading and I thoroughly enjoyed the cute romance scenes. I’d pick up another book by this author for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

This story was absolutely fascinating! And so, so, SO heartfelt.

Waking up in the hospital after an accident, portrait artist Sadie Montgomery is left with acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, aka face blindness. She is unable to recognize a single person. Weeks from submitting a piece in the North American Portrait Society competition, you can imagine the complete upheaval on her life.

But even despite her diagnosis, financial struggles, and interactions with hateful family, Sadie never gives up. Her situation is tragic, of course, but the message of hope and perseverance is something any reader can connect with. Sadie was amazing!

On top of this is the sweetest romance. One that took a detour I was not expecting, I must add. I did have to suspend my disbelief a tad—for reasons I can't reveal—but what a fun, unique twist!

With ALL the warm fuzzies you'd ever want, I definitely recommend this one. It made my heart flutter.

A summer storm blew through yesterday and our power went out so I decided to start Hello Stranger. And once I started, I couldn't put it down...I read all 5 hours of this glorious romance in one setting. Interesting premise, great characterization...I knew the resolution because it just made sense given the genre, BUT that knowing made it even sweeter as the character discovered what we all had inferred. Addicting and compelling- a must summer romance read!
Thanks to #NetGalley and #St. Martin's Press for the ARC.of this gem.

4.5 stars - Katherine Center does it again; another wonderful, cozy romance. Sadie is a portrait artist and was placed in the finals for the North American Portrait Society. But her happiness is cut short when she ends up in the hospital and is diagnosed with a temporary condition of face blindness. Sadie needs to learn to adapt to her new reality and figure out how to paint a face portrait to submit to the contest. In the midst of all of this, she falls for not one but two men.

I did guess the big twist in the book, but that did not ruin the book for me. I thought the romance aspect of the story tied up nicely. I wish there was more relationship development between Sadie and her stepsister Parker; it wrapped up too quickly. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend this to anyone.

I have yet to not love a Katherine Center novel. In fact, I devoured this on one sitting.

This time, we meet Sadie, whose brain surgery leaves her with face blindness. This is a big problem seeing as she's a portrait artist, of all things. Things are further complicated by her hot (she thinks) veterinarian and an intriguing guy who lives in her apartment building. And an evil stepsister bent on taking full advantage of Sadie's disability. Busy month for our plucky heroine!

Sweet, not spicy. Lovable, not sappy. This is such a perfect beach read, I pre-ordered a physical copy for my shelf.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

After Sadie, a portrait artist, undergoes brain surgery, she suffers from face blindness (Prosopagnosia), which causes her to not recognize a face that she is looking at. Yet, she miraculously is able to find love and happiness, even though she really can’t identify anyone’s faces. I have enjoyed some of Katherine Center’s other novels, and — as always — her writing is very good and many of the scenes she depicts here brought a smile to my face. Nonetheless, for some reason, this book fell sort of flat for me. It was a good read, just not a great one.

What would you do if you lost the ability to recognize faces? Even your own?
That's the unique condition (prosopagnosia) that the heroine, Sadie, suffers from following a minor brain surgery.

To say Sadie suffers from a horrible case of bad luck would be an understatement.
She is the literal version of a starving artist.
She suffers a random seizure that leads to the discovery of the condition above, hopefully temporary.
Her dog Peanut is having medical issues.
Her evil stepsister, Parker, also re-enters her life.
And to cap it all off, she is supposed to create a portrait painting for a critical exhibit in several weeks . . . but oh yeah . . . she has face blindness.
YIKES!!!
I was truly sympathetic to everything she was going through and wanted the best for her. Yet it was obvious to me as a reader that she had several things going her way, she just didn't recognize the signs. Namely, the potential love interest. I won't go into details, but this guy clearly had her back on more than one occasion and would do just about anything for her.

While there was no surprising twist in this story, I loved how things played out when Sadie finally discovered the truth. A well-deserved HEA!

This is so cute!! It is such a feel good romance that keeps you from wanting to put it down. I am so lucky to have received this arc!

I highly recommend it!

4 Stars!

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of Katherine Center’s latest! I really enjoyed this story, as I often do with this author’s books. First of all, I really appreciated the look into face blindness. It was definitely something I haven’t heard much about, and it was clear that Center had done some research on the topic. I docked a star for the miscommunication trope seeming a little too much, but Center did do a fairly good job of trying to explain it away. In all, definitely one I recommend if Katherine Center’s previous works are something you enjoy!

What an amazing summer read. Delightful, thought provoking…what makes us “us,” how do we come out of tragedy and how do we continually redefine ourselves?

Sadie is an aspiring artist who makes the finals for the North American Portrait Society. Then she has a seizure crossing the road, has brain surgery at the insistence of her estranged surgeon father, and ends up with face blindness (which “might” be temporary.)

Trying to create new portraits is more than problematic, and juggling new relationships with the dog’s vet and her neighbor prove complicated.

We follow her journey into her new normal, foibles with developing relationships, and delve into the estrangement with her family.

This book will have you rooting for Sadie, cheering at parts, and wishing you could just slap some characters. This author writes as if the characters are our oldest friends and it is always my favorite thing to enjoy her new books. Well done, Center! Please keep them coming :-)

Well, hello again, Katherine Center!

This was the second book I’ve read by this author, I loved it as much as the first one I’d had the pleasure of reading - it was The Bodyguard and it too was wonderful! I’m happy to report that I love her writing and storytelling just as much as I did the first time.

In Hello Stranger, Sadie Montgomery is diagnosed with face blindness. I've always been so curious about this topic, so to read about a main character navigating how to deal with it was very interesting to me. Center did an excellent job detailing this topic.

What an absolute treat this book was! There were feelings of warmth and happiness throughout this book, and I ate it up. The characters were so likable (except one in particular - you’ll see why when you read this, and will undoubtedly agree with me), and I genuinely enjoyed getting to read about them. The storyline and use of the condition the main character was dealing with was so original and so well thought out. There was a big twist, which I did call, but only in the 11th hour, and I really liked the way it was executed.

A big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC. As always, my review has been written honestly.

I enjoyed this immensely and can’t wait to read more of Center’s books in the future!

I love Katherine Center books, and even though I thought “Everyone is Beautiful” was my favorite book because I felt identified I have to say that Hello Stranger has taken that place in my heart. Reading it was like sipping a mug of hot chocolate , delicious and comforting.

So many amazing quotes, lessons learned and funny moments in this book. Check it out! You won’t regret it!

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

I loved this book!

It was funny, it was real, it was heartbreaking, it was all the emotions. Sadie has been through it. Life has happened and she is going with it and doing her best.

What she doesn’t expect is two (sort of) relationships at the same time! In the middle of having health issues!

Also peanut and Sue (and her family!) are the best. Parker is the worst and I sincerely hope she does some soul searching in her next chapter.

Go on this journey with her! Laugh with her, feel the feelings with her, and everything in between!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

This is one of the most ridiculous books I've ever read. I loved it. It was so entertaining and a little sad. The only complaint I have is that the evil stepsister didn't get hit by a bus, but even that couldn't ruin it for me.