Katherine Center's books are so fun. They are mindless foray's into whimsy, light romance, and unpredictable situations that no one could possibly get into in real life. But there is a solid place for this sort of fiction in real life. I know I'm not going to be disappointed. I know I will laugh at unexpected situations. I also know that there will be redemption and happiness at the end of the book. So when real life gets tricky (spoiler alert: real life WILL get tricky probably when we least expect it), I choose a Katherine Center book to help me through. In this case, our protagonist is Sadie who is going through some heavy stuff herself. Now that sounds like a downer, and it could be, I suppose. But that's not what happens. Because Sadie makes rash decisions in her thinking. She's impractical sometimes. (Okay. A lot.) And the result is hilarious and oulandish. As you''re reading it, you know that all the time. You, as the reader, are the logical one just waiting for shoes to drop. It is so, so much fun tripping through the pages that you're kind of sad when you reach the conclusion. But you also know as you're traveling there that everything will be okay. Predictability is good sometimes. Especially when real life gets hard. You've probably already predicted what I think. But I'll go ahead and say it anyway. I predict you will love this book. Jump in and enjoy. Pub date July 11, 2023.

I devoured this book in two evenings. It is a sweet love story that is complicated by Sadie's facial blindness. Her facial blindness also hinders her ability to be a portrait artist. She has to learn to cope in this new reality and while doing that confronts her past. It is a fun, sweet read about a topic not normally written about

Thank you SMP and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Katherine Center is a queen. Hello Stranger is a charming, mostly light-hearted summer read. Sadie and Joe are quirky and utterly heartwarming. I adore their flaws, their banter, and their journey.

Yea, sometimes the storyline felt a little out there but it was so unique that I found myself looking past it.

Read if you love:
• opposites attract
• quirky, messy characters
• endings that will leave you with a big, cheesy smile

I loved this book, but then, I love all of Katherine Center's books. I've not been writing professional reviews for a while now, but I strongly recommend this wonderful story..

All along I was thinking to myself, "oh, this is cute, but not giving me any wow factor." It was solidly a 4 star read until the ending 😱🤩 tied everything together even better than I thought it could. Loved it. Perfect balance of seriousness and romance in my opinion!!

When I want a light, fun romance, Katherine Center is becoming a go-to writer for me. Her newest book, Hello Stranger, is no exception! I loved Sadie as a character, even when I found her a little frustrating, The concept of face blindness seemed fresh to me as a reader, and I liked how Center used it in Sadie's story. Talk about miscommunication! Grab this one when it releases if you want light and fun!

Thank you St. Martin's Press for this early copy.

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

Before participating as a finalist in a once in a lifetime portrait painting competition, Sadie Montgomery suffers a seizure. Luckily, a good samaritan swiped her off of the road before she turned into road kill. Not so luckily, she requires brain surgery, forcing her to take mandatory rest days before the competition.

After the surgery, she notices everyone around her had the abstract faces of a Picasso painting. The swelling in her brain caused her a “probably temporary” condition of face blindness. She can see the people around her, and their facial features, but her brain can’t process them as a faces.

During this confusing time in her life, she meets falls in love with two different men and decide between the two without ever seeing their faces. And, figure out how to paint a portrait without seeing a face.

5 ⭐️

It was so interesting to read about Sadie learning how to live without seeing or recognizing the faces around her.

I actually almost cried for Sadie’s relationship with her family and even when she chose between Joe and Oliver. The love interests were so cute, there were so many sweet moments between them.

The plot twist was obvious to me, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be, but either way it didn’t take away from the story. If anything, it made it even more heartbreaking when Sadie chose between the love interests.

This book was such an enjoyable read, I binged it all in one day. This is Katherine Centers new best novel. One of the best romances to come out in 2023 so far.

Review will be posted to @whatsmadireading on instagram July 10, 2023.

Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an eARC of this book!

Sadie, a portrait artist, has a mishap and discovers that she has a genetic medical condition that requires brain surgery. The brain surgery results in face blindness, which is the premise of the story. We follow Sadie as she navigates this new normal- trying to figure out who is speaking to her, dealing with an evil stepsister and all the drama that comes with her, attempting to finish a portrait for a competition she's entered, and falling in love.

Although there were some storylines that didn't click at first, the ending of the book wrapped those up for me and had a fun twist. I enjoyed Sadie's determination and quirkiness. There is a good mix of likable and unlikeable characters, which brought some good drama to the story. This was a fun romcom.

This is a perfect beach read for the summer!

a very cute story, and if you liked the bodyguard by katherine center, you are sure to love hello stranger!

Absolutely loved it! Sadie was the best- she was just wholeheartedly a great person. I felt for her and literally wanted to beat her stepsister up! I also didn’t love her bff but she redeemed herself towards the end. I definitely called the twist but I thoroughly enjoyed the redemption! I can’t remember a book where I swooned as much (I mean, Joe ugh soo swoony!). I went into this book completely blind as to what it was going to be about and I’m so glad I did. I highly recommend you do the same. The only thing I wished for was that there was alternate POVs but that’s just me! Highly recommend! Guess I’ll have to read The Bodyguard now

I'm annoyed.

I first tried reading this in print, but the writing was so bad, I gave up. I requested the audiobook from NetGalley and decided to give it a try that way. I'm much more forgiving of bad writing when listening to a book vs. reading.

I should've taken the hint and just stayed away. It wasn't awful, but it was completely unbelievable. So many things had to go exactly, perfectly wrong for this story to work in any way. It was a few too many layers of suspended disbelief for me. I only finished because I needed confirmation that the absolutely ridiculous thing that couldn't possibly have been true all along, was indeed true.

I loved The Bodyguard. I was looking forward to this. I am disappointed, but I will give Katherine Center another try next time.

I haven't read many books with face blindness, so that angle interested. Sadly, the book missed the mark for me. I was turned off by the fatphobic comments, especially as they had no bearing on the story and were absolutely unnecessary. I really didn't like any of the characters, particularly stand Parker. The romance was lacking. In general, I'm okay with that, unless it's a story that is supposed to be from that genre. The book was more of a family drama. Some plot points were very repetitive, such as repeatedly reminding the reader what face blindness is., and the ending was very predictable. I've never read any other books by Center, and I'm not sure if I'll be inclined to check them out in the future.

3.5* “Basically we tend to decide on what the world is and who people are and how things are— and then we look for evidence that supports what we’ve already decided. And we ignore everything that doesn’t fit.”

I was really intrigued by the premise of a portrait artist who, after an accident and an encounter with a Good Samaritan, suddenly has to deal with face blindness before a major competition. The story started out strong but fell a little flat for me in the end and then made me rethink things after reading the Epilogue and Author's Note!

Sadie has been trying to please her Dad and reconcile the horrible events that occurred after her Mom's death but has decided that life is better in isolation with her beloved dog, Peanut. She has "made it a rule to never not be ok in front of anyone". With the help of a therapist, she is challenged to stop seeing the negative and look for the good around her.

There were some very tender, touching moments and some lovely quotes but overall I didn't feel connected to the characters and the predictable plot seemed to speed up and everything resolved quickly at the end during one scene.

If you are looking for a quick, relatively light, hopeful read with an uplifting message, some family drama, an evil stepsister, unexpectedly supportive friends, a beloved dog, a cute veterinarian and don't mind PG-13 language you will enjoy this one!

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me a chance to read it in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
No Spice

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆:
- Friends to Lovers
- Swoony Romance
- Slow Burn
- Well Done Miscommunication

You're probably wondering, 'Well done miscommunication', that can't be a thing!' but I assure you - Katherine Center handled it well in this story and I wasn't annoyed at it!

I won't talk about the plot because I think everyone should go into this blind like I did. I think that made it so much better. I will say that Sadie and Joe are super cute together and I loved how their friendship slowly developed into something more.

Hello Stranger is sweet like candy with no spice but that didn't make me love it any less. The lack of spice was made up with the loud and full emotions that Sadie experiences as she deals with her diagnosis and her time with Joe.

This is a rare romance novel that doesn't lean heavily into established tropes which almost made me feel like I wasn't reading a romance at all (in a good way!).

I've fallen in love with the way Katherine Center has told stories and I can't wait to read more from here!

Aw this was such a cute unique love story!
The entire premise was very creative. I enjoyed it the whole time while reading! I also love painting so I could be a little biased since the FMC is an artist 😜🎨

Read if you like:
✿ first person POV
✿ humor
✿ family drama
✿ miscommunication trope
✿ love triangles
✿ animals/vets
✿ art
✿ illness rep
✿ HEA
✿ closed door romance

Thank you for letting me read in advance ◡̈

I received digital ARCs for both the e-book and e-audiobook.

More like 2.5 stars, but Patti Murin’s narration kicks it up a notch.

If you don’t know Center by now, this is more literary romance and not romance romance, so the steam is very minimal.

Face blindness is a great and unique premise that because you see the relative story arc and outcome from miles away (not even 20% into the book), there’s no mystery to it and a real challenge to pretend otherwise. This allows various faults to come to the surface. There’s the repetition--driving the point over and over again what face blindness is, how it works (or rather, doesn’t), and how people cope with it. It’s so bad throughout the book that when the ending we saw from miles away finally happens, the repetition again as everyone, and I mean everyone, put two and two together regarding who Joe is further crushes any good will towards the characters.

Sadie’s bestie was totally clueless in terms of what Sadie needed for support and a bad friend when it really counted (but I know, it’s a way to move Sadie and Joe closer together).
Sadie’s stepsister from Hell was certifiable and I wish she had more just desserts.
And I’m surprised Joe didn’t add some things up and realize what Sadie was struggling with, to outright ask her and connect some dots.

I’m sorry to be so vague, but again, read the first 20% and you’ll have this all figured out.

This is my second Katherine Center book and I am beyond hooked!! 🥰 I cannot wait to read the backlog of all her other works.

Sadie's journey with face blindness was so interesting. Her stubbornness kept her from telling people about it, which made her life more difficult than it needed to be. I loved her journey in learning how to trust and lean on others, after a childhood without that luxury.

I don't want to give too much away, but I loved the twists and the background story in this novel. I was so mad about the original elevator scene, but guessed where it was going in the next chapter so I understood the need for it. 😅 I'm a sucker for a redemption ARC. (IYKYK 😉)

Tropes:
Love Triangle
Forced Proximity

CW: death of a parent, emotional abuse, gaslighting

A big thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for my review. My opinions are my own.

First things first I’ve read a lot of Center’s other books and enjoyed them all. This one was a miss for me but I should have read the description and figured that out right away. I do not care for face blindness in a story - it doesn’t work for me as a plot (although I understand this can happen in real life.

I’ll definitely still read books by this author and I know a lot of people enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another delightful and captivating , heartfelt romantic novel by Katherine Center! In Hello Stranger, we meet Sadie Montgomery a struggling portrait artist who lives in a studio hovel. I am reluctant to give more details of the story because it is best to read the book "blind" There are some unexpected twists that make the ending and plot rewarding. The characters are well-developed. As in all of her novels, the reader feels good after reading the last page! The author's notes at the end of the book are informative about romance novels and the main character's health condition, Ms. Center's novels have become "must read" on my list! Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Katherine Center for an advance copy of Hello Stranger in exchange for an honest review. I truly love every Katherine Center book I have ever read and this one was no exception. The premise was extremely unique in this one and that made this one all the more interesting! This is another feel good love story and it will be available on July 11th!