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!

Katherine Center has definitely cemented herself as one of my favorite romance authors 🥰 this is my third book by her and I have yet to read something by her that I didn’t love! (the others were How to Walk Away and The Bodyguard, I’d recommend both of those too)

This book focuses on Sadie, a portrait artist, as she’s diagnosed with “probably temporary” face blindness, so that she sees all faces as a jumbled puzzle of features. She now not only has to somehow paint an award-winning portrait with her condition, she also has to navigate her toxic family, and figure out whether she has feelings for her veterinarian, Dr. Addison, or her neighbor, Joe.

Now, I normally don’t enjoy love triangles but believe me when I say this is an extremely different kind of love triangle (iykyk) there is a bit of a twist to the book, and I actually didn’t guess it until later (I suspected but was thrown off course and then suspected again) I think that’s a testament to how well we’re put into Sadie’s pov. I do think that the twist is supposed to be guessed as dramatic irony, which to me is even more enjoyable. That being said, I do recommend going into this one blind just so you can get that full experience 🥰

Also, Katherine Center writes THE BEST romance third-act conflicts (see: The Bodyguard) and this one was no less satisfying! However, I did love the interactions between Sadie and our male lead but I wish there would have been a few more, especially after the third-act conflict is resolved. I think though that the book focuses more on Sadie’s journey and the romance is the second main plot, so it’s understandable (but I want more)

4.25⭐️s

⭐️:4/5

After a freak accident that leads portrait artist Sadie to getting brain surgery, she is left with face blindness, which seriously throws a wrench in her plight as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition she has just qualified for. While learning to live without recognizing people’s faces, she begins to form relationships with two men who are very different, and she realizes that maybe there are other ways of seeing a person other than their face.

My initial, 25% of the book reaction was not entirely favorable. I found Sadie largely annoying, due to her whole “why do things always happen to me” vibe while literally taking none of the steps necessary to stop strange or bad things from happening to her. I was bored by the rivalry with her step-sister, since it felt kinda passé. Then, I learned that a whole-ass plot point is that she has fed her 14 year old dog human food for its entire life, and I was shook. Honestly. Like, she says that she’s tired of explaining to people that he’s fine and just has “refined tastes” when they judge her for it, but I am hardcore judging her. The amount of vitamins and supplements that dogs need in order to grow healthily is exhaustive, and I just…couldn’t get over this, in case you couldn’t tell. But I digress. Once I got past my hold ups, it really was such a unique and strange storyline that I found overall entertaining. Despite being annoyed with the main character and her oddities and the kind of obvious “twist”, I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would at the beginning, which I think has a lot to do with how well the last 25% pulled everything together.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Man, I love Center's work. I love her storytelling and the way she really captivates you in an engrossing story- but this one just didn't work for me. I found the main character super annoying, and while her facial blindness made for a very unique premise, she was just not working for me. But don't worry, I'll forever be a fan of Center!

Katherine Center delivers another joyful, hopeful book.

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling portrait artist who just got her big break but then tragedy strikes. She suffers from a seizure in the middle of a busy street, is saved my a good Samaritan, learns she needs to have brain surgery, and then said-brain surgery has devastating effect: she can no longer see faces.

I loved Sadie. She struggles with asking for help and trusting people but she's still full of joy that's been dimmed by a lot of struggle and pain. She meets Joe, and has a lot of prejudice for him but they end up becoming friends and he brings out Sadie's loyal, happy, good-nature. The romance build is perfect. Great pace. And the character arc for Sadie and Joe is really well done. The portrait painting scene is 100%, and then the twist! I couldn't put this one down.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC of Hello Stranger.

This book was both fascinating and fun! The story opens with Sadie getting knocked in the head in a freak accident, resulting in a case of "face blindness." She can no longer distinguish one face from the next, which is particularly tragic for her since she has six weeks to submit a final work to a prestigious portrait contest. She has dreamed of this forever; however, all of a sudden she finds herself unable to accurately paint portraits. Meanwhile, she has an emergency with her dog and finds herself dreaming of a possible future relationship with the vet and at the same time, spends more and more time with her neighbor, Joe, despite really disliking him at first.

As with many of Center's novels, this is a sweet, heartwarming book. Joe and Sadie's relationship from hateful neighbors to friendship to love is a delight to read. I found Sadie's journey with face blindness and her recovery fascinating. She goes through a period of discovery as she begins to learn who she is without her art as she knows it. The side characters...both her lovable friends and her horrid step-sister...add a lot to the story. Center deals with challenges like difficult family situations, loss of a parent, and physical trauma with a caring touch. It never crossed the line into being too much.

What I love about Center's novels is that they are all so unique in storyline while still maintaining the heart and warmth that we have come to expect from her. I recommend this to anyone looking for a bright, uplifting story.

Really great Rom-com with a very unique storyline!
Meet Sade, a starving portrait artist on the verge of her big break by being a finalist in a portrait contest. On her way to celebrate, her life changes in an instant. Thanks to a heroic Good Samaritan she avoids her demise.
While in the hospital she discovers she has a lesion on her brain that she needs surgery for. Great! Just when things were looking up.
After surgery she wakes to find she has a condition called Face-blindness. She can’t even recognize the people that she is close to. How will she make a living and prove she can be a great artist?
Depression, loneliness, hopelessness. She hasn’t left her apartment in some time for fear of not being able to recognize her friends or family. Until Peanut, her beloved dog, needs a visit to the vet. Dr Oliver Addison saves Peanut’s life and ignites something in Sadie. Love at first, sight?
Meanwhile, Joe her cringy neighbor, won’t take no for an answer when he offers to help Sadie with everything. She eventually finds that her first impression wasn’t who he really is.
Two men who have her heart and she can’t even see their faces.
Who will she end up with? Will she ever regain her ability to see faces? Will she be able to compete in the competition and finally get the recognition she deserves?

Thank you NetGalley for this free ARC in return for my review.

Was so excited when I received this ARC from Netgalley since I absolutely loved The Bodyguard when I read it last year!

Sadie is a portrait artist who, on her way to celebrate her acceptance as a finalist in an art competition that could be her next big break, has a seizure crossing the street.

In that instant, Sadie's life is forever changed. A surgery she didn't want, but knows it will save her life, causes a condition called face blindness. For a portrait artist, the timing couldn't have been worse.

Struggling with how to adapt to her new surrounds, Sadie finds she may actually have two friends, and maybe more, in unlikely places. Her new vet who takes care of her precious dog Peanut and a fellow tenant in her apartment building.

Dealing with the face blindness is also only one one thing Sadie has to deal with, she also has a toxic relationship with her stepsister, a stepmother she wants to hate, and a father who hasn't seem interested in her since she decided art was her dream like her mother's.

While the story was a tad predictable, it was still a very cute rom com. You get to watch Sadie evolve and grow as a person while she adapts to her new views of the world around her while also slowing falling in love.

Hello Stranger releases on 25 July 2023!

This was an really interesting premise. I’m a little torn, although I did enjoy some parts of it. Definitely had some mixed thoughts.

I wanted to love this so bad. I loved The Bodyguard and was hopeful.

Lets start with what I loved: THE ROMANCE!! It was adorable. The love interest in this book is such a doll and deserves the world.

But here were many over-the-top moments and inconsistencies that pulled me from the story and had me thinking, "yeah, right."
1) Sadie's backstory is almost cringy-sad. As is the love interest's.
2) Sadie's family was basically a Cinderella story in a way I couldn't get behind. They were very one-dimensional.
3) Sadie was quite self-absorbed. I get that she was struggling, but there was no way she is that dense.
4) The grand reveals and dramatic moments were just too much.

Final verdict: the romance was perfection and tbe funny moments were done well, but I think the author tried to mix serious and funny in a way that I didn't vibe with. I still think this book is worth a read because so many people loved it, it just wasn't for me.