Another fabulous read by Katherine Center! This one tackled facial blindness and what it means to really see people....and ourselves. A wonderful message and a cast of likable characters you'll root for from page one.

Sadie has had her fair share of struggles as an artist, but when she loses the ability to see faces right after she wins an amazing opportunity she feels like all hope is lost. Will Sadie be able to cope with her temporary neurological problem? Is it ONLY temporary? Will she make new connections along the way??

I LOVED this book! I found Sadie to be funny and likable. I did think she was a bit self pitying - but who wouldn't be in this case?! I did know right away what the big reveal was going to be, but I still found it fun and cute. My only criticism would be the miscommunication trope used in this book. I am never a fan of that trope, so it isn't anything personal to this book.

Overall, I rated this one a 4/5 stars! I recommend it to anyone who wants a fast paced rom-com. Thank you NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of this work in exchange for my honest opinion

This book was so cute! I loved the premise and it felt so unique to me (haven’t read another book with face blindness). I absolutely LOVED Joe, he was a fantastic MMC and I was rooting for him the whole time! The FMC was okay, sometimes I didn’t understand her rationale for things (like wanting to hide her face blindness from everyone) but I still enjoyed her story. As always with KC books, I finished feeling like I just received a big, warm hug from my favorite person!

Love, love, love! Grumpy Sadie, outrageous Sue, Joe, Dr Addison, Mr Kim. Hate, hate, hate Evil Stepsister. This is such a good story revolving around old hurts and new face blindness. I missed a lot of cues and had to go back and reread sections to get a different perspective. Happily, I might add.

I was a big fan of Katherine Center's "The Bodyguard", so I knew I wanted to read this as soon as possible! I was immediately intrigued by the unique plot and circumstances the main character found herself in. Reading about such a unique health condition was eye opening, but Katherine managed to make it light hearted and funny when it needed to be. I love how well developed the character's personalities were, and I will be reading more from this author in the future!

I am officially a Katherine Center stan. She is now permanently on my to be read immediately author list. Hello Stranger began with an outlandish idea and turned into a seriously thought-provoking romance. I’ve never read a romance that made me question confirmation bias so much before. But at the same time I was still deeply invested in the romance between the two main characters. I have a tiny issue with the idea of Insta forgiveness in books. (But that’s probably more of a me problem than a book problem.) Do yourself a favor and join the Katherine Center crew!

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 This book was positively adorable.

After suffering a seizure, Sadie learns that she has a congenital malformation in her brain. The surgery to repair it leaves swelling in the part of her brain that recognizes faces, leaving Sadie face-blind.
Sadie's mother died when she was young, and the rest of her family is pretty terrible (I would've enjoyed less of the awful stepsister). Sadie's wish to follow in her mother's footsteps as a portrait artist is not respected and her biggest hope is to win a portrait competition and prove her talent, which feels impossible when she can't see faces.
Sadie suffers emotionally after repeatedly failing to improve. With the help of her best friend Soo, and new relationships with her veterinarian Dr. Addison and her neighbor Joe, she tries to find her way through a life that's now confusing and often upsetting.
There's a just right amount of detail about how Sadie "sees" faces, which was really fascinating, and also about how the brain separately perceives emotions even when your brain can't make sense of faces.

The author's afterword was beautiful and the narration was excellent!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for audio and digital ARCs of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center is one my favourite romance novels. I was absolutely over the moon to get an ARC through NetGalley for her newest novel Hello Stranger.

This book did not disappoint! It was absolutely delightful. Center has a way of making you feel every ounce of joy and anticipation on the page. Although this story wasn’t very spicy and the romance is a bit slower, I just wanted to keep reading to see what would happen.

I usually devour Katherine Center’s books, but I struggled to finish this one, I was not a fan of the main character, Sadie, I thought her to be whiny and irritating, her only redeeming quality was her love for her dog Peanut.
Sad, because I thought the premise was great.


I voluntarily reviewed an E-ARC.. opinions are my own.

Katherine Center delivered another heartwarming romance with Hello Stranger! After loving The Bodyguard last year, I was highly anticipating this book and I was not disappointed.

The story follows Sadie who is diagnosed with facial blindness after having brain surgery. Since Sadie is a portrait artist, not being able to see faces makes her job impossible. This book was filled with so much gratitude. There were so many heartfelt actions of people helping other people that I teared up with they happened. It was also so beautiful seeing Sadie work through the facial blindness and not letting it define her. The romance was also great because while you probably know how things will play out, the anticipation of seeing it happen was unbeatable.

Katherine Center wrote an author's note for this book which deserves to be mentioned. She talks about the stigma people have around romance books and how they are different from every other story because they are filled with hope. As a romance reader, I loved seeing her describe the beauty of these stories and her romance reading journey!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a review!

This book was cute! I’m not a huge fan of romance but I wanted to venture out of my comfort zone and this book was a great surprise.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review

Hello Stranger was a fast, cute, and entertaining read! I flew through this in less than a day, and had so much fun reading.

I really liked the FMC and MMC. They were very likable, and I loved their romance and how it developed. They were so sweet to each other, and they made me so happy, haha.

I just loved the overall plot of Hello Stranger. The main character not being able to recognize faces was so unique. Katherine Center did an awesome job explaining the actual medical terminology in a simple and easy to understand way. And you can tell that she did some research on how everything worked in the brain. I enjoyed learning about this as I was reading this adorable story.

I found this story so fun to read, and I would totally recommend it to anyone who enjoys romance!

''Sadie Montogmery has had good breaks and bad breaks in her life, but as a struggling artist, all she needs is one lucky break. Things seem to be going her way when she lands one of the coveted finalist spots in a portrait competition. It happens to coincide with a surgery she needs to have. Minor, they say. Less than a week in the hospital they say. Nothing about you will change, they say. Upon recovery, it begins to dawn on Sadie that she can see everything around her, but she can no longer see faces.

Temporary, they say. Lots of people deal with this, they say. As she struggles to cope―and hang onto her artistic dreams―she finds solace in her fourteen-year-old dog, Peanut. Thankfully, she can still see animal faces. When Peanut gets sick, she rushes him to the emergency vet nearby. That’s when she meets veterinarian Dr. Addison. And she’s pleasantly surprised when he asks her on a date. But she doesn't want anyone to know about her face blindness. Least of all Joe, her obnoxious neighbor who always wears a bowling jacket and seems to know everyone in the building. He’s always there at the most embarrassing but convenient times, and soon, they develop a sort of friendship. But could it be something more?''

Purposefully, I am not discussing the plot because I feel like it is better to go into reading this blind. I will say that I did foresee the big twist but that did not take away at all from the story. Center has author notes at the end that you will not want to miss! Her description of the romance genre was on point. I was completely captivated from start to finish and highly recommend this book!

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Not as much as The Bodyguard which just took me by complete surprise with how much I enjoyed it, but this was still a joy. Cinnamon roll MMCs for the win!

Highly recommend if you enjoy Abby Jimenez or Melissa Ferguson. 3.5 ⭐️

Thank you St. Martin Press and Netgalley for my advanced copy.

Although I loved Sadie and Joe together, there were a few miscommunication mishaps in this book for me.
Sadie is relatable in the fact that she jumps to worst case scenario, and Joe is hard not to root for with his willingness to always help.

The beginning was a total win for me!! But unfortunately the ending was to unbelievable at times and I lost interest.

Katherine Center always knocks it out of the park for me, and this was no exception! "Hello Stranger" is a unique and thoughtful romantic comedy that tackles complexities like grief, betrayal, and even brain surgery with a deft hand.
Center's note at the end of the novel about predictability in romance perfectly summarizes what she's so great at. I happened to read it after staying up into the wee hours needed to know the end - and felt like the glorious anticipation of her books was exactly what I needed - even more than sleep!

Katherine Center writes beautiful prose, full of nuanced moments that feel so relatable and down to earth. This story, with our heroine having facial blindness, honestly didn’t appeal to me from the start, but I had such a good experience reading The Bodyguard that I felt Katherine Center would be an immediate buy/download for me going forward. I probably should have stuck with my first instinct. I just didn’t connect or like Sadie, nor any of the side characters. The brain injury is interesting but just not my cup of tea in romcoms I guess?! The love triangle and plot twist were fairly easy to process early on, but it didn’t bother me to be one step ahead of our MC, since I felt like most of the story is that way. We are following Sadie figure things out. The love story takes a back seat to Sadie’s personal journey, which isn’t uncommon in Center’s books, but I’m finding out isn’t my cup of tea. It’s a fine book, it’s a pretty quick read, but it’s also fine to pass on by. 3 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my review!

Thank you so much for an advanced copy of Hello Stranger! It was SO good!

The Bodyguard was my first book by Katherine Center, and I honestly thought it would be hard for her to top it...but Hello Stranger is wonderful! I both read my e-galley and listened to my ALC of this one because I could not put it down.

First, I just fell in love with the characters in this one. I am a sucker for a hot vet; I blame it on my mom making me watch Baby Boom and Sam Shepherd...but, I digress...

These characters are everything! They are energetic, refreshing, interesting, layered, and just perfect. I love them so much! The main character, Sadie, and her dog peanut steal the show over and over again. Plus, the leading men are amazing, but I literally cannot give any comments there without giving away a major piece of the plot, so I will move on! :)

Second, I was really impressed by the depth of the side stories that connected to the main story. Sadie's evil stepsister is a total witch with a b, and I was very invested in her getting what she deserved, or at the very least, busted of all her lies and manipulations.

This book is going to be exceptional no matter which format in which you choose to consume it! One of my favorite books of the year, for sure!

Side note, I'm also LOVING the new direction for Katherine Center's book covers. This animated style is a big improvement over the covers of her older books IMO!

Rating: 5⭐️

This was a fun and quick read! I love Katherine Center and I was very excited to receive this ARC from Net Galley. The book was light, but also had some depth to it. I really enjoyed the two main characters and thought their interactions felt genuine. I also appreciated the supporting characters and felt (as always with Center) that these characters rounded every thing out!

Katherine Center's latest novel has so much heart and is based on a fascinating premise. Sadie Montgomery is a struggling portrait artist but she's finally on the brink of her big break. The next thing she knows, she wakes up in a hospital bed after a seizure and learns that she needs to have brain surgery. Her relationship with her father has been strained every since her mom died when she was 14, so she is surprised when he urges her not to delay the surgery. She reluctantly agrees to it, but only because she has 6 weeks to prepare for the portrait she has to submit to the art contest. The only problem is that following surgery, she can no longer recognize anyone. She's experiencing prosopagnosia, more commonly known as face blindness, and the only thing she can do is give it time. The love story central to the plot is sweet and confusing for Sadie, but this book has a HEA in terms of romance, friendship, and possibly even family. A really interesting story with a lot of heart.