Maybe Katherine Center is not an author for me.

While I had some issues with The Bodyguard by Katherine Center, I could overlook them because it was a cute story. However, this story was simply not for me.

I read a lot of romance, and I thought it was just fine. The pace is very slow in the beginning. The characters are incredibly obnoxious and immature. They created conflict for absolutely no reason.

I think for people who don’t read a lot of romance will find this very sweet and ended. Nevertheless, Hello Stranger was bland and childish.

Sadie Montgomery is preparing for a portrait painting contest that could be the big break for her career when she is in an accident that leaves her with a rare form of face blindness that prevents her from accurately deciphering faces. Hello Stranger tells the story of Sadie trying to piece her life back together and make sense of the situations and relationships she finds herself in.

I have enjoyed Katherine Center's books in the past, but while this was a fine story, it fell a little flat for me. The romance was lackluster, there was far too much miscommunication, it was incredibly predictable, and I found Sadie unlikeable as a main character (which isn't a dealbreaker for enjoying a book, but combined with everything else, it didn't help the situation).

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for gifting me with an ARC to review!

3.5 Rounded to a 4

Okay, so we have Sadie, a talented artist who specializes in portraits. A freak accident causes Sadie to suffer a traumatic brain injury, leaving her with prosopagnosia. Faces look like a Picasso painting to her. She can’t recognize anyone, including people she’s known her whole life. This is a real bummer because Sadie is in a contest that could make or break her career that requires her to, wait for it, paint a whole-ass portrait of someone’s face. Along the way, Sadie meets Joe, her playboy (or is he?) neighbor, and Oliver, her vet, both of him have an interest in her, but neither of whom she can actually see.

What’s a girl to do? I guess you’ll have to read to find out.

I went back and forth on this one. At one point, I was hovering at two stars, which absolutely killed me, considering I adore Katherine Center. There were just so many things that happened in this book that induced so many, many eye rolls. Some of the characters read like caricatures—so over the top that I just wanted to shout, “Okay, I get it. She’s a real shitbag.” Specifically, Sadie’s stepsister, Parker. Girl is psychotic and needs to be in a mental institution. There were other things, too, that just didn’t add up and were too easily explained away. For instance, Sadie is face blind, but her hearing is okay. Yet, we’re expected to just be okay with the fact that she can’t recognize the voice of the man she’s in love with? Nope, not buying that at all.

But…in true Katherine Center form, there were also scenes that made me swoon, and I also shed real tears a couple of times in the story, so I have to give her huge props for that. If you’re able to suspend a shit-ton of belief, I think you will really enjoy this story. It is the epitome of a sweet, quirky romcom and would make a great, quick read to take to the beach.

My Instagram handle is @read_happy_books Why? Because in this crazy world we live in, there's enough sadness. Pandemics and shootings and natural disasters - so much misery! Reading is where I look for an escape.. And, that's why I love Katherine Center! Her books are so full of joy!

So, I was a little worried that I was struggling with this book at first. It seemed disjointed, like there were all these pieces, and they weren't fitting together. Then, suddenly at the end, it all came together and made sense and I legit had tears rolling down my cheeks! My experience with this book was much like Sadie's (the main character) experience with face blindness (a real condition - who knew? The brain is a mysterious thing!)

And, oh, the author's note!? More tears! I love the idea that romance novels bring us a sense of "anticipation."

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin's Books for the opportunity to read this digital ARC in return for an honest review. But, even more, thank you Katherine Center for being such a source of light and happiness! <3

Oh, and I have the audiobook sitting on my NG shelf. I CANNOT WAIT to listen to it!

**3.5 STARS**

Content Warning: mention of death of a parent, grief, bullying

This book was such a nice surprise especially because the main character is dealing with face blindness and she’s an artist who paints self-portraits!

The romance for the most part worked for me. I thought her romance with Joe was nice as they started as stranger and into friends and then something more. I wasn’t sure how everything would resolve itself in the end but it did – with a lot of explanations.

Aside from the romance, Sadie is also dealing with a lot of things with her family. Her mom passed away, her dad remarried and her step-sister is horrible. She doesn’t have a great relationship with her dad, or any of them. I’m glad Sadie had her best friend and her family to support her though. There was a moment where the family drama came to a head but there wasn’t a happily ever after for that part of Sadie’s life. And what was up with her step-sister Piper? I felt like Piper and Sadie acted like teenagers at times – which at times I thought was weird since they are adults.

I think I had some pacing issues with this one but I think because it wasn’t centered fully on the romance, I wondered why it was taking so long for the romance to get going. In the beginning of the story it’s mostly about Sadie, her accident, and how she was going to compete in the art self-portrait competition. I was wondering where the romance was – but it was there…just not on full display.

I really enjoyed the messages in this story though. I like that Sadie had to see things in a different way, and like her best friend Sue told her, maybe winning the art competition wasn’t the ultimate goal. Sadie was lost without her brain working as it did before, but she also found her way through every challenge which makes for a heart-warming story about growth.

Why you should read it:
*Sadie has face blindness and we get to see her navigate her new normal
*The romance between Sadie and Joe is sweet

Why you might not want to read it:
*Sadie’s family drama – Piper, her stepsister is a bit much

My Thoughts:

It took me awhile to get settled in this one but once I did, I finished it quick. I found it to be a such a cute and unique romance because Sadie’s condition. And how can I not love Joe, who’s someone who loves to help others and he loves animals. He’s a winner and I’m glad he and Sadie get their happily ever after.

What a fabulous and wonderful read! I loved every character in this book, except for Parker.
A light and airy romance with a bit of family drama.
I learned of a new health issue called prosopagnosia, which is being face blind. Can you imagine having a job where you painted portraits, but couldn’t see their faces?!
Overall, I loved everything about this story. Sentimental, fun and lighthearted.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

After having read The Bodyguard, I was so excited to read this story as well. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

I don’t think I had ever read anything with the premise before. Sadie, who is a portrait artist suddenly finds herself with acquired prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces, after undergoing brain surgery. All this comes on just as she has been selected as a finalist in a prestigious art show. There’s also the complicated feelings she’s developed for the neighbor whom she initially thought was a creep and her crush on her dog’s veterinarian. And the aloof father, evil stepmother and step sister come along to further complicate things. This sorry has it all. Mistaken identities, romance, complicated family problems, and you have a wonderful story. There was a scene between Sadie and her father that practically brought me to tears.

I devoured this story in less than 24 hours. I couldn’t put it down. Definitely pick this book up for your next beach trip!

The only character I did not line was her best friend, Sue. Am I the only one who didn’t like her?

I loved Katherine Center's last book and really enjoyed this one, too. The premise felt pretty fresh to me - Sadie, an artist in her late 20s who is struggling to make ends meet and living in a tiny rooftop apartment that's really more like a shed, just found out that she placed in the top 10 of a national competition for portrait artists. She's buying wine for a small celebration but forgets her purse, so a handsome stranger pays for it for her. And the next thing she knows, she wakes up in a hospital. She had a non-convulsive seizure and froze in the middle of a crosswalk, saved by a good samaritan just before she got hit by a car. After the seizure, the neurologists discover a cavernoma, an enlarged cluster of blood vessels on the brain, and they recommend that she get it fixed ASAP. She wants to wait until after the competition ends, but her mostly estranged father reveals that her mother had the same condition, and in fact died of it, so he doesn't want her to wait. She gets the surgery and everything is fine until she realizes that she suddenly can't see faces like the used to and is diagnosed with (hopefully temporary) prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. For a portrait artist, this is pretty devastating, but Sadie doesn't want anyone to know except those closest to her, which is a pretty small group, so she tries to struggle her way through the competition. Meanwhile, she develops a sudden and massive crush on her new veterinarian but also starts a friendship with a guy in her building who she's finding herself attracted to against her better judgement. I really liked Sadie and I also understood, on some level, why she didn't want to tell a lot of people about her prosopagnosia, but it really made for one of the more frustrating miscommunication situations I've read in a romance recently. Still, I enjoyed this overall and I find Center's writing to be very well-paced and witty.

An incredibly written story about a condition I had never heard about but that Katherine Center brought to many. She has the talent to teach while also entertaining the reader with a page turning story. Absolutely another best seller!

Katherine Center does it again! If she writes it, I will read it! She is an auto-buy author for me!

I enjoyed this so much! It was unexpected and delightful! I binged it in one day and I could not put it down.

I was rooting for MC Sadie the whole way! I wanted her to heal, explore her creative passion, find joy, and reconnect with her family.
This book made me laugh from some of the best sarcasm and wit on a page and it also pulled on my emotional strings.

Read if you like:
🎨 found family
🎨 a recovery story
🎨 cute pets that eat better than humans
🎨 roller skating and dancing in the grocery store
🎨 HELPFUL men

This book also brings awareness to a medical condition known as Prosopagnosia, or face blindness. This is actually not my first book to mention this condition, but I did learn a little more about this diagnosis from this read. I always enjoy learning while I read. Thank you!

I’ve never read anything from Katherine Center before but after reading Hello Stranger I think I definitely will read more of her work!

Sadie had quite a journey through her new diagnosis and I couldn’t imagine how I would react if I was put in that position.

Joe was such a lovable guy (well after the first overheard conversation) and I’m so glad his story ended in just the way he needed it to just like Sadie.

Reading this book has made me want to go and study the bone structure if a man’s face and try to appreciate art even though I’m the least artsy person in the entire world.

My only gripe with the book was that it was a little slow to get going but the third act was so good.

ARC from NetGalley and St Martins Press

Katherine Center is one of my FAVORITE romance authors. Every single book I read of hers I LOVE! this was honestly one of my most anticipated reads this year - and I thought it was amazing!

Sadie Montgomery is a talented portrait artist who recently has been accepted into a prestigious art competition... Unfortunately a few weeks before the competition sge has a seizure and almost gets hit by a car and finds out some very life changing news. I thought the storyline was so interesting (I've never read a book about Prosopagnosia, so I feel like I learned a lot about that.

The misunderstanding... Omg I was DYING 😂 I loved Sadie's love interest(s), and her best friends family, but her family definitely sucked. This book never lost my attention, was impossible to put down and I loved it so much!

Read if you enjoy:
• family dramaaaa
• unique plot
• plot twist
• funny moments
• sweet guys
• spoiled doggos
• swoony romance

This book was a hilarious, cute, feel-good, swoony rom-com that I definitely recommend!

As a longtime Katherine Center fan, I can proudly say that this book did not disappoint! I was hooked from chapter one and I breezed through it!

Hello Stranger follows struggling artist Sadie Montgomery as she wrestles with prosopagnosia, a type of face blindness where she cannot identify or recognize faces -- including her own. After being named a top ten finalist in a portrait competition, Sadie fears what her new diagnosis will mean for her artwork. While dealing with this, she also has pet and family problems and meets two alluring men: Joe and Dr. Addison. With first-person POV, we get to experience Sadie's face blindness, too, along with her wit and poignant thoughts throughout all the sad and hilarious twists and turns of the book.

I don't know how she does it, but Center writes the best romances. Without spoiling the premise of the book, I'll say that I love the man Sadie ends up with. (He might even be one of my favorite love interests in all of Center's books!) Their conversations, their banter, the way they take care of each other -- all of it made me swoon. Anytime Sadie interacted with him, I smiled so much.

Center had a big undertaking with describing prosopagnosia. Due to its inherent complexity, I found it difficult to understand how Sadie was seeing faces at times. Because I couldn't see what she was actually seeing, it was hard for me to wrap my head around the issue. However, having Sadie struggle with this was such a unique premise, so it was certainly compelling to read about.

Additionally, I know the familial struggles were part of the plot, but her family made me so angry at times. The chapters where she talked with Lucinda (her stepmother) and Parker (her stepsister) were so hard to get through, just because they could be genuinely awful to her. (Content warning: death of a parent does not occur in the book, but it is heavily talked about.)

I wish the book focused more on Sadie's art. I was fascinated by her process. I liked getting to see how she tried to paint faces, even if she couldn't see them properly.

Overall, this was an amazing read. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for the digital ARC!

[it was okay]

This book started out really strong with a unique premise but as it went on, the story became a bit predictable and bland. I did love the main character and was rooting for her. The writing and narration of the audiobook were also great. Even though the story wasn’t a complete hit for me, I still recommend picking this one up, hopefully it’ll work better for you!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free advanced copy of this ebook and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book just didn't do it for me.😔
I was super excited to finally read a Katherine Center book, I've heard SO many amazing things about her books but this was a total let down for me. The main character Sadie was really annoying, she was selfish, whiny and constantly feeling bad for herself. There was no depth to the characters or the plot, the romance didn't work for me either.

✨ ℝ𝔼𝕍𝕀𝔼𝕎 ✨
Hello Stranger
•Author: Katherine Center
•Rating: ✰✰✰
•Genre: Romance

Katherine Center always writes the cutest romances! This wasn’t my favorite of hers but it was still a cute story. I did see the ending coming so it was a tad predictable but the plot was definitely different (in a good way) from other romances I’ve read lately.

𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨: Sadie can’t seem to catch a break these days. She has to half brain surgery and the aftermath leaves her unable to recognize people’s faces. At the same time her precious elderly dog gets sick. She immediately has a crush on the veterinarian but also likes the guy in her apartment building…

Main Characters:
-- Sadie – 28-year-old portrait artist, distant from her father since her mother died 14 years ago, lives in her art studio that she rents from her best friend’s parents
-- Sue – Sadie’s best friend, they met in college as art majors whose parents disapproved of their chosen area of study
-- Joe – lives in Sadie’s building, wears a 50s-style bowling jacket, Sadie’s first encounter with him is overhearing him speaking horribly about a one-night stand who is still in his bed sleeping
-- Dr. Oliver Addison – new veterinarian in an office close to Sadie’s apartment where Sue’s family boarded Sadie’s dog while Sadie was in the hospital
-- Lucinda – Sadie’s stepmother
-- Parker – Sadie’s “evil” stepsister

Katherine Center has fast become one of my favorite authors. She creates fun characters, witty interactions, and happily-ever-afters that I find myself smiling about as I finish each book. Her upcoming new release, Hello Stranger, is no exception.

Sadie is the textbook definition of a struggling artist. Disappointing her surgeon father by changing her major from medicine to art, Sadie is barely surviving as a portrait artist. Her best friend Sue convinced her parents to let Sadie rent the top floor of their building as a studio on the condition that she wouldn’t be living there. Of course, she’s living there, and she can barely afford that.

But when she becomes a finalist in a national portrait competition where the prize is $10,000, she believes she is on the verge of being discovered. Until she finds herself in the hospital, having almost been hit by a car, because of a seizure and winds up needing brain surgery. When she comes out of the surgery, her brain sees faces like mixed up puzzle pieces. She has prosopagnosia (face blindness), which may or may not be permanent. And her final portrait for the competition is due in six weeks!

Armed with some tips from her doctor, Sadie spends a lot of time learning to navigate her new normal. She focuses on hair styles, gait, scents, conversation cues to identify people, but she doesn’t want people to know she doesn’t recognize them. Sue and Sue’s parents know, her father and stepmother know, and her stepsister Parker (much to Sadie’s dismay) also knows.

Sue is a perfectly well-meaning but clueless best friend. She is so supportive and positive that you have to love her even after she organizes a surprise party with 50 people for the introverted and currently face-blind Sadie. Parker, on the other hand, takes every opportunity to trick Sadie into thinking she is a friend and then making Sadie miserable.

When Sadie finds herself attracted to two very different men—Joe who makes a horrible first impression by describing his one-night stand as a “mountain of blubber” and Dr. Addison who exudes confidence and empathy taking care of her 14-year-old dog Peanut—she can’t bring herself to admit to either one of them what’s going on. She doesn’t want anyone else to know.

I really loved this story, and I feel like I should have seen the end coming long before it was revealed, but I think I was just too invested to be looking for the twists. Don’t try to figure anything out. Just enjoy it.

The author clearly did her research on Sadie’s disorder, which will help readers understand how face blindness affects those it afflicts. And it didn’t hurt that Sadie’s doctor was from Trinidad (where my late husband was from). She nailed the description of the accent as being “a mixture of posh British and soft Caribbean.” 😉

In her Author’s Note, Center says that she thinks the reason romance is such an appealing genre is because we know things will get better. She says “tragedy is a given, but joy is a choice.” She also says “love is nourishing.” Spot on, Ms. Center. Consider me fed. 😊

Engaging if predictable romance with an unusual premise.

Sadie is at a real low point in her life: Just as she learns she's been invited to participate in a prestigious art contest, she finds out she has to have brain surgery to address a potentially life-threatening complication. She gets through the surgery okay, only to find out that she developed face blindness. Big problem for a portraitist. Suddenly, all faces are unrecognizable. And just as she's coming to grips with this, her beloved dog falls ill.

Thank goodness the vet, Oliver, is giving off hottie vibes--not that she can see his face. In fact, she's surrounded by guys who are definitely (well, probably) attractive: she starts to get closer to her neighbor, Joe, with his hipster air, sexy torso, and ubiquitous bowling jacket. Of course, she tells neither of these potential suitors about her face blindness, causing all sorts of havoc along the way.

If you read the synopsis of this book, you have to know how it's going to end. I can't imagine anyone will be surprised, but I think the point is less the surprise than the journey. And I did alternately grin and tear up at various scenes, so the journey is definitely affecting.

I would have been happier with about two fewer chapters, but of course, those chapters seem meant to reassure you that there are Real Reasons that the predictable ending was inevitable. Both Sadie and her final suitor have to overlook a lot of bizarre comments made by the other for the plot to work. If either of them had just pushed at bit during key moments, it wouldn't have been nearly as topsy-turvy for them...but it also would have been less entertaining for us.

Katherine Center has an uncanny knack of bringing humor to otherwise challenging situations. This is one of the reasons I continue to enjoy her writing. Her style is quirky and hits a sweet spot for me.

Our protagonist, Sadie, is relatable in many ways with how she sees the world. Her pessimistic tendencies and negative outlook felt familiar for me. At times I found Sadie to be pretty immature based on her reactions and internal dialogue. However, her personal growth and perspective development throughout the story evolved with a satisfying conclusion.

At times the drama with her father and step family felt a bit over the top. The evil stepsister situation was excessive, and I had hoped for more of a redemption arc or misunderstanding. Not everyone can be redeemed, though this particular plot line felt less believable to me.

Center did a great job keeping me coming back for more. At several points in the book, I felt surprised and asking “wait what?” This sneak attack approach was an effective page turner for me. Her writing is easy to read and goes down easy. She had me laughing out loud and hoping for the very best for Sadie.

Huge thanks to Katherine Center, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for this e-book ARC tio read and review. Looking forward to many more!

This was a really cute story. I enjoyed all of the science and psychology behind face blindness and what it’s like living with it. Sadie was a little difficult to like in the beginning but as I learned more about her past and childhood, her actions and behavior made more sense. Peanut is the best little sidekick. Overall this was entertaining and made for a quick read with the writing style. I’ll definitely read more from this author.