This book was amazing!! Sadie is an artist who has an accident and as a result of that accident, she has to undergo a surgery with a very serious side-effect -- she can no longer see faces. They are quite distorted for her!! Even if they belong to people she knew before. She must rely on the rest of her senses to guide her into recognizing the people she encounters.
Although Sadie keeps waiting and waiting for this condition to improve, it seems to just be taking it's sweet time!! Her medical team cannot find anything that would be causing the delay in her getting better, so they only advice they can give her is to be patient.
In the meantime, Sadie plans out an imaginary future with her vet, but quickly abandons that future when he stands her up for their first date. She ends up leaving with somebody she knows from her building and she only recognizes because of his jacket! However, this make-up dates turns out to be just what she needed in order to distract her from her horrible first-date from her dream guy, who she has assumed was perfect. But Sadie knew this guy from her building wasn't perfect, so she has to figure if she is willing to give this blossoming relationship a chance with him or not. And will her facial recognition abilities ever return to normal??!

GENERAL INFO

Year Pub: 7/11/23

Date read: 5/15/23

Format: Kindle

Source: e-ARC. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Page Count:336

Setting: Houston

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Rom-Com

Tropes: medical condition, bullying

Standalone/Cliffhanger/Part of a Series: standalone

HEA/HFN ending: HEA

Epilogue Included: yes, 1 year later

Character(s)POV Spoken: h Sadie

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Synopsis/Plot Summary: Artist Sadie Mongomery entered a portrait competition to help with her financial woes. She has a medical emergency-a seizure in the street. Forced to have brain surgery, she gets face blindness, a rare side effect. As she struggles to cope and work through major family issues, she falls in love—not with one man but two.

M/F-M/M-M/M/F-etc: M/F

Contains Cheating: no

Contains Children: no

Flashbacks: yes, memories of Sadie's mother and life after her death with stepsister

Jealy/Possy/OTT H/h : Sadie is a little jealous of her evil stepsister Parker coming on to Joe.

Amount of Sex In The Book: none

Overall Smex Rating: 0

CHARACTER DESCRIPTION

Hero: Dr. Oliver Addison

Hero Description: A veterinarian who helps Sadie when her dog Peanut gets sick.

Hero Likability Rating: 5

Heroine: Sadie Montgomery

Heroine Description: introvert, struggling artist who sells portraits from photos on Etsy. She lives in a studio "hovel." Enters portrait competition. Needs minor brain surgery for cavernomas which caused her a seizure. Her mother died from same condition when she was 14 years old. Side effect of operation-prosopagnosia- face blindness. Sadie can't make out people's faces, even those she knows already.

Heroine Likability Rating: 5

Secondary characters:
Peanut-Sadie's dog her mother gave her when she was 14 yrs old
Dr. Richard Montgomery-Sadie's father, cardiothoracic surgeon. Not close because Sadie dropped pre-med for fine arts in college.
Lucinda-Sadie's evil stepmother
Parker-Sadie's evil stepsister
Sue-Sadie's bff, Korean. Mr. and Mrs. Kim, Sue's parents, own building Sadie lives in
Dr. Nicole- guides/encourages Sadie after diagnosed with face blindness
Joe-a helpful neighbor in Sadie's building

H /h RELATIONSHIP INFO

OW/OM/Exes: Ezra-Sadie's ex from 3 years ago. Oliver was married and wife Skylar cheated on him.

Cheating Before/During/Outside H/h Relationship: yes

CONTENT WARNINGS/TRIGGERS
medical condition, parental death/grief, bullying, mention of suicide attempt- not H or h

AUTHOR OVERVIEW
Katherine Center
New or read before & any favorites: Loved The Bodyguard

PERSONAL OVERVIEW

Overall Rating: 4/4.5

Do You Recommend This Book: yes

Will You Re-read This Book: yes

Would You Read More Books by this Author: yes

COMMENTS/NOTES: I connected to Sadie's life that "everything that can go wrong- does." Sometimes life just keeps throwing problem after problem. Dr. Nicole and Sue are Sadie's cheerleaders, encouraging her to see the positive. Oliver is gem. He's a great support to Sadie who knows exactly what she needs. There are ALOT of misunderstandings but they are easy to believe with Sadie's condition. A great HEA and very PG.

I adored this book so much! Center always writes amazing characters that you love so much and root for. Her stories are not hard to get attached to and immediately pulled in. Loved it and the audiobook was perfect!!

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Katherine Center for providing me with an ARC of Hello Stranger. I absolutely devoured this book any chance I had. My daily goal is 50 pages a day and I was well passed that without even realizing. This was such a fun read and honestly gave me a new hope and look on life I never expected. This is my second book of hers and she has been made an auto buy moving forward. You know those butterflies you get sometimes when something exciting is happening? That’s this book.

I haven’t ever read a book by Katherine Center, but I’m certainly happy that this was my first experience. I very much enjoyed this book. The dialogue is strong, which moves the plot well. The author is adept and characterizing, which is something that makes a book appealing to me. This will be a hit, I’m sure. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Katherine Center writes the BEST female main characters ever! I’m obsessed with this story and read it in less than a day! I could have listened forever I was laughing and smiling so much! This is how miscommunication is written in a rom com!

I adored this novel. It was so cute. I learned a new word prosopagnosia which means face blindness and the astounding number of people who have this condition. I cannot even imagine and Sadie is an author, so just the worst possible scenario for this condition. I dug the cinderella story embedded into this one. Sadie is so lovable and even though the little plot twist is super obvious, it was obvious in the best way. It was so obvious that I wondered if I was wrong a few times. Joe seems so amazing. I want him to be my boyfriend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this advanced reader's copy for an honest review. I will read anything Katherine Center writes. I also loved The Bodyguard so send them to me automatically. lol.

An extraordinary read. I thought that I was clever figuring out the "plot twist" (if you will) at 30% but after finishing it, I do believe that was the point. I am so used to not guessing the end, that being on the other side was fun. I found myself feeling so much more emotion for the FMC than I would have figuring it out when she does in the book. This is definitely one of my favorite books I have ever read as it is packed full of emotions, romance, and self growth.

In Hello Stranger, we meet Sadie, the FMC. She finally got her big break as a portrait artist and things seem to be going to plan. That is until she is almost run over in the middle of the road, and her life is completely changed. Luckily, Sadie is saved by a good Samaritan that she cannot remember but it led her to find out about a small brain issue that requires minor surgery. A few days later, after surgery, she now discovers she can no longer see faces - which is an issue as a portrait artist. Sadie is honestly just prone to one accident after the other in the book, but there are so many great lessons learned.
Our MMC, Joe. What a sweetie. I am not one for spoilers so let me just end this here. I love Joe.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. But especially to someone who is looking for an emotional pull, no spice but pure butterflies, and if you're looking for a less traditional romance/fiction trope. This book is so unique, I am not sure I can pin point a specific trope to describe it overall- but it has self compassion, miscommunication, and family struggles.

TW: Death of a parent (an adult who loses their parent as a teen)

Katherine Center does it again! I adore her romances: captivating, compelling, heartfelt, authentic, relatable, emotional and most of all hopeful and this one was no different. I was also completely fascinated by the face blindness aspect of the story. Add in some heart-wrenching family drama and this was a top-notch romance. Center has a loyal fan in me and I can’t wait to read more from her. I previously loved The Bodyguard and Things You Save in a Fire. I also always love the bright, gorgeous cover art!

Katherine Center has a way in which she captivates the reader into the story and grabs a hold on them. I have given each of the books that I have read by her 5 stars and this was no exception. Although it is a romance, it is so realistic and and has depth to the plot line that surface romances do not.

This is the second book by Katherine Center that I read and I found it to be the exact light romance I needed! The book is a very quick read and I found myself binging it in one day. Sadie is a struggling artist searching for her big break. She might just get one when she lands a highly sought after finalist spot at a portrait competition. The only problem is she needs to get minor surgery done in the weeks leading up to the event. When she wakes up to find out she can no longer see faces, she is devastated to think about the impact on her career. What follows is a very entertaining read in which Sadie tries to save her career, deal with her past, and tries not to fall in love with two different guys.

I thought Sadie was such an interesting main character. Her need to be ok in front of everyone else while quietly struggling is pretty relatable. I loved how we got to read about her recovery journey as she adjusts to her new normal and how the impact from her surgery led her to broaden her perspective in how she sees herself. I really felt for her as she worked to get her life back to the way it was prior to her surgery and as she learned to accept that not everything will be the same again. The romance aspect of this book is very sweet and has some wonderful heartwarming moments. I also found myself laughing out loud while reading. While I will say I caught on to the twist pretty early on, it was still so fun to read and the reveal was done so well! Also, Peanut the geriatric pup is the star of the show!

I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it to romcom fans! This book is out on July 11th so definitely put it on your radar now!

I couldn’t put Hello Stranger down! I fell in love with The Bodyguard, so when I saw this on netgalley, I hit request so fast. Sadie is a struggling artist about to get her big break, only to have to have an unexpected surgery that leaves her with a case of face blindness. As she struggles to cope, she meets veterinarian Dr. Addison and falls for him, but there’s also her obnoxious neighbor Joe that always seems to show up—and as she juggles love, her career, and her family, she refuses to ask for help, not telling anyone about her struggles, including the face blindness. I loved Sadie so much, she was brave and stubborn and vivacious. There was clearly a lot of research about the face blindness and it was such a unique take on a romance. The writing was sharp and witty and addicting. Sadie’s dog Peanut is a gem, and all the side characters were so well developed and added so much. The family story is as such a strong emotional element, and Sadie just takes on so much. It is so charming and fun and endearing, and the banter was so good! Makes me more excited to keep reading more of Katherine Center’s backlist!

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Publication date: July 11th

I really enjoyed this story! It was reminiscent of How to Walk Away mixed with The Bodyguard, both by this author. It was a women’s fiction story about navigating life when nothing is going your way with a romance thrown in.

This one had several heavy themes and so many things happened to the poor FMC. I enjoyed the plot line of a striving artist with face blindness. The medical aspects of the story at the beginning were a bit long to me, but I understand why she wrote it that way.

Perfect for you if you like:
Romance mixed with women’s fiction
*when life gives you lemons*
Story with a medical scare

The premise of this story was definitely interesting. My main struggle with this book, however, was Sadie. I think the author did a great job bringing more awareness about face blindness but Sadie was really stubborn for no reason and this honestly took away from the story for me. She was immature and lackluster, and I had no idea why she was so adamant when other characters were just being nice. This also personally made it harder to connect to Sadie. As for the other characters, I honestly didn't really like Sue (in my opinion, she was a terrible best friend) and Sadie's family just confused me because I'm not really sure what purpose they brought to the story (Lucinda's character especially confused me from beginning to end). Their ending felt incredibly random. As for Joe, I would have loved to see more of him. I feel like Sadie and Joe's relationship was extremely one-sided and we never got to see them in a setting where he wasn't helping her. Their relationship progressed so quickly and I was extremely caught off guard when they mentioned they were in love. Despite all this, I did enjoy the humor in this book and the last half of the book was significantly better than the first half!

Another spectacular novel from Katherine Center. Once again she has made me fall in love with her characters and her writing. I loved Sadie. I feel like everything bad that could happen to a person hit her in her 30 years. Yet she was still happy and loving and trying to do her best. And Joe- sweet Joe, almost too sweet and helpful Joe. I felt the little bits and pieces we kept learning about him made me want to keep coming back for more. And honestly, I wrote Parker off within 10 seconds of reading about her. But The Kims, we all need this kind of people in our life.

5 huge stars as usual for my Katherine Center books. Read and enjoy this lovely novel, you will not regret it.

I found this to be an inspiring story. In this story the main character acquires prosopagnosia (face blindness) weeks before she is to present a new portrait for an art contest. She is learning how to live with it not knowing if it will come back. This story was a reminder to be kinder to people and to see past the looks.

The ending wasn't quite what I expected and I can't decide if that is good or bad. It was interesting.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was absolutely wonderful. Like, I read it in one sitting. Sadie is basically a starving artist who just wants her big break but then gets facial blindness from an accident. The kicker? Her specialty in painting is faces, like Norman Rockwell. This is clearly devastating for Sadie and thus begins her trying to navigate this new issue that the doctors say may or may not resolve. The only face she can still see is that of her beloved dog, Peanut, who gets sick and ends up seeing a new veterinarian who Sadie falls in love with... but is Dr. Oliver Addison who she really thinks he is?

Gah. This book was seriously adorable.

I loved this book. It was such an interesting premise and lots of angst, heartache, and hope. I hated the evil stepsister Parker to the point I almost hope there is a sequel to this story with her having a change of heart, because man, she was vile. Loved Sadie, Joe, and Sue, especially since she was a different sort of best friend. She was wonderful, but also not perfect! She tries to do her best but gets it wrong sometimes, and that’s ok.

If nothing else, please read or listen to the author's note at the end of this story. It is a beautiful tribute to why we read romance, and it is spot on. The “anticipation” of this story was there and wonderful!

I received a free ARC from Netgalley and it did not influence my opinion in any way.

There is just something about Katherine Center’s writing that I adore! It draws me in and makes me not want to stop reading or listening. My heart broke for Sadie so many times during the course of this book. It seemed like nothing was ever going to go her way. Having a seizure and brain surgery was traumatic enough, but not being able to do what she loved and was passionate about was such a blow. I loved her friendship for Joe that becomes more. Her friendship with her sweet pup was another favorite part for me. This was the second time Center made me a little nervous as we neared the ending, but as expected, it was everything and more. I can’t wait to have this book on my shelf!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ok this review will be short because I refuse to spoil even an ounce of this amazingness. However, I will say this may be my favorite of the @katherincenter books which is saying a lot because I have loved each and everyone one. The way she writes is filled with such love and hope and also heartbreak. It will make you truly feel (and cringe - at one point I was yelling at Sadie) all of the emotions. And you will learn - because Katherine always does her research and I always learn something new from her books. Also, can we just all agree that Lucinda is the best step mother name ever?

I also can’t not mention how much I loved the author’s note. “Light matters just as much as darkness” - I so agree. The knowledge that when I read a romance novel it will end in a happy ending makes it the perfect escape in a busy stressful world. That cocktail of emotions is what I come back for. And I love the challenge to change the framework that romance novels are “predictable” to rather we can “anticipate” the happy ending. @katherinecenter challenge accepted!

Thank you to @katherinecenter @netgalley and @stmartins for the ARC!