I always enjoy reading this authors books. I like the way she always develops her characters and keeps my interest. Always ready for the next one
Thanks for the advanced copy to NetGalley and the publisher

Hello Stranger tells the story of struggling artist Sadie whose mother died when she was 14 and she is estranged from her father, stepmother, and evil stepsister. She suffers a seizure and is told she has a brain issue which needs immediate surgery - the same brain issue that killed her mother. After her surgery, she can't see faces - something which is a serious problem for a portrait artist. This novel had very likeable characters and I enjoyed the relationship between Sadie and her best friend Sue and Sue's family, as well as Sadie's infatuation with her vet and growing relationship with Joe, who lives in her building. Such a fun story and I learned something about "face blindness," which Sadie suffers from.

Thank to you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Sadie finally has a life oppertunity in her art career, but a little problem set her back she finds out that she will need brain surgery. Brain surgery is successful but Sadie becomes face blind - may be temporary may be permanent. I loved all the neurology reaseach about face blind. This story is about Sadie falling in love with two guy while not able to recognize their face. Story is told only from Sadie side as she is trying to do everyday things while trying to ajust her lifestyle with hee new impairment. I loved the author's note how important romance books are.

I will always recommend a Katherine Center book. She creates such wonderful and relatable characters. I thought this had an incredibly unique plot and a well crafted love triangle. It has enjoyable banter and dialogue. A wonderful romance that I will highly recommend!

"Our thoughts create our emotions. So if you fixate on your worst-case scenario, you'll make things harder for yourself"

This book was such a heartwarming, cute read! "Hello Stranger" honestly gave me those warm & happy feelings that you get when you sit down to watch a feel-good romantic comedy movie. It made me laugh, it made me smile, and it even made me feel sad at times: but overall, it left me feeling so very wholesome and uplifted at the end!

I found the storyline to be so unique, and it had some really great twists in it that always kept me guessing what was going to happen next. I also found it so incredibly interesting to see how Katherine Center incorporated the neurological disorder of prosopagnosia into the story. I thought that she was able to bring important representation to this disorder while also educating the reader about it which was great.

I absolutely loved Sadie. I found that she was a relatable character: from how she struggled to "need" others to how she questioned if her life decisions were the "right" ones. I loved how she was unapologetically herself and how she continued to try her best and not give up; I think this is something a lot of us strive to do too which made her so likeable to me.

I also found Joe (who I pictured as Joe Alwyn the entire time ngl) and Dr. Oliver Addison to be amazing characters, and of course, I LOVED PEANUT! I swear Peanut was eating better than I do lol

I absolutely enjoyed this book, and I would highly recommend to anyone looking for an uplifting, heartwarming read that has awesome characters and some great twists and turns!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have loved every single Katherine Center book and this one was no exception! What a great book!

Sadie has had a lot happen in her life - some good and some bad. She’s an artist and has really been struggling….and then she quite possibly has the biggest break with her art. Unfortunately something happens to Sadie and because of that, she finds herself struggling. Her big break could be in jeopardy but, not one to give up, she has to find a way to make it work.

You’ll fall in love with her bestie and a lot of the characters in this book. I felt like it would’ve been great to be her friend! There is some drama that happens in this book but I have to admit throughout this book I couldn’t help but giggle so many times!!

This book by Katherine Center will not disappoint. You’ll be so happy you read it!

This book, man. To say I loved it wouldn’t be completely truthful. I am in love - truly, madly, deeply - with this book.

I do not wish to have Sadie’s condition. However, I want to see people as she sees them. I want to recognize more than a face and a voice. Reading this book made me realize just how little I actually see those in my life. I look at them all the time, sure. But I don’t actually see them.

Katherine Center has the ability to break me wide open and leave me feeling vulnerable and tender. She Jedi-mind tricks you into reading 300+ pages about someone else only to walk away knowing you did, and will continue to do, some work on yourself.

Also I hate Parker. With a passion. This book should be sold with a Parker pin doll.

This was a wonderfully frustrating and humbling and vulnerable and beautiful story about what it means to be broken and who gets to decide that. How we either choose to cope or wallow in self pity (sometimes both in the span of five minutes). How we can create a new reality and dream when, what we once thought was possible, is no longer.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback and review.

4.5 stars

—this book was so good

i loved Katherine Center's The Bodyguard, so when i realized that she had a book coming out this year, i knew i had to pick it up, and i was so delighted when i realized i was chosen for its arc because this exceeded any and all of my expectations.

this book is about our main character, Sadie, who is a struggling portrait artist with a difficult relationship with her family. when she goes through brain surgery, she never expected to come out with face blindness. growth and her learning to adapt to this new condition of hers is the main idea of this novel, especially as a portrait artist, who, of course, has to be able to see faces in order to paint.

i had the best time reading this book—Center's writing is so fun and exciting; there was never a point in this book where i was bored. i think the concept of this book is so different and unique, and learning about acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia [faceblindness] was interesting.
this book was all about building relationships with new people and learning to adapt to the world from a different viewpoint.
i loved the romance part of this book; i think strangers-to-friends-to-lovers is an overlooked trope, especially considering that i imagine, it would be the most common 'trope" the in real world when starting a romantic relationship, and i loved seeing the connections between Sadie and the romance interests pave its way. emotion connection > physical connection any day.

overall, this story is a light and easy read, and one that i would definitely recommend.

thank you netgallery & st. martin's press for this e-arc!!

This was fantastic and such a fun read. I loved it so much and kept turning the pages. Can’t wait to be able to share this with friends.

Another amazing book by Katherine Center!!! I keep thinking of that line in the Santa claus - "seeing isn't believing, believing is seeing" as Sadie is healing from surgery up to the realizations at the end. It's a story that will keep you wondering about the faces that are wandering through Sadie's day to day (and guessing who may be who!)

I loved Joe. Such a cinnamon roll!! The moments with him and Sadie were just so sweet. He was supportive and intentional and present when she needed it the most.

True to any of Katherine's books, there's what if dreaming (the wedding to Dr. Oliver Addison DVM anyone?!) a slew of wonderful side characters (and not wonderful side characters. Parker is the absolute worse, and the neighbor with the apartment full of snakes. NO THANK YOU) and so many sweet moments all rolled into a heartwarming story that you can't help but root for from the get go.

Also for a little side note. I love the cover on this book, and now knowing the story behind it, the cover is that much more perfect 🥰

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review!

It was ok. I didn’t find anything really interesting with this. I wanted to like it. But I found it very boring.

4.5⭐️

Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery finally lands a spot as a finalist in a competition after years of struggling to find success. When she has to have unexpected brain surgery, she wakes up with acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, meaning she cannot see faces. This makes painting portraits near impossible, and now, Sadie has to find her new normal, including navigating a love triangle.

Katherine Center's books are reliably wonderful, and they have the perfect balance of substance and swoon. Her choice to feature such a unique condition makes Hello Stranger quite memorable. I continue to be drawn to Center's books because there is always a personal growth component, and she depicts her characters in such realistic and relatable ways. This was no exception-- Sadie is an easy to fall in love with FMC, and I'm confident readers will love her as much as I did!

I requested this book after having read The Bodyguard, but this felt like a completely different genre. Gone was the easy, flirty romance. This book was too slow for me, I really couldn’t get into the story.

Thanks NetGalley for providing an ARC.

Every Katherine Center book seems to get better than the last. The bodyguard was one of my favorites and this book did not disappoint.

I loved this bill! I’d never heard of face blindness and it was a really interesting concept! I was rooting for the characters the whole time and I liked that it’s clean enough for me to recommend to my high school students.

I LOVE every book Katherine Center has written, I've read them all, but Hello Stranger was my favorite Katherine Center book thus far! I was fascinated by this book, and had never heard of face blindness. I learned so much, and Katherine does a beautiful job as always with character development and writing a story that is so fun to read, but also has depth and leaves you thinking about so many things!

I'm calling it now -- Hello Stranger will be on lists as the best romance/rom com of the year!

Last night before bed, I picked the book up thinking I could get a few chapters in, fall asleep, and have something to sit with on a rainy Saturday. Did that happen? Nope. I could. not. stop. reading. I saved myself the final five chapters, only because I didn't want the story to end!

Rom Coms (Am I allowed to call this book a rom com?) seem to have really hit their stride in the book world over the past few years, making the market quite saturated. It's rare to find one that not only introduces unique characters and story, but also a completely engaging and surprising plot -- yes please! This love story created fantastic anticipation. (You'll know what I did there if you read the author's note.)

Usually, I'm completely satisfied to hit the end of a romance and wish the characters a happily ever after. At the end of this one, I wanted a sequel, or ten, to follow them into their golden years!

I read another review that called the protagonist, Sadie, many negative adjectives. While she had a lot of miserable traits to work through, every single one were sensible and justified based on her past and present. I never once felt any sort of "disgust" with Sadie, or any of the other characters.

While there are some obvious tropes (romance..amiright?), they were written in a captivating way. Overall, this is an adorable, adult rom com that will probably teach you a things while you read. It's also non-steamy, but still sexy -- which is pretty difficult a feat to pull off.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for an advanced copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed the newest Katherine Center. She is a wonderful storyteller. This book has a fascinating concept, and takes us on a ride with the main character as she copes with her “hot mess” life. It will make you laugh and cry.

Prosopagnosia. Face Blindness. Have you ever heard of it? I had never heard of this condition until this book, Hello Stranger by Katherine Center.

The main character, Sadie, a struggling portrait artist, suffers from this condition after having a seizure and then surgery. She is a finalist in an upcoming and very important portrait art show. How can you paint a portrait, a face, when faces are all jumbled up in pieces and not recognizable?

The romance part of the book involves veterinarian, Dr. Oliver Addison and her annoying neighbor, Joe. Who of course she can’t see their faces. The story also encompasses her estranged father and the loss of her mother when Sadie was a teenager. And I can’t forget to mention her “evil” step-sister, Parker, who is just plain mean!

Hello Stranger was an enjoyable read and the twisty part at the end was so fun!

For more information on Prosopagnosia, go to faceblind.org.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for offering this complimentary digital e-book. All opinions are my own and honest review. #HelloStranger #NetGalley

I have loved every book by Katherine Center so I was very excited when I saw this new release. Just like in her other stories, the main character, is a strong female named Sadie. Her entire world as she knows it gets turned upside down. We take the journey with her as she uses this unforeseen turn of events to look deep within and find herself. She confronts years of deep hurt, grows, and heals wounds. All with a cute romance sprinkled in. Some parts I found to be a little predictable, but in the best way. I really enjoyed this read and would definitely recommend, especially if you love Katherine's other stories.