*Received copy for review.*
I love the way this author writes characters. They are nuanced and flawed and so utterly human.
I cannot imagine how a portrait artist would feel if they could no longer see faces.
This book is a lot about grief and how it can impact your life long term. It’s also about learning to live a different way after unexpected trauma/illness/injury.
I loved the two main characters and although I figured out a twist, I still enjoyed the story.

Wow, this story was incredible. I honestly haven’t been reading many synopses of books anymore, because I just love going into stories blind now. So I can truly say I did not expect what I got out of this story.

In this story, our main character, Sadie, is a portrait artist who undergoes brain surgery. After the surgery, she is left with swelling over the part of the brain responsible for facial recognition/perception, the fusiform gyrus. She becomes “face blind” - how will she reconcile this with her career where she literally paints photorealistic faces?

Yes, this is a romance (and a good one at that!!), but also, Sadie has so. Much. Growing to do. Everything is upside down for her, and that requires her to confront many things in her life, as well as look at life with a very different perspective. I loved this part of the story the most. Sadie’s therapist, Dr. Nicole, quite frankly made me change my perspective on some things. Most hitting was that we see what we look for (confirmation bias), and that when we look for good things, we tend to find and experience more good things. Of course I’ve heard this wisdom before, but to be in Sadie’s head while she accepts and proves it was very powerful.

The ending had a twist that I truly did not expect, and it all came together very well. Also, there was so much humor in this book!! I laughed out loud so many times. Katherine Center’s way of writing Sadie’s dramatic internal dialogue, and the slightly sarcastic/dry almost nonsense, was just so fun.

This book left me feeling hopeful, satisfied my anatomy and psychology-loving brain, and most of all was NOURISHING. I read Katherine Center’s note at the end and her take on why we as readers love romance novels, and I think she hit the nail on the head.

Please give this a read when it comes out, July 11, 2023. Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of this wonderful story, I had an incredible time.

Sadie, a struggling artist, just found out that she’s a finalist in a portrait competition. The same competition her mother was a finalist in before she died. She’s finally about to prove to her father, a surgeon, that being an artist was the right choice. While crossing the street, she has a non convulsive seizure and is saved from getting hit by a car by a Good Samaritan. She needs brain surgery and wakes up to a condition called acquired apperceptive prosopagnoisa, also known as face blindness. Faces appear jumbled and she cannot tell people apart. How can an artist paint a portrait if she can’t see faces? Even worse, she falls in love with two men, and can’t see their faces.

I absolutely loved this book. Sadie falls in love with Dr. Addison, her dog’s new veterinarian, and Joe, a man in her apartment building who did not make the greatest first impression but made up for it as the story went on. I absolutely LOVED Joe. He was so sweet and caring.

I enjoyed the addition of her evil stepsister Parker. I hated Parker but I think she was a necessary evil. She needed to have some of these confrontations with Parker in order to stand up for herself and heal her relationship with her father and stepmother (even though Parker is a big reason she has issues with them).

I also loved getting to see Sadie’s artistic journey. She was very resilient when trying to paint without seeing faces.

I guessed the big twist and was delighted to be along the ride for Sadie’s journey. As Center says in the Author’s Note, romance is about anticipation and this book exemplified that.

There is medical jargon but it gets explained in a simple way for the every day person. This book also had a really great lesson on confirmation bias that I think people nowadays should be aware of.

This is the first book I’ve ever read by Katherine Center and I will definitely be going back to read her previous books.

I received an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley, for allowing me to read an eGalley of this title before publication in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I will start by confessing my long-time admiration for author Katherine Center, I typically adore her novels and look forward to reading each one. I know that when I pick up a Katherine Center book, I am in for a treat with her trademark emotional depth, humor, and complex characters.

Hello Stranger came up a bit short for me compared to other novels of Center's. I enjoyed it, but it didn't blow me away. Some parts of this book were incredibly deep and emotional, other parts were a tad ridiculous and silly. I had a few questions left when the book was over, I didn't feel like I got all the closure I needed about a few of the characters involved. That being said, the twist at the end really surprised me. I did not see that coming!

Sadie is a confused and at times immature main character who I really wanted to see develop into a strong woman taking charge of her $hit and relationships. I felt like she was just starting to turn that page by the end of the novel, when her interactions with the other adults in her life started to become more adult-like.

Despite some of the silliness, this novel had a unique plot, I haven't read anything like it before. Center has a way of bringing medical conditions and difficulties to light, such as this book's focus on prosopagnosia. She does a nice job of humanizing it and taking the reader into the middle of the character's adverse circumstances.

This is a work of fiction, but I learned something from it. I look forward to reading more of Center's work in the future.

I've loved everything I've read by Katherine Center, and Hello Stranger was no exception! While I loved the light-hearted romcom feel of it, it was interesting to have it centered around face blindness, which isn't something many people talk about or write about. I've certainly not read about it in many other books. Overall, Hello Stranger was entertaining and kept me turning the pages!

3.5 ⭐️

I am planning to read this soon. Just read the audiobook for The Bodyguard and loved the narrator!

#netgalley #hellostranger

🌼 𝐑 𝐄 𝐕 𝐈 𝐄 𝗪 🌼⁣
⁣
𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 by 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫⁣
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ .5⁣
⁣
First of all, thank you so much to @stmartinspress for my copy of 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳! Be sure to grab a copy of your own when it publishes on 7/11 (also my 6th dating anniversary with my husband 😍)!⁣
⁣
I kinda fell in love with 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 after reading 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘥𝘺𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥, which came as a surprise to me since it is a closed-door romance. Not exactly my preference. 😅 But I adored it and decided I needed to read all of 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫’𝐬 books. I was pretty freaking thrilled when I saw that 𝐒𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧’𝐬 granted me a digital review copy of this one!⁣
⁣
𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 is an absolutely adorable but incredibly predictable story. I mean, if you don’t see this coming from a mile away, I would be shocked. That’s honestly the only reason I took away a half star. It’s a very enjoyable book, but it’s very easy to figure out. At the same time, several elements just seem a little too far-fetched for me, but I tried to ignore those. 😅⁣
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𝐒𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐞 is quite the comical main character and reminds me a lot of myself, so that was a fun breath of fresh air. It’s been a while since I’ve read a very relatable character. I missed that.⁣
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Y’all have to read this one when it publishes! If only to tell me if you figured out the big reveal as quickly as I did. 😅

I love Katherine Center books. She has a way of writing such sweet story lines that feel like a warm hug. I will say I found this book a little far fetched in some of the coincidences. There was great banter between the characters which I always enjoy. Overall, not my favorite of her books but a fun read.

Great book! Believable characters. Would definitely read another book by this author because she didn’t draw out the story.

Katherine Center does it again! She builds delicious anticipation for how the pieces will fall into place and ultimately shocks the reader with a satisfying twist. Not only did Katherine Center create a surprising plot using an obscure medical condition, but she did it in a way that feels entirely believable and medically accurate. High praise for this KC novel. I wish I could reread it for the first time.

I am a huge fan of Katherine Center, so I was so excited to see she had a new book out. Unfortunately I DNFd this one around 20%. I could not get into it. I plan on trying to come back to it again in the future.

Sadie is a struggling portrait artist who has just learned she’s the finalist in a big contest when she has an episode that leads to her having brain surgery. A side effect of the brain surgery is that she develops face blindness that may or may not be temporary. As she tries to rebuild her life and finish a portrait for the contest, she finds herself falling for both her dog’s veterinarian and her obnoxious neighbor, who maybe isn’t that obnoxious after all. I really like Katherine Center, but this wasn’t my favorite of hers. I felt like she could have explored the relationship Sadie had with her father a bit more and the nasty step-sister was way over the top. I did really like the ending though. I also appreciate the author’s note about romance novels. She really captured what I love about them as well.

Such a cute book!! I loved the characters and the whole story! The medical part was pretty interesting to me!! I throughly enjoyed this! Thanks NetGalley!

Awww what a fun book! It honestly took me a little why to get into (I think because of all the medical stuff haha) and I saw the “twist” coming a mile away but still, what a ride! I found myself laughing out loud more than once while reading this.
Thanks for the ARC, Netgalley! It was definitely a fun read

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

Hello Stranger

ARC - Pub Date July 11

What a great book 😊 Such a unique storyline and great characters. I also found this book very funny and caught myself laughing quite a bit.

I would say it has a bit of everything and would highly recommend it to everyone. It was also my first read of @katherinecenter and if all her books are like this one my TBR shelf is in danger 😂

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

Summary of plot:

Sadie is a portrait artist, like her mother. She has a complicated family. Her father wants her to be a doctor, and she has an evil stepmother and stepsister. She’s not doing great in life until one day she gets accepted as a finalist to a portrait art contest—one where she can make big bucks. However, her luck runs out when she gets a seizure and is diagnosed with temporary fade blindness—something you definitely do not want as a portrait artist. This book follows how she navigates this new part of her life while also balancing family problems and her art contest.

Thoughts on the book:

I’m kind of conflicted on how I feel about this book. For the most part, I really enjoyed it. I love how the author dives into these complex issues around family drama and brings light to face blindness. There were so many emotional scenes, especially when Sadie talks about her mother who died years earlier. I love the scene where Sadie recites the last voicemail her mother sent her.

However, there were minor aspects that I didn’t like, such as the bullied girl who came back, Sue eloping, etc. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the romance. I honestly think this book could be better without the romance. I saw it a mile away, but that’s okay. But that’s just my opinion.

Overall, I would read this book again.

Would I recommend this book? Yes!

I loved this book so much. One of few 5 star reads so far this year. It was cute and heart warming and just what I needed. I called the twist but still enjoyed it.

This book was a fun and light-hearted read! The author does a stellar job of describing prosopagnosia. I’d heard of this condition, but feel like I learned a lot more about it while reading Sadie’s experience of it. I did have to suspend disbelief a bit while reading but I could overlook that. I really loved Joe and Mr Kim! The stepsister, Parker, was so evil - she was fun to hate. Overall, I gave this book 4 stars. It was a sweet, funny, fast paced read that also taught me something.

Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I always say this, but I think this might be my favorite!! I loved the banter between Sadie and Joe. They are so cute!! I figured everything out pretty quickly, but it didn’t keep me from completing enjoying this book. Sadie is precious and I loved her spunk and her availability to overcome what was thrown at her. Katherine just needs to keep writing books like this.
And can we just discuss how beautiful this cover is!!!

4.5 Stars

"Seeing the world differently helps you see things not just that other people can’t—but that you yourself never could if you weren’t so lucky. It lets you make your own rules. Color outside your own lines. Allow yourself another way of seeing."

Sadie a struggling portrait artist on her way to a lucky break in a competition. Only problem is it coincides with a needed brain surgery. Things don't go quite as planned and after surgery she is left with with prosopagnosia (face blindness). Try being a portrait artist who can't see faces. Sadie has a complicated relationship with her father and her mom passed away when she was a teen.

She meets a very handsome vet, who she thinks could be her future husband and then starts having feelings for the hipster guy living in her apartment building. Will Sadie be able to save her career? Who will win her heart?

I also enjoyed the authors note at the end of the book. She talks about why she started writing romance novels, and what she hopes the reader will get out it.

Thanks to netgalley for an advance read copy.