Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an ARC of Hello Stranger by Katherine Center.

Sadie Montgomery is an aspiring artist whose life gets turned upside down after having a seizure and being saved by a Good Samaritan. After finding out that she has a serious medical condition that requires brain surgery, Sadie undergoes said surgery only to wake up and find out that she received an unwanted side effect - prosopagnosia (face-blindness) - just after finding out she's a contender for a prestigious art competition focused on.... portraits.

As Sadie learns to navigate her life with her prosopagnosia, she picks up on other clues as to who people are. She's able to recognize her friend Sue, but she also meets two other individuals. Dr. Oliver Addison and Joe, one of her neighbors nicknamed "Helpful" by the owner.

That's all I'm saying because I definitely recommend going into this book fairly blind. It's a very sweet story about overcoming obstacles, physically and mentally, and finding out more about yourself when you don't have it all together.

There were some slow parts, and also some parts I think could have been left out, but overall it's a good, short read, and I recommend it!

Since about 2020, Katherine Center has quickly become a favorite author of mine. I’ve read most of her library, and look forward to her new titles. Hello Stranger was no different! This is a story of a portrait artist who suffers a medical emergency and has a difficult time getting back to to her art.

As with many of her books, Ms Center has perfected the story of girl meets boy, they fall in love and live happily ever after, described by Ms Center herself as HOPE.

Hello Stranger was a tad predictable at times, and there were times when I was annoyed with our lead, Sadie. After noticing that people have a distinct gait, how could she not figure things out?

I had never heard of the disease that afflicts Sadie and found it an interesting point in the book.

Another wonderful love story by Katherine Center.

Hello Stranger is the second of Katherine Center’s novels that I’ve read, and the second that I’ve rated 4.5 ⭐️s! I’m not usually a huge romance reader, but her novels strike the perfect balance for me of a romcom with depth.

Things are not going well for Sadie. She is a portrait artist in Houston making her meager living on Etsy. She secretly lives in her art studio after breaking up with her narcissist boyfriend. Her dad is emotionally unavailable since her mother’s death, and she has an evil stepmother and stepsister to boot! What could go worse? Just when she’s about it get her big break, enter brain surgery and face blindness.

The face blindness was such an interesting factor. I palpably felt Sadie’s anxiety as she tried to figure out who people were without being able to make sense of their faces and how her since of self was rocked to the core.

The interesting thing about having a main character with face blindness is that since she can’t make sense of faces, the readers don't get the character descriptions that we’re used to. I had a hard time picturing the characters and felt less connected to them for that reason…but maybe that’s the point! Sadie’s face blindness also made her feel disconnected.

Read this book. You will fall in love with Sadie and her adorable fluff-ball dog. You will want to crawl through the pages and give her a hug and tell her she doesn’t always have to be okay. You will relate with her struggle to accept help. You might be able to follow the clues and know what’s coming in the end, but the anticipation is so strong that you won’t care.

I read this book in one sitting-started after dinner and stayed up until the wee hours of the night. I couldn’t put it down! When you pick up this book, learn from my mistake, and start earlier in the day 😉

I was thrilled to get this book as an advanced copy. No spoilers, fans of Katherine Center will be sure to love this one. At first the concept of the storyline seemed far fetched, but it turned into a unique and refreshing story where I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. A very happy and optimistic book that makes for a fun escape!

I couldn’t put this book down, despite guessing the ending and all of its pieces!

Sadie has an unfortunate accident, when she is supposed to be celebrating her life as an artist. Many things change and she is not able to see faces anymore. It was definitely not a medical condition I had heard of before. But it was detailed in the story, as to not leaving the reader behind. She feels hopeless and frustrated, which I am sure all readers can relate to at points in their own lives. But the story was a fun one to read.

I especially loved the author’s note at the end about hope and anticipation.
Thanks to net-galley for my ARC of this story.

This is such a feel good happy book. That is so weird try say because it revolves around Sadie who's mom died, her step sister is pure evil, who had to have brain surgery which left her face blind when she makes her living as a portrait artist. The hits just kept coming but Sadie persevered and always believed in herself.
I love Sadie. She was such a beautiful human. I found the situations she was in over the top but so relatable. I loved the having face blindness lead her to "see" the neighbor that she hadn't known. I loved the love triangle between her, Joe and Dr. Oliver. I also kinda loved her step mother Lucinda, flaws in all.
Great story with great friendships, family, karma and love.
The book has so many lessons of believe in yourself, ask for help when you need it. You are cheering for Sadie the whole book. Great story.

Hello Stranger
By: Katherine Center

⭐️⭐️
Wheww man I struggled through this book!!

I didn’t not like how it drug on & on and how she lost her facial recognition.

I thought it was gonna be very different then what it was.

I will say once I got to the last third of the book it picked up and got better but still didn’t really enjoy it.

It took way too long for me to read cause it was so easily put down.

Overall ⭐️⭐️

First let me say the waves of emotions when I read this. In the first half of the book I was a little bored, it could have been the reading slump I was in. It felt drawn out to me, a little slow. The main character was a little annoying. Then I pushed through and the second half really came through. I had a great time. I loved the ending. The main character grew on me, our guy, loved him. He was great. Overall it was a great read. I will definitely be reading more by Katherine Center.

This was my second book by Katherine Center and I am starting to become a fan. I was so excited when I was approved for this eARC.

There were so many things right about Hello Stranger. I am often wary of romance and rom-coms. I get tired of clichés and overused tropes. Hello Stranger was different. Not only was the plot interesting, it was also unique. Sadie, as a result of brain surgery, experiences facial blindness. Doctors do not know if this condition is temporary or permanent. As a portrait artist, this might mean the end of her career. Seeing how she copes with her new disability, learning her family dynamics, and relating to her struggles made her a very likable protagonist. Her grief of losing a loved one and how it directly impacted her was very compelling. And her love interest, Joe, was swoon worthy.

Something I disliked were the many plot holes that were glossed over by coincidences. There were many times when I questioned Sadie’s judgment. Parts of the book were predictable, especially the ending. However, it didn’t stop me from enjoying this book. By the end, you are left feeling warm and cozy.

This was just ok for me. I haven’t read any of her books before but they have come recommended by friends. Ending seemed unlikely. I didn’t love it but it wasn’t terrible .

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book! Although I kind of figured out the ending fairly quickly, I did really enjoy the ride. There are some great points and lessons to be taken from Sadie’s experience, and I learned about a brain condition I have never heard of before. Would definitely recommend to any romance/romcom reader out there

After reading The Bodyguard by Katherine Center, I was so excited to receive an advanced copy of this book, so thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for this ARC.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. In romance novels, I expect ridiculousness, coincidences, and predictability and I can suspend my disbelief for a lot of things... BUT there were some things that really bothered me.

ANYWAYS, I actually didn't see the twist until embarrassingly late in the book, which was refreshing for me. I did like Sadie's growth, but it felt like every other character in the book didn't grow in satisfying ways. I'm glad I read this book, I like Katherine Center's writing in general.

Full review with spoilers on goodreads!

A solid addition to Katherine Center's oevre. Hello Stranger will please fans of her work, but it was not as moving or strong a story as How To Walk Away or Things You Save in a Fire. The relationship between the two leads is solid, and I appreciate her attention to detail in depicting the neuroscience and psychological side of things, but the twist was pretty predictable from very early on, and I found the premise to be not as engaging as her other books.

A quick, clever, and delightful read. Although I saw the twist coming a little earlier than I wanted, I found myself racing to the conclusion because I was so invested in Sadie. I love thoughtful characters. I love complicated families. This was a great read!

A very heartwarming story! Center writes it in a way that makes you empathize with the protagonist, and the ending has a cute plot twist!

Im pretty new to Katherine Center, but so far I’m loving what I’m reading! Hello Stranger had the right balance of playful banter, introspective internal monologue, and sarcastic wit to keep me engaged. I will admit I figured out the ending by about chapter five, and so some pacing was a bit slow for me. But all in all, this was a cute story with a very unique theme - it makes me want to know more about the main characters medical diagnosis! This will be one that sticks with me for a bit.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGally for this arc!!

Lovable characters, interesting family dynamic, but the “plot twist” was just a little too unbelievable but yet also predictable by about 70% in. I liked it, but would recommend others by Center much more

I loved this book and I definitely want to buy a physical copy when it comes out! I really enjoyed these dynamic characters and how we got a deep dive into Sadie’s family relationships. I felt like this helped us understand Sadie as a character even more and it felt very healing to see her father begin to resolve some of their struggles and own up to his mistakes.
I felt like this book was full of hope and happiness and humor and I loved experiencing it! I also did not see the twist coming at the end and that was a really fun surprise. I thought maybe Joe was the Good Samaritan but I did not think he was Dr. Addison!
Another thing that I really enjoyed was that Sadie’s face blindness condition was based in scientific fact and I could tell how much time the author put into researching this condition. All in all, this was a great read and I loved the author’s note at the end, it felt like a hug.

Another story to add to your list is Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. It’s out in July and I’m actually sad I read it prior to its release date because it’s so good! Sadie is a portrait artist who is in the running to win a National contest and $10,000. She discovers she has a genetic mutation in her brain and has to have surgery. Turns out her mom had the same mutation and died from it. She has the surgery 6 weeks before her art show and ends up with facial blindness. Now the story gets really good! Throw in an evil stepsister; a hot vet doc and an interesting neighbor turns the story from good to great. Pick it up come July if you love quirky romcom stories! 5 stars

I would like to start off this review by saying I am a huge fan of the unbelievable, I am happy to suspend my disbelief and to ignore plot holes (sometimes to a fault) to fully immerse myself and get wrapped up in a good story! So when I say that this one was way too unbelievable for even me to enjoy, that is saying something!

Waaaaay too many coincidences, accompanied by plot holes that were poorly addressed or ignored completely. I can’t count the number of times I thought the words “yeah, okay…” during the course of this book!

In addition to the unbelievability, it just felt like there was way too much going on to be fully invested in any of it? I think this one could have been edited down to include only one or two of the major conflicts so we could have gotten the well rounded set up and resolution the story deserved.

After finishing this one up, I’m not only left with a lot of questions but just an overwhelming feeling of… so what? A happily ever after didn’t do it for me here! It wasn’t enough.

On a positive note, this book was definitely different than anything I have read before and I commend the author for venturing outside of the typical romcom form to try something out of the box! There was a lot of potential here, but unfortunately it really missed the mark for me!

Still a die hard Katherine fan though, and I look forward to continuing to enjoy her work in the future!