I am relatively new to Katherine Center’s books. I loved The Bodyguard, but Hello Stranger is my new favorite. Katherine Center wrote a heartfelt and captivating story about gaining a new perspective on the world while navigating a new normal.

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling artist who is a finalist in a portrait drawing competition that could change her life. She lost her mother early, and her relationship with her father is strained. She also has an older dog that has health issues. Sadie and her best friend, Sadie, hosted a party to celebrate Sadie being a finalist. Unfortunately, Sadie had a seizure and ended up in the hospital. She found out that she had developed a face blindness condition called prosopagnosia. She does not know if the situation will be temporary or permanent, so she has to learn how to cope with her new normal.

Her life is now not going as she pictured. She must learn to draw portraits without seeing the model’s face. Her dog encountered a big health scare and had to visit the veterinarian. It was love at first encounter for Sadie with the hunky veterinarian, Dr. Addison. Also, there’s Joe, her neighbor, who she self-proclaimed as a womanizer.

I loved everything about this book. It was so easy to get immersed into Sadie’s world. I could feel for her as she struggled with her new reality and rooted for her when she realized who would be her perfect match. The suspense of the competition and the love triangle kept me interested until the end. Also, the scene between Sadie and her stepmother about the dress the hospital allegedly got disposed of pulled on my heartstrings. I did not anticipate the surprise at the end, but it was a fun way to end the book.

The topic of Prosopagnosia was new to me, so I thought it was interesting to see that in the book. I loved how Katherine touched on the subject, informing the readers about the symptoms, diagnosis, and coping strategies. I also loved how Katherine empathizes that all individuals can perceive the world differently than their peers due to many factors. Changing perspectives can help see things in a new light.

If you’re looking for a heartfelt, feel-good story that has a strong female lead with a fun love triangle and also an elderly dog that probably eats better than any human, this is the book for you!

Thank you to Netgallery and to St. Martin Press for a copy of the book.

I stayed up way too late binging this book! Another sweet romance from Katherine Center!
I learned a bunch about face blindness and how our conscience bias works and fills in blanks for us.
The book has made me think about slowing down and taking in my surroundings. Living in the moment. Putting the phone down and looking at the expressions of people around me.
It also emphasized that it’s ok to ask for help. No one can get through this life without a little assistance. It’s freeing to admit that you need help and accept that help with open arms.

I loved the building anticipation through the entire book!

Do not miss this one! Get your pre-orders in! It comes out July 11! The cover is so dang cute!

First off a thousand thank you’s to Net Galley and publisher for sending me an electronic arc of this book. I loved this book. Sadie’s journey through her diagnosis and aftermath of her brain cavernoma made me feel all the things. I laughed and cried and at times wanted to shack the shit out of Sadie. But I finished this book with a smile on my face and an absolute desire to make all my reading friends bread this book. Katherine Center is a complete auto buy for me after this boom.

This book was absolutely amazing. Thank you NetGalley and Katherine Center for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. This is just the second book of Katherine's that I have read and I really have enjoyed both.
The characters in this one come to life and I started to imagine it as a movie and who would play the parts, I had such a connection with the characters. The story line is very engagine and keeps you interested in how the whole realm of scenarios will play out. ABSOLUTELY recommend this book.

Wow.

I want to start by saying I truly loved Happiness for Beginners & What You Wish For….I’m a fan of Katherine Center…I will keep reading her novels….but this missed the mark for me.

What I liked: Sadie’s quirky flare for holding on to her moms possessions, her love for her dog Peanut, Mr & Mrs Kim. The awareness brought to prosopagnosia was great, I love reading about something I didn’t even know existed.


And unfortunately that’s about it.

What I didn’t like: Sadie, Parker, Sue, Lucinda….and just about everything else.
I’ll start with the obvious, the evil step sister? How do adults not see past that? Two years at a boarding school because she randomly started torturing her own best friend?

She really couldn’t figure out it was the same guy? This is a whole thing for me….yes we see what we wanna see…but I know I’m not the only one who feels it when my partner walks in the room..I can sense him out of anyone else, I can just tell…..ok ok she can’t trust herself but still? How did he not say “Hey neighbor” when she brought Peanut in if he was crushing on her? How did he not ever ask how Peanut was doing in the halls or in the apartment? How did he not ask her how she was after the hospital? “How’s your health?!” Ummmmm no. How when he showed up at the coffee shop did he not briefly apologize for being so late? It really wasn’t a shocker it was the same guy, it wasn’t a shocker he was talking about a dog in the elevator…all of those elements added to the ‘hahaha oops miscommunication’ element of the book, but this was just too many misses for me.

The dad never making an effort till he got called out on it? Disclosing the heartbreaking element of their true grief in there when talking to him? Too on the nose for me, being brought up earlier would have helped develop Sadie’s hesitance better.

I won’t even bring up Sadie, because the lack of maturity is real there, I’m not quite sure what Oliver would see in her…she can’t even call him by his real name once their engaged.


I absolutely hate tearing books apart, I firmly believe the sentiment in the book that the more you look for the good the more you find it, but heaven help me, this one just wasn’t for me. I will still line up front and “Center” for the next novel of hers, but this one will not be one I recommend to friends.

5 huge stars🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book hit me SO hard. ❤️😔😳
I have to give full and very personal disclosure here- I actually cried through most of this book- tears of heartache, tears of experience, tears of gratitude and tears of healing. I was triggered in a way that a book has never done to me before. All the other reviews talk about how sweet and lovely this book was and yes, it definitely is all those things. For me though, there was another personal level that was impossible to ignore. When I first read the synopsis on Netgalley, I didn't see anything here about brain injury. But *spoiler alert* the main character suffers from a brain injury and a huge part of this book is of her suffering, and learning about her new normal and the frustrations and the struggle to heal. Of course it is obviously a romance too with a swoon worthy love interest and that part was great. Several years ago, I suffered and just about died from the same brain injury that the main character suffers from. She lost her ability to see faces, I lost my ability to read....deep breaths. Now, as any one here on Goodreads should be able to understand how devastating that is- as a person, as a huge reader and especially as a parent of two little kids. Just like the main character who could see the individual aspects of the face but her brain couldn't translate that into a whole face, I could see the letters identify them and know what they sound like, but my brain refused to put them together into words. The FMC was devastated to not be able to see her face in the mirror, I couldn't read board books to my kindergartener yet alone fill out school forms. It was a struggle and the worst internal battle ever. And it is such a struggle for me to even begin to explain to people what it was like and the inner turmoil you feel when your brain is not doing what it is supposed to be doing. Years later after lots of therapy, I am 98% back. Reading this book was a look back into one of the worst times in my life. And it wasn't PTSD from the experience that made me a blubbery sob mess, it was the fact that this book was SO well written and SO well researched. I have so many highlighted verses and I just couldn't stop thinking, work, this author really gets me. It is the truest and most accurate description of what having a cavernoma and brain injury was like for me. I couldn't have put it into words better and for that I am so very grateful. To the author Katherine Center, I know the amount of research you did must have been extensive for the novel and it felt so wonderful as a reader to feel "seen" and understood.

As for the book, the story was beautiful, the research flawless and the writing was perfection. All around devastatingly beautiful. Thank you so much for this treasure. I am not sure if this was the authors intention, but I think if any book moves you in such a dramatic way, then mission accomplished. Much love ❤️❤️❤️

** I received a copy of this ARC from the author and Netgalley to which I am eternally grateful. My review is entirely my own honest opinion**

ps. The author wrote a wonderful note at the end of this book about romance novels- don't skip it!

“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.”
This was such a good book. I loved that it was different than anything I had read before. I enjoyed reading about Sadie’s difficulties and watching her grow as the story progressed. I also loved that it had a happy ending but also had angst in it too.

I thought it started off a little slow, but then I really got into it. I thought her last book read a little more like a Christina Lauren book (I love these authors), and though I enjoy those books, those aren't Katherine Center. This one was definitely back on track!! Even as a nurse, I never knew about prosopagnosia - quite interesting. Maybe I was a bit slow on the uptake, but the ending surprised me!! I would definitely recommend this book!

Hello Stranger is another wonderful read by Katherine Center! I instantly fell in love with Sadie and empathized with her situation. Throughout the book, I was kept guessing. Is Joe the one for her? Or is it swoony Dr. Addison? And what about the Good Samaritan at the beginning? The delightful ending is well worth it!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Katherine Center, and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

I loved this book so much, it was such an easy read and was so absorbing I stayed up late to finish it! Sadie Montgomery gets the best news in forever- she is a top 10 finalist in the North American Portrait Society! Her good luck only lasts so long-on her way to celebrate with her best friend she has a seizure in the crosswalk-then cut to after her brain surgery when she is struck by face blindness! Sade has to rely on other ways to recognize the people around her and along the way begins to see she can actually rely on THEM (including the cute but player neighbor). As Sadie deals with family drama and trauma, puppy love and real love- she begins to wonder- has she been blind all along?

This book was lightheaded and charming, the perfect way to decompress after a long day!

This book was fabulous! It has some editing with grammar/word spelling but I expect that for an ARC. The story though I loved. It was different than typical books like these. The main character’s condition definitely made it interesting and leaving you wanting to keep reading. Also, liked there was a very little twists in the book that I should have seen coming but didn’t. I loved the bit of mystery in this book. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

i read the bodyguard which i LOVED. low low spice, but still very good. i really enjoyed this book and was happy to get it as an arc from net galley. basically she’s a portrait artist just chosen to be a finalist in the same competition her dead mother was a finalist in just before she died. and then she has a seizure caused by a malformed blood vessel in her brain requiring brain surgery. she gets the surgery and swelling and fluid in her brain cause her to develop acquired face blindness. obviously a bit of a mess for someone who paints faces for a living. she has a hard time accepting or telling people this but she develops a crush on her veterinarian and also on the guy she thought was a huge jerk and playboy in her building who’s maybe not those things? it’s very very good and made me laugh and cry and i appreciated her coming to terms with herself and learning about herself and i thought her character growth and development was huge. she learned a lot and her neuropsychologist is my absolute favorite. highly recommend picking this up when it comes out july 11 2023

Wow, what a cute book! Katherine Center always writes the sweetest books that also tackle hard problems. Sadie was such a relatable character and her quirky personality was so intriguing! It was so interesting to read about her face blindness, as I didn’t know anything about that condition. The romance was so cute and I really liked the love triangle trope.
The characters were so well developed and the plot was very captivating. I loved it!

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for a review.

"Sometimes, when I'm watching a movie and there's a simple Big Misunderstanding between two people-- he thinks she's a space alien or something-- I want to shout, 'Just talk to each other.'" - Chapter 24, Hello Stranger by Katherine Center.

No quote in the history of the universe could better sum up this book than the one above-- and I mean that in the absolute best way. In Hello Stranger, Katherine Center presents us with a masterclass in dramatic irony.

For a moment I was worried, you know, that I wasn't supposed to figure "it" out before the author told us-- but when I got to this point I realized that things were happening just as she intended, I was still totally in her clutches, and absolutely, physically and emotionally DESPERATE for a resolution.

This book was beautiful from start to finish-- the beginning is packed with humor, the middle is packed with plot, and the ending is packed with a lot of emotions. I both laughed out and loud and actually cried while reading this book-- I wouldn't say anything particularly dramatic enough happened to warrant tears, but I think I was so emotionally invested that any sweetness and serenity for our main character had me a bit watery.

I haven't read a lot of romance in the past year, despite being an avid reader of it for 2020 and most of 2021. This book was like a warm hug and I'm happy it brought me back to the genre. This is my top book of 2023 so far, and in my opinion it's a can't miss.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an electronic galley in honor of Valentine's Day.

Sadie is an artist who is trying to connect with her only living parent and trying to live up to the one parent who is no longer in their lives. This is all before something traumatic that happens that throws off Sadie's world.
Sadie now had to de4al with a situation that doesn't allow her to do what she loves and what her whole identity is based off.
This is a story about finding ones self, grit, love, and defining one's life on their own terms.
This is usually all the stuff I love but unfortunately, this did not work for. I saw the twist from a mile away and the whole thing read like a ya novel.

Sadie is a portrait artist who - after an accident and some minor brain surgery - develops face blindness. Cue not being able to recognise the people she meets. And not being able to paint a face (ANY face) to enter into a competition that would change her life.

I went into this thinking the book was a romance, and although there is a romance in it, I am convinced that it is much more a book about hitting rock bottom and climbing back out. It was a little longer than it needed to be, but otherwise was a sweet, gripping and well written character driven story.

This book was such a sweet little read! It was so interesting to read a story in which a neurological disorder was in the story as a sort of antagonist. I really enjoyed this take because generally in romance stories what is typically done is a “forgotten identity” story or “mistaken identity” story. This is a new and fresh take! I had never heard of the fusiform gyrus before and what it was responsible for in our brains so this was very cool to read about especially from a romance perspective. It was so sweet to see Sadie and Joe’s love story unfold and the twist at the end was perfection even though I had already started piecing it together myself before the big reveal. My only complaint is that I wish there was quite a bit more spice 😬 This was equivalent to chalula hot sauce and I’m more of a mango habanero type girl 😂

Thank you to the publisher for proving an ARC via Netgalley. Katherine Center is an auto-buy author for me, and with Hello Stranger she delivered another great rom-com.

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling portrait artist who has a chance at a big break with making the top 10 of a prodigious portrait competition with a $10k prize. She believes she has it in the bag - until she has surgery that leaves her with facial blindness. Her sweet dog Peanut is her only source of comfort - until he gets sick. Rushing him to the vet, he is saved and she ends up with a date with the hot vet, Dr. Addison. She also strikes up a kind of friendship/flirtation with her mildly annoying neighbor, Joe. Sadie’s struggles with gaining back her facial recognition, her love life, and the strained relationship with her family are both laugh out loud funny and surprisingly emotional - everything I want from a rom-com. And bonus points for a super original plotline (while still employing some classic rom-com tropes).

This book made me laugh, cry, fume, and smile. Hello Stranger is everything a rom-com should be ❤️ this was easily a five star read for me!

The way Katherine Center describes face blindness is so impressive (she clearly did her research) and, most importantly, real.
Character development was top notch and I loved seeing certain characters come full-circle. You just can’t help but love and root for the main character Sadie 🥰 . . . and that twist at the end had me shocked — genuinely didn’t see that coming.

I don’t see how you could not enjoy this read!
I received Hello Stranger as an ARC; make sure to pre-order it or pick it up on July 11, 2023.
Thank you, Katherine center, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press, for this advanced copy!

A woman has face blindness and tries to maneuver the world around her while trying to deal with it.

While I loved The Bodyguard and found the banter extremely amusing, this one felt like it was trying too hard. From Sadie's love interest(s), to her family situation, and her swollen brain, there was nothing very funny about much of it. Sadie alternated between being quirky and being a pain in the a**. Her family problems didn't feel like they should be resolved so quickly based on what went down, and her relationship mix up didn't make much sense to me. While I understand Sadie's issue with it based on her face blindness, I couldn't see why Joe didn't enlighten her at any point. I feel that the reader is expected to see this whole story unfolding much smoother than it actually did.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this. I still have Things you Save in a Fire to read and I'm hoping it's better than this.