"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.

Hello Strange by Katherine Center is so great! This will be a favorite for my keeper shelf! The author did a lot of research to have the female main character's physical challenges be a plot device. To be fair, I predicted the ending, but it ended exactly how I wanted, so I was happy.

PROS:
Compelling main characters
Interesting plot
Relatable setting
Excellent pacing

CONS:
Predictable ending
Truly horrible secondary characters (villains) - may be triggering for some

4.5 stars/ 5

Advanced copy gifted by the publisher via NetGalley.

It is no secret that I love Katherine Center books! This is no different. We meet Sadie, who has face blindness after a surgery. I cannot begin to imagine how difficult of a transition she had to make to be able to cope with this. I felt like Katherine did a great job getting into Sadie’s head on her feelings about it. We have a fabulous love triangle with Dr Addison and Joe. An evil stepsister, think Cinderella without all the cleaning. Throw in a sweet, elderly dog that has health problems and reminds me of my Mac…..and we get a story full of swoony romance, family drama, charming characters, and unique plot. While I totally guessed the main twist in the book, as I always tend to do with romcoms, it was quite the fun ride to get there. This book just makes me smile.

Bottom Line: Read it!

**I received a copy of Hello Stranger from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.*

This was my first Katherine Center book and I loved it. I've had The Bodyguard on my TBR list for some time and this ARC pushed every other book aside and made it my next book. This book offered character development, a different plot than you are used to in a romance novel because it dives into mental health, family struggles and truly getting over the fears you set for yourself, and the "anticipation" between Sadie and Joe was there from the start. It made you feel like you were living it. I can't wait to ese what's next!

Katherine Center does it again. An underdog by her own admission, pushing herself to do great things... and she would have... it it hadn't of been for that one little thing!!

But Sadie finds her own great things, they just may be different than what she imagined. A sweet charming love story about finding your own way to do great things!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Sadie Montgomery has just landed a coveted finalist spot in a portrait competition, and she KNOWS this is her big break. She's been the epitome of the 'starving artist' up until this point, but this is when everything changes. And everything does change — but not in the way she expects.

A nasty fall reveals a medical condition that requires brain surgery. Minor brain surgery, but brain surgery nonetheless. Sadie insists that it can wait, but her father, who is a doctor himself, insists that it CAN'T wait, and she reluctantly agrees to go through with the operation. Though the surgery is successful, she's left unable to see faces, which is a nightmare for a portrait artist with a deadline for the biggest competition of her career.

What follows is a story that will have you crying, chuckling, and yelling, sometimes simultaneously. One thing I love about Katherine Center is how unique her storylines are, because I can say with certainty that I've never read a book like this before. As a girl who used to watch Grey's Anatomy religiously, I deeply appreciated her commitment to the medical aspect of this story, and to say I learned A LOT would be an understatement.

Would I label this a romance? That's something I'm unsure of. There IS a romance, but it doesn't really, truly come together until later in the book. I would label this women's fiction before anything else, and I would recommend not going into this book thinking it's going to be a conventional romance that follows the usual romance beat sheet, such as her previous book 'The Bodyguard.'

There were some aspects that felt a little out of place, such as Augusta showing up randomly at the art show. The whole family fight in public was A LOT. All of the spats between Parker and Sadie were a lot to begin with, especially since we really got no background on Parker until the end of the book. And knowing that Lucinda still continued to take her daughter's side following that fight is...unrealistic to me. If someone presented me with facts that showed my daughter had been a horrible human being to people growing up, I wouldn't be excusing her actions or taking her side — and I'd suggest she seek therapy.

The 'twist' did become obvious well before the big reveal, and it took Sadie maybe a *little* too much time to figure things out, but the end did wrap up nicely and it was still a joy to read.

I would recommend this book, but with caution as there are A LOT of trigger warnings. It's not the same type of romance novel as 'The Bodyguard,' but still a great and easy read.

Be sure to pick this title up when it comes out on July 11!

This review was also posted on Goodreads.

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling artist who paints portraits just like her mother did and eaks out her living selling them on Etsy. When a seizure and a good Samaritan save her life she is left with a condition that leaves her unable to see faces, a condition that is really an issue for a portrait artist, especially one who is on a deadline for a competition to win 10,000$. Not to be thwarted, Sadie, with help of some friends tries several inventive strategies to still paint an entry for the competition.

One of the reasons I love Katherine Center novels is that she has wonderful side characters and relatable main characters that are about other issues than just the "romance" . Although I did not find Sadie terribly relatable, she was charming and her friend and her friends parents and the other side characters were all wonderfully written as always. I enjoyed watching Sadie grow and learn and struggle through this challenge as well as fall in love and if you have enjoyed Centers other novels you most likely will enjoy this one too.

I absolutely adored The Bodyguard and I had high hopes for this one going in. Thankfully I was not disappointed. At all. I read this book in two sittings (it would have been one if I hadn’t fallen asleep in the first one) and absolutely devoured it. Witty and funny and full of love, I smiled the whole time I was reading. As an artist and someone who lives in Houston, I could picture everything and connected so much with Sadie and fell in love along with her. I’m still smiling just thinking about this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in return for an honest review

I read 'The Boydguard' by Katherine Center and really liked it, but thought this one was a little all-over-the-place. I know this is fiction, but the main character had brain surgery, her dog almost died, and an "evil stepsister?" Just a little too much going on for me to really relate to anything here.

Katherine Center does it again! I loved this story and could not put it down. She has a way of making deep and meatier chick lit books unlike anyone else.

Thank you, thank you, to NetGalley for this early read of Katherine Center’s new book!

If I had more time I would have devoured it in one sitting!

I absolutely loved the characters and anticipation of finding out the truth in the end. It was the perfect combination of all the elements I love in a book - quirky, comedic, uplifting, drama, evil characters, plot twists, mistaken identities, creativity, and cute men.

And, there’s so much more to this book than all that! I loved to hate the bully, I loved forgiving other characters on their road to redemption, and I loved cheering on Sadie and Joe as they figured out the real truth while stumbling a few times along the way.

What I read: Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

Why I picked it up: Katherine Center is one of my absolute favorite authors so I was super excited to get access to her book early. I received this free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

How I read it: On e-arc on my new kindle!

What it’s about: Sadie is a portrait artist who has a seizure followed by brain surgery followed by a complication where she has trouble seeing and recognizing faces. But she doesn’t want any one to know about the side effect because she’s supposed to be a finalized in the contest her mom was destined to win over a decade ago. Now her weird neighbor Joe seems to be her best friend and the only one willing to help – but she’s got some misunderstandings to clear up.

What I liked: I LOVED this premise. I’ve said for a long time that I have a very mild version of this as I have a hard time remembering names with faces and then recognizing you again when I see you wearing different clothes a few weeks later. I felt so seen – even though it is more likely just a lack of remembering problem than actual facial blindness.

What I disliked: Her best friend Sue’s partner, Witt, doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on with Sadie, see that she needs her friend, or really consider her feelings at all.

Genre: Finding oneself, chaste love story.

Rating & Recommendation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and absolutely!! I think my book club will read this over the summer, and I can’t wait to discuss it with them. It releases on July 11th!

Absolutely loved this one. Katherine Center never disappoints and she absolutely is one of my favorite romance authors because her romances are so much more. Katherine Center’s books always feel so much more memorable and impactful than other romances for me because there’s always a plot point that her characters experience that force them to either fall apart or overcome it and the way they overcome it is always so memorable even years after reading her books. Her books are never a ‘finishes book and immediately forgets characters names or what happened’. I always find myself thinking about her books months and years later. This specific book I found myself thinking ‘hahahaha imagine if *this* happens, that would be kind of funny’ and then it DID happen and it was flawless and I was just having a great time.

Thank you to the publishers at St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this e-ARC of Hello Stranger!

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔
♥️ love romcoms
🐶 have a dog for a best friend
👥 enjoy meet cutes
🎨 like to paint

• 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄

After Sadie undergoes brain surgery, she loses the ability to see faces.

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery has just beaten out 1,990 other people out of a spot in a prestigious portrait competition. Now all she has to do is beat the other 9 and she’ll be ten thousand dollars richer. She’s finally found her big break, or so she thinks. Then an accident leaves her needing brain surgery and Sadie ends up with face blindness. At the same time, Sadie meets two irresistible men, but ends up falling harder for just one of them, all while trying to figure out how to paint her winning portrait without being able to see the subject’s face.

• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

This was such a fun and unique read! Sadie was a really likable and relatable character for me. I felt so awful for her when one thing after another just kept coming at her. I also loved the meet cutes between Joe and Oliver. While I wasn’t surprised by the ending, I loved the way it wrapped up and came together. I also would have loved to see the painting that Sadie created during her face blindness spell! I can’t wait to read more from Katherine Center!