This was a super cute book. Definitely kept me guessing in some things but not on a thriller sort of way. I love all of Katherine Centers books because you aren’t just reading a story. You’re getting some life advice in every single one of her books!! This one is about taking chances and sometimes not seeing a situation like it truly is because we have already determined what it should look like. Such a good book!!

Katherine Center has done it again! I love that her stories are deeper than your traditional romance novels. I cared about the characters and loved to return to the story. I will say that I would have loved more of a love triangle but the book was adorable!

First off, I really want to thank Katherine Center and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book. I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

I have only ever read one other KC book (How to Walk Away) in the past and I really enjoyed it! While I haven't been able to read The BodyGuard yet, the hype around it got me really excited to read Hello Stranger. However, I'm left feeling extremely disappointed with this book. This review may not sound super original, but I think that is because the things that are good in this book are obvious and easily enjoyed, but the things that are bad in this book are SO BAD. *minor spoilers ahead*

First the good:
-The premise of this book is extremely interesting. A portrait artist who is suddenly unable to see/comprehend faces?
-The medical scenes were actually written quite well. As someone who has actually gone through a similar situation (without actually receiving a surgery) it can be so confusing to hear a doctor say you need to have an elective surgery but also the condition could kill you, with the rates of success varying so wildy. There is a scene where the main character, Sadie, realizes she can no longer comprehend faces and she yells to the team of doctors "Do you know what I do for a living??" and the room is silent. Honestly, powerful.
-The love that Sadie has for her mom is really one of the best parts of this book. It feels so real and raw and authentic.

Aaaand the bad:
-Sadie. As a character, she is just so incredibly annoying. She has a very "I don't take help from anyone" attitude, but it just comes across as whiney. Its also extremely confusing because she accepts free handouts throughout a LOT of the book.
-The side plot with Sadie's family is basically right out of Cinderella. A cartoonishly evil stepsister, a ridiculously naive step mother, and a father that bordelines on abusive but no one except Sadie can see it. Then there is a very bizarre backstory from her high school days that gets resolved in the most ridiculous way possible.
-And finally, perhaps the biggest fault of this book. I should have gone into this with more managed expectations. The premise of the book obviously leads itself to have a LOT of miscommunication tropes. But oh man, are they constant. Miscommunication is the main driver of this entire book. To the point where its actually ridiculous and the characters really have to go out of their way to make some of these situations happen. When "the big" miscommunication is first hinted at, it was so ridiculous that I thought there was NO WAY. But sure enough, there was a way. It was an extreme let down. I too, would want to drop everything and just go on a train ride through Canada if I was surrounded by people with this poor of communication skills.

Overall, I don't think this will totally put me off of Katherine Center books because there were so many glimmers of hope and I really enjoyed How to Walk Away, but I won't be recommending this book to anyone any time soon.

Katherine Center is one of my all time favorite romance authors, and this book did not let me down. Center always has quirky characters that seem so relatable, and Sadie is no different. I honestly felt like I knew her. I laughed, cried, and fell in love with Joe right alongside her. This is a book that I would read over and over again.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: 🔪Thriller
Recommend: ✅

“The Writing Retreat” is the very definition of a page-turner. From the very beginning there were so many minutes of mystery and I *had* to keep reading to figure out both what the hell happened in the past AND what was going on now.

Alex is a writer who is a slump when she wins a contest to go on writing retreat with three other women hosted by her favorite author, a mysterious older woman, Roza. She’s warned before by her friend that submitted her manuscript into the contest that one of the other attendees will be Wren, her ex bestie who she had a falling out with a year ago.

She when Alex, Wren and the other women arrive at the house, it is extremely secluded and cut off from society. Things quickly start veering into spooky and strange. Without veering into spoiler territory, all I can say is I kept thing of Rob Burgundy saying “The escalated quickly.”

The novel is dispersed in between our current action with passages of the novel Alex is writing. I have to admit I don’t always love these types of literary devices and I found it a bit off here as well. The action was SO GOOD in the house, I didn’t want to stray from it. But, I did leave to a great pay-off.

This is a debut novel by JULIA and I will 100% be anticipated her follow-up!


You’ll love this book if you love:
✅Isolated Settings
✅Books about Books
✅Twisty Thrillers

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

I adored this book. This was my first Katherine Center book, and it definitely will not be my last.

From the onset, the character of Sadie grabbed me. I wasn't sure where the story was going, but I wanted only good things for her. I also felt a little connection with her need to do everything on her own and not ask anyone for help. I'm not quite as bad as her, but I definitely struggle to ask for help (to the frustration of my husband) if there is any conceivable way I can accomplish something on my own. Sadie, herself, was well-written and a great narrator for this book. I felt her emotions so many times during the book.

And for the rest of the characters, Joe was clearly the standout. I loved how Sadie's perceptions of him morphed throughout this book. At the start, I was appalled right along with her, and then as the book went on, my feeling surrounding him changed right along with Sadie's. I'm not sure how I felt about Sue, even by the end. I know she meant well in everything she did, but she kind of came off as a not-great friend throughout some of this book. Her parents, though, were so great. I loved them so much.

As for Sadie's family, I know we were supposed to hate Parker, but the things she did felt unrealistic to me, especially considering how their parent's always took her side. Parker was a legitimately terrible person, and I find it hard to believe that Sadie's family would believe her over Sadie in every single instance. This was honestly the one thing that made me not give this book five stars. It was just a bit too unbelievable for me.

Regarding plot, I guessed the twist (if you can call it that) pretty early on, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of this book. I kept reading and waiting for Sadie to catch up. I really enjoyed the storyline of this book. Until recently, I didn't know prosopagnosia existed, but I'm fascinated by it, and I enjoyed reading a book where the main character has this.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this book as I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Read if you enjoy:
- Interesting Love Triangles
- Family Drama
- Sweet Romance
- Senior Puppers
- Strangers to Lovers Trope

After The Bodyguard blew me away and gave me all the warm and fuzzy feelings, I had really high hopes for Hello Stranger. And it did NOT disappoint. There were so many heartwarming, funny and butterfly-inducing moments. Katherine Center is becoming a fast favorite of mine and an automatic "want to read".

I really enjoyed this book and am very grateful to have been given an advanced copy of it. I loved Sadie’s story and how she had to overcome the struggles she faced. Sadie is an artist who specializes in portraits but ends up having brain surgery and the part of her brain that recognizes faces becomes pinched by swelling and she becomes “face blind”. She meets the man of her dreams and then falls for another man. She goes through a lot only to finally find herself and is finally happy. The ending of the story was amazing and I read this book in one sitting. I highly recommend, this book was a really good romance book and i am so happy i was able to read it!

I had the opportunity to read themis book early through NetGalley and thought this was a great opportunity to branchnch out to a category I don't usually read. I didn't love the book but I certainly didn't dislike it either. I will say I didn't really get into the book until the final 10-15% of it. With that said I did enjoy that final bit a lot. The book had no suprise ending and I could see the "plot twist" well in advance. Overall it was cute and for romance fans, I would recommend this book.

Another great read by Katherine Center. This book makes you laugh and cry and swoon and leaves you feeling happy and warm. The plot was unique, something hard to come by in the romance genre, but Center managed to do it. Despite the uniqueness of the book, readers can easily relate to it, and Sadie is such a great character, and we need more guys like Joe in the world.

After having read What We Lost in a Fire, I was really excited to read this one. I have to say I was just a bit disappointed here. It was not the writing. I thought this was solid, however it was the obviousness of the plot and the weird stuff with the evil stepmother, stepsister, and father that just seemed to be fixed overnight. This was definitely one of those sugary sweet, cherry on top books that was a good palate cleanser. I think the best part for me was bringing prosopagnosia to light. I had heard of this condition, however it was different to see how it really tied into many elements of a person's life. I know a lot of this was put on for entertainment, but this really made the book original. I am not wiping my hands of this author and want to see what is next. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

I absolutely loved The Bodyguard so was very excited to get a copy of Hello Stranger. I was hooked from the first page. I really enjoyed the premise and thought it was a unique twist on a few different romance tropes. Some of the family drama fell a little flat for me, but I'm willing to overlook it for a great love story with a side of art! It was a quick read, and I devoured it during a flight recently. Can't wait for it to release so I can share with my friends!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Thank you net galley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I absolutely loved this book!!! I love the MCs and the side characters as well. I felt all the emotions, all of them. I enjoyed watching Sadie’s growth. I 100% recommend this book to everyone that is in the need to be pulled out of a slump. This was a feel good book. I definitely plan to keep my eyes open for this author.

This was my first Katherine Center book and it was a great read. I read most of it in one day! I loved the journey that Sadie goes on to find more positivity in a seemingly difficult time in her life. She has to deal with the loss of her mother, a father who has disconnected with her, and a stepmom and stepsister who she refers to as “evil.”

Not only is she dealing with her deteriorating family dynamics, she finds out that she has a genetic condition that her late mother also had - one that killed her. She undergoes surgery to fix the condition and has some complications that may be permanent, but maybe not. This complication has a huge effect on her career and a competition that she had enter. Will she still be able to compete?

At the beginning of the book, Sadie meets a man in a convenience store and I kept thinking over and over what his relevance was throughout the whole book because he was never mentioned again. After her surgery, she meets a vet who she deemed her future husband, but when he stands her up, she starts getting to know a man who lives in her building.

The romance was a slow burn and had no spice, but the relationship was so cute. I loved “Joe” and how he helped Sadie come to terms with her condition before it all changed. She ended things with the vet to start a relationship with her neighbor. Without giving away too much, the ending had me laughing! I found myself doing a face palm! What a creative plot. I really enjoyed this book!

Sadie's life has turned upside down when a pre-disposed condition lands her in need of brain surgery and prosopagnosia also known as face blindness.

What a perfect time to start to fall in love with different men!

Katherine Center has a formula for her books and it really makes her stand apart. She creates these female characters with flaws and lots of heart and helps them grow, do the work and become better individuals as a result. It is truly inspiring for me to read her different stories and see how much she helps her characters improve on themselves in so many ways.

Her books always have little nuggets of humor and this one brought me to tears and made me laugh. It was such a feel good book and I had so much compassion for our main gal Sadie. Also, her EVIL stepsister was the literal WORST. I never can wait close to pub date to devour Katherines beautiful books and this one with a July pub date is no exception.

This book left me filled with hope, and made me want to dust off my roller skates.

This is the fifth book by Katherine Center that I have read, and I find her books charming and heartwarming—this book was not lacking in those qualities. Ultimately though, it fell a little flat for me and I had a hard time connecting with the story. The romance felt a little bit rushed to me; I wish we could have gotten to see more from them.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this early!

Okay before I read this one I was in such a reading slump. I had so many books that I wanted to read but I couldn’t get into any of them and I was reading a lot of “ok” books. This was JUST what I needed!

This had such an interesting premise that I was very excited when I got accepted to read this. The thought of not being able to recognize faces when you wake up after surgery, even your own?! That’s downright terrifying.

It’s not exactly a known topic to cover, yet 2 percent of the world’s population has face blindness! However I liked that it was written with humour as Sadie adjusts to her new normal. Her inner monologue had me laughing out loud on countless occasions. I also liked that even though this was a romance novel, thats not all it was about. There was much more going on. For the light and funny read that it was, it ended up having a lot of depth.

I did end up figuring out one of the major twists of the story before it was revealed but I didn’t care because I enjoyed it all anyway.

Also hot take.. I really didn’t like her friend Sue? She was kind of a terrible best friend at first? If you read this, let me know if you agree.

Thank you to NetGallery and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC!

This is an absolutely delightful romcom of a book. I loved that while heavier topics were certainly part of the story it still felt so hopeful and sweet.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s, and Katherine Center for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Honestly, I wanted to love this book but it just wasn’t for me. I found Sadie absolutely insufferable. I could not connect with her in anyway. Sue, her best friend, was a hit or miss character for me. There were times when she was actually a good friend to Sadie (offering solid advice, cheering her on, being supportive, etc.); however, there were more times when she was insensitive to Sadie’s condition/what she was going through and acted very immature. I just don’t see how your best friend has brain surgery and is diagnosed with a serious condition and you continue to just “forget”. I saw the big twist/reveal coming from the beginning, and I thought that was a fun twist (even though I had problems with had it all eventually went down). I felt like Joe’s reactions to Sadie after everything happened felt very out of character. I didn’t understand why Sadie refused to tell people about her condition, because it made everything 1000x harder for her. Also, the entire plot of Sadie’s family made me see red. Sadie was treated awful, abused, manipulated, neglected, and gaslit. Peyton was downright awful and it just blows my mind that no one ever saw through her or attempted to listen to Sadie’s side of things. The fact that they still refused to believe Sadie and it took a random person from their past confirming how awful Peyton was is ridiculous (as is the fact that neither Sadie’s dad nor her stepmom actually ever apologized for believing Peyton over her and treating her bad for years as a result of this). Also, the little random moment of her being told her Dad blamed her for her mother’s death/how her mother died just made me upset, because that could have been handled at any point with a conversation. The last three chapters felt really rushed to me and Sadie was just all over the place emotionally (leaving a voicemail that she loved Joe, then to ignoring him when he showed up to talk to her, then going right back to loving him). I did enjoy the epilogue and the language Center used to talk about moments in life/growth of individuals. Overall, I thought the premise of this book was really unique and interesting. I loved the scenes with Sadie’s therapist and found those to be some of the best parts of the book. The silly moments between Joe and Sadie were cute and the banter/friendship really shines bright in those moments. Mr. and Mrs. Kim’s support of Sadie was also a bright moment. I also loved Center’s information at the end of the book about Sadie’s condition and resources to learn more. While this book wasn’t for me (as a character driven reader if I can’t connect with any of the characters it is hard for me to get past that), I’ve seen lots of positive reviews about this book so it obviously hits well with others!

I really loved this book. I learned a lot about face blindness. You really do feel like you're right there with Sadie through it all. I loved this part, "We're all so steeped in our own confirmation bias. We're all so busy seeing what we expect to see." The good samaritan/Joe/Oliver storyline proved this. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.