4.5 rounded to 5 stars

I love this author. I have read 7 of her books and enjoyed every one of them. This one is no exception. It was the author, of course, plus the unique premise and learning opportunity that drove me to seek an advanced copy of Hello Stranger. Prosopagnosia plays a major role in this book. Prosopagnosia is the fancy word for face blindness. I’ve always suspected that I might have a touch of that as I often find it difficult to re-recognize a face I just met. I never took the time to research this issue, so I learned quite a bit about it from Ms. Center through her excellent research efforts. I was impressed, as how many times do you actually learn anything from a rom-com?

So, great premise and great learning op. Score! What else did I like? I loved the protagonist Sadie who is saddled with family issues, career issues, and health issues, including the newly acquired prosopagnosia that threatens her livelihood, which happens to be portrait painting. I also loved her little dog Peanut who is a great example of how an animal can improve one’s quality of life. Then there is, of course, the guys. Joe is a wonderful fellow who I was quickly drawn to, and Oliver is the type of vet you really want to find to take care of your beloved animals—and he’s not bad looking either. One of the best things about Ms. Center is that she gets a smile or a laugh out of me on almost every page. And what a beautiful epilogue and a just as beautiful and inspiring Author’s Note. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned that phenomenal book cover—consider it mentioned.

The themes of the story include learning to accept help, to allow people into your life who will teach you things you need to know, to allow yourself other ways of seeing things, to pause from all the hustle and bustle and take things in, and to be YOU. Also, to be compassionate with yourself as that will allow you to be compassionate with others. Some great lessons here.

The book lost a half star as I found the ending hard to grasp as believable despite the fact that I did predict that was what was going to happen. But coming from someone that has The Likeness by Tana French on her top ten faves of all time, that’s not that huge a deal. Hello Stranger is a sparkling read that captivated me and gave me joy. So there.

Ms. Center is one of perhaps 10 authors I will jump to without even reading the blurb, and she will always be that way for me. Thank you, Katherine for always giving me a big lift, especially when I really need one!

Thank you Ms. Erica Martirano of St. Martin’s Press, Net Galley, and Ms. Katherine Center for an advanced copy. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book. First, let me say I love Katherine Center books. They are always charming. I would give this book 4.5 stars. I love the twist at the end. I felt silly when I finished, but I honestly did not see that coming. I liked this book because it was different while still having the romance book formula. I also, learned about Prosopagnosia, which I never even heard of before, so that was really interesting. Another thing is that if you like "closed door romances" then this a good book for that. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a good romance.

This is a sweet story about Sadie, a portrait artist whose world has just been turned upside down with a diagnosis of face blindness, learning to thrive when the world feels against her. When we meet Sadie, she is lowkey obsessed with proving herself as a successful portrait artist. She copes with the effects of childhood trauma from her mother dying, her father retreating into his grief, and an evil stepmother and stepsister, by never accepting help from others.
After her diagnosis, Sadie tries to find her purpose and place in the world with the loss of the skill set that is arguably the most important for a portrait artist. As she learns to navigate the world without seeing faces, she falls in love with her vet and her neighbor. The story that unfolds is about redefining success, trusting intuition, and being open to seeing the best in others.

I think some readers may be annoyed by Sadie's cynicism, pessimism, and overall stubborn distrust of others. However, I think her reaction is completely reasonable- particularly given the past trauma that is unveiled as the story continues. I appreciated Sadie's journey through self discovery and how her friend Sue helps her accept that success can look different for each of us at different times of our lives. I also liked how Sadie learns to be an artist in her own right and moves away from emulating her mother's path.

Hello Stranger will be at the top of my recommended beach reads!

Sadie has lived her life trying to make her father wish he believed in her all along. So far It hasn’t been going very well. After an unexpected medical diagnosis requires emergency brain surgery, this budding artist is left with prosopagnosia i.e., face-blindness. Timing couldn’t be worse as she has only 6 weeks to paint her best portrait to date.

Already a struggling artist, with an evil stepfamily, it takes all of Sadie’s strength not to be swallowed up in despair. With the support of amazing Neuropsychologist Dr. Nicole’s, Sadie must focus on the art of self encouragement. (Is Dr. Nicole accepting new patients?..asking for a friend)

Along her way to a new normal, Sadie’s brain interprets beliefs about people in a way that supports her understanding of them. It’s fascinating and surprising as the facts unfold about characters in her life, especially the handsome new Vet, her clueless stepmother and her womanizing neighbor.

“The more good things you look for the more good things you find.”
But can Sadie find good things in a bad situation, or love in someone she hates? I devoured every page - with tears and laughter - watching her try.

Warning: Hello Stranger may leave the reader with feelings of hope and joy.

For author: I would have liked better physical descriptions of heroine & hero - maybe from Sue's POV?
For publisher: You ran up against one of my pet peeves: did the cover artist not read the book? Is that dress supposed to be flower-appliqued dress? And put the hero either in a lab coat or a bowling jacket (what is that anyway? a letter jacket?) or a navy blue suit. And why a paint brush? And that's not Peanut or a bulldog.

What a lovely little novel!

This is my first time reading one of Katherine Center’s books. The buzz surrounding her previous book made me curious and I can’t say I was disappointed!

In Hello Stranger, we meet artist Sadie Montgomery. She’s just been given her big break, a finalist in a portrait competition. Just as her big break is coming though, an underlying medical condition starts to affect her, and post surgery, she’s been diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but faces now look jumbled and disconnected. As she navigates through this new normal, Sadie finds herself falling in love with two different guys, the god-like Dr. Oliver and Joe, the neighbor downstairs with the floppy hair and glasses. The timing couldn’t be worse.

Katherine Center does a great job with establishing her characters in this book. I loved following Sadie and all the obstacles thrown in her way, from her complicated family life to her dear dog Peanut’s old age. I felt for Sadie’s struggles and laughed with her as she learns to live with the face blindness. I really liked this world and would love to spend more time in it.

I did figure out the twist by the end and felt that the epilogue was completely unnecessary. Other than that though, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a quick lovely read and would love to spend more time in this world! It definitely makes me want to check out more of this author’s books.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for giving me this digital ARC.

I can’t explain why I loved this…but I did! Sadie’s life is turned upside down when she had a near-death experience that involves her requiring brain surgery. As a result of the surgery, she is plagued with face blindness, an inability to see faces or recognize people. I have to admit I have a hard time grasping that but I do know it’s a real thing. Anyway, this is especially detrimental because Sadie is a portrait artist who is a finalist in a prestigious contest that she needs to win, both for financial reasons and to prove herself.

Sadie’s family, aside from maybe Lucinda, is really awful. And it sometimes make Sadie seem unlikable too. And Joe is a literal saint. How is he so nice? The parts with him were predictable but I still ate them up and couldn’t wait to keep reading. I was sad when it was over.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange of an honest review.

I was very on the fence about this book until roughly the 75% mark. The beginning and the middle just did not do it for me—Sadie’s self-pity was overwhelming and not enjoyable. Which is the point, I guess.

However, I loved this sort of take on the miscommunication trope. A trope which I usually dislike. It was interesting and fresh and I liked Sadie and Joe’s relationship. It developed very organically and genuinely.

Overall, this was a 3.5/5 for me. I’ll round up to four, for the sake of stars. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review Hello Stranger.

This story follows Sadie, a young artist trying to catch her big break, after a medical emergency leaves her with no choice but to have brain surgery. This surgery leaves her with an unexpected complication - face blindness. Sadie has to figure out how to navigate this new world and find a new way to make her art (portraits) the best she can.

I would have given this book a 3.5 if I could do half star ratings. I enjoyed this book overall - the concept was new and interesting to me, the main character was fun and the love interest was a really lovely character.

I think for me, this book fell flat with the family relationships. I personally would have wanted those relationships to be a little more complicated, rather than just “evil stepsister” and “evil stepmother” (something Sadie says quite often). I also saw certain things coming and for me, that was a little disappointing.

Overall, a fun love story!

Thanks to NetGalley for St. Martin’s Press for sharing the digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for an honest review.

A cute little romance that has a unique storyline from most other books I’ve read. The main character, Sadie, was a tough, but super loving character that most females can relate to and want to be friends with. After a freak medical incident that left her with face blindness, Sadie has trouble adjusting to her world and completing a portrait painting for a prestigious art contest. Reading about how she went through this was actually kind of interesting; what a crazy medical issue to have. I will say that from the very beginning I made a prediction and I was right; so a little disappointed I could call out the ending so quickly at the beginning…but still worth the read! For some reason I thought it was going to be more of a rom-com, but I didn’t get that vibe so much. Am I glad I read it, absolutely! A quick, fun sorry to add to your TBR list!

Katherine Center has a big hit on her hands. Hello Stranger is not your average sappy romance. It is a novel with a most unusual premise - a portrait artist is struck with a side effect from brain surgery, which causes facial blindness. Sadie has been chosen from thousands of talented artists to compete in a prestigious art competition. She needs to be creative in how she will go about her portrait. Classic Katherine Center - she is surrounded by many colorful characters who made me smile and frown throughout the pagers. The author brings warmth and wit into her books without making them corny. I love this book so much that I ordered it on Amazon for two friends and my daughter. I can hardly wait til it is published. They are going to love it!!!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. I've read The Bodyguard and Things You Save in a Fire - of those, I liked The Bodyguard more. I do want to go back and read her previous works. Hello Stranger features Sadie, a struggling artist. At the beginning of the novel, she has a life-altering accident and surgery that affects her painting ability as well as regular daily activities. Shenanigans ensue as a result. I loved the chemistry between Sadie and Joe, though the way she revealed the gotchas at the end were not satisfying for me. She has a difficult relationship with her dad, and I really wanted more development with them, as there were points of connection that did not seem to get explored. This was 3 stars for me.

Hello Stranger

Rating- ⭐️⭐️- I really struggled with this one. The main character was involved in an accident and is learning to cope with a new diagnosis. I felt the story was choppy, lacked character development, and overall just fell flat for me.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

From the start I was hooked! It’s a story that I felt so many emotions happiness, anger, excitement and I even shed a few tears. It’s a story of tragedy, triumph, frustration and the willingness to work through obstacles so that you get to the point where you fully cherish life and all the people in it. I didn’t want this book to end it deserves 5 stars all the way!

Hello Strangers grabbed me from the opening page. It was an easy read with the author descriptions. I will gladly read another of Center's books, as an escape from reality.

Katherine Center is my favorite female author and Fredrik Backman is my favorite male author. After literally 30+ years of devoted reading, I have decided.

This book of hers is by far my favorite of her books, all of which I really liked. And as if the book wasn't phenomenal, her author's note at the end solidified her positioning. She provided THE BEST romance novel, Pride and Prejudice is still up there, in such a clean, wholesome, feel good, but not boring way. And all of her books deliver on good old fashioned, hard earned wisdom, and solid values.

It's official, I think I would genuinely like to meet you Katherine and talk to you about your brilliance! But if nothing else, feel free to always consider me for ARC copies of any future books!

I absolutely loved “The Bodyguard” so I couldn’t wait to read this book! It was my very first Netgalley selection! This book has all the ingredients for a 5⭐️ book! It made me smile, it made me laugh out loud, it made me get mad at the characters and then love them again, it made me swoon! This book has little spice and I appreciated that! Katherine Center is definitely an author that I’ll be binge reading!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have been thinking about it since I finished it. Without giving away too much I found Sadie’s ability to cope incredible. To have the one sense needed to pursue her chosen career as well as her big break and still persist was inspiring. To be a portrait artist without being able to see faces is nearly impossible. But she would not give up her dream.

I found the interpersonal relationships with her father and stepmother difficult to read but well written. I wanted to just shout at the father. The stepsister was evil but as things played out toward the end her behavior became understandable but not excusable.

Her relationship with Joe was interesting because she found so many things to not like about him without really knowing anything. I did figure out the twist but thought it was intriguing the way it was written and how Sadie figures it out.

Overall I loved this book as I have the others I have read by Katherine Center.

As someone who has a child that has seizures and has had brain surgery, I think there should be a trigger warning.

Katherine Center is such a joy, and her writing is so beautiful. I absolutely loved the story, I loved the concept. It was so fresh and new, I hadn’t ever read anything like it. That was fun. I loved the character development and the realness of the situation… Joe was such a pleasant surprise! He was by far my favorite character in this book, and perhaps my favorite MMC in any of her books.

BUT- I figured out the entire plot line REALLY early on. Like 30% through the book I knew exactly how it was going to end. And not in a “oh, it’s a romance, it’ll have a cutesy HEA” but in a “that little sneaky twist isn’t actually THAT sneaky”.

So while I still absolutely adored the book, it just wasn’t a 5 star read for me, which may be a first of her books.

Wow! What an amazing story! I loved the characters, the way the story developed, and the ending. I felt like I could relate to each of the characters in different ways, and was rooting for each of them.