Sadie Montgomery is a portrait painter and finally got a huge career break by getting a final coveted spot in a prestigious portrait competition. On her way back to her apartment to celebrate, she has a seizure and finds out she has a brain abnormality that could burst and kill her at any time. After being forced into the surgery to fix the abnormality, she wakes up to discover she can't see faces. No one thinks this is a big deal, after all she is alive and healthy and it may not be permanent, but to a portrait artist under a deadline, this is a much bigger deal.

Ashamed to admit the problems she's having, Sadie tries to navigate her new life, figure out how to continue painting, all while taking care of her geriatric dog, making a new friend in her building, and the emergence of her stepsister who is set to sabotage her at every turn. Unraveling her family history while creating a portrait she can't see, Sadie is on an unintentional path of self discovery and finding out how much she can really overcome.

Katherine Center, in her usual way, has brought to light a commonly uncommon ailment or varied ability and worked it seamlessly and beautifully into a story about resilience, self love, self discovery, and overcoming obstacles. It's exactly what I expect from her and also a completely independent fresh work.

#arc
#netgalley
#hellostranger

“Hello Stranger” is another great book in Katherine Center’s stable of books. You are immediately engaged by the story of a women who suffers and struggles in her daily life from a disease commonly known as Face Blindness. We learn how Sadie has developed workarounds to live her life as fully as she can. Despite her agility in most instances, there are still many incidents where she must muddle through. And she does have situations where she wrongly assumes things about people which does have its comic side. Most of the people she associates with understand her disease and help. An evil stepsister provides tension in the story. Did I mention that Sadie is a portrait artist who is working on a portrait to enter a prestigious competition?

I absolutely love Katherine Center’s novels. “Hello Stranger” is no exception. She has a gift for bringing her readers immediately into the stories and we always cheer when the girl ends up with her boy, which is what we wish for in a romance. There are twists and turns that keep the reader up long into the night to finish ‘just one more page’. Along the way in her books, she imparts wisdom and the knowledge that suggests how we too might act in similar difficult circumstances.

In Center’s Author Notes she shares with us the process of writing a romance novel. It is so interesting to learn about this. And knowing how a romance book is structured does not take away the craving to read more romance novels. Especially ones by Katherine Center.

At this point, I'll read Katherine Center's grocery lists. I thought she couldn't top The Bodyguard but I might have actually enjoyed this one more. You really find yourself rooting for Sadie and the plot keeps you immersed no matter what (especially when you're seething over her witch of a stepsister). I really enjoyed both the romance and Sadie's personal growth and I didn't feel like one overpowered the other which is rare in a romance novel. I read this as an ebook and will definitely be going to purchase a physical copy to add to my budding Katherine Center collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for sharing this advanced reader copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

3.5, I wish it would have been more predictable, but at the same time I really enjoyed the different storyline. It’s a book I will remember because it’s the only book I’ve read on face dysmorphia. I think Sadie’s past story didn’t help the main story line, and was too unbelievable.

Thank you st Martin and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

(Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist on the verge of her big break when she makes the finals of a prestigious portrait competition. But when an accident forces her to undergo brain surgery, she wakes up to find she has developed face blindness, a condition that renders her unable to see faces. Sadie is distraught at having to readjust her worldview—literally—while preparing for the biggest opportunity of her career, but soon she makes the acquaintance of two intriguing men: the handsome veterinarian who saves her dog’s life and the obnoxious neighbor who lends a helping hand during her lowest moments in recovery. As she struggles to make sense of her new normal, Sadie learns that joy and redemption can be found in the most unlikely of places.

Katherine Center’s books have much more going on than the central romance(s), elements that enrich the story without getting bogged down in unnecessary or uninteresting details. Sadie’s backstory was heartbreaking, but her stepmother and (especially) stepsister were so satisfying to hate (even if the latter was a mostly one-dimensional villain without much nuance until the very end). The resolution of the romance was fairly predictable, but it was written in such a way that I was still so invested to see how exactly everything was going to play out. The only thing that felt a little jarring to me was a minor character’s deus ex machina appearance near the end to help resolve one of the storylines, which seemed way too convenient to be realistic and wasn’t addressed at all after it happened.

But I loved pretty much everything else about this book: the “starving artist” mentality of struggling to pursue your dreams while all the odds are stacked against you (including your own crippling self-doubt), and how the notion of quitting seems at once like a huge relief and like a deep betrayal of our younger selves. The face blindness slant was so unique and fresh and appeared extremely well researched, though I’d be interested to hear how it compares to a real person’s lived experience with the condition. I like how most of KC’s characters seem very real in that they are flawed individuals with mostly redeemable qualities (Sadie’s best friend is occasionally flaky even though her heart is always in the right place; Sadie herself is stubborn but mostly self aware and well intentioned). I also love that the love interest(s), aside from being otherworldly handsome, talk and act and behave more or less like real people. They read like men I know in my real life, not just like “men clearly written by women” (not that I don’t love those, of course).

Anyway, this was such a delight to read and I had a hard time putting it down once I got into it. Definitely recommend.

Oh!—Also, if you’re the type of person to skip over reading author’s notes, I highly recommend reading this one. Katherine Center discusses her refreshing take on romance novels as a genre, which is both enlightening and vindicating to read as a romance lover. I’ll leave you off with a brief excerpt:

“That’s a guarantee of the [romance] genre: Things will get better. It’s a gift the love story gives you. But no type of story gets more eye rolls than love stories. ‘They’re so unrealistic,’ people say, as they start another zombie apocalypse movie. What is that? Is it self-protection? Self-loathing? Fear of vulnerability? Is it pretending we don’t care so we aren’t disappointed? Is it some sad, unexamined misogyny that we as a culture really, really need to work on? I think love stories are deeply misunderstood—in part, at least, because they don’t work like other stories. Love stories don’t have happy endings because their authors don’t know any better. They have happy endings because they let readers access a rare and precious kind of emotional bliss. Yes, misery is important. But I think joy is just as important.”

Overall rating: 4.25 stars
Spice level: 0/5 (fade to black)

Katherine Center delivers again -- a feel-good romcom with intelligence, humor, and heart (and an evil stepsister, a sweet pup, and a medical mystery). What more could a reader want? I zipped through this one, reading a few chapters each night while on a trip, cheering for Sadie (and her pajacket) the whole time. Learning about prosopagnosia (face blindness) was fascinating and the author's note is a perfect inclusion. I'll read anything by Katherine Center and leave feeling joy-filled and satisfied. Thanks to the author, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for the advanced copy and the chance to share a review.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC! Publication date: 7/11/2023.

Rom com, romance, women’s lit, Katherine Center fans, add this book to your summer TBR! Pre-order this, tell your public library to pre-order this, ASAP. If you know me, you know I absolutely adore KC and the myriad of strong female MCs she has created. This book is full of blissful sense of joy, anticipation, and hope. I devoured this book in one sitting and stayed way past my bedtime.

Just like all my favorite Katherine Center characters, Sadie’s story is about healing, finding herself, and becoming the best version of herself. Sadie is always “fine” and never wants help. Then after an accident that resulted in prosopagnosia, she has to figure out how to redefine herself as a portrait artist.

Very enjoyable read!! I actually started and finished it in one day. I liked the characters and the plot line was very unique and interesting! The main character suffers from facial blindness and it provided such a different and fascinating perspective on life and love. Themes include family drama, friendship, grief, and trying to identify your calling and career. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this wonderful book!!

This book releases July 11th, 2023. Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martins Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review

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This was such a sweet book! Though it did deal with some heavier topics the story was well balanced with love and joy. I really enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and the plot line was so unique and interesting.

Sadie was such a fun and relatable character. I loved reading about her struggles and how she learned to cope with them. She faces many ups and downs throughout the story and it’s amazing to see her grow through it all.

The endinggg 🥹 This was a entertaining, inspiring and heartwarming read.

I recommend this book if you like :
• Unique Plots
• Puppies!
• Family drama
• Charming characters
• Adorable romances
• Mistaken Identity
• Mental health

I just love Katherine Center! Everything she writes just draws me right in and captures me. This one was no different. I felt sad with her, happy with her, frustrated with her. I had all the emotions. This is not my favorite book from her, but it’s still a great read and I read through it quickly!

This was exactly what I needed today! A little bit of light fun & humor, a bunch of romance, great characters, family drama and even learning about something I had never heard of before.
Sadie refuses to ever admit that she needs help or ever ask for help, especially from her distant father and her awful stepmother & stepsister who made her teenage years miserable after Sadie’s mom died. So when Sadie needs brain surgery, she has to admit that she’s going to need help and surprisingly, her father and stepmother step up to the plate. But when Sadie suffers from face blindness as a side affect after the surgery, her career seems to be Over because she works as an artist painting portraits of people and now she can’t see their faces except in pieces. She’s already still struggling with the grief and loss of her mother and the relationship with her father and now she can’t figure out how to paint a picture to enter it into a prestigious contest that could change her career thanks to this new way of looking at things. Thankfully she has a great support system in her friend Sue and Sue’s family and she meets Joe, who lives in the building and Sue’s dad has nicknamed him “Helpful”
I devoured this in less than a day and didn’t want it to end. I loved the story and the characters and as much as I enjoyed it I learned a lot!
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

Hook, line, and sinker. This book had me CAPTIVATED from the very beginning. Sadie is a quirky, easy to love character that you fall in love with immediately. She has a relatable life of tragedy and hard times, but is the type of person you would be drawn to be friends with. At a very pivotal moment in her life and career another tragedy strikes and you get sucked in trying to figure out how she is going to overcome it. I found myself trying to predict the ending but man I was so wrong (for obvious reasons, Katherine Center knows how to write a wayyyyy better book than I do) and was sobbing at the end.

Katherine Center enters the medical field in this love story (which is right up my alley) to bring together the perfect dose of complicated and tragic medical diagnosis with strong character arch using coping strategies (that would be good for anyone in everyday life) to overcome the difficulty of any medical condition. Sadie is struggling artist on the brink of a breakthrough when she gets diagnosed with the same condition that killed her mother, her aloof father springs into action to convince her of the surgery but his timing couldn't be any worse. When things get funky after the lifesaving surgery Sadie tries to stay positive but its hard. She leans on the hunky guy down the hall to help her save her career, but is he actually any help? and is he really who he seems to be?

4.5 Stars! I got a good cry from this book (which is normally an automatic 5 stars), and I didn't want the book to end, but something is keeping me from a full 5 stars. I think it was that the dynamic with her dad made me cry in the end and not the romance that was really the purpose of the book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book thanks to Katherine Center, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really want to love Hello Stranger. The plot is clever and unique, and the storytelling is sweet and uplifting and kind of funny at times. Overall, though, it just felt like a bunch of tangled up plot lines and two-dimensional, unrealistic characters. Exempt from that is my sweet baby Joe, who puts the team on his back to redeem the rest of the characters.

At its heart, Hello Stranger has so much potential to be a 5 star romance. There is just too much going on. If some of the excess plot lines (Parker, Sue eloping, honestly even the portrait contest) were scraped away, Sadie and Joe’s story would have had enough room to shine to its full potential.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review! Hello Stranger will be available July 11th

My reading style can really only be described as hyperfixation. I get through books fast. So if I've been reading something for a few days and haven't gotten very far I'm either too distracted or uninterested. That's what I thought was happening here. It started off slow, and I just couldn't get into a reading rhythm. However, Once the pieces fell into place I couldn't put it down and was up until 3 AM finishing it.

Sadie is a portrait artist, who suffers a medical emergency and ends up with face blindness right before her first big break as an artist. That's right, face blindness. She can't tell who anyone is! Did you guys know that's a real condition? I sure didn't. So how can a portrait artist, paint faces she can't see?

I loved learning about face blindness and watching Sadie try to navigate her love interests, without having ever seen them. However, I didn't love the evil step-sister/mother trope. In the year of our lord 2023, why are we still doing that?

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to discuss this one with you guys, but unfortunately, we'll have to wait a bit. Hello, Stranger doesn't come out until July 11th. Add it to your TBR now, it'll be worth the wait.

Thank You to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for proving me with a copy to read and review

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for a net galley of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I've loved my last two Katherine Center books and went into this one completely blind. I thought it was charming, a clever twist on the 'miscommunication' romance trope, and the characters I thought were very compelling. I adored how much personality all of the characters had down to the main character's cute dog. This was a delightful read - I blew through it in two days. Definitely an entertaining and charming read!

When I read the description of this book, I was all, "Yes, please." Face blindness? That's an awesome way to introduce tension and interest. And it delivered.

Sadie is a compelling character, someone whose been struggling, who just caught a break, only to have a seizure and brain issue. Fantastic setup.

As a romance, I suspected the Good Samaritan who got her out of the crosswalk as it happened was definitely going to pop up again, but, of course, there's no way of knowing because Sadie can't recognize anyone!

She's got a terrible wicked step-sister who obviously has some serious psychological issues (sociopath, anyone?), and she's so awful that she's a delight in how easy and fun it is to hate her on Sadie's behalf. Parker is the worst sister, and she seems to have nothing better to do than make Sadie miserable...which at that point wasn't something that needed help.

Then there's Joe, the Helpful tenant in her building and someone who she goes from detesting to respecting to liking. And then there's the vet. I spent a lot of the book vacillating between them being the same person or two different people. Evidence was there for either case.

I liked how the ending wasn't all parades with unicorn floats, but I liked where it led, and it had one of the more satisfying endings to a book.

This book is funny, heartbreaking, and sexy. Loved it.

I read and really liked 2 other books by this author—Things You Save in a Fire and The Bodyguard. So I was very happy to get an ARC of the author’s latest book. I liked it as much, if not more, than the other 2.

I thought the book was well-written. The 2 main characters were well-rounded and relatable—I really liked them and was rooting for them individually and as a couple.. There was a supporting cast of characters that added humor and depth to the story.

As the story begins, the main character, a portrait artist, has been reduced to living in a rooftop hovel. Then she gets some great news that may change everything. But before that can happen, she develops facial blindness as a result of a congenital condition—the death knell for someone whose livelihood depends on being able to capture faces.. In dealing with the aftermath, she develops relationships with 2 men who she comes to rely on for help. She’s also forced to turn to family members for help and begins to re-examine those relationships in light of new insights about past events.I really liked how the main character grew up and developed over time, courageously re-examining her past traumas and taking risks to get what she wanted.

In terms of writing, the author did an excellent job describing facial blindness and melding it into the story. The author gave the reader just enough medical. information to add interest and complexity to the story. I loved the surprise ending!

I was provided with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First things first, this was the first book I read by Katherine Center…and, it will not be my last!

Holy smokes, this book grasped my attention from the first chapter. I was reading another book when I got the email that I was approved to read an advanced copy, and guess what - I finished this book and didn’t even feel bad putting the other one on the back burner.

This is such a light and heart warming romance, with laughs, smiles, and giggles, guaranteed. There is a twist to the novel, as it revolves around the main character sustaining a brain injury that….well, not to say too much, makes the story very different, as well as bringing awareness to this sort of injury. There was a twist and turn of events that definitely kept me intrigued.

If you haven’t read this book, you need to! If it’s not on your To Be Read list, it needs to be!

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.

Hello Stranger was unique and fresh and such joy to read. A good book makes you laugh, cry, learn and empathize. This one did all of that and more. I read it cover to cover in less than twenty-four hours because I just had to know that Sadie was going to find success in life and in love.

Sadie is a portrait artist. Just when she is about to get her big break, she discovers that she needs brain surgery. Post-surgery, she finds she can no longer recognize faces. Doctors tell her this should be temporary. When Joe, the most repulsive guy in her apartment building, starts being nice to her, she begins to realize that she may not have been truly seeing people for who they really were. She is also dealing with grief from the loss of her mother and a distant father and one seriously obtrusive step-mother.

The last quarter of this book was a delightful series of “aha” moments where every little thing began to make sense. This book had so many fresh takes on romance including some plot turns that I didn’t see coming. I loved that it wasn’t predictable and didn't rely on trope after trope. It just told a great story about two people searching for happiness.

And both Sadie and Joe were so lovable and I found myself rooting for them to recognize love in one another.
Hello Stranger is low on spice, but high on pining and anticipation.
Highly recommend this one!

**And if you love to read or write romance, read the "Author's Note" at the end. It perfectly sums up what romance novels are really about and why they matter. Thank you, Katherine Center!

Content warnings: brain surgery, operation, grief over lost parent, distant father and strained family dynamics, pathological liar, past bullying.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange from my honest review.

I believe this is my fifth book by our author, and for sure my favorite. Our protagonist Sadie is a portrait artist who is down on her luck and struggling as an artist. Just as she thinks she’s about to get her big break she has a surgery that does not end up as planned. She realizes after her procedure she can no longer see faces, it could not possibly get any worse for a portrait artist could it?! We join Sadie on her exploration of relationships, family, and lack of, friendship and her journey for her big break. She struggles with sharing her post op complication or not, and navigating all kinds of relationships all while she is learning how to recognize people by ways other than facial recognition. She is a very easy character to root for and I found her very likable. I learned a lot from her medical struggles and thought they were represented very well. A good solid read that made me feel all the things. I always look forward to our authors books, and this is one of the best in my opinion.

Many thanks to our author, Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advanced eGalley copy of the book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This will be released on July 11th, 2023 and I hope if you choose to read it you enjoy it also.