I've not read a book by Katherine Center that I haven't loved. This book was NO exception. I loved the story and fell in love with the characters.

While I usually love Katherine Center, this latest effort wasn't my favorite. Did I like it? Sure, it's cute, and it kept me entertained enough to finish it. I liked the main characters and the set up, too. I haven't read a book that deals with face blindness, and I think the relationship at the book's center and the complexities of falling in love with someone when you can't see their face was all cleverly constructed. However, as the book progressed, it just felt too obviously plotted and convenient. While I liked the *concept* behind the twist that happens with the love triangle, I didn't like the execution. But overall, is it a fun little rom com, with some unexpected and/or unique elements? Sure.

Katherine Center is one of my "go to" authors. When a new book gets published, I know that I am definitely going to read it. Of all the books of hers that I have read, "Hello Stranger" is probably my favorite. The story centers on Sadie who is a portrait artist waiting for her big break. Sadie's break is about to happen as she is chosen to be a finalist in well known portrait contest and has six weeks to create a portrait that will impress the judges. Life gets in the way when Sadie has a seizure which leads to a "minor" brain operation that leaves her face blind. I never knew such a thing even existed. It's pretty difficult to paint a portrait when you are face blind. Added to the mix is Sadie's blossoming relationship with her neighbor and her crush on her new vet as well as some complicated family history. This story made me smile and also made me think a lot about what we see and how we interpret it. How much of what we "see" is because we expect to see it? The book is poignant in all the right places and left me book happy!

This book will grab you in from page 1. A story of finding love when you least expect it and finding love for all the right reason. You won’t be able to put it down!

I love Katherine Center's books and writing. She's one of my top authors I run to read. Unfortunately, HELLO STRANGER didn't live up to my expectations for a Katherine Center book.

What worked for me:
* Facial Blindness was a super cool and unique challenge for a character
* Sadie and Joe together was super sweet. Even though she kept her health a secret, I love how they could be themselves.
* The back third of the novel was a lot stronger than the beginning.
* Sadie's honesty that one conversation or "I'm sorry" with her father doesn't solve everything that happened in the past.

What didn't work for me:
* The beginning half is overwhelmingly slow and hard to get through. So much of it was focused on her reaction to her new condition, therapy, the art show, and her awful family that I simply wasn't engaged with the story. If another author had written the book I would have DNF'd.
* I had the same critique with THE BODYGUARD in that most of the epilogue gets a bit preachy about life and whatever epiphanies the MC has during the time period in between the end of the novel and the epilogue. I wish it could be written more naturally.

I'm disappointed, but I still love Katherine Center (and her comments at the end about why we readers appreciate and devour romance novels) and will definitely pick up her next book. THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE is my favorite novel of hers. Go pick up that one next if you haven't read it.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Katherine Center books always give me the warm and fuzzy feelings I look for in a sweet romance, and this one was no exception. I enjoyed the inner monologue of Sadie, who is estranged from her father after her mothers sudden death many years ago. She has been on her own for quite sometime, and does not want any help from anyone, even after she has brain surgery and develops a condition where she can’t see faces.

I loved being witness to Sadie’s growth through an extremely traumatic and difficult time in her life. I felt like we became friends through reading, and I was invested in her success as both an artist and a person overcoming adversity. I loved her relationship with Joe and seeing how their friendship progressed. I’m not the biggest fan of miscommunications, so that irked me a bit, but I loved the overall story and characters so much that it almost didn’t matter. I will continue to be a huge Katherine Center fan for years to come!

I can’t tell you how big of a fan I am of Katherine Center, her characters are relatable and feel so lifelike. With that being said, I was super excited to get the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Hello Stranger.
Sadie Montgomery, an aspiring artist, recently entered an art competition where she has the potential to win $10,000. Sadie wants so badly to impress her father and convince him that she can become a successful artist; but right before the competition Sadie learn she needs to have brain surgery. It’s not a complicated surgery and all should go well. Unfortunately, the surgery causes Sadie to develop apperceptive prosopagnosia – she can’t recognize faces. To make matters worse, her dog gets sick and has to go to the Vet.
Now what can Sadie do? How is she ever going to win much less compete in the competition?
This is a fun feel good story with great characters. Sadie and Joe are an adorable couple!!
Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for my ARC.

In the author's note, Katherine Center mentions how books can be described as predictable and some might perceive that as negative but there needs to be a new word to describe a predictable book - in a good way. I agree, this book was very predictable and I still loved it. It was a romance where you know how it will end but you aren't sure how exactly you'll get there. It was such a pleasant experience that I tore through this.

In her recent novel, Hello Stranger, Katherine Center manages to weave humor into a book about heavy subjects in a way that makes it fun to read. I enjoyed the story and also enjoyed learning about Prosopagnosia and the various ways affects those who have it. Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with an ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Katherine Center does it again. She's written a wonderful, feel-good romance that I want to reread over and over again. Not everything ended perfectly (with her family), but I loved how she stood up for herself and was finally heard, even if it wasn't on her own merits. (though, I would have really loved an apology from her dad for how he shipped her off to boarding school). The ending was predictable, but I didn't care because the writing was addicting.

Katherine Center is an author who can do no wrong. She creates beautiful stories and characters that you can’t really forget. Her latest novel has everything you can ask for in a book. All
The stars for her latest, Hello Stranger. I couldn’t put it down. This will likely be a favorite of mine for this year. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A book AND learning about a condition that I was only slightly aware of beforehand? I’ll take it! I had no idea what this book was about but I knew that I’d love it because I love KC! I don’t have enough words for how much I enjoyed this book. I swooned. I swooned. And then I swooned some more.
But aside from swooning, you can tell so much research went into this book. It was written with care.

This book came out of nowhere and was such a breath of fresh air!! Hello Stranger is a story about Sadie and her quirky life. She is an artist and is getting ready to enter a contest that her mother, who has passed away, won years ago. A medical emergency changes everything and she has to figure out life all over again. The story was so heartfelt and the characters well developed and fun! I loved her interactions with the men in her life and the plot twist at the end had my heart singing and dancing!! I would highly recommend this book. It's got a great story, family drama and swoon-worthy romance.

Center's latest offering centers on a 28 year old struggling portrait artist who has critical brain surgery and ends up with prosopagnosia - a condition that affects the one spot in your brain that takes in the visual differences of people so that we can easily identify them.
Obviously this causes big problems in her livelihood as a portrait artist, but also gives her issues with identifying people in her building. Especially a few notable characters: her evil stepsister who (cartoonishly) ruined her life from age 14 on, her new veterinarian, and a previously unnoticed a neighbor she calls "joe" who she may have misjudged early on.
For me, this just doesn't hit the same way Center's earlier novels do.

"We're all just muddling through, after all. We're all just doing the best we can. We're all struggling with our struggles. Nobody has the answers. And everybody, deep down, is a little bit lost."

So refreshing. Katherine Center’s writing is funny, charismatic, and hits you all in the right feels. This book felt like hugging a long-time friend.

Dealing with a very traumatic side-effect from her surgery, Sadie is struggling to navigate her new normal: she can't recognize any faces, even her own. Obviously, as most would assume, face blindness is a very difficult thing to go through - what doesn't help is developing feelings for two men (at the same time), having a god-awful step-sister, and unpacking the emotional baggage your parents left you with while simultaneously, trying to make your big break as a portrait artist.

Center expertly weaves humor throughout the chaos of it all and somehow makes all of these heavy topics lighthearted and easy to read. Going on this journey with Sadie was one to remember - she is so kind and patient and the people around her are the same. A well done book by Katherine Center.

3.5 stars! I’ve gotten to read the last 3 KC books as an advanced review reader and let me tell you, it’s such an honor every time! KC is the GOAT with original plots. I like that her characters are messy and believable and real. Hello Stranger was a cute read. I loved Sadie. I admired her dedication, completing her portrait despite her face blindness.

This wasn’t my favorite KC, but I will always devour anything she writes. PS, go read Happiness for Beginners. It’s one of my fave of all time.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and Katherine Center for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy via Net Galley. I was so looking forward to reading this one. Throughout the book there were ups and downs and it kept me wanting more. So glad I was able to read this one in advance.

Say Hello to Hello Stranger, my favorite read of 2023 thus far! Author Katherine Center did not disappoint with this feel-good, slow burn that'll make you laugh and root for the protagonist the entire journey.

From the beginning, we meet Sadie, a quirky, lovable character still trying to find her footing after college with her artistic career. When Sadie gets a big break, she is ecstatic to share the good news, and we soon learn that her family relationships are on the same struggle bus as the rest of her life. All she has is her beloved Peanut, an elderly canine friend, and her best friend, Sue.

When Sadie suffers an accident leading to an acquired neurodiversity, her world is scrambled and upside down. Luckily, through the help of a good Samaritan, a veterinarian, a therapist, and a few friends from the past, Sadie can mend her aching heart and gain clarity on her life for the first time in years, despite feeling like a stranger in her own body.

Throughout the story, we skate around with Sadie in her mother's roller skates as she unpacks emotional baggage and finds her way. She falls in love and mends relationships, deals with bullies, and has no lack of embarrassing laugh-out-loud moments along the way.

This book is excellent for you if you love reading about artsy careers, slow-burn strangers-to-lovers tropes, neurodiversity, and you're all about animals. This book is a light read, refreshing and feel-good, with no spice.

I gave Hello Stranger 5 beautiful golden stars, and I plan to give it a permanent place on my bookshelf as soon as it releases in July.

Cuuuute. 💙 I don’t even need to read the synopsis, Katherine Center is an automatic read for me. This was so cute and had me smiling all the way through. It’s not my favorite of hers (that remains How To Walk Away) but it was definitely very enjoyable and I’m thankful I was able to read an early copy.

Hello Stranger definitely lands squarely in the romance category, but I also think there are two symbiotic arcs occurring. One of course is the strangers-to-lovers trope, but the other is Sadie's journey to accepting the cards she has been dealt and learning to cope with an unfortunate situation. Can you imagine being a portrait artist who can no longer identify faces? Her face-blindness also creates humorous drama in the book as she has to rely on context clues to identify the people around her (and often gets in wrong).

I really liked reading this book because it combines a lot of what I look for in a story. The spunky, spitfire of a female lead; the lack of toxic characters (really her evil step-sister is toxic, but we will let that slide because its a funny architype); the helpful, handsome, and thoroughly devoted male lead (I'm pretty sure the guy falls first in this one, we love that); the adorable dog sidekick... And the plot line is pretty funny, but I don't want to spoil it.

5/5 from me, this is my favorite Katherine Center book so far!