Super quirky and cute. Really love the art angle and learning about medical conditions previously unheard of.

Soon after artist Sadie Montgomery places as a finalist in a prestigious portrait competition, she suddenly collapses and finds out she needs brain surgery. After the surgery, Sadie doesn't recognize her best friend - and soon learns she has a (hopefully temporary) condition known as face blindness. While she tries to figure out how she's going to paint a portrait for the competition when faces are a jumble to her, she meets and starts to fall for two men!
I've read three books by Katherine Center and loved them all, so I was thrilled when I found out Hello Stranger was available as a "read now" title on NetGalley. I quickly became fascinated by Sadie's journey - her struggle to navigate the world and paint again, as well as her burgeoning friendships with her neighbor Joe and a handsome veterinarian. I figured out what would happen in the end, but that was a good thing; as Center writes in a thoughtful afterword, romance novels are so satisfying because of the sense of anticipation they create, and I truly loved every minute of Hello Stranger. Center's novels are always a little bittersweet, which makes them irresistibly poignant.
Hello Stranger comes out July 11th and I've pre-ordered both the hardcover and the audiobook. Please consider reading it this year!
I also highly recommend The Bodyguard by Center, which was my favorite book of 2022!

Hello Stranger had many endearing moments. The attraction between Sadie and Joe was sweet and kept me entertained. I felt the story itself was all over the place and it was hard to keep up at times.

You can always trust Katherine Center to give you story to hit right in the feels. Sadie Montgomery makes a living painting portraits until an emergent medical procedure causes her brain to lose the ability to see faces. Now not only is she jobless, she left not even being able to recognize those closest to her, even a neighbor she thought she despised, but needing a little from, realizes it’s much easier to see the inside of people when you can’t see the outside.

Thank you to NetGalley for a advanced e-book in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you for letting me read this arc! I found this book very charming. The idea of a stranger was something I haven't reward before. I would recommend and read again

Another hit by Katherine Center!! This book made me laugh out loud. Sadie is a hoot…albeit a kooky, immature hoot. If you can overlook her typical millennial immaturity vibe, you’ll fall in love with her. Sadie and the chemistry she has with her love interests are palpable and believable. You’ll root for her to find love. One thing I couldn’t get over, was the “evil stepsister.” No rational adult acts this way. She was OTT and those parts of the storyline were pointless to me. Katherine Center always knows how to write a likable lead and a story that can tug at your heartstrings.

This was the second Katherine Center book I’ve read. This is a very much a close door contemporary romance. The single point of view and the unreliable narrator makes for an interesting story.

I really appreciated the different take on this book. A portrait artist with a brain injury causing her to have temporary face blindness. I felt like this really was a story about the main characters personal growth and the romance was a side/secondary piece.

I requested this book because I really enjoyed The Bodyguard and while this book wasn't exactly the same, I still enjoyed it. The actual plot is really interesting and quite unique.

For rom-com lovers, this book will fit the bill. It is simultaneously fun and heartfelt and deeply interesting.

Spoiler: I did find the reveal a little too unbelievable. If nothing else, her dog would've recognized him as the vet. That being said, I didn't dislike the reveal but it just felt a little too much.

📚 Hello Stranger
✍ Katherine Center
📖 Contemporary Romance
⭐ 4.5/5
🌶️ (only kissing)

🙏 Thank you to Katherine Center, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC of Hello Stranger in exchange for an honest review.
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💭 Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery has just been named a finalist in one of the most prestigious art competitions in the country and is on the cusp of her (long-awaited) breakthrough when a series of unfortunate events land her in the hospital with what is (hopefully) a temporary bout of face blindness. Hoping she can compensate for being unable to recognize even the most familiar faces with a brave façade and some strategies from her doctors, she tries her best to keep living her life and finding creative approaches to painting the most important portrait of her career. But when everything- including her love life-starts to feel more blurry than she can handle, she'll have to figure out what she really needs to see for everything to come into focus.
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🎯 What I loved: Katherine Center has a wonderful way of making the emotions of a book come to life. I quickly went from laughing hysterically at the predicaments and awkward situations Sadie got into to empathizing with her missing her mother's presence dearly. Sadie was a totally endearing roller-skating, supermarket crooning, artistic, dog-loving heroine with lots of personality and her love interest(s) were both swoon-worthy. Plus, always extra points for setting the story in Houston and painting such a wonderful picture of a city I love. Yay for Houston-based authors!

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: I'm never a huge fan of characters withholding information and didn't understand Sadie's desire not to share what she was going through with the people in her life- although if she had, most of the book's events wouldn't have happened, so I get the strategy. But, it didn't make it slightly more difficult to connect with Sadie's character.
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Read if you love:
* closed-door romances
* forced proximity (neighbors)
* books involving unique medical diagnosis
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See also: The Reunion, The Dead Romantics, Wish You Were Here

Katherine Center has delivered a book full of ALL the feels once again! Don't think I have read a single book by this author without tearing up at least once when reading.

Sadie is a struggling artist, hiding her "failures" from her family. She lives in her studio rooftop hovel, semi illegally, and is desperately yearning for her big break. When one day the promise of it arrives! She makes the top 10 finalists for a huge portrait competition. The very competition her mother had been a finalist in years prior, before she died suddenly. Excited to come up with the best portrait ever to secure the coveted first place, Sadie is crossing the street when she has an accident. She wakes up in the hospital only to learn she needs brain surgery, ASAP.

What I love about Katherine's books is that we have hard and heavy topics interwoven into the story. In Hello Stranger, Sadie gets acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia / face blindness after her brain surgery. Imagine waking up one day and not being to recognise the face of anybody?! (I 100% identified with Sadie's panic that this would not mean she'd also be able to recognise the face of her soul dog, Peanut!). Sadie must learn to navigate the world unable to recognise people on approach or at all. She must learn new ways to know who she is interacting with: gait, clothing, voice etc. I found this fascinating to read about.

The romance in this book is subtle and kind of a slow burn (though some might find the declaration of love a little out of the blue). I think it fits perfectly in the world where Sadie cannot recognise anybody. She is falling in love with Joe through every other sense. Imagine the trust you must have to develop for an individual if you have no idea what their face looks like? Especially when your evil stepsister is constantly trying to throw your life off the rails.

Things I loved about this book:
- adorable pup (Peanut)
- overcoming adversity to thrive
- Diversity representation/unseen disabilities
- Strong support system that isn't your blood family

I loved Katherine Center’s previous book The Bodyguard, but I was quite disappointed with Hello Stranger. I found the family drama to be very over the top and I didn’t like the romance at all. However, I enjoyed learning about prosopagnosia (face blindness).
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

*spoilers*
Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this book! This book was different and was very refreshing! It was interesting to read about the medical side effects Sadie got after her procedure. I really connected with her on how close she was with her mom I truly don’t know what I would do without mine so when she talked about her mom it pulled at my heartstrings. I hated Parker so much!!! I loved Joe and I really liked how he wasn’t who you thought he was and just turned out to be so much better. I liked that Lucinda turned out to be better than I thought she was and I just loved how she fixed Sadie’s moms dress for her. I also really liked how Sadie’s dad tried to patch things up with her after everything. I really liked how the whole art contest felt realistic in the sense that she didn’t win and she finally got to say everything she has been wanting to say. I loved the twists that came along with the face blindness I mean what is better than having the two people you thought you liked be the same person!! This book brought love is blind and fate to a whole new level. This book was just all around beautiful! I loved the bodyguard by this author and am so happy I loved this one just as much now this author is an instant buy for me.

I read Katherine Center's The Body Guard in January and quickly decided that she's an "instant read" for me. Meaning I will instantly read anything she puts out. So when I learned I could get my hands on her upcoming release Hello Stranger, I requested it immediately, and am so glad I did!

Things I loved:
-lots of good one liners - I laughed out loud multiple times
-first person POV
-romance isn't the only story line happening

This book is written, as if Sadie, the main character, is telling you the story after the fact and I ADORED it. It was like listening to a new friend tell me all about their life. Katherine Center made her relatable, quirky, funny, and real. The same can be said of the other characters in the book - even the ones you don't hear much of. Each character has just the right amount of back story and development needed to make you love them. I had lots of hopeful anticipation for the ending of this book while reading, and it did not let me down.

Run, don't walk, to buy this when it hits shelves later this year!

Thank you to St Martins Press and Netgalley for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts

One thing I love about Katherine Center's books is that she does a lot of research and takes the time to really learn about her subjects. I learned a lot about face blindness. However, the rest of the book was just so far-fetched. I found myself growing frustrated with the main character. She frequently says how independent she is, yet she won't stand up to her family. The evil stepsister was ridiculously over the top. The ending kept going on and on and on....
I feel like How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire are such wonderful, realistic love stories. The reason I love those books is the exact opposite of what the author wrote about in her note at the end of the book. It's like she totally change her romantic writing philosophy. I thought The Bodyguard was different too, but chalked it up to her writing a novel during Covid. But if this is a trend that continues, I might not be as inclined to pick up one of her new stories.

After reading Hello Stranger, I fell in love with our main character and enjoyed getting to watch her overcome the obstacles she was faced with!!

This was a great read! I love Katherine Center’s books. I had never heard of “face blindness” before this book, but I really appreciated how it was depicted through Sadie’s eyes and the effect it had on her job as an artist.

Katherine’s characters are engaging, funny, and, other than her evil stepsister, lovable. I really enjoyed how the relationship between Sadie and Joe developed throughout the novel, and I loved the twist at the end!

Definitely recommend!

What an interesting and surprising twist on a romantic comedy. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the mystery of Sadie figuring out how to navigate her new life. Thanks Netgalley for the ARC

A new Katherine Center novel always promises to keep me up late the first night, wanting to read just one more chapter.... And this one woke me up early the next morning to finish it. "Hello Stranger" was a propulsive read. I cared about Sadie right from the start; Center has a way of creating interesting, believable, sympathetic characters whose lives don't go strictly according to plan.

This was a completely enjoyable quick read! Piles of thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free copy for review.

I think I say this every time I read one of Ms. Center’s books, but this time I really mean it. This is my all time favorite book of hers! Absolutely wonderful, heartwarming, hopeful, swoon-worthy, kept me up to late, can’t stop reading, sad it’s finished kind of book. Loved it. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to be uplifted. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest opinion.

One minute Sadie is a struggling artist who has just been accepted to a huge portrait competition, and the next she's having brain surgery. When she wakes up in the hospital, she is diagnosed with temporary face blindness due to swelling from surgery. Suddenly all the faces she used to focus on so intently for her paintings are a jumbled mess of puzzle pieces. On top of it, she finds herself falling in love with not one, but two men while she tries to recover and figure out how she is going to create a portrait for the competition.
This book was so much more than a romance novel. I lovvvved the romantic aspect, the internal battle to choose between two men, and the surprising way it ends up. But I also was thoroughly entranced by immersing myself in the life of someone who has face blindness. The whole book was beautifully written, sincerely addicting, and a burst of hope and love.Dare I say even better than 'The Bodyguard?'. I dare. It is. It's that good.