I’ve enjoyed many of Katherine Center’s books in the past but this one fell short for me. I guessed the plot “twist” very early on and it all felt a bit tedious after that. My biggest pet peeve with any romance novel is the lack-of-communication trope. While you could argue that didn’t really apply here, it did play a part. This was just “meh” for me.

What a rollercoaster! I loved the build up on this book, how it went from a character study to romance, ending in the perfect tie up. KC does a great job of bringing what should be a weak point and shining it up to a brilliant crown jewel of a plot.

5/5 great read!

I really loved this book. For some reason, the description made me question whether I wanted to read it - but I’m so happy I did.

Sadie has had a rough go of it since losing her mom: struggling to establish her portrait career, navigating rocky relationships with her dad/stepmom/stepsister, and dating..who has time for that?

After surgery that bring on faceblindness, Sadie is forced to confront her career, her family, and her love life all while trying to learn to live with this problem. She’s so endearing, it’s hard not to root for her.

I’m sad this one is over so soon.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

Katherine Center has done it again.

I enjoyed Center’s previous release, The Bodyguard, which I read in one sitting. I’m happy to report that Hello Stranger has had the same effect.

Hello Stranger is a sweet, hopeful, uplifting romance novel. I stayed up late reading it (isn’t this always a sign of a good book?) and woke up early before work to finish it. I was hooked!

This novel was a delight to read. The author’s note, which I highly encourage you to read, was the cherry on top. Katherine Center clearly has an excellent understanding of the romance genre and genuinely wants to bring joy to others through her writing.

My only gripe is Sadie’s step-sister acting like a Disney villain. Too much time was wasted on the her that could’ve been spent showing Joe and Sadie interacting. By the end of the novel I was left wanting more of the sweetness and a little less of the drama. This in no way derailed my enjoyment of Hello Stranger. Rather, it just provided a few “eye roll” moments.

I would recommend this to readers of Abby Jimenez, Carly Fortune, Elissa Sussman, and Emily Henry.

If you are looking for a feeling of happiness, hope, and warmth - Katherine Center’s books will have it for you. As always this book has it all. Swoony romantic vibes, the sweetest characters, and a creative plot. I enjoyed this book, it was a quick and delighted read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC of Hello Stranger by Katherine Center in exchange for an honest review.

At the most important time and potential turning point of her career, portrait artist Sadie has a near-death experience that affects her ability to distinguish people's faces: a devastating development for an artist selected as a finalist in a portrait competition. Thus, she has to figure out a new approach to painting and develop a new style to finish a portrait before the competition all while developing feelings for her "future husband."

I finished this book so fast! This is my second Katherine Center, and I thought it had a unique plot with bittersweet elements. The tone toes the line between light and fluffy and melancholy very well. I could feel Sadie's plight and loved her relationship with her love interest. However, I called the plot twist early on, and I felt the characterization of her stepsister rather one-dimensional. Nevertheless, this was a fun ride, and I can't wait to pick up another book by this author.

This is only my second Katherine Center book but it won't be my last. This one was a true delight. I enjoyed the banter and the developing friendship between Joe and Sadie into their grumpy sunshine romance. Sadie has learned the hard way to not count on anyone and to not ask for help. Joe cannot but help anyone who needs it, whether they ask or not. I also enjoyed that there was minimal angst in this. Obviously there is turmoil (Hello romantic fiction!) but it is bearable and not overdone.

The only reason for not 5 stars are a couple of minor things. The beginning was a bit slow and took me a bit to get invested but once I was I couldn't stop. I even had to read at red lights while driving home from work. The second difficult part was the illness. I had a hard time imagining what Sadie was going thru (and even googled images of face blindness). And while I appreciate this opportunity to learn more about a condition I had no idea about, at times it pulled me out of the story. And finally, Parker... while a good villain, I just thought she was TOO MUCH. Like the only thing she didn't do was kick Sadie's dog (that we know of).

My biggest requirement for romantic fiction I want the Happily Ever After but even if it's written that way, I NEED to believe it in my heart that the two partners will last and live their HEA. Sadie and Joe definitely will.

Posted to Goodreads and Instagram
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5130136729?book_show_action=false
https://www.instagram.com/p/Coa-WK0LdOW/

A

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling, down-on-her-luck artist who just can’t seem to catch a break. When she ends up as a finalist in a prominent portrait painting competition, she’s hopeful that her life is about to drastically change. However, an unexpected brain surgery that Sadie undergoes after having a seizure steals her ability to see and recognize faces…and suddenly, her ability to complete her portrait, along with her entire future, is up in the air.

This lighthearted romance was filled with hope, mostly because I expected a happy ending for Sadie — despite her unfortunate circumstances. Between her cold and distant brain surgeon father, her judgmental stepmother, and her truly evil stepsister…she doesn’t have a great support system. When her beloved elderly dog, Peanut, develops a life threatening condition, I was outraged on Sadie’s behalf. Like, can’t the universe cut her a break?! But the romance that unfolds with her neighbor is the rainbow after the storm. Their relationship strengthens organically, in movie-esque fashion, though it was a little too “right place at the right time” for me. If only romances that magical happened in everyday life! But that’s the beauty of these kind of novels…they offer an idealistic escape from real life struggle and monotony. The fact that I *knew* Sadie was going to come out on top after all of the hardship she endured kept me eager to keep reading until the very end. (I anticipated the plot twist, which felt super unrealistic — like, how in the WORLD did the numerous conversations between Sadie and Joe never hint at what was actually going on?! Why did Joe never tell Sadie his real name?! I’m baffled. The logical part of me needs answers.)

But overall, this was a cute story and I’d definitely recommend it to those who enjoy romance novels and/or need to get out of a slump!

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review!*

Hello Stranger by @katherinecenter 🛼🎨

Pub date: July 11, 2023

Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist who just got the big shot of her career. She was picked as a finalist for a competition she’s been waiting for years. The problem? She’s scheduled to have a ‘non-emergency’ surgery before it. This surgery leaves Sadie unable to recognize people’s faces. If this isn’t problem enough for her job… she’s at a crossedroad between two guys that appear in her life at the most inconvenient time.

Katherine Center did it again! After reading ‘The Bodyguard’ recently I was excited to read another book by her. As a person who understands science and loves romance, to me this book has the perfect combination of both. This book explains science so easily it just clicks. There’s no way you can’t fall in love with Sadie, feel her frustration and struggles and cheer for her through it all. How she overcomes her situation, family struggles and messiness in her love life made this book fly by. This book will show you that it doesn’t matter how a person looks, what matters is the goodness and kindness of their heart. I will recommend this book to anyone, even if they don’t read romance. It’s funny, heartwarming and leaves you wanting to re-read it as soon as you finish it.

Thank you @NetGalley and @stmartinspress for sending this ARC for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This book had the perfect amount of hope, happiness, and optimism without being too cheesy. I love it that it embraces the love sight unseen trope, makes it very contemporary since this concept is a new thing on reality dating shows. It has the perfect twists and turns but was not dragged out. The lightheartedness and love just made this such a fun read.

Katherine Center has always been one of my favorites, and this book is no different. This book had such a unique storyline and lovable characters. I had never heard of prosopagnosia and I learned so much about it. I had no idea so many people suffer from it. I loved both Sadie and Joe, and of course peanut. I liked the little love triangle between her joe and Dr. Addison.

Her books are always so heartwarming and leave me feeling fulfilled. Reading about Sadie overcoming what to most would have been a career ending diagnosis was inspiring. I would highly recommend this book (and all her others) to anyone looking for a book that makes you feel happy.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC!

I have been consistently loving Katherine Center's novels and Hello Stranger is yet another delight in her catalog. From pretty much the first page I was sucked into Sadie's world and I just LOVE Sadie. I would read all the books with Sadie. She was such a joy to get to know and as a fellow human who lost their mother as a child this book really grabbed me in a way too.

Face Blindness was something I knew about having worked with someone before that had it but I never quite grasped what life was like for him until I read this book. It was fascinating and interesting to me and I imagine others will also be intrigued by this.

Overall I loved reading this lovely hopeful book and the end notes, which I usually skip, were some of the best bits. I really loved what she had to say about romance novels! Definitely make sure to read them!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The Bodyguard was one of my favorite romance reads of last year, so I was excited I was able to get a copy of “Hello Stranger” to read. The beginning felt….like any other romance. Sweet enough. But the ending packed a punch I wasn’t expecting until right up at the end. I loved watching literal scatter brained Sadie try to unscramble the pieces of her life, both new and small. It’s possible that losing part of her visual abilities was exactly what Sadie needed to get her life back!

Would totally recommend for a feel good romance!

I am a huge Katherine Center fan... and this fell flat for me. I found the main character to be whiny - I felt like the entire step-sister scenario was not believable - and I figured out the 'twist' early in the book. The MMC and other characters were superb - but the FMC just ruined it.

This is my first time reading a book by this author and I am really liking the style of writing. This book was written as if it we were watching the story unfold in her thoughts.. or she was casually telling the details to a friend. Just enough description to form a fantastic brain movie but not so much that it felt like useless fluff. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was surprised that the story line surprised me. Well done.

I loved this so much! I'm a big fan of Katherine Center's other novels, and I believe this is my favorite she's written. so far

Sadie is a down on her luck portrait artist, who may finally have the big break she's been dreaming of. Weeks before her competition, she has to have brain surgery which leaves her with facial blindness- and unknown if it is temporary or permanent in nature. Sadie is trying to figure out how to navigate her life alongside her favorite pup, Peanut and her best friend. Her life become a little more complicated with two potential love interests, her very attractive (she thinks?) vet and her hate and then maybe love relationship with her neighbor, Joe. I loved the romance aspect of the book, but even more, I loved Sadie's journey of dealing with her new reality, how to navigate relationships in her life, and persevere. She was such a likable underdog protagonist!

Would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys a fun romance! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this one. It was a good, wholesome romance. The characters were fun and so relatable.

Prosopagnosia - a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces. Sadie Montgomery is faced with this diagnosis after she has a seizure in the middle of a crosswalk. The thing is, she’s a painter, a portraitist. So how does she move on and adjust?

In her characteristic joyful style, Katherine Center shows how Sadie deals with her new diagnosis with both some self-pity and some positive self-talk. Yes, she has some deep hurts from her past, but she moves forward with hope and humor. I loved it!

After reading The Bodyguard by Katerine Center, I knew I wanted to read more books by her. I had read How to Walk Away (which I rated 3 stars) and unfortunately, this book kinda reminded me of it. The main part that reminded me of How to Walk Away was the medical jargon. This book had some heavy medical words but fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as How to Walk Away. The medical parts of the book were explained very well so that a common person, like me, could understand what was going on. I really appreciated that.

Other than those parts, I thought this book was really good. I could tell what the plot twist was going to be but I still thought it was executed very well. I was yelling at the book, trying to get Sadie to understand what was going on. She even mentioned something along the lines of how so many miscommunications could be solved by COMMUNICATING and then she went and didn’t communicate. So I thought that was kind of dumb. But it’s fine.

There were so many cute parts in the book that I liked about each love interest. Joe was adorable and I loved his nickname of “Helpful”. What more could you ask of a love interest? He was really invested in Sadie which I found so endearing. I would recommend reading this book, not only for the exposure to a disorder you might not have heard of before but also for the amazing romantic plot.

I really enjoyed this book and learning more about Sadie’s condition. I love Katherine Center and her abilities to feature a plot twist and interesting romance storyline.