4.5 Stars Hello Stranger by Katherine Center is probably the most original plot line that I’ve read in a while. There was a twist at the end that I saw coming before the reveal, but it was still a fascinating story. Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery has finally gotten her big break—she’s a finalist in a very selection portrait competition and she needs to produce a completely new work for the show in six weeks. Unfortunately, Sadie is then diagnosed with a malformed blood vessel in her brain and needs surgery to fix it right away. After the successful surgery, Sadie suddenly can no longer recognize anyone. She has acquired prosopagnosia—aka “face blindness”—and everyone including her family, friends, and strangers look like a Picasso painting of a rearranged face. While lamenting how she will compete when she can’t paint a portrait as she normally would, Sadie fixates on her dog Peanut’s veterinarian, Dr. Oliver Addison. Though she can’t see his face, she can tell he’s very attractive and she gladly accepts when he asks her out. Sadie decides to keep her diagnosis from everyone, including her neighbor Joe, who suddenly seems to be everywhere. Sadie and Joe strike up a friendship, that then seems to develop into more. But what about Dr. Addison and what will she do about her career and the competition?

As I said before, this was a completely new plot line that didn’t rely on the same recycled tropes. Once I figured out the twist, it felt glaringly obvious, but it was still a delight to watch it all unfold and be revealed. Although Sadie felt scared about her new reality with her face blindness, it caused her to question her judgement in a way that felt uncomfortable, but it also pushed her to question other things. She began to look for other styles and ways of painting, rather than copying the style that her late mother had used. Sadie began to see more possibilities and notice other things about people that she hadn’t noticed before. The one part of the story that really irked me was the character of the wicked stepsister, Parker, though the author did a good job of making this character get on your nerves just like she did Sadie’s. Parker deserved worse than what she got, but I also wouldn’t have been mad at some redemption for her in the epilogue, but oh well.

This story was truly charming and I loved the whole thing!

4 stars! I am so excited I got to read this as an ARC from NetGalley!! I moved my rating up a bit once I saw how the story resolved and came together. I devoured this book. I almost read the entire thing in about 8 hours. It was a very consumable book! Having said that, I did have some issues with it. I thought almost all of the family scenes, especially with Parker read very YA. I wish the family dynamics had been more mature content. I feel like it was very high school which is atypical of Katherine Center IMO. Also, there were many scenes that were frustrating leading up to the end because they just flew by with no explanation. While the ending did surprise me and increased my enjoyment level, there had to be a little suspension of disbelief, even with all of the explanations, but I do think it was clever. Sidenote: I loved the author's note.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced copy!

This is my third Katherine Center read and they just keep getting better! Oh how she makes me swoon!

I love that our mc, Sadie, stays optimistic through out everything that is presented to her. She finds herself with face blindness, battling with her evil step sister, a 'kidnapped' best friend and a sick pup, Peanut.

What I love most is that Katherine Center layers this story so well with things happening left and right but it is never overwhelming. One chapter I am hating the "mutton muncher" in the elevator and pretty quickly I am falling for the guy switching off the breaker to end a party. From the jump I knew this would be 5 stars.

This book might be my new favorite by this author! The perfect book to get me out of my reading slump. I laughed, cried and swooned with Sadie. She’s the perfect heroine, dealing with a new diagnosis and figuring out life out all while managing to make me laugh along the way…and find a little romance. ;). For sure grab this novel. You won’t regret it!!!

I loved this book and the flow of it. It was great, not only in the romantic aspect, but touching on the medical aspect and the artistic aspect. I also liked that there was a story line outside of the relationship between the 2 main characters.

My only con from this book is the editing. Especially in the second half, there was a lot of basic editing mistakes that really drew me out of the store. Using 2 words next to each other that were ultimately the same, but like they hadn’t decided which word to use, so now the sentence doesn’t make sense. Putting “ at the end of a sentence that wasn’t something anyone was saying. Putting “an” when it should have been “a”. Even having the name Linda once instead of Lucinda. I know some of this falls on the author too, but that’s why the author has an editor. Whoever edited this book got lazy and dropped the ball. I hope some of these mistakes were corrected before printing.

Katherine Center always writes a good book and this was no exception. I really enjoyed this hopeful and uplifting romance that centered around a portrait artist developing face blindness. This story shared romance, family drama, and best of all a dog named Peanut who is the catalyst for the main characters budding romance with her vet. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sadie is a struggling artist. She's hoping her luck will turn around with a portrait competition she's landed a finalist spot in. But from there things seem to go down hill. Including needing a brain surgery that results in her being unable to see faces... making her submission to the competition that much more difficult. Her dog gets sick, needing to go to the vet. Her obnoxious neighbour is always there to witness embarrassing moments. But what she doesn't expect during all this is to fall in love with two different men.

I really enjoyed The Bodyguard so I was excited to receive an ARC of Hello Stranger. But unfortunately this one fell a little flat for me. I just really didn't like the majority of the characters, including Sadie. They all feel a bit immature, and cartoonish really. This story had a lot going on and felt a disjointed to me. What I did love though was Joe. He kept me turning the pages. The 'twist' involving him was not a surprise, but I was definitely hanging on to see his reaction in the end.

There were some funny and cute moments I liked, but overall just an okay read for me. Might be the one for you though!

*I received an ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and given freely.

Overall, a fun read. I enjoyed the diverse characters. Many times I feel like in contemporary romances, characters do not develop, but instead stay stagnate and never really learn anything. The characters in this book had difficulties to work past and grew stronger in the end. I enjoyed this premise as it wasn’t your typically boy meets girl trope. I this book definitely stood out from other contemporary romances!

Well...

@katherinecenter has done it again! I love everything about this book! I'm forever a KC fan and will read anything she writes!

Hello Stranger is about a girl, after a sweet meet-cute, lands herself in a hospital. What starts out as a little accident turns into discovering a condition she is born with that requires brain surgery. Post-op complications force her to have "face-blindness." Temporary or not, that's a struggle for someone who is a portrait artist and has a competition deadline in three weeks.

One of the many things I love about Katherine Center is her medical. (And as a Nurse I'm super picky about this). I love all her research and focus on detail. Loved learning about Prosopagnosia and all the struggles Sadie goes through.

The romance was fated and oh so sweet. I loved watching her navigate her feelings without her seeing his face. The portrait scene was SO good and I loved how everything wrapped up nicely in the end. SO adorable!!!!

Great character arcs with real life struggles, unique premise, and lovely romance. I caught some Cinderella vibes in here, did you?

Thank you Katherine for another amazing read!! I want all your books! Now to get myself a physical copy!

Thank you to the author and @stmartinspress for the eARC!

Pub- July 2023

*Romance- kisses, make-outs
*TW- brain surgery, bullying

#stmartinspress
#katherinecenter #hellostranger #bookphotos #earc #arcreads #portrait #painting #womensfiction #romance #prosopagnosia #faceblindness #givememore #alwaysafan

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

This book was so wholesome, relatable, and heartfelt. I knew I would like it because I love Katherine Center but WOW I devoured this! I loved the mentions of topics (and TW needed) for suicide, grief, absentee parents...they're such real issues and they were talked about in a way that didn't feel forced. Probably one of the best Katherine Center books!

This is the best book ever *sobs hugely* 😭 I reread the last two chapters like 15 times in the last week.

I read the blurb and some reviews before starting and I was a teeny bit afraid that the book would be sad (even though the reviews all assured me that the book is wholesome), and now that I've read it, I'm so glad I impulse requested the book 😭 the love triangle is one of the best written ones ever, and the MC's journey through the book and her interactions with the other characters are perfect. The book is extremely warm and wholesome, and it's a perfect read if you want a romance/romcom to cheer you up on a low day.

That being said, please do be aware of the TWs - MC dealing with the grief of her mother's death from a decade ago, absentee father, lack of support system at home as a kid, extreme bullying by a step-sibling, tumors, brain surgery, suicide attempt (of a very minor character, in the past and mentioned as a story), a dog who falls sick (said dog gets cured though, so no worries <3)

--- ty to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

Katherine Center has become one of my favorite romance authors. She writes the most relatable characters. This story was so well done. The swoony romance, laugh out loud moments and unique plots are what draw me to this author!

This sweet novel was so enjoyable, with a fascinatingly unique plot told in Center’s cozy and relatable voice. I don’t want to give anything away so I can’t even really tell you what I liked about it or what favorite trope it played on. I might even recommend skipping the blurb on this one just to dial up the “what will happen” vibes. Similarly (as not to spoil anything) so can’t say much about what took that 5th star, just a facet of the story that I wish was slightly more developed. Overall though it was one of those comforting “dose of happy” reads and I loved learning about face blindness (at one point I took like a 45 minute sidebar googling and learning more about the condition).

Katherine Center has done it again with another heartfelt novel that made my eyes leak on more than one occasion. If you’ve not read a Katherine Center novel before, it’s so important to know that her characters are often indescribably endearing. Hers are the types of novels that leave you wishing the characters were someone you could meet in everyday life.

Hello, Stranger is the story of a portrait artist, Sadie, who is diagnosed with Prosopagnosia, a disorder which makes facial recognition impossible. Sadie understands that this disorder may be temporary, but it does not change the dilemmas she faces. Without facial recognition, creating her artwork is nearly impossible and managing her new apartment is equally challenging.

The juxtaposition of Sadie’s story may have been my favorite aspect of the story. She is a character who desperately needs and deserves the kindness of strangers, but so adamantly refuses it. I loved the way this story was written from a viewpoint where the reader had a clear perspective, but the characters did not. It seemed symbolic of Prosopagnosia as a whole, and it made Sadie’s struggles that much more tangible and heartbreaking.

Center’s novels generally end beautifully, and this one was no different. I loved the characters Oliver, Joe, and Sadie and adored the way Katherine Center puzzled them all together in the end. In a world where gloom is often easier to find than sunshine, I’ll take Katherine Center’s happy endings every day of the week. Thank you to Netgalley and Erica at St. Martin’s for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

I liked the book but definitely not my favorite of Katherine Center's. The characters were very likable and the story flowed but I had a hard time believing the end. I felt the backstory with her step sister and father as a little too heartless to be believable.

What a lovely love story. i read it in one day. And i adored every single moment. And oh, that sweet reveal at the end melted me..

***I received an ARC from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for my honest review.***

Sadie is a struggling artist with immense talent just awaiting her big break. Dr. Oliver Addison is helpful almost to a fault. This is the story of two strangers who find themselves interwoven due to unexpected circumstances - creating what can only be described as a unique love story.

Overall, the plot and idea are extremely creative. Sadie has an episode that left her with temporary facial blindness (prosopagnosia). This book led me to learn more about this and I think the author wrote it in a way that I could understand what Sadie, and those with facial blindness, are seeing. The author also wrote Dr. Oliver Addison as the whole package - adorable, loveable, kind, etc. I attached easily to the characters and couldn’t not root for them.

However, there were some things I could have gone without. The evil stepsister side story almost got in the way of the overall story and this book lacked some of the steam that I’ve come to look for in a book by Center. I also felt that the ending was almost rushed in that everything suddenly pieces together and is then just over.

Overall a good read and I would recommend it to other Center lovers, like myself, but not as a read for someone trying this author out for the first time.

Katherine Center never disappoints and every time I get the chance to read something new by her, I’m immediately ready for there to be more! This was a super sweet romance with complicated family dynamics that got me out of my 2022 reading slump.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. But, I have to be careful because I think you should go into this book blind. Without any knowledge of what the content would be like. The female main character has strong independence but is on a journey to realize that sometimes it is okay to ask for help. The male main character is perpetually helpful and all around sweet guy you cannot help but fall in love with. The main character has a huge shift in life circumstances and is forced eventually to ask for help and the help ends up coming from our male main character. I fell in love with both of their stories and loved watching how their relationship developed. There is a major twist that makes you laugh out loud and the book definitely has a happily ever after. If you've read any other Katherine Center books then you know her books of self discovery and growth are very light and enjoyable, you won't be disappointed with this one. My favorite book from this author, yet.

Center's work never fails to impress. Relatable characters, zippy dialogue, and the perfect balance of humor and emotion - Hello Stranger is like lowering yourself into a warm bath on a cold day.