I absolutely love Katherine Center books and I’m so thankful to have gotten my hands on this one early! This story follows main character Sadie, a portrait artist, who was in an accident that resulted in needing a brain surgery. When she comes out of surgery she is shocked to realize that she has face blindness! While adjusting to a new normal she finds herself in a love triangle, sorting out family drama, and trying to make her big break in her career. Katherine Center has a way with words and I simply love her story telling. I found this book to be heartwarming, funny, and very entertaining
Five stars!

HELLO, STRANGER was a cute, charming rom-com with a fascinating, unique premise. Portrait artist Sadie is thrilled when she earns a place as a finalist in a prestigious art competition. However, her world turns upside down after she undergoes an important surgery and realizes she now has prosopagnosia, or face blindness. Readers follow Sadie on her journey to navigating not only her life-changing diagnosis (which was so interesting to learn about), but also familial drama, career struggles, and maybe even falling in love. This book has it all—complex characters to root for, swoon-worthy romance (plus a love triangle to get invested in!), and an adorable dog. I highly recommend reading the author's note at the end as well! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Katherine Center is an absolute favorite author of mine and Hello Stranger further solidifies this. Everything about this story is classic of Katherine's work - a strong heroine who's been dealt a journey through mud, a story full of hope and the delicious anticipation of a happily ever after. But that doesn't mean it was predictable at all. At all. I can honestly say in all the books I've read, I've never read a story like this one, a heroine with the same challenges and a hero so multifaceted. I devoured this book in less than a day and felt so joyful when the story wrapped but also totally bereft that it was over. The story definitely took a few unexpected turns and had been guessing and theorizing. Overall, this was a blissfully binge-worthy read I won't soon forget.

Feeling so fancy to have received my first advance copy book from NetGalley, and happy to provide my candid review in return! I was thrilled to get a preview of this new book from one of my favorite authors for the fiction/romance genre, Katherine Center. I love her books because she blends all of the feel good rom com vibes we love with robust characters and challenges that give substance to the story.

Hello Stranger has relationship drama, family drama, a challenging medical event, and even pets! The main character, Sadie Montgomery, is a struggling portrait artist navigating difficult relationships with her father, step-mother, and step-sister, while trying to follow in her late mother’s artistic footsteps. Just as she receives her big break with a top spot in a major art competition, she has an accident, and then a surgery, that leave her with a condition known as face blindness. It was interesting to learn about this real diagnosis and how it affects so many individuals, but particularly interesting to see how Sadie navigates the unique challenges it presents to her as a portrait artist. These dramatic story lines are kept light and hopeful with the flirtatious relationships Sadie is also navigating through at the same time. The ending twist was predictable to me, but no less heartwarming even though I saw it coming.

And don’t skip the author’s notes at the end! I don’t always read them, but they were my favorite part of this book. I found myself nodding along in agreement as the author talked about the role rom com books play in our reading lives, how they create hope and anticipation for the feel good ending, and how it’s okay – and necessary – to read books that are light and fun and happy, particularly amidst the challenges we’ve all weathered in the world over the last few years. Yes! Definitely pre-order or add this book to your list when it comes out in July 2023.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Katherine Center is the queen of the relatable, heartwarming, heartbreaking romcom novel! This book gave me all the gut wrenching feelings along with laugh out loud moments! That is a gift to readers!

Center puts us in the middle of a dysfunctional family and makes us as readers examine our own relationships and our preconceived notions we carry around about people once we get an idea in our head. It's interesting how the cognitive disorder, prosopagnosia, that Center gives to our heroine, Sadie, shines a bright light on just that issue. Things are not always as they seem.

This will for sure become a summer read for many! Don't miss it!

I feel like this had potential but ultimately, for me this was… meh? The premise was outlandish, the family drama seemed Disney-level fake (featuring both an evil step mother and an evil step sister—how unlucky can one person be?) and the plot seemed very juvenile. What I think was supposed to be a shocking twist was incredibly obvious from the beginning? I honestly skimmed the last 20%.

If you absolutely adored Center’s The Bodyguard, then you may also love this.

Katherine Center can do no wrong and I am absolutely convinced of it. I would go to war for this woman. She was my favorite author of 2022 and it looks like 2023 is shaping up to be the year of Center again! Hello Stranger is such a unique concept, I’ve never read anything like it before. The idea is so fresh and in classic Center fashion, she had me in tears of heart ache, happiness, and from laughing until me stomach absolutely ached. Katherine Center is a 5 star author and Hello, Stranger is a 5 Star read! I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

*****Publishing July 11, 2023*****

What’s a book you are excited about with a Summer publication date? I’m excited about Hello Stranger by Katherine Center! Her books are always entertaining, full of humor, but tug at your heart strings! Ultimately, leaving you feeling satisfied in the end!

When Sadie decided to switch career paths from pre-med to fine arts to pursue her dreams in art, her Dad was not happy. He didn’t even come to graduation. 8 years later, she still had to prove to her Dad she could be successful.

Sadie is preparing to celebrate being a finalist for the same art competition her mother won. On the walk home from the grocery store, she has a seizure and ends up in the hospital. Sadie is confronted with much needed brain surgery right before her big art competition. What would you do if you had brain surgery and then couldn’t recognize or see faces? This is exactly what happened to Sadie. Can she finish the competition or will her life continue to be a complete failure? This book will have you turning the pages to find out.

This book highlights the implications of prosopagnosia, which is face blindness. Have you heard of this condition? It sent me down a rabbit hole, in order to learn more about it! I loved how this author included more info and resources to learn about this topic in her author’s note.

A highly entertaining book with an unsuspecting ending that will leave you feeling satisfied in the end! This book would be perfect for a pool or beach bag! A fun book club pick as well as it will lead to many great discussions!


Thanks to St. Martin's Press for this gifted copy!

Hello Stranger was such a sweet and uplifting novel. There are some heavier topics addressed, but Katherine Center balances the story so well with laughter and love. The book features a closed door romance, but the focus is more on Sadie's personal growth and reconciling her grief. Sadie's journey is filled with ups and downs and I wish that Sadie's family relationships would have been explored more. I felt that the reveal and wrap up were rushed and the main issues were unresolved, but perhaps the point wasn't the resolution, but rather being ready to try.

I loved how things evolved with her neighbor Joe and the vet Dr. Addison and how everything came full circle in the end. I could see where the book was headed pretty early on, but this didn't diminish my enjoyment at all. As Center discusses in her beautiful author's note, the anticipation was wonderful. And if you're worried about a love triangle, don't be. Trust that Katherine Center will take care of your heart.

Fans of Katherine Center are sure to love this one!

CW: death of parent (past), grief, trauma, strained family relationships, financial and housing insecurity, past and present toxic relationship and harassment from stepsister (mentions of being bullied, kicked out of school, framed for: cheating, stealing, lying, tormenting a classmate resulting in a suicide attempt, etc), cheating ex (past, MMC), manipulative ex (past, FMC), brain surgery & recovery, acquired prosopagnosia (face blindness) and changes to daily life

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

What can I say other than that this book blew me away. It was magical, heartbreaking, and full of intriguing family drama and a sweet slow-burn romance. This was by far one of my favourite reads of 2022 and it solidified Katherine Center as one of my must read authors.

This book has:
👩‍❤️‍👨 Strangers to lovers AND forced proximity
🐶 An adorable senior dog
💌 A love triangle between the heroine, her obnoxious neighbour who seems to be everywhere, and the vet who saved her dogs life (there’s a major twist here that I didn’t anticipate)

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars

LOVE!!! This may be my favorite Katherine Center book yet. I loved the characters and their depth and their growth and.... ah! Just so much to love!!

Sadie has an accident which turns into a medical situation she could have never predicted. Not only is her life upended physically, but she seems to be taking hits personally and professionally as well. Bless her bones she is struggling... some self-reflection, good therapy, and supportive friends help her to look for the good and find herself along the way. Such a heartwarming story of love, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Hello Stranger is a closed-door romance, but there is absolutely nothing missing in the sparks and longing department. Center has a gift of delivering romance while also writing characters who are relatable and who you just can't help but root for! (Full disclosure, I didn't have a lot of love for Sue (sorrynotsorry), but Mr. Kim totally made up for her). And Parker was so ridiculous - but I was HERE.FOR.IT. "If I ever get run over, it'll be by an Aston Martin." please put that on a t-shirt. ;-)

This is a must read! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was very good and interesting . The main character Sadie was an artist doing portraits. I was a finalist in a very important art contest. When the story begins Sadie has a seizure and is almost hit by a car. Taken to the ER. her brain MRI .They found a lesion and she would have to have surgery. she wanted to put it off until after the contest but her father wanted her to have it sooner. The lesion was a cavernoma(Malformed blood vessel). She had it done, After surgery, she realized she couldn't see faces. She had some edema around the site..She had Aquired apperceptive prosopagnosiia.,which is not able to see faces. Thus the trying to paint portraits without seeing a face begins. This is a VERY GOOD READ.

Katherine Center is a mastermind when it comes to creating unique and feel-good stories and Hello Stranger is no different! Although it wasn't my favorite of her books, and I found it to be slightly predictable, I still found it to be an incredible book and highlights a variety of topics extremely well!

It follows Sadie, a struggling portrait artist who is thrown both personally and professionally when she develops a condition called prosopagnosia (face blindness) after a medical emergency and brain surgery. As anyone could imagine, developing this condition would be terrifying and would come with so many struggles in everyday life, but it seems to be extremely difficult for Sadie's love life as she meets (and ultimately crushes on) two men who are unaware of her new diagnosis. She solely relies on her other senses to communicate with her steamy new vet and her broody neighbor.

It was unlike anything I've read recently! It was laugh-out-loud funny, charming, heartbreaking, and hopeful. I loved following the grief journey Sadie embarked after losing her mom and though it drove me nuts at times, the dynamic among a blended family was also great representation of different family models. I thought the topic was so interesting (I ended up researching it after I finished and found out the Brad Pitt has a version of it?) and I could tell Center put in so much thought and research into portraying the condition accurately.

Literally my only critique besides the predictability, is I wish the ending had more closure in the epilogue. I feel like I was hoping for certain things to come full circle and they never did... but overall, I'm so happy with this book and am adding the rest of Katherine Center's backlist to my TBR immediately!

After devouring this book and in one sitting, Katherine Center has definitely become an auto-buy author for me, Her novels are basically a happy ray of sunshine in book form. She has such a knack for getting you to fall in love with all of her characters and drawing you into the story right from the get-go. Also, the narrator's inner dialogue and the witty repartee between the two leads had me laughing out loud. I just love, love, love this author's books so much. I cannot recommend them enough!

I am a fan of Katherine Center’s feel good brand of romance. I’ve read 6 now, and Hello Stranger might just be my favorite. It captivated me from the beginning with an original romance. None of the traditional tropes such as friends-to-lovers or opposites attract, the face blind aspect felt fresh. The main characters were immensely likable and so easy to route for. I’m a sucker for happy endings and good things happening to good people, and Center delivered on both. My only complaint is the epilogue. It felt a little too much like she was trying to tell the reader how to think, which was a detractor, but other than that, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of Hello Stranger in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.

I absolutely LOVE Katherine Center & when I saw that she was releasing a new novel, I knew I HAD to read it. And honestly, even if I’d never read her before, the cover alone would have had me running to pick it up!

This story has such a cute premise!!! Sadie ends up having a minor surgery that is not supposed to have any bad effects, however, when she wakes up, she has face blindness & cannot see human faces any longer. She begins to fall for two different men (1) her dog’s vet, whose face she has never seen due to her condition; and (2) her extremely annoying neighbor Joe.

You will root hard for Sadie through all of her misfortune and you will fall in love with all of the characters.

As always, Center’s writing is on point, flows well and reads very quickly, keeping you invested in the story.

I absolutely give this book a full 5 stars and would recommend it to anyone who loves a good romance, especially one with a different type of premise. If you already love Katherine Center, I’m sure this is already on your list. If you’ve never read her novels before, what are you waiting for!!??!!??

The world today make “beauty” the top characteristic we look for, but what if you can’t see the beauty? What do you look for? How about kindness and goodness. This book shows us what world needs more of and that is kindness and goodness.

This was my first time reading a book by this author. It had me enthralled from the beginning. A story about a girl with face blindness after having a life saving procedure is incredibly unique and serves as a great introduction to the condition. It really shows how much we depend on being able to recognize people when the ability disappears after always being there.

I loved the fact that she could still see dog faces and her very best friend was there by her side the entire way as she navigated this chaotic time. I was literally in tears when she found out she could see her pup.

I loved the story of her focusing on something other than the way someone looks to be able to identify them and relying on knowing how they feel to give her clues instead. The fact that she falls in love with someone while going through trying to come to terms with being unable to see his face gave so much depth to the relationship.

This author is very good at stirring emotions. I hated her sister, loved her pup and went on an emotional rollercoaster with the others. It is also a great story about development of self. Learning who you really are and not needing to be held to what the world expects you to be is a powerful message in this book.

I am looking forward to exploring more books by this author.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC!

HELLO STRANGER had me giggling and wiggling my toes with excitement (read: swooning), and tearing up. I was sucked in immediately and even though I had a feeling of what the twist was going to be, I needed to see how Sadie's story played out. I really loved this book. You immediately cheer for Sadie and just want her to succeed. Sadie juggles the potential loss of her big break, grief, loss, family drama, a dashing vet, and a douchey neighbor with courage and strength. Peanut is there to help too. :)

What an interesting way to introduce the idea of face blindness to the general population which the book mentions up to 2% of the world population might have elements of! The author really takes a fun spin on character development and the change in how you would describe someone based upon not being able to identify faces. Creating unique experience of relationship development that went on, and the book gradually built steam towards the ending. The author gives you the heads up that the narrator's character will have difficulty processing events and at times it seems like there should be more there, but with the background information it is clear that that is also intentional through the character's struggle.

A fascinating read and a nice way to spend the afternoon in the arts and with a new appreciation for what we are able to see!