I absolutely loved this book! I've loved several of Katherine Center's previous books, and this one is right up there with my favorites. I love the growth Sadie experiences throughout the story in addition to the romance. I love the hope and positivity KC puts into her novels - it definitely makes you want to look at the positive things in life rather than dwelling on the negatives!

Sadie is a portrait artist barely making ends meet with a strained relationship with her father and step family. Out of the blue Sadie gets a message she is a finalist is portrait art competition. As Sadie prepares to celebrate she ends up having a seizure and needing brain surgery. The aftermath leaves her with acquired face blindness. Sadie can figure out who a person is by looking at elements of their appearance such a their voice, clothes or hair but if she looks at their face it’s like a puzzle with the eyes, mouth and nose all out of wack. When her beloved dog gets sick she ends up meeting a handsome (she can just tell) and caring vet who shows interest in her. Then there’s the annoying guy who lives in her apartment building who wears a bowling jacket with the name Joe. Along with meeting these two endearing guys Sadie has to finish a portrait for the competition. Can Sadie overcome her face blindness and create a beautiful piece of art? Will her evil stepsister ruin everything, including her chance at fixing things with her father? Will she recognize any faces again? This is a classic Katherine Center romance with dynamic characters, a soul searching heroine and a Texas setting. The slow burn romance is sweet and tender hearted, helping the reader root for Sadie on her journey. I absolutely adored this book and know it will be a favorite 2023 read of mine, even if the year has just begun!

Hello Stranger was phenomenal. Katherine Center gives readers a fun roller coaster ride of emotions throughout the book. Sadie is a relatable character to me for many reasons including being a starving artist from Houston. Ha.

I loved every minute of this book and was immediately inspired to go through Center’s backlist to make sure I’m not missing any other gems.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

So this is one of those books that you just can't put down. I was absorbed from page 1 til the very last page

Center writes a funny and heartwarming story. I recommend completely. Than again i recommend all of Katherine's books.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher

All thoughts and opinions are .y own and aren't influenced by anyone else

Where do I even begin? This became one of my all-time favorite reads, ever! Not many books make me want to IMMEDIATELY reread the second I finish it.

Sadie is a portrait artist who is a finalist in a portrait art competition when she discovers she needs brain surgery. This shouldn't affect her competition because it'll be a short recovery, but she ends up with a rare condition of face blindness.

She then has to navigate this world without seeing faces all the while struggling with what to paint for her competition. Meanwhile, she makes friends with a neighbor Joe and her dog's veterinarian Dr. Addison.

I loved this book something fierce and would 1000% recommend this to someone looking for a cute rom-com. This is the second book I've read by Katherine and I hope to read more.

*Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review! *

Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review - all thoughts are my own.

The Bodyguard was the first book I read by Katherine Center. I thoroughly enjoyed that book which led me to reading Hello Stranger. This book was good but a very different feel. (Personally I enjoyed The Bodyguard more.) A lot of the time is spent in Sadie’s inner dialog. Sometimes it got a bit rambling for me. I do really appreciate that Center writes intelligent and capable female characters throughout her novels - and not just the leads. It’s refreshing to read about women who are intelligent and sexy. Or kick ass and have fears. Cause that’s what women are truly - complex with layers.

Fans of Anxious People by Fredrick Backman might enjoy this. It’s much lighter topic wise but has similar vibes.

My only other note is that Hello Stranger is advertised as a romance novel but really that felt like a side story since we spent such a long time in the inner thoughts of Sadie as she worked through this new condition and through family dynamics.

*Note to the publishers - there are a few typos - in the dialog there might be a small word like “she” repeated or missing.

Katherine Center is by far one of my “go to” authors and her newest book was just as amazing as all of her others. I loved learning about face blindness, especially from such an amazing job that center did with having her main character suffer from it. This story was filled with struggles and was so realistic in how the characters struggled but also found a way to learn and grow from those struggles. As always, this author did a splendid job of not only making the love story wonderful to read but also all the “other side stories”. I loved the relationship the main character had with her father and step mother and all the complications that came with them. It made them relatable and real. Katherine center remains a genius writer that I will always look forward to reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me the honor to read this advanced copy.

This was so completely charming, I had so much fun reading it! 4.5 stars
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Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist who has just been accepted as a finalist in a prestigious competition, when she has to go in for emergency surgery for a brain bleed, which ultimately leads to her developing prosopagnosia, or face blindness. She now has to figure out how to deal with all social situations where she can't recognize anyone as well as how to paint a portrait without being able to see faces. 
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I've seen prosopagnosia as a plot point before, but this felt like a fresh approach, with Sadie acquiring it, so hearing her interpretation of it made it easier to visualize what it would mean. I really enjoyed seeing how she handled the diagnosis, and the range of emotions she went through during the process, she felt so completely real. 
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The romance was also so fun too! Not steamy, which was fine with me, but so cute how it developed, and the various miscommunications they dealt with. And included such a fun twist that I did not see coming! 
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I really enjoyed that this was a romance that was so much more. Her relationship with her family, her friends, her grief over her mother who died when she was young, even her relationship with her dog Peanut. It had so many great and touching moments. 
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My only thing that kept me from a full 5 stars was Parker, Sadie's "evil" stepsister...who was just a bit too *actually* evil to be realistic. I think I would have appreciated a bit more subtlety there. 
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But overall this was such a joy to read, and I would highly recommend!

I will never not read anything that Katherine Center writes! I loved this book so much. Sadie, a struggling portrait artist is on the verge of a big break when she has an accident that forces her to undergo rain surgery.

While the brain surgery was successful, it leaves her with a condition that causes her to have face blindness. The accident and its after effects come on the heels of her being a finalist in a major portrait competition.

As if this wasn’t enough to deal with, Sadie has to deal with strained relationships with her father and stepmother as well as a evil stepsister.

From her super supportive best friend Sue and Sue’s parents, her always there to lend a hand neighbor Joe to her little dog Peanut, I loved these characters so much.

Like her previous works, this book doesn’t disappoint. I can’t recommend it enough!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

So cute!! I needed a dose of happy in my life, and this was just the perfect feel-good read. I loved her note on romance novels at the end of the book - check that out when you read it.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC! This one is a home run by Katherine Center. I adore her writing and how she combines laugh out loud humor with sensitive topics. I was so excited to receive this as an ARC and I finished it in 2 days. The storyline is a bit different, in a good way. I adore Sadie and her two romantic interests. Learning about her medical condition was fascinating and the author provided a lot of detail about the effects without sounding like a text book. There is a larger message here that I thought was so perfect to hear as we go through our everyday lives: look, be present, take the time to push against your confirmation bias. This was a wonderful romance, the kind you wish you could read every day!

Sadie is a struggling portrait artist who is finally catching her big break. She was selected as a finalist in a portrait competition, the same one her late mother placed in, and she believes this is her chance to make it big. Unfortunately, she gets in a car accident and discovers she has a brain defect that needs immediate surgery. Though the surgery goes well, she is left with acquired face blindness, which upends her life and her portrait painting contest dreams.

This book follows her journey to acceptance and recovery, and some unexpected romance.

I absolutely loved and demolished this book! It is written in such a funny, witty way and it’s based in my home town! I read this in a weekend, I couldn’t put it down and found it to be a compelling and heartwarming story.

I loved this book so much! It was my first by Center but it definitely won’t be the last. I’m going to recommend this to all of my friends!

Such a sweet read. I finished it in less than a day. Loved the premise and the characters and it took me quite awhile to catch the big surprise!

“No matter how alone you ever are in life, you always have yourself, right?”

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the ARC of this book! The whole concept of this book was fascinating.

Sadie is a struggling portrait artist hoping to make her big break with a portrait competition, but comes to find out she needs brain surgery, and as a result develops face blindness.

I loved the way the author showed that even though Sadie was not able to see someone’s face, her preconceived notions about who they are (and who they are not) had nothing to do with their face. And in the end it proved that just because you might have seen a face in passing over a long period of time, you might not have ever truly *seen* them.

It was a sweet story and I love that even though there was forgiveness, it did not “fix” every strained relationship Sadie had magically by the end.

Five stars!!

Sadie is a down-on-her-luck artist on the verge of her big break when an accident throws a unique wrench into her plans. It causes a string of events that triggers (hopefully) temporary face blindness right when she needs to paint a stellar portrait. Add in the stress of a sick dog, a neighbor nicknamed The Weasel, a hot veterinarian, and a wicked step-sister, and Sadie is at the end of her rope.

Her neighbor, Joe, was the perfect side character. He was funny, caring, and seemed to know just what Sadie needed and just when she needed it. The nicknames Sadie and her friend, Sue, came up for him were hilarious and made him even more endearing. When the inevitable miscommunication occurred, I wanted to reach inside the book and give him a big ole hug.

Hello Stranger had me clutching my neck at 2:00 AM in pure glee several times. The dialogue, the characters, The Big Reveal - it all had me jumping up and down like a school girl and wishing the book never ended!

Speaking of The Big Reveal...you're likely going to guess what it is but don't let that deter you. Watching Sadie figure it all out is worth it. I was screaming at my Kindle on several occasions, trying to get her to SEE what was happening in front of her eyes, then desperately moving forward until she did. Hello Stranger is written so masterfully that you'll live in a constant state of "will she or won't she" while also swooning over Joe "The Weasel' of all people and Dr. McHotStuff.

Favorite quote:

"Is that bag full of what I think it's full of?"
He didn't turn my way, either. "Do you think it's full of human kindness?"
"I think it's full of unwanted help."

I loved this book! In fact, I’ve loved every book I’ve read by Katherine Center. They are romance, rom com-ish, but most of all, they are hopeful. Hello Stranger did not disappoint! Colorful, quirky characters, a tragic happening and a buoyant resolution. Sometimes what you are looking is staring right in the face.

Another hit from one of my favorites, Katherine Center! The Bodyguard was one of my top reads in 2022 so this one had big shoes to fill!

Sadie Montgomery is celebrating a the biggest accomplishment of her life, placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition. The same one that mother placed in years ago before her death. But before she can properly celebrate, she finds herself lying in a hospital bed facing an upcoming brain surgery. One that leaves her with a condition known as face blindness.

This books takes us on a journey as Sadie learns to cope with her new diagnosis, deals with her family drama, and desperately tries to cling to her artistic dream…all while fallling in love with two different guys.

I loved the cleverness of this plot, such a unique situation making it one that will stand out to me in the future. The characters were fun and had me laughing throughout. While the ending was very predictable (I guessed it very early in the book) I still liked how it all wrapped up at the end.

My only criticism is that it did feel a bit slow at the start, not really sure why. It took me a bit to get invested but once I did, I was hooked until the end!

Overall, not my favorite KC book, but one I enjoyed and definitely will recommend. Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me an early digital copy of this book to provide my honest feedback!

After having a great time reading The Bodyguard, I immediately saw this new book was on its way and was thrilled. (BTW: The Bodyguard totally deserved to move up further as a Goodreads Winner in 2022!)

But... sometimes Katherine Center's books are hits and misses. This one was slightly uneven for me.

First, I felt as if my past year has been leading to my understanding of this world. 1) I adore watching Portrait Artist of the Year. It is fascinating to watch an image emerge, like magic. 2) It stuck in my memory about Brad Pitt saying he thinks he has face blindness. 3) After The Bodyguard, I read a few more of Center's books to get more familiar with her style.

In this one, it is very easy to see where the story will lead. While her author's notes share that folks love this sort of positive anticipation, I also don't like stories dumbed down so much that we see a pratfall coming miles away. I'm already cringing at the embarrassment that's coming and not enjoying it. There were plenty of moments like this in the book and it didn't work. Maybe it was meant to be endearing or cute, so when our heroine does get to HEA we feel her triumph, but it ultimately feels a little like cheap and lazy writer's technique.

The sheer power of her Happiness for Beginners is keeping me hoping the next one proves me right that this author deserves a Goodreads Choice Winner under her belt.

I can already feel the ramble coming on so I’ll quickly summarize this review into a TL;DR— This book is stupid cute. Read it.

To set the scene📚:
Sadie Montgomery is a struggling artist that’s about to get her big break. She’s been following in her mother’s footsteps trying to find her place in the art world. After years of self doubt and being on the verge of giving up, she’s finally selected as a finalist for a renowned portrait contest in her area. She couldn’t be more excited about her news when her world is turned completely upside down. An accident causes her to lose her ability to recognize faces. The doctors say it might only be temporary, but for a portrait artist this predicament is detrimental. Sadie is left struggling to still see herself as a talented artist when she can’t see anyone around her anymore. The question is, will she ever heal from this?

The character(s)📚:
I’m only going to touch on Sadie because honestly I could talk about this girl all day. She was such a fun main character for me. The way she’s riding the struggle bus starting at page one hooked me. I love a character who kind of sucks at life. It makes me feel the teeny tiniest bit better about my own struggles. And wow did Sadie fit the bill. Not even a few chapters in I thought to myself, will this girl ever catch a break? She had a Bridget Jones quality to her that had me chuckling from embarrassment, but running to the next page to see what more could happen.

On top of her career struggles, Sadie was also attempting to handle conflict within her family and her dating life. I won’t lie, she’s incredibly whiny but it’s in the most relatable way. And honestly, she had a lot to rightfully complain about. It was refreshing to see a character failing. So often we get these perfect romances about perfect characters, but Sadie’s story is so much more than that. She is a bit of a negative thinker and when life threw her lemons, she squeezed them and got the juice in her eyes. I loved that she was so flawed and that it took a professional saying, “HEY. STOP THAT,” for her to realize that jumping to the worse possible scenario was impacting her in a bad way. Which was so realistic for me.

Thoughts and Plot📚:
This was my first Katherine Center book so I didn’t really know what to expect going into it. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this particular book reads like a YA novel. After being so drained in my personal life, something easy to consume was exactly what I needed. I don’t know if that’s the norm for her novels, but I loved it. I enjoyed that it was thought provoking without making me feel like I was jumping through hoops to understand it. The best way I could describe it is that it was poignant without being pretentious, which makes for an incredibly quick read. There were so many lines that pulled at my heart strings.

I found myself being really drawn to Sadie’s character. Her relationship with her father was so complicated that right away I felt a kinship with her. Her line in particular about trying to catch his voicemail so they didn’t have to talk in real-time stuck with me. I have a similar relationship with my father. A different situation entirely but I could understand that conflicting feeling of unconditionally loving someone, but still not meeting them eye to eye on a lot of matters. As well as the pressure it puts on you to try to live up to their high expectations.

This book was written incredibly well. It takes place entirely from Sadie’s perspective, so you get a dose of her fragmented reality. She can’t recognize faces so as the reader neither can we. It made the world so much more interesting but also so much more lonely. The way she had to use her other senses to build a picture of who she was speaking to and reframe her entire world seemed exhausting. Our ability to recognize faces is something I think a lot of us take for granted. The fact that that ability might be taken away someday hadn’t ever crossed my mind. Sadie struggled so much with recognizing voices and I realized I’d be right there with her. I’m terrible with picking out different voices and I can’t begin to imagine how out of luck I would be.

I got so frustrated for Sadie as we watched her navigate life post accident. There were people who went out of their way to make her life harder. But on the other hand, watching her form new relationships without being able to see was incredibly rewarding. It took away how superficial dating could be. The way she falls for two different men after her accident was heartwarming. Even without being able to see their face, she was drawn to them. First is caring veterinarian Dr. Addison, who takes her oddness in stride and saves her dog. Second is her neighbor Joe, who always happens to be nearby when she needs help picking up the pieces of her life. She tests the water with both of them, and they’re wonderful. Normally I’m a grump when it comes to love triangles, but I really liked the way this one played out. It proved that love truly is blind and the people who care about you will stand by you no matter happens.

Why you should read it📚: This book is truly adorable. The end wrapped up the story perfectly. So many mysteries are solved within one chapter and I felt completely satisfied. It was such a cute heartwarming story. I think a lot of people will be able to enjoy this one. It has diverse characters. It’s funny, it’s a tiny bit sad, it’s warm and fuzzy. It has a little bit of it all without being too heavy on the emotions.

Mood: Conversational, Heartwarming, Uplifting,
Spice: None — Very wholesome and sweet