Another smash from Katherine Center. She is such a go to read for me and I was thrilled to receive one of her ARC’s. A perfect beach read but with depth!

I had to DNF this one. I did not appreciate the characters and I don't think that the author handled disability--the main topic--well at all.

Another classic Katherine Center book! Interesting characters and an interesting condition -prosopagnosia, or face-blindness. While this is not one of my favorites of hers, it was still a great way to spend reading time! I read this a couple of years ago and have since read The Rom-Commers which may now be my favorite so check it out too!

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sadie is a portrait artist, like her mother. And like her mother she has a cavernoma, a malformed blood vessel in the brain. This condition killed her mother, so Sadie chooses to have surgery. What she didn’t expect was to get face blindness as a side effect of the surgery, just when she needs to do a new portrait to enter into the contest that could make her career. In the midst of this, she finds herself attracted to two different men, which causes a host of other problems.

Okay, I really like Katherine Center, but I did not really love this book. It is a 3.5 that I rounded up to 4 stars. Sadie tells someone she loves them BEFORE she tells them that, oh yeah, she had brain surgery that means she actually has no idea what his face looks like. And her best friend somehow manages to keep FORGETTING this major life-changing event about her? What kind of best friend is that? And I don’t know much about face blindness, but she didn’t notice that Joe, the neighbor she falls in love with, is also Dr Oliver Addison, the vet that she has planned her wedding to after meeting him once? They made a big deal about how gate would be recognizable, and she watched both of them walk a lot while planning their futures.

This is the second book I've read from Katherine Center and I enjoyed it thoroughly! Can't wait to read more from her!

I really wanted to love this one. I was not a fan of Sadie & I felt like it took awhile to get to the good stuff if that makes any sense. I loved the overall message of the story… it just felt like it was never going to get there. I know I am one of the few who didn’t enjoy this one.

This was a solid 3 stars for me. The face blindness was interesting, but of course caused chaos since the main character refused to tell anyone that she had it. In the end, it was just the miscommunication trope, which is my least favorite trope. There were also a few instances of too good be true moments that I just couldn’t quite buy into. But a fun and interesting read from an author that always delivers.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Katherine Center has yet to disappoint me!! I love the characters, the banter, the insane plots that make every bit of it feel alive!
I always know I'll have a good time when I sit down with one of her books.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an arc to review!

I’m a fan of Katherine Center’s stories but this one fell a little flat for me. The book was interesting and dealt with a condition I had never heard of, so learning about that was wonderful. There was nothing wrong with the story, but overall I just didn’t enjoy it as much as other books by Katherine Center.

I really enjoyed this book! So much so that I bought a copy of it for my bookshelf. As always, love Katherine Center's characters and how you see them unfold throughout the book. Was a bit confusing at times keeping things straight but loved the twists and turns. And of course, always learn something new in her books. Would definitely recommend to others. Love the book cover as well. Colors and aesthetic are excellent! Thanks for sharing this book with me!!

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED!! This book felt like a movie and I loved every page of it. The plot was so unique with Sadie's face blindness, especially as she tries to navigate her diagnosis as an artist. The romance was swoony, with LOL moments and fun little twists everywhere. I cannot recommend this one enough!

This is the second book that I have read that dealt with prosopagnosia. I love learning about topics I do not know about through a fictional story and this one did not disappoint! As always, Katherine Center always makes her characters so relatable and likable.

I think that this is definitely the book for somebody but unfortunately the writing style just didn’t work for me. I found the story to be a little contrived and had a hard time getting through it.

Katherine Center keeps the romance genre refreshing and includes a lot of topics that I don't run into in a lot of other books. I typically steer away from love triangles, but it worked in this scenario. A bit over the top in terms of terrible family, and I think the main character may turn some people away, but personally I love to see a heroine who doesn't follow all of the typical characteristics of the genre.

While this wasn’t my favorite book from this author, I did still enjoy it. The writing was still very good but I think there was a level of anxiety that I carried throughout the story and the main character’s condition that took away from my enjoyment. Still an auto read author for me though.

I was gifted with an early copy of Hello Stranger from St. Martin's Press, and what a gift it was. I love books that explore a unique theme or experience of life. This book depicts what it means to deal with face blindness and what better way to explore this condition than through the eyes of a portrait painter. I mean, faces are their business. They can't do their job if they can't see a face. Talk about conflict and adversity!

The heroine, Sadie, has finally caught a break with her career as an artist and is a finalist in a contest that could really bring about success she desires more than anything, but she needs to have a "minor" brain surgery that should not be postponed for six weeks until after the contest is over. As previously mentioned, she experiences face blindness as a side effect from the surgery and must figure out a way to paint the best portrait of her life.

This book also explores Sadie's relationships (and challenges) with the people in her life. She has a strained relationship with her father, who remarried quickly after her mother's premature death. Sadie's stepmother makes some long overdue attempts to help Sadie in her time of need and build a modicum of a foundation with her, but is sidetracked by the spawn of Satan (aka her daughter, Parker). Sadie's stepsister has pulled the wool over everyone's eyes except for Sadie. Parker has tortured Sadie long before she couldn't see faces, but her pernicious behavior is unrelenting during the course of this book. Scenes with Parker in it stressed me out, which is a testament to Katherine's writing. While I wanted to wring her metaphorical neck, Sadie doesn't retaliate against Parker with more evil. Even when Sadie is down and being kicked while down, she responds with kindness--a great reminder for humanity always.

Her best friend is away throughout the majority of the book, which forces Sadie to navigate her new reality on her own. Not one to seek help or suffer people's sure-to-be pity, Sadie hides her condition and creates additional conflict in the romance department. While seeking medical treatment for her senior dog, Peanut, Sadie meets a hot vet, Dr. Oliver, who asks Sadie out on a date. Sadie also keeps running into an obnoxious neighbor in her building, Joe, who seems to know everyone and help with everything. An unexpected friendship forms, but Sadie has already envisioned her wedding to the vet.

Life is full of ups and downs, but it's what you make of both extremes that define who you are. I would highly recommend experiencing Sadie's journey in HELLO STRANGER!

This book has been on my Netgalley for a bit and I haven’t picked it up. I haven’t been into romance in a minute, so I’m not the right person to review it anymore.

Hello Stranger - Katherine Center

★★★★

“We’re all just doing the best we can. We’re all struggling with our struggles. Nobody has the answers. And everybody, deep down, is a little bit lost.”

✨ Mini Synopsis:

Starving artist Sadie Montgomery has placed as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition! Just as her big break is on the horizon, she finds herself in the hospital following an accident that has temporarily left her with a condition known as face blindness (prosopagnosia). Although she can still see, every face that she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features, including her own. Sadie feels her artistic dreams slipping away from her, and struggles to cope with all of the changes happening in her life. On top of her current health condition, she’s dealing with family issues, taking care of her sick dog, and has managed to fall in love with not one, but two men. The timing couldn’t be worse, but Sadie has no choice but to start looking at things differently.

✨ My Thoughts:

Katherine Center is such a gem and I enjoy everything that she writes. I especially liked this novel and the interesting storyline. My heart broke for Sadie and the way life continued to knock her down. I just wanted to wrap her up in a big hug. She might not have always known how to navigate the hand she was dealt, but I loved seeing her growth by the end of the novel, and I was definitely rooting for her. Don’t even get me started on KC giving us not one, but two, hottie male leads? Of course Sadie fell in love with both of them.. I did too! 😂 Additionally, I appreciated learning about prosopagnosia and commend KC for having this representation in her novel. I had never heard of this condition before and this story prompted me to learn more.

Thank you to Netgalley, Katherine Center, and St. Martin’s Press for the copy of Hello Stranger. All opinions are honest and my own.

Loved the concept of "face blindness" and how this played out in the story. While the actual storyline felt a bit predictable, it didn't stop me from finishing the book in a single day because this was a cozy comfy read. Overall, I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more from this author.

I loved this book! Characters were easily likeable and loved the face blindness thrown in as a way to change things up. Recommend!