Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for this ARC!

Wow. Hello Stranger is an utterly compelling & entertaining & giddy anticipation-filled read. As always, Katherine Center managed to make me feel so many different emotions at once. From the first chapter all the way to the author’s note (seriously, don’t forget to read the author’s note. As a general rule, but definitely for this book).

Katherine Center’s books always leave me feeling a bit awestruck. I feel uplifted, I feel like I learned something, I feel the joy of having found and truly delighted in a really good story. I feel incredibly sad that it is humanly impossible for her to crank out another new story for me to pick up immediately. And I always feel completely caught up in reflection, of how the story shaped my worldview or my self-view.

Prosopagnosia is an absolutely fascinating phenomenon that you probably haven’t heard of. Any author would be intimidated by having to understand a medical condition enough to write about it in a way that feels truthful for the people who actually experience it as well as comprehensible to the people who have no reason to have heard of it before. Plus, figuring out how to write about the roller coaster of emotions someone experiencing this would feel. And for me? Katherine Center absolutely nailed it. I always leave her books feeling like she approached her main characters’ dilemmas with the utmost compassion and awareness as well as intellectual interest.

The simple fact of the matter is: I adored these characters. I adored the very concept of this story. I adored every anticipation-filled moment and every “omg I think I know what’s going on here” realization. And I think, if you are a person who appreciates joy and hope and how those things are found even in the darkest of times, you will absolutely adore it too (yes, that was a Dumbledore reference).

In a way, I feel like I recognize book characters in a similar way that Sadie learned to recognize people - by how they dress, body language, how they speak to people, their general presence. Rarely do I have a clear face in mind when I’m reading about a character, other than an eye color or a unique feature, maybe a hairstyle and color. Which is especially apropos for this story. Every personality in this book is so distinct, almost a caricature, not because of what they looked like but because of how their presence drove the story. And I really loved not being able to come up with a clear image of what these people looked like. I felt like I was in Sadie’s head a little bit.

And isn’t that a beautiful representation of being a person? That what you look like doesn’t matter as much as what your presence brings to a moment? Isn’t that why we fall in love with book characters? Not because we have a clear idea of what they look like but because who they are speaks to us in some way? Isn’t that why so many of us prefer the cartoon book covers to the pictures-of-people covers? Because focusing on what someone looks like is incredibly limiting?

Anyways. I never know how to shut up about about a book that reminds me so thoroughly why I love reading so much, as this one did. Luckily there are word limits on these things. Read this book!

I was so happily surprised the other day with an email inviting me to download an eARC of Hello Stranger. This was THE book I needed this week and hit all the right notes for me.

It was the exact little bit of sunshine my grumpy heart was craving. It was full of Center's trademark heart and humour. I laughed and I sobbed and I got all the warm fuzzies. Most importantly, I absolutely did not want to put it down.

My crappy week had nothing on the things going wrong in Sadie's life and seeing her push through - while occasionally moping like the rest of us - was a little bit of encouragement and brightness on a dreary day. I wasn't particularly flummoxed by the big reveal, but then again I don't read rom-coms for the surprises. This was simply beautiful and sweet and heartbreaking and funny.

This was a cute rom-com by Katherine Center. Sadie is about to embark on her life’s dream—a portrait competition once achieved by her late mother. Unfortunately, an unexpected accident and resulting surgery leave her unable to identify faces. While trying to cope with this new hurdle, Sadie meets two men—Joe & Oliver—who are determined to help her along the way.

Cute story! The storyline was new and interesting. The characters were likable. It was predictable in all the best ways. I enjoyed it very much!

I’ve read this author before and I have to say this is by far my favorite of hers to date. The characters were so well written, it was so interesting, and I just loved it. Sadie was such a complex character. I had a feeling where the “spoiler” was headed and it was a great ending. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!