Katherine Center is always a buy author for me, I always enjoy her books, and this was no exception. I really liked Sadie as a main character, sure she had an awful, awful family, and was in constant denial about everything but she always had a positive outlook that I probably would not have had if I were in her shoes. And even though I guessed what was going to happen early on, I still really enjoyed the story.

This author is such a favorite of mine. I'm so happy to say this one did not disappoint. The characters were well written, the plot was fast paced, and the writing was well done. Overall, I loved the idea of this one and how the author executed it. Good job!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for a copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I devoured this book so fast. This is the first book have read by Katherine Center, but I know it won't be the last. I've had The Bodyguard on my TBR for a while now, and if it is half as good as this book, I will love it, I’m sure. This book is about a portrait artist who acquires prosopagnosia right after she becomes a finalist for a portrait competition that she desperately needs to win to get a 'break" in the industry. Can you say devastating?! First off – I never see media about prosopagnosia. Outside of a movie I watched about a decade ago called Faces in the Crowd (amazing film BTW), I don't see content about prosopagnosia being done. Prosopagnosia is a type of agnosia where you are unable to identify faces. It is a cognitive issue where the facial fusiform area is damaged and for many people who have this, it is something that happened pre-birth. You can acquire it, but it involves brain damage of some kind. In Faces in the Crowd, the main character hit the back of her head in just the right spot that when her brain cracked & swelled, it permanently injured the fusiform part of her brain. In this, the main character has brain surgery, and the resulting swelling was pressing against brain region in such a way that she acquired prosopagnosia. Now is this a 100% plausible way for this to be acquired? I dunno, but I assume so based on my understanding of the disorder. The brain is an insane muscle that we dont understand, and the fact that the face (hairline to chin, ear to ear) is held in a different part of the brain than other recognition points is crazy to me.

So back to the book. She acquires this disorder and must learn to navigate the world- and her career-with this new disability. She was to learn how to identify people in new ways- harder than one would think. Humans tend to default looking at people’s faces to understand who they are, and when that is taken away, we must look at other things like clothing, and start to recognize voices or physical traits like walking. It is not easy to switch what we use to recognize people, and voices are harder to recognize than we think when we are used to pairing it with a face. So naturally there are hijinks & misunderstandings in this book. She falls in love with one person, but also starts getting a crush on a different person. She must find a way to complete a portrait for this contest without being able to see what she is painting. She is both isolated and surrounded by people. It’s a romance book but it is so much more than that too. I don’t want to write too much about the plot itself since I don’t want to give things away, but it was such a fun read for me. I want more media about lesser-known disabilities! This was such a great story. 10/10 recommend this book (and Faces in the Crowd for spooky season!) and cannot wait to read the other books Katherine has written.

4⭐, 0.5🌶️

Oh Katherine Center, your books are always SUCH an adventure! I wasn't super invested into this story at the beginning, because I couldn't connect with Sadie's character. But learning about Prosopagnosia was incredible interesting (knowing JUST HOW MUCH research Katherine did for this book is incredible.) While the ending was rather predictable, I generally liked this book, because K.C. always has you falling for her troubled FMC's!

Tropes:
🎨Golden Retriever MMC
🎨Strangers to Friends to Lovers
🎨Trauma & Health Representation
🎨Clean Romance

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC of Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. This is my honest review!

I am not as big of a fan of contemporary literature anymore but I do find Katherine Center’s books to be entertaining. Hello Stranger was an interesting, easy read.

After a freak accident, Sadie soon finds herself laying in a hospital bed with prosopagnosia, face blindness leaving every face she sees jumbled and unrecognizable even if she's known the person her entire life. As a portrait artist who just had the biggest accomplishment of her life, becoming a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition, this news is very problematic. How do you create a stunning portrait if you can't arrange anyone's facial features? While trying to puzzle out (literally) what to do for her portrait, Sadie finds herself falling in "love" with someone in her building who she obviously doesn't recognize but who is this mystery man?

WOW, Katherine Center has done it again! Her books are always a 5 star for me and this one was no different. Before reading this I did not know about the prosopagnosia condition or face blindness but reading about it in this book, especially for a character who is a portrait artist, was very eye opening!

Thank you Net Galley for the e-ARC!

✨ the more good things you look for, the more you’ll find. ✨

what a beautiful story & i’m so disappointed in myself for not reading sooner!

katherine center is easily becoming one of my auto buy authors! when i saw this book on netgalley i immediately asked for it because i loved the bodyguard so so much! katherine truly has a magical way with words and has you reevaluate your mindset on the world.

thank you netgalley & publisher’s for allowing me to have an arc for this book! sorry it took me so long to read it ! 😭🫶🏻

I am sorry to say that I just did not like this one. The premise is so interesting with sudden face blindness and learning to cope with it, how to fall in love etc. but it fell so flat. For one I hated Sadie, I just was sorry for her instead of sympathizing and understanding her life. Yes she has a horrible family but it doesnt seem like she was trying to better her life except entering contests for minimal sums of money. Her best friend is not great, the love interest is fine but didnt capture me, and then another random side plot came out of nowhere. Lots of people do seem to love it so while not for me, may be for you.

Absolutely LOVED this book! Katherine Center never disappoints! The main character is so likable and although she has had a lot of set backs in life, she is still positive and still has hope. I love the relationship she has with friends that became family and how she is a genuine person. I can’t wait to read this one again! It gives me hope!

"Hello Stranger" was a delightful read for me, easily earning four stars. I began my journey with Katherine Center's novels about a year ago, and they've consistently brought joy to my reading time. Her stories are the kind that can be comfortably nestled into over a weekend. What I particularly admire is her ability to weave serious themes while maintaining an uplifting atmosphere. "Hello Stranger" touched upon profound issues like emotional trauma, loss of a parent, and health challenges, yet it always retained a sense of hope. The protagonist's perspective was engaging, and I found the exploration of face blindness intriguing. The romance woven into the story was heartwarming, though I must admit there were moments when the family dynamics felt a tad dramatic and certain plot turns were somewhat anticipated, especially regarding the romantic angle. While it may not have captured my heart as deeply as "Things We Save" or "Bodyguard," it was undeniably a captivating read.

i lover the bodyguard so when i found out about hello stranger, i needed it!! i loved this original idea and thought it was beautifully executed. i really liked the premise and katherine’s writing.

I will start bu saying I really struggle getting into books that have no spice. I know I know but it's hard for me usually to feel the connection without, you know, a connection. Tragically this was true for Hello Stranger. This book was sweet and cute and all in all easy to read but I just don't think I was the target audience. I would recommend this book to someone like my mom or her friends. Someone I know wouldn't want to read anything scandalous.

I am a big fan of Katherine Center's, but this book was not a favorite for me. Sadie's constant desire to live in denial was so aggravating that it got to the point I wasn't sure what "Joe" saw in her. The concept was fascinating and I enjoyed the artistic struggle! Watching the slow burn, enemies/friends to lovers storyline unfold was very sweet. But ultimately, Sadie's character frustrated me so much I didn't enjoy the book as much as I would've liked.

This book was.... not for me..

Sadie is about the finalist in a portrait contest but 6 weeks before the contest, she has to have brain surgery. The brain surgery left her unable to see faces. That was pretty tragic but Sadie made it hard for me to feel sorry for her. She was bitter, rude, and whined too much.

The storyline was flat. I hated the aspect of the evil step-mom and step-sister. I also think Sadie is probably the worst character ever.

"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."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

I picked up <i>Hello Stranger</i> to start it every single week since July. And every single week since July, I only managed to read a paragraph or so before I had to put it down.

And it's not because of the story, or the characters or the humor or the writing style. All of that is amazing, just as I expected it to be. I love Katherine Center's work, and the Bodyguard is one of my all-time favorite romances. Her characters are so alive and practically jump off the page like they're talking right to you.

Which is why I struggled at the beginning. In January my dad had a medical procedure involving his brain, just like Sadie. And just like Sadie... the results were not what was expected, and something had gone wrong and changed the trajectory of his life.

So while people might have complained that Sadie was miserable and kind of whiny... I get it. I saw my dad go through the same thing. It's hard when something you've been able to do your entire life just gets snatched away and doesn't look like it's going to come back. People don't get it. As much as we want to empathize with how difficult the situation might be or how they might be struggling, we just don't get it. Even in the book, Sue kept forgetting that Sadie couldn't see faces because Sue could.

Anyway. It was a bit of a struggle to read through that initial diagnosis for Sadie and her doctors visits where they told her it wasn't getting better and all that because the situation with my dad was so similar and so hard. But once the story focused more on her painting and her relationships and her living with her diagnosis, I had a lot more fun and it was so much easier to get through.

I love love love the themes in this book surrounding knowing people for who they are, and not just judging them based off of biases or one time interactions. I love these characters, and how vibrant and life-like they are. I love Peanut and his horridly unhealthy love for Pad Thai. I love Joe. And Mr. Kim.

This book is definitely worth reading, and something I will likely revisit again in the future.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"The more good things you look for, the more you find."

First off, have you ever heard of prosopagnosia? Or face blindness, in laymen’s terms. I’d heard of it in passing prior to this book, but I didn’t really understand what that meant.

I’ve recently started reading Katherine Center novels and they are the epitome of comfort reads. Do I know where the storyline is going? Sure. Do I have some semblance of an idea what the characters are going to do along the way? Yep. Does that take away any part of my enjoyment? Nope.

In short, the main character of this book, Sadie, develops face blindness very shortly into the book. This condition is much more difficult to live with than it sounds, so kudos to Center for sharing it eloquently for us to see. No pun intended.

Sadie encounters two completely different male characters while suffering from prosopagnosia and treats them completely differently…I think you can see where this is going…

Anyway, this book was a delight. I enjoyed every little bit of it and will continue to read her backlog as well as whatever she comes out with in the interim. Because we all know I’m not going to be able to read her entire backlist before she comes out with another gem. 💎

Read this book. It’s cute. It’ll make you feel good. Do it.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this book early! I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing was very well done, and the story kept me interested. I believe my students/patrons would also love this book and will be acquiring it for the library!

2.5 stars down to 2 stars. I can't believe it! The 2nd audiobook in a row that are big disappointments. Before you think I'm in a reading rut, the book I'm currently reading I am enjoying very much and 2 of the audiobooks I read not long ago were 4 and 5 stars. I received an ARC of this from NetGalley and was really looking forward to the book, since I loved her previous book, Things You Save In a Fire. But unlike in TYSiaF, in Hello Stranger, I don't think there were any characterS that I actually liked. I don't necessarily have to like characters, but in a romance/rom-com at least the main characters should be likeable. Although I received an e-Arc, I ended up listening to it when it came out and was available at my library, because when I started reading it, I wasn't crazy about it and felt that I would enjoy it more on audio. And I did, at first! Much of the story just seemed unrealistic.

Sadie Montgomery is going to be a character that I will find myself talking about for a long time. Katherine Center is an all-star writer, and her romance novels just keep getting better and better. I love that she has a unique ability to build beautiful books around uncommon themes such as-face blindness. Center is an absolute master of her craft. Witty, funny, romantic, and of course I feel that most readers loved Peanut! Immersive and well explained (especially through the ending of the novel.)

I love that this novel focused on the ups and downs of life, and I have to admit that i ugly cried a few times too many, but Katherine Center has a way of doing that to the reader doesn't she?

Thank you for netgalley and St Martin's Press for a copy in exchange for review!

I liked (not loved) this contemporary romance for a couple of reasons:

- I began with reasonable expectations after hearing it wasn't as enjoyable as The Bodyguard, Ms. Center's previous novel
- I listened to the audiobook narrated by Patti Murin who eased some of the awkward dialog

This book requires considerable suspension of disbelief. After undergoing brain surgery, Sadie develops prosopagnosia (face blindness). Beyond the obvious challenges, she's a portrait artist in the biggest competition of her career. But no worries - she plans to feature her best friend in her contest entry ... until her friend is suddenly unavailable. How can Sadie paint a portrait of another subject when everyone's face looks like jumbled puzzle pieces?

Plus, she's developing feelings for two different men - Joe, her helpful neighbor, and Dr. Addison, her dog's new hot veterinarian. Just when she decides which she has true feelings for, he ghosts her. Below the main story is a deeper plot of Sadie mourning a deeply personal loss and dealing with its consequences.

Overall, it was challenging to take this story seriously. There's a fair amount of physical humor (pratfalls, etc.), and a coincidence involving a minor character was unnecessary and ridiculous. I appreciated that dialog near the end acknowledges some obvious coincidences in the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for access to the advanced listening copy; all thoughts are my own.