I love anything and everything by Katherine Center. I instantly fell in love with the MC so I was gripped from the beginning. I loved reading about face blindness and seeing how it affected her every day life. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a good romance with some depth.

Hello Stranger

Partly a cute romcom - and partly an in depth look at a woman’s lowest point in life as she struggles with a serious life altering health condition. I don’t know how it seemed to stay light and entertaining, while being so interesting and educational - but it did.

Sadie is ready to celebrate being selected as a top 10 finalist in the prestigious North American Portrait Society’s annual contest. It’s a huge accomplishment for her as a struggling artist, and even sweeter as she follows in her deceased mother’s footsteps. She has 6 weeks to paint and submit her best portrait ever. Too bad that after almost being hit by a car it’s discovered that she needs brain surgery to fix a neurovascular issue (a cavernova,) and after the surgery she winds up with (hopefully temporary) facial blindness (“Acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia.”) The timing is terrible as she needs to paint her best facial portrait ever.
She has some ups and downs as she deals with her situation and prepares for the contest - with support from her best friend Sue, her hot new veterinarian Oliver who helps save her beloved dog Peanut, and her helpful neighbor Joe; along with horrific encounters with her evil step sister Rachel, mostly awful step mom Lucinda, and very distant father.
It’s crazy that in the midst of this upheaval in her life she falls for both her vet and her neighbor, even though she can’t really even see them. She chooses one, but then he ghosts her. She’s all alone. But maybe her heart could see the truth all along.

There are some heartbreaking moments in this book, and many heartwarming and sweet ones as well. Some parts are infuriating! And the miscommunication is exasperating! Especially as the reader can figure things out before the character has some realizations. But I was along for the ride through all of it. It stretches out a bit longer than necessary, but it kept me entertained.

The author’s note is a special treat, with a beautiful tribute to the wonderful hope found within romance novels. Which is why I love reading books like this.
Center writes, “Structurally, thematically, psychologically—love stories create hope and then use it as fuel. Two people meet—and then, over the course of three hundred pages, they move from alone to together. From closed to open. From judgy to understanding. From cruel to compassionate. From needy to fulfilled. From ignored to seen. From misunderstood to appreciated. From lost to found. That’s a guarantee of the genre: Things will get better.”
I love reading with hope and knowing we’re headed towards a happy ending.
And I wound up loving the happy ending that this sweet story provided.

* Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. This review is my honest opinion given on my own accord.
* I also listened to parts of the book on audio before writing this review.

I found this book somewhat slow at the beginning but it picked up and I enjoyed it at the end. It was interesting to learn of the condition of face blindness. Sadie has brain surgery that triggers a condition called face blindness. She's a portrait artist so that has a significant impact on her life - both work and obviously personally. She gets into various situations because she can't recognize people. Overall a good book.

The plot of this book was so wonderfully fun and chaotic. Basically Sadie is a portait artist who is about to participate in a really big competition but has to have brain surgery and ends up being face blind. Definitely something that would be difficult to adjust to for most people but especially for a portait artist as well. She is navigating this and can’t recognize people which leads to a lot of annoyance and struggles for Sadie but lots of fun as a reader. I really enjoyed this book!

I'm torn on giving a review for this book. The story was a quirky and fun romance. I enjoyed the writing style, and I thought the storyline of face blindness was quite interesting and educated me about something I knew nothing about before. However, the implausibility of this story is off the charts. I am fine with suspending disbelief to an extent, and I know that the intent is just a sweet, fun love story ... but the amount of disbelief needed here is pretty astronomical. The central plot twist relies on a level of miscommunication between the main characters that is truly unbelievable. It's just illogical that at no point, they would have a simple discussion that would clear up the point of confusion. And the side characters, in particular Sadie's evil stepsister, are over the top to the point of being cartoonish. I would try this author again because I did enjoy the overall themes of the story and in particular, I loved the author's note about the importance of love stories. I wholeheartedly agree with her on those points; I just wish this story had stayed a bit closer to believable.

I LOVED this book! Katherine Center has never let me down. All of her books are gems. This was an easy, quick read for me. The storyline was fun and fresh. I had a hard time putting this one down and I read it super-fast! This book leaves you with feel-good, happy vibes! If you're looking for a fun, feel-good read, this is it!!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's press for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

It was feeling like a 3 star read at half way through, but the second half really saved the book.

Even though I saw the "twist" coming from a mile away, I was super eager to see how it played out and it kept me turning the pages.

I also really adored the undertone lesson. It honestly actually felt inspiring to me and I had a few moments of self reflection - who knew a rom com could do this! 😆

Overall, another winner by Katherine Center.

Loved this book so much that I read it in a day. Katherine Center is the queen of anticipation romance. This book is heartfelt, hopeful, and sweet. A very fun concept and twist, with some serious moments as well. I really enjoyed.

Like her hit from last year The Bodyguard, this book was a clever, cute, heartwarming read. I am super interested in neurological conditions, and the way Center describes face blindness is so well done. Did I guess what the twist was basically at the start of the book? Yes, but it was still fun to see it play out. This one seems to be a winner for many readers.

I enjoyed this book right from the start! It has such a unique premise that was fascinating to me. It made the story that much better and I enjoyed learning about the topic along with the character as this is something I was not really aware of. The story was interesting and kept me intrigued the entire time! I highly recommend!

This was certainly and interesting topic to center a storyline around. If kept me turning the pages, which I am always happy about. When and medical emergency happens Sadie has to make some decisions concerning her life and future. I would recommend this book to others.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Another great book by Katherine Center. Sadie Montgomery who is a portrait artist suddenly has a medical condition that has left her with an inability to identify faces. I can’t imagine what it would feel like when you can no longer identify who people are.
Sadie needs to be able to draw face portraits in order to win a contest to be able to make money to survive. Her family is horrible to her during this time, especially her stepsister.
On the plus side she does meet two men she likes. I love the romance of this book and the challenges she was able to overcome. I highly recommend this.

Hello Stranger by Kathrine Center was such a fun read!

I recently read another book that dealt with face blindness so this wasn't a new topic for me, but it was one that honestly breaks my heart. I can not imagine not being able to remember faces.

Sadie and Joe are likeable enough characters and I can't wait to read more from Kathrine Center.

Katherine Center writes romance that leans juuuuust close enough to Women's Fiction that I get ultra invested in the drama. I love, love, LOVED the storyline here, especially with her relationship to her family because it gave the book a fairytale feel that I personally think is underrated - mean families that belatedly understand your worth is an underutilized trope!

3.5 stars!
The ending was totally unpredictable. Most of the characters I thought were annoying but I did love Joe.

I love me some Katherine Center. She has become an auto buy author for me. The Bodyguard has to be my favorite of her but Hello Stranger was just as enjoyable. Katherine Center writing is warm hearted and yet the characters and story have a lot of depth and feelings. I hadn't really read or understood anything on face blindness so this was an interesting subject for me. I would recommend this feel good story and all of Katherine Center's backlist.

If you’re already familiar with Katherine’s writing, you can just skip this paragraph because, you just know how amazing her writing is! However, if you’ve never read her, let’s chat. Her covers are always full of gorgeous colors and flowers, her stories are funny mixed with sad and always, always have a great meaning or message embedded in them. In one word, they’re a joy to read!

Sadie, after placing in a huge art contest is at the corner store to buy wine for her last minute celebratory party. Meets a good looking stranger who pays for said wine and somehow ends up fainting and almost being annihilated by a car. That good looking stranger is a Good Samaritan and saves her. After brain surgery, she ends up with facial blindness where she can’t recognize faces. And you thought you had a bad day! She falls for “Joe” without even seeing his face and things get wonky but, love always has a way of finding itself, right?

I absolutely loved this story, I loved the characters, Sadie’s apartment or “hovel” as she calls it and I love the message. Love is so many things and it can find what it’s looking for. Highly recommend this gem! Five stars!

I was very worried about this book when I first started it, but it really grew on me! It reminded me a lot of Cinderella and I loved all of the little storylines. I was enjoying the book so much that I wasn’t trying to predict the ending like I usually do, so the plot twist with the two love interests being the same person completely blew me away. And then the author’s note!! So good. 4.25/5

Surprisingly, this isn't the first book that I've read about a woman with face blindness but it was the first with a love triangle. I normally don't enjoy love triangles, but it was a unique and fresh plot that I enjoyed. It was a little emotional in the beginning but a nice, slow burn if that's you're thing.

I found the plot of this book to be quite refreshing. I’ve never met a book where the female MC is dealing with any similar issues as Sadie. I loved Sadie’s job as a portrait artist and although there are romantic encounters to this book, it certainly went much deeper than that. Sadie loses her ability to make the distinction between faces and her life honestly just takes her for a serious rollercoaster while she’s dealing with her new reality. It was a little bit corny towards the end, but otherwise it kept my attention!