Sadie is a portrait artist who just got her version of a big break. Right along with that, an unlucky accident leads her to find out she has a tumour and needs brain surgery. Upon waking up from the surgery Sadie realizes she has a condition where she can no longer see people’s faces. How can she paint her portraits? How can she see the face of the man she is falling for?

I did not like this book, at all. This is my fifth book from the author and it’s definitely my least favourite. It’s also pretty different from the other books I’ve read by her, and not in a good way. Every other book I’ve read from the author is an easy 4 stars or above. This probably hits a 1.5 stars.

I literally forgot the name of the main character 50% in. That's how underwhelming this is.
The writing is decent, making it an easy read, especially to skim, which I did.
I did not like Sadie, at all. That's it. She's so immature, it's almost like reading a YA book. Sadie is the epitome of a "quirky, im different, I'm not like everyone else" type of girl. She's so irresponsible and feels bad for herself constantly. I could not root for her and I just didn't like her at all.
She barely has a place to live, tries to put off an important surgery, feeds her dog human food constantly (which drove me insane) even though he's sick!! She says she doesn't want help from anyone but takes Lucinda's credit card right away. She's constantly eating out and buying coffee, not working, even a regular job??
I didn't like Sue, she was an awful, awful friend who was super inconsiderate and flighty.
I do not see the point of Parker's character but she was literally a disgusting person.
Lucinda and the father weren't much better. They minority redeemed themselves at the end, but barely. No one in this book is likeable except for the Kims. Joe was whatever, such a flat character.
All these little details that contradict each other also bothered me. Peanut not eating dog food, but the store being out of dog food. Not having money, but buying coffee. Not needing help ever, but taking the credit card and legitimately never mentioning it again.
I could not handle the insta love with the vet. Talking about him being her husband in a serious way after meeting him one time made me feel like Sadie was a middle school, I was rolling my eyes.
Also, Sadie hates Joe, thinks he's awful, but then it all changes super quickly and that's not addressed??
I don't even know what this book is about, there's both so much and nothing happening at the same time. The love story, or love triangle is barely there at 60% in. There is so much talk about her mother and her feelings towards that. There's so many things mentioned that just don't matter!!!
The love story in this is so anticlimactic, the twists were unbelievably predictable and I just couldn’t buy into it. How can they be the same person but change their hair and glasses? This isn’t Hannah Montana. Their voices, mannerisms, everything else is the same. And it’s easily explained away because Sadie is bad at voices? No. The name thing as well, who’s letting someone they’re dating call them by the wrong name for that long? The part that made me groan and shake my head and roll my eyes was at the end when Sadie said she had lost two people she was in love with, one being the vet. She literally thought she was going on a date with him, that’s it. How can you be in love with that? How can she even be in love with Joe when she barely knew him!!!!
Rant over. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.

<b>HELLO STRANGER IS HANDS DOWN MY FAVORITE BOOK BY KATHERINE CENTER!!!!!!!!!</b> I have read a few other books by this author, but <b>NOTHING</b> compares to Hello Stranger. Katherine, you owe me a few boxes of tissues, you had me blubbering like a fish with this gut wrenching story. When I saw Katherine Center had a new book coming out this year, I was so happy, but I didn't expect this book to pull on my heart strings the way it did. Hello Stranger was <b>one of my top reads for 2023, and it definitely exceeded</b>. There's always going to be that <b>ONE</b> book that remains in your heart forever after reading, and this is the book that will definitely stay with you. Hello Stranger is so much more than just a romance book, it's about finding hope where you least expect to, it's about realizing your mistakes and fixing them, it's about finding your person who will love you no matter what your flaws are. I had <b>ALL</b> the emotions this book had to offer, I laughed, I sobbed, I smiled, but most importantly I <b>loved</b> this book so damn much. I was completely captivated throughout the entire book. I can't recommend this book enough to my book lovers out there, but please do yourself a favor and read this book ASAP.

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND ST. MARTIN'S PRESS FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!!

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming.....<b>LITERALLY</b>. Sadie is a struggling artist painting portraits, following in her mother's footsteps. Sadie lost her mother due to face blindness when Sadie was just fourteen years old. One minute Sadie is celebrating the biggest achievement of her life.... PLACING AS A FINALIST IN THE NORTH AMERICAN PORTRAIT SOCIETY COMPETITION!!!!!! Sadie's mom placed in the same competition many years ago, but placing in this competition means so much more to Sadie than meets the eye. Sadie is finally honoring her mother because she died right before the competition. The next minute, Sadie is lying in a hospital bed being diagnosed with a "probably temporary" condition known as face blindness. Sadie learns she needs to have surgery six weeks before the show, but she's not going to let that stop her from competing. Sadie can see, but she just can't see faces, faces to Sadie are just a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. How can a portrait artist paint if she can't see faces? Sadie has the support her special companion Peanut has to offer. Peanut is Sadie's beloved and elderly dog who happens to have the perfect face that Sadie can see, she just can't see human faces.

Sadie might not have the love and support she needs from her dad, step mom, and evil step sister, but she has the love and support she needs from her best friend Sue and Sue's parents who shower Sadie with unconditional love and encouragement. Sadie doesn't want to have this surgery because of the portrait competition, but since her mom didn't have the surgery that's why she died, but Sadie never knew that until her dad finally opened his mouth. After Sadie was diagnosed with acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, my heart instantly broke for her. It was so hard watching her father, step mom, and evil step sister treat Sadie the way they did. I absolutely adored Peanut, he was the sweetest fur baby I have ever met in a book. He even eats Pad Thai, like how could you not giggle at this goofy fur ball? It was so inspirational to watch Sadie overcome her difficulties and never give up her dreams no matter what curve balls came at her, it definitely wasn't easy when her step sister spewed nonsense at Sadie. Let me tell y'all, I didn't like the step sister from the very beginning, she was just so rude and cold hearted, it was honestly disgusting.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this advanced reading copy.

This was a wonderful story of Sadie and her happy ending. Sadie is an artist that has been chosen as a finalist in an art contest.

The book opens with Sadie having a seizure and an accident. She then has emergent brain surgery and is left with face blindness because the area of her brain that processes faces is close to where her surgery site is. She is supposed to paint a portrait for an art contest, but is unable to do so.

She overcomes a lot of obstacles and finds ways to be positive with this change in her life. Her step sister Parker continues to bully her and skew their parents' view of what is happening and takes the face blindness as an advantage.

This is a solid book by Katherine Center and I will look forward to her next book.

Wow this was so fun! I absolutely adore every one of Katherine Center’s books and I was so excited to get an early copy of Hello Stranger.

This book follows Sadie who is an following her late mother's footsteps as an artist and has just gotten what could be her big break when she ends up needing surgery that ends up turning her life upside down.
This is Sadie's journey in finding herself, letting others in, and realizing that help isn't a bad thing.
Katherine Center writes the most unique plots and this was probably her most unique yet. I didn't know what to expect going in and you definitely shouldn't either, it's way more fun that way.
I loved most of the characters. Sue. The whole Kim family, Joe. They were all amazing. Her family gave me mixed feelings. Especially Parker. She is absolutely the worst.

I loved the ending. This was probably the most interesting love triangle/miscommunication trope I've ever read. The epilogue was adorable.


Thank you to NetGalley for the early e-copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

If you’re unfamiliar with Katherine Center, she is the Queen of heartfelt, feel-good, closed-door rom-com novels. When frustrated with life, I know her books will bring me joy. Her characters are always enduring, charming, and lovable. Hello Stranger did include one or two characters we love to hate, but in the end, you’ll sympathize with even the “unlikeable” ones.

The unique plot line works for me; our MC, Sadie, develops a rare medical condition, prosopagnosia (AKA face blindness). I’ve never heard of this condition before and learned much from our character and the author’s note. I also really liked, to my surprise, the love triangle. Typically one of my least favorite romance tropes, but Center handles the trope with uniqueness and care. And as always, I love the message the book delivers. Plus, who can’t resist a dog in a story - so much love for Peanut!

Patti Murin’s narration needs no hype! She performs Sadie perfectly as she struggles with her diagnosis and new life. Murin also performs the side characters exceptionally well, bringing the whole cast to life. I highly recommend this format!

"But I guess that’s the great thing about life — it gives you chance after chance to rethink it all. Who you want to be. How you want to live. What really matters.”

Even though this is only my third Katherine Center, I already know she is one of my favorite romance writers. She provides such unique plots with great humor and banter. I also love how she creates stories with a heartwarming message and I look forward to seeing what we’ll discover with each book.

In ‘Hello Stranger’ we meet portrait artist, Sadie Montgomery. She is about to celebrate winning the biggest and long-awaited achievement in her career but in a blink of an eye, she finds herself waking up in a hospital bed and finding out she is diagnosed with a temporary condition known as face blindness. Literally meaning she can see everything but faces (this is actually a real condition!) This would inconvenience anyone but it’s a bigger disaster since she paints faces for a living.

We follow Sadie as she attempts to still maintain her career, navigate her complicated relationship with her father and evil step-sister, grieve her mother’s death AND she finds herself a new romance… without being able to see his face. This was a lot of fun with great anticipation for the ending which I really enjoyed. Sadie made me laugh so much as I related to her inner dialogue as I also find myself planning my wedding seconds after a stranger even holds open the door for me.

Romance remains one of my favorite genres and Katherine’s author's note reminds me why. People often critic endings that are predictable which happens a lot in romance even if it’s mentioned in a positive way. However, Katherine explains a new perspective on it — we use the word anticipation. Even though we almost always know how stories can end, anticipation and hope is always the best part. So instead of saying, this story was predictable, we say, this story provided great anticipation for the ending! And this story was another example of that

4.5 ⭐️’s
Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist and on the verge of breaking in after all her hard work. But when she unexpectedly needs brain surgery, they neglected to tell her all of the side effects. After surgery, Sadie has some swelling causing acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, also know as face blindness. Everyone she meets is now a stranger and competing for a chance to win an art world competition has to be out of the question, right? As Sadie learns to orbit her new world, she’s interested in one man she knows is destined to be her future husband, all the while falling in love with another. With an evil stepmother and a horrific stepsister in the mix, this book was quite the fun read. In an upside down time in Sadie’s life is there a chance that something good could come out of it? Hello Stranger is a feel good book that was funny, heart touching and filled with hope. Even knowing where Center was going with this one did not take away from the unique story as the journey was well worth it. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

𝒩𝑒𝓌 𝑅𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌

Sweetly satisfying, and a little predictable, 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 by Katherine Center, is still a perfect PG romance for summer reading.

I learned so much about face blindness or prosopagnosia - this condition is the perfect setup for a novel and resulted in many funny and tragic situations for Sadie, our protagonist.

Sadie’s life has never been easy- she has hidden most of it from her father- who continued to be distant after the death of her mother. Her stepsister Parker made sure Sadie’s life was as miserable as possible. As soon as she hears about Sadie’s condition, she arrives to torment her.

On top of that, her steadfast canine companion Peanut takes a turn for the worst.

Sadie has to learn to rely on the help of strangers like the handsome veterinarian saving Peanut or her adorable neighbor Joe- but how can she accept help when she has always taken care of herself?

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴛʜɪs ɪғ

🌻you enjoy a PG light romance
♥️like stories with complicated situations of mistaken identity
🎭 enjoy a good backstory of realistic family drama
🥾Sadie reminded me of Helen Carpenter from Happiness for Beginners - a winning character formula

#summerreading #romance #bookstagram #books #hellostranger #happinessforbeginners #lovestory #prosopagnosia

This was so adorable! I had a great time reading this. Loved the overall theme of the book and the creative story line.

Thank you SMP for the gifted e-copy.

I love Katherine Center's books, and Hello Stranger is no exception. You do need to suspend reality a bit, but for me that's not an issue.

Sadie thinks everything is starting to fall into her place (finally) in her life. She is a portrait artist, and finds out she's a top 10 finalist in a huge portrait contest. Maybe this is her big break to show her dad that she can make a life for herself in her chosen career. It's also a huge deal because this is the same contest her mom was a finalist in before she suddenly passed away when Sadie was a teen.

Then, Sadie needs brain surgery, albeit supposedly minor. In books, nothing is ever easy, and Sadie wakes up and can't see faces anymore. As a portrait artist, this is extra devastating news. How is she supposed to paint a portrait for the contest if she can't see faces? Beyond the, there are new struggles in her every day life, plus her stepmother and stepsister trying to complicate things. She does make a new friend in the building, Joe, and kind of develops a crush on her pups new vet, even though she has no idea what their faces look like.

Anyway, there's some romance, some personal growth, some family drama - typical Katherine Center, which I LOVE.

Katherine Center books are always auto buy books for me. The misunderstanding in this book was amazing. This book is a semi-slow burn but still fantastic.

So, "Hello Stranger" whisked me off on a rollercoaster ride of artistic dreams, face blindness, and a love triangle that might make a geometry teacher jealous. The book's a mix of feel-good fuzzies and eyebrow-raising plot leaps, but let's just say I'm here for it.

Sadie's an artist who suddenly sees faces like Picasso gone wild – not exactly what you want when you're hanging out in the real world. But amidst this colourful chaos, she's juggling life, love, and her trusty sidekick, Peanut the dog.

In the love department, Sadie's got two guys vying for her attention. Talk about a dicey situation. But hey, life's all about multitasking, right?

Now, let's talk about the author's note at the end. Katherine Center had me doing a happy dance with her deep dive into why we adore romance novels. It's like she took a peek into my book-loving soul.

This was my first Katherine Center ride, and I'm already buckling up for another. "Hello Stranger," you may have been a bit of a wild ride, but you left me grinning and craving more.

I have read all books by Katherine Center and loved them all. They are all very different but wonderful and this one is no exception. It deals with a subject I’ve never heard of and is so interesting . She is a terrific writer !

Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist who has just qualified for a prestigious art competition. But in an unexpected twist of events, she finds herself with prosopagnosia, or face-blindness. With every face she now sees looking like a puzzle, painting a portrait for the contest seems impossible.

What’s a girl to do when life gets turned upside down? Fall for your dog’s dreamy vet, have steamy encounters with the dodgy guy in your building and tell no one about your condition, of course. Naturally, drama and misunderstandings ensue. And while a little predictable at times, Sadie's navigation of her new "normal" is an enjoyable journey to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley, Katherine Center and St. Martin’s Press for an early copy of this book for an honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really like the fluff that Katherine Center presents but I like less the aloof, quirky main characters she writes. I think that this one was a bit lower on my list than her others -- she was too weird, too unrealistic, too...quirky. I think that the face blindness plot was actually quite moving and while I saw the "twist" coming a mile away I found it moderately satisfying.

3 stars.

While it was a unique plot and the characters were likable. (Well except Sadie’s family). The first part of the book was super slow and the last part it finally picked up the pace and turned into the cute rom com I was hoping for in the beginning.

Katherine Center does it again! This book is a good mix of pulling on your heart strings, humor, hope, romance and I felt them all! There is a twist to the story which I didn’t guess coming because I was too focused falling in love with the characters in the moment. Thank you Net Galley for a free copy of the e-book in exchange for my honest review.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“She couldn’t always fix things for me, but she was always there. Until the day she wasn’t.”

“No matter how alone you ever are in life, you always have yourself, right? You always have that goofy, imperfect face that forgets to take off its mascara before bed and wakes up with racoon eyes. That one crooked lower tooth that the orthodontist never could manhandle into place. Those ears that stick out a little too far. Those lines on either side of your smile that always look like parentheses. That slight dimple at your chin that’s just like your mom’s.”

“It was so tempting—even still—to feel bitter that I’d lost her so soon. I had to work to turn the other way: to remember to feel grateful that I’d had her at all.”

““Like try to tell the story of this moment in your life. Try to capture your world right now, cracked open, exactly the way it is. Capture the chaos and the uncertainty and the longing. And don’t forget to capture whatever’s going on with you and that guy—because there’s some kind of fire in that”

This was such a clever romantic comedy!

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling artist living in her art studio. She is estranged from her father and step-mother, and Sadie's foil in this story is her VERY evil step-sister Parker. Are you imagining properly evil? Because if you think you are, add approximately a thousand more evil points, and you've got Sadie's step-sister.

Sadie's sort of stumbling life comes to a crashing halt when she has a seizure in the middle of the street, and after a subsequent visit to the hospital, she is diagnosed with a malformed blood vessel in the brain: a cavernoma. If she doesn't have surgery, she could die. But this does not work at all with her schedule, because she has placed as a finalist in a local artist's competition - the same competition her late mother won before her death.

Disaster strikes in the aftermath of the surgery, when she develops a rare complication known as face-blindness. Her brain can no longer parse out facial features - when she looks at a person's face, everyone looks like a stranger to her - from her best friend Sue to the neighbors who live in her apartment building.

How will she complete a portrait for the art competition if she cannot see faces? Fiercely independent Sadie will just have to learn to rely on others for help, from her estranged family to her bestie Sadie - and lets not forget her friendly neighbor, Joe.

I cannot wait to purchase this book for our little library! It will be such a great addition to our collection.

This was such a fun book! I found myself completely immersed in Sadie’s world and never wanted to leave.

This story followed Sadie. She's a broke artist trying to prove her dad wrong because she quit medical school for art school. She wants to win this art contest to win some money but unexpectedly, a medical condition appeared and demanded her to undergo brain surgery. After that, well, meeting people becomes a challenge for her. I love how Center creates the most relatable characters and Sadie is no different. Her love story with Joe is swoon-worthy and I appreciated her growth throughout the book.

A definite winner and this author has solidified herself as an auto-buy author for me!

3.5 stars
This book was hard to get into. It wasn’t until 45% that I started to like it. Sadie wasn’t terribly likeable at the start and it took a while to get into the details of her trauma.
The love story was cute and I loved that part of it. The confusion with identities and face blindness was such a neat twist to throw into their romance. Made for some great moments.
The resolution with her family could have used more friction. She was angry, I was angry, and then everything just seemed ok? I wanted more there. So not my favourite but still a good book.