Katherine Center is such a great romance writer! Hello Stranger is absolutely adorable and fun to read. Sadie loses the ability to distinguish faces after her sudden brain surgery. She has complete face blindness. She tries to move on with her life, despite her set back. She is stubborn as can be, so she refuses to tell anyone about her condition. Therefore, she must make guesses based on context to determine friends and strangers. This is not the most effective plan, as we find out.
Sadie falls in love with a vet and a suspected womanizer...but who is who and what do they even look like! This story is so cute and wholesome, I loved watching Sadie be honest with everyone. 5 stars on a whimsical, fun read.

A fast paced, interesting and original read. Katherine Center always has a way of sucking you in with her writing and keeping you interested. This one, a take on face blindness makes you sincerely count your blessings, because as bad as you have it? Not as bad as Sadie. Can't wait to see what Center puts out next, I can't stop talking about this book!

Sadie Montgomery's life has abruptly changed when she discovers she has Face Blindness. Memorable characters that you capture your attention (and sometimes your heart) combined the setting and plot make Hello Stranger by Katherine Center a recommended read!

Katherine Center has, once again, delivered a phenomenal romance that reminds us that love is blind and that we can find it when we least expect it. She has the amazing talent of developing strong characters that are dealing with obstacles in their lives that may be hard to overcome if not for the people in their lives that help them through these challenging moments. While overcoming these obstacles the relationship between the characters grows stronger in a very realistic way and the reader cannot help but be pulled into the story that she weaves so perfectly.

In this uniquely marvelous book, we meet Sadie who is a struggling artist that has finally caught a break by being selected as a finalist to participate in a prestigious portrait contest. But after an emergency brain surgery to correct a leaking blood vessel she is diagnosed with Prosopagnosia also known as face blindness. How does a portrait artist overcome face blindness? How will she enter the contest when she cannot see the faces that she needs to paint?

She normally would rely on her extroverted best friend, Sue, but she has been whisked away by her fiancé leaving Sadie to navigate her face blindness by herself. She would like to be able to lean on her family, but her mom passed away when she was fourteen, her dad has a hard time connecting with her vision of life, her stepmother Lucinda is the opposite of compassionate and her stepsister, Parker, is a nightmare. This leaves Peanut, her dog, to be the one thing she can rely on. But when Peanut gets sick and has to stay at the veterinarian hospital for multiple days she meets her new vet, Dr. Addison, and she quickly falls in love with the compassionate way he cares for her sick dog, and it doesn't hurt that she sees past not being able to see his face to find him handsome from the way he holds himself and that his hair looked professional and competent. She also begins to rely on the helpful neighbor, Joe, that did not make the best first impression but has become a constant in her life.

The introduction of the two new men in her life gets her through these hard times. She finds redeeming qualities in both men which leaves her in an uncomfortable situation as she realizes she is falling for both of them at the same time for different reasons. This leads us to a few somewhat predictable surprises and yet there are many unpredictable surprises as the book wraps up.

The characters of this book contain a lot of depth and are very realistic. Their past experiences are explained to help draw a picture of how they have become the people they are today. The diagnosis of Prosopagnosia was very well researched with a note about it at the end of the book to help explain what it is. The plot of this book was very well-conceived and weaved together perfectly. If you like books by Kristen Hannah, Jojo Moyes, Emily Henry, or Emily Giffin to name just a few then you will love Katherine Center's books.

As I closed this book my heart was happy and fulfilled by a wonderful story about a good person put in a bad situation, but she finds her way through the bad days and comes out with a better life and much better relationships with her loved ones. This book is not just about romance, it is about life and how we overcome our pasts and the unexpected challenges in our lives to come out with stronger relationships and a bright future in the end.

I am extremely grateful to St. Martin's Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a digital copy of this heartwarming book in exchange for an honest review. I will be recommending this to everyone I know and have already ordered a hard copy of this lovely book!

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

This is my first Katherine Center book, but I don't think it will be my last. It took me a few chapters to get into honestly, but once I was able to get lost in Sadie's world I didn't surface back up till the epilogue. This was a light, easy read with a lovely message. It's easy to figure out the ultimate twist, but watching the characters get there was delightful, and having them dissect all the hilarity leading up to that point was enjoyable.

My thanks to the author and NetGalley for this arc!

In pure Katherine Center fashion, this book makes you feel all the things! Once again I have fallen in love with the characters and the story and loved every minute of my time with this book!

This book was a warm hug. It was a romcom full of anticipation and giddiness. Early on, I had a sense of where the story was leading, that didn’t stop me from devouring it.

Main character Sadie experiences acquired facial blindness…but guess what? She is a portrait artist on the brink of a career altering competition. How can she possible paint a portrait when she can no longer make sense of faces? Throw a lil love in the mix with a neighbor whose face she can’t quite decipher, and an arch nemesis of a step sister for an entertaining read! I was hooked from start to finish! Another great story from Katherine Center.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC!.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center! You guys. I am OBSESSED with this book! I already knew I'd like it because of how much I enjoyed THE BODYGUARD, but WOW! I am blown away by this one. I was so addicted that I dropped my Kindle while reading it on the plane because I was so engrossed and was tapping on the Kindle with such force to turn the pages. The girl next to me had to pick it up and hand it to me! If that isn't enough to convince you, then let me reiterate the synopsis: THE PROTAGONIST HAS ACQUIRED FACIAL BLINDLESS AND FALLS IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE SHE CAN'T RECOGNIZE. HELLO? PLEASE pick this up if you love romance novels!

Review at 12:39! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r52SWZW6WbE

"Hello Stranger" was a fun summer read that had depth as the main character finds herself dealing with an unexpected injury and trying to navigate her art career. While I did figure out one of the plot twists pretty early on, the ending had some surprises I wasn't expecting. I especially loved her endearing relationship with her dog!

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

This one didn’t hit for me. I really could not connect with the main character- she was so whiny always. And I thought the face blindness plot was uninspired.

Flew through this story! Quick pace kept you invested, and the fact that she couldn’t recognize anyone kept the reader guessing a lot about who was who. Most of the plot points surrounding her family seemed a little too unrealistic and Cinderella like, but luckily the friendships and romance kept you hooked in. And I personally wanted to see just how crazy her family would get.

I love Katherine Center's books, but this one was more of a struggle for me. I think maybe the premise was difficult for me. I know such a condition exists, but it was a bit too more dramatic for me. I also don't enjoy the love triangle trope. :(

Hello Stranger like all of Center's books is well written with well-developed characters. I had no complaints about the quality of this book. I think I just had a difficult time with this book in particular.

I received an ARC of this book from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

🌟✨ Embracing Connection & Growth! ✨🌟 Just finished reading "Hello Stranger" by Katherine Center and I'm swooning! 😍💖 Center's heartwarming storytelling weaves together unexpected bonds and personal journeys that'll leave you feeling all the feels. 📚💕 From vulnerability to second chances, this book dives into the power of stepping out of your comfort zone. 🌈🌱 While some parts were predictable, the characters' transformations hit right in the feels.

Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is my second Katherine Center novel and, like the one I read previously (The Bodyguard), it almost worked.

The story follows a struggling artist named Sadie, who has a tragic backstory involving a deceased mom, a hard-to-impress dad, an evil step-mother, and an even more evil step-sister. But there's also a really cute elderly dog named Peanut, so... you know... balance.

Sadie's soon-to-be big break comes in the form of an art competition. However, mere weeks before it, she is checked into the hospital and fast-tracking major brain surgery. An unexpected side-effect of this surgery is prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. This is a real condition that Center has obviously put some research into. The plot was certainly a clever way of spreading awareness of this condition that (little did I know!) one in fifty people have (often without even realizing it).

What ensues is a lot of emotional turmoil as Sadie struggles to adapt to life with this (temporary) ailment. As a portrait artist, she has to find new and inventive ways of working on her craft. She struggles with recognizing familiar faces... and connecting when she's already met someone. The primary romantic sub-plot involves her attempts to date her dog's vet and a helpful man in her building. I'll just say this... not sure that this plot twist fooled anyone but Sadie. Also not sure if it was meant to!

One of the things I didn't really love about this were the numerous plot holes. And the amount of over-explaining that happened towards the end. I just feel like this required some better editing -- resolving some of those plot holes and trimming down some of the more unnecessary details. If this were shorter and more consistent? I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

That said, if you're looking for a more wholesome romance, this one will deliver in that sense! It has a good message behind it. And, as mentioned, it was a unique way of spotlighting a medical issue many likely don't know much about.

Absolutely adorable.
I am usually not a fan of the miscommunication trope. I am a huge fan of actually talking to the people you want to be in a relationship with. that being said, Sadie's situation is a little different. When she looses the ability to to distinguish faces after a, rather sudden, brain surgery, Sadie attempts to move on with her life til the condition clears. Stubborn as ever, Sadie refuses to tell anyone that she is suffering from face blindness and has elected to treat everyone with kindness and use context clues to tell friends from strangers. This works as well as can be expected, but she hits a bit of a hiccup when her dating life becomes involved. In true hopeless romantic style, she falls madly in love with the vet who saved her pup. And the also the suspected womanizer who lives in her apartment complex. The problem is, she really doesn't know what either of them look like and is purely going off the interactions she had with the men. You can see where this is going right?

While I had a very strong feeling I knew what was happening the whole time, it was so gratifying to see the resolution and watch Sadie be honest with the people in her life. This book was such a departure from some of the smut I've been binge reading and it was fun to read a wholesome romance with witty characters and emotional interactions.

Katherine Center gets another 5-star review from me for this one. Not only did I fall in love with the characters, but Patti Murin's audio narration of the story was top notch, as usual. I sure hope Katherine plans to release a book every summer, because after "The Bodyguard" and "Hello Stranger", I can easily say that reading/listening her books has been the highlight of my summers.

What I liked most about this book was that the storyline was a lot different than your typical rom-com, and it was clearly researched. While I've read some reviews saying that the storyline was predictable, I actually felt the opposite. I did guess the "twist" closer to the end, but for much of the storyline, I really didn't have any idea where it was going. Also, as per usual with Ms. Center's novels, I was laughing out loud at some parts.

I look forward to Ms. Center's next book! Hopefully coming out in Summer 2024? **Manifesting**

Thank you very much to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to have an ARC of both the book and the audiobook (I did read & listen to the story in both formats and enjoyed them both very much!).

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center did not disappoint. The novel is very unique. The story is about two hurt individuals. How they navigate thru their situation

Thank you @Macmillan.audio for the complimentary audiobook and @smpromance for the ebook.
Katherine Center is one of my favorite authors and Hello Stranger is a wonderful story about Sadie overcoming obstacles physically and emotionally. I can't even imagine what Sadie was going through with facial blindness. I love that Katherine Center's writing can show the pain that goes along with tragedies and toxic relationships and also spotlight the hope and love that prevails.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center was a four star read for me. I really like the premise and thought it was executed very well. I like the face blindness element and it’s why I wanted to read the book. I guessed the twist pretty early on but that didn’t stop me from enjoying this. I liked most of the characters of the book and related to Sadie. Especially when she was frustrated. Did enjoy “Joe” and his and Sadie’s romance. Their romance in the middle of the book was my favorite part. Loved Sue and her family and the things things they did to help Sadie (and their relationship with her). Sadie family was frustrating at times but there were times you see their side. Also liked the art side of this story. Would recommend this because I thought the premise was great, enjoyed seeing these characters and really liked the romance.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this arc.

I read the majority of this as an audiobook. I thought the narrator did an excellent job, capturing different voices for the different characters, and the tone and emotion of the story.

I'd classify this as more women's fiction than romance. Maybe women's fiction with a side of romance. I am a fan of Katherine Center and I have read the majority of her books. It's apparent that she does a lot of research for her books and thinks deeply about how characters will respond to difficult situation. This was certainly true in this case. Through a series of unfortunate events, Sadie ends up with a case of face blindness. This means she can't recognize faces. Even as people who are close to her. As an artist, this is devastating. I really enjoyed watching her learn to interact in her world in different ways without such a crucial skill. Along the way, there was also lots of self reflection about her typical patterns of interacting and wondering about other options. It reminds me of Brene Brown's work, fictionalized, and really brought to life. There's that same sense of hope, optimism, resilience, and growth in better than some really hard personal work. I loved the ending. I will definitely be passing this book on to friends.

Thanks to the publisher for a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.