A uniquely romantic story perfect for fans of "The Vow" and "While You Were Sleeping." It's a twist on the classic amnesia romance trope in the best way. Adding in the tragic twist of our main heroine being an artist makes her "temporary" facial blindness condition all the more intriguing for the reader. This novel has a ton of my favorite tropes: right person wrong time, lonely girl with a dog, familial disharmony, and an artist discovering new inspiration. Katherine Center hit the ball out of the park with this one!

I cant stop thinking about how this book literally had me flabbergasted.

It was so good and so real. I really enjoyed the plot of this. Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery has been surgery that leaves her with edema in her brain causing her to have face blindness. The thing is they don’t know if it’s temporary or if it will resolve on its own.

Sadie was just accepted as a top 10 finalist out of 2,000 people in total for a portrait contest, the same one her mom was selected for before she died. Unfortunately for Sadie face blindness and being a portrait artist don’t really mesh well together.

Now Sadie is left to face her own hardships acquired through her face blindness and find new ways to recognize and identify people but also find a way to create a portrait that meets the requirement for the contest she is a finalist in.

This was so emotional and cute!! It was a beautiful little story and i really enjoyed it. I was confused a little about halfway through and then annoyed at 73% because I was a little confused, unfortunately I can’t explain it because it would kind of spoil it. But then towards the end i started putting the pieces together and guessed the plot twist. Then I was just flabbergasted because while I was expecting it I also wasn’t?

I will not stop thinking about this book. it was really cute and i was so invested at 59%-100%. definitely an interesting read, however it was a little slow for me in the beginning and it took a few chapters to really grab my attention.

Read if you like
🎨 Art
🐕 Elderly doggos
😈 Evil step sisters
🤝 Fate

What to expect 👀
A portrait artist has brain surgery and when she wakes up she can’t see anyone’s faces. As she navigates this new normal she meets a very special someone (or someones…)

My Thoughts 💭
- This was my second Katherine Center book and it did not disappoint! It was funny, sweet, and a little absurd but it was a fun ride.
- Joe is such a sweetie and I just fell in love with his character
- There were a few plot holes, and I really struggled with the evil step sister aspect of this book but the laughs and love make up for it
- The last chapter and the epilogue were so good 🥲

Overall, enjoyed and will be reading more from her!

Sadie has just been chosen as a finalist for a prestigious art competition for portrait artists. The only problem is that she's currently face blind. As Sadie navigates the world with her new face blindness, which she acquired from brain surgery, she learns tricks for telling people apart and starts to see things differently. She's still determined to create a new portrait for the competition and befriends a guy living in her building who just might be the one. Although Sadie is convinced she's going to marry her vet she's willing to give building guy a chance but a misunderstanding may get in the way of happily every after.

I thought this was a unique romance with a different angle. The main character can't see faces, while she isn't blind her brain can't put the face together into something she can process. There were many cute scenes but there are a lot of coincidences in this book that were over the top at times but I liked the cute ways the book just seemed to work out. I enjoyed the romance although the miscommunications were a little ridiculous and I don't know why I didn't see the final plot twist coming but it somehow managed to surprise me. I think any romance lover could enjoy this lighthearted romance with a twist!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was right in the middle for me. A sweet love story. A bit gimmicky and predictable but still fun. I did feel like the parts about the family was just too heavy for the amount of energy/time the book spent on it.

Thanks to netgalley for giving me the chance to read this.

Sadie finally lands one of the finalist spots in a portrait competition. However, after a minor surgery, she can't see faces anymore. She can still see animal faces and she relies on her dog, Peanut. She meets a veterinarian and he asks her on a date. She also keeps on running into Joe, her obnoxious neighbour. She falls for 2 very different guys and a love triangle unfolds....,

I love Katherine Center. Her last book, The Bodyguard, was one of my favorite. Like The Bodyguard, this book is funny, witty, romantic and deeply touching. Love Sadie especially. Love how imperfect she is and how she overcomes her struggles. I also love the growth of her character... I love Joe so much too. He's a great book bf. Love the twist especially. Mr. and Mrs. Kim are terrific. I want them to be my friends!

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Katherine Center's "Hello Stranger" is a sweet summer romance perfect for your beach/pool bag. I found the parts about face blindness really interesting. I knew nothing about this condition before reading this book. Yes you can see what's going to happen for the most part, but it was fun to get there. Center's characters are fun and entertaining and you find yourself routing for romance and perfect tied up with a bow ending.

Thank you St. Martins Press and Netgalley for an advanced reader's copy of this book for my honest opinion.

I loved this story. It was such a different and unique take on a romance story that I have read to date. I will admit I kinda figured out the “twist” a little more then half way through, but I still really enjoyed the story.

I also really enjoyed the authors note at the end and how this story came to be.

Thank you to Net Galley & St Martins Press for a ARC copy of this book!

This was such an interesting romance where it kept me guessing and I learned a lot about face blindness. The way the author explained it painted the clearest picture for me to understand and I really enjoyed this take.

Overall a sold 3 star read for me.

I had the pleasure of reading an early copy of Hello Stranger by Katherine Center this week and OMG. This is one book that I legit finished in 24 hours because I could not step away from it. There I was at work glaring down anyone who would dare disturb me whilst reading right at the good part!

Hello Stranger felt like diving into a medical drama with a romance twist and I wholeheartedly loved it. This was the quickest five stars I’ve ever given a book. The female lead is a spine of steel kinda woman whose not used to asking for help. Add in a brain surgery with wonky consequences leaving this woman whose used to depending on solely herself to have to learn to accept help from the unlikeliest of peoples. Not only that but finding your soulmate/s when you can’t even see anyone’s faces?! I can’t imagine going about the world seeing other people as Picasso/jigsaw pieces and the author does an amazing job at making her readers empathize so well with the trials of the main character.

Not only is this an amazing book but it has the twist of all twists that you will not see coming! Can’t recommend this one enough! Thank you so much to the author & @stmartinspress for an early copy of this amazing book!

After undergoing brain surgery, Sadie wakes up with (hopefully only temporary) face blindness. As a portrait artist who just landed her big break as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition, this is an utter disaster. Making matters worse is the fact that she is embarrassed by her newfound situation and refuses to come clean to anyone including her dog's new veterinarian and her helpful neighbor. 

This has everything you could possibly want in a heartfelt rom-com--it was funny, the characters are all extremely likable and easy to root for, and the plot is interesting (I had never heard of face blindness so it was intriguing to read about). I usually don't like miscommunication, but in this instance, it was done in such a way that it was actually entertaining and amusing. I've only read a handful of her books, but this is for sure my new favorite Katherine Center novel!

I am going to gush about this book! I loved it all. I loved the characters, the story, the way I learned about new things; prosopagnosia and pajankets, and how it made me believe in people.

Katherine Center is one of my favourite authors because she is able to bring stories to life in a way that allows the reader to jump in and go along for the ride. I could not put this down. I also admit that I didn’t even read the description because it is a given I would want to read it. And after reading the authors’s note I can guarantee I will continue to pick up the next book. I found Katherine’s discussion on romance books thought provoking and provided new ways to consider a book when reviewing it. When I think of this book I can say that it made me laugh, feel misty, swoon and be curious. Who can ask for anything more.

I am so very thankful to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for the opportunity to read and review this arc for my honest review.

This was a cute book. I loved getting to be along side Sadie as she explored her hopefully temporary medical condition of being face blind. It was fascinating to me and I also really liked the at we got more of the doctor helping her understand and cope. Her dog Peanut, whose fave she can see, was so cute and I’m glad she had someone.

I wouldn’t however necessarily call this a romance. The book has her on a couple dates and she kisses a man twice but the other 99% of the book is about Sadie finding new herself. The evil stepsister was truly evil, the two men in Sadie’s life were great and Sadie was ok. I don’t truly like characters who live in self pity so while I understood her from a medical and artistic standpoint I couldn’t connect on a more personal level. Didn’t take away from an entertaining book though!

Would definitely read more Katherine Center!

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center is a romance but so totally outside my experience I hardly know where to start. Our heroine, Sadie, suffers from face blindness or prosopagnosia. It turns out this is an affliction that from which some folks suffer their entire lives or some, who only suffer from it for weeks or months, based on an injury, or in Sadie’s situation, the aftermath of a brain surgery. Sadie is a portrait artist who has just gotten her big break having been selected in a portrait contest wherein only 10 of 10,000 were selected. It was just then that she fainted in the middle of the street and had to be rescued by a stranger, a Good Samaritan. She was diagnosed with a cavernoma, which simplistically is a weak spot in a blood vessel, in her brain. She was going to postpone the surgery but woke one morning to her all-but-estranged father, nearly hysterical that she do it immediately. It seems her mother had postponed the same surgery and died of a rupture: a stroke. She acquiesced and had the surgery only to wake up and discover that faces looked liked Picasso paintings: disjointed and bizarre, including her own. This is face blindness.

Joe was a guy who lived in her building. She seemed on the promiscuous side as she noticed him and overheard phone conversations on the elevator. But, when she went to get her dog, Peanut from the veterinary clinic where he had boarded during her hospital stay, and the subsequently when Peanut had a medical emergency, she met Dr Olivier Addison, and was in love. True, she couldn’t see his face, but she could see the rest of him and smell him. She decided she was in love and would marry him. Joe became a helpful friend. What a great character Sadie was. She opened up, mostly in her thoughts, about her face blindness and her life. She was stoic although she did have bouts of depression. It was a convoluted plot, often hilarious, but sometimes really sad. She had a great therapist who opened her eyes to ways of “seeing” things and her life began to change. Lots of twists and turns. This was a terrific read, not just a simple romance.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Hello Stranger by St Martin’s Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #KatherineCenter #HelloStranger

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

This was my first Katherine Center read and maybe I just didn’t pick her best one. I didn’t love this story like I thought I might & Sadie as the MC drove me nuts. She handled things immaturely and just made it hard to like her as a person. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt because of her past family trauma and situations she goes through during the novel, but she just seemed kind of bratty about things. Some of the other characters seemed more real and level headed compared to Sadie. The story line was good & overall it was a quick, quirky, fun read. I will definitely read other books by Center, but this was not a favorite of mine.

My review will be posted to my Instagram at the end of July.

I absolutely loved this book! This is my first book by this author and I'm kicking myself for it because it was so enjoyable and I've been recommended her books so many times! The storyline, the feelings, the wonderful conclusion - I loved every minute of the journey. What a beautiful story!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sadie is an artist who’s just made top ten in a prestigious art competition. An exciting time turns scary when, due to a hereditary condition, she must get brain surgery. The surgery, while successful, leaves Sadie with face blindness. The good news is that it’s probably only temporary… though this leaves her unable to draw faces for the art competition.

I loved this story, and I was drawn in from the start. Sadie was a very likable MC. I loved following her journey of healing and self discovery, and the romance was super sweet! While the story was somewhat predictable, it did not lessen my enjoyment.

Kudos to the expertise of Katherine Center for another incredible story. I started this one and so just wanted to cancel the rest of my life and curl up and finish it in one sitting but life got in the way. The premise of the book, as well as the way Katherine Center enveloped it into her plot and twist, was so very unique, as well as compelling to read.
Sadie, a young struggling artist specializing in portraits, has just won a place in a contest for a prestigious award. After a freak accident one day her family history, as well as her estranged family, converge and Sadie is convinced to have elective surgery, after which nothing is the same. Imagine a portrait artist developing prosopagnosia, or face blindness.
My heart went out to Sadie throughout this book - her love for Peanut, her struggle to never ask for help, her crush on the vet, her elevator ride with “Joe”, the revelation of her prosopagnosia, her friendship with Sue, her developing feelings for Joe… so many endearing events that created a beautiful story. As I love to learn something while reading this book definitely checked that box for me. The characters in this book, even Parker, will linger in my thoughts for a long time. This story would make a powerful movie. One of my favorite books so far this year. Please keep writing Katherine Center as I loved What You Wish For and now Hello Stranger.
Many many thanks to Katherine Center for making me care so deeply about these characters that come to life as I am reading, St. Martin’s Press for having the wisdom to see her brilliance, and NetGalley for affording me the absolute pleasure of having the opportunity to read an arc of another of her incredible books, just published on July 11th. I cannot praise this read highly enough.

If you know me, you know the minute this landed on my doorstep I started reading it. I am a HUGE fan of Katherine Center’s books and Hello Stranger is another good one! This feel good story about a woman named Sadie has some deep underlying issues, but Center’s stories always leave me feeling hopeful. There was even a little twist in here I didn’t anticipate that I really loved! This is the perfect summer read and I highly recommend you grab a copy now that it’s out! It will be a great addition to your beach bag!

4.5 but i always round up when i rate half stars.

This was such a fun book. So much of it was a bit silly and over the top, but i love how the book recognized that and literally called itself out. I laughed out loud multiple times, and teared up a couple as well. Sadie and Peanuts relationship was my absolute favorite!!! "I know everyone says their dog is the best but mine REALLy is." RELATABLE!!! Seriously, I think I'd have rated it 4 stars if it weren't for the worldly pup. Everyone talks about their book boyfriend...we'll Peanut is mine.

Highly recommend sticking through to read the authors note at the end. Everything she said about romance books and why we read them was just spot on.