I believe I've found my favorite Katherine Center book!

Hello Stranger is about Sadie, a portrait artist, who develops prosopagnosia (face blindness) after a medical issue. It is hopefully temporary, but it comes at a terrible time, as Sadie has just six weeks to complete a portrait for a prestigious portrait contest that she's been selected for. While Sadie is recovering and learning how to paint with her new condition, she meets two interesting men -- a dreamy vet who cares for her beloved dog Peanut and a neighbor who sometimes seems like a jerk but is somehow always available to lend a hand when she needs it. Sadie learns about herself, her art, her history, and her relationships as she navigates her new reality.

Honestly, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. The premise sounds more than a little far-fetched, but in the pages it didn't feel that way. It's clear that Katherine Center did her research. There were a couple of moments that I had to suspend disbelief, but oddly enough they weren't connected to Sadie's face blindness! They were just a couple of moments of coincidence that felt a little too convenient.

I think rom-com devotees will enjoy this book, and I think even people who don't often read them might enjoy it. The characters and story were engaging and the typical rom-com misunderstandings made sense in this context. It will make a great light pool-side or beach book for the summer.

5 Star Read⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hello Stranger was the first book I have read by Katherine Center, but I will 100% be going to read her other books. I loved Sadie’s story and the struggles she faced while dealing with life altering news. It’s sweet, emotional, and fun! I strongly recommend this book for those looking for an amazing romance that is nothing like you have read before!

Being approved for an ARC of Katharine Center's latest was definitely a gift from the universe...and of course, her publisher, to someone in need of that bit of "hope' as the author describes in her afterword

Sophie Montgomery, an talented portrait artist, has a accident that reveals she has an undiagnosed cavernoma in her brain. Having brain surgery 6 weeks before the art contest that could potentially make her career may not be optimal, but the surgery left her with a condition called face blindness. Her struggles with painting a portrait and with life itself form the crux of this novel. As a person who never wants to ask for help, she doesn't want to explain her condition to anyone.

I usually figure out the twist coming. I know as a Katherine Center novel that we are working towards a happy ending, but I really liked how we got there. Learn a little about neuroscience while being totally immersed in this book.

This was a one seat read for me. I just love Katherine’s books!

Sadie Montgomery is on top of the world. She’s just placed as a finalist in a photography contest, which is huge, but that’s all come crashing down. She’s had to have a surgery that left her being diagnosed with Prosopagnosia, where you can’t distinguish anyone’s face feature. Now she’s struggling with her dream, she’s not sure what to do with her life. She meets Joe who lives in building and decides to use him as a model. But really it’s her dog Peanuts vet she really wants to marry, but having Joe at arms length can make the unimaginable happen

I loved the characters and plot. As any book of Katherine’s I have read, she always makes them real and very engaging. Sadie did come off a little immature at times, but I do some women act like that so it wasn’t too terrible.

A very lighthearted sweet story!

I can’t believe this was my first Katherine Center read! I loved it so much 😍

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🧼

Sadie is a portrait artist, who is about to get her “big break,” when she gets into an accident that leaves her with a *hopefully* temporary condition, face blindness (causing faces to be blurry).

Joe is Sadie’s neighbour, who becomes her friend, and a pleasant distraction. She doesn’t explain her condition to him, but he helps her out nonetheless.

A lot of this book sends the message that things aren’t always as they seem. People aren’t always who we think they are, based on first impressions or external factors.

This definitely had some predictable moments, but that’s part of the fun of it. Definitely read/listen to the author’s note, she explains a lot there.

I tandem read this book - audio and ebook - and really enjoyed the narration! Patti Murin did a wonderful job at capturing Sadie, and all the side characters.

What you’ll find in Hello Stranger:
🌼 Artist heroine
🌼 Cinnamon roll hero
🌼 He falls first
🌼 Romcom
🌼 Friends to lovers
🌼 Forced proximity
🌼 Slow burn
🌼 Miscommunication
🌼 Single POV/first person

Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy to review. All opinions are my own.

Sadie is a portrait artist on the verge of her career taking off when an unexpected accident happens, and her dad forces her to get brain surgery to save her life. Unfortunately, a rare side effect happens that causes Sadie to have face blindness. (It was an interesting read to understand what individuals with face blindness go through on a daily basis.) Quickly after the surgery, Sadie develops a crush on her neighbor Joe and her veterinarian Dr. Addison. So, she is dealing with her career on the rocks, crazy crushes, and her distant and annoying family. Poor Sadie! ...well, not really because she is childish, selfish, annoying because she doesn't want to tell anyone about her face blindness. I would think most people would tell others as a courtesy, so that they could be aware if you don't recognize them.

The ending is predictable, but still a sweet ending. I'm a fan of Katherine Center's novels and always enjoy her books.

Hear me out, because I did like this book (3 Stars) but only because I got to the ending.

~the bad~
First of all, Sue is the worst best friend to ever hold that title.
HOWEVER, I'm not sure Sadie deserves a better best friend. Even taking into account her "probably temporary face blindness" she's selfish, judgmental and bratty. I can't remember how old Sadie is supposed to be, but I think it's older than the ~19 that she's coded. By the way... it was *IMMEDIATELY* obvious what Joe's elevator conversation was about, so she's also kinda dumb.
People feeding their dogs people food isn't quirky or endearing, it's just obnoxious.

~the good~
Joe is phenomenally funny and incredibly sweet.
The romance is believable and (as always with Katherine Center) very well done, even if Sadie is The Worrrrst.
Frustratingly perfect evil stepsister dynamic.
The final act - perfect combination of tension, stress, emotion, comedy & happiness (not necessarily in that order).

Through her meticulous research on face blindness, Katherine Center not only weaves a beautiful story about triumph over personal obstacles but also imparts a profound lesson on kindness, love, and the power of choosing joy.

Sadie Montgomery is a talented portrait artist, and her life takes an unexpected turn when she is diagnosed with face blindness. As a finalist in a prestigious portrait competition, she must overcome this newfound obstacle and paint a portrait with her new diagnosis. With her late mother's successful legacy in the same field, the pressure is on for Sadie to prove herself. I resonated so much with Sadie's yearning for her late mother's presence and her deep connection to her as an artist. This exploration tugs at the heartstrings, evoking both empathy and tears for Sadie's longing.

Sadie also grapples with several other challenges. These include dealing with a mean step-sister, navigating strained relationships with her father and step-mother, who lack affection, and managing her finances while caring for her aging dog.

The light romance element adds a delightful touch to the story. The scenes between Sadie and her love interest are crafted with perfection, striking a balance between giggles and sighs. You’ll definitely get all the sweetness you expect from a heartwarming romantic comedy, leaving yourself with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Katherine Center's "Hello Stranger" is a beautifully written novel that combines a compelling story with memorable characters. With its exploration of face blindness, the book sheds light on a lesser-known condition while imparting important life lessons. This heartfelt tale of triumph, love, and optimism will undoubtedly captivate you and leave you with a renewed sense of hope.

This was such a fun romance that really pulled at my heart strings. I related to Sadie, and I loved the various plot lines that came together. This will be a great beach read!

This wasn't necessarily my favorite Katherine Center book but I definitely enjoyed. I appreciated that the story wasn't just about love, but about family, healing and forgiveness. I will continue to support and appreciate the stories Center continues to share with us.

Hello Stranger is a fun new romance from Katherine Center. Sadie Montgomery finally has her big break. She’s about to celebrate with friends when she ends up having a surprise seizure that ends up revealing a hereditary disease that causes her to have brain surgery. After surgery there’s some swelling and it causes her brain to go a bit haywire and she ends up with face blindness. Sadie’s life is a mess now and what is going to happen to her job, the contest she’s suppose to participate in, her dog, family, etc.
It was so interesting learning about face blindness and how it can affect someone’s life. The problem for me was that Sadie was just very annoying and immature with her life and emotions. I get that the book has her going through all this and having her change and grow but it felt like some things were childish. The romance was a bit predictable as well. Overall easy read but expected a bit more after I loved her last book.

This one wasn’t for me. In the first chapter, so many details are shoved in as if the author was cutting pieces or a jigsaw puzzle to fit the hole. The main character wasn’t likeable - nothing redeeming - no nuance or complexity. The story was silly. The plot was predictable. I know I’m in the minority here - glad I read it as I know it’s going to be everywhere when it publishes next week.

First thought: I truly loved this one! The banter between the characters and the instant connection I felt to them made this a page turned I couldn’t put down.

Saddie is a struggling portrait artist who has a lot to prove to herself and her family and she just got her big break. She has 6 weeks to finish her a new piece for the show but a chance encounter with fate, brain surgery and now losing her ability to see faces has been thrown her way. Not to mention an evil step sister who is out to ruin her life.

Enter the men in her life: Oliver an adorable vet who saves her dog peanut, Saddie marked him instantly as her future husband. Then Joe the guy who lives down the hall and is such a player or so she thinks. She simply can’t stand him!

This book is a single narrative that follows her journey through it all and guys you don’t want to miss it!

This book was everything in my opinion it had a slow burn romance, a bit of enemy to lovers, self discovery, conquering adversity, family drama and most importantly an awesome message.

Book officially launches 7/11/23 but run and preorder now you won’t regret it.

“𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜. 𝙏𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙬, 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.”

In Hello Stranger, the protagonist Sadie is a starving portrait artist who develops face-blindness weeks before a prestigious art contest she’s depending on for her big break. In the midst of Sadie’s struggle enter two strangers: a handsome veterinarian and her helpful floormate, and thus the plot unfolds.

In classic Katherine Center fashion, Hello Stranger isn’t simply a contemporary romance narrative. It expands on topics such as loss, family relationships, and the connection that we as humans share with the people who surround us.

Center subtly challenges a question that’s been nagging society: What do we owe each other?, by simply saying, “it’s nice to have a reason to do something nice”.

Ultimately, the book is sprinkled with humour and happiness. You leave with an enlightened perspective on prosopagnosia and also confirmation bias (something we are all guilty of). To my disappointment, I wasn’t very fond of the characters who drove the story. In particular, I didn’t feel a strong connection with Sadie, and there were times when I experienced severe second-hand embarrassment on her behalf. I did, however, see glimpses of myself in the parts of her that refused to ask for others’ help and her inherent desire to make her father proud. On the other hand, I loved Mr Kim, who was an absolute saint, and was rather amused by the refined palette of Sadie’s dog, Peanut (he was a total foodie). There’s also a surprise plot twist at the end of the story that’s equal parts funny and satisfying!

Hello Stranger wasn’t my favourite Katherine Center book, but it remains a light, enjoyable summer romance and a nice reminder about the good of humanity. (my rating: 3 stars)

Some Hello Stranger Memes I created:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuZwXjBL7d4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Thank you NetGalley for the early eARC :)

I love Katherine Center’s books. She has great characters that you can relate to. Yes there’s always a problem or issue but it’s not overly tragic. Always a good palate cleanser. Hello Stranger was no different.

Sadie is an artist who has finally gotten her big shot. She’s a finalist in a huge portrait painting contest. But life is never that simple for Sadie.

While walking home, she is almost hit by a car but luckily a Good Samaritan was able to push her out of the way. Unfortunately she did not go unscathed. After brain surgery, she is diagnosed with face blindness. She is not able to recognize anyone’s face, even her own. This is quite the obstacle since the deadline for the competition is soon approaching.

With the stress from the competition, major family issues and a geriatric dog; of course, she falls in love/lust with two very different men.

Sadie is not sure how she always gets herself into these messes but she’s got to figure it out and pray that the face blindness is only temporary and will correct before the art show for the contest.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars thanks to Netgalley for the E-ARC. As much as I wanted to love this because hello Katherine Center I could just not get into it. I didnt start getting into it nor laugh until I was halfway thru the book. I felt like the MFC was way to stubborn and let me tell stubborn is my middle name. I did cry and I did enjoy the book towards the end but I just didnt vibe with it overall.

This book was an absolute delight! I fell in love with Katherine Center's writing after reading the Bodyguard last year, and Hello Stranger only solidified her place in my heart. Sadie is such a loveable mc and I found it so easy to get sucked into her (and Peanut's) world that I enjoyed every second of my time reading this book.

I was excited to get the chance to read this novel since I like Katherine Center’s books. But now that I’ve finished, I can’t hardly make myself write a review, since I wanted to be able to rate it higher.

Sadie is a struggling artist with some family history that has caused her to be extremely independent. When her dream comes true of becoming a finalist in a prestigious portrait competition, she’s sure she’ll be able to stop being tagged as a struggling artist. She’s feeling very positive about the outcome.

But, wouldn’t you know it, a streak of bad luck puts her in a position that will make it near impossible to carry through with the competition? However, this is one independent lady who just might find a way to still submit a portrait.

My Concerns
At this point, I’d like to say I cared about Sadie, but I found her, for the most part, unlikable. I keep wondering how such a cool guy is attracted to her. Now, this isn’t to say she doesn’t pull off some cute things, but not enough to overcome her off-putting personality traits.

I likened this story to a man asking if anyone has seen his glasses, and of course, we all see that they are pushed up on his head. It got a little old knowing what we knew as readers, while Sadie didn’t have a clue. She appeared to be very dense and unaware. To say readers needed to suspend disbelief was putting it mildly.

Plus, the idea of having an evil step-sister went to new lengths to prove that saying. It just didn’t work for me.

Final Thoughts
The idea was interesting and I really, really wanted to like this story. But the fact that the MC wasn’t very likable, and as a reader I had to leave my common sense almost at the start of the book, I’d have to say that I can’t recommend this book.

Be aware, however, that I’m not in the majority on this rating. The chance that you’ll like it is fairly high.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC.

2.5 stars

Sadie is broke. She has even started living in the small “hovel” she was renting as an art studio space. So when it looks like she could finally get her big break, winning a portrait contest with a grand prize of $10,000, she needs it. But when an emergency brain surgery leaves her face blind, she can no longer comprehend faces well enough to paint portraits. The need to re-learn how to paint portraits shouldn’t leave her time for much else, but she soon finds herself falling for not one, but two different men. Over the course of six weeks, her face blindness will help her find a new way of seeing her mom’s death, her artistry, and her love life.

This is a difficult review to write because I know there are people who are going to love this book. Unfortunately, I am not one of them. I found many of the situations to be downright unbelievable, and I did not care about the characters enough to give them my suspension of disbelief.

To be clear: the face blindness plot point I have no issue with. It works fine as a romantic setup, and it discusses a real issue that many people live with but most people, including many of the people who have it, don’t even know about it! Moreover, the payoff from the face blindness miscommunications is actually the strongest part of the book.

Let’s start with the characters. There is no character in this book who is easy to root for. Our main character Sadie is so stupid. She has had a lot of things happen to her that are genuinely very difficult, but the antagonist is correct that she always has to play the victim. When the book opens, before the accident, she is complaining about how broke she is and how much she needs her big break. And I am all for following your artistic dreams! But usually before peoples’ big breaks they like, have a day job to pay the bills. This for some reason never occurs to her. She is also incredibly flighty. For example, when her dog gets sick, and in her rush to get to the vet she doesn’t even notice that she leaves the house in her pajamas and slippers. That is certainly not the only instance of her being A Mess, and it was all too much for me.

Then there are the other characters. Her stepsister is literally sociopathic levels of evil. An entire plot point at the beginning relies on the fact that her father, a doctor, withheld the fact that her mom died as a result of a tumor, the development of which is genetic. Who would not tell your child they have a genetic predisposition for tumors, at least so they can regularly get that checked out? Sadie’s best friend, Sue, consistently abandons Sadie when Sadie is relying on her, and also for some reason it’s a joke that she keeps forgetting about Sadie’s face blindness. The only side characters who don’t suck as people are Sue’s parents.

There were certainly other issues as well. I didn’t mesh with Center’s writing style, which constantly describes an event, backtracks to describe what happened before said event, then goes back to the original event. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. As I mentioned, I really liked the payout at the end and the climactic conversation between Sadie and her love interest, but then for some reason the entire conversation gets recapitulated to Sue, so we get the explanation of the miscommunication twice, even though that is by no means necessary.

Again, I know this book will find its readers and there will be many who love it. It was at least a very easy read, and I have not completely ruled out picking up another one of Center's books in the future. I just won't be jumping to do so.

Omg Katherine Center is my newest auto buy authors ! I absolutely loveeee The Bodyguard and Hello Stranger was no different! I laughed A LOT but also teared up quite a bit. I did my best to take my time reading this one because once it’s done it’s done till the next one lol.

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling artist following in her moms footsteps and paints beautiful portraits. She is in a contest that can really turn her career around. Everything changes for her when she has an accident and ends up having face blindness.

Sadie is my favorite character and I found a lot of myself in her. I found that me and her think the same. Our humor is definitely the same lol.
This book was amazing and I recommend that you pick it up and trust me you will thank me later ! I plan on reading all of her books and I have my eyes set on Happiness for Beginners. 💖

I also want to thank NetGalley for letting me read the advance copy! You have no idea how much it means to me and how much I was thrilled that I got a copy. 💖