This was a great book! It kept me guessing until the very end. Another great read from Katherine Center!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I received the email with the download link for Katherine Center’s new novel, Hello Stranger, I abandoned every word of my current read and dove into this one head first. And I have to say, I have a new favorite love story. Can I give a book more than 5 stars? This one needs ALL of them!

I learned so much about Prosopagnosia (aka face blindness, a condition I previously knew nothing about. This is a story of resiliency, self love, and the power of human connection.

Sadie, Joe, Oliver, Peanut, and Sue … they are all lovely characters. I already want to dive back into their world and start reading about them all over again.

A handful of other characters are severely flawed, but that is life. While it is messy and imperfect, Katherine’s execution of the miscommunication trope is not. It is done flawlessly and on several occasions.

I don’t want to give out any spoilers, but everyone needs to add this to their preorder list. It’s perfection on paper! Katherine Center said it best herself: “This love story really created fantastic anticipation.”

Loved this book! I've read all of Katherine Center's books, and while it's hard to pick a favorite, Hello Stranger has to be near the top of the list. It tells the story of portrait artist Sadie Montgomery, who is "this close" to her big break when she undergoes brain surgery. As a result of the surgery, she can no longer recognize faces, and the doctors can't tell her how long this problem will last. Needless to say, this makes it nearly impossible for Sadie to work!

The book does a great job of working through the impact of Sadie's condition on both her personal and work lives. Although it can be characterized as a "traditional" romance novel, it had some really interesting twists and turns. I especially enjoyed the development of Sadie's relationship with her dad and stepmom.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

For me a good book is all about emotion. Does it make my heart go pitter patter? Can I feel it in my chest? The last @katherinecenter book checked all the boxes so naturally I was ecstatic when I got an email from her publisher to read and review her next book that comes out in July ‘23! #HelloStranger is a romance but the coolest premise - the main character is a portrait artist who, due to a medical procedure, becomes “face blind” (yes, it’s a real thing!). This sets up a great storyline and ensuing romance. Once again Katherine Center has hit it outta the park! There’s humor, unique characters, and the absolute BEST Author’s Note at the end. Add this one to your TBR shelf and preorder when it becomes available. It’ll be the perfect summer read - I will be reading it again next July! A huge thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the early early early copy! ❤️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #netgalley #romancebooks #romcombooks #bookstagram #igreads #readersofinstagram #booksofinstagram #2023books

I just love Katherine Center's stories. They have the right amount of drama and more than enough feel good parts and they all kinda feel like a tight hug right when you need one. Hello Stranger was a delightful read! Sadie is a struggling artist that has a bunch of bad luck all at one time. Her best friend is supportive even though she has her own stuff going on, and her step sister is the epitome of evil. I loved Mr. Kim and how he helped Sadie throughout the story. I had a feeling I knew how it would end but honestly I wasn't disappointed! I love the underlying message in the book that makes you realize that perception can really change the way you see things and how those things affect you and your life. I absolutely recommend this feel good romance!

Hello Stranger by K. Center, published by St. Martin's Press, is a full-length, stand-alone novel.
Sadie is a semi-sucessful artist, ok she's the rather starving artist kind of. And she has to face a major change in her life. A change that leads to a highly entertaining, read full of unexpected twists and turns that had me in suspense from start till the last page.
A slow burn, told in a single pov, a beautiful story, very well written, beautifully thought out, beautifully told.
Sometimes love finds you in unexpected places, 5 stars.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Publishing Group for sending me an advance readers copy of Hello Stranger! Katherine Center is one of my favorite writers, and her books are an automatic buy for me. Hello Stranger certainly did not disappoint!

We meet Sadie Montgomery, struggling artist, stellar dog mom, and lovable human as she embarks on a difficult period in her life. After collapsing in the street, she learns that she needs brain surgery. As she recovers from her surgery, she has difficulty seeing faces which negatively impacts her work as a portrait artist. In her fragile state, she encounters two men who affect her differently. As she grapples to make sense of the new way in which she sees the world, she also must revisit events in her past that she may not have interpreted correctly.

My favorite thing about all of Katherine Center’s novels is her theme of hope. All of her strong protagonists endure some sort of struggle. All of them question how they will continue in this way, and all of them persevere. Hello Stranger reminds the reader that, while life is certainly difficult and imperfect, it can also be beautiful. I am looking forward to widely recommending this uplifting book upon it’s July release!

I love this author and this book didn't disappoint. It's full of humor, romance, irony, heartache, and the fun of anticipating a happy ending. The key that opens the door to all of this is the skill with which this author uses words to paint a scene. It's easy to read and enjoy a book when the reader is made to feel like they are right there in the same room as the characters. My only small critique involves the portrayal of the evil stepsister. Could somebody really be that mean? Yikes!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for letting me read and review this advance reader copy.

I was jumping up and down excited to get asked to read this one early! Of course I said yes and then immediately devoured it.

The fact that the main character is dealing with face blindness after an accident is an unusual, but totally legit, twist on the usual “girl who needs saving” romance trope.

Sadie is a likable character with a traumatic last, so it’s easy to cheer for her to get SOMETHING to go right in her life.

Her adorably high maintenance dog, Peanut is also quite charming!

In a note at the end of the book, the author talks about how people often say that romance novels are predictable, but in a good way. She suggests instead of using the word predictable, we start using the word anticipation.

As in: “This love story really created fantastic anticipation.”

She goes on to say: “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…That’s a guarantee of the genre: Things will get better. It’s a gift the love story gives to you.”

I just adore that way of describing why romance novels curl up in our hearts and make us feel warm and gooey inside. Ultimately, they give us hope.

This book was fantastic and I am so thankful to St. Martin’s Publishing and #NetGalley for this ARC!

Let me first begin by thanking Netgalley and Katherine Center for the arc of her new book Hello Stranger. I have been a huge Katherine Center for years and was very excited when I received the arc. Katherine Center is an amazing writer who writes in a way that you are connected to the characters and really feel that you are part of the story. I could not wait to read the book and give my opinion about it.

After reading the book, I gave it a 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. This is not the first 5 out of 5 stars that I have given Katherine Center. Her writing is captivating and amazing.

Hello Stanger begins with Sadie being a portrait painter who has won a spot in a painting competition. This is her time to shine and to show her dad and stepmother that she can do it. Unfortunately, she needs surgery and ends up with the condition of face-blindness. This completely changes her world. Throughout the book you learn about how she is going to cope with this condition and her two relationships with two very different men. There was a part in this book that I was completely shocked. Center writes a twist into the book. You will have to read the book to see what happens. If you like romance, fiction, and a good story, I bet you will like this book.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
MAGIC!! Katherine Center did it again. I love, love! Katherine weaves a story you literally can’t put down! It’s just so refreshing to read a book that fills your heart. I laughed, I cried and even learned.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this wonderful, beautiful ARC!

First off, shoutout to Erica at St. Martin’s for the opportunity to read this ARC! When I tell y’all I DEVOURED this book in one sitting. It was the perfect comfort read for the day before Thanksgiving. Everyone knows I adore Katherine and I’ll read anything she’s ever written, but when I tell you that THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE BOOK. The story was unique (You’ve Got Mail feels), there was tension, and hope, and the happiest ending ever 🥹

Sadie is an artist trying to find her break and finally feels like it’s about to happen! Until she has a seizure and almost gets hit by a car (but a Good Samaritan saves her just in time). After having brain surgery that was sure to not impact her portrait competition, she ends up having face blindness. She can’t recognize even her family members. But when she meets the Vet who helped save her sweet Peanut’s life, she realizes she doesn’t need to see his face to know she’s madly in love with him..... except she’s also beginning to really like her kind neighbor who’s been there for her when she needed someone the most, too.

Hello Stranger comes out on July 11, 2023, and you need to put it on your TBR NOW!

Hello Stranger
by Katherine Center
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book! If you’re still considering, just go for it! I couldn’t put it down! It’s a sweet book that made me keep guessing what was gonna happen until the end. I love the little twist even though you start guessing the end it’s still such a good feeling in your heart when you read it. I love Katherine Center Books and I wish I could sign up for a fan club or something! Ever since I read “How to walk away” I felt in love with the way she writes, and then came "Things you save in a fire” and then “Bodyguard” this year and it just gets better every book.

Sadie Montogmery, a struggling artist that is one of the 10 finalists in a portrait competition where the winner gets $10k. That money could really help her out! Sadie’s life has had its ups and downs: she lost her mom when she was 14, her father seems to be avoiding her, her dog is very old, she lives in a hovel on the rooftop of her best friend’s parent’s building, and her evil stepsister Parker just tries to make everything worse for her. This competition could be the chance Sadie needed in her life! A chance to prove that she’s not a failure after all. But the night that Sadie and her bff Sue decide to celebrate her placement in the contest, Sadie blacks out and wakes up in the hospital. She finds out that she has a cavernoma in her brain that is leaking and she needs surgery. But Sadie doesn’t have time for surgery, she has an important portrait to paint! After her father talks to her into getting it done quickly, she finally agrees. After the surgery, Sadie finds herself with a condition called Prosopagnosia, also known as Face Blindness, where she can see everything but faces. The doctors say that it could be temporary but it could also be forever. Now Sadie has to learn how to cope with her new normal. Once Sadie is back home, she’s happy that she can still see her dog’s face and also that she needs to take him to the vet asap. At the vet, Sadie falls in love with the faceless veterinarian and he asks her on a date. Back home, Sadie starts having a friendship with Joe, the guy that lives downstairs and wears the same bowling jacket (and that’s how she recognizes him, since she can’t see his face). Sadie had a bad view of Joe before, after seeing him leaving other woman’s apartment around the building and overhearing his conversation in the elevator. But now, they are starting a sweet friendship and she’s changing her mind about him. Now Sadie is between Joe and the Veterinarian, she has to finish a portrait for the competition even though she can’t see faces. The rest of the story is very cute! There’s a little twist at the end that makes your heart melt.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advance copy of Hello Stranger by Katherine Center.
I’ve been a fan of Katherine’s other books that I knew immediately I would love this and I was right. While I was able to figure out the twist, it wasn’t right away; but it didn’t disappoint me in any way. Something about Sadie drew me in, and I couldn’t help to root for her. From a less than stellar childhood, to the loss her mother and sure that leaves her with an unfortunate temporary side effect.
The uniqueness of this story lies beneath the surface and the message it delivers about our minds and the things we can see.
If you’re a fan of any of Katherine’s stories don’t hesitate to dive into Sadie’s world.

As the author writes in her end note, romance novels are predictable in a good way – they have a positive outcome based on the thread of hope running through the storyline. Katherine Center’s novels may have this predictable quality, but her plotlines are fresh, engaging and often inspiring. I have been a fan of hers ever since reading “How to Walk Away.” This latest offering delivers her signature style and was a very satisfying read.

Sadie Montgomery’s life began to go off the tracks at age 14 when her mother unexpectedly died of a stroke. Her father subsequently remarried, and Sadie inherited an incredibly mean stepsister, eventually being banished to a boarding school through no fault of her own. Her estrangement with her father was compounded by her dropping out of premed to pursue a fine arts degree. A talented portrait artist, Sadie has barely made a sustainable income, but now her big break has arrived: she is a finalist in a competition that could provide both a monetary prize and launch her career to a new level. Just as things are looking up, Sadie undergoes brain surgery that leaves her with a condition called “facial blindness.” With no guarantees that she will ever regain her ability to perceive facial features and recognize people, Sadie faces the possibility that she will be unable to enter the final competition and may have to sacrifice her passion for creating art forever.

I loved Sadie as a strong, independent protagonist with all-too-human frailties. She is an underdog to root for as she navigates her new reality, taking risks and redefining her approach to art. Her transformative journey is laced with humor, pathos, and hope. Several other strong characters stand out…her elderly pup named Peanut, her best friend Sue, and her landlord, Mr. Kim. Of course, there are the romantic interests, but I’ll leave that to be discovered in the reading.

Overall, this was a great read, and like many of Center’s novels, I was sorry to see it end. The stories are always complete, but the characters seem to have so much more to share. I highly recommend the author’s work.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

Thank you #netgalley !

If you live Katherine center books then you will love this too.

This is heartwarming and a sweet romance. Yes it’s an a +b=c romance model. This is also not a spicy book.

It’s also so much more than a romance . This book speaks about loss of someone you love ( in more than one way ) . This book mentions ( not in depth ) a true medical condition and how it can change someone’s life. I love Katherine centers writing and the humor in the book . I like the characters she writes .

This book has a cute dog in it and no the dog does not die ! The book is about the same length as her other books !!

Can I give a book a million stars? Because Hello Stranger deserves them ALL! I'm still buzzing with the joy that comes from finishing this lovely book that completely swept me off my feet from cover to cover.

Sadie is an artist surfing the ups and downs that come with life. She's just reached a major career (and life) milestone when she earns a coveted spot in a portrait competition. But first, she has to undergo a minor brain surgery procedure (if one can ever be considered minor), which is a success except for the residual swelling that leaves her with the inability to clearly see faces. Not ideal for a portrait artist. The opposite of ideal.

Sadie--and the entire cast of characters with their struggles and triumphs--felt SO real. And Joe. What a complicated and phenomenal character. The juxtaposition of a character with a compulsive need to help with one' who is incapable of accepting it was brilliant.

I'm a huge Katherine Center fan. Her books made me fall in love with rom-coms and Hello Stranger just became my all-time favorite.

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to be an early reader. I still feel like I won the lottery getting to read this one.

I was beyond excited to read this but I feel like it fell a little flat compared to her other books. Sadie is a struggling artist who is not just struggling at art she’s struggling at life. She’s emotionally stunted herself and has no family relationship. Though she has “family” it’s not what she wants and she doesn’t even realize it. The love story is quirky and in the end predictable. I feel like this book was a bit rushed and under developed. It’s typical chick lit and I’ve come to expect more from this author. It will by no means stop me from reading everything she writes it just left me wanting more.

Hello Stranger was such a feel good read. I could totally see a romcom movie when I was reading about Sadie and Joe. There are struggles, there is humor, there is all the usual feelings as your read, but it keeps you reading, keeps you rooting for Sadie, and keeps you loving the story. Loved the premise - it even made me google face blindness - who knew such a thing is real. A great read!

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. This is my honest review.

I love Katherine Center 🥹.

I had no doubts that I would absolutely love this book and here we are! This book was everything, it was informative, dramatic, heartbreaking, twisty, and funny all in one! I loved reading about Sadie’s journey through face blindness and the love story in this book was just oh so perfect. Absolutely incredible characters, even the ones that you wanted to punch 😂

Sadie’s side stories regarding her family dynamics and the struggles that she has been through were so powerful, my eyes definitely watered near the end. So many emotions! Truly did not want this story to end! 💙

So very very VERY grateful to St. Martin’s Press for sending me this advanced ebook copy to review. Definitely a romance one should mark their calendars for and rush to get !

Out July 11th, 2023 !