Thank you to St. Martin's Press for gifting me an advanced copy of Hello Stranger! When I received the email, I did not even stop to read the blurb before downloading because Katherine Center always delivers. Well, let me tell you, Hello Stranger is her best yet! The plot is totally unique from any book or movie I've seen before. We meet our main character, Sadie, just when everything in her life seems like it's finally going right. Until, suddenly it's not. After a "minor" brain surgery, Sadie develops facial blindness, which makes her life as a portrait artist much more difficult. As Sadie learns to navigate life with her new (hopefully temporary) condition, she meets her swoony new vet and sets out to make him fall for her. She also might not hate her neighbor Joe as much as she originally thought either. In typical Katherine Center fashion, Hello Stranger will have you laughing out loud during one chapter and shedding a tear during the next. This book packs the steam without getting overly spicy, so you can feel comfortable reading it in front of your grandma.

I don't think this review has done justice to how much I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is one of my new favorites, and I will be recommending this to everyone.

I simply adore Katherine Center books! I have read at least five and each one is better than the last one I read, if that is even possible. Try as hard as I might, I am unable to pick a favorite — they are all my favorites! It’s easy to devour her books because they are just so delicious, delightful and deeply satisfying. You will always find wit, sincerity and wisdom in Ms. Center’s words and an uplifting story that will fill your heart.

The best part of a Katherine Center book is, of course, the storytelling and the characters. While there are a couple of “downer” moments, the overall story is upbeat and entertaining. The book centers around two characters that the reader gets to know very well. The ensemble surrounding them are also important and well drawn.

Sadie Montgomery has finally gotten her big break — she is a top ten finalist in a portrait contest of 2,000 people. This is Sadie’s wheelhouse - portraiture - so it should be relatively easy to win, right? Not so fast. Her timing couldn’t be worse because she is in desperate need of brain surgery and while she wants to wait until after the contest, her father pressures her to do it right away because her mother delayed and died from the same thing.

Sadie goes through with the surgery and there are complications that challenge her artistic abilities to the extreme. Hard as she tries, and she does attempt many different techniques, it proves very difficult to overcome. In the meantime, her dog is sick and her evil stepsister, who truly is evil, moves in to her building. Poor Sadie! But on the positive front, she has a very dear friend Sue, whose parents are the landlords, and has made a new friend in the building who helps her out a lot when she seems to most need it.

You cannot help but root for Sadie as she tries to overcome these hurdles and finally get her big break by winning the contest. I just adored Sadie and am definitely going to miss her now that the book is over. But the journey was so terrific that I cannot recommend this book highly enough! I promise you will love Hello Stranger and you will have a tough time putting it down. I know I did!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this book. I was engrossed from start to finish. It was a fast-paced, heartfelt, hopeful, funny, and entertaining read. I was really drawn in by several of the characters. I loved how the book ended. Much thanks for the ARC.

I just completely adore Katherine Center’s writing. The humor she imbues in her stories continue to be infectious every step of the way. I didn’t know how badly I needed to laugh until I read this book. The plot is both ridiculous and so endearing, and I need everyone to experience the same sort of joy that I did when reading. Sadie and Joe, this one’s for you.

This was a very cool, interesting book. I honestly have never heard of face blindness, much less read a story about it. The characters jump off the page, as is always the case with Katherine Center, even if this book was missing some of the deeper emotion I get from her other books. There were parts I thought were a little predictable, but for the most part this story was very entertaining and I did not want to put it down.

Wow, what a great story! I love Katherine Center booksand this one ranks right up at the top of the list of favorites. I was not anticipating the little twist at the end, but what a great way to tie it all up! Thank you for the chance to read this early.

This author has been on my auto-read list for some time now and her latest book doesn't disappoint at all. I can't believe she is successful yet again with this heart-warming, adorable romcom which is a perfect dose of sunshine in this dreary world. It felt like a warm hug and I don't regret picking this one right away over all other books.

Sadie is someone who felt very real with all her struggles, insecurities and also with an attitude of enjoying little things in life in spite of the unfair, cruel world. She is a portrait artist who ends up with face blindness after a surgery. How can a portrait artist survive if she can't see or identify faces?? That's such a hopeless situation and it was tough for her to continue that way. She then meets her pet's handsome vet Oliver and casts him as her future husband in her dreams right away but also starts off being friends with cute and helpful neighbor, Joe.

I hate love triangles but this is one funny love triangle that I had no qualms reading. I knew what was happening after a certain point but the whole anticipation as the author says about romcoms was delightful. Was Joe an amazing boyfriend? Oh yeah! Absolutely! There is some comedy of errors at the end causing major chaos, drama and confusion in the triangle but as it ends on a joyful note, it felt like it ended with some sunshine for the readers.

Okay the twist is unparalleled. I just have to say that up front. WOW. I never saw it coming. This book was beautifully raw and sad and real. I wanted things to get better or magically come together but that’s not how life plays out is it? Excellent read and incredibly written!

I loved this book so so so so much. I studied psychology and so parts of this book I hard learned and it was so interesting to see it in a block and all the obstacles the main character had to overcome.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy to honestly review.

A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this wonderful book. Katherine Center is such a wonderful author who never lets me down. This was such a good read with an interesting plot and honestly a “twist” that I maybe should have seen coming but didn’t. I will definitely be recommending this one to all!

3.5 stars. I love Katherine Center’s novels because they leave me with all of the feels. Usually weeping at the end. This one is less emotional, but still enjoyable. The author has used a particular medical disorder as a plot in her books before and this is no different. It is definitely more uncommon medical problem without giving anything away. The characters are great and i found myself rooting for Sadie. In the author’s note she talks about why we love romance novels and how we use predictable to describe romance novels. She goes on to formulate that predictable in romance is positive anticipation and gives you hope. I love this explanation and I look forward to the next Katherine Center novel for my dose of hope. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

did it again! This is only my second novel I read from Katherine Center but it’s just as amazing as The Bodyguard. I love how unique this concept is and it felt so fresh especially for the romance category.



SPOILERS

1. I don’t think a character has ever made me so irate as Parker did. Especially when she tricked Sadie in the beginning. I was fuming.

2. I cried so hard when Sadie recited the voicemail and when everyone sang happy birthday to Nora. So beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time.

3. My favorite scene was the big reveal discussion. I was laughing by both of their reactions to each other’s accidental mistakes. It was priceless.

I enjoyed this book as I always do with Katherine Center. However, it felt very predictable to me. I knew from the beginning what the "twist" was, and I found myself reading faster just so I could get to the big reveal.

Sadie was such a sweet dreamer. My heart hurt for what she was going through. Katherine Center always knows how to pull on my heartstrings. And still keep me entertained with the comic relief and romance. I couldn’t decide if I was team Oliver or Joe, since all the characters were amazing! Minus the evil vapor step mother but so hilarious! Not going to give any spoilers but please go preorder and read or listen to the audiobook!
Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

While I might be biased as I love a good Katherine Center love story, this one hit it out of the ballpark. I LOVE LOVE LOVED this unique story about Sadie. Sadie is an artist about to finally reach a major goal in her career when her life is quite literally flipped upside down. Sadie is diagnosed with acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, yes say that three times fast, also known as face blindness. As if that weren’t a challenge for a member of the normal population, Sadie has to attempt to paint a face without being able to see it correctly. Cue in Sadie’s hot mess family situation, two potential mates, an amazing doggy companion and a best friend named Sue with the kindest parents, this story held my interest beginning to end. While slightly predictable, the twists and turns that this love story took had me melting from the inside out.

I was gifted an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

SinceI started reading her books, I've found that Katherine Center never writes a bad one. She still doesn't, and this one is particularly fantastic. Full disclosure: as I was reading this book, I thought of MY friend Sadie who has face blindness and I reached out to her so she could read this book, too. It turns out that book Sadie was named after my friend Sadie and Katherine Center reached out to her to talk about living with face blindness! So I feel a personal connection to this book--which only made it better.

Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist with the biggest break of her life in a few short weeks but she has to have brain surgery. When she wakes up, she's fine except for one thing: she can't see faces. Katherine Center details what it's like living with acquired prosopagnosia (face blindness) exceptionally well. Sadie, however, struggles with it, and doesn't want to share it with her friends. She meets another resident in her apartment building and they start dating--but she also really likes her dog's super hot vet. What's a girl to do? As she works through her challenge of not being able to recognize faces, she also works through her art, her new relationship, and some of her old ones.

In the epilogue, Katherine Center talks about the rise of romance novels during covid and how she enjoys writing them so that we can read with joy. I loved reading her books because there's always something to overcome and all her books end with joy and hope. This one was no different--it's a wonderful , feel-good book with a fun and very happy-ever-after.

Katherine Center books are my absolute favorite and I was BEYOND excited to get this one early! And it was absolutely no surprise that this one was another 5 star favorite for me! It was a complete joy to read from start to finish, even though it definitely covered some heavier topics and pulled at the heart strings.

Sadie, a struggling portrait artists, is saddled with a new reality - face blindness. Center really nailed this part - I truly could feel how Sadie was "NOT" seeing faces. I could feel Sadie's anxiety and confusion and felt that I was seeing the other characters through her eyes - WOW!! This was so well done.

Sadie was so lovely and brave and I thoroughly enjoyed following her journey. I don't want to say too much but the romance was beyond sweet! I spent much of the book anticipating the final scene and it totally delivered! AHHH I just loved it so much!I devoured this book and already can't wait to read it again!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all many thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for providing this ARC to me in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to love this book because Katherine Center is one of my favorite authors. However, I had a similar reaction to when I read "What You Wish For". Specifically, I mostly liked and related to the two main characters but there were parts of the plot that didn't make sense to me.

The positives included Sadie and Joe who were very sweet and I enjoyed their interactions. Especially enjoyable was a scene at the end of the book when they're discussing Joe's "one-night-stand" that had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. Pure Center genius! I also loved Dr. Nicole and her straight talk. AND overall, the idea for the plot was very clever.

Not so enjoyable were Sadie's best friend's behavior which I found annoying and self-centered. However, I had trouble believing the "reasons" for some of the other characters' behavior (Sadie's dad, stepmom, and step sister) and how they were explained and supposedly clarified at the end of the story. It just didn't ring true for me.

My recommendation is to get some of Center's better books including "The Bodyguard" and "Things You Save in a Fire". Each a very different type of story but both worth the time to read.

I have said it before and I'll say it again - Katherine Center can do no wrong. I adored this book. I loved even more the author's note at the end about romance and why we love them so much. You don't need a reason to read and enjoy romance, but if you were wondering, Katherine explains it all: we love breathless anticipation and we love hope. And romance has that in spades. All of Katherine's book do, really. Hello Stranger is easily one of my favorite books this year, and I will certainly be buying myself a copy when it comes out next summer.

Thank you to Netgalley, Katherine Center, and St Martin's for the eARC in exchange for my review.

This is the story about Sadie Montgomery, a portrait artist, who is gaining some traction in her career after being named a finalist in a large competition. A freak incident uncovered the need for her to have a surgery prior to the competition, but the surgery leaves her with a strange symptom where she can no longer see faces. Sadie is told this is likely temporary, but the looming competition deadline adds some stress to her life. She turns to some key friendships and blossoming relationships - all made slightly odd by her face blindness. Some humor is intermixed in Sadie's situation as she tries to compete in her competition, balance life and hope this condition goes away