I love how much I can count on Center for a heartwarming story no matter what. It doesn’t matter the scenario or even where the characters live, I know I can cozy up to her books and feel warm fuzzies. HELLO STRANGER was no different.

Center pulled on my heartstrings while entertaining me with romance as well as the educational component to the story. I had never heard of Sadie’s disability, which immediately prompted me to learn more about her condition. Center has an incredible talent to weave in multiple storylines without overwhelming the readers with too much information. She truly has the ability to mix in the perfect amount. Like her other books, I found this to be a page turner trying to move as quick as I could to see how things would play out.

Sadie and the other cast of characters are so easy to fall in love with and understand from your first interaction with them. While there are some bad apples, of course, this story was so wholesome and incredibly sweet.

PS - READ THE AUTHOR’S NOTE!!

Big thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC! You can get your copy on July 11.

Content warnings: death, bullying, grief, gaslighting, body shaming, suicide attempt

I’m pretty new to Katherine Center but I love the tone of her books and this one was great.

Sadie is a portrait artist that just had a stroke and the surgery has caused some swelling in the part of the brain that connects faces to memory. (prosopagnosia)

It was a pretty predictable story but so enjoyable to be in. Such a fun story with great characters, nothing too wild but definitely gets a little emotional.

I also really liked that I learned about prosopagnosia which I had never heard of before. If someone just told me about it I would have just been like okay I don’t really know what you mean but that sounds really tough. But seeing Sadie’s story still seemed very tough but a little more understandable seeing the day to day interactions.

Overall I had a great time reading it. I did want a little more healing/closure with her family.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for an eARC.

I absolutely adored this book when I read it and loved it even more when I listened to it!! Such a cute book!! *Swoon*

I absolutely LOVED this one! Katherine Center brings her A game as usual, and brings us an amazingly beautiful and unique book that I devoured in 24 hours.

Best book I have read in a LONG time!!

Where to start! Where to start! This book is hands-down, the most unique, original, and beautiful work of art I have read in a long time!

It’s almost hard to write about without giving anything away. Katherine waves a beautiful web throughout the story with the characters and events. While you think you know where the story may go you can’t stop turning the pages to find out how it unfolds. . . And if you’re right.

My only feedback for Katherine is the same as it was for The Bodyguard. Get rid of that epilogue, it does not add to the story. If it would’ve ended with the last sentence of the last chapter, I would’ve been left, throwing my kindle across the room at 1 AM cursing that it’s over while simultaneously cursing the absolute brilliance of the author. The book is a masterpiece, and the epilogue brings it down.

That being said, thank you so much to Erica Martirano and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for making my week! It is definitely one to remember! A big thank you to NetGalley as well for providing me with the ARC!

✨Book Review: Hello Stranger✨

Pub Date: July 11, 2023

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Buckle up everyone…I have a LOT to say about this book!

I don’t know how else to say this other than…THIS BOOK IS ADORABLE! Whatever summer plans you have, make time to read Hello Stranger by @katherinecenter.

This love story is definitely filled with anticipation!

Sadie is about to get her big break! She is a finalist for a big art contest and has about a month until her portrait is due. The bad news? She just had a terrible accident that left her suffering from Prosopagnosia (face blindness). (For those of you who’ve read Rock, Paper, Scissors, it’s the same disease from that novel.)

Part of Sadie’s journey is one of growth and self-discovery but another part is romantic. Even though she can’t recognize faces, Sadie falls for her dog’s veterinarian and is already planning the wedding! (I can totally relate to Sadie’s obsess ion with her sweet pup, Peanut!) At the same time, she is trying her best to avoid her awful apartment neighbor who she only recognizes by his jacket and stay away from her evil stepsister! On top of all that, she must re-learn how to be a portrait artist without being able to see faces.

Sadie’s banter and self talk were so fun to read! I could hear her voice jumping off the page. My favorite parts were her self dialogue where she was becoming a better, stronger version of herself. Sometimes the toughest struggles in life are exactly the thing we need to grow.

There were so many times where I found myself mentally applauding Sadie as she embraced her journey through face blindness and ultimately found herself. Katherine Center filled this book with so many nuggets of wisdom that Sadie uncovers along the way.

* “That’s the great thing about life; it makes you rethink it all.”

* “It takes a certain kind of courage to be brave in love. A courage you can only get better at through practice.”

* “The more good things you look for, the more you find.”

When I met Katherine Center via Zoom a few weeks ago, she told the group how much she adored the narrator of this book, and I couldn't agree more! I loved hearing the narration as an audiobook!

I will forever read anything Katherine center reads. She’s the best!!! This one was a cool concept and I flew through it!!! I don’t think it’s my favorite by her but parts were so cute

Thank you NetGalley for eALC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing a complimentary copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Oh my gosh. OH MY GOSH! When I tell you that I had ZERO expectations for this novel, that is the truth. Center’s last book, The Bodyguard, was straight trash. We’re just gonna pretend that book isn’t in her catalog, because this book… THIS BOOK!!!!! Wow. I noticed quite a few plot holes throughout but the ending was magnificently glorious. I really did not see it coming at all. This is not a story of strong relationships with others but rather the fact that your relationship with yourself should always come first. Once you reflect, and maybe even start to ask for a little help, things will always get better. I read this early, and I can’t wait for its release so I can talk about it with everyone.

Life is a series of ups and downs for Sadie in Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. First, she achieves entry into a national portrait competition that could give her a big break in her career. Then, she has an accident resulting in face blindness on the very same day! She meets “her future husband” and they plan a date. While waiting for him to show up, she gets coffee spilled all over her and he stands her up! Sadie’s story is filled with misunderstandings, mainly which are her fault, but, of course, she doesn’t see it that way. This book had me groan out loud (not in a good way), as Sadie repeatedly jumps to conclusions when she could easily find out the truth.

4.5⭐️

Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery finally lands a spot as a finalist in a competition after years of struggling to find success. When she has to have unexpected brain surgery, she wakes up with acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, meaning she cannot see faces. This makes painting portraits near impossible, and now, Sadie has to find her new normal, including navigating a love triangle.

Katherine Center's books are reliably wonderful, and they have the perfect balance of substance and swoon. Her choice to feature such a unique condition makes Hello Stranger quite memorable. I continue to be drawn to Center's books because there is always a personal growth component, and she depicts her characters in such realistic and relatable ways. This was no exception-- Sadie is an easy to fall in love with FMC, and I'm confident readers will love her as much as I did!

The audiobook version was extremely well done!

It is no secret that I am a huge Kathrine Center fan. So there was very little doubt this would be any less than a five star read for me. And yet I had no idea I would love it as much as I did. From the wonderful, quirky characters to the very unique plotline, I found myself completely immersed in Sadie’s world and never wanted to leave.

First and foremost, Center creates *the* most relatable characters I have ever read. Whether the MC is a female firefighter struggling to succeed in in a male dominated profession, a thirty-year-old divorcee struggling to find her place in the world, or an executive protection agent assigned to a reclusive moviestar, I always feel as though I know the ins and outs of each of these characters. I knows what makes them tick and what demons lurk in their shadows. By the time I have finished reading, they have become the best literary friends.

Sadie is no different. From the moment she busts out a Smokey Robinson performance in the middle of the corner store, I knew Sadie was my kind of person. At every turn, I felt as I knew her. I laughed at her silly antics, cried at her struggles, and swooned right along with her as the least likely candiate became a potential love. And Joe, well there are not enough words to express my love for character. And let’s not forget the loveable Peanut who dare I say, eats better than I do.

If you are looking for a book that has a whole lot of humor, swoony romantic vibes, fantastic main and supporting characters, and a whole lot of heart, this is the book for you. I would give it 10 stars if I could.

Read if you like:
•unique plots
•well done love triangles
•laugh out loud dialgoue
•family drama
•swoony romance
•charming characters

Thank you to SMP Romance and NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This had a lot of potential but I just didn't buy the fact that she was in love with two guys, when there was absolutely no connection or relationship to one of them. One of the leads was well drawn and charaterized

It's difficult for me to write this review because this book overall was pretty enjoyable but there were a few elements in it that really ruined what could have been a really great book. For a quick synopsis, Sadie is finally close to her big break as a portrait artist. She is one of the finalists for an award that her mother won before she passed away suddenly when Sadie was a young teenager. She's going home from the grocery store when she has a seizure in the middle of the street and almost gets hit by a car. When she wakes up in the hospital, they tell her she has a brain condition and that she needs surgery. After her surgery she realizes she has facial blindness. So now she has to figure out how she is going to paint her portrait for the contest when she cannot see faces. Let's talk about my biggest problem. Sadie is in the elevator of her apartment/studio building when a man named "Joe" comes in. He is on the phone talking about who Sadie assumes is a woman and is essentially fat shaming her. He calls her a bitch, says things like she was so fat he thought she would break the springs, he say s the word flubber when describing her. Just generally gross fatphobic rhetoric. As a fat person it was hard to listen to that. And then it became clear that this was Sadie's main love interest and I just couldn't get on board with her being in love with someone who would say those things about a person. Of course, it turns out it was a misunderstanding and that he was actually talking about a dog, but by then the damage had been done. My second problem with this book if that Sadie is simply an unreliable narrator. I can't fault her too much because she did just develop facial blindness. But so much of the main conflict happens because she isn't communicating with other characters. Either she refuses to tell them about her facial blindness or she draws her own conclusions and doesn't actually try to find out if those conclusions are correct (see the fatphobia issue). This second problem wasn't the main issue though. It just added to my negative feelings toward the book. I think if the fatphobic content was taken out this would have been a solid 4-4.5 star book. I don't understand what we as a reader gained from temporarily hating this guy and then having to switch to liking him and ignoring what we just read because oops Sadie just misunderstood and didn't have the full context. I wish authors would be more sensitive to how readers will feel because I did not need to read that and I don't think it added anything to the story. In fact, for me it took away from what could have been a very solid romance because I did like the budding relationship between Sadie and Joe. I just couldn't separate the real Joe from those words he used. I do want to commend the narrator. This is the third book I've listened to Patti Murin read and she does an excellent job. I'll be picking up more audiobook narrated by her in the future.

I have loved all of Katherine Center's books. I had no doubt I would love this one as well. I didn't realize how much j would love it though. The characters were amazing. I loved learning about the disability.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the copy of this ALC!

"Seeing the world differently helps you see things not just that other people can’t—but that you yourself never could if you weren’t so lucky. It lets you make your own rules. Color outside your own lines. Allow yourself another way of seeing."

Katherine Center has such a way of immersing her readers in her stories, making her characters relatable and every emotion tangible. In Hello Stranger, we feel through, Sadie a struggling portrait artist on her way to a lucky break in a competition when she's hit by a car, has brain surgery, and is diagnosed with prosopagnosia (face blindness). Yep - a portrait artist who can't see faces. In the midst of this, her family is completely unhelpful (and she has the most EVIL stepsister), but she also meets a very handsome vet she thinks could be her future husband and starts having feelings for the hipster guy living in her apartment building. The suspense was built up in this book with the looming portait competition deadline and the love triangle, and I simply couldn't put it down! While feeling the ups and downs in Sadie's life, I was also laughing out loud at all of the hysterical moments in this book and really just having a pleasant time with this warm hug of a book.

Really loved Patti Murin as a narrator for this one - she was perfect!

4.5⭐️This story follows portrait artist Sadie Montgomery who after years of struggling to reach success, finds out she earned a finalist spot in a competition that can be the break in her career. She is about to celebrate when something goes terribly wrong and lands her in the hospital needing brain surgery. What she didn’t expect was to wake up with acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, meaning she cannot see faces and of course, now paint portraits like she used to. As Sadie tries to navigate her new normal, she discovers more not only about herself but also about her family, neighbor, dog’s veterinarian and the world around her.

Katherine Center has a way with words and this book was no exception. It had less romance than The Bodyguard but seemed to be in line with How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire, where the love story wasn’t the focal point but was definitely there and o so swoony. Sadie was the strong, independent protagonist and type of character you want to root for, especially when the most evil step-sister gets in the way of her happiness. I loved watching her growth, learning about her career and seeing her finally stand up to her family after years of being treated unfairly. While the story covered some heavier topics like grief, I still found myself laughing aloud throughout and was in awe of how she pulled it all together at the end!

Read if you like:
-Close proximity
-Family drama
-Love triangles
-Portrait artists
-The recovery process post surgery
-Dogs

Katherine Center continually blows my mind with her ability to touch readers and write unforgettable love stories with such amazing emotional depth!! In this story we get to know Sadie, a portrait artist on the brink of her big break who discovers she needs brain surgery after an accident.

Reluctant to go ahead with a huge competition looming, Sadie's father forces her to go through with the surgery. The catch, after the surgery the swelling in her brain leaves her with a condition called Prosopagnosia, aka face blindness. Left unable to identify people's faces, Sadie is stuck trying to figure out how she'll paint a portrait for the competition.

Full of toxic family relationships, beautiful found family and the most swoony romance imaginable, I seriously couldn't get enough of this story even though I found elements completely predictable, the ANTICIPATION of finding out how the two main characters would get their HEA kept me flipping the pages late into the night.

HIGHLY recommended, this is my new favorite book by one of my favorite authors. She tackles some hard topics in this book, from grief over the sudden death of a loved one to an unexpected disability and the uncertainty of the future. It's also a beautiful love letter to the romance genre and readers do not want to skip reading her author's note at the end!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review! I really liked the narration by Patti Murin too!