katherine center becoming an autobuy author for me fr

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life―placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition―the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into―love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?―with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.

Katherine Center has another winner with Hello Stranger. First, I’d like to thank NetGalley for sharing an advance copy for me to read! I read my first book by Katherine Center last year. Every title by her is terrific and I think it might be because each heroine is unique, there are no “that character is just like this one.” In Hello Stranger, Sadie is a very talented and fun person who has experienced some adversity in her life. It looks like her luck is turning with a possible career changing opportunity. Yet, Sadie has a medical event, an evil stepsister and an indifferent father and stepmother to deal with at the same time. There’s also those two different men she’s met recently. Hurry, don’t wait, to order your copy of Hello Stranger.

I *inhaled* this book in one sitting. Katherine Center sprinkles her books with humor, swoon, heart, and real relationships with just enough suspension of reality to make it fun. This books reads like a 90’s Nora Ephron rom com classic that you could watch over and over again and never get bored. Learning about prosopagnosia (face-blindness) was a new concept to me, and it added an interesting element to the story told only from Sadie’s point of view, where everyone was a stranger to her when she couldn't recognize faces. I was obsessed with Joe, and how he was such a golden retriever hero (ya know, because he loves animals *wink*). I laughed, I cried, I felt my heart melt into goo – everything you could want in a romantic comedy book. I want to reread this book a thousand times, and if you’re an audiobook lover, Patti Murin brings so much life to her narration of this story.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for advanced copies of this book.

Katherine Center books always leave me feeling happy and I think that’s a really special quality for an author to possess. Her books always have interesting and unique plots that make them hard to put down.

I loved the plot of this one. Our main character, Sadie, is a portrait artist who ends up with acquired “face blindness” after brain surgery. You can imagine this makes her job difficult. Her doctor thinks it will *probably* resolve but no guarantees. She generally feels like her life is falling apart which I felt was pretty understandable under the circumstances.

This is definitely a romance but Sadie’s maturity and personal growth are the stars of this book.

Katherine Center fans will love this and I think if this is a reader’s first experience with her they will be sure to pick up more.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Sadie is a struggling portrait artist who finds out that she is a finalist in a very fancy National Portrait competition. She runs out to the store in her favourite dress to buy some wine to celebrate. She never gets to drink the wine.

This story, like so many of Katherine Center’s stories, starts with a tragedy. Due to some swelling in her brain, Sadie can no longer see faces. This is a real disorder known as prosopsgnosia. How will she ever paint again if she can’t put together faces? How will she recognize her friends and family? And will this be permanent? What about the gorgeous veterinarian who takes care of her dog? Can she really trust her brain to be making good decisions when it’s struggling to make sense of her new world? What about the guy who lives in her building who takes care of everyone else, if you know what I mean? ;) ;)

I love Katherine Center’s writing and in her Author’s Note on this book, she wrote two things that really struck me. She says that she writes books about people overcoming hard things and that sometimes overcoming hard things does not look like walking again or seeing face is perfectly. She acknowledges that overcoming does not mean everything goes back to how it was before. The second thing she said was that romance novels have often been labelled as predictable. She suggested that instead of predictable we use the following quote. So for you, Katherine Center, I agree whole heartedly that “this story created fantastic anticipation,” and I enjoyed every second of it. This may be my new favourite of yours! Also I am and will always be #teamweasel.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

This book kept popping up as a book that I would like, so I was excited to read it! I enjoyed the book and becoming a part of Sadie’s journey. The twist was fairly easy to guess (as with most rom-coms), but it was a unique journey to get there. I loved watching Sadie grow as a character and deal with some difficult scenarios and medical complications. I was unfamiliar with the medical condition and thought the author did a great job weaving it into Sadie’s story. I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend to my friends!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this copy to review!

One word - Obsessed! I love this book so much. I love the characters, the unique plot, and the details. Everything about it, I love it! It's one of the best reads I have had in 2023 so far. I kind of guessed what was going on, which doesn't bother me as there were plenty of other little surprises. Sadie and her crush have the cutest, most intimate relationship. It was so pure, and for Sadie, it was 100% only off of emotional attraction.

Hello Stranger is about so much more than the romance. There is family trauma, learning to trust yourself, growth, and overcoming fear. I had to read this one in one sitting, and I absolutely could not put it down. Katherine Center made the characters quirky and easy to love. Her writing is fun, and she goes into great detail to place you in the characters' shoes. My first Katherine Center read, and I will be moving her other books up on my tbr!!

🎆HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center🎆

📆PUB DATE: July 11th, 2023
➡️Swipe for synopsis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: E-book
Read if you like:
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family drama
❤️Happy books
🐶Very cute dogs

Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery gets selected to participate in an art competition, one that her late mother also was in. When she gets in an accident that results in prosopagnosia (aka face blindness) she struggles to paint any faces. While recovering she meets her dog’s new handsome veterinarian and her neighbor and she’s suddenly dating two people (love triangle?🫣)

Sadie’s family was absolutely awful to her, to the point where it was just unrealistic and overdone. Sadie was a bit immature and overall unlikeable. Without spoiling anything, I don’t understand how the plot twist wasn’t discovered by either person earlier in the book. If you can suspend disbelief, the last 25% of this book was actually really cute and heartwarming and bumped my rating up to 3 stars. I’m glad I didn’t DNF, but the first 75% was a bit of a slog to get through.

Thank you so much to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the advanced copy of Hello Stranger in exchange for an honest review!

While this book wasn't anything revolutionary rom-com wise, I absolutely had a ball reading this and finished it in a day. Some aspects were a bit frustrating (at times I wanted to take the Sadie by the shoulders and shake her because the reasons behind certain things were SO obvious), but overall it was a sweet and fluffy story with some deeper, more serious familial undertones. I appreciate the author doing actual research and including an Author's Note on facial blindness, as it easily could have been something that played off as cheesy and depthless. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone looking for a short, cute rom-com that will make you feel the feelings!

This was a super cute and fun read with a plot concept I hadn't read before! I did guess the "plot twist" fairly early on but it made reading the book more fun for me to kind of laugh along as the main character missed many, what felt like obvious, signs. This is a fun read that I think most people would enjoy!

I read The Bodyguard a few months back, so I was excited to read another Katherine Center book! It started out strong for me, and had a short lull, but I overall loved it! I liked the science/medical stuff (albeit weird in a book) and the “twist” I definitely predicted very early on. I thought Sadie was a relatable and funny character, and Joe was so sweet!

This started strong but ultimately was just okay for me. I thought the FMC was insufferable and ungrateful. All of these people, mostly strangers, were doing such nice things for her and she barely showed gratitude. I also thought some of the prosopagnosia stuff was far fetched. I know its a real thing but there are other factors you can use to describe/sense someone and it felt like they wanted the reader to be completely stupid to believe she couldnt detect anyone, especially her love interests. It was well written as most KC books are it just wasnt my fav.

Katherine Center took a medical condition I never heard of and weaved it into such a unique love story. I love authors who teach me something new and give me a wonderful romance full of anticipation, longing and a beautiful happily-ever-after.

Prosopagnosia or face blindness is a condition that effects over 150 million people, she shared.
I honestly spent the first part of Hello Stranger just thinking about what it would be like to acquire their condition like Sadie.

It has to be so surreal but to someone who paints portraits for a living- devasting.

And yet, I loved how “looks” to a point (because she does deduce that Oliver and Joe are quite handsome) are taken out of the equation when it came to her falling for the vet and her neighbor.

I knew where the love story was headed between the “two” men she was falling for and I loved it.
I didn’t rate this 5 stars only because some things didn’t line up for me when it came to her knowing these men.

Like she recognized Parker from her scent and Oliver had a distinct scent so wouldn’t that trigger something for her the next time she was in his presence?

Granted, the last chapter answered some of my hang-ups and they didn’t keep me from enjoying the story.
I also had a hard time not asking questions like:
-Why didn’t she get a second opinion or why didn’t she learn more about the surgery?
- Why did she just let her Dad bully her into it when so much was at stake?

But alas, that’s where my mind goes with health stuff.

While Joe had an interesting back story, this book was all about Sadie for me and her strength in addressing these changes in her life.

I would have liked to have had the found family aspect with the Kims flushed out more and had Parker really get what’s coming to her because she was the WORST!

But overall, I was enamored with this unique storyline and stayed up all night to finish it.

I enjoyed it and can’t wait for more from Center.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Loved this charming, romantic and completely absorbing women's fiction title. Katherine does a great job with pacing from start to finish. I'm a huge fan and this one may be my fave of hers.

This book was a journey. It introduced me to a condition that I've never heard about before like at all. It almost seemed made up but it's very real. Heck, even Brad Pitt has it. It's called Prosopagnosia (face blindness). It's the part of your brain that can recognize faces. It's either you've had it since birth or it's acquired, like you've been conditioned with it because of a complication in that part of your brain or like in our heroine, Sadie's, case, an affect from a brain surgery. What I like about this book is how you're almost just as frustrated with... everything about Sadie's life just like her. To the point that you can't really blame her for how she's acting and all her emotions. If I were her, I would be more of a mess than her like I honestly don't think I would've done as well in that six weeks as she did. Good for her. I also love how this is such an invisible string moment for Sadie and Joe. All's well that ends well, right? I've read in the Author's Note how this is one of the first attempts of Katherine Center at the romance genre. Not bad. Could've been better as a romance novel but it's there you know? I can't wait to see her grow in the romance genre.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars, rounded up. I initially found the main character to be a bit grating and self-centered, but she grew on me (as did the book!) Thanks to Netgalley and St. Marten's Press for the ARC.

After being saved from almost being hit by a bus, Sadie finds out she has a rare neurological condition called Prosopagnosia which causes face blindness. Imagine suddenly not being able to recognize faces AND you’re also a portrait artist. As Sadie tries to navigate her new (hopefully temporary) reality, she’s also faced with family drama, her own dog’s illness, a new love interest AND figuring out how to manage a huge career competition in which she’s a finalist.

As always, Katherine delivers a funny, heartwarming, light story with noteworthy significance. Her main characters are so well-developed and not only witty but also relatable. Even with a dysfunctional (and downright mean) step-family, Sadie manages to RISE ABOVE and I almost screamed in excitement when she finally found her voice and spoke her truth! The love triangle added to the swoony, even if unlikely, romance. I was not expecting the final reveal/twist so that whole bit just solidified my love for this story!

The audiobook narration was great! I will say I deducted half a star because sometimes it was easy to get distracted while listening, especially when her immature, evil step sister stepped in.

But overall, I LOVED the message and Sadie’s growth through her challenges! The medical/nurse nerd in me appreciates the research that went into her brain condition and how it was effectively written into the story. 👏🏽

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up

After loving the Bodyguard, I knew I wanted to give Katherine Center's newest book a try and I was very excited to get my hands on an ARC. I thought Hello, Stranger was an interesting romance. It read more like a contemporary fiction with a sideline of romance. It spent a lot of time on the main character's recent face blindness diagnosis which was interesting, but the face blindness thing seems to be overdone in recent new releases. I thought the romance was cute and fun, although a little predictable (but that's what we love about romances, right?) Overall, it was a quick and easy read.

This is my first of Katherine Center books in awhile. I read things you save in a fire a long time ago. It was a nice easy read. I enjoyed it. I kind of predicted what would happen so that’s why it didn’t rate higher but a cute easy read that I really enjoyed. :). Can’t wait to read more of her books! Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

Other than a few grammatical errors in the book, it was a fantastic read. I really enjoyed it. The characters are wonderful and the storyline kept me intrigued. And the twists and turns? Perfection.