Hello Stranger was not what I was expecting but I absolutely fell in love with this book!
It took a couple of chapters to hook me but once it did I devoured it in one night. Stayed up until 2am because I absolutely needed to see what happened between Sadie, Oliver, and Joe. This book is a closed door romance, but honestly I didn’t even miss the spice. It just made my heart happy!

Sadie, is a struggling portrait artist who places into the finals of a portrait competition when she is diagnosed with acquired face blindness. Reading about her family dynamic, her evil step-sister Parker, her canine true love Peanut, and the different ways that the tried to process the unknown kept me so invested. I loved Dr. Nicole and all her wisdom. The growth Sadie showed over the course of the book really hit me in the feels.

Side note: Peanut being a geriatric canine foodie had me cackling at points because I also have a 12 year old pup with a refined palate and I truly related!

I really appreciated the effort and research Katherine Center put in to portraying face-blindness (prosopagnosia) and therapy in general. It greatly added to the storyline. Make sure you read her author’s note because she truly nailed it. This story was full of “fantastic anticipation” and the love truly nourished my soul.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of Hello Stranger in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit I did not read much beyond halfway through. I found it difficult to read because the female main character was very self centered. The ensemble cast was fun, the artsy subject matter fun, but I was not invested in the story because of the main character and the unbelievability of her inability to sense who people were based on smell or body language or anything else. Meh. This was my first my this author and not sure if I’ll try another. Maybe.

Thank you to St. Martin’s press for granting me access to this book!

Katherine Center can do no wrong, her writing is like drugs. This was so feel good and happy. I love how Katherine pulls the reader in and then once you’re at the end, you know the characters really well and feel attached. I loved Peanut SO much.

I never would’ve thought that a contemporary romance comedy would also have deep topics like brain surgery and fusiform face gyrus, but make it all funny and come together beautifully. Also, the miscommunication trope on this one did not bother me at all, which is odd cause I suffer with it most of time.
This was super fun to read. I do have to admit, the “villain” of the book was so ridiculously immature, it kind of felt like I was reading about high school drama, but I guess that was the purpose of the author right ? To make us hate the villain with passion 😄

Anyway, the FMC was hilarious, her best friend was crazy, the MMC was so thoughtful and gorgeous, and I could not love them more. Overall, it did not disappoint, it was a very fast and cute read.

This is my very first Katherine Center book and I enjoyed every minute of it!

This book is out July 11th. Mark your calendars!

Thank you Katherine Center and Netgalley for this advanced readers copy.

This is a 6 star book!!!!!!! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I ADORED THIS!!!!!!

It’s 2 am. I stayed up reading this. In one sitting. And I had the best time of my life!!!! That was…phenomenal. Unbelievable. Incredible. In my top romance novels of all time. I am. In love. Absolutely in love with everything about this!!!!!

This was such a joy to read and I loved every second of it and I knew I was reading it too fast but I just couldn’t put it down. In a way, I wish I had enjoyed it even more than I did and the writing in it is spectacular and brings you in and it felt so emotional and tender and funny like a good kind of funny like a warm hug kind of funny and JOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sweet Joe!!!!!!!!!! Oliver!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them!!!!!

There are very few perfect novels out there, but this one is one of them!!!! Perfect!!!!! This is me in a romance book! I’ll spend the rest of my life believing this was written for ME. So much of this resonated with me and my situation right now and how I feel and could anyone want anything else out of a book??!!?!! No cause THIS WAS EVERYTHING!

SO EXCITED FOR EVERYONE TO READ THIS IN A FEW DAYS!!!!

Kathleen Center you have a lifelong devoted fan in me!!! I’m just devastated I didn’t find you sooner! Ilysm!!!!

Absolutely perfect! I felt this story was a very original premise, I learned a lot! Katherine Center creates magic - her writing is fabulous! It's heartfelt, great character development and plenty of laugh out loud moments. Sure to make you laugh, cry and fall in love with love.

Katherine Center is a go to author for me and this just reiterated all of the above!

I was hooked by chapter 3 and flew through this within 2 days! Sadie is a portrait artist and hits the high note of her career by being a finalist for portrait painting. Enter the biggest upset for her; she now has facial blindness and cannot fully process what she is supposed to be painting!

I loved everything about this book. I laughed, I cried. All the feels!

Was it predictable? Sure. However, I will ALWAYS pick up a Katherine center book.

I loved, loved, LOVED this book! I couldn't get enough. I was so sad every time I had to put it down and couldn't wait to get back to it!!

It's not often that romance novels surprise me but Hello Stranger really did! The plot line wasn't your typical romance and I loved that Sadie was facing a genuine struggle. While I've read a few books about face blindness recently which felt a little coincidental, this novel still felt totally unique and was flawlessly executed. How Sadie tackled her face blindness while also at a pivotal moment in her career added so much to the story and I appreciated the level of detail that went into her process.

I listened to this novel on audio and it was really well done. I enjoyed the narrator and thought she added the perfect level of theatrics. There were so many laugh out loud moments and maybe even more moments that brought me to tears! It was the perfect blend of emotion and heart.

I haven't read many by Center but it's safe to say this one will be hard to beat. I know it's one I'll be recommending for a long time!

4 stars! I was thrilled with the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Katherine Center’s newest novel and I enjoyed much of it.

The main character, Sadie Montgomery has been named a finalist in the North American Portrait Society Competition and life seems pretty ok until she is diagnosed with face blindness which may or may not be temporary. The diagnosis sends Sadie spiraling. While I was interested in her plight, I didn’t really identify with Sadie and found her to be kind of negative even before the diagnosis.

There is a love triangle between Sadie, Joe and Dr. Addison that I often found cringe worthy. I kept reading the novel and was very satisfied with the ending. Though it wasn’t one of my favorite novels by Katherine Center, it was still an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! I’ve also read The Bodyguard by Katherine Center and both books gave me Hallmark/90s rom com vibes in the best way.

The premise of Hello Stranger is super unique and really draws you in, I loved watching Sadie’s growth throughout the book and the twist at the end was so ridiculous but again, in the absolute best way. This book has solidified that Katherine Center is an instant-buy for me.

Hello Stranger was the EASIEST 5-Star review I have had in several months. I admit, it took 2-3 chapters for me to get into the groove of the book, but once I was there...WOW!

Sadie Montgomery is the FMC and she has a whirlwind of a time in this book. She is a struggling portrait artist and has an accident that makes her not able to see faces properly. During her struggles, she meets her dream man and falls for him. How does it all work out? Read/Listen and find out. Do not miss out on this one.

I will recommend this book to anyone and I have already pre-ordered it.

Thank you for the ARC of this wonderful book. I have given a fair and honest review in exchange for it.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center is a very unique romance and not something I had read before. It took me until about 40% in to really start enjoying this book and once I hit that point I was unable to put it down. I loved the character of Sadie and her persistence throughout the story. Sadie developed face blindness after a brain surgery and I found it to make for such a unique story. Joe was a good character but I do wish he would have been a bit more prominent earlier in the story. I couldn't have cared for Parker and in some aspects felt like the character and side story took away from the main story a bit. Overall this was not what I was expecting but in a very good way! Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.

This new addition to Center's catalogue did not disappoint! This book is more than a cute love story, and instead is a journey of hope and perseverance while facing unexpected adversity. This is a unique plot line that stands out from other romances being published right now, touching on an uncommon experience in a way that can help the general public understand the diagnosis the female main character receives in the book.

This was a very unique friends to lovers read. I very much enjoyed the story and character building and definitely learned something new (I had never heard about face blindness before). It is a closed door romance with many cute sweet moments.

I always know I can turn to Katherine Center's books for a toothachingly sweet time. There's always so much hope, positivity, kindness in these books and while I sometimes reluctantly go in reading them, I come out a slightly less frigid curmudgeon. The author's note in this one is especially poignant and lovely, highlighting all the ways romance is different from other genres, and managing to perfectly capture why this genre always has us coming back for more every time, even if we do know all the formulaic story beats.

With Hello Stranger, I felt that Cenrter's humor and witty banter was especially heightened. This made me laugh and smile, it was cheerful and just all around fun. The evil step=sister is truly quite evil, and I enjoyed that Center didn't give her an all too easy out, which in some of her other books felt like it was just much too positive and good. Like several others, I knew the 'twist' pretty early on, however I still enjoyed the story. I can see how Center envisioned the reveal going, but honestly I felt the 'love triangle aspect got forgotten quite a bit and very imbalanced so I'm not sure it was even needed. I think there was a missed opportunity to have the conflict focus more on the characters weaknesses and past hurts rather than something that felt more gimmicky than emotional.

That said, this still managed to surprise me with how endearing the story felt, even if it was a bit whacky. As always, I'll continue to read these stories for all the warm fuzzies and specific "humans can do so much good" brand that Center has built. Rating: 3.75/5, rounding up to 4.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I so enjoyed this book! It’s such a feel good happy one.

The main character Sadie, has face blindness after having brain surgery. It was super interesting learning about this throughout the book. And I caught that Grey’s Anatomy twist, Montgomery - Addison (Addison Montgomery). Sadie doesn’t like to ask for help and doesn’t like to be helped either. Enter Joe. The golden retriever of helping others. I so liked his character. But I also liked Dr. Addison (the veterinarian)…at the beginning anyways. I liked how it all played out though. Such a good happy ending.
Peanut was the real star of the show with his fine taste for not eating dog food. I laughed so hard at that part because I have a 14 yr old dog and she’s so picky and moody, so I connected with that. Plus books with pets are always better!

This was a closed door romance. It had a great message about overcoming obstacles, give others second chances, and to look for the good things in life. Overall, I thought it was a super cute romcom that you need to add to your TBR list! It comes out July 11th.

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

“Isn’t it lucky when we’re drawn to people who can teach us things we need to learn?”


Also, shoutout to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book. This is my voluntary and honest opinion. Thank you for allowing me to enjoy this book and getting to share that!

Before I write this review, I need to discuss the Author’s note. Too many times I think readers skip over this section and if anything, I want to say READ IT FIRST! I completely one hundred thousand percent agree with Katherine Center’s outlook on why love stories are valuable and important. I hope she gets to do a TED Talk on this, because we as humans need to hear it. So please, go check it out.

To use her own words positive words, “This love story really created fantastic anticipation.” Hello Stranger is more of what I’ve come to love and expect from Center; kooky, flawed, humorous characters that deserve their own love story. I love Center’s imagination and creativity with storytelling—you will ALWAYS get an interesting plot line in her romances coupled with a dose of hope and joy. Told from single POV (and trust me, it works best this way), Sadie is a portrait artist who has just happened to get her “big break” in an art competition when life throws her a curveball and suddenly she is left with a condition resulting in (potentially temporary) face blindness. Having to navigate the ups and downs of not being able to recognize busty neighbors, eloping friends, evil stepsisters, and possibly cute veterinarians, leaves Sadie out of sorts and feeling like she just wants to get past this. But she comes to find that the brain can play tricks on you when it comes to assumptions both good and bad, and people she might have initially disliked could be the perfect match.
As a former art teacher, I knew about Chuck Close’s face blindness and was so relieved to read Center mention him in her story (it would have been a BIG miss not to as he was one of the most popular portrait artists of the 21st century). Sadie not only has to cope with losing her ability to see faces normally, but she cannot figure out how to do the one thing she’s always been successful doing—painting faces. Relying on her other 4 senses and the help of therapy to aid her as she recovers from surgery, I thoroughly enjoyed reading from Sadie’s POV. This story is so unique and entertaining, I flew through it wondering if Sadie would ever be able to visualize faces normally again and hoping she’d be able to seek revenge on her awful stepsister Parker. This story is humorous and relies heavily on Sadie’s confirmation bias—the reader starts to wonder just how reliable a narrator Sadie is, especially as she swears she’s fallen head over heels for Peanut’s vet, even though she’s never been on a date with him or even seen him. Did I see where this story was headed? Yes. Did it change my enjoyment of it or make me love Sadie and the cast of characters less? Absolutely not. I would avoid spoilers at all costs before reading, but I know you will fall in love with Sadie and Joe just as much as all of the other excellently written side characters. This book is full of hope, even when it seems that the world is a dumpster fire around Sadie, you know somehow she’ll pull through. And her portrait session with Joe? 🔥🔥🔥 I can’t wait for more stories like this from Katherine Center and know she is an autobuy author. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

The premise of this book is so interesting, and the deep dive into the prognosis that Sadie received absolutely presented something I had no idea about. I definitely walked away from this book learning something new.

The hero in this book is absolutely the best, he is absolutely so kind, and has that book boyfriend vibe to him.

Sadie went through a lot of growth in this book, and some of it was very emotional, especially for me as the reader.

I love the approach that the author takes with her books. She believes that romances should first and foremost be hopeful, and this one captures it completely.

This closed door romance has a little fate sprinkled in, a little bit of an unreliable narrator, and so much hope.

A bit of a backwards experience, but I requested this book without having read anything by this author and then went and read another book by her (The Bodyguard). I unexpectedly had a lot of fun with that book, so I was excited to read this one! Hello Stranger was such a fun, cute romance that I couldn’t put down.

Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist and just found out that she placed as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition. When she goes out to celebrate, she’s almost run over by a car—but saved by a Good Samaritan at the last moment. During her recovery, the doctors tell her that they discovered something in her brain that she’d need surgery for, which she reluctantly agrees to. Unfortunately, afterwards she acquires prosopagnosia—face blindness— that may or may not be temporary. As she struggles with what this means for her career, she meets her cute vet yet can’t stop running into her annoying neighbor, Joe.

This book was just a lot of fun! I appreciate this author’s ability to make her characters a little quirky (which I mean in a good way! like how female leads always are in rom-com movies). Sadie has a lot of funny inner monologues while also getting quite emotional about her grief over her deceased mother and her bad relationship with her emotionally unavailable father.

I also liked the other characters. Sue, Sadie’s best friend, is always there for her, and I couldn’t help but laugh at their conversations. Meanwhile, Sadie keeps running into her neighbor Joe, whom she makes snap judgments about but soon discovers that he is fundamentally a great guy. Their romance was so adorable, and I loved all of their scenes together.

This book also delves into the symptoms of face blindness and people’s experiences with it, acquired or not. I liked how this condition allowed for antics throughout the book but was also treated with respect as to how people go about daily life with it.

Again, I found the main couple to be so adorable! This book is a bit predictable at times, but that is the fun of romance, if done well I think. As much as you know what the twists will be, you can’t help but root for them all the same. If you’ve enjoyed this author’s previous books or you’re in the mood for a quick, fun romance, I definitely think you should check out Hello Stranger!

Absolutely wonderful. Felt like a wonderful hug. Also I wanted the character of Parker to get hit by a bus.

Honestly, probably one of Center's best books. This was fantastic, heartwarming, and you know I loved a book when all I got are some nits since I loathed, loathed, loathed some of the characters in this one and hated how nothing bad happened to them in the end.

"Hello Stranger" follows twenty something year old, Sadie Montgomery. Sadie is a struggling artist living in Houston. She finally after about 8 years of having to support herself via her Etsy store, is in the final 10 of a prestigious portrait contest in Houston. Sadie finally feels like her life is taking a turn for the better. Maybe she will be able to finally impress her father, who is a doctor, and disappointed by the direction of Sadie's life. But after a verbal meet-cute, Sadie collapses and finds herself in the hospital. She's diagnosed with a brain lesion, that if she doesn't treat, could kill her. And when she has brain surgery though, she wakes up and is not able to see people's faces. What's a portrait artist to do?

I loved Sadie. She has a great heart and a better spirit than me cause I would have been swinging at her terrible father, her lukewarm stepmother, and her terrible evil as hell stepsister, Parker. As I read, I felt her frustration that even her best friend (who is a flake) is not really there for her. Sadie has nothing but her dog Peanut, and then a crush on the vet (she can't see) who she starts daydreaming about marrying. But then of course comes a guy who lives in her building, who she can't stand.

The other characters are written very well. I think Center gave some of these people too much grace. For example, I wanted there to be more conversations between Sadie and her terrible ass father. Don't get me started on no buses hitting Parker. I thought that it would have been better if there had been more follow up there instead of just a kind of slow shift out of the main story.

The writing was great and so was the flow.

The setting of Houston feels way too quirky here for me though. Felt more like how Austin is than Houston, but what do I know. I have only visited both places once in my life.

I loved the romance we get and the slow burn of Sadie and [redacted]. I was smiling at the end with how things work out. We don't get any sex scenes (boo) but we do know who she ends up with.