This was adorable and I loved how the FMC’s face blindness made her rely on her other senses. I especially enjoyed the “twist” at the end. Katherine Center is quickly becoming a favorite of mine 💛

I believe that there is no such thing as a bad book. There are just some stories that should be read in certain seasons of your life. I am not in the season to enjoy Center'ss latest work right now. I found the main character whiney and self-deprecating. The Cinderella trope was unoriginal. And the desire for a happy ending felt forced. I normally love Center's literary work for its tear-filled lessons and satisfied endings.. Hello Stranger missed the mark this time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of Hello Stranger by Katherine Center in exchange for my honest review and opinion. OMG I screamed with excitement when I was approved for this as she is absolutely one of my most favorite must read authors! Katherine Center knows exactly how to tug at our heartstrings and make us fall in love with her character. This book has all the feels and will keep you turning the pages faster and faster to see how it ends. Once you are done, you will have a book hangover and wishing you hadn't read so fast!

This was my first book by this author and it has definitely left me wanting to read more. It was cute, sweet and quirky at times and the whole premise was unique and interesting. The plot seemed to move slowly at times and the heroine had me rolling my eyes occasionally, but overall it was a fun read.

Very very cute! I love how fun it was. But the main character was a little bit annoying at times. I love Katherine Center writing. It always brings me joy.

this one was cute! face blindness was such a unique and cool plot point that I had never read about before in a romance

I am not sure how this slipped through the cracks, as I am an avid Katherine Center reader! Then I realized that I truly hemmed and hawed with how to rate this book - I think I had some growing to do, and I feel this book helped. Originally, I was going to round it to 4 stars, as I found it an easy read, and rather enjoyable, save for a couple of eye-rolls here, and a groan or two there. And the ending? No spoilers here, but I also won't lie - I thought I knew what would happen. In fact I impatiently awaited its happening (hence the rounding to 4). And then I was gob smacked! Yet, it wasn't the ending that made me hesitate my review. I hesitated when I read Center's author's note, because her words made me go back and see the book in a totally different light. Center is 100% right, "love is healing", and "believing in love is believing in hope."

We tend to shrug off what we don't know or don't want to see. " We're all so steeped in our own confirmation bias. We're all so busy seeing what we want to see."

And as women, we rarely want to admit we need help, especially in today's world. We can also be blind to someone else's weaknesses. “Basically we tend to decide on what the world is and who people are and how things are—and then we look for evidence that supports what we’ve already decided. And we ignore everything that doesn’t fit.” Center really does a great job of bringing emotions, fears, desires, and romance all together in a way that is unique and well, educational. That is, if you open your eyes to it. So thank you , Katherine Center, for refreshing my eyes. Forgiving the eyerolls and the few groans, and the fact that I could recommend this to almost anyone with out any qualms or heads-up, Hello Stranger earned 5 stars.

And I know we are not to really quote an arc, but your words in this book are gold, and need to be read:

“The more good things you look for, the more you find.”
" Seeming okay and being okay are not the same thing." - "it's better to be real than to be fake."
“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.”
“We’re all just muddling through, after all. We’re all just doing the best we can. We’re all struggling with our struggles. Nobody has the answers. And everybody, deep down, is a little bit lost.”

Katherine Center's books have always been hits for me, and this one was enjoyable, too. The narrator, Patti Murin, is really good at portraying the banter and wit - she's definitely one of my favorite narrators. Sadie is a portrait artist who ends up with face blindness after an accident. Of course, this dramatically hampers her ability to make a living as she hoped to. Learning to live with this condition creates some heartbreaking and some hilarious moments. The way that it affects her romantic life is understandably cringey since she can't see anyone's face but also sweet and funny. This isn't my favorite book by this author, but it has her characteristic mix of substance and humor that makes me always look forward to her next release.

Wow! This book was amazing. Great characters, great plot and get connections between the characters. This was hard to put down!

Overall I enjoyed the message and life lesson this book set out to give. A little slow at certain points overall enjoyed the read and the unique-ness of the premise.

A feel good sentimental story, it was not unputdownable to me. I did enjoy the in story villains of this romance that was more than a romance.

Once I read The Bodyguard and was immediately hooked, I knew I had to read all Katherine Center books. What could be more intriguing than an artist diagnosed with face blindness? I must confess that this one was a slow start for me and I struggled to get through it a bit, but in the end i ended up loving the message of this book. Katherine Center has a magical writing ability and I highly recommend all her books.

I fell in love with Sadie and her dog peanut!! She is a very relatable main character, you couldn’t help but get wrapped up in her story.
After many turns of events, Sadie ends with face blindness. Not only is this devastating for anyone, Sadie is an artist. She paints portraits of people and their faces.
We follow Sadie through her dealing with this new way of life. I throughly enjoyed this book. My only gripe is mean girl/stepsister Parker has no consequences for what she has done to Sadie and others.

Katherine Center is such a reliable author - even though this wasn't my personal favorite of her books, it was still warm, funny and ultimately uplifting. I always feel happy after reading her books and she will continue to be an auto-read author for me.

I really enjoyed this book! But honestly, I've enjoyed ALL of Katherine Center's books. There isn't one that I haven't liked a lot. She just has a way with storytelling and romantic novels that is just right.

Sadie is a portrait artist who just made it to the finals of a big competition. One day she has a seizure which causes her to have a cavernoma. She has surgery to remove the cavernoma and when she wakes up she is unable to see faces. Her brain can’t process the visual of a face. It may be temporary or could be permanent. This changes how she has to create her art for the show and with the help of her neighbor she begins the journey to figure it out.
I really enjoyed the romance elements in this story. There was definitely enemies to lovers with a bit of a “love triangle” twist. There was a pretty big miscommunication towards the end, but let usual it was needed to move the story into the climax. I loved the character Joe once Sadie really got to know him and his true nature was revealed. He was so attentive and caring and really helped Sadie. I also love the found family element with her best friend Sue and her family. It was difficult for me to get past what an awful human Sadie’s stepsister, Parker was. She was the epitome of an evil stepsister and didn’t have a soul. Which was hard to believ that someone like that could actually exist, but reading fiction is all about suspending belief so it worked. She definitely added an interesting element to the story. Over all I enjoyed this story and would recommend it. Side note - definitely read the author’s note at the end on why romance novels are important and why we love them so much!

There are twists and reveals in this book only in the sense that you can tell that the author intended for there to be twists and reveals. Literally everything in this story was obvious from the very beginning, so much so that it made me feel like I wasted my time.

Blurb:
Love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.

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.

My thoughts:
This was my first book from the author and I'm definitely interested in reading her other books. Sadie does come off a little whiney/bratty thoroughout the book which I didn't enjoy but overall it was a decent read!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for book in exchange for my honest review

I’ve never read a Katherine Center book before this one. I’m a fan now!! I’ve also never considered a book where the main character has face blindness. How intriguing? I loved how authentic and real the characters seemed to be. Ending was a fun surprise!

Round up to 3.5 / 5 stars

I enjoyed this novel and thought it was in interesting take on the strangers to lovers theme. About 60% through I started having an idea about the possible ending. This was both fun and frustrating because I kept waiting for the characters to confirm my suspicions or for something to happen to disprove them. I liked the author’s writing style and found it an enjoyable read.

Wow, wow, wow.

Katherine Center had been on my list of authors to read for awhile, and now I wish I hadn’t waited so long. Hello Stranger pulled me in with its unique premise, but it was Center’s writing, which such a distinct and entertaining voice, that had me giddily flipping each page. Sadie’s story had me laughing, cringing and unexpectedly crying. The emotional payoff is so high in this book that I definitely needed more than a few tissues by the end of it.

I do recommend going into this book pretty much blind, no pun intended. Not knowing much and being along for the ride with each twist and turn made this so much more enjoyable. While there were moments that I was worried the plot was getting too ahead of itself, Center managed to pull it all together in a beautiful web of chaos, self growth and ultimate triumph. This was my first Katherine Center book, but it will definitely not be my last, and I can’t wait to see what journey we go on next. Maybe love is just around the corner and may we all be lucky enough to fall in love with men in bowling jackets.