What a delight of a book. I've loved everything by Katherine Center, and this story was no exception. Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist trying to catch a break when she acquires face blindness. She is not one to ask for help and suddenly has to find a way through this, determinedly on her own. When she meets anyone, including a cute neighbor and a handsome veterinarian, how will she ever tell them apart? The romance in this book is very sweet and you will root for Sadie, especially when she faces her biggest nemesis; the evil stepsister. This is a not to be missed story. You will even learn about the condition of face blindness in an easily understandable manner.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy. My opinions are my own.

Hello Stranger was a "hard to put down" book for me. The characters were (generally) wholesome and it was a gentle romance. The story was predictable in some ways but not in an annoying way- the miscommunication (seriously though-why does every romance have one??) wasn't prolonged or frustrating. Overall, Katherine Center may be one of my favorites. Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

Hello Stranger was a lovely, unexpected romance, but it was also so much more. The MC, Sadie, is a portrait artist who, after years of struggle finally has a chance to break through. She's been selected to compete in a prestigious portrait competition, one of only 10 finalists out of 2000 entrants. Sadie is a gifted artist, but commercial success has been elusive, so she absolutely cannot miss this chance.

Unfortunately for her, she suffers a sudden seizure and learns that she needs brain surgery. She wants to wait until after the competition, but is talked into having it right away when she learns that this condition was the cause of her mother's sudden death when Sadie was 14. Complications ensue when after the surgery, Sadie develops (hopefully temporary) prosopagnosia, or face blindness in which she only sees faces as their individual parts - eyes, nose, mouth, brows, etc. but cannot form those parts into cohesive whole. Needless to say, this is the kiss of death for a portrait artist.

Now Sadie is faced with rethinking everything about herself, her life, her work, and her talent. In the midst of all of this, she's also dealing with wildly swinging emotions and other lingering effects from the surgery, while trying to navigate a world in which she cannot even recognize her best friend's or her family's faces. Nonetheless, her hopefulness, determination, strength and perseverance in dealing with this change are inspiring to read. She keeps getting knocked down but she picks herself up every time and continues to forge a new path for herself. Beyond that, I"m not going to get into the romance portion of the book as it's best to go into it "blind". There are a few unusual plot twists and although the course of true love does not run smoothly, it does run. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

“We see what we are looking for.” Best line!

3.5 star. Hello Stranger is a novel about an artist who loses her ability to see faces and the two men she is torn between.
This warm novel shows you that you need to believe in yourself and to be willing to ask for help.
Thank you NetGalley for this amazing ARC.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! In my mind Katherine Center can do no wrong at all. I loved the different characters in this one. This book was perfect and I would not change a thing.

This book had was exactly what I expect in a romance - cute, fun, playful, predictable, hits some tough topics, and ultimately leaves you feeling great. It was super close to being a five star read for me, but I thought that some bits were a little to repetitive and a little too crammed down my throat to merit the fifth star. Still a really fun and unique read.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
Sadie Montgomery finally going to get her big break as a portrait artist when a surgery leaves her with facial blindness. Will she be able to find success after all?
I enjoyed this! Katherine is one of my favorite authors and this book only continued to prove that fact. A great combination of romance and women’s fiction. The characters were well rounded. Such a fun read!
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Easy-to-read Witty Entertaining Page-turner Romantic Wonderful characters.

Katherine Center does it again! She delivers a warm-hearted lighter read with substance. She doesn’t shy away from dealing with tough issues, but does so with a light hand. Enjoyed this book from the wonderful, quirky characters to the very unique plotline, I found myself completely immersed in Sadie’s world and never wanted to leave. Can not wait to read her next book!!!

“Hello Stranger” by Katherine Center is an amazing story about how someone can cope with face blindness.
Sadie is living her best life until she ends up in the hospital needing surgery. She ends up with face blindness and can not see faces. This is awful but even more so because she is a portrait artist. As Sadie learns to navigate her new normal, she meets new people that help her to see past her difficulty. Sadie learns many new lessons as she navigates her new normal life.
This book teaches us about a disorder that we don’t often hear about while telling a feel good story. Highly recommend.

3.5/5
Sadie is a starving artist hoping to make her big break and she might when she places as a finalist in a portrait competition. All is going well until Sadie finds out she'll need to get brain surgery to fix a lesion. But something goes wrong, she can't see anyone's face and is diagnosed with face blindness. Another thing to make Sadie's life more complex, she begins to fall for two different men!

Our protagonist is one of those characters who is simply down on their luck with one bad thing happening in succession. It can be hard to remain motivated and hopeful while in the thick of it. I feel for Sadie, but at times, she came off as selfish and waiting for someone to come along and solve her problems. This happened when her best friend has a huge life-changing event, but instead of being happy for her, Sadie turned the situation into a "woe is me" moment. Many people come to her rescue, but it turns back into a Sadie life crisis moment.

For the sake of the story, I understand why Katherine Center did this. But it made me not connect to any of the characters including the love interests. Joe the neighbour shows up at opportune times to assist Sadie and seems to be sleazy. Dr. Addison the vet is not the most present person. The twist that comes with the romance, it did take me way too long to figure it out.

I did enjoy the message of being able to come to terms with a life-changing event and realize you can come out on the other side with acceptance. The plus side for Sadie is that she has many supportive people in her life that turns out to be heartwarming to read about. We see how Sadie is healing from past hurts and present troubles. Overall, a more lighthearted romcom read!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my second KC book in 10 days, and once again I read it in a day. This book is perfect for when you need a romcom and had just the right amount of predictability, or anticipation as she puts it. It made me laugh out loud at times, and I loved the characters. The way the story was brought together was done very nicely, and I loved the author’s note. I will definitely be reading more of her books in the future.

I'm a fan of Katherine Center's books and was thrilled to get a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This one had a great premise - a portrait artist ends up with face blindness after brain surgery - and how this impacts her work and her love life. There were some fun twists and turns but at times the writing was a little over the top (e.g., the history and conversations the main character had with her step-sister were verging on soap-opera-like). But I loved the author's notes at the end and she wrote about her late in life discovery of romance books and how they are best enjoyed and described as "anticipatory" rather than "predictable" - great way to put it and a good comment to note when you can see the ending coming but all the same can look forward to it as a satisfying ending.

This one was cute! I enjoyed The Bodyguard last year, so I was excited for another book by this author. The slow burn in this was good, and although there is no steam (which I prefer), the story never felt lacking. Sadie and Joe were adorable with all of their angst.

HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center
Release date: 7•11•23

⭐⭐⭐⭐️⭐/5
🌶️/5

This was not only my very first eARC approval, but also my first read by Katherine Center. The premise of this book was so unique and kept me engaged with “fantastic anticipation” from the start…(read her acknowledgments at the end).

Even though there are some heavy issues the main character is dealing with, this is such a light-hearted, comfort read that made me fall in love with all of the characters.

The only part I struggled with was how cringey and mean Sadie’s stepsister, Parker was. I would have preferred a little more backstory as to why she was such an awful human to Sadie.

Overall, I really enjoyed this sweet rom-com and would definitely recommend this book. And now I’m off to read all of Katherine Center’s backlist!

This was sooo wholesome and SWEET.


Sadie just got the opportunity in her art career that will literally make her or break her but then all of a sudden she has a horrible accident that results in temporary face blindness. She's mad at the world, understandably, but with the help of her doctor she begins to 'see' the world around her in a new way.

Then our girl Sadie falls in love.... with two people actually, Joe + her vet, Dr. Collin and this is the silliest and sweet love triangle you will ever read.

Also, if you read this book take the time to read the author's note. Kathrine talked about what makes reading romance so addicting... it's the hope that it gives you knowing no matter what happens in the story, there will be a happy ending. Ahh, I loved that so much. She spills some gems so make sure to read it!

Most of the criticism I’ve seen about this book was about how the fmc is unlikable. I actually really liked her. I think a lot of rom coms have two dimensional characters, the main character has a quirk and a problem and the love interest helps her solve that problem. This book had such a well rounded fmc, she’s not perfect, she’s not selfless, she’s a real person going through a hard time and finding herself looking at life in a whole new way. There’s interesting conversations about grief and betrayal. I loved our live interest, he’s such a kind soul. The chemistry was believable and electric. The problems the fmc work through are interesting and real. She has a lot of character growth and reflection. By far one of my favorite romances of the year.

As a huge Katherine Center fan, I was beyond excited to get the opportunity to read her newest novel before its publication. I always love her characters as they have hilarious banter with one another and feel like “real people”. Unfortunately, compared to this author’s other books, I was not impressed with this one. There is a plot twist that is crucial to the story’s development that I figured out very early in the novel. I would recommend Things You Save In A Fire, another title by Center, over this one.

Such a unique take on a story! The plot of it centers around a woman who can't recognize faces. She knows they have one, she can see everything around her but her brain doesn't compute the face. Which is not ideal, as she is a portrait painter. She begins to enlist coping mechanisms and going on about her life. Determined, she won't let this temporary setback deter her.

She begins to fall for two guys, her vet and a guy in her building. While she is grappling with that, she has to deal with her twisted step sister whose only goal in life is to make hers miserable. She does what she can to finish her portrait painting for a contest.

I loved the premise of this book. It is so different than anything I usually read. Yes, it is a romance. Yes, it has a bit of dramedy. But the whole plot of it, is amazingly different. I loved this book so much! You get to know these characters based on their personalities! So well done!

HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center (Patti Murin, Narrator)

Sadie is a struggling portrait artist who has lost the ability to see faces. (acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, or face blindness). “As Sadie tries to save her career, confront her haunting past, and handle falling in love with two different guys, she realizes that happiness can be found in the places—and people— you least expect.”

RomCom done right is a joy, and this one was done right! Yes, there is an easily corrected miscommunication. Yes, there is some mistaken identity and some melodrama. Yes, I knew how it would end. Yes, the evil stepsister was over-the-top, but in a fun way (and you knew she would get her comeuppance!).

But as Center explains in her Author’s Note, that’s not predictability. It’s anticipation. We read romances to smile, feel good, know how it will end, and be rewarded. It’s why we re-watch movies and tv shows we love. It’s comfort. Pure comfort.

This was my favorite by Center so far. It was joyful and fun, with the added benefit of learning something new (face blindness in this case). Her novels are as happy as her covers.

I was also delighted by the narrator! Her delivery was the frosting on an already delicious cake. Each character’s voice was distinctive (Sue was my favorite), making the story fly faster than a roller skater listening to disco.

QOTD: Can you roller skate? Do you have any tricks?

Thanks, NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio, for the DRC and ALC. US Pub Date: 11 Jul 23

This book was darling and had the most unique premise of a romance book that I've ever read and spoke deeply to my neuroscience nerd heart. The very obvious twist (to the reader) was incredibly amusing to experience through the lense of Sadie, our narrator and female love interest.

*Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for an ARC of this book