I will be honest and say that I think I liked The Bodyguard more. I felt like the beginning of this book was slow and took me some time to get into it, but wow, once I got hooked I couldn't stop reading it. Stayed up until 3 am to finish the last 100 or so pages.

I LOVED the characters in the story! I loved the representation of face blindness and the struggles that Sadie felt throughout the whole book. I loved how her mindset changed from helplessness to I am not going to let my face blindness define who I am. I loved how Sue was a sensible friend who never sugarcoated anything for her and how supportive Sue's parents were. This book had SOOO many aspects that I liked, let's not even get into the love interest (Joe has my heart and goes to show what an actually nice guy is). I'm not a re-reader, but I would 100% re-read this book in the future.

Some tropes (he fell first, She is a bit of a grump and he is a bit of a sunshine, Cinderella kind of story with a stepsister and stepmother, Art, Slow burn)

Thank you, NetGalley, Katherine Center, and St Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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

Thanks to Katherine Center and NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

I absolutely adored this book! The premise was so different from any other romance I’ve read and had me hooked the whole time. I figured out at some point what the “twist” was going to be, but it didn’t make reading any less delightful. The whole book was in parts funny and heartwarming and made for a super speedy read for me, even though Iwould have read far more pages! I also really really loved the authors note at the end, which talks about how romance is stereotyped and how the genre brings joy to people’s lives. Will definitely be reading more Katherine Center from here on!

You can expect: artist FMC, constantly helpful MMC, face blindness, love triangle-ish, a cute dog, portrait painting, closed door romance!
Recommended for fans of: romcoms, Abby Jimenez, Emily Henry, Christina Lauren, Chloe Liese
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CW: brain surgery, abusive stepsister, death of a parent (past, off page)

I was going to give this book 4 starts until I read the author's note and decided to give it 5.

While reading this book, I realized that I have been gravitating toward romance/rom-coms. Why? Probably because I've found myself smiling while reading them, always knowing it will probably have a happy ending and would give me an ending to look forward to.

Rewind to me wanting to give it 4 stars because it was predictable. I remember reading the ending and out loud I said "well that was predictable - but in a good way". Then I read the authors note. Katherine Center literally goes through all of the thoughts I was having. "romance novels don't give you things to dread, they give you things to look forward to" The structure is predictable and knowing you're heading toward a happy ending lets you relax and look forward to better things ahead" "They will say it is predictable - but in a good way" "We should start using anticipation instead of predictable because the love story really created fantastic anticipation"

Well.. that's one way to start looking at things more positively.. which was really the main goal for Sadie after she was diagnosed with acquired prosopagnosia right before the biggest career event of her life. This book takes you through grief, friendships, relationships, and for Sadie, learning about who she really is and who she wants to be. This book was absolutely adorable and another 5 star read from Katherine Center.

I am definitely becoming an ardent fan of Center's work.

I didn't think the story could pull off "face blindness" but I totally bought it.

I can only say that this cute, sleepy sweet book made my week.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC for a honest review.

I struggled to get into this book at first, I'm not sure if it was the artsy or medical content, or maybe both, which slowed me down. But after a while I realized that I was rooting for Sadie and Peanut a lot! I needed Sadie to find love, and the twist actually surprised me.

I loved this book! It easily got me hooked as it was a quick and easy read. Although Sadie is such a pessimist, I understood where she was coming from. Who won’t be when you lost your mom, when you don’t get the support of your dad, when you have an evil stepsister and when you are suffering from prosopagnosia, right? But the important thing is, she was able to overcome everything she was feeling.

And Joe? Plus Dr. Oliver Addison! My goodness. I love the chemistry. It was not feel forced at all. It wasn’t too much. It was just enough dose of kilig.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 SHINING STARS! They don't call Katherine Center the queen of cozy romance for nothing! This is probably my new favorite, and trust me I didn't think she could top The Bodyguard, but alas here we are! This is a heartwarming story about a young unsuccessful artist whose world is turned upside down after a prosopagnosia diagnosis. Her "face blindness" couldn't come at a worse time as she is gearing up for the competition that will finally give her a big break, but the problem? She paints portraits! As in, human faces, of which she cannot distinguish their features.

Sadie Montgomery is a quirky, loveable FMC and I loved seeing her journey as she grieves the loss of her mother, and her childhood that was shortly ruined by her father, step-mother and evil step-sister Parker. Sadie's main relationships in this book revolve around her best friend, her pup, her dreamy veterinarian, and the guy who lives in her building who she is learning more and more about each day.

I did ultimately guess the plot twist in this book, but I don't think it was intended to be a surprise! It was fun being "in on the secret" while Sadie was so blissfully unaware of what was occurring in her own life. The way it all tied into a perfect package at the end was delightful and honestly couldn't have been written any better.

I also enjoyed the development of Sadie, as we learned more about her childhood and the grief she still carried so deeply for the loss of her mother. Watching her find her mom in clothes, in art, in her traditions was so sweet and had me tearing up at times.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for gifting me this digital copy in exchange for an honest review! Make sure you pre-order this one for its July 11th debut!

This is an adorable story, one that I know will be enjoyed and loved by a lot of readers! Although some things didn’t work for me in the execution, I think the central romance and structure of the story worked really well. I couldn’t put the book down for the last third of it! It was interesting to learn about face blindness, and Center did an amazing job researching and weaving facts into the storyline.

Our main character Sadie is going through A LOT as a struggling portrait artist. She finally gets a big break in a Portrait Society’s annual competition, but then she has a seizure and learns she requires immediate brain surgery. After the procedure, Sadie learns it has caused acquired prosopagnosia (face blindness) and the doctors are uncertain how long it will last.

I found Sadie likable and funny, but fairly immature for her age (29 felt like 19, a lot of the time). I primarily loved relating to her creativity and innate desire to make things. The story reads like you’re scanning through Sadie’s diary entries, with all her detailed inner monologue. It’s not my favorite point of view as a reader, but I did laugh out loud a few times!

This book is a quick, uplifting, and easy read. Even though it wasn’t my favorite, I am looking forward to reading more from Katherine Center!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Katherine Center, and NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was so happy to get this early copy of Hello Stranger. Katherine Center is an automatic read for me when she has a new book come out and this is another great one. Sadie can no longer recognize the faces and then proceeds to fall in love with 2 different people. This introduces something that I didn't know anything about and I enjoyed reading it. Katherine Center has written another great book.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC of this novel!

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center follows portrait artist Sadie Montgomery who finds out that after a life-saving brain surgery, she can no longer recognize faces. Of course, this is a huge problem since she paints portraits for a living. Plus, she is a contestant in a big portrait contest that could jumpstart her artistic career. So, what's an artist who is face blind to do?

I highly enjoyed this book! I found Sadie's character to be relatable in that we all struggle to be okay when everything we've ever known is threatened. Sadie also learns that it is okay to ask for help when it's needed, and sometimes we all will need help. Additionally, I enjoyed the witty banter between all of the characters. From reading Katherine's books before, I have noticed that she is very good at writing dialogue like this.

The way she wrote this book was well done, too. It was written almost as if Sadie were writing a memoir of this time in her life, while also feeling like you were walking with her moment by moment through her story.

At times throughout the book, I thought the pacing was a little slow. However, that is not the case as a whole with this book. Ultimately, I would recommend this not just to lovers of Katherine's books already, but to anyone who has never read her books and would like to.

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Sadie has been diagnosed with acquired face blindness and now has to make sense of her life - a life that was already giving her some bumps and bruises. Grief from the loss of her mom, an emotionally absent father, an annoying step-mother, and a vicious step sister. Along with all this, she also has to make a romantic decision between two guys that she can't even see their face, she just has to go with her gut feeling on who she likes more.

Hello Stranger was utter perfection. I loved the relationships - I loved the growth and the fact that they did not immediately resolve at the end, but you at least saw progress. I loved Joe SOOOOO MUCH and I may have absolutely cried my heart out at the end once (long spoiler statement redacted).

Katherine Center can literally do no wrong and I've decided that I want to be a character in one of her stories.

In all seriousness though - this was an absolutely beautiful story and so incredibly full of emotion & depth. It's one that I will highly recommend and makes me absolutely angry at goodreads for not letting me rate higher than 5 stars.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. It had no impact on my opinion and I can guarantee that no matter when/how I read the book, I would rate it as high as I did.

This book! This is my 2nd KC book and I already have the rest of her books on my backlist tbr. And I need to trust her and I know I’ll already love it. I was drawn to the cute cover, and the plot was so intriguing!
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Sadie is a hot mess but on the brink of changing her life. As a portrait artist she has won a spot in an art contest, only shortly after hearing the great news she has a near death experience, as a side effect she has face blindness and can’t see faces. This changes everything!
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I was interested from the beginning by my ignorance of never having heard of this. There’s a love triangle, friends to lovers, great women’s fiction character arc and beauty in the small things of life. KC sees that beauty and she has a gift with prose by painting the whole picture of her fantastical and whimsical world. Patti Murin narrates Sadie and hits the emotion right bring Sadie to life during this turning point.
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Katherine swept me up in the story, pulled at my heart in multiple directions, kept me guessing and making me fall in love with love stories all over again. Make sure to read her Author’s Note at the end 💜
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Be kind to all you meet. You don’t know what they’re going through or what they have gone through. “The more good things you look for, the more you find.”
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This book releases next month on July 11th. You won’t want to miss it! Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the e-arc and alc of this book. These are my own thoughts and opinions.
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Content: near death experience, bullying, manipulation, some language, closed door, mention of past loss of parent

Katherine center never fails to exceed my expectations! I love everything about every one of her books. The plot line was phenomenal and I fell in love with the characters from the beginning. I found myself wanting more and can’t wait to read more of her books!

First of all, thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for allowing me to read this book.
I'll be honest. This was not my favorite. It was fine. I'd recommend it. But, it was super predictable and I just couldn't. I did enjoy the family dynamics and the little doggie.

I am a huge fan of Katherine Center, but this one fell a little short for me. Sadie was a little too unlikeable for me at the beginning. As the book is written in first person from her perspective there was no "break" from her. I don't think women need to always be likeable to be interesting, but her one note obsession was a little too repetitive. My opinion of her (and the book) soften towards the middle. I wanted to love this book, but I ended up merely liking it instead. The ending was a little too neat, and in my opinion a little rushed. Overall a good read, just not quite a great one.

Hello Stranger packed much more of an emotional punch that I was prepared for. Center really knows how to weave together personal growth and romance seamlessly.

Sadie is getting ready to celebrate one of her biggest achievements when the unexpected happened - which resulted in her having to have brain surgery that ends up giving her a condition known as face blindness. I can't even imagine what it's like to not be able to see faces correctly and Sadie's struggles with it really came through. Through Sadie's journey you also learn a lot about the condition, which I liked.

Sadie is a portrait artist so her new face blindness really impacts how she is making money and the big art competition that she is in. Unsurprisingly she has a hard time dealing with it, as well as dealing with family issues. Her mom passed away a long time ago, her step mom keeps pushing her after her accident/surgery and her stepsister is the wicked witch of the west.

There is also Joe, a neighbor who ends up giving Sadie the help she needs, in more ways than one. I adored Joe and loved how their relationship slowly developed.

When life as you know it changes and you have no control over the future. This gives you the opportunity even if it doesn't feel like an opportunity to find the life you always wanted. Sadie had life-altering medical event. As she relearning how to identify people she learns about herself and how she sees others.

This story is about Sadie, a portrait artist who after a minor brain surgery is suddenly unable to recognize people’s faces. This is a real medical condition called Prosopagnosia. To say I was intrigued would be an understatement. Apparently, 160 million people live their lives with this condition. They can see faces, but they look more like a disjointed Picasso painting.

Sadie’s life is in shambles, and it’s not just because of the prosopagnosia. She has long standing family issues, a recent breakup, and with this new diagnosis, she can no longer paint portraits to make a living. The one thing she has going for her is her dog Peanut and her love at first “unrecognizable” sight, with Peanut’s Vet Dr. Oliver. She is literally head over heels in love with a man that she cannot recognize.

If there’s one thing Katherine Center is going to do, it’s give us a cinnamon roll, golden retriever of a man. In this story, she gives us 2. While falling in love with her vet, she is also growing closer and closer to her very helpful neighbor Joe, another man she can’t recognize.

This book was lovely, as all Katherine Center books are but it also contained a level of juvenile interactions that are unfortunately too common in her adult romances. Sadie has an evil stepsister, who is literally evil, but somehow also believed. She is a cartoon level, mustang twirling, evil bully that does things so blatantly cruel it’s hard to believe anyone would put up with her. We’re expected to accept quite a lot at face value (no pun intended) and while I enjoyed the book overall, it asked me to suspend disbelief a few too many times. Similarly, while Sadie was very understandably going through a very hard time, I found her constant inner monologue tiresome.

I still enjoyed my time with this book and recommend it highly to those her love a good comeback story, as well as a sweet as pie love interest(s). If you’re a fan of Karen Center’s other books you will devour this, and if you’re new to her stories there’s a lot to love. Just know it leans heavy on the fiction.

At first, I was unsure this was going to be another great book by Katherine Center. It was still one I couldn’t put down of course the further I got in to the book the more I couldn’t put it down and it become the Katherine Center type book that I love.

Katherine center knows how to get emotion out of a reader. This one especially. It had twists that were hilarious! And that Parker Character really got on my nerves. But the joe character! That was one well built guy and story line. I was also frustrated that DR Addison wasn’t able to give his side of the story. Luckily, all the answers I was looking for came out later in the book. I should have trusted the process.

This book also really looks at what assuming looks like. That seems to be Sadie’s favorite thing. But that’s the part that makes this whole thing hilarious at the end.

This one had a factual base, which is cool. She talks about face blindness and even provides resources to dive deeper in to the topic. With that topic, she really built Sadie’s world and I felt like I was in her shoes the whole time.

And as always, she knows how to wrap up a book. It’s cool when some authors want you to make an assumption on what happens. The thing that Katherine Center does best is wrapping up the story. And thank goodness! I think it helps avoid that hives book hangover from her books if she didn’t do that.

Overall, this was another great, couldn’t put down, hilarious, and sweet, Katherine Center book. How long until the next one comes out?!

It took me a bit to get hooked on this story, but I'm really glad that I stuck it out. The main character is a difficult one to root for--initially--because she is so stuck in the past and so negative about everything (understandably, since she's been dealt a really tough hand). But, once Joe enters the picture, along with the hint of two other possible love interests, things really start to pick up. It's also nice to see more positive attributes to her character, since for the first 40% of the book or so she's quite dull and closed off.

The ending is worth the wait and very sweet, though. I also learned a lot about face blindness, which I had never heard of before and now have a newfound respect and empathy for those suffering from it.