Katherine Center recently made an Instagram post about "anticipation" vs "predictability" in romance novels, and I feel this novel is a beautiful example of that. There's a moment early on where you'll figure out exactly what's going on, and you're just cringing at the fact the characters don't know - but you also can't wait for them to figure it out. At least, that's exactly what happened to me, and the payoff was worth it. I feel Center did a great job building the story and making the reader empathize with Sadie's face blindness despite the rarity of the experience. I appreciate the opportunity to learn about this unique medical condition while also enjoying a cozy love story and tale of self-discovery. I have only two complaints - the nature of the story meant I didn't feel too connected to the love interest until about halfway though, and the "villain" (Sadie's stepsister) felt like an exaggerated caricature, hurting the believability of their conflict. Overall, however, I enjoyed this cozy and artistic tale.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

What a cute story! Katherine Center continues to write entertaining stories with characters that are easy to love. Sadie's life is a bit of a mess, but I didn't mind following her as she attempted, and sometimes failed, to make the most of her situation.

I was quickly drawn into this story even though the romantic plot didn't pick up until about 30% into the book. I found the information about the faceless condition very intriguing and was genuinely interested in Sadie's progression. At times I wanted to reach through the book to shake her family because they were pretty awful in some situations. But I found the love interest adorable and I actually wish we got more time with him.

I enjoyed my time with this book and found myself giggling, shaking my head, and thinking about the main characters the entire time!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for this book and exchange for my honest review.
Katherine Center has done it again! Not only do I love reading her books because of their location, but she does a great job in terms of vivid descriptions and cultivating a romantic atmosphere within the pages of her book. She is now an auto-buy author.

Oh my GOSH!! I didn’t want this book to end!!!

Katherine Center truly knows how to write a book. She has all of the pieces in there and they flow together seamlessly.

Joe and Sadie were PERFECT from the start and I loved watching their story blossom. I was not expecting the ending!!

I loved learning about the facial recognition issue as well as the step sister and step mother characters. They added so much to the story!

This may be my favorite romance of 2023!!!

Review will be posted on my instagram (bookmarkedfavs) tomorrow, 3/16!

4.5/5⭐️ I found this book just wonderful! I have never read a Katherine Center book so I was unsure what to expect (and had no precious bias). I would now definitely call myself a fan & will be adding her books to my tbr list.

First, the characters were so well written. Sadie was goofy and brought humor but also was thoughtful and thought provoking. Joe was the perfect leading man. I loved how he was branded "Helpful." Their dynamic was reminding me of grumpy x sunshine but instead was doesn't need help x the man who loves to help.

Also, the plot was so intriguing. It's slightly educational with the prosopagnosia. It was emotional with family dynamic and loss/grief, and also had the perfect balance of swoon worthy romance. My only hiccup that has me hesitate between 4 and 5 stars was the "plot twist" was pretty predictable. I called it early on. But the predictability didn't ruin how great every piece of this book was🥰

Another gem by Katherine Center!
I seriously love everything she writes.
Full of characters that you can't help but to love. Highly recommend.

Another great book by Katherine Center! Love the development of our quirky main character and how she truly discovered who she is! Clean romance that keeps you on the edge.

Overall a feel good type of book. I thought the premise was interesting and I love how Katherine Center takes characters and pushes them to re-evaluate their lives. I loved Joe, and thought the underlying relationship was cute. I will say this one strained credibility a bit with the love triangle, and I thought the late misunderstanding was forced. Some of the characters felt one note but I am glad that there was some resolution with her dad issue. Overall, a very entertaining read.

Frist, I loved the cover of the book which was one of the things that grabbed my attention. I found the overall plot of the story to be unique. Something I never read before. However, it was a slow burn for me and not my favorite by this author. I liked the overall message of family, the ones we are born into and then ones that we create through our friendships.

Hello Stanger is a romantic contemporary fiction that follows Sadie as she navigates her new world of face blindness. Sadie is a painter who specializes in portraits and she has to figure out a new way of completing her artwork, all while learning how to live in a world where she cannot see the faces of her friends and loved ones (as well as her enemies, who enjoy popping in on her to surprise her with her new diagnosis). Sadie also has to navigate through her love life as she tries to decide between her neighbor, Joe, and her sexy vet.

I really enjoyed reading this book and found the characters to be loveable. Sadie's friend Sue is the best friend every girl wishes they had. Someone to challenge her but support her entirely. Sue's parents take Sadie in when she feels she has no one else. It is an incredibly heartwarming story with many struggles of a new diagnosis. I found it to be an easy read but was not all too surprised by the ending. Katherine Center is great with foreshadowing.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

For fans of Katherine Center, her newest novel will not disappoint! Always reliable for romance that pulls at your heartstrings, Center's main character, Sadie is nothing, but loveable while she relearns how to navigate life.

Well, as always I love the writing style. But this book was kind of a mix for me. The idea is fun. But I kind of wish I’d waited for the book to release. I know it’s an arc but the spelling and grammatical errors took me out of the story every time. There were quite a few and I think they threw me.

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy the way Katherine Center writes her books- I’m not normally a fan of the character TELLING you a story rather than just experiencing the story, but I enjoy the way Katherine Center does it.

This book was cute and funny- the face blindness aspect was frustrating, because I like so many features about the face when reading, seeing emotion and features in general- but we didn’t have that here, and that really captures the frustrating the main character was experiencing.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and the characters, but I didn’t like a lot of the side characters and the main character was definitely a Debbie Downer- but she was still kind and funny. I think the ending was paced weirdly, and a little slow, and I wish the characters had realized a few things sooner, but it all came together to make a really interesting and sweet ending.

4 stars!

I cannot say it better than how the author, Katherine Center states in her notes at the end, this book was "Delicious..."It is like all other books are"Boneless skinless chicken breast....and this was chocolate cake"

Yes, it is a romance.
Yes I totally predicted most everything that happened.
Yes, there is that oh so annoying "Non Communication" trope that has you screaming-YOU ARE AN ADULT TALK TO EACH OTHER
Yes it ends happy.

But guess what all you deep literary people? I LOVED EVERY LETTER OF THIS BOOK. This is the book that even when I wasn't reading it, was making me happy, just thinking about what I was "working" towards: the happily ever after.
The "positive anticipation" Katherine Center mentions, knowing the story is going to end up happy and lovey dovey, but we are drawn to that. I love the predictable (when done right i.e. All Katherine Center Books and most recently Nora Goes off Script) Its pure bliss when you are ingesting these words and literally see the characters love story unfold right in front of you.
Maybe it was the migraine, but I felt like Sadie and Joe were right beside me. Don't get me started on how much I love Sue btw.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It will bring you pure Joy.

On a personal note there were a lot of passages and things that encouraged me

"If there is a 5 % chance something bad will happen and a ninety five percent change that things will be fine, which one is more likely...on which of your thoughts are you going to chose to indulge in?"

"Be patient with your self"

"Practice Self encouragement"

Katherine Center and Netgally you have provided me with an advanced copy read for an honest review, and I cannot thank you for the fun and warm fizzy feelings enough this book gave me. I will sing and shout its praises, go buy it on JULY 11th 2023.

This weekend I finished Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. This is another summer release, but thanks to @Netgalley and @stmartinspress for letting me get my hands on it early.

Hello Stranger follows Sadie as her luck appears like it’s about to change. She’s been struggling as an artist and finds out she’s a finalist in a portrait contest. Right as she begins to celebrate a tragic event happens that causes her to lose the ability to see faces. She’s hoping it’s just temporary. Sadie then has to deal with finding ways to cope with it. If life wasn’t complicated enough, add family issues, and a possible love triangle.

❤️Review❤️

Compared to The Bodyguard, this book definitely goes back to a more serious tone than rom-com. It still has it’s comedic moments, but it definitely is a true discovery of self. Sadie spends a lot of the book still grieving her mother who passed when she was younger. She is also grieving the loss of her skill to create portraits. It was one of the things that was pretty solid in her life and now she feels like her chance at success is slipping through her fingers. It was beautiful watching Sadie become stronger and stronger throughout the book. It let the love story take kind of a back seat even though it was still very present at the same time. I really enjoyed watching that storyline develop as well. Peanut May have been my favorite side character. A dog who loves pad thai and snuggles is my kind of dog. He’s such a great support for her. The book was extremely well rounded hitting all of the points I like my romantic contemporaries to hit. Katherine Center remains a favorite author.

4 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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4.5 stars rounding up to 5

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Katherine Center never disappoints. I needed to know how Sadie's story ended from the very first page.
Center does an excellent job of explaining Sadie's face blindness in a way that the reader can easily understand. As someone who is not sciencey at all, I feel like I now have a basic understanding of face blindness and what a fusiform face gyrus is. The fact I even remembered the term "fusiform face gyrus" is impressive. Usually I skim over all medical and science-based stuff in books due to the explanations being winded, but this one I didn't feel like I had to. It was to the point and perfectly explained.
Sometimes I found Sadie to be insufferable, but I also loved her. It really made me think "how would I act if I suddenly couldn't recognize people I've known for years?" And on top of that this all happened when Sadie had a huge art competition coming up. I really felt for her.
Once again, the love is more on the back burner, but that's what I love about Katherine Center's books. Yes, the love is present but I enjoy that it's not written like a typical romance novel. I also loved Center's explanation of why she writes love stories in her author's note. If you read this book, do not skip over the author's note! (They're my favorite part of Center's works.)
The reason I'm giving this 4.5 stars and not the full 5 is because I found some parts to be long winded. Sadie's internalized thoughts became repetitive at some points, and I was like "c'mon already!" But other than that, this was beautifully written. I enjoyed every minute of it and was rooting for Sadie and her love interest the whole time.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! This was my first Katherine Center book and I'm delighted that it was so wonderful, especially after everything I heard about her book, The Bodyguard. In Hello Stranger, Sadie undergoes brain surgery and the outcome is facial blindness. She falls in love with two men in the process, as well as juggles family issues and her new life. There was a lot of fluff, which I enjoyed, and also thoroughly emotional. This was a wonderful read and I'm picking up The Bodyguard immediately!

4.5 stars!

Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist finalist in the North American Portrait Society. After being chosen she discovers she needs brain surgery. Recovering from surgery she finds she can’t see faces (aka face blindness). That doesn’t work well for someone that’s a portrait artist. In the midst of trying to find her new reality and adjust to the facial blindness, she ends up falling for two different men, dealing with family issues, and taking care of her sick dog. Will Sadie be able to get her life back in focus before an even bigger downfall?

This is now my favorite Katherine Center book. The storyline was fun. The characters were silly and had great character. Sadie has endured a lot of bumps in her life. She was very relatable. There were parts that I was smiling at while reading. Again, based on her other books I didn’t expect any spice and there was just a very very small sprinkle of it. There were times that I felt it was repetitive and had a little too much fluff. Still I thought the plot and characters made the book enjoyable. You would definitely be able to relate to the story if you’ve had face blindness or knew someone that did, or if you have had to deal with toxic family relationships.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book!
I thought the subject of the cute-meet was different and not something I would be interested in reading but I finished the book in tears! This was a beautiful story and it was not what I expected. I hope readers give this book a chance.

I'm a huge Katherine Center fan (I've read five of her books, not including this) and Hello Stranger did not disappoint! What a sweet romance and lovely story. The right mix of emotion, friendship, self-discovery and love. Read this when it comes out in July!