Sadie is a struggling portrait artist, and on the day she finds out that she's finally getting her big break as a finalist in a portrait competition, she has a seizure and finds out that she needs brain surgery. It's all shockingly casual until she wakes up after surgery and realizes that she's suffering from face blindness.

Sadie's mom died when she was 14, and her father all but withdrew from her life after that, so she has a really deep need to be seen as independent and "okay" at all times. Because of this, she decides that she can't tell anyone about her new condition, because accepting help or pity from anyone would actually be the end of the world. And she certainly isn't going to be accepting help from the (probably) handsome neighbor in her building with an affinity for bowling jackets.

***MILDLY SPOILERY BELOW, BUT LIKE IT WOULD BE WEIRD IF YOU DON'T SEE THIS COMING***

Here's the thing. I loved this concept. And I was along for the ride, pretty sure I was going to give this 4 stars up until around the 65% mark when I realized that the Big Misunderstanding that had been funny, if a little bit frustrating for the entire book was not just a minor plot device to create hijinx, it was the whole plot. I can suspend my disbelief for some truly absurd things in a romcom, but "falling madly in love" with someone without ever actually learning their name or occupation was absolutely wild, regardless of how hard Katherine Center tried to sell us on the idea that this could definitely happen because of confirmation bias.

There were a lot of emotional threads, plot lines, and character arcs that were very present and could have taken center stage and been explored more deeply, and I think it was a missed opportunity to have mistaken identity as the sole focal point of Sadie's story. There were so many ways to create conflict in a relationship between someone who refuses to accept help and someone with a pathological need to be of service to others, is all I'm saying.

I did still have a good time, and the concept was super interesting and unique (I learned so much about prosopagnosia???), even if the execution left a bit to be desired for me. But then, I have always had low tolerance for the miscommunication trope.

"Hello Stranger" is your next comfort read!
With multifaceted, likable characters and a plot that never gets boring, this book is easily devoured. The main character struggles with many things that real life characters of her age might: finding security in a job, surprise health issues, struggling to connect with parents, past emotional wounds, and a desire to make herself-- and her family-- proud of her. These aspects of the story ground readers as we otherwise are swept away into witty banter and a dash of mystery.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
Romance
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫

I was so excited to get approved for this arc after reading The Bodyguard! I love Katherine’s writing and I cannot wait to read her backlog as well. I went into this book not knowing anything about the book and was happily surprised.

This story is about Sadie Montgomery a struggling artist. Sadie unfortunately isn’t close with her family and has to do everything on her own. She isn’t used to asking for help and doesn’t want to. She’s finally caught a big break and is accepted into a huge art portrait competition. However the same day a turn of events leads her to find out she needs a quick surgery that should heal in a couple weeks. Plenty of time to get her portrait done.

That’s until a day after the surgery she realizes she can’t see faces due to the surgery. They say it should fix itself, but how will she continue. At least she’s able to see her dogs face peanut still. And while taking peanut to a vet he asks her out. Things are looking up in that regard. But her neighbor Joe is always around all the sudden, and somehow start forming a friendship and then something more.

Sadie is going through so much with work, family, guys and life. Will she be able to work through it all?
I really loved this book. Katherine has an amazing way with words, and I love how you grow to love her characters. I am a fan of a happy ending always!

When I see a book by Katherine Center it’s almost a guarantee I will like it and her latest book “Hello Stranger” did not disappoint. The book is funny and uplifting, as well as serious and emotional. Sadie faces a complex medical condition that changed everything about her life. She wishes her beloved mom, Nora, was still alive to help her through this difficult time. You really get a good glimpse in to the mother/ daughter relationship she so deeply misses. I admired Sadie’s kind heart, her positive outlook on life and her ability to ignore those who tried to drag her down. The brightest light in Sadie’s life is her dog Peanut, a spry and energetic 14 year old Maltese/Yorkie mix. Let’s just say this is what sold me on the book as I have a Morkie as well and felt for them! I worried along with Sadie when Peanut became ill, imagining it being my own pup.
Sadie faced her illness with courage and humor and through this you learn so much about facial dysplasia, something I knew little about. Sadie needed to rely on her other senses to help her recognize her friends, acquaintances and her annoying family members. Romance was in the air for Sadie with Peanuts veterinarian Oliver, and also her helpful neighbour, Both good men but one really only had the spark. Sadie showed the world that with determination and the help of good friends and the man of her dreams, life goes on and the future is what you make it.
Another great Katherine Center book that I recommend whole heartedly and will leave your soul filled at the end!

It took me a bit to get into but once I did, I really enjoyed it and was hooked! An interesting concept, a portrait artist developing face blindness is quite the story. I enjoyed Sadie eventually found herself in her face blindness. What really kept me going was Katherine’s writing. There’s something about her writing that is a beautiful portrait.

4.25 stars rounded up

Figured out a big twist pretty early on and it felt like the reveal got stretched out for far too long. Unfortunately, this was probably my least favorite KC book that I’ve read. There were some very sweet moments and, overall, a very satisfying ending and the second half was compulsive to finish (the first half was a bit more of a slog).

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

I'm an author only on NetGalley to access my own books, but I jumped at the Valentine's Day opportunity to read this book early! Katherine Center did an amazing job. This book had all the feels - it was poignant, heartwarming, hopeful, and fun, as well as unique. Oh, and did I also mention I stayed up all night reading it? Highly recommend.

Center creates another interesting romance/empowerment story, this time about an artist with temporary face blindness who falls in love with one--or two?-- men she can't see. The stepsister villain was entirely unnecessary and the dramatic irony a bit too painful at times but it was a unique twist on some classic tropes. Recommended for fans of the author and the genre. Center never disappoints.

ahh this was soo good! this book tells a story of our main character Sadie Montgomery, a struggling artist who finally got her big break, ends up needing an urgent surgery which ends up giving her squirted face blindness. this book was inspirational and so heartwarming!

when i first started this book i wasn’t sure i would like it that much but decided to push through and i’m sooo grateful i did. this book had plenty of hilarious moments while also being sentimental and also educational (in a very entertaining way don’t worry lmao). i’m also obsessed with the twist at the end of the book.

this book is such a sweet, emotional, romance book that i 100% recommended especially for people looking for meaningful romcoms! definitely enjoyed this read!

I need to just say, this was absolutely lovely and a treat. I find Katherine Center to now be an instant read for me and I was thrilled to grab an ARC. There is a definite formula in her books but I find it more comforting than anything else. I like to be swept along with her plots and characters and banter. This is another winner for your shelf!

I have been of fan of Katherine Center for a while now and was so excited to read her latest book. I found the idea of writing about facial blindness so intriguing. I think the author did a great job of detailing how the main character experienced her world. Joe was an adorable love interest and they had such a solid friendship which I appreciated in the novel. I also enjoyed that the main character has to overcome not only the challenges of her diagnosis, brain surgery, and readjustment to not being able to register faces, but now to also modify her art. I feel like this struggle was addressed but could have been deepened a little more. I also appreciated how the family dynamics changed over the course of the novel. Any time a rom com has the love and the character development its a win for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Like all books in the category, as the reader I knew what would happen at the end, I even knew how the book would end very specifically, but I think that made me love it more. I finished this book in less than 48 hours, and those two days were work days and included dinner with friends one night. Five stars. I highly recommend it for those days when you need a little love, a little happiness, and a comforting story to get you to the next one.

Hello Stranger was equal parts heartwarming and heart-tugging book. Watching Sadie go threw the struggles of losing her mom when she was 14 and getting diagnosed with cavernoma the same illness her mom passed from. To waking up from brain surgery with Prosopagnosia ( face blindness ), trying to make it as a portrait artist, and placing into the same completion her mom was in with being unable to see faces. And on top of that, her adorable dog also getting sick. This book honestly had me feeling every emotion. Reading about prosopagnosia was a new experience but one I really enjoyed. Some parts did feel like they fit together a little too perfectly but the ending made it all worth it. I can't wait for the next Katherine Center release!

With a secured spot in a prestigious art show and a potential $10,000 pay day, it finally seems like struggling portrait artist Sadie Montgomery’s big break is on the horizon. Until a cavernoma is discovered on her brain and she needs to have life-saving surgery, which leaves her with face blindness as a side effect. Not ideal for someone who paints faces for a living.

This book is so refreshing! Its concept is creative and unique; I haven’t read anything quite like this before and it really stands out from the pack. I laughed, I got teary-eyed, and I stayed up until 2 am reading because I couldn’t put it down. I won’t say too much about the romance because I think it’s best to experience for yourself. Just know you won’t be disappointed!

While it is a romance, the story is more focused on Sadie navigating her grief and coming to terms with a life-altering condition. The character development readers see Sadie go through is one of my favorite aspects of the novel. Her healing isn’t linear and she has her bad days, but she’s so committed to working on herself. She also has a great support system, a found family of sorts in her best friend, neighbors, doctor, and her dog, Peanut. Just like these characters, I genuinely cared about and rooted for Sadie.

Will definitely be reading more Katherine Center in the future!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book but I did not love it. The storyline requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief while I also knew the whole way through what the twist would be. However, I still ate this book right up, the writing is great, the pacing keeps you going, and the characters are entertaining.

I have a bit of trepidation about this book containing accurate & helpful representation of face blindness... I would love to hear feedback from readers who have or have experience with this condition.

Thanks so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very cute story about an artist trying to find herself amidst great struggles. I liked all the characters and felt the emotional journey Sadie was one. When I first started reading I didn't believe that face blindness was real so I even learned more about a very real condition some people have.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
2.5 ⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for a copy of this ARC!
 
Shortly after receiving the greatest achievement of her career (so far), Sadie finds herself in a hospital bed being diagnosed with “face blindness”, which the doctors hope will be temporary. Problem is, Sadie is an artist – a portrait artist, more specifically – and she can no longer see faces, but what looks like a “jumbled puzzle of disconnected features”.
 
Unpopular opinion: I just didn’t love this. I found Sadie incredibly immature and annoying, and couldn’t connect to her at all.
 
Listen, I’m here for some unbelievability in a romcom. In fact, I often really enjoy it. The unbelievability factor in this just went a bit too far, to the point where it seemed like there were plot holes. Unfortunately, this just missed the mark for me.
 
 
TW: bullying, loss of a parent

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫 (4-1/2 rounded down, or up, I dunno? I loved this book!)
Hello Stranger has a clever plot idea for a romcom. With the main character Sadie developing face blindness after an accident, which I liked that vs her being born with the condition. In my opinion it worked better for the entire storyline since she didn’t have the condition initially, then she did, and then was she stuck with it ..or no? As a reader it was interesting & fun experiencing Sadie navigate life through her new eyes/brain, between figuring out to deal with it as far as the most obvious thing, people, of course. People she already knew that she couldn’t see & strangers. Plus the fact she’s an artist that specializes in face portraits, yikes!! I could NOT imagine. I’ve read other books where it was about a character with amnesia or face blindness & I’m usually not a fan, she did this so well!

I have extremely high expectations for romcom books. You can’t just feed me cheese & give it the happily ever after for it to win me over. I feel like the author did such an exceptional balance between the story/plot itself, bringing out emotions in the book & being so good at it that myself the reader was also feeling them. One minute I was laughing or smiling at something they said or a moment that was had, another I was mad at characters, or sad for Sadie…just all the feels. Then the connections between Sadie & her potential love interests, yes please 🥰

This book was so easy to sit & binge read, a very cute humorous story! I really loved the ending too, for multiple reasons! I think I found a new fave author to add to my list😉

Lastly I just have to say I absolutely love Katherine Center’s writing (I love her humor!!) & the way she writes the dialogue it’s how I feel I might talk, relatable. This is my first book by her & I 120% will be reading the next book she comes out with & most likely going back & reading some oldies but goodies of hers 🤗 Authors like this make me want to read more romcoms, where usually I’m inclined to pickup something with stalkers & killers in it 🤷‍♀️💖🖤

Thank you so much NetGalley & and the publisher St Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review, I’m very thankful for the opportunity & every opportunity I receive from NetGalley & the publishers.

Romcom fans I absolutely recommend this, get yourself a copy, publication day is July 11, 2023 ☺️💖

What an absolute delight! This is the first time I've read a book, never mind a romcom, about face blindness. It was fascinating with the inclusion of the high stakes for the protagonist. The plot twist was easy to spot but that feels intentional. I even enjoyed the breakdown at the end of why that situation made sense. Sure, it was a little far fetched but there was no detractor from my enjoyment of the book. Easy read, but it really tapped into my emotions. The protagonist was very relatable and I was rooting for her the entire time.

Another must read from Katherine Center. I barely read the description of this book before pressing request, because I love her book and they are some of my most recommended books. I really enjoy the blend of comfort/self-discovery, self-help/family dynamics and romance.

I won't spoil anything and there's no need to recap what is already in the book description, but definitely read this book if you like other novels by Katherine Center, you will not be disappointed!