After devouring this book and in one sitting, Katherine Center has definitely become an auto-buy author for me, Her novels are basically a happy ray of sunshine in book form. She has such a knack for getting you to fall in love with all of her characters and drawing you into the story right from the get-go. Also, the narrator's inner dialogue and the witty repartee between the two leads had me laughing out loud. I just love, love, love this author's books so much. I cannot recommend them enough!

I am a fan of Katherine Center’s feel good brand of romance. I’ve read 6 now, and Hello Stranger might just be my favorite. It captivated me from the beginning with an original romance. None of the traditional tropes such as friends-to-lovers or opposites attract, the face blind aspect felt fresh. The main characters were immensely likable and so easy to route for. I’m a sucker for happy endings and good things happening to good people, and Center delivered on both. My only complaint is the epilogue. It felt a little too much like she was trying to tell the reader how to think, which was a detractor, but other than that, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of Hello Stranger in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.

I absolutely LOVE Katherine Center & when I saw that she was releasing a new novel, I knew I HAD to read it. And honestly, even if I’d never read her before, the cover alone would have had me running to pick it up!

This story has such a cute premise!!! Sadie ends up having a minor surgery that is not supposed to have any bad effects, however, when she wakes up, she has face blindness & cannot see human faces any longer. She begins to fall for two different men (1) her dog’s vet, whose face she has never seen due to her condition; and (2) her extremely annoying neighbor Joe.

You will root hard for Sadie through all of her misfortune and you will fall in love with all of the characters.

As always, Center’s writing is on point, flows well and reads very quickly, keeping you invested in the story.

I absolutely give this book a full 5 stars and would recommend it to anyone who loves a good romance, especially one with a different type of premise. If you already love Katherine Center, I’m sure this is already on your list. If you’ve never read her novels before, what are you waiting for!!??!!??

The world today make “beauty” the top characteristic we look for, but what if you can’t see the beauty? What do you look for? How about kindness and goodness. This book shows us what world needs more of and that is kindness and goodness.

This was my first time reading a book by this author. It had me enthralled from the beginning. A story about a girl with face blindness after having a life saving procedure is incredibly unique and serves as a great introduction to the condition. It really shows how much we depend on being able to recognize people when the ability disappears after always being there.

I loved the fact that she could still see dog faces and her very best friend was there by her side the entire way as she navigated this chaotic time. I was literally in tears when she found out she could see her pup.

I loved the story of her focusing on something other than the way someone looks to be able to identify them and relying on knowing how they feel to give her clues instead. The fact that she falls in love with someone while going through trying to come to terms with being unable to see his face gave so much depth to the relationship.

This author is very good at stirring emotions. I hated her sister, loved her pup and went on an emotional rollercoaster with the others. It is also a great story about development of self. Learning who you really are and not needing to be held to what the world expects you to be is a powerful message in this book.

I am looking forward to exploring more books by this author.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC!

HELLO STRANGER had me giggling and wiggling my toes with excitement (read: swooning), and tearing up. I was sucked in immediately and even though I had a feeling of what the twist was going to be, I needed to see how Sadie's story played out. I really loved this book. You immediately cheer for Sadie and just want her to succeed. Sadie juggles the potential loss of her big break, grief, loss, family drama, a dashing vet, and a douchey neighbor with courage and strength. Peanut is there to help too. :)

What an interesting way to introduce the idea of face blindness to the general population which the book mentions up to 2% of the world population might have elements of! The author really takes a fun spin on character development and the change in how you would describe someone based upon not being able to identify faces. Creating unique experience of relationship development that went on, and the book gradually built steam towards the ending. The author gives you the heads up that the narrator's character will have difficulty processing events and at times it seems like there should be more there, but with the background information it is clear that that is also intentional through the character's struggle.

A fascinating read and a nice way to spend the afternoon in the arts and with a new appreciation for what we are able to see!

A good romance novel requires unique circumstances: what about this book is going to set it apart from all the other happily ever afters? Well, this book has A+ circumstances. A portrait painter who goes face blind? How can you not be interested in that. Sadie's story is both compelling and informative. Hello Stranger is the first book I've read by Katherine Center, and it won't be the last.

It is no secret that I am a huge Katherine Center fan. I have read *almost* every book she's written, and the bubbly, warm feelings they continue to give me are unmatched. We are talking better than a fresh-out-of-the-oven, perfect & warm chocolate chunk cookie here, readers.

I have been in quite the little slump, coming off of reading 200 books in 2022 so when I got notified that this eARC dropped on my kindle, I was more than happy to dose myself with some happiness.

This follows Sadie Montgomery, who is a portrait artist, trying to prove to her doctor-father that she can be successful AND happy all at once. On the same night she hears she has placed in the top 10 in a prestigious portrait art contest, she suffers from a seizure. This enlightens her to her congenital brain defect, cavernoma, and she is urged to have brain surgery asap for everything to return to normal again. Then she can get right back into painting and everything will be daisies and rainbows! Sound too good to be true? That's because it is.

Sadie wakes up from the surgery with “acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia”-- aka face blindness. Now she's a portrait artist... who can't see faces. Maybe this deficit will allow for Sadie to see things she's been overlooking... like that cutie in her building with a heart of gold...

Listen, I just loved this. I found it to be fun, heartwarming, and overall just another great book by Miss Center!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an eARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5/5⭐️

Katherine Center blowing me away once again! This book was so good!

Absolutely loved Sadie’s character and the journey of her medical issues, financial struggles, strained family relationships, working through emotional trauma & the evolving love stories. I laughed out loud so many times while reading & a few moments I was almost crying! The storyline was so unique. From beginning to end I was captivated by the story & the characters & was not ready for it to come to an end!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy!

I have been devouring Katherine Center’s work ever since reading The Bodyguard last year, and Hello Stranger did not disappoint!

We follow Sadie Montogmery, a struggling artist looking for her big break. After finding out she’s a finalist in a portrait contest, she unfortunately finds herself in the hospital needing brain surgery. As she moves through recovery, she notices that she can no longer recognize faces. Which is a huge problem for an artist who specializes in portraits. As if things couldn’t get worse, her beloved dog peanut gets sick and in walks Dr. Oliver Addison. He’s always catching Sadie at her worst and helping her through it. We follow Sadie as she tries to save her career, cope with her new reality, and even fall in love.

What I love so much about Center is the way she writes stories about serious issues, but keeps them funny and engaging. I enjoyed learning about face blindness and how it affects those who suffer from it. I also felt like the love story was well done and so was the conflict- I read the whole book in one sitting and really enjoyed all of it! Would recommend to anyone!

I am a big fan of Katherine’s other books, unfortunately this one did not resonate with me. I enjoy a good romance story, however, as she says in the Notes section, there is a lot of “anticipation” (or predictability). I also felt that a few storylines dragged on in the beginning and could have been shortened or removed. The first 70-100 pages is what made me give this 3 stars. Once the story picked up towards the end, I enjoyed it much more. All in all, I liked this book, just not my favorite of hers.

As part of a "readathon" IG group to start the year, the group chat went crazy when someone mentioned seeing this title pop up on NetGalley.

While I'm not a romance fan, my FOMO got the best of me and I had to check it out. In the end, I'm glad I did.

Hello Stranger is a quick, simple read. While it's pretty obvious how everything will turn out, this is a time when I think the author wanted the reader to kind of know it early. There is the hopeless romantic drive that pulls the readers through, waiting for the realization to hit, and then wanting the pay off from it.

The characters were lovely--largely simple, wholly uncomplicated, and doggedly kind. They deserved they endings they got and the plot, while never overly ridiculous, had just enough head-shaking moments to make this feel like an escape from reality and not an over-the-top, never-in-real-life fantasy.

Overall: 4 stars

I'll tell my students about: language, trauma, sex, parental death, bullying/stalking, alochol

**Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free ARC prior to publication. All opinions expressed are my own.**

I got my first Katherine Center book last year through my BOTM subscription and really enjoyed it and thought I would enjoy this one as well and I wasn't wrong! I absolutely loved Sadie and her journey through this book. My only issues were I figured out what was going to happen pretty early on with her relationship with Joe and her relationship with the vet, and I didn't totally understand a lot of Sadie's decisions after her surgery and her ability to see faces. Overall it's a book I would read again and plan to purchase when it comes out.

This is my second Katherine Center's book that I've read and what a delight this happy love story is!! What if the one thing that you relied on most to do your passion/job was taken away? To see Sadie navigate her life after being diagnosed with facial blindness in a way was healing and therapeutic to read. It wasn't until Sadie's facial blindness that she really started to see people and who they truly are. Taking the time to get to know people and seeing past their looks and into their hearts - being open to seeing people differently. There are so many things I loved about this book, including the reminder that we choose which of our thoughts to focus on and how we perceive things... the mention of someone else with facial blindness who considers her symptom as her superpower - incredibly powerful and moving...and how Sadie feels closer to her mom. The ending couldn't have been more perfect. And I have to say, there's nothing much better than a handsome veterinarian!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC.

This was so good from start to finish! Fast paced, unique plot and great characters. Thank you to St Martin’s Press & NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital copy. Our thoughts are our own

Okay, not going to lie here but I didn’t think anything could top Katherine’s 2022 release of The Bodyguard but my gosh Hello Stranger did!!!! It is rare that we both get an ARC and are able to read the book around the same time but we did so you are lucky to get a joint review!!

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling artist looking for one lucky break. Life has been finally starting to go her way when she lands one of the coveted spots in a portrait competition. It happens to coincide with a surgery she needs to have. Her Doctors tell her it will be easy, less than a week in the hospital and nothing will change. Upon recovery, Sadie realizes that she can see everything around her, except she can no longer see faces. She keeps being told it is only temporary and lots of people deal with it. As she struggles to deal with it and hang onto her artistic dreams, she finds peace in her 14 year old dog peanut. Unfortunately, Peanut falls ill and Sadie has to take him to the vet. Where she meets and falls in love with the Veterinarian, Dr. Montgomery. Now she is dealing with her diagnosis of not being able to see faces, she is also trying to navigate new love.

LOVED LOVED LOVED!!! I am not going to lie, I DM’ed Katherine on Instagram on multiple occasions asking when it would be on Netgalley and as soon as I saw it there. I JUMPED on it.
I didn’t know how much I needed this book in my life until I started reading it. I couldn’t put it down. I was so invested in Sadie’s story and her diagnosis. It is so hard now to write a million things more about this book without giving it away. There was a big twist at the end that I legit did not see coming and I was so pleasantly surprised. This book was emotional, inspirational and a highly enjoyable read. It deserves every single one of the 5 stars we gave it!

I love everything this author writes and this book was no exception. I did figure out the "story" but it was still a cute, fun and quick read.

I loved this book! I went in blind and I'm so grateful I did! Definitely avoid spoilers as there are so many layers to this book that made it work out even better than I imagined.

Sadie is a portrait artist with an opportunity to participate in a contest that she's dreamed of... when she has to have brain surgery and begins to suffer from face blindness.

This book included romance, humor, growth and so many different layers that I loved how it played out. Such a great read!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC <3

I absolutely love Katherine Center’s characters. They are so rich and visceral. I also love that she doesn’t shy away from deeper plot lines and tragedy. This book is no different and I loved every minute of it. Sadie is a flawed person who learns a lot. And I don’t want to say anything else! No spoilers!