Katherine Center’s books always get a high rating from me simply because they earn it. This one however was a solid three stars until *MIC DROP* she got me. She got me in the best way possible.

In HELLO STRANGER we have an another strong female lead that is stronger than she thinks. There is always sound advice in Katherine Center’s books. A doctor in the book that was helping her cope. She told her that when the odds of something going wrong are 1%, you need to stop focusing on that 1%, and focus on the other 99%. She tells her that she needs to convince her mine of the positive outcome. Not the negative. Sadie says, “but what if I don’t believe that?” and the doctor tells her “then keep arguing”. This is an accurate summary of one of the main lessons in the book.

Sadie is a portrait artist faced with sudden face blindness. She is a finalist in and upcoming portrait contest but how do you draw faces when you can’t see them?

Enter two love interests. We have a handsome (we think) veterinarian and a womanizing (he is isn’t he?!) saves the day at all times neighbor. I absolutely cannot say more and risk spoiling anything but this was amazing. When you read this (because you HAVE to read this) and it happens, you will know. A light will come on and it will all
make sense. BRAVO Katherine Center!

This is such a fun book- Katherine Center books are as joyful and comforting as they come. This is a very G rated book but boy was it fun

🅶🅴🅽🆁🅴—𝒞𝑜𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓂𝓅𝑜𝓇𝒶𝓇𝓎 𝑅𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒
🗓ℙ𝕦𝕓 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕖—𝕁𝕦𝕝𝕪 𝟙𝟙, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

✂️ P L O T L I N E
Sadie is a struggling artist who has has had some bad breaks in life. Finally, she gets her big break when she becomes a finalist in a portrait competition. Unfortunately, she ends up needed major surgery at the same time and is left with some complications that takes away the one thing she had going for her…being amazing at painting portraits. This story takes us through Sadie trying to save her career, falling in love with two different guys, and really trying to find her place in this world. A romance read that makes you realize that there is more than one way to be a winner in life.

💭 ⓂⓎ ⓉⒽⓄⓊⒼⒽⓉⓈ
I vividly remember reading my first Katherine Center book “How to Walk Away” a couple of years ago. I was having a tough time in life and my bestie brought it for me to read. I was heart broken during the first couple of chapters for the characters in the story and then the book turned in to a story of hope and resilience. It was exactly what I needed to read at that point in my life. All that to say that I had very similar vibes reading “Hello Stranger.” It’s a romance story but also so much more. A story of resilience and reminding us that we were put on this Earth to grow and change and embrace who we really are at every step in our lives, even when we feel the most alone. I will forever be a fan of Katherine Center. Her books are so fun to read and really let you dive in deeper into the meaning of over coming obstacles that are put in our way. “Hello Stranger” is the perfect balance of finding love, overcoming family drama, and really finding yourself. A story that reminds us that changing our perception can help us understand someone else’s point of view and leas us to live the life that we really want. Make sure to read the Authors note. It is 💯!!! And I’ll end with Katherine Centers own words: “This love story really created fantastic anticipation.”

🎨𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾 🎨
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

💕Q U O T E S: “We’re all just muddling through, after all. We’re all struggling with our struggles. Nobody has the answers. And everybody, deep down, is a little bit lost.”

🙏Thank you NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Katherine Center for this beautiful ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts 💕

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a ARC of this book. I found it to be such a fun read…funny and charming but also pulled on your heart strings. I do think it was fairly predictable but for me most rom-com style books are this way but it doesn’t take away any enjoyment in reading them. I enjoyed cheering Sadie on as she navigates her way through everything that comes her way. Definitely recommend for an easy good feel read!

Anything Center writes is beautiful, hopeful, and deeply woven together beyond normal confines of a romance novel. Hello Stranger was a hug in a book, with estranged family dynamics, and a unique love triangle. I loved it and couldn’t get through it fast enough. Once again, a five star from this author!

“We’re all just muddling through, after all. We’re all just doing the best we can. We’re all struggling with our struggles. Nobody had the answers. And everybody, deep down, is a little bit lost.”

A struggling artist, Sadie is thrilled to learn that she is as finalists in a nationwide portrait competition. With 6 weeks to paint a winning portrait, she isn’t expecting to have to be saved by a stranger in a crosswalk and end up having a “simple” brain surgery. When Sadie wakes up from surgery, she realizes everything is fine, except she can’t see faces.

When her 14 year old dog gets sick, she rushes him to the vet and meets Dr. Addison, who promptly asks her on a date. But there’s also Joe, who isn’t quite as annoying as she thought he was. She doesn’t want either man to know about her face blindness. Now she is juggling to save her career, confront her past, and falling in love with two different guys. Sadie will find that happiness is found where you least expect it.

Katherine Center is one of those writers that writes fun, happy books while sometimes tackling the tougher subjects like loss and grief. This book was no exception. This was a great read by an excellent author. Thank you NetGalley, Katherine Center, and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. 4/5⭐️

I loved this book. It was a cute romance story without all the extra spicy parts. Sadie is the main character that has something pretty traumatic happen to her and I loved finding out how she learned how to adapt her life. You definitely have to keep reading to find what happens—I was surprised.

I rated this book 5/5⭐️. I definitely recommend this book. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy!

Summary - Sadie Montgomery is a struggling artist who has an almost nonexistent relationship with her father. After becoming a top 10 finalist in an art contest she finally could have her big break. That is until she has an accident that leaves her needing brain surgery and subsequently acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia (Face Blindness). Not a great thing to have when you are an artist in the middle of the most important contest of your life. On top of it all her beloved dog Peanut gets sick, thankfully emergency veterinarian Dr. Oliver Addison is there to save the day. It's a major bonus that he is quite charming and has great facial features (even though she can't see him.) Sadie is head over heels, but she has some challenges ahead with her big contest right around the corner. Fortunately for her so is her neighbor “Joe” who is always there to lend her a helping hand. With 2 men in her life, the contest rapidly approaching, and her facial blindness not improving what will she do?


Pros- Super cute quick read. Unique to other books out there right now


Cons- I did not like that even after Sadie has a real heart to heart with her dad she is still treated her lesser than her stepsister. Plot was a bit predictable


Trope- Forced Proximity (live in the same apartment building), Love Triangle


TW- Bullying, Mention of suicide and overdose


Spice level – 0



ARC provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for honest review.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Anything Katherine Center is a “can’t wait to get my hands on, must read.”

And of course, Hello Stranger was no different.

Sadie, a literal starving portriat artist catches her big break in being picked as a finalist for a portriat competition. The catch: she undergoes brain surgery that gives her (hopefully temporary) face blindness. How does one paint portriats without facial recognition?!?

Throw in some family drama, the power of grief, and falling in love without ever seeing the guy’s face as a face.

So much story packed into this novel and I adored every second of it.

For the last 25 percent of the book, I was on the edge of my seat or crying.

I want to live inside Center’s head, she outdoes herself every time.

“Our thoughts create our emotions. So if you fixate on your worst-case scenario, you’ll make things harder on yourself.”

“Practice the art of self-encouragement.”

I absolutely adored this book and the characters in it. Especially Sadie Montgomery, I adored her. She is such a like able person. Within this story we go through the many trials and tribulations she has to endure, and through it all she is still such a nice person to anyone she comes in contact with. I loved how different this story was from any I’ve been reading lately. My favorite book by Katherine Center to date.

Thank you NetGalley, Katherine Center, and St. Martin’s Press for my eArc! You guys check this book out the release date is July 11, 2023.

You know the phrase “Nowhere to go but up?” That seems like it ought to apply to Sadie, except the blows keep coming. Somehow she doesn’t turn into a blubbering mess. I think I would have needed to crying time. A drink. A hug. SOMETHING.

Sadie seems to roll with the punches though, as she should after growing up with her family. Her best friend is a sweetie. She has a possible love triangle, although one leg of that triangle seems sort of “iffy”. The other part of that triangle is Joe, who seems to be a ladies man while also seeming wonderful, but is that possible? Then she still has this brain issue mucking up her vision, and how is this going to affect her entire life?

In supreme Katherine Center style, finding out the answer to how it changes Sadie’s life is a great story and a terrific read.

Couldn’t put it down, finished in one day. Such a great romance with a subject that I didn’t know much about but was fascinated to learn. Love, love, love this book

4.5 stars

Sadie Montgomery was a portrait artist who recently found out she was a finalist for the North American Portrait Society's competition. Winning the prize money would be wonderful, but maybe winning would get her family, especially her father, to see her career in a different light. Sadie was crossing the street near her apartment when she found herself waking up in the hospital. She had what the doctors called a non-convulsive seizure. A good samaritan pushed her out of the crosswalk in order to save her from getting hit by traffic. An MRI revealed she had a weakened blood vessel in her brain that warranted surgery. The doctors, including her father, wanted her to get the surgery ASAP. Sadie wanted to wait six weeks until after her competition portrait was completed, but they convinced her to get the surgery first. The surgery was successful in treating the vessel, but it left her with the inability to see faces.

I loved Sadie's character so much. I wanted everything wonderful for her including having her family acknowledge and apologize for the wrongs they blamed on her. Sadie's best friend, Sue, and her parents were loving and supportive of Sadie and her life choices. Sadie developed a crush on two guys during the story. It was fun to watch those two romances play out. The ending was very sweet and what I wanted to happen. Tears of happiness may have been shed. I cannot imagine the difficulty of navigating life not initially knowing whom you were talking to and being unsure if you were supposed to know them. Katherine Center writes sweet stories I love to read. I am so happy I read this one.

I received an e-ARC for Hello Stranger and want to thank Katherine Center, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to voluntarily read and give an honest review of this book.

Hello Stranger is set to be released July 11, 2023.

Katherine Center can do no wrong!!! I’ve always been a fan of her writing and this new novel is no exception!!! A fun, smart, and funny read with impressive depth. The characters were all incredibly well developed and I was easily able to form bonds and attachments to each of them! I couldn’t put this one down!! Bravo!

Such an enjoyable book that had the perfect balance of lighthearted and silly romance, while also dealing with the heavy seriousness of grief, self identity, and daily relationships with people we know and those we don’t.

My favourites parts of the book were definitely Sadie’s humour and her personality, she was just so likeable and it was so easy to root for her, even when you could tell she messed up. I adored her chemistry with Joe/Oliver (lol) and found both dynamics so wonderful to read.

I really loved this book. I had a feeling I knew how things described in the blurb would ultimately work themselves out, but the journey to get there was so lovely, heartbreaking, hopeful, and endearing. To borrow some phrasing from the Author’s Note at the end of this novel, there was “fantastic anticipation” leading to the resolution. (Please take time to read the note—it’s wonderful.)

Sadie has not had an easy life in general, and to end up face blind following a surgery when she’s trying to make a living as a portrait artist is a massive blow. The whole concept was such a unique plot to me and fascinating in general. It’s clear that Katherine Center did an extensive amount of research on the condition to do her best at writing an authentic experience. Sadie is a fighter, but in a realistic way, where sometimes she’s exhausted and needs to stop fighting for a minute. I think it’s such a great message woven in that that’s ok. Sometimes we need to stop, or let someone help, and we’re all doing the best we can.

The romance was really more of a secondary storyline to Sadie’s journey for me, but as it grew, it became an important part of helping her find her way to accepting and adjusting to her circumstances. One thread gave her something hopeful to latch onto, even if it was mostly fantasy to begin with, and the other gave her support and understanding.

Katherine Center is quickly becoming one of my favorites for a unique, soft, and comforting romance read.

I was so excited to see that Katherine Center had a new book coming out and I'm so thankful that I got to read an ARC of it!

I had never read or heard anything about facial blindness before so I was very curious to learn about this condition, and what better way to learn about something than from a romance novel? The MC is a portrait artist and now has facial blindness, what could happen?? I loved following Sadie's journey to finding herself again during this unbearably challenging time in her life. Figuring out how to do daily tasks but also how to continue in her career.

Sadie and her friendship with Sue (loved their vibes through all the calls and texts) and her unlikely friendship with her neighbor Joe were so fun to read about. Honestly this book as a whole was a hoot.

Thanks netgalley for the ARC, it really made my day!

Hello Stranger is so much fun, I couldn’t put it down! I really enjoyed the unique premise, and the characters were delightful. The ‘Big Misunderstanding’ is a big enough plot point that the author even tongue in cheek references it in the text, so fair warning if that’s a distracting element for you. Overall however, the author does a fantastic job of wrapping you up in the story and giving you characters that you really root for. Her research into the medical aspects of the book was very thoroughly done and it shows!

I loved this book! A perfect story filled with sunshine and hope. All the sweetness without the spice, which is exactly what I needed. I know you’ll love being immersed in Sadie’s world just as much as I did!

So, Katherine Center has become one of my favorite romance authors in the past years, with the bodyguard being a particular favorite of mine. When I saw she was publishing a new book, I obviously had to request it and immediately got an arc to review (yay me!).
Was this my favorite? No. Was it funny, original and did I have a great time reading it? Yes!!!

I’m trying out a more systemized review system (especially for arcs), so here we go:

**Plot:** This book follows our girl Sadie, who’s a portrait artist and - in typical Katherine Center style - has been diagnosed with a condition that requires surgery. Unfortunately, this surgery leaves her unable to recognize faces. So now, we have a portrait artist who can’t see faces and has been selected to the final stage of an art competition taking place 6 weeks later - intriguing, right?

**Characters:** I loved the main character, Sadie. She is unhinged and we are here for it. I loved Peanut, her dog, hope he lives a long live. The relationship with her dad and her stepmother was so interesting and I loved getting to know more about it. Her best friend, Sue, was so cool, but I was sad we didn’t get to see more of her. When it comes to the boys, though, I really can’t say much without spoiling it. **Parker is a bitch.**

**Romance:** So, this book is a bit of a love triangle, but with a twist that makes it so unique, I couldn’t hate it. I did see it coming, when I was around half way through the book, and let me tell you. I LAUGHED. OUT LOUD. FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES. Just read it, okay????

**Writing:** This book is written in first person perspective, so throughout the story, we only get access to Sadie’s thoughts and actions. I loved it and I think it was the perfect writing style for this book.

**Pacing:** Kinda slow in the middle, but nothing too bothersome.

**Themes:** Loved getting to know more about prosopagnosia. It also dealt with grieve, bullying and complicated family relationships, but without it being too heavy.

**Recommendation:** Pick it up when it comes out. It’s light, fun and original. Let me just drop a quote to try to convince you: “Being kidnapped to Canada is every girl’s dream.”

**Rating:** ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I voluntary read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me this arc via Netgalley.