I had not read a Katherine Center before and I will pick up her works in the future. This was so fast paced and I read it in one sitting. I have recommended this on my bookstagram!

I’ve loved Katherine’s other books for their great characters, engaging plots, and witty banter. This book has everything that I’ve lived about her previous ones. I couldn’t put this book down, and I finished it within a day. If you’re looking for a funny read with great characters— this is your book!

This was my second book by Katherine Center and I loved it 🥰 Sadie is an artist that paints portraits. When tragedy hits and Sadie is left with propoganosia (face blindness), she is forced to face some tough challenges. I love how this was written so beautifully bringing in hope and love during such a difficult and life altering challenge.
I loved the humor, the family drama, the dog, and the romance. Katherine Center knows how to suck you in and give you all the feels 🥰
I’m excited to read all of Katherine Center’s books. I have a few on my shelf. I’ve only read The Bodyguard before this one.

Thank you @netgalley and @random house for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

Center's books are always like a dramatic big hug. Something devastating is bound to happen...in this case...Sadie wakes up after an unexpected surgery and can't recognize faces. But the whole story has you anticipating the warm, cozy hug that will inevitably be the ending.

Family drama, best friends, mistaken identity, love.

Hello Stranger felt more in line with the romcom subgenre. It was cutesy and made me smile.

4 stars simply because I personally loved the feel of How to Walk Away and Things You Save In a Fire more.

A great read, I highly recommend. The story of Sadie, who is face blind after a surgery on her brain. What does this mean for her career as an artist? Emotional read at times.

Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist on the cusp of getting her big break in a portrait competition, when everything gets turned on its head. She is discovered to have a condition that needs brain surgery right away, and although she fights to postpone it until after her competition, she finds out her mother died of the same condition so she chooses to have the surgery right away. She wakes up and discovers there has been a complication, she has developed face blindness. Faces look like a jumbled mess of features, and it could not come at a worse time, then when her future career depends on her ability to paint a realistic portrait. As she struggles to find a way to paint with her condition she begins to get to know a neighbour living on her floor, but also falls in lust with her dog's new vet.
Not being able to recognize people by their face will really change the trajectory of her life, and while things don't work out the way she wants, everything will end up a blessing in disguise.

This was such a lovely surprise of a book. I have heard so many good things about this authors work, so when i had the opportunity to get a copy of her latest release I jumped at the chance. There were a few aspects that didn't work for me. Some of the side characters felt too much like caricature and had one dimension. Past that I really enjoyed this book, it felt over the top in the best way. I don't know if it was intentional but I felt the love interest being called Joe, when his name was not Joe as a nod to a Christina Lauren character who happened to be referred to as Not-Joe. The characters were quirky, funny, and outrageous in the best way. I did not want to put the book down, it was so readable.

Katherine Center attacks another tough topic with a brain injury that can't identify faces. This was new to me, so it was interesting to learn about. The characters were great, humor added to help the flow of the plot, and the idea of her being an artist having to paint after this brain injury adds so much.

I will be recommending this to others for sure!

Katherine Center is an auto read for them and this one does not disappoint! Well written, with great characters. I laughed and I cried!

Katherine Center writes love, loss, and other themes with such grace and wit. I leave her books feeling like I have found new friends and I feel like I grow in my own way, especially in regards to empathy for people of all walks and lives. Stellar book, once again!

An incredibly interesting premise about a girl with a brain injury and develops face blindness. As someone who works in Neurosurgery, I couldn’t get on board with the “wait and see” approach to edema that was the same 2 weeks after surgery and then all of a sudden was resolving. That’s what steroids are for. Alas, I found the twist at the end to be predictable. Not my favorite from this author unfortunately

To start, I have enjoyed reading most of Center’s books, especially last year’s The Bodyguard, but Hello, Stranger just was worthy of a 5 star rating. The storyline is unique as the reader learns of neurological condition called prosopagnosia (face blindness) which was brought on by cavernoma in her brain. Although this is horrible for anyone, Sadie is especially effected by this issue as she is a portrait painter causing her to not complete a portrait that has been submitted into a highly prestigious portrait competition. Besides Sadie having a difficult family, Sadie has difficulty asking for help. After a few unfortunate situations, Sadie finds herself in a love triangle between the helpful neighbor, Joe and the strikingly handsome veterinarian, who saved her dog Peanut’s life. She must ask both of them for help, and she falls for both of them, but she cannot not identify either of their faces.

The premise is inspiring as we should look within before judging someone by their face alone, and the parts of the story are heartwarming and funny. I would recommend reading this one if you feel good story with a little love triangle and a little steam.

Thank you Libro.fm for the advanced copy audiobook and Netgalley for the advanced copy eBook. And a special Thank You to St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read and review the book.

Katherine Center wrote another book everyone is going to love. Sadie and Joe have such an unlikely start to their relationship and the way it all comes out in the end is a big surprise to anyone. The family dynamics of Sadie, her dad, Lucinda and Parker are another layer of complexity to this story. After Sadie lost her mom suddenly, her dad remarried rather quickly and that marriage came with an evil stepsister that did everything she could to get Sadie out of her life and turn her mom, Lucinda and Sadie's dad against Sadie. The sad part is Sadie has always been a genuinely nice person. When she develops prosopagnosia (face blindness) after a needed brain surgery her world is literally turned upside down. Her portrait career and chance of a lifetime to make a name for herself may just be slipping away.

I thoroughly enjoyed this silly and engaging romance.

Our heroine Sadie was a hot mess from the beginning (which, I liked because life is messy y'all.) Our hero Joe started out as more of a zero (yes that rhyme should make you cringe) but by the end of the book he had more than redeemed himself.

Like all of Katherine Center's books, the secondary characters were well written and did add to the storyline. There were a couple of the characters that I would have liked a house to drop on but for the most part they all had good and bad traits just like people actually do.

I would recommend this book to any fan of Katherne Center or anyone who enjoys hard won HEAs.

Sadie, the very definition of a starving artist, finally gets her big break when she is selected as a finalists in a renowned portrait competition. But after having brain surgery, she develops face blindness. She can't recognize anyone--let alone paint their features. She struggles through, trying to find ways of coping, all while developing a bit of a crush on two new men in her life: her dog's classically handsome, ivy league educated veterinarian and her floppy-haired hipster potentially playboy neighbor. But her inability to paint and truly evil stepsister make things challenging.

Wow! I love Katherine Center's writing, especially her newer works (which veer on the slightly less tragic), and this one didn't disappoint. I had intended to read an early copy last Christmas, but didn't want to mess up my (already-decided) best books of 2022 rankings, and @bookswithnopictures had been screaming about how good it was, so I held off... and somehow just managed to get to it it now. Oops. But it was just what I needed to pick me up after a string of perfectly average books. It had everything I wanted--a likable heroine, swoony hero(es), an interesting career and subplot, and ride-or-die BFF. I could have done without the literally sociopathic stepsister, but every book needs a villain, I guess. I really, really enjoyed this book and would whole-heartedly recommend.

Thanks to St. Martin's for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 10/10

Couldn't really get into this book. I wanted to love it as much as I loved The Bodyguard but just couldn't get there.

I did however like that Katherine Center chose a medical condition that I knew nothing about, acquired Prosopagnosia. Which allows you to see parts of a face but not the whole thing, essentially you're face blind. It was cool getting all sorts facts about this condition but that meant we go more inner thoughts of our main character Sadie. Who, for me at least, was just self-conceited and boring. BUT thankfully she could still recognize her dog Peanut's face. Because that would have gutted me.

I also liked the twist for which guy Sadie ended up with: our neighbor (sleaze) Joe or Peanut's veterinarian Dr. Addison.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving this review.

I actually read and reviewed this earlier on GoodReads and forgot to send in my feedback, my apologies!

I’ve read a handful of Katherine Center books and I have enjoyed them all! Some more than others, this one wasn’t my favorite but it was still overall a good read! I found Sadie’s condition a little hard to wrap my mind around, but I also enjoyed that making the book a little different. Sadie was quirky and silly, which was sometimes annoying - but it wasn’t enough to make me not enjoy her character! She made me laugh with her judgements and her being so naive at some points! I would have liked to see a little more play out with the step sister, I felt like it was sprinkled throughout the book for it to be a little anticlimactic at the end.

3.5 stars overall! Looking forward to reading more from Katherine Center! She know how to write a good book and no 2 are the same!

While not my favorite of Center's books, I did enjoy "Hello Stranger." It took me a little while to get into the story, but I was eventually immersed in Sadie's world and grew to love the characters. I enjoyed the twist and didn't see it coming until later in the book. Center's fans will not be disappointed.

I have loved every Katherine Center that I’ve ever read, and this one was no different. I absolutely love her writing style and the characters that she creates.

One thing I often don’t like about romance novels is that they follow the same formula. I still enjoy the story, but nothing really surprises me and I need a little bit more. But this one was so unique and it actually surprised me a few different times!

I loved the representation of prosopagnosia. I had never heard of it before, so it was interesting to learn about and shocked me when it was brought into the story (not a spoiler, it’s in the synopsis…I just hardly ever read the synopsis).

I also loved all of the side plots that took place throughout the novel, and I would totally read a Parker redemption arc. Just saying.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

Katherine Center’s books are so special to me. Each one is filled with so much joy, and she always teaches me something about gratitude, courage, and optimism. Her newest book Hello Stranger just came out, and it is filled with all of those things and more.

Sadie is a portraitist on the verge of her big break when a routine surgery causes her to develop face blindness. The book follows Sadie’s journey as she learns to view the world in a completely new way. There’s an adorable dog, art, and a very compelling love triangle!

I first read this book in April and I was so delighted by it that when it came out in July I knew I needed to read it again. Plus, I am begging everyone to stick around for the author’s note, which contains a beautiful mediation on romance and its importance. I would like to frame it and put it on my living room wall. Thank you to the publisher for sending me an early copy!

My favorite thing about this book was how multifaceted Sadie’s life is. Not plot point is at the service of the romantic storyline. She has a job, a family, a best friend, and a dog as well as a love interest or two. And honestly, no one part of her life gets more time in the spotlight than the other. And it all fits together and builds up at the same time. Seamless.

Near the end, I started to get really frustrated with Sadie. She kept ignoring things I thought were PIVOTAL to the plot and focusing on the most insignificant little details. She asked the wrong questions or didn’t ask any questions at all so many times, and I wanted to scream at her. One of her love interests wasn’t mentioned for 100 pages after an event that warranted if not a text exchange or a meetup, at the very least one single thought of him on Sadie’s part. Of course, this all played into the plot, so in the end I somewhat forgave her. But still, it took me out of the book and felt contrived.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and certainly not your average romance. Something Center says in the Author’s Note really struck home after finishing Hello Stranger. Basically, romances may be predictable, you may know who will end up with who and that it’ll all end happily. But the anticipation of getting there, the excitement of watching things unfold, makes romances so enjoyable. In the end, I felt a sense of satisfaction that made up for any frustration I’d felt before. And there were certainly a few things I didn’t see coming…