This book is very cute! It’s sweet and romantic and an enjoyable summer read. I highly recommend for any romance lovers (not looking for smut).

The reason there are only 4 stars is because the narrator really droned on and on about the same topics and thoughts, and the book could have been cut in half.

Thanks NetGalley for the advanced readers copy!

Sadie is a portrait artist who is struggling to really establish herself and prove to her family that she made the right choice in going the creative route for her career. Just as she gets her big break, life throws her a curve ball and throws everything out of whack.

This one took me a little bit to get into, but once I did, I couldn't put it down! I really appreciated how the main character's conflict was unique and complex. Definitely unlike anything I've seen before! And talk about the sweetest book boyfriend! They had a very slow start, but it was super sweet and he was so supportive even if he didn't have all the info.

The family dynamics were relatable but a bit far-fetched in parts... The stepsister was like something out of a cartoon. And it was odd that she didn't address some of the stuff with her dad until the end. Or at least acknowledge it more as she worked through everything.

All in all it was an interesting, dynamic read with lovable characters and witty writing.

"Seeing the world differently helps you see things not just that other people can't‐but that you yourself never could if you weren't so lucky. It lets you make your own rules. Color outside your own lines. Allow yourself another way of seeing."

Hello Stranger is a contemporary romance and my first book by this author. I am just going to say it out loud that she might become my favorite. Sadie, our main female character, is grieving and estranged from her father. Lots of her decisions are taken due to this grief. She goes through a medical disorder that alters her life. What ensues is the story of Hello Stranger.

I didn't expect really much other than romance from this novel, and I was surprised. Perception and fun are the two elements that changed for me with my own trauma. And to see those two elements incorporated in this novel made this probably one of my favorite novels of this year. Who said trauma can't be fun? I laughed, cried a bit, got frustrated, and cheered for Sadie.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this book.

CW: Surgery, grief, medical disorder, trauma

Thank you to Katherine Center, her team, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC opportunity!

This was my first book from Katherine Center. People loved her book, The Bodyguard, and I will definitely give that one a try, but for me this one felt a little off.

Sadie is a renowned portrait artist and before her big competition, a seizure has undergoing brain surgery to repair a blood vessel. Only now, she has the inability to see faces… not only important in day-to-day life but crucial for her job. Through the recovery struggles her Peanut almost dies and she falls in something akin to instalust with the vet who saved him.

Sadie was whiny and a bit too immature for me to really root her on. While the story itself would have been very interesting, the FMC made it hard for me to get fully bought in. However, I will definitely be reading Things We Save in a Fire and The Bodyguard.

4.5/5 stars

Hello Stranger is an emotional contemporary romance. It is my fifth book by this author.

Sadie is a struggling portrait artist. She has gotten a big opportunity to showcase her work. However she has an accident that puts her art career (and life how she knew it) in jeopardy.

I really loved this book. However it was not what I was expecting. The cover is so bright and pretty. But the book deals with some serious topics. And while parts of it felt light, other parts definitely did not.

I was very interested in Sadie's career and family difficulties. And I was very invested in her struggles due to her accident. I really did not want to book the book down.

This book was emotional and beautiful. And it made me feel in all of the right ways!

I found Sadie's telling frenetic with heart. The story spotlights how acquired Prosopagnosia changed Sadie's perspective on life and how she went about hers. Grief, family dynamics, and romance all wove together to paint an unexpected portrait of love, for herself most of all.

Great story with swoon-worthy moments. Not a story of strong relationships with others but rather the idea that a relationship with yourself should always come first.

This story was well researched and I always enjoy reading Katherine's prose. Fun and entertaining although some parts felt flat. Romance and serious subject matters like parental loss are hard to intermingle, but Katherine does a great job of doing just that. I feel like it had a good balance of lightheartedness and seriousness. I am a fan and always will be. I'll read every new book she writes.

Reading books by @katherinecenter always leave me smiling. Things You Save in a Fire was the book that got me addicted to her books. Her female characters are smart and funny. I want to be friends with them all.

Hello Stranger had me laughing out loud. There were times where I wanted to reach into the book and give Sadie a hug and tell her everything will be ok. This book is heartwarming.

Parker, the evil step sister, yes they still make those 😉needs to#have her own book with a man to put her in her place. I’d read it.

Katherine Center’s authors note spoke volumes to me and I was a bit convicted about my views of romance stories. I am one of the readers who always say I don’t read a lot of romance fiction or eye roll and say love stories are unrealistic but yet I read them and love them anyway. “Self-protecting” or “fear of vulnerability” maybe...I adored this story, which I first thought started out as far fetched but I ended staying up until 2am to finish because of the hope and emotional bliss the story ignited in me. This is my fourth book by Katherine Center and all her books have been a 5 star read for me. She is definitely gifted in her writing of this genre and I will be here for it, patiently waiting for her next book to drop!

Katherine Center can do no wrong for me, and this just cements that even further. This book is just fun. Yes, there are hard parts, but overall it's just so enjoyable. While I thought I knew where this was going, I wasn't sure how it was going to get there and I enjoyed the ride. 4.5 stars. Add this to your summer reading list.

Hello Stranger is probably the most original romance novel I've ever read.

It follows the highly successful formula that all good romance novels promote BUT this one is different.

It will make you laugh AND cry AND stamp your feet in utter frustration but you will never have read a 'story' like this before.

It captured my attention from the first page to the last and I couldn't put it down. I'm overwhelmed by this book's originality whilst remaining true to its HEA expectation.

If you're looking for 'something different' in romance, this ticks all the boxes.

Such an effervescent, heartfelt book! I loved Sadie's personality and her ability to look on the bright side of things. She had enough heartbreak in her life to make her curl up in a ball and quit, but she keeps going. Great story on resilience and never giving up on yourself. And the romance was perfection!

I loved The Bodyguard and felt like with the unique plot, this book was sure to be a knockout read for me. Unfortunately, the story not only fell flat but I actively had to push myself to get through it.

Given what the main character was going through/ had been through, I can see why she had certain tendencies. However, her "I don't need anyone" and "I'll show them all" was more annoying than awe-inspiring heroine material. Additionally, even though the doctor prompted us that she may be emotionally unstable, the entire story is about her being obsessive over love interests. Lastly, Sadie was a horrible communicator since she decided it was better to not need anyone than explain why she was behaving irrationally (which would have resolved 98% of the conflicts in this story).

Maybe the author was trying to make the story feel extremely frustrating to show what Sadie was going through with her facial blindness, and in that regard, she did a fantastic job. For me though, the story was such an emotional rollercoaster I was only looking forward to getting off of it.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing a digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

Hello Stranger is a cute romance mixed with comic relief. Sadie’s life quickly falls apart after she finds out she needs brain surgery while she prepares to finally succeed in her art career by winning a portrait competition. Throw in family challenges, surgical complications and, of course, a mixed up love life and you’ll find yourself rooting for Sadie to find her way.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sadie as a character, her struggles and the man she unexpectedly finds herself falling for. On the other hand, I felt that her stepsister was too extreme to be believable, and her family troubles detracted from the story.

The resolution of Sadie’s failed love was enjoyable, but the story stalled too much waiting for the big reveal.

This is a quick, light read that you’ll enjoy if you like sweet, crazy romances. It’s a good summer read.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. Katherine Center has a true gift for writing slightly messy, very likable characters that the reader can’t help but root for throughout the story. I flew through this book in a matter of a few hours, so it is definitely an easy, enjoyable read. I just wish there would have been a bit more mystery to the set up of it all. It was so clear and obvious that Joe, Oliver, the grocery store guy, and the person who saved her life were all the same guy. It is a little too far of a leap for me to believe that “Joe” wouldn’t have given Sadie his real name once they became friends, or he wouldn’t have given some indication that they knew each other when she came into his office multiple times because of her dog. Overall, this is a fun, quick book and I think a lot of people will enjoy it.

This was a don’t-want-to-put-it-down, read-despite-extreme-tiredness kind of read for me. I loved every second of it.

I felt so much empathy for Sadie, a struggling artist whose family is awful, and who has to undergo brain surgery to fix a small brain bleed. As she is recovering from that, a swelling from the surgery makes it so that she cannot recognize faces and has a (hopefully temporary) condition called acquired face blindness. And of course this happens right after she’s selected to be one of ten finalists in an art show…where she needs to paint a portrait.

Navigating this new reality would be difficult for anyone, but Sadie refuses help or to acknowledge her condition, so very few people know she has it, making life infinitely more difficult for herself. Also, she’s kind of crushing on two guys. And, there’s an evil stepsister gleefully exploiting her unfortunate circumstances.

Despite the levity of the subject matter, Hello Stranger manages to also be sweet as well as emotional, funny as well as poignant. It’s an absolute delight of a read, and one I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

I love Katherine Center’s books!! And I have read all of them! With that said, this one was not my favorite. But it was still VERY GOOD. And if you love it, read her other books. I guarantee you will love them too. This book was interesting in that it dealt with Sadie acquiring face blindness. I had heard of this and clearly it creates havoc in a person’s life. For Sadie — as a portrait artist — it pretty much cripples her ability to paint. How she handles this made for great reading. And the love interest. Well it was totally predictable. But that doesn’t make it bad. Joe was amazing in fact. And actually the fact that much of the story was predictable made the book feel familiar and welcoming.

There’s a new book boyfriend in my life (don’t tell my husband)!! Allllll the heart eyes for my boo Joe!!!

Sadie is a starving portrait artist - but she just got one of the biggest breaks of her career! The contest she entered has picked her as a finalist and she is ready to celebrate. But things turn for the worse when she suddenly has a nonconvulsive sister and requires brain surgery…brain surgery that leaves her face-blind! Not a great diagnosis when your livelyhood literally depends on painting faces!

This story is quirky with the best kind of humor. I loved Sadie’s inner dialogue and watching her learn and grow through her diagnosis. She has had a really rough life and even though she has some trauma, she is also sunshine and light to those around her.

And JOE. I loved him so much. I couldn’t wait for her to run into him again and again and fall for him, even without his face (weird I know but BELIEVE ME). This was not an open door romance but that painting scene had me feeling all types of ways!!

The discussion on confirmation bias was so refreshing. I think we all get stuck in this and learning about it would help so many of us!

Anyway, FIVE FREAKING STARS. All the stars. ALL OF THEM.

3.5 stars

my second katherine center book and something about her writing style is just so entertaining and easy to read!

sadie is a struggling artist who following brain surgery ends up acquiring face blindness, unable to recognize the people around her, even those she has known for years. however, she has the chance of a lifetime coming up, an art show to finally showcase her talents, and has to figure out how to create a portrait while simultaneously coming to terms with her current condition and figuring out how to traverse the now blurry world around her.

the story is so unique and different from most romances that I've read in that it included so much more personal development and self-discovery, elevating the story even more. the pacing of the story was also very well done because I absolutely flew through the book in just one day.

of course I have to talk about the relationship between sadie and joe. it was so cool seeing their relationship flourish and them build up this trust with each other despite her not even being able to fully see him. and their banter too was just incredible and their interactions just had me smiling along the whole time.

the only thing that took away from the story a bit for me was the fact that the conflict went on for so long, despite it being understandable why, I felt like yelling at my kindle at times because I just wanted her to figure it out and for them to get together already. I also wanted to see maybe a bit more of the two together because while I loved the coming-of-age style plot, I was hoping for a bit more romance included as well. while the story was just a bit unrealistic at times, I think that the great writing and fun story line made up for it and I ended up still really enjoying it!

I didn’t make it too far into this one before I just have up on it. The female main character annoyed me so bad. She’d finally accomplished something tangible in her burgeoning art career and immediately runs to her horrible father who basically thinks she’s worthless because she pursued the arts. Why does she want his acceptance? Let it go, girl. Spend your time on more worthy people. Though I’m sure that’s probably the conclusion she eventually comes to by the end of the book, I just can’t stand the idea of someone learning this lesson the hard way. No thanks.

Then she meets this kind guy at the store and completely rejects his kindness because of her pride. And then he basically stalks her from the store. It was so weird. I was so ready to like him but it just got too weird. When I found myself disliking both characters, I had to bail.

I did request the hardback as my Book of the Month Club choice before starting the ARC as I anticipated loving it so maybe one day I’ll go back to it. But that day is not today.