Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Katherine Center for the ARC copy of this book. I am reviewing the audiobook version.

I adore this book! Katherine Center is easily one of my favorite authors and all of her new books automatically go on my TBR because I know each one will be amazing. Hello Stranger did not disappoint. I loved "watching' Sadie's journey throughout the book. So much character growth. I don't want to say too much about the plot and storyline because I feel like its important to go into the story without much knowledge. There is a great twist at the end too.

I cannot say enough positive about the book and highly recommend it! Now, it is easily one of my favorites!

What an absolutely remarkable book!
The main character of the story is Sadie. She’s a starving portrait artist who just got the biggest break of her life. She’s been chosen, from a total of 2,000 entrants, to be one of ten finalists in a huge portrait show. She is beyond excited, when she suddenly has a seizure on the street, and her life is saved by a Good Samaritan as she is pushed out of the way of oncoming traffic. She wakes up in the hospital, and finds her estranged stepmother, Lucinda, by her side. What is going on? Why is SHE here?
The story goes on to say that her Mom died YOUNG. (Her Mom, the one who was an artist like her. The one she shared so many wonderful memories with. The one she is lost without…)
Her father remarried. And she lost everything and everyone…mostly due to her evil, conniving, stepsister Parker. We learn of the awful antics she pulled when they were kids, and those she is still pulling now! But hold onto your seat…it just keeps getting worse.
Sadie finds out that she has a rare disease in her brain. One that requires brain surgery…like Now…in order to save her life. And then she finds out it is hereditary…and her Mom died of the same thing.
Her Father comes thru now, as he is a well known heart surgeon…and he pulls some strings to get Sadie on the OR schedule.
BUT…Sadie does not want to go. Her big break is only a few weeks away…and she doesn’t want to give it up!!
Lots of interactions follow, and she agrees to have the surgery. However, when she wakes up, she realizes that she cannot see FACES. She realizes she has a condition called Face Blindness, where you can’t see a persons face, so you don’t know who they are!?!
She also realizes that her career is now over. How can she paint portraits when she cannot see faces!?
Additionally, she starts to have feelings for two guys. Joe, a womanizer who lives in her building. And Oliver, Dr. Addison, her vet who saved her precious Peanut’s life.
Absolutely LOVED the characters. Love how she literally paints a pix for us of each of them…so you feel like you are best friends with them! Love her best friend Sue, and her parents. Loved all the developments as they were introduced, and then ripped away.
Found myself laughing, and tearing up too…only minutes apart!
Wonderful read! 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of the audiobook, coming out on 7/11/23.

This book was good, I read The Bodyguard by Katherine Center so I was excited to pick this one up. I liked the story and thought the premise sounded interesting. A portrait artist who develops face blindness, that is a compelling premise. It was a bit predictable and had quite a bit of dramatic irony that was a bit frustrating as a reader. Overall I did like the story and would recommend it.

Sadie is a talented portrait artist and has been accepted into a prestigious portrait competition, which she hopes will finally launch her fledgling career. It means even more to her that she is following in the footsteps of her now deceased mother, who was also invited to be a part of this same event many years before. However, when Sadie least expects it, a medical emergency befalls her that will change her ability to do the work she loves so dearly and also reveals a unknown connection to her mother.

As Sadie recovers, her neighbor Joe becomes a kind and supportive presence in her life, but Sadie doesn't know if he can be trusted. Meanwhile, when her dog has his own medical emergency, she also makes a romantic connection with her veterinarian. However, he seems not as interested in her as she is in him. Many truths are revealed as Sadie's health improves, including this complicated love triangle. With humor and heart, Center once again delivers a thoughtful story with a strong leading lady and likeable supporting characters.

This book was super cute! Sadie finally has the chance of a lifetime when she finds out she is a top 10 finalist for a portrait contest. The only problem is, shortly after finding this out she has an accident which requires her to have brain surgery and face blindness. Struggling to live with her new reality, Sadie navigates the world and her surroundings with a bit of trouble because how does a portrait artist with face blindness paint a portrait? Along the way, Sadie finds love when she least expects it and grows in other strained relationships in her life.

Katherine Center does a great job of immersing you into Sadie’s world and her struggles with face blindness. The story leaves you with a cozy, warm feeling with how it wrapped up.

The audiobook was a perfect pace. I listened on 1.5x speed which is my normal listening speed. The narrators character voices were distinct and clear. I would recommend the audiobook to everyone!

Great read! Loved the characters. Enjoyed the healing, both emotional and physical that the characters worked through. Thanks NetGalley for the audio eArc.

Wow what an incredible surprise! I liked The Bodyguard but this was something else, so unique and special!

Sadie needs brain surgery and afterwards realizes she suffers from face blindness, this isn’t too helpful considering she’s a portrait artist! Sadie befriends Joe and becomes close as he helps her with her portraits.

This is such a sweet love story, but even more so Sadie’s character growth was incredible, I couldn’t help but root for her, the ending was perfect and I loved how it ended!

Hello Stranger is my first novel by Katherine Center and it definitely won't be my last. Meet Sadie Montgomery, a struggling artists trying desperately to prove her surgeon father wrong; not just about her career choice, but also that she isn't the evil girl her step-sister Parker convinced him she was.

After being diagnosed with the same condition that cost her mother her life, Sadie's dad forced himself into her life and pushes her to get brain surgery. When Sadie wakes up, she has the rare side effect known as "face blindness". Essentially she can see everything, except faces. Currently in the running for a huge break as an artist---a portrait artists---Sadie's life becomes chaos.

This rom-com hits the miscommunication trope on the nose. Also, Sadie's lack of self esteem makes a lot of her dialogue self-deprecating. I really enjoyed the character Joe, and while I had figured out the ending fairly early, I still felt it was an enjoyable and easy read.

Thank you for access to this ALC!

Katherine Center has done it again! This was such an original and beautiful story. This one also has the perfect blend of emotion, humor and plot. It really helps me to be able to connect with a character when emotions and humor are used in a book.

Main character, Sadie Montgomery is struggling at life. And just when she thinks the tide might be "turning" and her life might be looking up, she is dealt a very bad round of cards and has a lot to overcome. But the ever perky Sadie is determined to push through with few complications.

Not only is this a fun and clever storyline. There are characters in this book that make you really feel connected. In addition, there's solid family drama that finds a way toward a positive resolution but not without a little messiness along the way.

AUDIOBOOK: I loved the audio version. The narrator simply felt like a friend reading this book and kept my attention the entire time.

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the audiobook and ebook. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Sadie is a struggling portrait artist who just received what could be her big break, she's a finalist in a competition where the grand prize is $10,000. On the night that Sadie plans to celebrate this little victory, she is almost hit by a car, but thankfully was pushed out of the way by a good samaritan. While at the doctor following this close call, Sadie is told she has a condition in her brain and needs surgery to correct it. After the surgery, Sadie has a side effect of face blindness, and is forced to find an alternate way to paint portraits as she can't make out the faces of anyone around her.


I don't think Katherine Center romcoms and I get along. I requested this one from netgalley before I read The Bodyguard (which I had high hopes for and ended up absolutely hating). So needless to say, I didn't have high hopes for Hello Stranger.

Thankfully, and surprisingly, I ended up enjoying it a LITTLE bit more. The story line interested me, especially all the facts on face blindness. But I just can't get over the juvenile feel of ALL these characters. They behave like they are children, especially the "evil step sister". That entire character was just a reach. The romance? Lacking so much. Where's the banter? The chemistry? The tension? Anything good??? And all the god awful miscommunications. Why in the world would a brain condition, a medical condition you can't help, be embarrassing?? Why would you tell no one about that?? And how can you not recognize voices????

I started off this review thinking I'd round it up to three stars but talking about it has just convinced me to round down to two.

This is my favorite Katherine Center book yet!

Sadie has gotten the opportunity of a lifetime as a finalist in a portrait art competition. If she wins, she will be $10,000 richer, and since her side etsy art business isn't thriving, she needs it. But when she wakes up in a hospital bed, she discovers she will need brain surgery to fix a cavernoma. After a successful surgery, she wakes up and realizes she has a big problem. She can’t recognize anyone's faces. This is a big problem for many reasons, but especially the fact she needs to be able to see in order to complete a portrait for the competition.

After she has had time to process her very big problem, she heads to the vet to pick up her dog, peanut. It is there that she meets her future husband, the gorgeous vet. Well, she thinks he is gorgeous. She can’t actually see his face, but she knows there is something there. They end up making plans to go on a date after the competition, but in the meantime meet for coffee. While waiting for him at the coffee shop, she ends up running into a neighbor who she has a very little opinion of. But this neighbor ends up becoming a close friend, and she begins to realize she can’t keep the neighbor and the Vet… and she has to make a decision..

Too bad she doesn’t even know what they look like…

I could go on forever with a synopsis about this book.. But that would give too much away. This book brought real attention to a very real condition, face blindness. I loved Joe, the neighbor, so much. He was so kind, witty and an overall great human being. I also loved Sadie, I just found her to be a little frustrating at times. Her optimism was great, but she was very naïve.

I definitely recommend adding this book to your TBR! It was a beautiful story! I loved the narrator, she was clear and had a very inviting voice! I went back and forth between audio and Kindle!

I really liked this book. It was light-hearted and fun. It had several laugh out loud moments and a few surprising twists. This is my first Katherine Center book and it won't be my last. Such a fun read. Highly recommend!

The audiobook was well done. The narrator was expressive and easy to listen to. I felt she captured the tone of the book very well.

Book Releases July 11, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC and to Macmillan Audio for the Audiobook ARC.

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

Add Hello Stranger to my favorites list! Katherine Center has a knack for creating and exposing beautiful growth in her characters. There is not a main character she has written that I am not rooting for and love so much! This book explores prosopagnosia and the impacts it has on daily life. I knew very little about it but loved learning more! Sadie beautifully represented this diagnosis and how so many of us take for granted that we just automatically recognize people! I had a physical and early listening copy and enjoyed transitioning back and forth and was completely swept away into this story.

There were so many amazing and thoughtful takeaways, so many times that I laughed out loud, and so many times where I clutched my heart in understanding of these characters. I loved this story and Katherine Center you are a QUEEN!

Below are two of my favorite quotes from the book. I will think about Sadie for some time to come. Thank you so much @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the early physical copy and @macmillianaudio for the early listening copy! You HAVE to grab your copy out 7/11!

“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.”

“We’re all so limited and disappointing and so, so wrong. Much of the time. Maybe even most of the time. We’re all so steeped in our own confirmation bias. We’re all so busy seeing what we expect to see. But we have our moments, too. Moments when we see that tire blowout and stop to help. Moments when we pay for the person behind us in the drive through. Or offer up our seat to a stranger. Or compliment someone’s earrings. Or apologize. Sometimes we really are the best versions of ourselves. I see that about us. And I’m determined to keep seeing that about us. Because that might be the truest thing I know. The more good things you look for, the more you find.”

4.75 stars!

I loved this as an audio!! I had the pleasure of reading it on kindle and experiencing it through an audiobook was even better. The narrator was very expressive, and I felt like she captured the tone of the book so well.

I love the story. It’s my second Katherine Center book and I adored the MC and her storyline. Her growth was beautifully portrayed, and the catalyst (her face blindness) was such an interesting plot point to build around. Additionally the surprises at the end were so cool, well thought out, and built up. I loved the story overall.

4/5⭐️

Release Date: July 11, 2023

There are so many reasons I shouldn't have enjoyed this book as much as I did.

😕It has:
- �a frustrating main character
- �a predictable and implausible plot
- �a couple of secondary characters that are one dimensional

❤️But, It also had:
- �a very lovable male MC
- �incredible audio narration
- �a satisfying ending

Turns out that I was just in the right mood for Katherine Center, and, as she says in her author's note at the end, anticipation plays a huge role in our enjoyment of stories.

Waiting for the MCs to figure out their misunderstanding kept me listening even when I had other books I was supposed to be reading! To me, that’s the sign of an enjoyable read! ☺️

🎧And I can’t neglect to mention the stellar audio narration by @pattimurin, who, IMHO,
should be narrating way more audiobooks!

Thank you to the @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my ARC of this book.
Thank you also to @macmillan.audio for my ALC.

I *inhaled* this book in one sitting. Katherine Center sprinkles her books with humor, swoon, heart, and real relationships with just enough suspension of reality to make it fun. This books reads like a 90’s Nora Ephron rom com classic that you could watch over and over again and never get bored. Learning about prosopagnosia (face-blindness) was a new concept to me, and it added an interesting element to the story told only from Sadie’s point of view, where everyone was a stranger to her when she couldn't recognize faces. I was obsessed with Joe, and how he was such a golden retriever hero (ya know, because he loves animals *wink*). I laughed, I cried, I felt my heart melt into goo – everything you could want in a romantic comedy book. I want to reread this book a thousand times, and if you’re an audiobook lover, Patti Murin brings so much life to her narration of this story.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for advanced copies of this book.

I love Patti Murin as a narrator. She is so easy to listen to so I was super excited to see that she narrated this book.

This review is based solely on the narration because I’m honestly still trying to wrap my head around this book. I can’t decide how I feel about it.

4 stars for brilliant narration!

4.5 stars.

You can't see when you're not looking.

Katherine Center has been a favorite author of a few of my friends and I had to see what the hype was about. Hello Stranger is my first read (audiobook) by her and I have to say it will not be my last. Her characters were great and I loved the arc for them and the journey they took.

Sadie is a struggling artist, but has recently gotten some great news that can catapult her career. Her best friend convinces her they need to celebrate, but upon preparing for said celebration Sadie's life takes a drastic turn that changes her life in the most unforeseen way. She doesn't see things in the same way she once did and that effects her artistic ability and perhaps her future. But Sadie isn't alone in this new life she has found herself in. She still has her dog Peanut, her friend Su and Sue's parents, Mr Helpful Joe, and a major attraction to her new vet Dr Addison. Even if she doesn't want to share what is going on with herself, she has good people around her.

This was an unusual story that dealt with something I wasn't too familiar with, but I enjoyed Sadie and the way it turned her life around in the most unexpected ways. She was such a positive character even when life continuously handed her lemons. She had a past that wasn't the best and family that mistreated her since her mother passed. But it's art that brings her close to her mother and for that, she wants to succeed.

Katherine Center gave us a unique story with great characters (and one horrible one) that took us on an unexpected journey of opening one's eyes when we can't see. Seeing what's right in front of us even when we are blind to it. I can't wait to read Ms Center's backlist as this book was such a joy to listen to. Told in only Sadie's POV, the narrator did a fantastic job of creating humor, romance and such liveliness with her performance. This may be my first Katherine Center book, but I'll definitely be back for more.

Katherine Center is happiness. I was first introduced to her when I picked up her book, The Bodyguard, last year. I fell in love with her writing and have been working through the rest of her backlist ever since. I was lucky enough to receive the audiobook of her newest release, Hello Stranger! I loved the story, the narrator, & that I learned something new! This read was sweet, funny, and a joy to read! I 100% recommend this! Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen in exchange for a review.

✨Review - Hello Stranger by @katherinecenter

This was such a great road trip audiobook. While this book has undertones of meaningful content, I feel like it wasn’t trying to take itself too seriously.

Sadie, a portrait artist, finds herself in uncharted territory when emergency brain surgery leaves her face blind. And of course, it’s during this crisis that she meets not one but two eligible bachelors who she finds incredibly attractive, even though she can’t see their faces.

It sounds like a crazy plot, right? And in some ways it is, but Center makes it work. I did struggle with some of the supporting characters, and I saw some of the plot points coming a mile away, but overall this was an entertaining read and I was somewhat surprised by the ending. And I learned quite a lot about face blindness and found myself Googling it even days after finishing the book.

A huge thanks to @NetGalley and @stmartinspress for a complimentary audiobook listen in exchange for this honest review.