I listened to the audio version of this book narrated by Patti Murin. The narration was delightful and she made it fun to listen to.

This story is about a woman who has an accident and after surgery ends up suffering from face blindness. She can no longer recognize faces (even her own) and will stay that way until the swelling in her brain goes down. She is determined to go on living her life without telling people of her condition. She learns to recognize people by their clothes or hair styles. To say this is overwhelming for her is an understatement. Imagine not being able to see the faces of those you love or your own face! How utterly sad.

The story contains her dealings and struggles with her family members and the limitations put on her professional life by this condition. It was interesting, thought provoking, funny, romantic and makes you search the depths of your own brain and heart for how it would be to live with that condition. I absolutely adored the main characters and couldn't have been cheering them on any harder. Thank God for romances and happy endings!

I ended up with and audiobook and an ebook. Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the gifted copies. All thoughts are my own.

My new favorite Katherine Center book!

This was so cute and funny and heartwarming. I loved the imperfect characters and the way they stumbled in their relationships. The anticipation of Sadie realizing who was who kept me reading this without stopping. I actually laughed AND cried.

I love Patti as a narrator. She did a fantastic job and while she does different voices for characters, she doesn't go over the top with male voices and I like that.

This story was cute and I like that K.C. had the idea after hearing an NPR story about face blindness. The story was what you would expect from her if you have read others. Characters and situations slightly over the top, life stuff for the mc to figure out and a cute romance.

This book was just the right amount of emotional and lighthearted cheesiness, and it was such a joy to read!

I got to listen to the audio book as an early review copy and Patty Murin (audio book narrator) did such a fantastic job! she embodied Sadie's voice perfectly and I think audio book lovers will love her performance.

The book it's self was delightful! I read it in one day because the premise was so intriguing to me. I have never read a book where our FMC developed face blindness, which is a neurological disorder where the person affected can't recognize faces. Sadie is a portrait artist so she's struggling to cope while ALSO falling in love with two men. Like now that's a juicy plot people!

This book was heartfelt, funny, hopeful, and romantic and I loved every second of it. I usually don't gravitate towards "cheesy" life lesson books, but this one charmed me and it will one hundred percent charm everyone who picks it up as well.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this ALC (advanced listener's copy) in exchange for an honest review. It comes out July 11!!

Thank you Macmillan Audio & NetGalley for my gifted ALC.💕

About: Sadie Montgomery, a portraitist just like her late mother, finally gets her big break: she's placed as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition. Unfortunately, that same day she lands in the hospital with a "probably temporary" condition called prosopagnosia - AKA face blindness. The timing couldn't be worse!

As she struggles to cope with this new condition and the impact it will have on the competition, she's also dealing with a sick pup and a dysfunctional family: a mostly-absent father, an overbearing (but well-meaning) stepmom, and a wicked step-sister.

So meeting not one, but TWO, men is the perfect distraction! But Sadie's inability to see them clearly will cause problems galore!

Thoughts: This was an absolute DELIGHT! This is only my second Katherine Center novel but call me a fan! The humor is perfect, and I found myself smiling for most of the book. Sadie is so charming and I couldn't help but love her and root for her. The romance is slow-burn but very sweet. And I appreciate the way the author handled Sadie's family issues, and I thought that backstory added a lot of depth. Overall a very solid read that I binged in just over 24 hours 🥰 I read this along with the audiobook and Patti Murin delivers a wonderful performance from start to finish. Katherine Center+ Patti Murin are a dream come true! Add this one to your TBR ASAP!

4.5 rounded to 5💕

*Review will be posted to my Instagram prior to pub day.

But, I’m rescuing you.” he said like that made us friends. I wrinkled my nose. “I prefer to rescue myself.” - Katherine Center, Hella Stranger

Katherine Center does not disappoint! If you loved The Bodyguard, you’ll love Hello, Stranger! It’s quirky, a little cringy, fun, and something unique and new. The story follows Sadie who is an independent artist with a lot of family issues. One day something life changing happens and now she has to learn to enjoy life and her love of painting in a new way. I loved how relatable Sadie was, but be warned… the miscommunication trope is HEAVY in this one. Sadie won’t tell anyone what happened to her, so there are many awkward moments. Surprisingly, the miscommunication didn’t bother me much because the romance isn’t the forefront of the book. It truly is about a woman learning about herself and what it means to listen to all of your senses when one is dimmed. 4 stars!

“Happiness and sadness are all tangled together.”

Katherine Center is an auto-buy author for me, EVERY.SINGLE.TIME, and of course she has done it again with HELLO STRANGER.

Thank you @stmartinspress for my audio copy! The narrator, Patti Murin, was fantastic!

Sadie is an artist who needs emergency brain surgery that leaves her with a diagnosis of temporary face blindness. While she tries to recover and still continues to paint for an upcoming competition, Sadie wrestles with the aftermath of her horrible step-sister and tries to recognize those that mean the most to her. It had this teeny moment of “miscommunication” (y’all know how I feel about this!) but with the overlay of face blindness, I didn’t mind this at all, it flowed perfectly with the storyline.

By the end of the novel, I wanted to give Sadie, “Joe”, and Oliver the biggest hug ever!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it, make sure this is one to take with you to the lake, beach, or mountains- wherever you are headed this summer!

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I read The Bodyguard by Katherine Center and fell in love with her writing style. I was so excited to be approved to listen to this book early! Overall, I enjoyed the story. I didn't swoon as hard for this couple as with Hannah and Jack in The Bodyguard. I felt like they were lacking a solid emotional connection. Despite this, I did enjoy learning about face blindness and the complexity behind it. Watching Sadie grow as a character throughout the book with her struggles was fun. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a lighter, fun read.

The narrator, Patti Murin, was great. Her voice fit Sadie's character perfectly. It was a little quirky and she did a good job of changing her voice to fit other characters without it feeling cheesy. I am already looking forward to listening to her narrate more books!

Why oh why did I put off reading this book? It was an absolute delight! Katherine Center is definitely one of my favorite romcom authors and HELLO STRANGER is my new favorite.

First of all, where can I buy a Pajanket? Because I need that in my life. Second, this story was full of so many emotions but it was still lighthearted and fun. I loved every page.

I loved the narrator for this book. I feel like first person POV writing always lends itself nicely to audiobooks and humor is always a bonus. I loved listening to this book and can definitely see myself rereading (re-listening) to this one many times.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness.”

This book was a DELIGHT.

I might have liked it even better than The Bodyguard, which is saying something.

The characters were fantastic, the plot of prosopagnosia was clear, and interesting, without being tedious, and THERE WAS A DOG.

Was the ending predictable? Sure, but it was also SATISFYING – exactly what I wanted.

My only complaint was that I do wish the step-sister got more of a karmic b!tch-slap.

8/10

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for this gratifying ARC.

This was a quick read that kept you invested. I think the premise was a unique one in a genre that has a lot of repetitive troupes. I enjoyed it.

Ok, hey, Katherine Center…

You really know what you’re doing here, huh?

I won’t lie, the cover got me. I loved it. I didn’t really care about reading the teaser after I seen the cover and recognized the author . I knew right there I would love this one and gosh darn it! I wasn’t wrong!

Katherine Center, you killed this one and I am so honored to have been an early listener.

I get weird requesting Romance and RomComs, as I’m basically a thriller reviewer. I took my chances after getting excited seeing everyone reviewing this so I requested the audio .

I’m from north jersey but drive about 1.5 hours every weekend to “the jersey shore” . Being alone in the car, my books keep me company and my oh my did Hello, Stranger, keep me company.

I would have arrived “down the shore” around 7am this morning but I couldn’t stop listening so I circled a few blocks and then got off at the beach to continue listening .

I’m obsessed with this book! It gave me all the feels and I can’t help but want to know more! Please tell me there will be a follow up book!!!!

Here is a bit of a teaser :

Love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life―placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition―the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into―love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?―with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.

This was my first book by Katherine Center even though I have a few others on my TBR. The cover was cute but it was the blurb that pulled me in. A portrait artist - right before the biggest competition of her life - has to have brain surgery and she suddenly can't see faces anymore. I'd be freaking if I couldn't see faces anymore, let alone if staring at faces was my sole income and the point of a huge upcoming competition!

While this was definitely a romance, I would say it had a competing second storyline of Sadie finding herself. And I think that made me like it even more. We not only got to see a cute love story (which about halfway through I guessed the ending correctly and I'm so proud of myself 😜), but we also get to see Sadie no longer painting just like her mother, but learning what makes her a unique artist and how she can move forward as her own person.

I loved the group of people that ended up as Sadie's second family. Although I wasn't a huge fan of Sue throughout the book. The surprise party. That just seemed so inconsiderate to me. I felt so bad for Sadie. And I would have been pissed if I were her. And I'm glad her dad and step-mother finally seemed to see the light, so to speak.

I can't go into too much detail about the romance aspects, but let me just say I was laughing so hard at the end of the book. This was a really good contemporary romance - just enough seriousness balanced with just enough humor. And I really liked the narrator, Patti Murin. I almost bought The Bodyguard as an add-on for my Book of the Month box this month, but I went and checked the narrator of that book and saw it was the same, so I'm opting to listen to it instead of buying the physical book.

Thanks to the author, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sadie is a struggling portrait artist who finds herself dealing with a sudden health issue which ultimately results in her experiencing facial blindness. The idea behind it is a super interesting one in this genre. Unfortunately for me, it didn't work like I hoped it would. And this is coming off The Bodyguard which I read earlier this year which I did actually love.

Sadie was definitely going through it as a character, but I didn't really ever connect with her. I found her to be self-centered. Yes, she had some really bad circumstances, but the "poor me" attitude was not fun. Her family is absolutely dreadful, and I really never found a concretely satisfactory reason why they would be so incredibly cruel to her. It is kind of explained but at the end of the day did not add up.

The worst offense for me was the overall plot. I know it's romance, and we all know how romance novels usually end. In this case; however, it's frustrating to read an entire book when you know everything that is going on about the main character, and the main character remains clueless. (Maybe if she wasn't so self-centered and bothered to ask anyone anything about themselves she would have figured it out too?)

That said, I did like the writing and would continue to read from this author. The story is light and cute at times. It is a good quick summer read that I finished in one day. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

3.25 stars

This was a fun one! It was super witty and had some great swoon worthy moments and the narrator for the audiobook was fantastic!

I applaud the research Center put into this one and the fact that everything felt very realistic and without giving too much away, this one could have definitely gone the opposite way real quickly!

After reading and loving The Bodyguard last year, I was sooooo excited to read this one! While I did really enjoy it and found it incredibly unique, it did still fall a bit flat for me and this may solely be because of the hype around it and I was expecting to be blown away. HOWEVER, it seems like I am certainly in the minority as everyone else seems to be loooooving it!

Still an entertaining and joyful happily ever after story when you’re looking for something quirky and light hearted!

Throughout the book, I kept thinking to myself... Sadie is UNHINGED. Also, so is her evil step sister. I really thought, these are some of the first female characters I'm not going to like in the end. But then, the author pulled through. The ride you go on as you navigate Sadie's acquired face blindness along side with her is something else and so unique. I liked this book a lot and would recommend it! The audiobook narration was done well and was a joy to listen to. Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley!

Fiercely independent Sadie is at the top of her game. The portrait she entered in a prestigious contest was not only accepted; she is a finalist. All she needs to do to win - and thereby validate her life choices to her father - is paint the best live model portrait of her life. Not a problem except, following unexpected surgery, she finds herself unable to see faces. Add a sick dog, two interesting men, a spiteful step-sister, and her refusal to tell anyone but her best friend about the ‘probably temporary’ face blindness, and Sadie’s life is in as many jumbled pieces as the faces around her.

I enjoyed listening to this story. Center expertly balanced struggle and humor for a satisfying read. The image of Sadie race-walking her sick dog to the vets, only later realizing she’s still in pjs and slippers will stay with me. I cheered for Sadie, loved her neuropsychologist, and couldn’t wait to see how everything resolved. Narrator Patti Murin’s voicing and pacing were spot on, and hearing Center read the author’s note a bonus. Look no further for your all-the-feels with substance read. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Katherine Center just knows how to write a feel-good, laugh-out-loud rom com. The premise of this novel, a portrait artist with face blindness, was intriguing from the start and the mixture of romance and her personal and professional tribulations was well-balanced. More than once, I actually giggled out loud at the witty, unique prose. I eventually figured out the big twist, but not so early or so obviously that it ruined the ending. Another home run for Katherine Center!

I loved this book so much! I couldn’t get enough! The main character in this book was quirky and lovely. She loved her mom, however her mother passed away right before a portraiture competition. She now has an evil step sister Parker who tortures her at every turn. An accident happened, and Sadie had a seizure in the crosswalk. A random person rescued her and the rest is history, except now Sadie is diagnosed with prosopagnosia. She can’t recognize faces. Will Sadie ever be able to recognize her family’s face? Or her man friends? Read to find out.

The novel is very good -- the audio book hits it out of the park.

I read the ebook book first -- so here's a review of the novel (a review of the audiobook will follow):
HELLO STRANGER is a solid offering from Katherine Center that uses a strong narrative voice to combine comedy and romance in an engaging identity-search story (what some might call a late-20s coming-of-age story). The novel begins with a charming meet-cute, then takes a darker turn as Sadie (the portrait artist-heroine who lost her mother as a teenager) finds she has the same condition as her mother and requires brain surgery. The surgery is successful but leaves Sadie face-blind. The novel's description of the disorienting condition is fascinating, a compelling look at the world from a different perspective. The novel's twist (involving Sadie's misfiring brain and critical misidentifications) is relatively easy to spot from a long way off, but the strong character development and witty banter keep readers' interest.

This book may not be as strong as Center's stellar novels "The Bodyguard" or "Happiness for Beginners," but fans of Center will find lots to enjoy, and those looking for an absorbing beach won't be disappointed.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Just one week after finishing the ebook, I listened to the audiobook of HELLO STRANGER. I was worried I might find the second reading a bit tedious, but I enjoyed the audiobook even more than the print version. The audiobook reader (Patti Murrin -- who did a superb job with THE BODYGUARD ) is again wonderful -- by turns tender, impassioned, confused, and wryly self-deprecating (with a great sense of comic timing). The pacing is perfect: slowing down when discussing the medical science behind Sadie's condition, but sharp and snappy when reading dialogue. A pitch-perfect audiobook!