I enjoy Katherine Center and enjoyed Hello Stranger! It’s far from perfect but if you want a fun rom com/chick lit/ book where you know that it will go, then this is your book and Katherine Center is your girl to read! Sweet but not spicy reads, she is an author that is becoming an auto-read for me.

We have Sadie who is finally getting somewhere in her career with becoming a finalist in a competition and then…life happens. She has to have brain surgery and after she wakes up she cant see faces anymore! And what is a painter who paints portraits of people to do?

I admit I was a little leery when I saw the book description and saw that there is a love triangle, but it really wasn’t. This was a fun little journey to go on and see what happens with the competition. We have some supporting characters that I totally adored as well! And of course, Sadie has her oldest friend: her dog Peanut!

I called the twist early on in the book, but this isn’t a thriller, it’s a romance. Even if you ‘call it’ like I did, just sit back and enjoy the journey! I did have some issues, but can’t go into because that would involve giving away spoilers and if I ultimately don’t have to, I won’t!

Patty Murin is the narrator and she is another one of my favorites! And it seems like she and Center are two that just go together so well! I look forward to future and past Center novels that they have worked on together.

This is the one time I wish I had a physical copy so I could share a line I absolutely loved towards the end of the book. I listen while I drive, so finding it is next to impossible! I tried. It’s a line that makes sense with the story and what I believe Center was trying to reach her readers with.

Be sure to read the author’s note and acknowledgements to learn about the real disorder that Sadie has: Prosopagnosia. I had never heard of it and this was a way to learn about this disorder. Center very much did her research for this novel. Not just on Prosopagnosia, but research on painting and veterinarian work. Center also gives some insight to the romance genre that just makes sense as to why we even pick up romances in the first place!

Many thanks to the publisher for granting me an ALC to listen to and review!

dnf 40%
I struggled with this one from day one. I wanted to give it a fair chance as I've heard great things about the author but I just hate Sadie so much. The most interesting thing about Sadie and the book as a whole is the face blindness she develops after brain surgery. This would be a big deal to anyone but is even more disastrous for Sadie as she is a portrait artist who is about to enter a prestigious competition. I was annoyed with Sadie before she lost her face recognition. She was sooooo whiney and self-centered. She was constantly complaining but when someone tries to help she rejects them so she can continue to be miserable. She also claimed she did not want her family to be a part of her life, but the moment she got into the portrait competition she immediately called here dad to brag. Which is it? do you want a relationship or not? Stick to your boundaries. I get it, her step sister is cartoonishly awful, but if you want boundaries, you have to set them and stick to them. I also found the inconsistencies with who she could and could not recognize to be really really annoying. Why could she instantly recognize the voice of her friend but had no clue who her step sister was? If she really did have trauma from her step-sister there is no way she wouldn't recognize her voice. Also if she can still distinguish bodies, why didn't she figure out the whole veterinarian situation? it just didn't make sense and I was tired of trying to wrap my brain around the whole thing, so I'm done.

I would say I spend about have the time I spent with the book listening to the audiobook. I really really love Pattie Murin but I honestly think her narration was part of the reason I found Sadie so annoying, which is painful to say.

I had high hopes for this book after reading the authors last book. I was not disappointed.

Sadie Montgomery is getting her big break! Until something breaks for real.

Sadie is a portrait artist chosen to enter in a contest that will make her whole career if she succeeds. The universe interjects and throws Sadie a giant curve ball. One day she wakes up and can't see faces.

Her boved dog Peanut is the only one in her life she can make out facial features of. All the people are abstract features blurring together.

Now she has a short amount of time to hope she heals, or to learn to paint portraits without seeing faces.

This is a novel with lots of humour, awkward encounters, and a love triangle with Sadie, a handsome vet and the neighbourhood "Weisel".

Although there were funny aspects, this book also touches on loss of a family member, healing as a grown up, anxiety abd mental health, and learning to adapt and ask your loved ones for help.

It was a super enjoyable novel and another winner from Katherine Centre!

I want you to imagine your best friend, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your mom, your dad, hell your DOG. Now, imagine that you can vaguely think of them but you just cannot remember their face. You know that your best friend usually wears her hair in a high ponytail (but what about when she doesn't?) but nothing about the way she smiles. This is how we meet the main character, Sadie. She just had a random seizure and is now diagnosed with face blindness, which yes, is a real thing. As if that's not enough, she is supposed to be competing in a portrait competition that she's been dreaming about for so long.

I love Katherine Center's books. They're always interesting in the way that many of them bring in medical issues that are very much possible, yet pretty rare. It adds a little more to the romances that she writes. This story would have gone so much differently if Sadie were able to see the people that she was talking to.

I really enjoyed this story. It brought me back to her books like How to Walk Away, which is around where I started reading Katherine Center. I definitely would recommend this book and the audio was very well done also.

I had the privilege of listening to the audio for the delightful, Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. A couple things to share about the audio. The narrator has a lovely voice. She sounds young and perky like our main character. She's also an experienced narrator who narrates lots of romance novels so you might recognize her. One unique feature of this audio is that it includes narrated author notes. I love hearing the authors inspiration and process. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and this isn't always included.

Now the story, it is adorable! It is a unique story idea. Our main character, Sadie is a portrait artist who just developed face blindness. As you can imagine this is a major life shift and hijinks ensues. There are a couple of surprises/plot twists. I guessed where it was headed, but I do not think everyone will. I also appreciated the realism- people don't fall in love immediately, people don't magically heal after one conversation, and life isn't perfect all the time, but we can still have a happy ending. I would also like to share that the intimacy is closed door.

Overall, it is very enjoyable and I would happily recommend it. This is my first Katherine Center book and would love to give her others a try.

Thank you, #netgalley and #Macmillan Audio for the advanced audio copy.

This book had such a unique premise that I absolutely fell in love with! The audio was superb and made it such a loveable read!

Sadie is a portrait painter who has just found out that she has made it to the final round of the North American Portrait Society portrait painting competition. She is leaving the corner store with a few bottles of wine to celebrate when she has a non-convulsive seizure in the middle of the road and is saved by a good samaritan. Sadie wakes up in the hospital and discovers that she has a cavernoma, an enlarged blood vessel in her brain that needs to be removed soon. Her dad reveals to her that this is what caused her mother's death so he immediately schedules Sadie for surgery. The surgery goes well, until Sadie discovers that she cannot see people's faces. She is diagnosed with prosopagnosia (face blindness), which throws a major monkey wrench in her plans for the portrait competition!

Sadie has quite a few laugh-out-loud adventures throughout the course of the novel. I even found myself literally face-palming my forehead at one point because I just wanted to shake her (poor girl had no idea!).

Overall, I highly recommend this novel! It was a fun adventure that brought to light some real-life circumstances that I wouldn't have thought of. Kudos to the author for being inventive and coming up with something out of the box!

Sadie Montgomery is a portrait painter who is suddenly struck with face blindness. It happens at a critical time in her career and she is struggling with how to continue doing what she loves. She also needs to find a way to recognize the people around her. One person is Joe, a helpful man in her building who she is attracted to. But just when she thinks she is moving forward, someone who has plagued her for years, throws more complications in her path. My heart broke for Sadie as she struggled to find her way, but soared as she learned to let go of who she thought she should be, and become her authentic self. Joe was so sweet, caring, and patient with Sadie, from the very beginning, even when she tries to push him away. I really fell hard and cared for both of them, as I cheered for their HEA. I also loved all the secondary characters who were always there for Sadie, supporting and caring for her, showing up when she needed them most.
Patti Murin's narration was spectacular! She just brings that little something extra to her narration. I was completely captivated in her performance, and the way she developed and expressed these characters, and their struggles so intimately, making each character come alive.
There is just so much to love about this hilarious, emotional, intriguing, and heartfelt story that made me feel, and left me extremely happy!

Huge Katherine Center fan since reading The Body Guard. Hello Stranger is another enjoyable read! Lovable characters, interesting story, and charming romance. Feel good fiction at its best.

Patti Murin is an entertaining narrator.

Thank you McMillan Audio and NetGalley for the early copy for my honest opinion.

Katherine Center is my new go-to author for a feel good read. Sadie Montgomery is such a relatable and endearing heroine. Her acquired case of prosopagnosia or face blindness is a reminder of how intricately connected our senses are. The Author's Note included a checklist for a nourishing read:
Did it make me laugh? ✔
Did it make me swoon? ✔
Did it keep me up too late reading? ✔
Did it give me that blissed-out feeling? ✔
Did it give me something to think about? ✔
A new perspective? ✔
And something to look forward to? ✔
That's why I gave this one all the stars.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟
Format: ALC from MacMillan Audio through NetGalley
Pub date: July 11

Sadie Montgomery is having a rough go. Though she is recently single, and struggling to make ends meet, she is determined to support herself as a portrait artist without asking for help. But when a new diagnosis results in face blindness, Sadie’s aversion to help lands her in a pickle. How is she supposed to make a living painting faces? Hilarities ensue when Sadie finds herself torn between two very different new men in her life- neither of which she has seen before the face blindness set in. How can she choose between two men she’s never seen?

Aside from the love triangle dilemma, Hello Stranger has much to offer. Sadie’s crash course through face blindness guides her through family drama, professional strain, and personal growth and healing. These more complex themes complement the comedic moments of the story and result in a wonderful romantic comedy.

I binged this audiobook in a day and a half, I could not stop listening! I found it to be perfectly adorable and entertaining. The audio performance by Patti Murin was excellent as well. This is a comfort read that I can see myself listening to again and again- I can’t say enough good things about Hello Stranger, and I am so glad to recommend this book to rom-com and chick lit lovers.

PS: For scientific purposes it is my solemn duty to report that this is a very mild romance. It contains PG-13 romance, I would not classify as spicy. It is also a very slow burn. I loved this book regardless and I hope you do too!

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for the ALC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. Hello Stranger publishes on July 11 🎉

This was really wonderful. Charming characters, and even the somewhat implausible aspects--which are requisite for any romance novel--were cute and satifsying.

What an amazing summer read. Delightful, thought provoking…what makes us “us,” how do we come out of tragedy and how do we continually redefine ourselves?

Sadie is an aspiring artist who makes the finals for the North American Portrait Society. Then she has a seizure crossing the road, has brain surgery at the insistence of her estranged surgeon father, and ends up with face blindness (which “might” be temporary.)

Trying to create new portraits is more than problematic, and juggling new relationships with the dog’s vet and her neighbor prove complicated.

We follow her journey into her new normal, foibles with developing relationships, and delve into the estrangement with her family.

This book will have you rooting for Sadie, cheering at parts, and wishing you could just slap some characters. This author writes as if the characters are our oldest friends and it is always my favorite thing to enjoy her new books. Well done, Center! Please keep them coming :-)

I really loved this story! While I cannot comment on the representation of face blindness, it felt like we got into the characters head and providing it’s an accurate depiction, I feel like I have some kind of understanding into something that I didn’t even know about before this book!

I really loved the whole story and the cute little twist toward the end was everything. I absolutely adored it. I loved the artistic nature of our main character, the family drama, her personal struggles, doctor/therapist visits - it felt so real. I’m here for it. I absolutely loved it. Even the “villain” was perfection.

4.5⭐️ - I had too many eye rolls for it to be 5, but it’s so close!

I loved this book!

It was funny, it was real, it was heartbreaking, it was all the emotions. Sadie has been through it. Life has happened and she is going with it and doing her best.

What she doesn’t expect is two (sort of) relationships at the same time! In the middle of having health issues!

Also peanut and Sue (and her family!) are the best. Parker is the worst and I sincerely hope she does some soul searching in her next chapter.

Go on this journey with her! Laugh with her, feel the feelings with her, and everything in between!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

I adore all of Katherine Centers books and this one is no different! This book was the first time I had heard of facial blindness so it was really neat to learn something new while getting a romance story mixed in one. The characters were fantastic as well. The narrator was perfect for this book as well. I loved everything about this book I had to buy a physical copy! Highly recommend 💜
Thanks to netgalley and McMillan audio for providing me a copy in return for an honest review .

This book was so good 😭😭😭
I’m completely in love with the MMC and it was such a unique story bringing to my attention a medical issue I didn’t even know people faced!
The story was original and sweet, I loved the writing style, the love story was adorable and even though I wish there was a little more closure with some family stuff I devoured this book and enjoyed every single second of it

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

The main character is Sadie Montgomery. She is a struggling artist who paints portraits. She has recently entered a competition and she might have the chance to win 10000 dollars. This is the same competition her mother, who passed away, entered too. Sadie wants to demonstrate to her father that she can be successful in doing what she loves.

However, six weeks before the competition, she learns that she needs to have brain surgery. The surgery has minimal risk and after it, she could begin painting her portrait. What Sadie was not expecting is to stop being able to see faces. After her surgery, she develops acquire apperceptive prosopagnosia. When she realizes this, she freaks out. To make matters worse, her dog, Peanut gets sick. She takes him to the emergency vet. Dr. Addison is able to save Peanut and even without seeing his face, she falls for him. She's thrilled when he asks her out. But things can't be easy, she also meets Joe. He lives in the same building as she does. At first, she dislikes him but the more she gets to know him, the more she starts falling for him too.

What I liked about this story is I didn't know about face blindness, and it was interesting to know about this illness. Katherine Center writes books about complex women, but she has a way to show the strength of these women characters overcoming odds. I like strong women characters that overcome adversity and this one fit the bill for me.

Narrated by Patti Murin who brought this book to life and did a good job giving voice to the characters in this story. This was again another favorite for me though The Bodyguard was a tad better this one did not disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio and St. Martin's Press for a free copy of Hello Stranger for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen if you are looking for your new favorite romcom mark your calendar for this one. I loved absolutely everything about this story. The characters are delightful and the one liners will have you laughing out loud.

The narrator Patti Murin is brilliant and really brings Sadie to life.


Also I adore a good authors note, and if you are not a romcom fan please find her note from this book.

Huge thanks to Katherine Center, Macmillan Audio and St. Martins Press via Net Galley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

This book was beautiful. I love the amount of time and care and research the author put into the book to make sure it was something that could potentially happen as well as asking for guidance from people with the processing disorder. The love story was wonderful and is fun because while the MC can’t “see” the face of her crush, we’re able to and it’s so fun.

Gripping and Emotionally Resonant: Hello Stranger by Katherine Center, Narrated by Patti Murin

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center, narrated by Patti Murin, is a genuinely captivating audiobook that exceeded all of my expectations. From the interestingly unique storyline to the incredible resilience of the main character, Sadie, this book took me on an emotional journey I never anticipated.

Sadie's character is beautifully portrayed as someone who constantly faces adversity and challenges within her family. Despite being the black sheep and living life as the underdog, Sadie's unwavering strength and ability to move forward is inspiring. I found myself rooting for her and amazed by her resilience in the face of the hardships her family continuously puts her through.

Patti Murin's narration added an extra layer of depth and impact to the story. Her delivery was impeccable, and I was particularly impressed by the way she handled the nuances of the dialogue. Murin's attention to detail, such as the pop of her P's and the subtle pauses at the end of sentences, made it feel as though she was having a personal conversation with the listener, bringing the story to life in a remarkable way.

Overall, Hello Stranger is a gripping audiobook that left a lasting impression on me. Katherine Center's skillful storytelling, combined with Patti Murin's exceptional narration, made for a truly unforgettable experience. I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone who enjoys a compelling and emotionally resonant story.