I love Katherine Center's Books, So I was so excited to receive an Arc Audio book and I was not disappointed.

Things I loved.
Sadie is Flawed. She is struggling and her heart is still broken from when her mom died. Deep down, she just wants to be shown love by her dad and to not be treated like something he thew in the basement. I feel like she becomes so one track minded that it has kept her from seeing things in her own life clearly.

It is easy to relate to Sadie. She never feels good enough. She loves her dog more than anything in the world. For me the part of her constantly letting her trauma control her future hits home.
She is extremely flawed and that is what makes this book so good.

This book is not spicy but instead is a great love story. About accepting yourself and all your flaws and loving yourself and intern finding someone who loves you, Flaws and all.

Thank you Netgalley and McMillan audio for granting me access to Hello Stranger.

This book was a well written. I enjoyed the message it sent. At the end Sadie says “We are all muddling through, we are all just doing the best we can. We are struggling with our struggles. The more good things you look for, the more you find.” I absolutely love this message.

The book was close to 3.5-3.75 stars. I enjoyed the audio, I enjoyed the characters. The cover is beautiful. This author always has the most beautiful bright happy covers.

There were a few things when it came to the dialogue that I struggled with and a couple of the story lines that just didn’t quite click with me, and that’s way I can’t give it full 4 stars. But overall it was a really good book.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a mix between a light rom com but also incorporated a lesser known medical condition that I found fascinating. I've enjoyed other books by Katherine Center and I'll continue to seek them out!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for my copy of Hello Stranger by Katherine Center Narrated by Patti Murin in exchange for an honest review. It publishes July 11, 2023.
Yet another book by Katherine Center that I couldn't bear to put down! Or should I say pause? I adored the narration! But truly, I loved this book! I learned so much about the brain, about how we communicate and recognize faces, and just some neurological stuff I've not heard about before.
I loved the way this story was written, it felt like I was hanging out with a friend, and I just couldn't get enough!

Sadie is one of those characters you instantly bond with , I love her rawness, her honesty and personality . Sadie has quite the shock when she needs a surgery that will change her life .I really enjoy this authors writng , the style and topics not many talk about , I learned something new within this story . I really liked the narrator as well , she brought Sadie to life .

Loved this cute romance. It was a great book that is perfect for summer. I especially Loved the ending after the story was over when the author talked about face blindness. It was a great romance that I also learned during.

This is the book I didn’t know I needed right now. I feel in love with this story from beginning to end, I never wanted to stop listening! Did I know exactly what the major conflict at the end was going to be! Yup, yet I ate it up like candy.

Sadie and “Joe’s” relationship was so much fun. I loved that he was the golden retriever character of the book. We love a man who is a helper. I also learned things about the brain that I didn’t know were possible. What an amazing part of the human body. Another element of the book I liked was the family dynamic. I enjoy when authors dig deep into the side characters personalities instead of just labeling someone as the villain.

This is my second Katherine Center book and I don’t know why I haven’t picked up more books written by her yet because I loved them both. She just knows how to write a swoony, sweet and romantic book.

Katherine’s blurb at the back of the book was beautifully written and I agree wholeheartedly about why the romance genre just works for so many people.

The Narrator did a fantastic job and was very enjoyable to listen to.

5/5 stars friends, do yourself a favor and pick up this book!!

A month ago, I was given an advance copy of the audiobook version of this and I have been DYING to read it. My life is currently insane though, and I wanted to wait until I had a day or two of nearly no distractions so I could focus. Well, that time is finally here.

Sadie is a portrait artist who just received a huge break. On her way home to celebrate, she collapsed in the street. She needed brain surgery, which went fine. Until a few days later, when she could no longer see anyone's face. Swelling in her brain caused her to become face blind. This would throw anyone into a tailspin, but as a portrait artist, very little could be worse. Sadie has never accepted help well, but as she learns to navigate her new life, she has to accept it more and more frequently.

Katherine Center quickly became one of my "automatic read" authors. As in I do not even bother reading the blurb. I will read it regardless. While this is not my favorite book of hers, I did enjoy it a lot. It was different- and I learned a whole lot. I was aware of prosopagnosia, but it was very interesting to read about someone who suddenly developed it. And to a person who is so used to examining faces. I love when a romance book has substance, and this definitely has it. I loved following Sadie's journey on how she began to cope with everything.

The always dependable Patti Murin narrates the audio book.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Perfect Book for a Day at the Beach or Pool


SUMMARY
Sadie Montgomery ran down to the corner store to pick up some wine for an impromptu celebration of the most significant achievement of her artistic career. She has been named a top ten finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition, with only one more portrait to paint.

But she has just woken up in the hospital without memory of what happened to her. The doctor tells her she has to have brain surgery immediately. She discovers she is face-blind when she wakes up from the brain surgery. She can see people in general, but their faces never come into focus. That is not a good thing for a portrait artist.

Sadie struggles to cope with her new reality. Her artistic dream hangs in the balance while she copes with horrendous family drama, a very sick dog, and falling madly in love with not one but two men. The timing could not be worse. Sadie cannot bear to share the news of her face-blindness with anyone, although her father, stepmother, and her one best friend know the truth.

REVIEW
HELLO STRANGER is a perfect book for a day at the beach. It’s got everything a good beach read needs. The story is light and fun to read, has a strong female lead, and is captivatingly full of both drama and romance. It even creates a hopeful sense of anticipation. It is a perfect escape from reality and will even make you smile.

Sadie’s face blindness makes the book compulsively readable. Can you even imagine this happening to you, let alone a portrait artist, during the most important opportunity of her career? This story is vibrant with emotions, and you can’t help but laugh, cry, and worry about Sadie. If only she would tell people about her face blindness...but then we wouldn’t have this delightful book. Did you know that over one in 50 people have face blindness?

Author Katherine Center has written ten novels, of which I have read five and enjoyed every one of them. She writes novels about how life knocks us down and how we get back up. Her writing is witty, and her research for this book was admirable.

I listened to the audiobook of HELLO STRANGER. Narrator Patti Murin’s performance was delightful. Her voice was perfect for the book. She enhanced the story with her inflection, pacing, and emotional tone. Listeners will leave the book happy. Read it!

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press and Macmillian Audio for an advance reading copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.


Publisher St. Martin’s Press
Published July 11, 2023
Narrated Patti Murin
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

Katherine Center does it again. I think this is my new favorite book of hers.

Sadie a struggling artist up for a coveted award. She has a surgery six weeks before her art show.

After her surgery she is left with face blindness. How is a portrait artist paint if she can't see faces?

It is an amazing story.

I loved reading this book! I loved the unique experience of the main character. The 3rd act break up she was using her words to be clear about her feelings (unlike most romance books).
I won’t be using it for the classroom, but I will be suggesting this book to friends, and for book club.

A light, humorous, entertaining read with a very original plot. It was a little predictable but still a fun read. The narrator was very easy to listen to and the story had a great, appealing flow to it.

Part of me adored Hello Stranger by Katherine Center, and the other part disliked it immensely. I feel unbalanced and utterly confused as how to rate or review this book.

Katherine Center does hope well. No matter what she puts her leads through, and sometimes it is a lot, the story is always hopeful. Her characters may not feel hope, but there is always a sense that things will get better. Even when they may not get better, there is a feeling that things will still be okay.

I know I can't describe this well, but I enjoyed the parts of the romance when the love interests were participating in the day-to-day things: dinners, walks, just talking, or comforting each other. During these times, they were vulnerable and fully fleshed out, and when their chemistry won me over. These scenes made me forgive a lot of what I didn't like.

This book made me cry. It is likely because I have an estranged relationship with a relative, and when this topic comes up in books, I tend to feel it deeply. EVERY. DAMN. TIME. However, I rarely cry. I don't think more than ten books have ever made me cry. So, if you can make me cry, you get a bump in stars.

I loved the author's note about romance books and their predictability of them. Predictability in books sucks unless it is a romance. If you aren't reading a romance book for the happily ever after, what are you even reading them for? It is sad that an author even needs to justify it.

The rest of this book made me roll my eyes. Like constantly. If this were any other book, it wouldn't get above a 2 star. Much of the premise requires you to suspend disbelief that what is occurring would and could happen. Here, the female lead has brain surgery, which causes her to suffer from temporary face blindness. Her face blindness resulted in so much confusion and utter ridiculousness that it made it hard for me to buy what was happening - like the inability to know someone by their voice despite her inability to see their face. However, I am not a doctor. I have never had face blindness. I have no idea about what may or may not happen. So, I let most of it go.

What ultimately bothered me the most; is that Center clearly knew this would be an issue because you are force-fed excuses and explanations as to how this entire plot could happen. She wants you to believe it so much that she tells you how to believe it. It took me out of the story.

My other issue with the story was the female main character's attitude. Due to past trauma, she doesn't let people help her, but she is mean about it. We all have trauma. We all go through things, but you don't need to be constantly rude because of it. It made me not care about her or what she was going through. BUT there is character growth by the end. So, that is something.

Lack of communication is a significant trope in this book. So much so that if the lack of communication doesn't exist, there is no plot. It made me want to scream.

Ultimately, I believe most people will love this book. It gives a lot of warm and cozy vibes and aww moments that even got me. I suggest going in with the expectation that her medical issues would result in everything that happens.

Patti Murin does a great job with the audio.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this book and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Effervescent Sadie Montgomery has finally received her big break: a slot in the same exclusive portrait competition her mother entered years and years earlier. Sadie wants to win the competition in her mother’s honor and to prove that she can be a success as an artist to her father and wicked stepmother, but things aren’t so easy for Sadie. Her brain has other plans.

A necessary surgery leads to a condition that leads to face blindness. She is a portrait artist that can’t see faces.

How will Sadie recognize people in her life? How can she prove herself as a portrait artist when she can’t see faces—even the ones she has created on her canvases?

And so Sadie begins relying on coping mechanisms—identifying clothing and hairstyles, gaits and voices. But so much of that is an amalgamation in her mind, not a science.

Can Sadie keep a sunny, upbeat attitude in the face of so many challenges? Can she fall in love and establish a new relationship without seeing and committing faces to memory? Can she still prove her artistic prowess to her family and to the art world?

This book brought me so much joy and hope. From Sadie bopping down the grocery aisles to her skating on the rooftop, she makes you want to delight in living. Her burgeoning friendship and relationship with Joe is so sweet.

And it wouldn’t be a Katherine Center book without the reader experiencing the trials and tribulations along with her characters, aching for everything to work out. Your heart has to constrict before getting to that happy ending.

I loved it.

The audiobook is narrated by Patti Murin, and, as always, her narration is a delight. She captures Sadie’s personality, personability, and frustrations along the way. And just wait until you hear her vocal choices for the evil stepsister.

Stick around after the story to read Katherine Center’s author’s note for a lovingly articulated argument as to the importance of romance as a genre. If you listen to the audiobook version, that author’s note is read by Center herself.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

I loved the narrator! She did an amazing job! This was such a cute read. I loved Sadie! This story mostly revolves around Sadie and her struggle with face blindness after having brain surgery. It is also a story about loss and how it affects people, about feeling like you were betrayed by those who should have supported you when you needed them most, and being able to get over yourself and ask for help when you need it. The love story is secondary to Sadie healing emotionally and I kind of like that. Although, the issues Sadie has with dating while struggling with face blindness definitely bring humor to this story. I find Sadie's step-mom to be over the top and her step-sister is just cringey and mean. Joe is amazing (definitely book boyfriend material) and all the quirky things that happen between Joe and Sadie had me shaking my head. Overall, this was a great way to start my summer reading!

I'm a big fan of anything that makes a novel unique, unforgettable.

Hello Stranger introduced me to a disease that I had no idea existed, acquired Prosopagnosia, face blindness. And it was quite fascinating to learn more about it. Also, I thought the author did a fantastic job of researching the topic and turning it into a great plot arc. Well done!!

But I was not a fan of the heroine, couldn't even point to exactly what irked me, but she didn't endear herself to me - which is never a good thing.

I also would have liked to have more interaction between the couple, and less of Sadie's inner monologue. Her inner musings were just so blah, and meh, almost childish and definitely vexing at times. Also her relationship with her family had me rolling my eyes at times - I was not a fan of it! And I must have spaced out here and there because I can't even remember if the couple slept with each other or not. :(

Best part of the book:
I had an Aha! moment at 72,8 % of the audiobook, that's how long it took me to realise who is who when it comes to "Jim". That was pretty brilliantly done by the author, if I may say so!

Overall, it was a solid audio performance, but not my favorite Katherine Center novel. Nevertheless I'm looking forward to the next one.

This book was pretty good kept me curious the entire time. Thank you for the audiobook.i have enjoyed everything I've read by the author so far

HELLO STRANGER - KATHERINE CENTRE
4⭐
PLOT - Sadie Montgomery is a struggling portrait artist whose luck might change as she is selected as a finalist in a competition but one day she has a seizure and needs to be operated leaving her with partial face blindness . Now we have Sadie a portrait artist who can't differentiate one face from another . While sorting this mess and her estrangement from her father she falls for her neighbour and is obsessed with her dogs vet. She might need to figure other ways of seeing and accepting help from least expected sources.

MY THOUGHTS -
I loved the premise and how one has to suddenly adjust to this new problem still maintaining and living your current life.
Sadie as a character inspite of hardships she faced was good hearted but I wished she stood up for herself even more esp with her father.
The plot of face blindness in a rom com was very well done with some serious issues also being discussed
I binged listened to this one and the narration was good .
Thank you Netgalley and publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I am so sorry but I DNF at 30%.

I automatically requested this title on NetGalley because I love Katherine Center. I had no idea the premise included face blindness. I don't know why, but it's my least favorite premise in romance. That's on me, though, and not the author or narrator.

I feel like it's impossible to write this plot without being contrived or overly cliché.

I hope other readers love it. For me, I needed to stop.

This audiobook was AMAZING!!!! I seriously love Katherine writing. I read this in a day. I highly recommend all of her books.

Before the twist even came i thought that might be the case and oh man. I couldn't even imagine going through all that Sadie did. I don't wanna say to much and give away the whole book.

Loved listening to this!