I loved how the reader got to be in the know while we were waiting on Sadie to figure out what was going on around her!

I'm between 3 and 3½ stars for this one.
If you're looking for sweet and wholesome and full of hope, this is the book for you. The story is cute and funny.

However, there was something about it that didn't quite connect with me. It all felt a bit disjointed and completely predictable and the miscommunication trope really irked me. And honestly, it could just be me as that seems to be where I usually land with Center's books. The narration was excellent.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but it was not my favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and McMillian Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was so cute!
I actually saw the "plot twist" in the end coming way early in the book but it was so much fun getting there and seeing it play out. The end was a bit muddled. I'm not sure I can believe even common sense wouldn't come into play here. Confused? Yeah, well, you'll understand what I'm talking about when you read this book because I do highly recommend it. Narrator Patti Murin does a fantastic job as narrator in the audiobook

My first experience with Katherine Center….not a great one. The main character was so immature, and the storyline so unbelievable yet predictable—it just really let me down. Maybe I was expecting too much coming off of an Emily Henry book, but this is getting 2.5 stars rounded down. I will try a couple more of her books and hope that I have more luck with them.

Wowowow! I adored this book! I ove Katherine Center’s writing! The plot of this novel was incredible as well as all of the struggles our main character goes through. 4.5 out of 5 stars ⭐️

I adored this book so much! Center always writes amazing characters that you love so much and root for. Her stories are not hard to get attached to and immediately pulled in. Loved it and the audiobook was perfect!!

This audio is AMAZING! Katherine Center writes the BEST female main characters ever! I’m obsessed with this story and read it in less than a day! I could have listened forever I was laughing and smiling so much! This is how miscommunication is written in a rom com!

Another lovely romance!! The facial recognition portion was amazing and included so much knowledge it felt like the narrator was an expert. I couldn’t help fall in love with Sadie and I’m sorry maybe unpopular opinion, I was rooting for Joe the whole time!! Thank you so much for the audiobook, I can’t wait to read the physical when it comes out!

I adored this novel. It was so cute. I learned a new word prosopagnosia which means face blindness and the astounding number of people who have this condition. I cannot even imagine and Sadie is an author, so just the worst possible scenario for this condition. I dug the cinderella story embedded into this one. Sadie is so lovable and even though the little plot twist is super obvious, it was obvious in the best way. It was so obvious that I wondered if I was wrong a few times. Joe seems so amazing. I want him to be my boyfriend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this advanced reader's copy for an honest review. I will read anything Katherine Center writes. I also loved The Bodyguard so send them to me automatically. lol.

Katherine Center does it again! I adore her romances: captivating, compelling, heartfelt, authentic, relatable, emotional and most of all hopeful and this one was no different. I was also completely fascinated by the face blindness aspect of the story. Add in some heart-wrenching family drama and this was a top-notch romance. Center has a loyal fan in me and I can’t wait to read more from her. I previously loved The Bodyguard and Things You Save in a Fire. I also always love the bright, gorgeous cover art!

I cannot explain the excitement I felt when I was approved for an advanced audiobook of Hello Stranger through NetGalley. Center's previous book, the Bodyguard was one of my favorites and I thought it would be hard to live up to that. This book did not disappoint - I did not want to stop reading. It's such a fun story with so much depth. You can't help but laugh at Sadie's misfortunes and unfortunate circumstances, but you also feel for her and how unfair life was to her all at once.

As far as the audio, Patti Murin did a fantastic job at bringing Sadie's character to life. I really enjoyed her performance and her ability to not only bring out Sadie's character, but also the whole cast of characters. You really knew which person she was enacting based on how her voice would change. Her voice for Lucinda and Parker sounded so real and you could just picture how uppity their personalities were.

I loved how creative, refreshing, and different this story was. I had never heard of Prosopagnosia before reading this book and seeing how Sadie dealt with this, being that she makes a living by painting portraits, was both heartbreaking and hopeful. It was so rewarding to watch her change, grow, and figure things out little by little. She faced her illness with courage and humor as she bravely navigated the world of faceless strangers.

The book was so hopelessly romantic and swoony; it gave me literal goosebumps at times! Sadie's relationship with two different men whose faces she cannot see is both entertaining and so interesting. The love story is immersive, and you get invested into Sadie's journey; I devoured the story because I had to see what happened in the end. There is a super fun twist, and I absolutely loved how all the pieces of the plot came together so perfectly. Such a satisfying, sweet, hopeful story! Cannot recommend enough.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and Katherine Center for this gifted advanced audiobook of Hello Stranger.

This was excelllently done. Patti took the role of Sadie and made her sound like a friend.

Katherine Center has a way in which she captivates the reader into the story and grabs a hold on them. I have given each of the books that I have read by her 5 stars and this was no exception. Although it is a romance, it is so realistic and and has depth to the plot line that surface romances do not.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center is a funny and heartwarming romance that will pull you in. I loved Sadie and Joe and how their relationship bloomed. I found the face-blindness aspect of the plot very interesting and unique. Although I usually get a little frustrated when romances rely heavily on miscommunications as a plot device, I did not mind it in this case. I listened to the audiobook version of this book and Patti Murin is so great as the narrator. She really brings the book and characters to life. Highly recommend!

I couldn’t put Hello Stranger down! I fell in love with The Bodyguard, so when I saw this on netgalley, I hit request so fast. Sadie is a struggling artist about to get her big break, only to have to have an unexpected surgery that leaves her with a case of face blindness. As she struggles to cope, she meets veterinarian Dr. Addison and falls for him, but there’s also her obnoxious neighbor Joe that always seems to show up—and as she juggles love, her career, and her family, she refuses to ask for help, not telling anyone about her struggles, including the face blindness. I loved Sadie so much, she was brave and stubborn and vivacious. There was clearly a lot of research about the face blindness and it was such a unique take on a romance. The writing was sharp and witty and addicting. Sadie’s dog Peanut is a gem, and all the side characters were so well developed and added so much. The family story is as such a strong emotional element, and Sadie just takes on so much. It is so charming and fun and endearing, and the banter was so good! Makes me more excited to keep reading more of Katherine Center’s backlist!

Thank you to @netgalley @katherinecenter and @macmillan.audio for this gifted review copy of Hello Stranger. It’s a love story in all of the best ways. Sadie Montgomery is finally getting somewhere in life when she is chosen as a finalist for a drawing competition. Until tragedy strikes and she ends up having to have brain surgery. She is left with a condition called prosopagnosia; face blindness. A whole new struggle abounds in her professional life as she is a portrait artist while at the same time she falls in love with two men. There is family drama and a scare with her beloved pet, Peanut. Also throw in the fact that she is still grieving the loss of her dead mother. I do not want to give away any of the fun to this novel. But it will say it is well written and a clean, contemporary romance novel. I listened to the audiobook version and i will say the narrator was great and the book was fast paced. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Another heartwarming and wholesome romance novel from Katherine Center. The writing and narration are enjoyable, the female MC is very relatable and funny, and the rest of the character cast has depth and development as well.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Publication date: July 11th

I really enjoyed this story! It was reminiscent of How to Walk Away mixed with The Bodyguard, both by this author. It was a women’s fiction story about navigating life when nothing is going your way with a romance thrown in.

This one had several heavy themes and so many things happened to the poor FMC. I enjoyed the plot line of a striving artist with face blindness. The medical aspects of the story at the beginning were a bit long to me, but I understand why she wrote it that way.

I listened to this one via audio and enjoyed the performance! Thank you @macmillanaudio for the advanced listening copy and @stmartinspress for the physical copy.

Perfect for you if you like:
Romance mixed with women’s fiction
*when life gives you lemons*
Story with a medical scare

This story was more fantastic than I suspected. The bodyguard being a 5 star book was not just a fluke. I loved that this was a different story and didn’t follow the basic tropes set forth by romance novels. The narrator.was really good as well. I liked the voices she used. I also like that I learned something through this book(face blindness). 5 stars can’t wait to do a reread when the book is released.

Another spectacular novel from Katherine Center. Once again she has made me fall in love with her characters and her writing. I loved Sadie. I feel like everything bad that could happen to a person hit her in her 30 years. Yet she was still happy and loving and trying to do her best. And Joe- sweet Joe, almost too sweet and helpful Joe. I felt the little bits and pieces we kept learning about him made me want to keep coming back for more. And honestly, I wrote Parker off within 10 seconds of reading about her. But The Kims, we all need this kind of people in our life.

5 huge stars as usual for my Katherine Center books. Read and enjoy this lovely novel, you will not regret it.

The audio was fabulous.

The narrator chosen for this story did a wonderful job bringing the character and story to life.

Story: I found this to be an inspiring story. In this story the main character acquires prosopagnosia (face blindness) weeks before she is to present a new portrait for an art contest. She is learning how to live with it not knowing if it will come back. This story was a reminder to be kinder to people and to see past the looks.

The ending wasn't quite what I expected and I can't decide if that is good or bad. It was interesting.

Thank you NetGalley and McMillian Audio for the ARC.