If you’ve read any of Katherine Center’s books you know she has a way of telling a story of romance that also promotes positive mental health. Hello Stranger, is no different. Sadie Montgomery’s life may be falling apart but she’s surrounded with loving friends, neighbors and medical professionals who help her navigate the most difficult time of her life. I love that this book highlights a support system that differs from the traditional view of relying on family members. I wish I had my own Dr. Nicole, everybody should have this amazing woman in their life.

While this is a romance novel it’s not gushy, cringey or closed door. The emphasis is on Sadie’s relationships both with her friends and neighbors and also her love interest. Sadie’s best friend, Sue, is a great supporting character. She’s always trying to lift up her best friend, and just like in real life, doesn’t always read the situation correctly to see what her friend truly needs at the moment.

One of the main themes of the book is to celebrate life. I’ll admit I typically read fiction and am drawn to stories that just make me feel good. This is certainly one of those books that just makes you happy. Sadie learns that different isn’t always bad and that there truly is hope in humanity.

I’m such a sucker for the Author’s Note and this one didn’t disappoint. I know this is an ARC but I sincerely hope nothing in the Author’s Note changes. I loved the book and now I love it twice as much after reading Katherine Center’s thoughts on it.

I thoroughly enjoyed both the digital and audio versions of Hello Stranger. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARCs.

TW: brief mention of attempted suicide

Loved this book - the author's style is perfectly fluffy (a mix of hard topics treated with humor and well-grounded, rather than overwrought dramatics). The only reason I couldn't quite make it five stars was that the jig was up on the major plotline way before the denouement, so while the story progresses you're still hooked, but frustrated.

Hello Stranger 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
A super fun five star Rom Com that will make you feel good & laugh out loud. I didn't want to put it down.
Sadie was hilarious. I have loved all of Katherine Center books so far that I've read.
This book is for you if you want a sweet charming romance with emotional bliss.
Lots of great quotes in the book. Here's just two of many more to come.
"Love is a form of Hope."
"The more good things you look for the more you find."
Thank you NetGallery for the chance to read & enjoy this book!!

Hello Stranger is the newest release from Katherine Center and while I’ve always really enjoyed this author’s books in the past, this book right here easily took the cake as my new fav! I cried multiple times reading this book and then again with the author’s note at the end about romance books! This book just meant so much and was perfect!

Sadie is a struggling portrait artist but feels like she got a big break when she lands a coveted spot in a portrait competition! She runs out of her apartment to celebrate by buying some (cheap) wine at the local corner store but realizes while checking out that she totally forgot her wallet. A man behind her in line offers to pay but she declines and rushes off to get her wallet, later she runs into him and realizes he bought her wine anyways for her and even added in a bouquet of flowers to her bag. Aww’ing at the thoughtfulness of it all, she ends up getting hit by a car and rushed to a hospital! While at the hospital, the doctor finds a malformed blood vessel in her brain on the scan and informs her she’ll need brain surgery to fix the issue.

After the successful surgery, Sadie realizes that she is unable to see faces and is told she has face blindness (there is a technical term but that is basically what it is). They’re hoping it is just temporary and will last 2-6 weeks, but Sadie is devastated considering her living is painting portraits! Along the way she ends up finding out about her past, struggles to save her career, deals with her complicated relationships with her family (dad, stepmom, and stepsister), and has a really sweet and helpful guy she wants to get to know more!

The romance was just so so precious and I couldn’t get enough of Sadie and her story! I didn’t find the romance to be a twist, I thought it was clear to see what was going on in the story very early on, but I adored the journey of it all anyways and seeing it all play out. This was easily my favorite by this author and the audio narration in particular was amazing!

Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press for an ARC and MacMillan Audio for an audio ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts in this review are my own. Hello Stranger has a pub date of July 11, 2023!

All the stars for Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. I am going to have the biggest book hangover after reading this heartwarming story that has me smiling, giggling, laughing and crying. This book all had the emotions, and felt like a big hug from the author.
Portrait artist Saddie Montgomery has finally had a break in career by advancing to the finals in a National Portrait contest, and she feels her life is about to change. She is one win away from breaking out in her career. However, after a near death mishap, she finds out that she needs to have brain surgery ASAP. The surgery is successful, but leaves her face blind. So she has weeks to come up with a portrait, while she can't see faces. We follow Saidie's journey of living with this condition, dealing with past and meeting two handsome men who help her along the way.
Thank-you to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for the ARC.
This is a must read summer read and will fill you with joy and inspiration.

Updated to add that I have now listened to the audiobook, and Patti Murin does an amazing job narrating. Plus make sure to listen to the Author's notes at the end of the story. Katherine Center has such a wonderful essay on the romance genre.

This book was well written and captivating! This is my first book by Katherine Center. I will be sure to read her other titles in hopes they are as good as this one.
Working with a disability a young heartbroken art student persevered against all odds.
I love a romance novel based on love, the relationship and that overcomes a challenge. This story pulls at your heartstrings and makes you cheer for the underdog.
Narration was excited perfectly. I especially enjoyed the authors notes at the end.

Wow! I really enjoyed this read. This was my first book by Katherine Center to pick up and it did not disappoint. It was so new and original and I’ve never read anything like it. I found myself googling face blindness and trying to find pictures that could try to show me what someone who deals with that experiences.

I loved Sadie but sometimes she drove me crazy. I couldn’t figure out why she wouldn’t just tell people what she was struggling with. It would have fixed so many problems that ended up arising. I really loved Joe the helper and Sue but man did I want to punch Parker in the face. She is just the worst human being.

I really enjoyed the narrator of this book as well. I think she did a fantastic job. All in all I really loved this and I couldn’t stop listening because I just wanted to see how everything would end up going down!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio of an advanced copy of this audiobook. All thoughts are my own

I received an advanced copy of this audiobook and binged it all in one day. My apologies to my family for being absent, but the premise of this book was just too fascinating to walk away. Hello Stranger focuses a portrait artist struggling to cope with a sudden onset of face-blindness. This isn’t a topic I have ever seen covered in contemporary fiction and I found it to deeply shift my perspective of what someone might be going through at any given time. It really does make for a shift in how someone moves through the world, on or off the page. I commend the author for taking this subject on. It made for quite a different story line than I was expecting!
The story was adorable, though somewhat predictable, and I loved the narrator’s voice and cadence of speech. This is my first book of Katherine Center and I think I may need to go down a rabbit hole of reading all of her past books!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook!

3.5 ⭐️

Full review (link) coming soon! This was a cute fast paced audiobook. I loved peanut and the fact that he was a foodie had me LOL! The face blindness aspect of the story I found a little disjointed but overall still a really cute yet predictable rom com!

Katherine Center is now one of my favourite authors. Her stories (or the ones I’ve read so far anyway) always leave you feeling so good and hopeful.

I really enjoyed this book. It had ups and downs and you were really rooting for Sadie to be able to paint her portrait for the competition. And I loved Joe. He was so kind and gentle with Sadie, even though she should have told him about what was going on with her.

The side characters were also something special! They were so supportive of Sadie and wanted to help her and see her be happy. Except for her stepmother and stepsister. We don’t like them.

With the twist, I did see it coming. There were a few hints but the scene at the vets clinic put it all together for me. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying it, I just kept hoping that the characters would also figure it out to find their happy endings.

The narrator for this audiobook did an amazing job. She did a great job adding expression to the book and I really enjoyed listening!

I loved the narration of this book. I switched between e-book and audio, and found myself gravitating more towards the audio. The narrator did a fantastic job switching between voices and changing her inflection. This was a very fun and unique storyline. I absolutely loved the concept of the MC losing her ability to see faces and learning how to identify people based on other characteristics and body language.

The main character was funny, brave, relatable, and likeable. The fact that she powered through life without being to see any faces was charming and entertaining.

I will say that the miscommunication trope is my least favorite, so I found myself having second-hand embarrassment a handful of times throughout the last quarter once I figured out a few of the plot twists - which I felt were pretty predictable.

Overall this was a fun, quick, quirky read. I think a lot of people will enjoy reading this one. I highly recommend the narration.

I am always a fan of Katherine Center's works. They provide fun, easy reads that are the definition of a page-turner. This story was enjoyable; however, it is not my favorite of her works. The main characters were very likable, but this book also includes one of the most unlikeable characters I've encountered in a book of this style. I also found the ending to be very predictable (which is saying something because I never predict the endings of books very well) and the attempted character redemption at the end wasn't as satisfying as I would expect from a Katherine Center book.

That said, I will still read her next book and the one after that as I generally enjoy her style. This story just fell a bit flat for me.

The narration on the audiobook was wonderful.

I am a huge Katherine Center fan, so I was really excited to get an ALC audiobook to review.

Overall, this was a good rom com read - I was able to finish the audiobook in a few days. It was engaging, funny, emotional, and (of course) had a happy ending. The premise of "face blindness' was interesting and something I haven't read much about before.

I wasn't surprised by the twist and sometimes the plot seemed a bit far-fetched, but oh well - that happens in fiction sometimes!

This wasn't my favorite Katherine Center, but I'll always love anything she writes!

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

HELLO STRANGER follows Sadie, a young woman who comes out of brain surgery with face blindness, a condition hoped to be temporary. With this condition she isn’t able to recognize any of the faces of those around her, not even her closest friends and family. Making matters even more complicated, Sadie has just been announced as a finalist in a portrait competition, an art which largely relies on the translation of faces into art.

Sadies’ life is further complicated in her relationships. Though she has a supportive BFF, that BFF has a busy life of her own. Her family life is complicated with a strained relationship with her father, and a step sister who lives up to the wicked label. The only face she really recognizes is that of her dog! Sadie doesn’t want to admit to anyone the condition she is in even as she meets and falls for two men she can’t even recognize.

There is something about Katherine Center’s writing that just makes for a cozy read and this definitely lived up to that expectation for me. It was a fun read and one that I could easily fly through. The audio was really well done as well.

I did struggle a bit in this book with Sadie because she definitely could be frustrating. While I could definitely feel the distress she was feeling in this situation, I did find her self-centered nature to be a bit extreme at times. I think it was probably necessary for the route the plot takes, but it did make it a little harder to connect to her. I did also find the wicked step-sister to be a bit over the top for me as well.

While this didn’t wind up being my favorite book by this author, I did still have a lot of fun reading it.

This was a story unlike anything I ever would have expected. What an interesting medical diagnosis. I can't imagine having to live life not being able to see faces. I really enjoyed all the characters in this book aside from Sadie. She was ok, but I really struggled with some of her reluctance to let people in and be more open. It made for drama throughout the book but I just felt, if I was in her situation, it would be exhausting and it was so counterproductive. Joe was incredible. Mr. Kim was the absolute sweetest. Who doesn't love when a pet plays a huge character in a book as well. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and feel grateful to have learned about this very real diagnosis that people experience.

The Author's Note at the end was beautiful!

First, let me start by saying that receiving the ALC of this book shortly after finishing The Bodyguard was an absolute gift. I finished listening to this book in the span of 2 1/2 days. It was a really sweet story, made even sweeter by the authors note at the end. I especially liked the uniqueness of the plot, and how the condition Sadie finds herself with (acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia—a.k.a. Face blindness) is clearly explained. In this case, it’s also believable enough to accept the premise of the story and willingly suspend your disbelief. I did have one burning question throughout, but it was answered very well by the author towards the end. As with The Bodyguard, the story had a very loveable hero, who paired so well with the stubborn heroine, and a sweet happy ending to root for. I also really appreciated the strained family dynamics, and how those were portrayed and overcome.
Another fantastic read by Center. Thanks to #netgalley and #macmillanaudio for the advance listen.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center was a delight to read and a work of art! (See what I did there??) The premise was unique and I loved how Sadie overcame her struggles and blossomed throughout the story. I loved the emotions throughout as well as the growth and love. All around it was a feel good read and a favorite of the year! If you loved Center’s book from last year, The Bodyguard, you’re sure to enjoy this one as well.

I loved this book!!! I had started and about 2/3 of 3 other romances when I started listening to this one, having become bored with each of them and losing motivation to keep reading. Then, FINALLY, came a book that caught and kept my attention the entire way through, lifting me up out of my reading slump! Katherine Center's HELLO STRANGER gives us a fascinating and well-researched romance plot, along with layered characters, humor, and so much heart. I felt skeptical when I first read the premise of this book, because it sounded a bit far-fetched to me -- but as I read, I learned that our main character's condition is actually very real and not as uncommon as I'd previously thought. Center's writing does an excellent job informing the reader about the character's neurological condition, and helping them understand how people with it might experience the world around them. Ultimately the plot felt quite believable, and I found myself entirely invested in the characters, needing to know how their story would resolve. Completely absorbed, I finished this book in less than 24 hours, then missed it once it was over.

Katherine Center does it again! I absolutely loved the narrator. I started off reading the physical copy of this and it took me a little but to get into it. After switching to the audiobook version I binged it in one day. I couldn't stop listening. This romance was unlike any other book I've read which is hard to find. I highly recommend the audiobook version.

This book was a five star book for me, it had every aspect I needed and I loved the entire journey. Did I see the conflict at the end coming? Yes but I still think it was done well and I am so beyond excited to recommend this book to others