Have you ever read a book that makes you wish you were more conservative with your previous 5 star reviews because you’d found a TRUE 5 stars? Well, that’s this one for me. I absolutely loved this book, even despite my hatred for the miscommunication trope. The characters are so
well written and this audiobook is wonderfully done. You’ll laugh, feel the warm fuzzies, and want to be Sadie’s best friend.

Hello Stranger was pure Katherine Center joy. I've read thrillers about prosopagnosia, but it was even more fun to read about a portrait artist with face blindness.

There was so much to love about this book: the storyline, the side characters, the dog, and the climax. I even loved the villian--Parker making fun of Sadie's condition was hilarious to me. I was fascinated to see how the love triangle would turn out and really enjoyed where she took it, although if Sadie was less self-absorbed it might have turned out differently.

The best part of the book might have been the author's note. I loved Katherine Center's message about romance books and what to expect of them!

Patti Murin is a fantastic narrator and is always such a good fit for Katherine Center's books. I definitely recommend the audio version of this book.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Katherine Center, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ARC copy of Hello Stranger in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

This was my second book by Katherine Center and once again I enjoyed her work!

This time around we follow portrait artist Sadie Montgomery who seems to be in a continual state of crisis. It sort of reminds me of the saying you win some and you lose some. Sadie lands herself a dream opportunity as a finalist in a competition that will help her score some much needed cash. The only problem... well what happens when you can't actually see the faces you are supposed to be paining because you needed surgery and the side effects take your sight temporarily away just 6 weeks before the big competition?!

As she navigates this crisis - two different men enter her life that are involved in other chaotic areas of her life. A vet who is taking care of her dog after a health issue, and a neighbor who made a bad first impression.

I love how light hearted things were overall, but was annoyed with how self centered Sadie was a majority of the time. The main character did undergo a lovely growth within herself throughout the book that did make up for it.

Read if you love:
-Love Triangles
-Hilarious banter
-Family drama
-Endearing Characters

The audiobook version is very enjoyable.

I loved this book. It’s one of those stories that sticks with you. I kept updating my husband on the book, even though, I’m sure he truly did not care. I just wanted to talk to someone about it.

Sadie has had it rough with her family and career. She just made a big break with acceptance into a career boosting competition when a medical procedure leaves her with a condition they prevents her from seeing and identifying faces. How do you paint a portrait without a face? How do you navigate life when those around you aren’t recognizable?

It’s one of those books that teaches you about a rare condition (yes I googled a lot for more information), but more importantly teaches you about self discovery and noticing more around you. Sadie’s journey was difficult and here breaking, but also beautiful and uplifting. I thought about this books for days after I finished it.

I listened to the audio of this book and loved the narration.

Content warning: a few swear words, but not often or a large part of any character’s language style. Difficult family dynamics.

First, I have to admit, I am a huge fan of Katherine Center. I was thrilled to receive an advanced audiobook copy of her latest love story, Hello Stranger. In Hello Stranger, Center introduces readers to Sadie Montgomery, a starving artist who is finally getting her first big-break, being a finalist in the North American Portrait Society's competition. Sadie's dreams and life are suddenly thrown upside down after developing a condition known as face blindness. I do not want to give anything away, but Sadie's inability to recognize faces creates a lot of confusion, many mix-ups while entertaining the reader. Did I love this as much as The Bodyguard? No. But it was enjoyable! 3.5 stars!

One downfall for me was the narrator's voice for Sadie's horrific step-sister. Understandably, you would not want to give a truly evil step-sister a sweet voice, but it was so harsh and irritating, it drove me crazy to the point that I wanted to fast forward. This could just be me.
A bonus was learning more about the condition known in layman's terms as face-blindness.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

4 stars

Hello Stranger was such a fascinating read. Katherine Center does such a great job of writing things you wouldn't see in your typical romance.

Sadie Montgomery is a struggling artist who just got her big break. Or so she thinks. Something happens to her that changes things. She starts to see things differently, people differently. She and her neighbor Joe sort of get off on the wrong foot, but with time they become friends. I love animals in books and Sadie has a dog she has to take to the vet, and that's where she meets Dr. Addison.

I want to keep a lot of the other plot points vague because although I guessed the twist fairly early on I don't think everyone else will. Sadie's journey was challenging, but also fun at times. I loved watching her heal and grow certain relationships in her life.

This is one of those books that perfectly balances emotion, humor, and romance. Hello Stranger was entertaining, enjoyable, and charming. I would definitely recommend this one!

I’m not even sure how to express how much I enjoyed this book. Katherine Center writes perfect every time! This book is funny, cute, unexpected, and keeps the reader absolutely hooked the entire time. While I had an idea of how it was going to end, it concluded even better than I expected and I couldn’t stop smiling. The narration was amazing and I was listening to it wherever I went. Highly, highly recommend reading or listening to this! 5⭐️, 1🌶

Sadie is living life on her terms, her mom passed away years ago, she and her father do not have a good relationship, her step mother and step sister are the definition of wicked, so it's just Sadie and her geriatric dog, Peanut. Sure Sadie is a struggling artist that specializes in facial art portraits and she has finally gotten a big break to represent her art in portrait competition. Unfortunately, life decides to throw Sadie a curve ball and she has a seizure in the middle of the street that leads to brain surgery that leads to her being unable to recognize and see faces. The doctor says it should be corrected (hopefully) in 4-6 weeks. This is a disaster for Sadie, she has art to create that will finally be showcased. Then to add another miserable circumstance, Peanut gets sick, but not all is lost because Sadie meets Dr. Addison. Dr. Addison is dreamy, so dreamy that he has Sadie planning their wedding in her head. Then there is Joe, a guy that lives in her building that is so nice his nickname is Mr. Helpful. Sadie finds herself torn between two guys that are the perfect package in their own ways, but she can’t really see either one of them. What if her brain doesn’t go back to “working” properly, what will happen to all of her dreams?

This was a funny, lighthearted, rom-com, perfect for a beach read type of book. Sadie’s character is delightful and relatable. At some points the writing was a little cheesy, that read a little like Young Adult(ish), but overall a sweet story of overcoming obstacles.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. All opinions are my own.

I LOVED this book! I really thought a lot of her problems would go away if she just TOLD people she couldn't see them, but then I guess we wouldn't have the whole story. I figured out the plot twist around 75% through the book, and wow I didn't really see it coming!

Reviewed for NetGalley:

I reread/listened to the audiobook narration. The narrator did a good job, but not exactly how I pictured Sadie originally.

Original review:
Anything Katherine Center is a “can’t wait to get my hands on, must read.”

And of course, Hello Stranger was no different.

Sadie, a literal starving portriat artist catches her big break in being picked as a finalist for a portriat competition. The catch: she undergoes brain surgery that gives her (hopefully temporary) face blindness. How does one paint portriats without facial recognition?!?

Throw in some family drama, the power of grief, and falling in love without ever seeing the guy’s face as a face.

So much story packed into this novel and I adored every second of it.

For the last 25 percent of the book, I was on the edge of my seat or crying.

I want to live inside Center’s head, she outdoes herself every time.

#HelloStranger by @katherinecenter is the #romcom I finished listening to today and as usual, it was a 5 star production, and a 5 star story that made me laugh, made me learn about a medical condition which I cannot pronounce so I’ll use the vernacular term “face blindness., and gave me the warm fuzzies at the end. This story was particularly bitter sweet after everything poor Sadie had been thru in her life, and how strained her family life was, but in true #katharinecenter style, through eventual honest communication, love, and the breakdown of assumptions (one of our biggest barriers in life)… things inevitably fall into place. I adored this romance and even though there was a moment when the Dr was SO crestfallen that I kinda knew where it was going to go, the joy of the characters figuring it out for themselves was so much fun. A huge thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for allowing me an early listen to this book! And many thanks to the author @katherinecenter for always writing stories with such intriguing characters, fun banter, and joyful endings ! @pattimurin and as EVER, your narration is one of my FAVORITES! Your comedic timing brings out so many laughs, so fantastic job as usual!!! If you haven’t listened to or read this author before, I highly recommend her as one of the leaders in the romcom business today. If you need to laugh and feel warm and fuzzy, get this a read asap! #fanforLife #romcombooks
#whoknew #doit #readingisfun

The audio on this book is really good!! If you’re contemplating the audio, do!

This STORY is incredible. It gives all the warm, fuzzy, down-to-earth, good feels.

As for the plot itself? Unmatched. Seriously. You’ve never read this plot before!

There’s no questions, this book is a rom-com readers “no duh”!

“The more good things you look for, the more you find.”

LOVED THIS BOOK!!! EXACTLY what I needed, a dose of hope and happiness,
Katherine waves a beautiful web throughout the story with the characters and events. While you think you know where the story may go you can't stop turning the pages to find out how it unfolds... And if you're right.
It was magical, heartbreaking, and full of intriguing family drama and a sweet slow-burn romance.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute. She's about to get her big break and has a potentially life saving surgery and gets a specific type of face blindness that is mostly out to ruin her life. She's a finalist in a portrait contest and can't put all the pieces together of anyone she knows, let alone strangers. She's in a loathe at first sight relationship with a guy from her building, keeps getting tricked by her evil stepsister, is in lust at really no sight with her new veterinarian, and is faking it until she makes it with everyone else.

A thing about me is that I cannot do secondhand embarrassment. If it's in a movie, I'll walk out of the room for ten minutes and come back when the scene is hopefully over. I read the second half of this book with a hand over my face like a scary movie. So kudos to Katherine Center for this book being good enough to finish.

Narrator: The narrator was great. Patti Murin did a nice job handling her range of emotions and everyone elses. Especially Joe's complete and total bafflement.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

Hello Stranger was an absolute delight! This cute story revolves around Sadie, a portrait artist who loses her ability to discern faces, and a cast of characters who surround her as she tries to make a new normal, including her best friend Sue and Sue's family, her estranged father, stepmother, and step-sister, and a neighbor named Joe. Center did a great job creating characters that I cared about, a story that didn't feel hokey (what with the face-painter losing the ability to see faces), and a good note at the end about the actual condition of face-blindness. The literal gift. in this audiobook was the narrator, Patti Murin. I cannot say enough about how much I loved every second of listening to her! She made the story feel more like a friend telling you a story than someone reading a book and I'm sad that I've finished. A huge thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the early listen to this adorable book for my honest opinion. I have already recommended that people add this book and look forward to recommending it to all soon.

4.25 stars
Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio/St. Martin's Press for the audiobook review copy!

This book was such a delight! I think it has a little bit more dose of serious than THE BODYGUARD did (and that's the only other Katherine Center book I've read since I prefer to read romcoms over more serious/sad/dramatic romances) and I was a tad worried in the beginning when it was taking a while to get to some laughs. I really did appreciate it though! There were still plenty of swoons, cute moments, and some really valuable perspectives in this book.

I REALLY liked the concept of face-blindness in a romance story. Once the love story started to develop, I knew how it was going to go but I liked being able to see both sides of it as the reader! (I think we're supposed to be able to know/guess... the author's note at the end talks about hope and positivity in romance novels vs calling them "predictable" because they're kind of supposed to be predictable.) The face-blindness was an interesting and unique angle to use in a romance... falling in love with someone because of who they are and how they act without ever knowing what their face looks like was a fresh perspective and I always love when a romance can give you something new! I loved seeing Sadie interact with Joe and appreciating his kindness so many times without knowing that it's him half the time.

The only thing I didn't love about the book was the evil step-mother/evil step-sister thing. I'm sure some marriages and family blending does cause terrible relationships and there are tons of step-families that don't get along, but I would have rather had that be a bit less polarizing. There was some resolution there that was really heart-warming and I liked that not everything was perfectly tied up, either.

I also did enjoy that not everything was 100% perfect happily ever after to keep some more reality in this adorable book. There is still a happy finale with the romance, so don't worry there! But Sadie doesn't get everything she magically wanted and there are some real struggles, real hurdles to overcome, and relationships that get better, but aren't perfectly fixed.

This is also a NO SPICE book, which I loved. I adored the close moments between Sadie and Joe and there's some wonderful scenes to make your heart flutter and fall in love with Joe too.

I am forever here for new Katherine Center books and I loved the combination of cute rom-com and real life seriousness without either one taking over in extreme.

Recommended for fans of: Emily Henry, Abby Jimenez
Also check out: Linda Holmes, Ellie Cahill

Hello Stranger - Audiobook
Katherine Center
Narrator: Patti Murin
Pub Date: July 11, 2023

Whenever I read a book by an author I just adore, I always get nervous to start a book because what if the book doesn’t live up to my expectations? Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about that because I just ADORED Hello Stranger! I’ve loved every single book written by this author, and this book might now be my favorite one of hers!

Sadie, a struggling artist, lands a spot in a portrait competition that could be her big break. As she is set to celebrate with her best friend, she has an unexpected medical event and is told she will need a minor surgery. When her somewhat distant father demands she has the surgery right away, she reluctantly agrees, knowing that she will still have plenty of time to participate in her art competition. As a portrait artist, she paints faces, but when she is no longer able to see faces after her surgery, a potential side effect, she struggles to cope and hold on to her dream of being an artist.

When Sadie’s dog, Peanut, needs medical help, she rushes him to a local veterinarian office and meets a handsome vet, Dr. Addison who is able to help Peanut, and eventually asks Sadie on a date. At the same time, she starts to develop a friendship with her annoying neighbor, Joe, who seems to make his rounds in her apartment building. Suddenly, Sadie is falling for two guys at the same time, trying to figure out how to move forward with her portrait competition and facing family drama.

The character development was just phenomenal and I found myself flying through this book because I was hooked after the first chapter!

The narrator, Patti Murin, was absolutely perfect for this role! I listened to the audiobook while reading my eARC and found that I really enjoyed listening while I read the book. I also enjoyed the authors note, read by Katherine Center.

Read if you like:
🎨A love triangle between the main character, her neighbor, and her vet
🎨Family drama
🎨Mental Health Rep
🎨A unique premise and storyline
🎨Strangers/Friends to lovers trope
🎨Health Rep (Prosopagnosia)
🎨Laugh out loud character banter
🎨Absolutely perfect character development
🎨An adorable dog

Favorite Quotes:
“Isn’t it lucky when we’re drawn to people who can teach us things we need to learn?”

“The more good things you look for, the more you find.”

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Katherine Center, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an audio copy of Hello Stranger!

Posted on Instagram on May 10, 2023 (Currently Reading): http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
Posted on Goodreads on May 13, 2023: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram (full review) on July 11, 2023: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Instagram (mini review) in late June/early July 2023: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on July 11, 2023
**-will post on designated date

"Hello Stranger" by Katherine Center is a truly captivating and heartfelt novel that follows Sadie Montgomery, an artist diagnosed with a rare condition known as face blindness. Center expertly explores themes of resilience, self-discovery, and love as Sadie navigates the challenges of her condition. The book delves into the complexities of human connection and offers a compelling and thought-provoking reading experience. Center lands another fantastic read here with evocative writing and well-developed characters, creating an engaging narrative that tugs at the heartstrings. While the plot may have some predictable moments, the emotional depth and relatable protagonist make "Hello Stranger" a touching and worthwhile read.

The audiobook narration of this novel by the delightful Broadway actress Patti Murin, made this book even more wonderful. Highly recommended.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. This fun little rom-com is about Sadie, a struggling artist who develops facial blindness just as she's about to start on a portrait for a huge art competition she's qualified for. It's a little predictable and a lot over the top, but who cares! A great summer read.

From the very first page to the author's note at the end, I enjoyed every part of Hello Stranger! It was full of Katherine Center's token charm, banter, and heartfelt emotion. Sadie was definitely a character to root for--I really empathized with her struggles and resonated with many aspects of her beliefs and personality, especially as she learned to accept help from others. I laughed, smiled, hurt, and loved right alongside her. I highly recommend this book! The audiobook narration was excellent.

There was some swearing (at least a few s-words and a couple of f-words), and some sensual innuendos/making out, but nothing intense. The romance was very sweet!