Reviews with content warning for Grief - Hello Stranger

after reading multiple reviews from friends saying that this was a cute one but not their favorite katherine center, I had low hopes going in this one … but I’m so happy to say that I was wrong!!! 😍🥰🥳

katherine center’s writing style immediately sucks you into the story and gets you so invested in the lives of the characters!! I had no choice but to fall in love with the grieving, quarter life crisis MC sadie 🥹 while yes, she had quite a few annoying qualities, I found myself relating to her in the best and worst ways possible

a human female character??? what a concept!

I went into the plot of this one blind, and I HIGHLY recommend doing so! I had absolutely no idea what the main conflict of the story was going to be, and it was so unique and refreshing and wholesome!! it really gets you thinking, what if my entire life changed tomorrow, how would I live today? IT GOT ME IN MY FEELS A LOT OKAY 🥹🫶🏼

and while there was actually little romance and no spice in this one, I found I didn’t mind at all! it was more about acceptance of oneself and acceptance of a toxic and broken family - and I loved that!

and that OMG moment at the end literally had me bawling - it was a perfect happily ever after for me 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

a huge huge thank you to netgalley and st martin’s press for one of my new favorite katherine center novels in exchange for an honest review!! run to get this one now!!

rating: 4.5 stars
wine pairing: chile chardonnay

Content Warnings

momma_needs_to_read's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was such a different kind of romance. The plot was so different and very captivating. I didn’t even know that face blindness was a thing until reading this. It’s so interesting and I honestly couldn’t imagine developing that. Especially for the main character, who is a portrait artist. Sadie has been having such a tough time, and has struggled since she lost her mother. Every time something good happens, it always seems to be followed by more bad things. It’s a very down on your luck type story. The romance aspect doesn’t really start until later in the book, which was fine because the story and Sadie's development through the story was really good and interesting. But a major twist with Joe. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it, but when I started to piece everything together and then that final confirmation of it all, I couldn’t help but laugh. Probably the funniest miscommunication/misunderstanding I’ve ever read. The fact that Katherine Center was able to kind of give off a “blindness” like Sadie’s to the readers about some of the characters before the big reveal was amazing and so well done.

This was also a very emotional story. Anytime Sadie reflected on her mother, their relationship and her struggles since her passing, my heart broke. A definitely cried several times through this book. Also, Sadie's evil stepsister is probably one of my most hated characters of all time. She is awful!

I have a couple of Katherine Center books, but this was the first one I’ve read and I really really liked it! I love her style of writing and her ability to bring the emotions to life through her words. I can’t wait to read more of her books.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest review

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felicityvaughn's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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momsmagicreads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I only fell in love with reading romance about a year ago. It was my "Hello, Stranger" moment, if you will. Romantic relationships were a part of the books I'd been reading, but not the focus. And then I found some authors that made the pieces fall right into place for me. I've discovered Katherine Center's work relatively recently, and perhaps you can imagine my delight when reading the Author's Note in Hello Stranger and discovering that Center also had a similarly-timed, surprising, and delightful fall-in-love-with-romance moment. Oh, do I ever love a sense of connection with an author!

I also love a sense of connection with a character, and Sadie Montgomery's sassy independence, quirkiness, and self-deprecating humor was charming, though tinged with a bit of sadness. She is a portrait artist who, due to an unusual medical issue, is now living with a condition commonly known as face blindness - but that's not where the story begins. She has had a very strained relationship with her family since the death of her mother, which left her determined to succeed on her own - but also lonely. Her best friend, Sue, balances out what Sadie views as her shortcomings - Sue is cheerful, outgoing, and has a loving family who has welcomed Sadie in as if she's one of their own. And occasionally a "generic white male" appears in Sadie's life, for better or for worse. *Cue the somewhat obscured romantic storyline that makes you simultaneously crave reaching the end of the book to figure it all out but also wanting the sweet, slow burn to last forever* Does Sadie make mistakes? Absolutely! Some she can see coming and some she can't (but perhaps you, dear reader, can!). And we see that sometimes a serendipitous moment can change everything.

Katherine Center has created endearing characters in Sadie, Mr. and Mrs. Kim, and Joe; love-to-hate them characters in Dr. Montgomery, Lucinda, and Parker; and the best cheering squad you can imagine in Sue, Dr. Nicole, and Augusta. Her writing evokes a wide range of feelings; I laughed, wept inwardly, and had several a-ha! moments that would have been visible on my face to anyone nearby. Hello Stranger is a masterpiece of what Center explains to us (in her Author's Note) is a "positively valanced" novel, and I look forward - with great anticipation - to what she has in store for us next.

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literaryintersections's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I enjoyed this book - it’s heartfelt and emotional and imo well researched. I am not sure what I thought going in, but I’m glad it was a little of a surprise. With that being said, this book relies on miscommunication and assumptions, and some of these things are easier to guess than others which might make it a little predictable (I guessed the twist within the first 50 pages). BUT, the point of the book is still worth it. That we make assumptions about people and their actions everyday. And we miss opportunities for love and connection and friendship when we do that. I cried, and felt so much emotion. And that’s a sign of a great book for me.

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katesbooknook's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Hello Stranger is the second of Katherine Center’s novels that I’ve read, and the second that I’ve rated 4.5 ⭐️s! I’m not usually a huge romance reader, but her novels strike the perfect balance for me of a romcom with depth.

Things are not going well for Sophie. She is a portrait artist in Houston making her meager living on Etsy. She secretly lives in her art studio after breaking up with her narcissist boyfriend. Her dad is emotionally unavailable since her mother’s death, and she has an evil stepmother and stepsister to boot! What could go worse? Just when she’s about it get her big break, enter brain surgery and face blindness.

The face blindness was such an interesting factor. I palpably felt Sophie’s anxiety as she tried to figure out who people were without being able to make sense of their faces and how her since of self was rocked to the core.

The interesting thing about having a main character with face blindness is that since she can’t make sense of faces, the readers don't get the character descriptions that we’re used to. I had a hard time picturing the characters and felt less connected to them for that reason…but maybe that’s the point! Sophie’s face blindness also made her feel disconnected.

Read this book. You will fall in love with Sophie and her adorable fluff-ball dog. You will want to crawl through the pages and give her a hug and tell her she doesn’t always have to be okay. You will relate with her struggle to accept help. You might be able to follow the clues and know what’s coming in the end, but the anticipation is so strong that you won’t care.

I read this book in one sitting-started after dinner and stayed up until the wee hours of the night. I couldn’t put it down! When you pick up this book, learn from my mistake, and start earlier in the day 😉

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dixiecarroll's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair review. This was a solid 3-3.5 read. I’ll start by saying that I will still recommend and with it only taking me a few hours, I think it will be a favorite for many. I really loved The Bodyguard and was expecting something similar, but this was a bit too much of a highly unbelievable teenage fantasy for me.

Let me explain… a woman experiences a very rare brain disorder causing face blindness - that’s not the part I found unbelievable - I found this interesting and refreshing (if not similar to several hallmark movies). The part I found unbelievable and teenage was that she actually has an evil stepsister who supposedly framed her for wild suicide-inducing bullying getting her kicked out of school and shipped away to boarding school… and then that evil stepsister follows her around and continues to make her life miserable (yes she moves into the building she lives in and purposely fucks with her since she can’t recognize her). Anyway that part of the story is forgettable to me so I don’t feel bad sharing it now - she gets her moment at the end with her bully being publicly shamed.

I literally think that entire plot should be removed as it was so insane to read. The high stakes of the main plot are more interesting and very twisty in their own way!

Ultimately a 4 star read, but pushed down to 3 stars because of that insane stepsister. The romance was fun and the facial blindness was very interesting - those parts were very compelling!

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