Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Hello Stranger

After minor brain surgery, Sadie Montgomery wakes up with face blindness. She can see faces—eyes, nose, mouth—but her brain struggles to recognize who is who. As a human, it’s horrifying. As an artist, it’s potentially career-ending, especially when you’ve landing a top spot in a prestigious photorealistic portrait contest.

This feel-good fiction is about so much more than falling in love. It’s about growing up, finding independence, realizing asking for help isn’t the end of the world, learning to let go, dealing with medical battles, and being true to yourself. I won’t say that it was predictable (read the acknowledgments!), but the anticipation throughout the story was a fun ride.

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kellirogue's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

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sharkyray's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

5.0

Emotional, warm (with some heavy trauma) read. I sped through it

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literatehedgehog's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

Ah, contemporary romance. Where it is possible to both love a character and want to kick them in the pants. To want the character to find love, but also a therapist. Sadie is an imperfect heroine, to be sure. I think the audiobook narrator makes her...soliloquys more endearing than the whining they could be, especially when she's averring that she doesn't need help, doesn't ever ask for help (even though many of her actions contradict this??). She is a real navel-gazer of a self-absorbed person, clearly traumatized from a traumatizing adolescence, but dang did I want to shake her into recognizing that the other people around her have feelings and experiences, too. And maybe she could ask them about their lives and feelings, sometimes. I have feelings about her, but that also shows some great writing: Sadie feels like someone I want to talk about over tea (literally? figuratively?).

So there is a plot twist, and even knowing there is a plot twist could be a spoiler, so read at your own risk. I figured out the reveal partway through, and it was actually still satisfying waiting for the penny to drop for Sadie, clues confirming my expectations. Again, very believable for her diagnosis and characterization! So oblivious, get it together girl.

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kristysproule's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

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katiejohns's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.0

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qgg's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

The FMC develops prosopagnosia, otherwise known as face blindness. This is the main driver for the story. Her growth as a character is interesting to read, though she still acts quite childish during parts of the story. That was hard to read. Brain injury books, even surgical in nature, can be hard to read with my history.

That said, I’m placing this in disability representation even if most (but not all) of the disability is temporary. It really is the theme of the book. I also am putting this under women’s lit rather than romance. It reads as more of the discovery of self, of the artist and of her place within her family and community with the addition of this childish fantasy of a guy and this other guy in the building who might be a jerk and who might be nice.

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kdailyreads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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