Hello Stranger by Katherine Center Published by St. Martin's Press on July 11, 2023
Pages: 336
Format: ARC
Genres: Contemporary, Women's Fiction, Romance
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Love isn’t blind, it’s just little blurry.
Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.
But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into—love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?—with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.
If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.
When you are a voracious reader, it sometimes feels like you have read it all. Hello Stranger gets kudos for being the most original, unique book I’ve read this year. I couldn’t put it down.
Face blindness is a disorder that I knew virtually nothing about. The book does a great job of explaining the medical phenomenon, and even though I still can’t visualize what sufferers see when they look at someone’s face, I could feel every ounce of portrait artist Sadie’s frustration, confusion, and small victories as she faces daily challenges in a faceless world. It’s so interesting the way the mind works, and I was fascinated by Sadie’s perceptions and misconceptions.
I was warmed by her budding friendship with helpful neighbor Joe, after an extremely rocky start. I also enjoyed her relationship with the dashing vet Dr. Addison. The other supporting characters are very intriguing as well. Sadie’s well-meaning—but woefully oblivious—best friend unknowingly creates even more hurdles for Sadie to clear. Sadie’s evil stepsister is a truly heinous human being who kept me on my toes wondering when she would pop up to cause more mayhem and misery. Sadie’s beloved deceased mother is basically another character with how vivid Sadie’s recollections of her are. Her strained relationship with her emotionally distant father and evil stepmom create even more depth.
As a diehard romance lover, I would categorize Hello Stranger as contemporary women’s fiction primarily, with a swoony love story added. I appreciated everything about the way this story unfolded.
Recommended for fans of:
Medical dramas
Artists
Coffee
I received an early copy to voluntarily read. This does not affect my opinions.
About Katherine Center
BookPage calls Katherine Center “the reigning queen of comfort reads.”
She is the New York Times bestselling author of nine bittersweet comic novels, including How to Walk Away, Things You Save in a Fire, and Happiness for Beginners, which is soon to be a Netflix movie starring Ellie Kemper. Katherine’s newest novel, The Bodyguard, was an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller.
The movie adaptation of Katherine’s novel The Lost Husband (starring Josh Duhamel) hit #1 on Netflix in August of 2020, was in Netflix’s Top 25 movies of the year, and was a Top Ten movie in over 30 countries around the world.
Katherine writes laugh-and-cry books about how life knocks us down—and how we get back up. She’s been compared to both Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.”
Her work has appeared in O Magazine, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Redbook, InStyle, People, and many others—and has made countless Best-Of lists, including RealSimple’s Best Books of 2020, Amazon’s Top 100 Books of 2019, Goodreads’ Best Books of the Year, and more.
Katherine holds degrees from Vassar College and the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program and lives in Texas with her kind-hearted husband, two fun teenagers, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.
I agree with your categorization. It did feel more women’s fiction than romance. I still loved it. Great review!
This one’s on my TBR, so glad to see your thoughts on it.