Review: Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

 

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

Publication Date: July 11th 2023 by St. Martin's Press & Macmillan Audio

Pages: 336

Audio Book Length: 10hrs 39min

Narrator: Patti Murin

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Sadie is barely getting by as a portrait artist, but landing as a finalist in an art competition is the break she needs to put her on the path to success. However, life is never that easy. She discovers a medical condition makes it necessary to undergo brain surgery. A supposedly easy surgery that should fix her right up, but she wakes to find out she can’t see faces.   As if that’s not enough, her beloved dog gets sick and her evil stepsister moves into the building where she lives!

Sadie doesn’t know how she’ll be able to compete portrait contest with her condition but after some encouragement and counseling she’s determined to try other ways to sketch the human face.

Her beloved dog gets sick and she can’t lose Peanut! He’s a bright little ray of sunshine in her life, and the last connection to her dead mother. So, she takes him to the vet and immediately falls in crush with the sexy (from what she can tell, anyhow) vet, Dr. Oliver Addison. She also has strange run ins with her neighbor Joe.

Sadie had so many hits against her I was eager to see prevail! It took some work, change in attitude and help from those around her, but gradually bright spots came out of the negatives. Sadie’s past made it hard for her to rely on anyone but herself, but I was thrilled to see her learn to accept help from others when before she absolutely refused it. Her condition changed her outlook in profound, positive ways and it was a joy to see her grow. The romance had a bit of mystery to it. I suspected things, but I don’t want to say anymore, other than it was lovely!

Hello Stranger was sooo good! I was captivated from the first chapter and knew I’d have to finish in one day to see how it all turned out! I was all smiles as I finished, heart soaring with joy!  Katherine Center’s note at the end really resonated with me! It hit the nail on the head on why I love romances: “love is nourishing” and “lets readers access a rare and precious kind of emotional bliss.” Yes!

I alternated between the audio and e-copy of Hello Stranger and I don’t think you could go wrong with either version. Patti Murin’s narration was perfection! I listened at my usual 1.5x normal speed. Definite recommend!

5 Stars

Book Description:

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.