Book Review – Hello Stranger: A Novel by Katherine Center

Hello Stranger: A Novel <— This was my first Katherine Center read, and it won’t be my last. So fun and lighthearted, and there’s touch of romance drama (yummy love triangle) too! I read this quite a few months ago, but held off on my review until it was closer to release day, and YAY US!! It’s going live next week. 😀

So what’s it about?

Sadie is an up and coming portrait artist, and right at an integral moment in her career. Thinking of her mom (missing her mom, and following in her artistic footsteps), she goes to the corner store to load up on wine, and in the process, has a fun/grumpy meet cute – she’s the grump 😉

If I’d known what was going to happen next, I might have handled that moment differently. I might have kept arguing just so we could keep talking. Or I might have asked him his name so I’d have some way of remembering him—so that he wouldn’t just remain, in my memory after that, the Grocery Store Guy who got away.

Of course, if I’d known what would happen next, I would never have stepped into the street in the first place.

Yep… she has a seizure while about to cross the street (and luckily her meet cute saw the whole thing and helps her). While she’s fine overall, it’s discovered that she has an issue with her brain that needs surgery, and well… she wakes up from said surgery experiencing the unpredictable and devastating reality of facial blindness.

…this lady in front of me had facial features. I could see them if I tried—one at a time. Eyes. A nose. Eyebrows. A mouth. They were all there.

I just couldn’t snap them together into a face. Any face at all. Least of all Sue’s.

“Sue?” I asked.

“What?”

“Is it you?”

“It’s me,” she said, like it might be a trick question.

“What did you do to your face?”

She’s completely unable to recognize faces, even of those she knew before.

…when one of those nurses in the pink scrubs walked in.

And I realized that I couldn’t see her face, either.

I mean, “couldn’t see her face” is not exactly right. I could tell there was a face there. In theory. It wasn’t just a blank slate. I could zoom in on eyebrows and laugh lines and lips.

The face is all… jumbled, and she never knows who she’s talking to, even if she’s already spoken with them in the past.

It was a bit like looking at a Picasso painting.

I could see it, I guess. I couldn’t understand it.

And the thing is… she barely tells anyone about her issue. Not even the two men she’s met since her ailment. And while she can’t really “see” what they look like (she learns to recognize “parts” of a face, or the hairstyle and voices), she’s getting to know them on a more personal level.

The sweet veterinarian that came to her rescue for her beloved dog (the only thing she DOES recognize is her dog),

I mean, sure—I’d already decided that we were fated to wind up together.

and the guy living in her building that at first, infuriates her with his playboy misogynistic ways.

This right here was why I hadn’t dated anyone in over three years. This was why I spent Saturday nights at home with Peanut. Just the fact that men like this existed.

Over time though, they too, become friends…

Oh yeah… and the facial blindness ’causes another issue. Her upcoming art contest, and the fact that she can no longer draw portraits, since she can’t see the face she’s trying to draw. Oh boy.

“I am a portrait artist. I paint portraits! Of faces! For a living! What am I supposed to do now? What happens to my livelihood? I need my fusiform face thingy to be working!”

Holy moly, everything I’ve ever read when it comes to facial blindness has been in psych-thrillers (bad guy coming for her and she can’t recognize anyone so who can it possible be… who can she trust? You know… that type of thing), so this book explores the trauma of not being able to recognize a face, but through a whole different, more “fun” mood.

It only hit me, really, after I’d gotten rid of her.

My entire life up until now had been a before. And now I was in the after.

I couldn’t see faces. Not even my own.

I was face-blind.

Maybe I’d stay that way, and maybe I wouldn’t. But one thing was certain. I would never be the same.

Though still distressing. 😉 I like a little distress in my books. LOL!! 😂

Loved it! It’s at times heartwarming (from reconnecting with her dad, and getting to know her stepmother on a different level – one that she thought she wanted nothing to do with), and meeting two potential love interests at literally the wrong time in her life, to coping with this new way of life that has been forced upon her, this book had it all.

This little line taken from the synopsis sums it up beautifully:

…there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.

Though some drama could have been resolved had she just divulged her certain disability to a few of those close to her, but then again… where’s the fun in that? 😉

4 STARS!! An easy read to snuggle in with, over an afternoon/evening. PLUS!!! There’s a twist or two. 😉 I LOVE when that happens!!

➔➔➔  Looking for more of my must-read recommendations? Browse my 5 star and 4.5 star and 4 starreviews. 😀

➔➔➔ Love this genre? Check out more of my comedy romance features and reviews on my blog!