Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Hello Stranger

I enjoyed this story❤️ The characters are lovable except for Parker (she's so mean and a bully.) Sadie's journey having temporary face blindness was both funny and heartbreaking. She was ridiculous to the point of being delulu😂 The twist that Joe and Oliver were the same person was satisfying for me because they were meant for each other. I hate the misunderstanding trope, and this had a lot, but I had fun reading this novel. The Kim family were so nice to Sadie and I love it. Thank you, Katherine, ✨ P. S. I also read The Bodyguard and enjoyed that as well.🔥

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blewballoon's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-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

4.0

This was a lot of fun! I got sucked in immediately in the first few pages. It definitely has a heavy use of the miscommunication trope, and some other things you kind of need to suspend your disbelief for, but overall I really enjoyed the story, writing, and pacing. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

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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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