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A review by deena_
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
5.0
➺5 stars ☆
Can you imagine getting the biggest career break and having it run over by a Volkswager Beetle? That sounds like a mortal offense. The universe giving you a cold shoulder and turning a blind eye is hardly acceptable at best, but when you're the one turned blind eye, in a literal sense, more like blurry eyed? Oh hell, nah! It'd be like pulling a very bad joke, 'hey, looks like you're having so much fun, let me fix that' kind of joke. That's how we have Sadie's whole life summarized, a series of bad luck that leads to more bad lucks. Grab your mental notes and get ready to join Sadie in her 'guess who?' games, only this time the real-life version.
Sadie Montgomery, an aspiring portrait artist, had a bad life growing up, that's a given when she has a fairytale fashioned fifty shades of messed up stepmother and stepsister and a father who never supported her dreams of following the footsteps of her mother into the artistic world. From a young age, she taught herself to be strong, to never need anyone to come to her aid. Except for a selective few, human interaction is not her field of expertise. To her, the best day is a day spent cuddling with her dog Peanut (bless the little guy, he's such a great moral support.)
On one of the best days of her life, she finds out that she needs immediate brain surgery, one that per side affect switches off the part of a brain that works as face recognition, leaving her in a world of faceless blur right before a handful of weeks away from the biggest portrait competition of her career. Now she has to navigate the world through this face blindness and find ways to start painting again. As her therapist says, one step at a time, but nothing to help her growing anxiety over the whole situation. She doesn't do well under pressure, she can defend herself against the world, can defend her career to her judgemental family, take shit and still keep standing and put the bad guys back in their place, but this is a whole other thing.
Before the surgery, Sadie met this amazing guy at a grocery store and was pretty much attracted to him. They had quite a meet cute. I was dreaming of all the ways they'd tell their kids the story.
—I saw your mom dancing in a grocery store in a vintage pink dress, singing along to Smokey Robinson, looking like a damn vision. She fought me when I complimented her moves and offered to pay for her 6 dollar wine and dog treats cause she forgot her purse at home, but I bought them anyway and a bouquet of gerbera daisies she was eyeing for a while. Of course, we fought over who'd carry the stuffs too, now here we are.—
The sudden face blindness was like a splash of cold water on my dreams. She opened her eyes and suddenly everyone was a stranger. Did I mention she forgot to ask for his name, number or anything to remember him by? There goes all excuses of crossing paths again.
After that, Sadie was trying to get back on track for this competition, to adapt and continue on with life as best she could. Like when a very handsome vet asks her out, instead of seeking the easy way out, she gives him a chance, as well as herself—a small reprieve of happiness in her rather miserable life. Then the guy next door comes along and puts her in a frenzy of conflicting feelings. When the teams were well set up, team vet guy vs. team next door guy, I couldn't get myself into one cause I was still hoping for the grocery store guy to swing by, any of them could be him or no one. It was all too fun guessing and also seeing Sadie cope with the situation. A perfect rom-com with a great message behind, lots of feel good vibes and adorable characters.
“A woman who didn’t believe in help somehow wound up madly in love with a compulsive helper. Isn’t it lucky when we’re drawn to people who can teach us things we need to learn?”
Can you imagine getting the biggest career break and having it run over by a Volkswager Beetle? That sounds like a mortal offense. The universe giving you a cold shoulder and turning a blind eye is hardly acceptable at best, but when you're the one turned blind eye, in a literal sense, more like blurry eyed? Oh hell, nah! It'd be like pulling a very bad joke, 'hey, looks like you're having so much fun, let me fix that' kind of joke. That's how we have Sadie's whole life summarized, a series of bad luck that leads to more bad lucks. Grab your mental notes and get ready to join Sadie in her 'guess who?' games, only this time the real-life version.
Sadie Montgomery, an aspiring portrait artist, had a bad life growing up, that's a given when she has a fairytale fashioned fifty shades of messed up stepmother and stepsister and a father who never supported her dreams of following the footsteps of her mother into the artistic world. From a young age, she taught herself to be strong, to never need anyone to come to her aid. Except for a selective few, human interaction is not her field of expertise. To her, the best day is a day spent cuddling with her dog Peanut (bless the little guy, he's such a great moral support.)
On one of the best days of her life, she finds out that she needs immediate brain surgery, one that per side affect switches off the part of a brain that works as face recognition, leaving her in a world of faceless blur right before a handful of weeks away from the biggest portrait competition of her career. Now she has to navigate the world through this face blindness and find ways to start painting again. As her therapist says, one step at a time, but nothing to help her growing anxiety over the whole situation. She doesn't do well under pressure, she can defend herself against the world, can defend her career to her judgemental family, take shit and still keep standing and put the bad guys back in their place, but this is a whole other thing.
Before the surgery, Sadie met this amazing guy at a grocery store and was pretty much attracted to him. They had quite a meet cute. I was dreaming of all the ways they'd tell their kids the story.
—I saw your mom dancing in a grocery store in a vintage pink dress, singing along to Smokey Robinson, looking like a damn vision. She fought me when I complimented her moves and offered to pay for her 6 dollar wine and dog treats cause she forgot her purse at home, but I bought them anyway and a bouquet of gerbera daisies she was eyeing for a while. Of course, we fought over who'd carry the stuffs too, now here we are.—
The sudden face blindness was like a splash of cold water on my dreams. She opened her eyes and suddenly everyone was a stranger. Did I mention she forgot to ask for his name, number or anything to remember him by? There goes all excuses of crossing paths again.
After that, Sadie was trying to get back on track for this competition, to adapt and continue on with life as best she could. Like when a very handsome vet asks her out, instead of seeking the easy way out, she gives him a chance, as well as herself—a small reprieve of happiness in her rather miserable life. Then the guy next door comes along and puts her in a frenzy of conflicting feelings. When the teams were well set up, team vet guy vs. team next door guy, I couldn't get myself into one cause I was still hoping for the grocery store guy to swing by, any of them could be him or no one. It was all too fun guessing and also seeing Sadie cope with the situation. A perfect rom-com with a great message behind, lots of feel good vibes and adorable characters.