Hello Stranger

A Novel

By: Katherine Center

Narrated by: Patti Murin

Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

The glorious new novel from the beloved author whose bright, hopelessly romantic New York Times bestsellers have been called “My perfect 10 of a book” (Emily Henry) and cheered for their “speedy pacing and sexual tension for miles” (People).

"Patti Murin offers a fun, vivacious performance of this lively romance...with steady pacing and a believable narration, this romance will charm listeners." —AudioFile

“Patti Murin narrates the struggling yet still optimistic Sadie while respectfully acknowledging the hurt and confusion that her condition has caused. Murin’s lively performance and varied character voices make for an engaging and fun listen.”- Library Journal

This program includes an author's note and supplementary materials read by the author.

Love isn’t blind, it’s just a 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.

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 in love—not with one man but two. The timing couldn’t be worse.

Making judgment calls on anything right now is a nightmare. If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to have it all.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2022 Katherine Center (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"This charming, heartfelt romantic comedy has a well-told, unique storyline, and Sadie’s prosopagnosia feels deftly explained, explored, and treated with respect. There’s chemistry between the protagonists with a slow-burn relationship, but there’s also a focus on Sadie’s mental and emotional growth, as well as her artistic frustrations and problem-solving methods. Readers who enjoy Jenny Colgan and Susan Mallery will love this engaging, well-written romance from Center (The Bodyguard)."—Library Journal

"With a thoroughly modern millennial heroine at the helm, this emotional contemporary from Center (The Bodyguard) tugs on the heartstrings and grabs attention. Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery, 28, may finally get her big break when she’s selected to enter a prestigious competition. Unfortunately, the contest coincides with a minor medical procedure that turns into emergency brain surgery, and the recovery process leaves her unable to make sense of human faces. Though warned by her neuropsychiatrist that her (possibly) temporary face blindness may make her interpret her other senses incorrectly, Sadie works to get her painting back on track with the support of her best friend, Sue, and her neighbor, Joe, who she can only recognize from the bowling jacket he wears all the time. She also tries dating her hunky veterinarian, Dr. Addison, hoping a relationship will help her settle back into normal. But is she seeing the whole picture? Center takes Sadie’s life seriously and her struggles with adulting resonate even before her face blindness sets in. Meanwhile, a dash of humor and an endearing love story make the pages fly. Readers will be hooked."—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Fortunately, the narrator believes in Sadie's potential for positivity and builds up the character from chapter one. Making it a part of the artist's somewhat infantile charm, Murin does not distance herself from Sadie's resentments and brings her quirky, self-pitying humor to high shine."—Booklist

Katherine Center has become my favorite!

What Katherine says in her note at the end is so true—absolutely no shame in living romance! I really can’t say which of her 10 books is my favorite and this one was so delightful. It hit all the marks for me! Please keep them coming and I’ll keep on buying!

A breath of fresh air

I loved everything about this book. Unique love story that is so well written. Narration was perfect. Another great book by the author.

Great book!

Katherine Center is my favorite author and this most recent addition to her collection did not disappoint. I love that I can listen without worry that my son will hear an explicit love scene. As a medical professional it’s a breath of fresh air to see that she has researched her topics well and made them medically accurate. The audiobook was performed well by the reader, no mispronunciations of words and she was able to convey the story with believability.

Loved it!

Katherine Center is one of my favorite authors and I loved this book. Listening to the audio while dealing with my own vision problems provided a welcome and hopeful distraction. The topic was also fascinating!

Another great Center novel!

Author Katherine Center said in an interview that she was listening to a Valentine Day issue of “This American Life”, and one of the stories was about a woman who had fallen in love with a man who had face blindness. Apparently, it didn’t end well. In this interview, Ms. Center said that she loves to take unhappy love stories and fix them. Hence the inspiration for “Hello Stranger.”

Protagonist Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist who, at the beginning of the story, learns she has made the finals for a highly respected North American Portrait Society competition. She is one of 10 who were selected from a pool of 2000 applicants. This is important! It’s her lucky break! And then, right at the start of the story, (no spoiler) she has a medical emergency that requires brain surgery. Yikes! She learns from her hospital bed that she has a “probably temporary” condition known as Prosopagnosia (Face-Blindness). She can see, but every face looks like a jumbled puzzle, like a Picasso painting. Sadie has been categorized as a “Norman Rockwell” styled portrait artist, not Picasso.

Center explores what happens when we fall in love. Is it visual? How do you love someone? Do you need to see someone’s face? How does it work? I categorize Center as “romance lite” in that there is little embarrassing 🌶️. Her work always includes a bit of women’s fiction, chick lit sort of women’s fiction. She always writes strong women characters, but ones in need of personal growth. Therefore, Center’s novels are interesting because she’s not a traditional romance writer.

Of course, Sadie meets the man of her dreams when she takes her beloved dog Peanut to the Vet. But then she inadvertently falls for another guy in a “hated him at the beginning but now he’s kind of nice!” Yet, she can’t see either, well, not in the traditional way.

Sadie isn’t one dimensional. Her mother died when she was young. Her father remarried shortly after her mother died. With her stepmother came a stepsister, who was OTT horrible. Both the stepmother and stepsister were unrealistically malicious. At the beginning it was funny, but then it was just too much for me towards the end. Hence, I deduct 1 star. Sadie had some personal growth to figure out, and I like that Center added the stepfamily. I didn’t think she needed to make them so “Ursula witchy” in characterization. I don’t recall Center using such OTT characters to advance her plot.

Even with my nitpicking, I found it enjoyable. I listened to the audio, narrated beautifully by Patti Murin. I was on a girl’s trip, so my friend and I held book club in the car. We both enjoyed it, even with our groaning at the end when the stepsister became unbelievably obnoxious. As an aside, my friend had socially met someone with this condition on a Cruise. The man introduced himself, and told her that if they meet again, he will not recognize her because of his affliction. And he didn’t.

Very happy to have an entertaining audio while we drove through a couple of Canadian Provinces!

10* stars!

I can't describe in words how much I loved this book. You feel like you received a big hug after you're done with it. So many beautiful lessons and so many beautiful feelings that you get from reading it. It was an experience.
I also grabbed this Audible version. This version was just perfect and the narrator was amazing. I adore this story. I can't recommend it enough. I also bought the hardcover version as well.

Triple win

Great narrator and really enjoyed the story and actually learned something too. Win win win.

Slow at first

This was an impactful and fascinating read. I have never heard of this diagnosis so found it very informative. It was a little slow at times with some very long inner monologues but those provided a lot of support to the character development. I wouldn’t call this a romance novel as most of it was the heroine navigating through a difficult time. I found her very relatable in that, life can be shit and you don’t have to force toxic positivity or extreme negativity upon yourself to get through it. You can simply get through it.

Perfect

I can’t say enough good things about this book. I mean I cried at the author’s note at the end. The story is so sweet and funny and different. And the characters were so likable. That narrator was perfect for this role. I was sad when it was over. Can’t wait until her next book! Thank you for such a lovely book.

Such a quick read

I love all of Katherine Center’s books and this one did not disappoint. I didn’t want to stop listening and now have to wait for another.