Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

We start the story with Sadie receiving this amazing news - she's been chosen to participate in the final round of a prestigious portrait competition! But after a medical scare, she awakes from brain surgery with acquired face blindness. She can see just fine, but her brain can't make sense of the features of a person's face, so she doesn't recognize anyone. She only has weeks to paint a portrait for her submission to the contest, but she can't even make sense of her own face, let alone anyone else's.

In the midst of this trauma, Sadie also deals with a health scare for her pup, the never-ending grief of losing her mom when she was a teenager, a tormenting step-sister, and the daily fear of not being able to recognize anyone in her life or trust her senses at all.

I was absolutely fascinated by Sadie's journey. Along the way she meets Oliver (her dog's handsome vet) and Joe (a guy who lives in her building) and she develops strong feelings for both of them. I think the most compelling part of the story was that I felt like my understanding of Oliver and Joe were also muted in a way - Sadie didn't know what they looked like and I felt like I never really got to know them that well. And I can't tell if this was done intentionally (it made me feel like I couldn't "see" them either) or not, but it definitely interfered with my ability to feel invested with the romance. There was some very sweet and adorable caretaking scenes but I just felt a bit disconnected from them when usually I'd be swooning alongside the heroine! I should note that I am a strictly romance reader and I would say this felt like much more of a women's fiction story than a romance to me, so that could be part of it as well.

Either way, it was a heartwarming story that I think a lot of people will enjoy for its unique premise! I especially enjoyed reading Katherine Center's notes at the end explaining her research process and all of the people she met along the way!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy.