This review contains affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you click and purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business and allowing me to continue providing you a reliable resource for clean book ratings.
Sadie Montgomery is walking home from the store with wine in hand to celebrate being a finalist for a big portraiture award. Next thing she knows, she’s waking up in a hospital bed. She’s told she has a malformation in her brain that needs to be operated on as soon as possible. Sadie only has six weeks to paint the portrait that could win her the $10,000 prize, and brain surgery does not fit into that schedule. But her doctor father persuades her to do it ASAP.
Unfortunately, when she wakes up from the surgery, Sadie can’t recognize faces. She can see just fine, but faces are weird jumbles of parts that don’t add up in her mind. She doesn’t recognize her father or best friend. Medical professionals tell her it’s likely only temporary, until the swelling goes down in her brain. But, again, she has less than six weeks until what could finally be a big break for her art. And she can’t paint a portrait if she can’t recognize faces!
Sadie goes home to her little “hovel” at the top of an apartment building and takes some solace in the company of her beloved old dog, Peanut. At least she can see his dear little face! When she picks him up from being boarded, she notices one of the vets there has all the makings of a handsome man, though she can’t see his face. A fantasy is born: she will marry this veterinarian who is nice to her and the animals.
At the same time, she keeps running into a man who lives in her apartment building, who does a lot of nice things to help her. However, she’s overheard him saying some weird things, so she’s not sure about him. As time goes on, she finds she really likes him.
It’s a pretty weird time in her life to be falling for anyone, let alone two different men. Life is serving up all kinds of strange stuff. But as the weeks pass, the competition deadline approaches, and she waits for her face blindness to go away, Sadie has some opportunities to see life in a different way. Even if what she hopes for doesn’t come about the way she’d expected, life delivers some interesting lessons and, even, gifts.
Hello Stranger is absolutely adorable. Katherine Center has yet to disappoint me (I loved both The Bodyguard and Happiness for Beginners). I hadn’t even read the synopsis of this story before requesting it from the library and diving right in when I got it! So it was a real treat to just open the book and see where it went. The characters are delightful, the way the plot twists around and ties up in such a clever way… all just a pleasure from start to finish.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 5 uses of strong language, around 20 instances of moderate profanity, about 60 uses of mild language, and 35 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes heavy kissing and the intent to have sex but a couple being interrupted.
Click here to purchase your copy of Hello Stranger on Amazon.
