This is Kelsey Patterson with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Today, I’m recommending Hello Stranger, the latest book from Katherine Center, one of Jenn and my favorite authors and one of our all-time favorite podcast guests. Queen of the “comfort read”, Hello Stranger is another jewel in Center’s crown and proves that love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.
Choosing between two men isn’t brain surgery, but for Sadie Montgomery, it’s both. One moment Sadie is celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she finds herself struggling with face blindness after a freak accident. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. And she’ll need brain surgery to (hopefully) reverse it. And that’s not all. She’s seriously crushing on her beloved dog Peanut’s handsome vet, but she can’t seem to stay away from her annoyingly endearing neighbor. She thinks she knows who she likes more...but then (like their faces) that starts getting blurry too!
If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to figure out who she wants, work through her condition, hang on to her artistic dream, and confront major family issues. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems downright impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.
This unique and thoughtful romantic comedy tackles the complexities of grief, betrayal, love, and even brain surgery with incredible skill. The hopefulness in her writing and the contentment she creates in her character’s stories are unmatched.
Check out Hello Stranger and a wealth of Katherine Center’s other books at the Sioux City Public Library.
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