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A review by dennasus
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
2.0
This story was not for me. I had enjoyed two other of Katherine Center's books of in the past, so this one was on my radar at publication. I wasn't really hooked on the premise though and only recently bought it as a discounted ebook. The writing of the book was fine, I had no issues with that. There are two plot twists in this story. One I saw coming from miles away and was impatiently waiting for it to be finally revealed so I could get it over with. I did not see the other (big, proper) plot twist coming, which means it was either very cleverly done or I read too inattentively to catch it early on. All in all I wasn't a fan of the 2nd (big) plot twist for reasons I haven't quite figured out yet. I don't want to put a spoiler warning on my review, so this is purposefully vague.
But I also had other issues with the whole story. At the moment I think I'm fine with fluffy romances where the characters don't bring along too much baggage. I'm also fine with not so fluffy love stories with a more serious back story. This one though tried to be both and here that didn't work for me, because the more serious backstory was often just brushed over. The evil stepmother / -sister were supposed to be backstory drama, but they felt like a caricature and in the end the whole conflict was only sort of resolved. It felt like a cop-out. Biggest eyeroll from me towards the end when a relevant person from their past sort of by chance shows up the save the day.
The main character's friend was a crappy friend, at least that's what I thought. And my main issue with this might be that getting a sudden diagnosis of face blindness, when "seeing faces" is what you do for a living should have caused much more emotional turmoil and anxiety and all that as it did here. Yes, I know Sadie was depressed for a while and suffered from anxiety and such, but then she still kept trying to paint the painting. I don't know, I just didn't buy it as a realistic reaction, but maybe that's just me.
But I also had other issues with the whole story. At the moment I think I'm fine with fluffy romances where the characters don't bring along too much baggage. I'm also fine with not so fluffy love stories with a more serious back story. This one though tried to be both and here that didn't work for me, because the more serious backstory was often just brushed over. The evil stepmother / -sister were supposed to be backstory drama, but they felt like a caricature and in the end the whole conflict was only sort of resolved. It felt like a cop-out. Biggest eyeroll from me towards the end when a relevant person from their past sort of by chance shows up the save the day.
The main character's friend was a crappy friend, at least that's what I thought. And my main issue with this might be that getting a sudden diagnosis of face blindness, when "seeing faces" is what you do for a living should have caused much more emotional turmoil and anxiety and all that as it did here. Yes, I know Sadie was depressed for a while and suffered from anxiety and such, but then she still kept trying to paint the painting. I don't know, I just didn't buy it as a realistic reaction, but maybe that's just me.