Katherine Center's Hello Stranger (336 pages, St. Martin's Press, coming out 11 July 2023) was wonderful in all the ways a romance novel should be wonderful. The point-of-view character, a portrait artist, acquires prosopagnosia, more commonly called face blindness. What I love about this one-pepper book (and the author even talks about this in a short, worth-reading afterward) is that it leans in to the primary joy of reading romance: knowing that love will find a way. Even though some of the twists and turns were predictable, many weren't. The main character's journey to learning a lot about herself through the worst time in her life kept me engaged.
Tropes:
- brain injury
- life-changing event
- great best friend
- enemies-to-lovers, sort of
- not who you think they are
- evil stepsister and stepmother
- artist who can't art
- deceased mother
- getting caught in embarrassing moments
If you're all-in on contemporary romance, you'll certainly enjoy this book.
Overall: 4 of 5 stars
Bullet-point theme summary help us of short-attention.Now after #2, I infer a rubric.
When you’re asking for a list of themes, what do you envision? I went with tropes as a common way of viewing romance novels, since they all fundamentally have the theme, “love conquers all.” Also, what kind of rubric do you think would be helpful?
I am thoroughly enjoying your reviews.
They are succinct and easy to read while covering the main points of the book.
Since I have no interest in romance novels, I will not read any of these, but I will continue to read your reviews. Perhaps one day your eloquence will persuade me to read a romance novel.
Challenge accepted — I’ll find the perfect book for you to enjoy! (and thanks for reading these)