Hello, Stranger

Sadie Montgomery paints portraits for a living, though not a comfortable one. She has just been named a finalist in a prestigious national portrait competition when brain surgery leaves her with prosopagnosia, also called face blindness. Every face she looks at scrambles into loose features, and the deadline to produce the best work of her career is only a few weeks away.

Her life is crowded in the meantime. Money is tight, and her father, a surgeon, disapproves of the choices she has made. Her elderly dog, Peanut, falls ill, which brings her into the orbit of his veterinarian, Dr. Oliver Addison.

A second man competes for her attention: Joe, an eccentric neighbor who rides a Vespa. Sadie can barely tell people apart, so working out who is who, and who she wants, is part of the difficulty.

This is a contemporary romantic comedy, first published in 2023. The tone is warm and funny, with real heartache underneath, and the story keeps returning to what it means to see other people with empathy. Expect a light, humorous read with a romance at its center and some tender moments around the dog and the family strain.