“The more good things you look for, the more you find.”
Hello Stranger is a 2023 romance book by Katherine Center. Nominated for Best Romance in the Goodreads Choice Awards, the story follows Sadie Montgomery. One moment she’s placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition, the next she finds herself lying in a hospital bed with a condition dubbed ‘face blindness’. She can still see, but every face she looks at now is just an assortment of jumbled-up features. As she attempts to reconstruct her life and artistic dream, she finds herself falling for not one, but two very different men. But, whilst her life might be out of focus for the time being, Hello Stranger is a book that celebrates how we often find the things we need the most when we’re not looking for them, and how there are always different ways of seeing things for what they are. If you love miscommunication, forced proximity and all-around swoon-worthy silliness, join us at What We Reading for the best books like Hello Stranger!
What You Wish For – Katherine Center
First up on our list of romance books like Hello Stranger is another one of Katherine Center’s best love stories, What You Wish For. Samantha Casey is a school librarian who loves her job, the kids and her school family. She has a real lust for life, but that hasn’t always been the case. Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules, regulations and red tape. But he too has always been that way.
Back in the day, in another school during a different life, Sam knew Duncan. She even loved him. But, she was invisible, not just to him, but to everyone. So when Duncan of all people is hired as the new principal, what looks to be the best thing for the school is the worst for her. As the school community gradually spirals into chaos, and danger from all angles looms larger, Sam and Duncan must find a way to discover who they truly are, what it means to be brave, and finally risk taking a chance on love.
The Rosie Project (Don Tillman #1) – Graeme Simsion
Don Tillman is a professor of genetics and has never managed to score a second date in his life. He can count all the friends he has on one hand, and whose difficulty with social norms has him convinced he’s not destined for love. Eventually convinced of the statistical probability that there is, in fact, someone for everyone, he embarks on The Wife Project. With the logical, evidence-based approach he uses on everything, he sets out to find the perfect partner.
Rosie Jarman is the complete polar opposite of all the things The Wife Project says should be an ideal partner. Fiery, beguiling and intelligent, she is also on a quest of her own. She is on the hunt for her biological father, and reasons that an expert in genetics will be able to help her. As The Wife Project is forced onto the back burner, an unlikely relationship begins to bloom. Similar to Hello Stranger, The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious exploration of how love isn’t always what looks good at first glance.
The Friend Zone (The Friend Zone #1) – Abby Jimenez
Like Hello Stranger, Abby Jimenez’s The Friend Zone was also nominated for Best Romance in the Goodreads Choice Awards and follows the story of Kristen Petersen. Kristen doesn’t do drama, will do anything for her friends and has no room in her life for any guy who doesn’t get her. She’s also hiding a big secret: she is facing a necessary medical experiment that will make it impossible for her to have children.
Planning her best friend’s wedding is also proving bittersweet for Kristen – especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He’s funny, sexy, sweet, and even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only issue? Josh wants a big family someday. She knows he would probably be better off with someone else. But, as their spark continues to grow, it becomes harder and harder for Kristen to keep him at arm’s length.
Check Out The Best Books Like Yours Truly By Abby Jimenez
The Boyfriend Project (The Boyfriend Project #1) – Farrah Rochon
Samiah Brooks never imagined she would be ‘that’ girl. But, a live tweet of a terrible date reveals the undeniable truth: she’s been catfished by a three-timing waste-of-space boyfriend. Suddenly Samiah – along with his two other ‘girlfriends’, London and Taylor – have found themselves as viral sensations. The three new besties make a pact to invest the next six months in themselves. No men, no dating, and no worrying about their relationship status.
For the first time, Samiah is putting herself before anyone else. She’s finally finishing the app she has always dreamed of developing when she encounters Daniel Collins at work. He’s positively perfect for her. There is no such thing as coincidences when it comes to love; however, is Daniel really the boyfriend material Samiah is looking for, or he is perhaps a little too good to be true?
Ready Or Not – Cara Bastone
Another one of the best books like Hello Stranger about love coming when you least expect it comes from Cara Bastone in her 2024 romance read, Ready or Not. Eve Hatch has a cosy apartment in Brooklyn and is hoping her hard work and passion will eventually result in being rewarded with a more glamorous profession. And whilst her most recent romantic adventures have consisted of two separate men named Derek, she still always knows what to expect. That is until she finds herself literally expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.
The unplanned pregnancy instantly exposes cracks in her life. Her solid friendship with her best friend Willa begins to feel off, right as she needs her the most. It’s Willa’s older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He is supportive, and caring, listens to all of her complaints, and is suddenly much more attractive than she remembered. The baby’s father is also supportive, albeit still conflicted. Over the span of nine months, Eve struggles to work out the right next step in her life, questioning everything she thought she knew about herself and her world.
The Good Part – Sophie Cousens
At twenty-six-years-old Lucy Young is tired. Tired of fetching coffees for demanding TV producers, tired of her grimy flat with messy flatmates and tired of going on disastrous dates. After another diabolical date suddenly lands her in a storm with no money for the bus home, Lucy stumbles into a small shop where she spies a curious wishing machine. With her last coin, she closes her eyes and wishes: ‘Please, let me skip to the good part of my life’.
When she awakes the next morning, she’s lying in bed next to a handsome man with a ring on her finger. She has a high-powered job as well as two picture-perfect little children. Lucy cannot believe this is her reality until she looks in the mirror and sees her forty-something face staring back at her. Has she really skipped forward in time, or has she simply forgotten about a huge chunk of her life? And, as Lucy begins to revel in this new existence, she is forced to confront whether she can ever go back and, if so, would she ever want to?
Siri, Who Am I? – Sam Tschida
Mia might look like a millennial, but she was born yesterday. Waking up from a coma with short-term memory loss following an accident, Mia isn’t even able to recall her own name until the Siri assistant on her mobile provides it. Judging from her cool hairstyle, expensive dress and signature lipstick, she reasons that she is wealthy. However, the only means of making sure is by retracing her steps. Armed with Instagram and Uber, she arrives home to find Max, a cute off-duty postdoc supplementing his income with a house-sitting gig.
Max tells Mia that the house belongs to JP, a billionaire with a bustling chocolate empire. JP soon confirms her wildest dreams: the house does belong to him, the two are very much in love and he will be home that weekend. Nevertheless, as Mia and Max work through her Instagram and across LA to learn more about her, they begin to discover there is much more behind her perfect Instagram feed. Like Hello Stranger, Sam Tschida’s Siri, Who Am I is a tale all about discovering who you are, and why it is never too late to rewrite a story.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
