⭐️ 4.5 ⭐️ What an emotional rollercoaster ride that was! Hello, Stranger isn’t your typical, light-hearted love story full of cheesy clichés, it’s one full of depth and raw emotion — a love story with a difference. Beautifully written, Rachel Marks’ prose is easy to read and the character development is superb. Lucy and Jamie (the two main characters) are likeable (Jamie in particular), well-drawn and relatable. Their witty dialogue always feels natural and believable. I loved seeing their personalities develop and their relationship grow as the story progressed. Even though it’s quite a chunky book, I flew through it quickly because I was so invested in Lucy and Jamie’s story. Hello, Stranger made me smile and it also broke my heart. It’s a poignant, bittersweet story and a truly wonderful read.

I found this book slow. I couldn’t really get into it and I only really found it interesting towards the end

This was a book I DNFed in 2022. But I found it on my kindle one day and thought I needed it to see where it led. Rachel Marks is an awesome writer and I loved her book Saturdays at Noon. In fact I think I need to do a re-read because of the subject matter and how touched I was by it. The reason I dnfed this book was because I felt no investment to the characters. But 2 years later, 2024, I found that the characters were complicated and still not entirely likeable but I established an understanding. This book is not one I will be quick to forget. I think the writing and the way the characters evolved, the intricacies of the plot revealing itself… I was immersed. Rachel Marks wrote this book while dealing with breast cancer and the treatment for it. I truly can’t wait to read more of her books because they are incredibly contemporary and have you asking some of life’s big questions. I received this book from Netgalley for review consideration. All opinions are my own and completely honest.