California Golden follows the lives of Mindy and Ginger, the two daughters of the unconventional, legendary female surfer, Carol, in 1960s California. We see their unusual upbringing and how this affects the choices they make as they get older. Melanie Benjamin’s writing is lovely. She absolutely nails the atmosphere, I felt like I could feel the sand on my feet and the California sun on my skin. The girls and their mother are complex, compelling characters that we easily become emotionally invested in. I will say the way the story of each character was told and the timeline was a little jarring and I feel like doing alternating point of views might have made the story flow better. While the book was enjoyable to read, it didn’t elicit any strong emotional response once I was finished, and I immediately was ready for my next read. It felt like a beach read with a little more depth and better writing.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

Another sure-to-be bestseller from Melanie Benjamin! “California Golden” is set in the early days of California 60’s surf culture, but from the female perspective. Carol Donnelly is a single-minded surfing champion - a fact her two daughters are well aware of, as Carol moves thru their early childhood largely ignoring them. Both daughters decide to mimic their mother’s absorption in surfing to win her attentions and affection. This will be transformative for all the members of the mother-daughter trio, as they move thru the 60’s and beyond. The mother-daughter dynamic, the relationship between the Donnelly sisters, along with cultural shifts including the changing roles open to women, profoundly affect the trajectory of the lives of all these characters. An engrossing read! Many thanks to the author, Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an advanced e-copy of the book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This will be released on August 8th, 2023; I definitely recommend it!

The book opens in the 1960's in Southern California. Mindy and Ginger, the Donnelly sisters, live under the shadow of their mother, a surfer. As children, Mindy and Ginger take up surfing, trying desperately to keep their Mom from leaving. As adults, when Mindy has the opportunity to join the ranks of Hollywood stars, she jumps at it, leaving her sister behind. Ginger takes up with another surfer, obsessing over their relationship, doing drugs use, and giving up herself to keep him.

Although this was an interesting story, it had an overall nostalgic and sad feeling. The characters were well developed, but it was hard to penetrate their sadness and really get a sense of who they were. The book covered a large time period, and did a good job of transitioning through the girls lives. Overall, 4 out of 5 stars.

California Golden
By Melanie Benjamin
Pub date: August 8, 2023
Delacorte Press
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
This book takes us back to the 1960s California surfer life. I felt the story was messy in the way it was presented. I will not be recommending this book.
3 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

Unfortunately, I DNF this one. I've read others by this author and tend to not give them high ratings. I just could not get into this tale about two sisters who surf. As the book veered into cult and controlling-boyfriend territory, I just didn't want to continue.

Comped as Malibu Rising, I will say that California Golden both reached and exceeded my expectations on so many levels. With similar masterful talent with fluid prose and distinct characters as Taylor Jenkins Reid, this will guarantee full-body sobs by the end.

This is more than a family story, about surfing and waves and teenage girls coming into their bodies and identities. It has a lot to do about love, family, responsibilities, and it is especially important culturally today dealing with motherhood, autonomy and the patriarchy.

As someone who is the youngest sibling of a dysfunctional family, child of a mother who slaved away at two to three jobs at a time to take care them, this recked me in the best way. I began reading this novel enthralled by the direction this novel was taking. I was enamored by both sisters and the outcomes of their life, chasing the dreams of their mother and the dreams they deny themselves for the sake of their mother's ( non existent ) affections.

Part way through I came to the conclusion that the middle really felt flat, it swam in a non-stop current involving Mindy's POV and Vietnam, and how she came to find Jimmy again, but I felt rather that it slowed the plot down a bit and dragged on, but that's the only complaint I have.

The way this novel addresses cults, poverty, neglect, the patriarchy and how society treats women. How society dictates women's roles in family, and in media, and in public. The second I saw the mother's POV I will admit that I lost it. Nothing gets me more than getting into the head of a mother whose decisions hurt her children, and seeing the why behind it all. Good mythical gods, finally learning about Carol nearly killed me.

My boyfriend will attest that I had a near mental breakdown over this book. From the themes of love, family and the future we build for ourselves, and a look into toxic and abusive relationships in partners to friends and our own family...

This was a 10/10 novel.

3.9. I have really enjoyed Melanie Benjamin’s books, most notably The Swans of Fifth Avenue, The Aviator’sWife, The Mistress of the Ritz and The Children’s Blizzard.. her recent novel is not one of my favorites but still an interesting read. It revolves around Carol Donnelly, a 1960s surfing legend and her two daughters, Mindy and Ginger. If you loved Gidget and the California surfing culture of the.60s and 70s you’ll like this book. The Southern California and 60s vibe is very well cast but so are the more deeper themes, including the lack of choices women had in the 60s, and the choices that were available or not and the impact of those decisions, mother daughter dynamics, misogyny, sex and race discrimination, among others. Although I had a bit of trouble engaging in the book, it was a touching tale. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for a candid and unbiased review.

I am originally from California and lived in the Malibu area for four years, so I was quite curious to read “California Golden.” This novel focuses on two sisters growing up in the sixties with their mom in Southern California. Mom, Carol, puts surfing first, which means Mindy and Ginger have to struggle to find their footing. They focus on “The Plan,” but each sister naturally develops different priorities.

This book reminded me a little bit of “Malibu Rising.” I could understand the girls’ desire to find their own footing with a mom that does not put them first. I enjoyed the different perspectives of Carol, Ginger and Mindy, but Mindy was my more favorite character. Overall, this is a decent coming of age story in a compelling time period.

Three and a half stars.

Many thanks to our author, Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an advanced eGalley copy of the book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this historical fiction dating back to the 1960's. This book is about Carol, who loved to surf and play woman's baseball. Her dream was to go out for the team but her dream was interrupted as she got pregnant, graduated from high school and got married. She was not your conventional housewife of the decade. Everyday her and her daughter Mindy would go to the beach, while Carol surfed, then a second daughter Ginger came along. At some point she leave her husband and daughters to go to Hawaii to surf. She was gone a couple of weeks. Then before it was time for her to come home she did her routine nightly call and her mother answered the phone and she told her she had to come home because Bob had left her and that she was too old to look after the girls. Carol thought he had taken the girls. She went home. Now it is time to read about their life and how it all turned out. . It was a page turned. I just wanted to keep going to see how it worked out. A MUST READ.

California Golden by Melanie Benjamin pulled me in from page one! Set in the 1960's when women were expected to be housewives and stay home with their children. But Carol Donelly has other ideas. She just wants to surf and she's really good at it too! The only problem is she has two young daughters - Mindy and Ginger - who need their Mom around. The only way they can get their mother's attention is to come up with a plan and that is to surf along with her. Mindy picks it up right away but Ginger not so much. This novel is about the early surf scene in California, the music of the time, drugs, Vietnam and the most important thing - the relationship of sisters and mothers and daughters. Just loved this book and highly recommend it!

I recently read "California Golden" by Melanie Benjamin and have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the author did an excellent job of setting the California surf scene and delving into the complex relationships between the characters. However, the book's timelines made it a tough read for me.

The book jumps from one event to another and then goes back, making it difficult to follow a coherent storyline. It felt clunky and disjointed at times. For example, Carol's chapter at the end should have been at the beginning to give readers a better understanding of her character and the family dynamics. This would have made the book a more fluid and cohesive read.

Despite these issues, "California Golden" is still a nice, easy read that's perfect for vacationing. I would recommend it to fans of the book "Malibu Rising" for a similar vibe. The writing is engaging, and the characters are well-developed, but the timeline issues prevent it from being a truly great read.

Overall, I would give "California Golden" three stars. While it has its flaws, it's still an enjoyable book that's worth checking out if you're in the mood for a light beach read.


Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely loved this book! I'm a big fan of any type of historical novel that takes place between the 1950's and 80's but have always had a hard time finding books that fit into one of those decades (besides Mary Jane which took place in the 70s). So this book was PERFECT for me! It's so well written and interesting and I couldn't put it down!

3.5 ⭐️ This story is ultimately about love and how to keep it around. Carol Donnelly appears an absent mother who resents her children when her first love is herself, sports, surfing and her independence. Mindy and Georgia have a sisterly bond that creates ‘The Plan’ to keep their family together. Constantly vying for their mother’s love and attention turns into looking for it elsewhere: fame and Hollywood for Mindy, drugs, cults, and an abusive relationship for Georgia. Everything comes full circle from the beginning of the book as you watch all 3 women navigate the cards they’ve been dealt in 1960’s California. Overall, this was a good read. A bit slow in the beginning and the ending felt abrupt compared to how the rest of the story was written.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the advanced copy!

Having read almost all of Melanie Benjamin's works, I was very happy to get a galley of California Golden. She does veer from her usual Historical Fiction books in the past, mainly because this book focuses on the sport of surfing and a mother and her daughters' relationship with the sport and each other. The characters are fictitious, as the author explains at the end of the book, but Ms. Benjamin explains at the end of the book that they are loosely based on Marge Calhoun and her daughters. The sport of surfing is a man's sport in the 60's in California. Carol Donelly is not interested in the typical activities of girls in this era. She prefers baseball, and sports. When she is forced to marry because of a pregnancy, she leaves her baseball career behind, and inadvertently finds surfing. In those days, girls were not welcome in the water with their male counterparts and suffered all sorts of obstacles that the men/boys threw at them, in and out of the water. After she has 2 daughters, she becomes so involved in surfing, that she goes out every day, leaving the girls with babysitters, their father or basically anyone that's around. She dreams of just "walking out and leaving them". This is the story of a female surfer, as well as a woman that was put in the position of mother and was unable and unwilling to be a mother. Ms. Benjamin does a great job of developing these characters and exploring the choices that they made based on their experiences. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in women's stories. Thank you, Netgalley and Penguin Random House Publishing for the opportunity to preview this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this! Some parts were a bit slow for me but the plot and story was really really good.

This book explores the relationships between two sisters and their mother while demonstrating that family is never what it is supposed to be but always what you make of it.

Bouncing between the beaches of California and Hawaii, the shared love for surfing and being in the water is the string that ties the family together.

The first part of the book was a little slow and I wasn’t completely happy with the ending but the middle was entertaining.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

California Golden is the story of a mom and her two daughters during the "surf-happy" days of the '60s in Southern California. Surfing, not her daughters, is priority one for Carol. And the girls, Mindy and Ginger, grow up longing for their mother's love, and because that love is just not there for them, they search for it in the Hollywood culture, and also in the drug culture of the day. The story stretches from the early 1960s to 1980 - it was fun reading about surfing, "hearing" the popular songs from that era, and how the relationships between the sisters and their mother changed over the years. The ending was satisfying.

This light story would be fun for a vacay read - it's not too heavy or involved. There are a minimum number of characters, so, it was easy to keep up without having to go back and reread portions of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review California Golden.

3.5 ⭐️ Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for sending me a digital ARC of this book.

California Golden tells the story of a mother and her two daughters during the 60s surfing scene in Southern California. Carol Donnelly is dedicated to her passion for surfing; the last thing she ever wanted to be was a mother. In an era where women were seen only as housewives, Carol does not fit the mold of a “traditional” woman. This leads Carol to prioritize her surfing lifestyle over taking care of her two daughters, Mindy and Ginger, who are forced to grow up without an involved parental figure. Growing up surrounded by the ocean, Mindy and Ginger also find themselves spending their days in the surf. Throughout the book, we see how the two sisters drift off into their own life paths.

I really wanted to love this story. Based on the premise and time period it was set in, this book was right up my alley. While I do believe this book does a great job of portraying issues of racism, cultural appropriation, and sexism that were very apparent at the time, I found the characters and storytelling to fall flat. I found the characters, besides Mindy, to be so unlikeable. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, and I expected them to have some sort of character development as the story progressed, but they somehow infuriated me more and more. That being said, I do think the author does a nice job of helping you to understand why these characters act the way they do. It actually opened up a lot of questions for me. Do I blame Carol for being a lousy mother or is it because of the societal expectations at the time that forced women to be mothers even when they didn’t want to be? Do I blame Ginger for her questionable and frustrating decisions or is it because of the lack of love she received from her parents? This could be the author’s purpose, to create painfully flawed characters. However, by the end, I still felt disconnected from them. Mindy was the only character in this book that I truly understood. She deserves the world.

My other issue with the book is that the timeline felt disjointed. The story is broken into three parts. I don’t understand why the story keeps jumping from different years. Instead of the usual past and present timeline, this book will take place one year, maybe go back a few years, jump a few years ahead, and overall it felt jumbled. This can be very confusing for the reader. I got the gist of the book, but I feel like this problem could have been avoided if the book was told in either chronological order or a more organized past/present timeline.

I would still recommend this book if the synopsis entices you. You can expect a wild ride of family drama, flawed and complex characters, and the background of Southern California in the 60s during the height of surfing. This book does not shy away from some of the prominent issues during the time period. Be sure to check trigger warnings before reading.

I was attracted to the setting and the time period of this novel about a mother and two daughters. After all, it was a golden era that many of us grew up in and remember. Surfing and California were like magic to many of us so the title is apt.
I was a little disappointed at how disjointed the book read, especially in the beginning. It seems like it needs a good edit. There was some potential here and the storyline kept my interest, but the characters' choices seemed preposterous in many cases, as did their lives. I see that the author based this on a real set of surfing mother and daughters, and I appreciate the research, but it just didn't seem to come together for me. However, if the reader sticks with it, they will find that it improves as the story progresses.

This book is hard to review. There were parts that I loved, but it just moved too slow. The story is good once you get to it.

It’s about a mom and her two daughters in the 1960’s California surfing world. Carol Donnelly is a woman who makes her life about surfing and resents her daughters and feels trapped because of them. Her daughters are mostly left to fend for themselves. The oldest daughter, Mindy, grows up having to be strong and keep her sister, Ginger, safe, always worried about being taken away by the state. The sisters grow up and go their separate ways and have their own problems and then come together a couple times throughout their lives.

I wasn’t a fan of how the story was broken up. It seemed erratic and confusing at times. Most of the book was sad and depressing and then the ending just wrapped everything up.

I felt invested in the story. I liked the sisters even though they were both infuriating at times. I wasn’t as invested with the mom’s character, but I did appreciate how we came to know more about her toward the end of the book.

Would I recommend this book? Sure. It’s a good beach read. I gave it 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this ARC.