Confession: I almost DNF'd this book about 50 pages into it. I found the beginning chapters very confusing and disjointed and I had a hard time getting connected to the characters. BUT, then I got pulled into each sister's narrative and found myself really looking forward to my reading time every day. The mother storyline was also interesting... I think it's very necessary to explore more women who wrestle with motherhood and its responsibilities. Overall, I'd give this 3.5 stars.

I have read most, if not all, of Melanie Benjamin’s books and have thoroughly enjoyed them. I have to admit I had a hard time with this one.
The primary characters are an basically absent mother, the older sister who tries to break away and take a different path, and the younger one whose insecurities has her in a dangerous relationship with drugs and a man.
Non me of the characters elicited any emotion from me. The writing style was not as crisp as her previous books.
I hope Ms Benjamin’s next book is better.
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC.

I have read several Melanie Benjamin books and she is quickly becoming an auto-buy author. I love coming of age stories and in California Golden we watch Mindy and Ginger grow up in the surf community of Southern California in the 1960s. One journey is frustrating while the other is heartbreaking. Add in surf championships, cult culture, the Vietnam war, and an absent mother, and we have another Melanie Benjamin book I couldn’t put down. This one will make you think about what you would sacrifice to achieve your own dreams and how the fallout would affect those around you.

This novel brought me back to the 60s when The Beach Boys sang about California surfing, and Beach movies starred all our favorites. The story centered around Carol Donnelly (one of the first female surfers in California), and her 2 daughters - Mindy and Ginger. Carol was focused on surfing (with the guys who ruled the sport) and brought her daughters along. They too took up surfing - Mindy successfully and Ginger struggling in the water. The core theme of the novel was the girls desperation for love and caring from their mother. Carol was so self absorbed that she neglected them entirely. Mindy (the older sister) took responsibility for Ginger in order to keep them out of the foster system and potential adoption/separation.
These flawed characters made their ways through life with many stumbling blocks along the way. Melanie Benjamin brings out the California lifestyle, sibling relationships, family, racism, drug use, motherhood and the Vietnam war, in predictable ways and gives the characters ineffective ways to handle their issues. There were a few coincidences in the story which diluted the message. Midway though the book. we hear Carol's history, which shows us why she behaved the way she did.
I thought the book gave a good depiction of the 60s culture, but I felt that the characters were too one dimensional and that made the situations and their outcomes predictable.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher and the opinions expressed are my own. I rate the book 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the historical elements.

3.5 stars — I live in Hawaii so I was instantly drawn to a book about surfing that’s partly set here. I didn’t get quite as much ‘60s atmosphere as I was hoping for though, and struggled to connect with the Mindy and Ginger for most of the book. Even so, I did feel that Benjamin brought everything together for a solid ending.

It's hard to think of the 60's as history since they seem like yesterday, The author does a great job of capturing the feeling of the 60's and all the changes that took place. She paints a picture of what I imagine the surfing culture was like and does a great job making the characters believable. `

I enjoyed the book. It would make a perfect beach read.

I chose this book from NetGalley because I had read another book by Benjamin, and have at least one other on my to-read pile. I thought this would be a fun summer read, but it was a little heavier than the beautiful cover had me expecting. And yes, here's where not reading the summary matters.

The surfing Donnelly girls are a thoroughly messed up bunch—but for me, there was really no likable character among them. This is not to say the story was not interesting and compelling, but it does make me sad when I can't empathize with someone in a story. Stories about mothers abandoning their children are always difficult and complicated for me. I get that Carol Donnelly felt trapped in the loveless marriage forced upon her by pregnancy—but I'm still not sure why she compounded that mistake by having a second child. In all areas but this, we are to believe she is a fierce and powerful woman; but when it comes to pregnancy (and preventing it), she's a helpless victim of her times. I wish she could have explained a little of her history to her daughters before they literally made the same mistakes, but maybe that's just me. Carol Donnelly is far from the worst person in this story, though, which has the odd effect of making the nicest people seem shady. I felt a little jaded by the end, cautious of everyone. And, while I don't always love a predictable, tidily wrapped up ending, this time, I appreciated it.

This review will be posted on August 28, 2023 to: https://instagram.com/amandas.bookshelf

🏄🏼‍♀️ What I liked: The descriptions of the ocean, waves, and the act of surfing were lovely. I've found that describing action-based activities, like surfing, are either weak or overly technical. I though Benjamin strung some lovely prose around her descriptions to conjure up some beautiful imagery.

🏄🏼‍♀️ What didn't work for me: The ending. I so wish we had a portion of it from Ginger's perspective so the unanswered questions were answered. Given how the entire novel alternated between Mindy and Ginger's perspectives, I really wish the ending did too.

#CaliforniaGolden Rating: 😐 / meh, it was ok
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This book is scheduled for publication on August 8, 2023. Thank you @delacortepress for providing me this digital ARC via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This story covers the lives of 2 sisters and their famous surfer mother.

As Mindy and Ginger's story evolves, their relationship has highs and lows, especially with their mother. Mindy becomes famous, and Ginger gets caught up in an unhealthy relationship, and they need to figure out how to navigate and survive.

This was a great/quick read and would recommend!

California Golden by Melanie Benjamin is a snapshot of a dysfunctional family during the height of the southern California Surfing craze during the 1960’s There is a mom and her two daughters. The family is extremely dysfunctional. Their mother would rather be surfing than taking care of or nurturing her young girls. The mom is a surfing wonderkin which was unusual during that time since the sport was predominated by men. The oldest daughter Mindy is smart enough to realize that the only way to be in proximity of their mother is to learn surfing. Mindy is a natural. Ginger is not.

The book is divided into three sections. The first portion covers the struggles of Mindy and Ginger dealing with an ever absent mother. It begins in their preteens and moves forward to their twenties. The point of view changes through this portion between Mindy and Ginger The second portion is all about the girls mother, Carol. The third section moves forward to the 1970’s.

Truth be told, Ms. Benjamin did a great job of creating very weird protagonists who are totally unlikable. You felt sorry for them, but you don’t like them. Carol should have never been a mother and Mindy and Ginger are the unfortunate result of a mother who resented them because they were born. Having had to nurture themselves the scars that they carry are thick and evident.

The settings were beautifully done. You can feel being present during this time, you can smell the ocean, feel the sun, hear the waves and feel the sand between your toes. The setting also encompasses the various prejudices of the time. Ms. Benjamin does a good job describing the surfing scenes, Vietnam, the possible cults that were present which were sucking people in.

I felt the plot was predictable. The book left me feeling flat. We are told at the end that Ms. Benjamin took her inspiration from a real life mother/daughter surfing trio. That was as far as it went. Ms. Benjamin uses creative license to weave this story.

I would like to thank Ms. Benjamin, Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Carol was strong and athletic during WWII, but her athletic career was brought short by an unexpected pregnancy. After her daughter Mindy, and 2 years later, Ginger, were born Carol discovered surfing. She excelled at the sport, but had no interest in motherhood or in being a wife. Eventually, her husband Bob had enough of her physical and emotional abandonment and he left her and the children. The only thing that brought the three together was surfing. The girls clung to surfing as a way to keep Carol from leaving them. The three beautiful, blond surfers attracted a lot of attention in the 1960s. Mindy’s championship-worthy skills led her to a career in movies. Ginger tried hard, but her life took a different direction.

This book is about motherhood, ambition, gender stereotypes, racial and gender discrimination, family bonds and forgiveness. The characters were believable and I liked the period details. I thought that the book veered into soap opera territory in the second half, but I still enjoyed the book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. I was not able to get into the story so I DNF. I again appreciate the opportunity.

California Golden takes us back to the 1960s and shares the mother/daughter dynamic of three women trying to make it in the surfing world and if this can happen together or if they must go their own ways.

3.5 stars

I grew up watching and loving the movie Gidget and California Golden took me right back to the 50s and 60s nostalgia for all things California, Hollywood and surf culture!

I also loved how Benjamin took on the hard topics of the war in Vietnam, drug culture, sexism and racism during a time fraught with civil conflict.

This is truly an impactful story and obviously perfect for the beach!

Thank you, Random House, and NetGalley, for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

This well written novels takes the readers back to the 1960s and the surf culture in California. Many of us remember the surfing songs by the Beach Boys that were popular in the 1960s but didn't have any real understanding of the nomadic life that many of the people involved in surfing and competitions really lived. This book is an inside look at that culture.

Carol Donelly was a well known female surfer in a time that surfing was a men's sport. She proved her abilities over and over and gained the respect of the male surfers. She got married and had two daughters - Mindy and Ginger. After her divorce, she was an absentee mother and spent many of her days at the beach, often forgetting to pick up her daughters or buy food. The two girls decided that they could make their mother pay attention to them by getting involved in surfing. It was a good plan for Mindy because she had the talent for it but Ginger was afraid of the water and had no love for surfing. The two sisters were very close growing up but when Mindy starts to win competitions, their closeness diminishes. Mindy become involved in movies and life among the rich and famous while Ginger becomes involved in the counter culture of cults and drugs and falls in love with an abusive man. As the sisters grow further apart, they both still deal with their negative feelings of self worth due to their childhoods.

Melanie did a terrific job with the setting of this novel. You could almost hear the waves and smell the salt air. She also got into a lot of things that were going on at that time - drugs, Vietnam, racism and sexism. I found it very disappointing because I didn't like any of the three main characters. Carol, the mother, should have never had children, Mindy found it too easy to leave her family behind and Ginger was a weak person who got involved with the wrong man. Even though I didn't like the characters, I felt some sympathy and understand them more by the end of the book.

The author's research is what made this book good. She taught her readers all about the surfing culture of the 60s as well as the prejudice against women and the effect that the war had on the young people. It wasn't my favorite book by this author but I am definitely happy that I read it.

This is my first time reading Melanie Benjamin. A historical story based on the early days of surfing in California. It features the stories of Carol and her daughters Ginger and Mindy who break are female surfers in the ‘60s. It captures the surfing community and its ups and downs during that time period. But it also captures the mother/daughter relationship and how difficult it can be. It was a pretty depressing story to me that is why I didn’t really like it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.

This historical fiction story describes life in the 1960's when surfing became popular and so did the movies depicting it. But the real story being told here is that of family - - the relationships formed between mothers and their children and those daughters and each other. The relationship Mindy and Ginger Donnelly had (or rather didn't have) with their mother haunts them for years. Mindy follows job opportunities that she doesn't even want to try to secure money so she never has to worry about being able to pay for things. Meanwhile, Ginger lets responsibility completely go and follows one man while buying into his stories about life and love.

There is a great deal of avoidable heartbreak in this book if only the sisters would have been better communicators - - with each other and with their significant others. But instead, Mindy believed she could push though any crisis and fix things all on her own. She was afraid to depend on anyone. After all, their father left them with a mother who was barely present. Meanwhile, Ginger struggled to find the one thing she could feel that she was good at. When she believes that the man she loves "needs" her, she makes it her job to keep him happy and fulfilled.

A beautifully woven tale of life with the California surfing lifestyle as a backdrop. It really strikes a sentimental chord with me. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

California Golden by Melanie Benjamin. Pub Date: August 8, 2023. Rating: 3 stars. Set in California during a time of carefree thoughts, beaches and surfing competitions, this is the story of a mother and two daughters who are trying hard to navigate what it means to be a family, independent and grow up in an ever changing world. This is a slower paced novel, but packed with descriptions of the time period that will leave the reader wishing they could be present. I really enjoyed the coming of age aspect, family dynamics and how even if your family members are lost at times they can always come back home. I really enjoyed this novel. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #netgalley #californiagolden

California Golden focuses on a topic and time period (women surfers and the late 1950’s and the 1960’s) that I know little about, therefore, I accepted the widget from the publisher.

I enjoyed the exploration of mother/daughter relationships and how things do come full circle in the end; no matter what has happened or was said.

Benjamin clearly researched the era, surf culture and history of Hawaii, yet I found it easy to put down and it didn’t always hold my interest. Although there were parts that I enjoyed, this was 3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨for me.

I found California Golden was an interesting story. Growing up partially in the 60's, I was attracted to this story. I didn't think the characters were very deep, I didn't have any sympathy for them but I did enjoy reliving what it was like in the 60's.