Wow, what a remarkable story! I love it when a book has all the things--dual and connecting timelines, beautiful writing, complex characters, emotional highs and low, mystery, and romance. The lives of two strangers, Julia and Matt, are intricately connected over six transformative days. Through an old diary's revelations and a series of unexpected events, the novel peels back layers of secrets, unveiling the tragic beauty of lost love and the complex histories of two families. The inclusion of an enigmatic hitchhiker in Matt's journey adds an intriguing twist, further enriching the narrative with mystery and anticipation. Find Me in California is a profoundly moving and beautifully crafted novel that captures the essence of human resilience and the crazy nature of love in all its forms.

𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙖 by 𝙆𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙚
🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4/5)

Thank you so much for the opportunity @netgalley ✨

I asked for this book because of the beautiful cover (yes I judge books by their covers, we all do 😉) and it didn't fail me. Eagles's Hotel California song is what came to mind after I read the book title. 🎶

This book took me on a captivating journey through the sun-soaked landscapes of California, where secrets, dreams, and second chances collide. The story follows Julia and Matt as they navigate the complexities of life, love, and identity against the backdrop of the Golden State.

As the narrative unfolds, I was drawn into a web of intrigue and emotion, where unexpected twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end. What I loved most about this book was how relatable it felt. From navigating relationships to chasing dreams, the themes explored in the book hit close to home and left me feeling inspired. 🥰

With its blend of romance, mystery, and self-discovery, it offers multiple facets of love and family bonds that will resonate with readers who enjoy stories about love, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness. It's a tale that reminds us that sometimes, the most unexpected adventures lead us to exactly where we're meant to be. 💙

If you're looking for a captivating read with chance meetings, buried secrets, and plenty of twists and turns, "Find Me in California" is definitely worth adding to your TBR pile. It's perfect for anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction with a touch of romance and a whole lot of heart. Don't miss out on this gem! 💖📖

Lonsdale's Find Me in California is a touching and evocative exploration of relationships. It criss-crosses the relatinships between two elderly women who were estranged friends, their inter-generational/legal guardian relationships with their respective granddaughter and grandson, and the secrets they all kept from each other. These two families were interwoven on so many levels, that their emotional scars helped to build a support system for each other. Lonsdale masterfully reveals secrets that tempt the reader to keep turning pages until the final, heart-tugging page. Brava!

This was my first Kerry Lonsdale book and it was a winner. I loved the dual grief journey's along with diving into Mama Rose's and Liza's past. I really enjoyed how much time was spent building each of the four characters, though I would have liked to have seen a little more be done with Liza and how she came as closed off as she was. It was an overall heart warming story that I LOVED.

Genre: Family Drama/Suspense
Steamy?: Yes but not too much
Cliffhanger?: No
Format: E-book
Can be read as Standalone?: Yes
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

***THANK YOU TO the author FOR MY COMPLIMENTARY REVIEW COPY. ALL OPINIONS AND THOUGHTS ARE MY OWN***

This was a lovely, well-written story. From the first page to the last, I was thoroughly invested in the journey of the 4 characters. This is a story about family, loss, forgiveness, and restoration. There is even a little supernatural mystery thrown into the mix. I thought this would be a typical road-trip story, which is not my favorite trope, and I was very pleasantly surprised it was not what I was expecting. Highly recommend this book!

Kerry writes about love, passion, sadness and forgiveness. Each character has their own issues yet they all connect together weaving into one of the most amazing stories yet to come from Kerry! I couldn’t put this book down and devoured it in one sitting. . Full of passion, grief, and devastating generational secrets, this perfect story also has the perfect ending. Not to be missed! This book definitely takes you on a "trip" as it alternates between Julia, Matt, and Magnolia Blu aka Julia's grandmother's Ruby Rose point of view. You learn how Ruby and Elizabeth, Matt's grandmother knew each other and watch their friendship grow and what lead to their falling out. There is a lot of emotion in this book as the characters deal with loss and grief, betrayal, questions about the future, and forgiveness.

Kerry Lonsdale does not disappoint in her new book, Find Me in California. There were several major characters that had very interesting stories. I became invested in Julia and Matt's stories from the start and empathized with the broken relationships of their past. I did, however, find Matt's weekend "trip" a bizarre addition to the story. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending!


Thank you Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, follow me here, because I have thoughts, and I need to work them out...

I'm not even sure it's possible for me to write a clear synopsis, so I'll give you some bullet points:
- Two grandmothers - Ruby Rose and Liza - are left to take care of their grandchildren.
- Two grandmothers end up at the same nursing home and are being removed from said home due to lack of funds.
- Enter grandchildren - Julia and Matt - who need to figure it out.
- Road trips, tears, and hallucinations.

There are basically four storylines here that intertwine (beautifully, I might add): Ruby Rose's, Liza's, Matt's, and Julia's.

Matt goes on a road trip to the nursing home, meets a woman, psychedelic drugs, which I thought were weed gummies? ensues.

The descriptions of the drugs were very vague. Were these... were these weed gummies? 😳 Because I've never heard of people straight up hallucinating from weed gummies. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm going to be honest and say that the parts with Matt in the hotel and the drugs were my least favorite. I still don't really understand or feel comfortable with things that went on in those parts of the book. (Read it and then hit me up please! Need to chat about this.)

But!

Everything else? What a beautiful story of love, loss, family, betrayal... You name it, this novel has it.

I've never read a stand-alone of Kerry's, and now I feel I need to. ♥️

Kerry Lonsdale is back with another heartfelt, romantic story about love, loss, and second chances. FIND ME IN CALIFORNIA is a wonderful novel that beautifully weaves the past and the present. Full of passion, grief, and devastating generational secrets, this perfect story also has the perfect ending. Not to be missed!

loved, loved this book! Always a fan of Kerry Lonsdale and this book is over the top. Twisty, turning with everyone's lives at the stake, couldn't put it down! Received this as an arc and would definitely buy this again!

There’s a lot going on here, perhaps too much. I appreciate the dual grief storylines but I feel there was more to be explored on Matt’s side. Were introduced to someone with what seems like a severe dependency to weed and it just feels a bit too far fetched his mind hallucinates an entire woman - more so that he’s attracted to her and when we learn the connection, it left me feeling very icky.

I also wish we got more resolution on Julia’s end with her path after the burden was lifted off her. I didn’t buy that the love story was genuine as it felt like a projection of their collective grief. It felt a bit instalove to me.

Overall, I appreciated the suspense weaved throughout and it was a quick read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was SO GOOD. It honestly was so enjoyable to read, and it was not an obvious ending. So great to read and the storyline was so interesting. Highly recommend.

Kerry Lonsdale is one of my favorite authors and I always know I'm going to enjoy her books. Find Me in California, a standalone book by Kerry, was an incredible read. I loved going on the present day journey with Julia and Matt, and the flashbacks to Hollywood in the 1970s, one of my favorite time periods to read about.

Julia and Matt are brought reluctantly together by their grandmothers. Julia, a volunteer at the nursing home they are both at, sends Matt multiple boxes of his grandmother's belongings before she is evicted. What Julia does not know is that Matt and his grandmother have not spoken in years and have an extremely rocky relationship. Julia though can't imagine her life without her grandmother, who raised her since she was young and is finding the best way to deal with not only her dementia getting worse, but her funds running low to keep her grandmother in the nursing home she desperately wanted to be in. With their grandmothers lives quickly changing, they both work through things from their past they know they have to face, and through phone calls over the course of a few days, form a bond and friendship.

This book definitely takes you on a "trip" as it alternates between Julia, Matt, and Magnolia Blu aka Julia's grandmother's Ruby Rose point of view. You learn how Ruby and Elizabeth, Matt's grandmother knew each other and watch their friendship grow and what lead to their falling out. There is a lot of emotion in this book as the characters deal with loss and grief, betrayal, questions about the future, and forgiveness. Julia and Matt's relationship felt organic throughout the story, even with Matt under the influence, and I loved the twists the story took along the way.

Find Me in California was another stellar read from Kerry and I'm incredibly thankful to be a part of Team Kerry and to read this book early. Thank you to Kerry, Lake Union, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy.

Wow this one took me for a ride! Thanks netgalley for the arc. Matt and Julia are the main characters whose lives are intertwined in both past and present. Their stories are told through time and their grandparents stories. This is quite a tale of family dynamics, the challenges and beauty of aging (which isn’t typically a hot take for books in this genre), second chances and rediscovering oneself. While the ending was predictable, the journey was riveting.

This book really worked its way into my heart. Kerry does a beautiful job of weaving an emotional story about love, passion, guilt, sadness and love. She writes about real, flawed characters who are all connected in ways they can’t imagine. I managed to read this book in one sitting. Some parts of the plot are far-fetched but I didn’t mind because I was so desperate to find out what became of each character.

Love, mystery, history, drugs and family drama. Equally heartbreaking and uplifting. As a car girl, I loved the accurate bits of the automotive industry mixed in. Gets so messy I don't know how the author is going to finish the book, but as it ends on a very pleasant (although slow) ending.

Kerry Lonsdale, the author of “Find Me in California” has written a captivating and intriguing novel. The Genres for this novel are Family Life Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Friendship and Fiction. In this well-written novel, the author vividly describes four characters with their own stories to tell, and weaves them into an emotional and memorable book. I appreciate how the author discusses important topics such as the importance of family, friendships, honesty, communication, forgiveness and second chances. The author also mentions the importance of self-worth, self-esteem, and taking an emotional journey to find oneself. Other important topics are dementia and Alzheimers, alcoholism, and drugs. I like the para-normal feel of certain situations in this novel.

Julia Hope and Matt Gatlin both have aging grandmothers in an assisted living home. Julia has always been loved by her grandmother, and Matt has been ignored by his grandmother. Both were brought up by their grandmothers. Currently both grandmothers are in the same assisted living residence, and seem to have secrets. Julia and Matt are not aware that both grandmothers knew each other. Julia is a volunteer at the facility and has sent Matt boxes from his grandmother. Matt has been contacted by the facility to come and take care of financial arrangements for his grandmother. Julia works at several jobs to help keep her grandmother at the facility. Matt leaves to go to California to take care of this, and has several detours on his way.

Julia finds an old diary that sheds light on many situations. I loved everything about this story and highly recommend this to other readers.

I'm not sure where to start this review. By the summary, I wanted to like it, but it never really came together for me. Throw in a drug/alcohol infused hallucination(?) and I was left wanting a bit more substance from the story. While I'm glad to have read it, it was not my favorite.

Absolutely loved loved loved this book!
Kerry Lonsdale is one of my favorite authors.
It had 4 stories in one and kept you wondering.
Would definately recommend this book and this author.
5 Stars!!!

Matt and Julia have more in common than meets the eye. Both use their careers as an anchor to the reality around them, both have been facing family issues all their lives and both have grandmothers in an assisted living home. There is one more problem, though. They have never met each other. When the intertwined fates of their relatives bring them together through cardboard boxes and a few agitated phone calls, a tender story of love and grief unfolds.

To say this is a beautiful love story is an understatement. Matt and Julia’s stories evoke routes through difficult paths. Love, loss, grief, despair. The ever-problematic question of the family that should have been a shelter instead of a prison. The daily nightmare that is Alzheimer’s when you witness your loved one wasting away, all memories lost. And this accidental meeting (or phone call…) that might - just might- change your life.

With traces of Magical Realism used to perfection without being a cheap, fashionable gimmick and a poignant approach towards sensitive subjects like Alzheimer's and suicide, Kerry Lonsdale creates a story to be remembered.

Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/