This book alternates between 1980 and 2002 with a family with four kids living in a van off the grid and traveling up and down the coast.

In today, Ronan is now Ava and living as far away from that life as she can possibly be, when family tragedy, strikes, and she’s asked to come back home. Can she risk her new life?
Throughout the pages of the alternating timeline, we find out what happened to Ronan and why she is now Ava
I must say I enjoyed this book and it had a little nostalgia for me

Sigh. This book is just beautiful. The cover jumped out at me and I needed an escape right now so I began it even though my TBR is dozens long and this just came in.

You know when you find a book at the exact right time ? I dove into this plot like the Merrick family dives into the water in their island "swimming hole" midway through the book, where they are all seeking healing from the stresses and confusion of the world, and the hurts that only those we love best can inflict on us. And like them I came up for air happier..

It's the story of one family that the author makes feel like an entire world. It's a simple plot on the surface - sure, an estranged group of siblings convening for their father's memorial. But so much mystery, heart, longing, nature, and gentle humor are woven in. I ADORED it.
There's something pure and healing about this gorgeous novel and I'm so glad it made it to the top of my stack when I needed it.

Highly, highly recommend. Just read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance galley in exchange for this review.

When I saw Amy Mason Doan’s announcement for her new novel, The California Dreamers, I immediately knew I had to read it. Having such an interest in surfing growing up, plus being a child of the 80’s, I knew this book was going to grab me and it certainly did just that.

The California Dreamers focuses on a family of 6 living a nonconformist, nomadic lifestyle on beaches along the west coast. Led by Cap, the patriarch of the family, the 4 children and Mama lead a life of leisure and lessons. The only girl, Ronan is the protagonist of the story. Cap’s regime seems to affect her the most, and she finds herself wondering if her “freedom” is really that, or just its own version of a prison.

Though my upbringing couldn’t be more opposite, I found myself relating to Ronan a lot. She’s around the same age as me, which made it easy for me to view the past POV’s through her eyes. I also really enjoyed Ronan’s complex relationship with each character in the book. Every single person is fleshed out so well and they were all pretty vivid in my mind.

Reading The California Dreamers was like being transported into a sunny/salty daydream that I didn’t want to end. I was truly fascinated by this family and their lifestyle. They truly showed how much beauty there is in a simple life. I highly recommend reading this, even if you aren’t a big fan of surfing. There’s just so much more to this book - complex family relationships, budding romance, and even a layer of mystery. But most of all, it’s Ronan’s love letter to her family; her Father most of all. To the positive and negative of both her relationship with him, as well as the dreamy but sometimes complicated life they lead.

I highly recommend this beautiful book. So many thanks to Amy Mason Doan, Graydon House and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Imagine living in a van. Everything you need is in it. You are trying to live as simple a life as you can, with little of the day to day items that most of us can’t live without; flush toilets, shower stalls, sink to wash dishes in, a toaster, a coffee machine, a TV; as humble a lifestyle as possible. And imagine that there are six of you in this vehicle. This is not a VW van or a Toyota Sienna. It’s more like a Sprinter or Ford Transit, or an old food cart truck as is the Gull.

The ups and downs of daily life; those trials and tribulations we all go through, but in a much smaller space than our 1500 square foot homes; a space that everything is crowded in, but everything has its place, and everything is shared all the time.

California Dreamers is the story of a family who stay away from cities and large towns as much as possible. They are as far off the grid as they can be and still get to surf as much as they want, up and down the west coast of the US. Living off the land if they can, working if money is needed, surfing at every opportunity they can; twin boys, a teen daughter, a younger brother and the parents.

It’s a life most of us can’t really imagine. It is quite different than ours. Yet the family still goes through the same we landlubbers do.

Written from the point of view of the teen daughter, the reader gets to experience this life of constant travel in their van. How she deals with everyday life and friendships and longing and family is the crux of this book. Amy Mason Doan brings us into this lifestyle and draws us into the lives of the family. You feel as if you are living with them, crowded into their van, called Gull, and you get to experience the swell of waves, the frustration of wanting something a little different, the guilt of your desires. And the pleasure of family.

Enjoy this book with its twists and turns as you drive along with the , large bumps or small, on their path through life.

I was stoked to read an ARC of Amy Mason Doan’s latest, The California Dreamers. We both hail from California, love to write about California, and share a deep love of the Golden State. As a big fan of her seemingly effortless prose, descriptions that plant you in every scene, and characters that make you want to keep reading, I happily gobble up every book she writes.

This novel spotlights a family who eschews convention, living in an itinerant fashion, on their own terms, as they surf the gorgeous Pacific coast. The father, Cap, works odd jobs as needed for the cash necessary to help them survive. The family follows Cap’s rules and dogma, based on his own values and beliefs—but there’s an undercurrent of tension as no one questions him despite sometimes longing to.

It presents an interesting, challenging setup: can you imagine cramming into a small van with your family of six and living that way for years? Without creature comforts? Personal space? Owning few belongs, living a life so different from the masses? Especially when you think about how we all go through our own personal evolution as we grow, and there’s no avoiding some realities, curiosities, and rebelliousness.

The story is told by Ronan, the only daughter in the entourage, and centers around a massively big secret that impacts the entire family. The timeline switches back and forth, allowing us to watch the family’s dynamics in the past coupled with the “current” timeframe, making for a propulsive narrative. At the end of the novel, Doan shares her inspiration for The California Dreamers, which set me on my own course of research and discovery.

It's a lovely read and unusual story. Her books feature young girls or women at their core, making this suitable—and relatable—for females in particular.

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Graydon House for this digital ARC.

I absolutely loved this beautiful, unique novel.
It's a warm story of a family who have rejected traditional aspirations in favor of a simpler life of travel, surf, and nature. Fast-paced but thoughtful, with several BIG SURPRISES that kept me reading way past my bedtime. And the writing is simply gorgeous.

This is one rare case where the evocative cover exactly matches the beauty of what is inside.

I'll be looking for more books by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early read in exchange for my opinion.

I really liked this book! I like how they combine the story with realistic themes of privacy, paparazzi and the media. I like how the negatives and positives are both covered, and shows the real dangers of it all. I like the story and how it all flows and the writing style too!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Oh this beach book was darling! I loved the characters and their story! It was so precious. I loved the setting! A perfect beach read for vacation or taking you away to another place. Excited to read more by this author!

Dreamy is right. I just loved this story about an unconventional family seeking out their happiness in a van and the water of the west coast.

Ava LaClair is in her thirties, settled on a lavender farm in rural Oregon, raising two sons with the scion of a farming dynasty, and seemingly happy in her small inland town. But late one night, a signal arrives on the farm's birdbath in the form of a coin from her brother, Griffin. It turns out that "Ava La Clair" is also "Ronan" or "Ro Merrick" and she's been hiding a most unusual and at times painful past. Unbeknownst to anyone in her current life in Oregon, Ro grew up wild and untamed n a van with her three brothers and her parents and never went to school or had a "normal" house. Home was a van called The Gull that soared all around beaches, wherever the wind and next day's surf took the family.. The family was so idolized and mysterious that their photo image is on beachy souvenirs and - recently - in a museum. Yet life was not all it seemed, especially for a sensitive girl like Ronan who longed to know more about "outsiders" and began to distrust her domineering, though loving, father..

This patriarch has died, and the family has been summoned to a secret island off Catalina to celebrate his life and toss his remains in the waves.
But it's SO MUCH MORE complicated and interesting than that of course. The family's lives, past and present, are explored with great sensitivity and the writing is consistently delicate and powerful.

I am still in a book hangover state from this one and will be recommending it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance read, all opinions my own.

The description drew me right in, and so did the story. A family with four kids travels up and down the west coast of the US in a van, living off the grid. The book alternates between the 80s and 2002, when a reporter catches up to the family after they became accidentally famous in a viral (as viral as one could be in the 80s and 90s!) photo. The descriptions are incredible, I could picture the beaches and the van and the family. I loved learning about how they survived living the way they did, and finding out how and why Ronan left at age 17 to start a more typical life as a "citizen." The secrets are revealed slowly throughout, and the ending was satisfying.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. What an interesting, funny, touching, beautiful story Amy has written. Each character could be the subject of their own story, each is complex and detailed on their own. Taken together, the Merrick family is a wonder. So surprising! Amy does a really good job of painting a picture of their life along the California coast, it's easy to imagine the world they live in. Love the throwback memories to another era where such a lifestyle was possible and accepted. Loved it!

This fabulous story is based on a real family! Amy Mason Doan has set The California Dreams in the 80s, where all of us Northerners are still buying PacSun and hoping for a summer at the boardwalk :)

In Dreamers, we meet the Merrick family of five, living out of a van as they travel from site to site along California's coast. The parents lead the family with almost cult-like authority, insisting on strict rules such as never talking to strangers and always staying within the family unit. They keep their children isolated from the outside world, emphasizing self-reliance and loyalty above all else. They surf, barter, and scrape out a living, thriving in their own unique way. The Merricks are self-sufficient, a tightly-knit team, with the children homeschooled in what their parents deem essential to living a full life.

Years later, the story shifts focus to the Merrick daughter, who is drawn back into the family fold after the death of the beloved patriarch, Cap. The journey is more complicated than just grief; she struggles with whether she should finally reveal the secret behind her departure.

As reporters sniff around for the untold story of the unconventional Merrick family, the siblings find themselves gathering on a wild, deserted island The island becomes both a setting for closure and a confrontation with the secrets that shaped their lives. Dreamers captures the essence of the California coast in the 80s, blending nostalgia with the complex bonds of family. #harlequintrade #thecaliforniadreamers #amymasondoan

Look at that cover! It was hard not to want to read this novel. I enjoyed the family complexities explored in The California Dreamers. Doan crafted interesting characters and the pacing fit well for the story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

4.5 stars This was such a beautiful and touching novel. I loved learning about the Merrick’s way of life. The descriptions of the island were breathtaking. And the sibling bonds were so beautiful. There was just something special about this story.

The biggest complaint I have is that I wish it were longer and expanded on the family’s life after Ro left, and extended some after they left the island. I didn’t want the story to end.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review which is not affiliated with any brand.

The Merrick siblings live a life traveling with their parents in a small camper up and down the California coast, surfing, not going to school, surviving without money and more.

A photograph is taken, showing the family in an idyllic setting goes what we would now call viral. The photograph puts them at risk of being "found," which could jeopardize their freedom.

The only sister is now 32, and she left her family long before. She now has twin sons, and she lives a life away from the ocean, when one of her brothers shows up, asking her to return to celebrate the life of their father.

Surprisingly, as they try to rebuild their bond, they learn their father also invited a journalist to their reunion. They learn truths, how sometimes each child lives a different story, and was their childhood worth it?
I felt the author wrote in such a lyrical way that I really felt I was traveling up and down the coast with the family.
It's sure not a lifestyle I would've chosen, but this book was so intriguing.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The California Dreamers checked all of the boxes for me! I binged this novel over a long weekend. I simply could not put it down. Mason Doan did such a beautiful job writing these characters. What a wonderful story of a family in the most unique of circumstances! The ode to California beach and surf culture in the 70's/80's was very well done. Highly recommend!

I simply loved this book.
The author is a favorite from "THE SUMMER LIST" and "LADY SUNSHINE" so I was grateful to get an early read of her newest. "THE CALIFORNIA DREAMERS" is something I haven't been able to find in a book in a long while, although I am a constant reader. It's a unique and warm story about a most unusual family, split between the past and the present, 1980s and early 00s.

In the past, Ronan and her brothers live with their hippie surfer parents in a converted food van they fondly call "The Gull", rambling along the west coast beaches of the country and surfing, swimming, and surviving through the father's ingenuity and odd jobs. Ronan is content with their ideal life until she comes of age and begins asking questions about why they live this way and whether or not she has a say in their many rules about staying separate from "citizens" or outsiders.

But it is all written very subtly and without making the parents into bad creatures.

In the present, their beloved father has died and the rest of the family gathers on one of the Channel Islands in California to pay respects to him and toss his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. Secrets come out, mysteries are revealed, old tensions are revived, and a mysterious stranger arrives to find the truth behind the iconic picture, "The California Dreamers," taken without the family's permission decades earlier. and now a favorite on souvenirs and a coming museum exhibition.
I can't say much more without ruining the book. Read it and enjoy a masterfully written story. I highly recommend it.

This book whisked me back in time and that’s just what I needed right now. I’ve never known a family like the Merricks in the story, but they felt intensely real to the point where I resented having to do anything but read about them. That’s the best kind of escapism.
Ronan is a likable and totally unforgettable heroine as she seeks answers and struggles with her loving frustrations over life in the van, nicknamed the Gull because it flies all over the West Coast, from beach to beach
It’s such an endearing, well drawnstory and I truly loved how it all came together on the island with siblings, parents, and outsiders yearning for each other in different ways. I’ll be recommending this one everywhere and was sweetly surprised by my emotions at the end (no spoilers).
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley: all opinions are my own.

I devoured this book in two days. What a beautiful story from beginning to end. The characters felt so real that I cared for each of them deeply almost from the beginning and I had to know what happened after Ronan left the van and her family.
If you’re looking for a book that will tug at your heart, make you feel jubilant at the end, and imprint itself on you forever, this is the one. I absolutely loved it and was very sad to reach the last page.