An absolutely lovely coffee table book capturing the stunning beauty of California. It contains gorgeous full-scale photos of everything you'd expect to see--Hollywood, Disneyland, cable cars, and redwoods--but also a comprehensive tour of the lesser-known but no less interesting places hidden away. There are separate sections for mountains, forest, and deserts that capture the amazing natural wonders of the Golden State.

This would be a great gift for photography buffs, nature lovers, and armchair travelers!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

This is another fab travel book from Amber Books, this time all about California, another place I’ve never visited, but would like to. There are some beautiful photos in this book revealing so many parts of Californian that I didn’t know about. For instance did you know that they are the biggest producer of lettuce in the world and their citrus products are worth over $3 billion to the US economy!!
Some of my favourite photos are of the Battery Point Light House in North California, the Queen Anne Houses in Humboldt, Glass Beach, and the Forever Marilyn sculpture in Palm Springs.
Definitely recommended if your heading to California or you’re a keen armchair traveller!

Great photos, the perfect book for an armchair traveller. It made me wish I could be in California.
Love it
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is a book of glorious photos. I am planning a holiday to California this year, so it as a timely find. It has given me a lot of ideas of beautiful places to visit, but sadly time means I will not be able to fit them all in! There are only snippets of information about each place and this looks like the kind of book that will be just as good to dip into after my visit to remind me about my adventures.

This book has fed my enthusiasm for my trip but hasn't really made me much more informed than I was before. A good book to browse for ideas and it will make you want to stay in California far longer than you will probably have time for!

Living in the western USA I have visited California more times than I can count. In fact, I just returned from spending spring break this year in San Francisco which included day trips to Carmel and Muir Woods. California is a wonderful diverse state whether you’re enjoying the coastal highway, spending days at Disneyland or other amusement parks or exploring natural wonders like the Redwoods or Yosemite. This photo book sections include: Southern California, Central Coast, San Francisco & the Bay Area, Northern California, Mountains, Forests & National Parks, and Deserts.

The photos are beautiful and are the stars of the book. There are small captions giving brief details. This is great as a souvenir book or to give a traveler ideas of places to wish to visit. It was a wonderful reminder to me of my many journeys into California. Thank you to NetGalley and Amber Books Ltd. for a temporary eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A great book filled with not only beautiful photos but interesting photos. I had no idea of the vast landscape and weather differences between South and North California either so it made me even more interested in visiting the state and seeing more than just the usual tourist attractions.
My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

This is a lovely book for anyone who’s ever been to to the Golden State or for anyone who just enjoys learning about new places. Stunning photographs accompany interesting history and notes about all areas of California. As someone who’s traveled to several parts of the state and lived in Northern California, I truly enjoyed this book. Would make an excellent coffee table book, or gift for a travel lover.

California is the wealthiest state in America and with a long cliff lined coastline, nine national parks, the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the Central Valley farmland and three deserts it could certainly claim to be the most diverse. This book suggests that it’s the perfect state for a road trip and from personal experience can definitely say that this claim has definite merits.

On our trip in 2017, we started out in Los Angeles before driving over the mountains to Palm Springs and on through the desert to Joshua Tree National Park. Then, after a brief spell in Arizona and Nevada, we travelled back into the state and through the amazingly hot and surprisingly beautiful Death Valley on our way to Sacramento and Napa. From there we drove to San Francisco and on down amazing the Pacific Coast Highway, eventually finding our way beyond L.A. to Laguna Beach in Orange County.

This book features just about all of the significant places we visited. It’s mainly a photographic exploration of the state, with just a brief overview of the places featured. The photographs are, though, excellent and I think they provide an really good start point for planning a road trip or perhaps just as a visual reminder of your own adventure.

This was the perfect read to virtually cruise down the California coast!

I've been thinking lately about taking a cross-country road trip, after a cousin did the same from the PNW to the South a few years ago--where would I stop, what would I see, etc.? And this book just about convinced me to add California to the list, despite my having been several places in-state already. It brought back fond memories of Huntington Beach, Disneyland (of course), and San Francisco (as I inevitably channeled "Full House"), and more somber recollections of Alcatraz Island. And of course, I couldn't help but start playing Beach Boys tunes with all the surfing references!

The book starts off with a home run in Dodger Stadium--WOW! What a perfect setting for baseball on summer nights! (I could just picture _The Sandlot_ queuing up its fireworks and night-game scene!)

Architectural highlights for me included Griffith Observatory--yes please!--and Pasadena City Hall; natural wonders are truly found statewide, but I especially enjoyed the Channel Islands (entirely new to me!) and the glorious Balboa Park. Again with capslock of doom, but it's warranted here: WOW. (I also learned Coronado is an island.)

Carmel-by-the-Sea looks incredibly picturesque, maintaining a seeming small-town feel I love, with elements of Britain (York's Shambles?). And the Bixby Bridge--stunning (and tall). Tiburon looks equally charming.

Salinas was neat to see (inevitably thought of the "Selena" movie--"anything for Salinas!"), especially as I read some Steinbeck last year.

A final highlight for me was Hearst Castle--definitely a place I want to visit, both for the history and a company connection with the organization I work for.

Very, very well done, with incredible pictures and insightful captions.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

~~~ I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~~~

What a lovely collection of California photography. I really enjoyed perusing the images and reading the little face tidbit accompanying each photo. The book is nicely laid out into sections: Southern California, Central California, Bay Area, Northern California, National Parks, and Deserts. There are hundreds (? a lot anyway) of gorgeous photographs contained in "California;" I especially enjoyed the national park images. This book, "California" is a nice photograph collection to display on a coffee table or in an office waiting area maybe. Highly recommend!

Have you ever just wished you could live inside a book? That was me with this book right here. The first time I ever stepped foot in California, I was overcome with awe at how beautiful this state was! Up until that point, I had thought that the state I was living in was quite beautiful with trees and mountains, but California is truly something else. This book does a great job of capturing that beauty in pictures, from southern California to northern, and adding in fun facts along the way. It was a fun journey reading through the pages, learning some behind-the-scenes facts about California, and vicariously living through the pictures. It will make you want to plan your next trip to California asap! And if you can't do that, then this book is a fun way to experience it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley & Amber Books Ltd.!

Sally Collings presents this small-scale book of California landmarks and sights. The beautiful photographs are accompanied by short descriptions about the areas shown. The book is broken down into six regions.

While this is not a comprehensive guidebook, it gives a good jumping off point for discovering new interests around California.

A beautiful book showcasing many wonderful places in California. This would make a fantastic coffee table book to inspire trips to California. It features scenic places as well as popular attractions like Disneyland.