Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.
This was a wonderful book and I'll be purchasing it for the library!

This is a good book. There are six stories in this book. They are set at Christmas. Every story has a Santa in a Santa costume. Every story has someone looking for love. Each story has a happy ending. Each main character falls in love.

This is a collection of five Christmas romance short stories. It was really cute, they’re all standalones. They were cute, quick and fast paced.

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories.

Every story was easy to read and so quick and easy to get into.

Short story collections tend to be books that I pick up and put down often between other books as a sort of palate cleanser. However I found myself getting straight into the next one with these stories and finished them in two days.

The perfect mix of steamy and and warm fuzzy Christmas feels.

This was an enjoyable collection of short stories. Each story was quick and easy to read. I enjoyed the characters and always enjoy a holiday read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this e-arc of California Dreams.

This is a nice set of short stories. Personally, my favorites were the last two stories. The first three stories I found very hard to enjoy, they just were not for me personally.

My thoughts on each of the stories
Santa and Anna was sweet about her missing her children. There's not a lot to go with it though and it felt rushed at the end.
Santa and Clara. Again didn't get enough connection to the characters to care about them. Tryst wasn't that special in my opinion.
Santa Cru: I'm all for second chances, but not when you get locked on the roof with an ex when you are still trying to decide if you want to try again or not...
Santa and Monica: Now this story I liked. We got full characters and a nice storyline. The chemistry between them was there and it was the best so far!
Santa and Barbara: This story was so sweet and I loved how she was able to help him remember some things that had happened in the past. Wonderful way to end the short story collection.

I can see myself reading more by this author in the future if more of their writing is like the last two stories.

Amazing book!
I was thoroughly engaged throughout this book and I didn't want to put it down! The author captured my attention from the get go! Five stars from me :)

I thought this collection of stories was super cute and perfect for the holiday. I loved that they were later-in-life romances! Super cute!

These short stories have it all, if hallmark was a bit more pg-13 these could be perfect tv episodes. I love a well rounded short story that doesn’t leave you feeling open ended.

Cute and satisfying great binge type format. I sometimes like a throughline for all the stories to connect but for the seasonal mood this works! Also as a CA kid love a coastal Christmas.

Fairly predictable rom com but it was still a good read that I enjoyed it. It was also a quick read.

The book California Dreams Christmas Romance Collection was an enjoyable read. I would recommend any book written by Talya Blaine. Happy Reading!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.

This book was a collection of 5 (very) short Christmas stories. I do think at least a few of the stories would benefit from being longer, but because they were so super short they just came across as cheesy. The Santa angle was cute, but it was hard to view Santa in a “sexy” role. Overall this was a quick cute read for Christmas.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my free copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a collection of 5 Christmas short stories. A couple of the stories were cute and sort of romantic but a couple were completely unbelievable. This was not my ideal of a typical Christmas read I really enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Talya Blaine for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my review

A collection of sweet and festive romance stories with some version of a sexy Santa. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

If you are looking for a quick festive romance read then this is the book for you.

Made up of five short stories, these all have the theme of romance with Santa. Based in California where Christmas is not typically snow filled, I loved that the characters were slightly older than the just finished high school characters most romance books give us.

The stories are short, so we don't get to know each character very indepth.

It's perfect if you just want to complete your reading goal at the end of the year.

Spice level is varied, some fade to black, as the book goes on they get a bit more spicy.

California Dreams Christmas Romance Collection by Talya Blaine was awesome! This set of short story were cleverly crafter, written and named. I loved each and every story.

Five short stories involving Santa, what could be better this time of year? Each story starts off with a dream that gets a little spicy and then transitions to the waking lives of each main character around Christmas. All of the stories have a component of grief or loss to them that makes the happily ever afters all the more satisfying and wholesome. Santa & Monica (chapter 4) is my favorite of the short stories because it felt a little longer than some of the others and the author gave background on both of the characters in that story which made me feel more connected to them and happier when they found comfort and support in each other. The characters are all somewhere around middle aged and most of them reference an ex, a breakup or a divorce so seeing them all find new love with their very own Santas is really sweet and leaves the reader feeling hopeful for the holidays and any hard times/difficult emotions people may experience around them. Quick, festive and a little bit spicy, this is a great read for this holiday season!

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

California Dreams Christmas Romance Collection came out at the end of October 2023, so check it out if you're looking for a good Christmas book.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

I'll be honest, I was slightly disappointed in this one. I liked the idea of short Christmas stories, but they just ended up feeling a bit forced and abrupt. The idea for the stories was great, but they ended up being a bit of a struggle to get through.

This book includes five short stories that occur at Christmas and include a little spice. While I did enjoy these short stories I think I would have liked them a lot more if they were longer. Each story is around 15-20 pages. They all start out with a dream and then they wake up and meet a version of Santa that kind of relates to the dream at the beginning of each story. I will definitely read more books from this author but hopefully they will be a bit longer than these short stories.