Surprisingly cute set of short stories. I was ready for these to either be overly 🌶️ steamy or overly cheesy. Instead, I found a group of stories that were adorable and varied in steam level. The first one was almost a fade to black with the heat growing with each story. But I found myself really liking the characters and their reasons for bumping into each other or their interactions. This was a good set, I'm glad I gave this one a try!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

The California Dreams Christmas Romance Collection by Talya Blaine is a delightful read, perfect for the holiday season. This collection of five short stories is a spicy and heartwarming Christmas romance that will leave you with a warm feeling in your heart. The stories are set in California and feature characters who are later in life, making it a refreshing change from the usual young adult romance novels.

Each story in this collection is a standalone and features different characters and settings. The common thread is the presence of a Santa who brings joy and love to the lives of the characters. From a divorced baker-to-the-stars to an ex-pat returning home to spend Christmas with her ailing grandfather, the stories are full of twists on your favorite tropes like enemies to lovers, forced proximity, second chance, slow burn, fake relationship, and mistaken identity.

The writing style is engaging and easy to read, making it an ideal read for a lazy afternoon. The characters are well-developed, and the romance is steamy and heartwarming. The author has done an excellent job of creating a beautiful world that readers will want to immerse themselves in.

Overall, California Dreams Christmas Romance Collection is a must-read for fans of holiday romance novels. It's a perfect read to get you in the holiday spirit. The collection is a beautiful blend of spicy romance, heartwarming stories, and Christmas cheer.

I loved reading this book. I like the short stories even though they were predictable but really great.

These short stories are... just that - short! Too short. Not enough time to get to know the characters and it just means the plots are very predictable and not well developed. I have read many short stories which I'm more invested in, so it's a shame these weren't better developed. Overall, these are OK reads but nothing special and a bit cringy.

This is the compilation of the Santas women want in their life. Quick reads that show as fantastical, relatable or upbeat as you want them to be. This time of year can be challenging, choosing to read this is not.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the gifted copy. 🎅

Five stories that I found to be all quick to read and all had a meaning to them. All had good characters and showed stronger women who were on their own or overcoming something. Found them to be good.

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.

Oh, short stories and novellas - I love them, but I also dislike them sometimes. I'm usually left with wanting more of the story (or stories) and, sigh, woe is me during this holiday season. Just kidding.

CALIFORNIA DREAMS CHRISTMAS ROMANCE COLLECTION had an interesting concept - five short stories relating to California cities - and each involved a "Santa Clause" as the male love interest.

The stories were super spicy - some sad, yet all ending happily and, yay, for these women getting some Christmas "love," wink wink.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an e-copy of CALIFORNIA DREAMS CHRISTMAS ROMANCE COLLECTION to review.

I rate CALIFORNIA DREAMS CHRISTMAS ROMANCE COLLECTION four out of five stars.

5 short romance stories, following a similar format of sex dream, meeting a stranger dressed as Santa whilst going about their usual business, and the begins of a smutty romance. They were cute stories, but it did become quite formulaic and therefore stale. I hoped for a queer romance, but they were all cishet (and I think white?), so more representation would've been nice.

Thanks to net galley for the arc.

Thank you to NetGally for letting me have an arc of this book. This is basically a bunch of short stories some of them are pretty cute but there’s nothing super special about them. Overall if your in need for a cute quick read then this is definitely good for that. I think some of these would have been good as longer stories though, but some of them fell a little flat. I would say a 2.5 for me

Really sweet short stories, however just a little too short for me. I struggled to get invested in the characters and the plot. I do love a novella, but unfortunately these five were a little too short on grabbing my attention. Otherwise, great story-lines.

California Dreams Christmas Romance Collection is a set of five short stories all taking place in California during the holiday season. Each short shorty introduces a different "later-in-life" heroine and a sexy Santa.

This was not really for me. I don't typically like short stories because of the lack of character development. However, if you are into that, these are perfect. The stories themselves were entertaining, spicy, and heart-warming.

This was…interesting, and nothing at all like the blurb suggested.

When they say these are short stories, they mean super short, as in maybe 5-10 pages long. Way short.

Each story follows the same plot: a sexual dream of a stranger, meet the stranger, stranger dresses as Santa, dream comes to life.

They were so short and so unfinished that I honestly don’t know if I enjoyed them at all or not.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this in return for my review.

A set of five short festive stories. A fun festive read. I am looking forward to reading more books from this author.

4 stars

A set of five short festive stories. A fun festive read. I am looking forward to reading more books from this author.

Well, this was ....interesting, to say the least. I haven't read anything by this author before and I'm not sure if I will or won't again. The jury is still out. While the description says this is a book of short stories, the stories are REALLY short (just a few pages per story). The stories, themselves, could be entertaining IF they were 200 page reads. At about 10 pages per story, though, they came off as a little ridiculous. The plots: Dream of a stranger; meet the stranger; have sex; fall into eternal bliss. Just an ok read for me. 2.5 stars max.

quick read and fun! put me in the mood for more holiday romances :) wish a couple of these were more flushed out, but great as fast and easy reads. plus who doesn't love a hot santa?

This was a very interesting book. That is a collection of short novella is about females, falling in love with Santas and a later in life second chance-ish romance, which I thought was actually a really good premise although I think some of the stories were a little barebones. They didn’t seem as flashlight as I thought they would’ve been. I did actually really like reading through the story. It was sure it was easy to understand. I did actually enjoy the characters, but unfortunately I would’ve preferred a little bit more flesh and bones to the story as it did seem a little warm short and I was expecting in something a little bit more steamier, but unfortunately these are not, but I would read more from this author going forward as I really did enjoy her writing style

who doesn't love a collections of cozy stories. This one was a good one and didn't miss. all stories were good. Read it today.

I really enjoyed this book! The way it was compiled and you were able to go to different stories and not stick with one. My attention span thoroughly enjoyed that part! This book as me super excited for Christmas and spice!!