
The California Dreamers
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $25.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Ann Marie Gideon
-
By:
-
Amy Mason Doan
About this listen
A group of siblings captured in an iconic beach nostalgia photo reunite on a sunny California island, where they're forced to face the fallout of their unconventional upbringing—and the golden secret that has been simmering ever since...
“A love story to an era of sun, salt air, and freedom. I promise, you will devour this novel.”—Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight
“Doan’s latest pulls you straight to the end like a powerful riptide. Unforgettable!”—Jessica Anya Blau, bestselling author of Mary Jane
It’s 1980s California, and everyone’s dreaming of the endless summer: sun-drenched beaches, infinite waves, and most of all, beautiful, beautiful freedom. For the Merrick siblings, this idyllic vision is their reality, as they travel up and down the coast with their parents in a van year-round, surfing and swimming their days away. But when a photographer secretly snaps a stunning photo of the family with their boards in the sand, and the image ripples across the country, the only life they’ve ever known is put at risk.
Decades after, the now-distant siblings gather on a gorgeous, wild island to honor their late father. But their reunion is complicated when a journalist, eager for the truth behind the famous photo, discovers their identity and tracks them down. As the siblings reckon with the possibility that more of their lives could be shared, a revelation about their past forces them to confront long-held heartaches. Together, they’ll have to decide whether to let the same tensions rip them apart again—or if telling their story on their own terms might just be the way to recapture the family magic.
©2025 Amy Mason Doan (P)2025 Harlequin Enterprises, LimitedPeople who viewed this also viewed...
-
Fun for the Whole Family
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer E. Smith
- Narrated by: Lauren Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The four Endicott siblings—Gemma, Connor, Roddy, and Jude—were once inseparable, a bond created by the absence of their dazzling, mercurial mother, who would return for a few weeks each summer to whisk them off on sprawling road trips around the country. Decades later, the unthinkable has happened: the Endicotts haven’t spoken in years . . . until an out-of-the-blue text arrives from Jude, now a famous actress, summoning them to a small town in North Dakota.
-
-
A story for all siblings
- By Yanks8 on 04-16-25
-
The Float Test
- A Novel
- By: Lynn Steger Strong
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Kenner siblings are at odds. Jenn is a harried mom struggling under the weight of family obligations. Fred is a novelist who can’t write, maybe because she’s lost faith in storytelling itself. Jude is a recovering corporate lawyer with her own story to tell, and a grudge against her former favorite sister, Fred. George, the baby, is estranged from his wife and harboring both a secret about his former employer and an ill-advised crush on one of his sisters’ friends. Gathered after a major loss, each sibling needs the others more than ever—if only they could trust each other.
-
The Mademoiselle Alliance
- A Novel
- By: Natasha Lester
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Morocco, 1928. Marie-Madeleine Méric is not the kind of woman who stays quietly at her husband’s side. Polyglot, pianist, and pilot, she is a woman of many skills, with unconventional interests—like driving in car rallies—that earn her a daredevil reputation. But dabbling in intelligence work to assist her military officer husband and the French government helps her recognize who she is at heart: an adventurer.
-
-
Incredible!
- By Vimala McClure on 04-15-25
By: Natasha Lester
-
She's a Lamb!
- By: Meredith Hambrock
- Narrated by: Stephanie Willing
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jessamyn St. Germain is meant to be a star. Not an actor who occasionally books yogurt commercials and certainly not a lowly usher at one of Vancouver’s smallest regional theaters. No, she is bound for greatness, and that’s why the part of Maria in the theater’s upcoming production of The Sound of Music is hers. Or it’s going to be.
-
-
Like a decent into madness in the best way possible
- By Lindsey on 04-11-25
-
Passion Project
- A Novel
- By: London Sperry
- Narrated by: Alex Finke
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life, Bennet Taylor is failing miserably . . . with a big emphasis on the miserable. Where’s that zest she keeps hearing about? She’s a temp worker in New York City with no direction, no future, and no social life. And at the painful center of this listlessness is grief over the death of her first love.
-
-
Ridiculous and a waste of a credit
- By Victoria on 04-15-25
By: London Sperry
-
The Seven O'Clock Club
- By: Amelia Ireland
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Emma Gregory, Luke Francis, and others
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Freya, Callum, Mischa, and Victoria have nothing in common—well, except for one thing: they’ve each experienced a deep personal loss that has led them to an unconventional group meeting, every Tuesday night at seven. A meeting they’ve been particularly selected for that will help them finally move on. At least, that's the claim. As they warily eye one another and their unnervingly observant group leader, one question hangs over them: why were they chosen?
-
-
Wild!
- By Candace Cummins on 04-21-25
By: Amelia Ireland
-
Fun for the Whole Family
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer E. Smith
- Narrated by: Lauren Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The four Endicott siblings—Gemma, Connor, Roddy, and Jude—were once inseparable, a bond created by the absence of their dazzling, mercurial mother, who would return for a few weeks each summer to whisk them off on sprawling road trips around the country. Decades later, the unthinkable has happened: the Endicotts haven’t spoken in years . . . until an out-of-the-blue text arrives from Jude, now a famous actress, summoning them to a small town in North Dakota.
-
-
A story for all siblings
- By Yanks8 on 04-16-25
-
The Float Test
- A Novel
- By: Lynn Steger Strong
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Kenner siblings are at odds. Jenn is a harried mom struggling under the weight of family obligations. Fred is a novelist who can’t write, maybe because she’s lost faith in storytelling itself. Jude is a recovering corporate lawyer with her own story to tell, and a grudge against her former favorite sister, Fred. George, the baby, is estranged from his wife and harboring both a secret about his former employer and an ill-advised crush on one of his sisters’ friends. Gathered after a major loss, each sibling needs the others more than ever—if only they could trust each other.
-
The Mademoiselle Alliance
- A Novel
- By: Natasha Lester
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Morocco, 1928. Marie-Madeleine Méric is not the kind of woman who stays quietly at her husband’s side. Polyglot, pianist, and pilot, she is a woman of many skills, with unconventional interests—like driving in car rallies—that earn her a daredevil reputation. But dabbling in intelligence work to assist her military officer husband and the French government helps her recognize who she is at heart: an adventurer.
-
-
Incredible!
- By Vimala McClure on 04-15-25
By: Natasha Lester
-
She's a Lamb!
- By: Meredith Hambrock
- Narrated by: Stephanie Willing
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jessamyn St. Germain is meant to be a star. Not an actor who occasionally books yogurt commercials and certainly not a lowly usher at one of Vancouver’s smallest regional theaters. No, she is bound for greatness, and that’s why the part of Maria in the theater’s upcoming production of The Sound of Music is hers. Or it’s going to be.
-
-
Like a decent into madness in the best way possible
- By Lindsey on 04-11-25
-
Passion Project
- A Novel
- By: London Sperry
- Narrated by: Alex Finke
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life, Bennet Taylor is failing miserably . . . with a big emphasis on the miserable. Where’s that zest she keeps hearing about? She’s a temp worker in New York City with no direction, no future, and no social life. And at the painful center of this listlessness is grief over the death of her first love.
-
-
Ridiculous and a waste of a credit
- By Victoria on 04-15-25
By: London Sperry
-
The Seven O'Clock Club
- By: Amelia Ireland
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Emma Gregory, Luke Francis, and others
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Freya, Callum, Mischa, and Victoria have nothing in common—well, except for one thing: they’ve each experienced a deep personal loss that has led them to an unconventional group meeting, every Tuesday night at seven. A meeting they’ve been particularly selected for that will help them finally move on. At least, that's the claim. As they warily eye one another and their unnervingly observant group leader, one question hangs over them: why were they chosen?
-
-
Wild!
- By Candace Cummins on 04-21-25
By: Amelia Ireland
-
Eat, Slay, Love
- A Novel
- By: Julie Mae Cohen
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Katherine Press, Rebecca Norfolk
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marina gave up her career as a chef to raise her children, but her divorce has left her harried, lonely, and the black sheep of her family. It’s also left her in dire financial straits. Opal is a post-menopausal fitness guru who spends her days chasing likes and followers in an industry that worships youth. Even her glossy online persona can’t mask her checkered past. Lilah is a shy and optimistic librarian who spends her days tending to the stacks, until she wins an unbelievable sum in the lottery. With a growing bank account and a dashing fiancé, life seems too good to be true.
-
-
Baffled
- By Sherie Porter on 04-10-25
By: Julie Mae Cohen
-
The Death of Us
- A Novel
- By: Abigail Dean
- Narrated by: Claire Skinner, John Hopkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Together, Edward and Isabel move to London. They are young and in love, occupied by friends, work and fun. But late on a spring evening when they are thirty years old, their home is invaded by a serial killer. In the wake of this violation, each tries to come to terms with a night that changed everything—and their marriage begins to crumble. Twenty-five years later, their tormentor is caught, and Edward and Isabel reunite for his sentencing. Isabel has waited years for the man who nearly ended her life to be brought to justice. Edward has tried to think about anything else.
-
-
Abigail Dean understands human psychology like so many authors try to do but fail all the time!
- By Jennifer on 04-19-25
By: Abigail Dean
-
What Remains of Teague House
- A Mystery
- By: Stacy Johns
- Narrated by: Helen Laser, Gary Tiedemann, Patricia Santomasso
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of Megan Collins with the taut character study of Angie Kim comes a searing mystery that follows three siblings as they reckon with the darkness hidden within their family after multiple graves are discovered behind their childhood home.
By: Stacy Johns
-
The Page Turner
- By: Viola Shipman
- Narrated by: Katharine Chin
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emma Page grew up the black sheep in a bookish household, raised to believe that fine literature is the only worthy type of fiction. Her parents, self-proclaimed “serious” authors who run their own vanity press, The Mighty Pages, mingle in highbrow social circles that look down on anything too popular or mainstream, while her sister, Jess, is a powerful social media influencer whose stylish reviews can make or break a novel.
-
-
The family connection
- By Peggy Pike on 04-21-25
By: Viola Shipman
-
The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Weiner
- Narrated by: Dakota Fanning
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sisters Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were born just a year apart but could not have been more different. Zoe, blessed with charm and beauty, yearned for fame from the moment she could sing into a hairbrush. Cassie was a musical prodigy who never felt at home in her own skin and preferred the safety of the shadows. On the brink of adulthood in the early 2000s, destiny intervened, catapulting the sisters into the spotlight as the pop sensation the Griffin Sisters, hitting all the touchstones of early aughts fame—SNL, MTV, Rolling Stone magazine—along the way.
-
-
Think Daisy Jones and The Six blends a band book with the band Heart .
- By Well Read Nana 1/24 on 04-13-25
By: Jennifer Weiner
-
This Is Not a Game
- A Novel
- By: Kelly Mullen
- Narrated by: Lesley Sharp
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widow Mimi lives on idyllic Mackinac Island, where cars are not allowed and a Gibson martini with three onions at the witching hour is compulsory. Her estranged granddaughter, Addie, is getting over the heartbreak of not only being dumped by her fiancé, Brian, but also being cut out of the deal for the brilliantly successful video game Murderscape they invented together (with Addie doing most of the heavy lifting).
-
-
Murders and Mysteries and Mackinaw Island! I’m in!
- By Lynn on 04-19-25
By: Kelly Mullen
-
Terrestrial History
- A Novel
- By: Joe Mungo Reed
- Narrated by: Dave Gillies, Lianne Walker
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hannah is a fusion scientist working alone at a remote cottage off the coast of Scotland when she sees a figure making his way from the sea. It is a young man from a human settlement on Mars, traveling backwards through time to try to make a crucial intervention in the fate of our dying planet, and he needs Hannah's help. Hannah and the stranger are on the path towards a breakthrough—and then things go terribly wrong.
By: Joe Mungo Reed
-
The Library of Lost Dollhouses
- A Novel
- By: Elise Hooper
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tildy Barrows, Head Curator of a beautiful archival library in San Francisco, is meticulously dedicated to the century’s worth of inventory housed in her beloved Beaux Art building. She loves the calm and order in the shelves of books and walls of art. But Tildy’s life takes an unexpected turn when she, first, learns the library is on the verge of bankruptcy and, second, discovers two exquisite never-before-seen dollhouses.
-
-
Delightful and captivating novel
- By Kerozelvin on 04-06-25
By: Elise Hooper
-
Midnight in Soap Lake
- A Novel
- By: Matthew Sullivan
- Narrated by: Kristen Sieh
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Abigail agreed to move to Soap Lake, Washington, for her husband’s research, she expected old-growth forests and craft beer, folksy neighbors and the world’s largest lava lamp. Instead, after her husband jets off to Poland for a research trip, she finds herself alone, in a town haunted by its own urban legends. When a young boy runs through the desert into Abigail’s arms, her life becomes entwined with his and the questions surrounding the death of his mother, Esme.
By: Matthew Sullivan
-
Hail Mary
- Stories
- By: Funmi Fetto
- Narrated by: Funmi Fetto
- Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Ifeoma. She’s been ready to leave her violent husband for some time, but her plans for a quiet departure take an unexpectedly gruesome turn... Nkechi a housemaid for a rich Lagos family, bears the weight of her Madam's wrath when she discovers her husband's dark secret. In London, Riliwa meets Mary, a guardian angel full of advice, wisdom and practical support as she navigates her unfamiliar new home. But it soon becomes clear that Mary’s kindness comes at a price.
By: Funmi Fetto
-
The Sideways Life of Denny Voss
- A Novel
- By: Holly Kennedy
- Narrated by: Andrew Eiden, Holly Kennedy
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the surface, Denny Voss’s life in rural Minnesota is a quiet one. At thirty years old, he lives at home with his elderly mother and his beloved blind and deaf Saint Bernard, George. He cleans up roadkill to help pay the bills. Though his prospects are limited by a developmental delay—the result of an accident at birth—Denny has always felt that he has “a good life.” So how did he wind up being charged with the murder of a mayoral candidate—after crashing a sled full of guns into a tree?
-
-
Different and laugh out loud funny
- By a reader on 04-15-25
By: Holly Kennedy
-
Make Sure You Die Screaming
- A Novel
- By: Zee Carlstrom
- Narrated by: Major Curda
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The newly nameless narrator of Make Sure You Die Screaming has rejected the gender binary, has flamed out with a vengeance at their corporate gig, is most likely brain damaged from a major tussle with their now ex-boyfriend, and is on a bender to end all benders. A call from their mother with the news that their MAGA-friendly, conspiracy-theorist father has gone missing launches the narrator from Chicago to deep red Arkansas in a stolen car.
By: Zee Carlstrom