OK, so I picked Ramona for the H/F challenge, but I'm just not feeling drawn to it. It's my last book for the challenge, and I keep putting it off.

Can anyone recommend any good H/F books set in California?

1. My all time fav is Calico Palace by Gwen Bristow. San Francisco and CA gold rush.
2. The Proud Breed by Celeste De Blasis multi-gen saga starting with old Californio family through end of 19C
3. California Gold by John Jakes, but only a four star read (the two above were five stars).
4. Cecilia Holland wrote something in California, The Bear Flag I think it was. Promising start but I ended up wall-banging it.
5. Paloverde, the author's name escapes me at the moment. Late 19C through early 20C, oil,  aviation and film industry.

 I always liked the ones about the Donner Party (liked might be the wrong word, found fascinating anyway)

Katy, here's a helpful link for you.  Just did a little Googling :) http://www.santacruzpl.org/readers/booklists/8/

Erika, awesome link! Thank you!

The San Francisco earthquake is sounding interesting to me--maybe I'll try for 1906 or the first book in the Fremont Jones series...

I really enjoyed Pasadena by David Ebershoff, but he also wrote another novel set in CA titled The Danish Girl that was a very good read.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780812968484-Pasadena+A+Novel

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780140298482-The+Danish+Girl

The Biograph Girl by William Mann is another good one. It's full of strong, feisty characters that are a lot of fun, plus there is a really good mystery to figure out. I enjoyed it!

http://http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9781575666662-The+Biograph+Girl

Howard Fast's The Immigrants series was set in CA. I read it years ago when it first came out.  I remember really enjoying it.