Today, just in the knick of time, I am sharing my 20 Books Of Summer of 2023! If you’re a frequent visitor to Portable Magic, you’ll know that I’ve never actually successfully completed the challenge, but this year I am so determined!

20 Books Of Summer is a challenge run by Cathy at 746 Books. The idea is to read 20 books between 1st June and 1st September, but Cathy is fairly flexible and you can alter the number of books in your challenge or swap books in your list. I’m going to stick with 20 for now, because why run before you can walk?

It’s not too late for you to pick your own list and join in. Just share your list with Cathy here and let us know your progress using the Twitter hashtag – #20booksofsummer23.

For me, 20 Books Of Summer is an opportunity to catch up with books I’ve been meaning to read for ages, but not yet found time for on my schedule. For this reason, I haven’t included blog tour books for now. (This may change if time gets tight!) There are a couple of big beasts on the list too, so wish me luck!

Looking at the list, it seems very heavily weighted towards female writers. This isn’t in any way deliberate, but I wanted to acknowledge it because I think it’s brilliant that so many female writers have some amazing work out right now. 💖

So without further ado, here is my list.

Louise Beech – Eighteen Seconds

HS Chandler – Degrees Of Guilt

SA Cosby – Blacktop Wasteland 

Fiona Cummins – All Of Us Are Broken 

Will Dean – The Last Passenger

Alice Feeney – Daisy Darker 

Cara Hunter – Murder In The Family 

Rachel Joyce – The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry 

Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family 

Angela Marsons – Broken Bones 

Michelle McNamara – I’ll Be Gone In The Dark

Gwendoline Riley – My Phantoms

Lucinda Riley – The Storm Sister

LJ Ross – Sycamore Gap

Laura Shepherd-Robinson – Daughters Of Night

Simon Stephenson – Sometimes People Die 

Emma Styles – No Country For Girls

Paige Toon – Only Love Can Hurt Like This

Stacy Willingham – A Flicker In The Dark 

Hanya Yanigahara – A Little Life

I’m looking forward to seeing yours!