Category: 20 Books of Summer

20 Books Of Summer 2023 Reading Challenge Wrap-Up #20booksofsummer23

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20-books-of-summerThis annual challenge run by my namesake Cathy at 746 Books has finished for another year. And, for another year, I failed to read all twenty of the books I put on my list, a result of a combination of over-enthusiasm and a stubborn (masochistic?) refusal to take advantage of the accommodating rules allowing you to swap books in and out of your list or reduce your goal.

In the end, I managed to read eight books from my original list of twenty. Disappointed? A little, but on the other hand pleased that I finally got around to reading some books that had been in my TBR pile for up to five years. And, during the period of the challenge – from Thursday 1st June to Friday 1st September 2023 – I actually read twenty-four other books. If I’d wanted an easy life, I’d have put some of those on my list….

I’m going to try to read the remaining books on my challenge list between now and the end of the year. I do not want them to have to appear on next year’s list!

20 Books of Summer 2023 Wrap-UpBooks on my original list I read (links from each title will take you to my review)

  1. Treason by James Jackson
  2. The Painter of Souls by Philip Kazan
  3. China Blue by Madalyn Morgan
  4. Chasing Ghosts by Madalyn Morgan
  5. Wrecker by Noel O’Reilly – review to follow
  6. Invitation to a Bonfire by Adrienne Celt
  7. A Stranger in my Grave by Margaret Millar
  8. The Night Raids by Jim Kelly

Books on my original list still waiting to be read (links from each title will take you to Goodreads)

  1. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (waiting since October 2017)
  2. Transcription by Kate Atkinson (waiting since January 2018)
  3. The Draughtsman by Robert Lautner (waiting since March 2018)
  4. The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle by Kirsty Wark (waiting since March 2018)
  5. Appetite by Philip Kazan (waiting since April 2018)
  6. Anna of Kleve by Alison Weir (waiting since June 2018)
  7. Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce (waiting since March 2019)
  8. Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts (waiting since March 2019)
  9. In Two Minds by Alis Hawkins (waiting since March 2019)
  10. The Cross and the Curse by Matthew Harffy (waiting since May 2019)
  11. The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn (waiting since February 2020)
  12. To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek (waiting since February 2020)

Books I read not on my list (links from each title will take you to my review)

  1. Ancestry by Simon Mawer
  2. Hokey Pokey by Kate Mascarenhas
  3. The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor
  4. The Geometer Lobachevsky by Adrian Duncan
  5. The Wall by Adrian Goldsworthy
  6. The Voluble Topsy by A. P. Herbert
  7. Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry
  8. The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
  9. Banyan Moon by Thao Thai
  10. The Blood of Others by Graham Hurley
  11. Before the Swallows Come Back by Fiona Curnow
  12. In Defence of the Act by Effie Black
  13. The Soldier’s Child by Tetyana Denford
  14. Para Bellum by Simon Turney
  15. The Unheard by Anne Worthington
  16. Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman
  17. Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang
  18. The Black Crescent by Jane Johnson
  19. The Hollow Throne by Tim Leach
  20. The Well of Saint Nobody by Neil Jordan
  21. A Fenland Garden by Francis Pryor
  22. The Seventh Son by Seabastian Faulks – review to follow
  23. The Postcard by Carly Schabowski
  24. The Ghost Ship by Kate Mosse – review to follow

If you took part in the challenge, how did you get on?

#BookReview Chasing Ghosts by Madalyn Morgan #20BooksOfSummer23

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About the Book

1949. After receiving treatment for shell shock in Canada, Claire’s husband disappears.

Has Mitch left her for the woman he talks about in his sleep? Or is he on the run from accusations of wartime treachery?

Claire goes to France in search of the truth, aided by old friends from the Resistance.

Format: Paperback (316 pages) Publisher:
Publication date: 6th June 2018 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Chasing Ghosts on Goodreads

Purchase link
Amazon UK 
Link provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Chasing Ghosts is book six in the Dudley Sisters saga but is the sequel to book three, China Blue. (You can read my review of China Blue here.) Chasing Ghosts has since been republished by Storm Publishing under the title Reckoning and with a new cover design, as have the other books in the series.

Although there are references to events in China Blue, I felt these acted as useful recaps for readers of the previous book and as background information for new readers meaning Chasing Ghosts can easily be read as a standalone. The focus of the story is once again Claire Dudley, along with her husband, Mitch.

The legacy of the Second World War is very much a theme of the book. Most obviously the shell shock suffered by Mitch as a result of his experiences as a prisoner of war but also the desire to bring to justice those who perpetrated war crimes. Whereas the storyline of China Blue had a strong element of romance (a little too much for me, as it happened), Chasing Ghosts has an intriguing mystery at its heart, one which I really enjoyed and kept me engaged throughout. There are some clever twists and moments of drama too, especially in the closing chapters of the book.

If you’re read my review of China Blue, you’ll know I had some reservations about the way Claire was portrayed. True, in Chasing Ghosts, there are times where she appears overly emotional but towards the end of the book she definitely displays the sort of courage and resourcefulness you’d expect from someone who went through the rigorous selection process for the Special Operations Executive and who undertook dangerous missions with the Resistance in occupied France.

In three words: Intriguing, dramatic, engaging

About the Author

Madalyn Morgan was an actress for more than thirty years working in Repertory theatre, the West End, film and television. She is a radio presenter and journalist, writing articles for newspapers and magazines.

Madalyn was brought up in Lutterworth, at the Fox Inn. The pub was a great place for an aspiring actress and writer to live, as there were so many different characters to study and accents to learn. At twenty-four, Madalyn gave up a successful hairdressing salon and wig-hire business for a place at East 15 Drama College, and a career as an actress.

In 2000, with fewer parts available for older actresses, Madalyn taught herself to touch type, completed a two-year correspondence course with The Writer’s Bureau and started writing. After living in London for thirty-six years, she has returned to her home town of Lutterworth, swapping two window boxes and a mortgage, for a garden and the freedom to write. (Photo: Twitter profile)

Connect with Madalyn
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