So it got to the final two days of TBRTakedown: the weekend. I had scheduled in full days of reading in order to try and read my books for challenges #3 (the first book in a series) and #5 ( a book from your most recent haul).

I had pretty much accepted that I wasn’t going to get to my book for challenge #4 – City of Heavenly Fire – because it’s huge, but I thought I might at least try and finish 4 out of 5 books by getting through The Girl from Everywhere and A Darker Shade of Magic.

So I continued reading The Girl from Everywhere on Saturday morning. Then my boyfriend decided to spring on me that his parents were visiting for the day and asked if I wanted to come for lunch with them. He said with all seriousness that he completely understood if I wanted to carry on reading instead and that it was up to me. But he also mentioned the Veggie/Vegan cafe they were thinking of going to, and it’s one I’ve been wanting to try out for years.

I went for lunch.

And, truthfully, my reading schedule for the day suffered as a result, but I don’t regret the decision because we had a lovely afternoon together, and the food was GREAT.

When I got back I tried to carry on with The Girl from Everywhere, but it just wasn’t engaging me as much as I’d thought it would. And this is the point where I should have started reading another book alongside it. But instead I started watching a new anime on Netflix. Priorities= in order.

On Sunday, which was the final day of the read-a-thon, I went to the gym and then devoted the rest of the day to finishing the book. And later in the evening, I finally turned the last page.

So with the end of TBRTakedown 4.0, my totals were:

Books read overall: 3

Pages read: 1086

Hours of sleep lost: I don’t even know any more, it was a lot.

Stars given: 11 of a possible 15

As you can see, I didn’t end up completing all five challenges and reading my five books, but considering I was at work Monday to Friday I’m reasonably pleased with the three I managed. And it gives me a goal for next time! I also really enjoyed the feeling of reading for a purpose other than reading itself – to be against the clock was quite exciting and to know that you were part of a larger community all working towards the same goal was invigorating. So this may have been my first read-a-thon, but now I’ve got a taste for them it definitely won’t be my last.