Last weekend, me, Bella, Sam and Beth took part in a 24-hour reading session to raise money for Comic Relief!
To add some fun to the event, we were each assigned a colour which we had to dress in as well as bringing snacks and drinks in that colour! I have to say, we severely underestimated the amount of food that this would equate to and ended up with enough to feed the entire street!
There were a wide range of crisps, cakes, chocolate, biscuits, sodas, sweets… and even a quiche!
We started the event at 10am on Saturday morning with a McDonald’s breakfast (courtesy of Sam!) and instantly settled in a nest of floor blankets and pillows to decide on our first books!
I chose Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid as my first book! This was recommended to me by Bella.
Bella chose Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi, the second book in the Shatter Me series! Her reactions throughout reading this really made me want to pick it up myself!
Sam picked It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover; which both me and Beth have already read… this sparked some fun debates and also prompted some tears!
Beth chose The Visa by Lizzie O’Hagan as her first read. This seemed like a fun, cheesy romance story… judging by Beth’s reactions whilst reading this, I also believe it to have been frustrating at times!
I personally really loved my first book.
Daisy Jones is written in interview form, so it is very quick and easy to read! I never would have picked this book up on my own, so I am glad that this was recommended to me, it is definitely in my top 3 books of the year so far!
It also made me much more excited to start the new TV series on Prime!
Reading the lyrics in the back of the book made me want to hear the songs properly.
Sadly, Daisy Jones was the only book that I finished during our session, although I did start Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover!
I made it about halfway through this book and I am really enjoying it so far, though I certainly imagine tears to be on the cards somewhere along the way.
Sam and Bella both completed three books each during the 24-hours! These were:
- It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover – Read by Sam (and started by Bella!)
- It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover – Read by Sam
- Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree – Read by Sam (this was very nearly a DNF!)
- Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi – Read by Bella
- Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi – Read by Bella
- Disney Manga: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas – Read by Bella
Beth also only finished one book throughout the day/night (although a lot of university work was also completed!) Overall, Beth enjoyed The Visa by Lizzie O’Hagan, a little slow and frustrating in places, a little cringy in others, but the ending was how she would have liked!
To break up the event, we also had a game of ‘Book Bingo’ on the go! You had to mark off as many items as possible by the end of the 24-hours, in order to win a £5.00 Amazon gift card – our winner was….. BELLA!
We also had a Book Scavenger Hunt!
There was a list of 5 items that you had to find within the books that you were reading… these items were:
- A door slam
- A Pizza
- A scene set in a cafe
- A pet
- A weapon
This was fun and also frustrating! There were many times when my character were a fraction away from slamming a door, for example ‘she stormed out of the room.’ WHY COULD SHE NOT HAVE SLAMMED THE DOOR ON HER WAY OUT?!?!?
The 24-hours were very difficult, we laughed, we cried, we got angry and then we laughed some more! We really started to feel the tiredness around 5:30am but we pushed through and we did it!
If we were to do this again, whether it be for charity or simply just for fun, I think we will cut the time in half and do a 12-hour session instead!
Thank you to those who supported the cause! It really means a lot to each and every one of us.
Thank you to my girls for joining me in this crazy mission, I could not have done it without you all! I can’t wait to have more bookish days / events with you all.
