The votes are in and Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds is Book of the Month’s Lolly Winner!

What is the Lolly award, you might ask?

“The Lolly” is a tribute to Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, the very first book ever selected by Book of the Month back in 1926. At the time, BOTM judges voted to decide on monthly selections. Warner’s book won by a large margin, even though the author was virtually unknown. In 2016, when attempting to name their Book of the Year Award, BOTM had members vote for the title and ‘The Lolly’ was the clear winnner.

Now every year, generally in November and December, voting opens for members to choose their favorite releases from the year. The favorites get narrowed down to five main picks, and then once again members vote for their favorites. The winner is named Book of the Year and is awarded The Lolly!

If you also happen to be a BFF member, than you’ll also get to choose one of the top five choices and add it to your December box for free! It’s a nice little Christmas treat, so don’t forget to grab yours!

2021 Book of the Year Finalists

Of this year’s finalists, I really only think that The Four Winds and Razorblade Tears are worthy of being in the top five. I personally, and reminder reading is completely subjective, think there were so many better books that could have been in the top five over People We Meet on Vacation, The Lost Apothecary, and Malibu Rising. While I enjoyed reading all three, none of them blew me away. I have full reviews of all of these except The Four Winds, which I just realized and will get my review up asap.

Malibu Rising | Review

People we meet on vacation | Review

Razorblade Tears | Review

The Lost Apothecary | Review

So which to add to you box? That really depends what you are looking to read or what you enjoy, obviously.

If you’re looking for a fun vacation read, that you can breeze through than either Malibu Rising or People We Meet on Vacation would be a good pick for you.

If you want a tear jerking historical fiction, than The Four Winds which takes place during the Great Depression.

If you want a gritty mystery than Razorblade Tears is for you.

If you want something that has a magical feel, as if it would involve magic but is really just a historical fiction, than The Lost Apothecary should be your pick.

My picks for finalists

Voting took place way too early this year. I understand it was probably for shipping reasons with the way 2021 is, but voting for your favorite picks of the year when there are still 20 books yet to be revealed doesn’t do the rest of the books justice. But I’ll get off my soapbox and just share with you three others I thought deserved to be in the top five. Give them a look and maybe you’ll find an extra add-on to get yourself for Christmas.

I honestly feel like The Prophets and What Comes After were robbed as I don’t even remember them being in the voting for the finalists. Both are debuts and while I wouldn’t call either of them fast paced, they’re such wonderful stories of strength, grief, survival, and just beautifully written. Highly recommend both, though I only have a review for What Comes After at the moment.

Once There Were Wolves is another one that I believe should have been a finalist. It was so unexpected, and while I don’t have a review up for it yet, it’s a great read.

What comes after | Review

I hope this helped you narrow down what to put in your BOTM this December. Which other books were you hoping to see as a finalist? Let me know in the comments below or over on my Instagram HERE.

Happy Reading

WHAT IS BOOK OF THE MONTH?

For those who haven’t heard of Book of the Month club or BOTM, it is a subscription program, similar to audible or other box subscription services, where you get (you guessed it) a new book every month. Each month members are given 5 different books to choose from.  BOTM generally focusing on debut and emerging writers, and is known for having helped launch the careers of some of the most acclaimed authors in American literary history. In an attempt to read more books outside my favorite genres without having to siphon through all the duds, I decided to sign up for the monthly subscriptions. It costs me $14.99 per month, I choose 1 of the 5 books on the first of every month,  and it’s delivered straight to my door. You can skip any month or roll your credits over to the next month, at any time. Since I started getting BOTM in 2018, I’ve really enjoyed some of the new authors I’ve been exposed to. If you’re interested in joining BOTM, I’ve added my referral code to the bottom of this post, which if you use, you’ll be able to get a discount on your first month (book)!

Interested in joining Book of the Month?

Get your first book for $9.99 when you sign up using my link!

Either click HERE or enter the url into your browser: https://book-of-the-month.ixmz.net/kvzez https://book-of-the-month.ixmz.net/c/1803400/761424/9782

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