This book was…. SO DAMN GOOD. The scandal, the drama, the angst, the passion, the everything. I was thoroughly addicted from page 1! My only note would be that the ending could have used a little more fleshing out and as the reader, I wanted to understand more about Heath and Bella as individuals and as a dynamic. I get that it was Kat’s pov and she was okay with leaving some things untouched, but when you have all the business out there, can you really blame me for getting caught up in the details? That being said, if the ending was more than a quick HEA after everything we had been through in the rest of the book, it would’ve been perfect. I would’ve loved to see them building their lives in the aftermath.

THE FAVORITES

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

This book is everywhere to kick off 2025 & so I HAD to listen to the audiobook!

In the northern suburbs of Chicago, Katarina Shaw & Heath Rocha use skating as an outlet from their lives: Kat wants to escape her abusive, alcoholic brother, and Heath is an orphan. When they get the chance to train with the Lin twins and their famous, Olympic-gold-winning mother, new worlds of ice dance open up to them. As Kat & Heath rise in both fame and skill alongside Bella & Garrett Lin, they realize the cost of putting everything on the line to win. Ten years after the Sochi Olympics, a documentary is being produced about Kat and Heath’s epic story to answer: what really happened all of those years ago?!

You’ll like this if you like:
⛸️ documentary-style writing: in the vein of TJR, we have character interviews between chapters. the audiobook has a full cast and it really brings the “documentary” to life. (i personally loved Ellis Dean’s narrator!)
⛸️ unpredictable (messy) relationships: the ups-and-downs and back-and-forths with these characters - sheesh!! Genuine friendship + love meets manipulation and sabotage
⛸️ Olympics / competitive showdowns: there are so many tense “must win” scenes in this book

At first I felt like this book sped through some of Kat & Heath’s development in their early career, but I see now that there is so much to cover throughout their 20s that the pacing choice makes sense. There are truly so many parts of this book - it’s a rollercoaster.

I wasn’t fully convinced on where we landed at the end (no spoilers!), but the journey to get there was so wild & entertaining, I’m not even mad. Also, the “The Last Time” by Taylor Swift was a perfect choice to encapsulate the back half of this book — it’s been a sneaky favorite of mine since putting it on my “ride to school” mixtape CD in high school 🥹

I definitely recommend adding this to your 2025 TBR list, and I’d opt for the audio — it lives up to the hype!! For those that have read it, LMK what you think of all of the twists 👀

When I think of ice dancing, I think of a light, sweet, easy breezy love story. The Favorites was not that at all. It was gritty and hard. This is told in first person along with interview documentary excerpts. The foreshadowing is top notch. It gives you such a foreboding feel while keeping you on the edge of your seat. I knew something devastating is coming but I couldn’t look away. It also has that celebrity gossip rag feel of the early aughts that was so nostalgic. It gave Daisy Jones feels and sucked me in immediately. I’m wavering between 4.5 and 5 stars but I feel sometimes Heath’s actions felt like whiplash and I didn’t understand exactly why he made some of the choices he did. Overall I highly recommend this one! It will definitely be one of my faves for the year.

Wow, what can I say about this book that could really capture the essence of its greatness? I am blown away. I don't know if I am biased because I used to figure skate, but this was 100% my cup of tea. The Favorites is a docu style drama (with interviews mixed in) set in the world of elite figure skating, specifically ice dancing. It's tense, a bit dark, suspenseful, wrapped up in a toxic push and pull love story. How does one write a cast full of unlikeable main characters that I ended up loving by the end of the book?! That takes skill! The Favorites is unputdownable. I was so engrossed in the story that I didn't want to put it down and it almost made me late to work. I also recommend checking out the audiobook which has a full cast! I have a feeling The Favorites will end up on my top list of 2025 and it's only January!

Thank you Netgalley, Random House, and Layne Fargo for the eARC.

Loved it! Loved it!! Loved it!!!! End of review!

I'm kidding 😂 Although I’m not sure what I can say that hasn’t already been said!

What I loved:
✨Narration: One of the best narrations I’ve listened to since I started enjoying audiobooks three years ago! The full cast is fantastic! Christine Lakin perfectly captures Katarina Shaw’s drive, ambition, selfishness, and passion. And Johnny Weir—oh my stars—he has a promising future in audiobooks! It was so, so good!
✨Mixed Media Format: The docuseries format kept me hanging on every word!
✨Romance: Part toxic but mostly epic - friends to lovers, forced proximity, soulmate chemistry, second chance romance! Their messiness frustrated me, but then I would also be swept away by their all-encompassing love! Did I listen to The Last Time by Taylor Swift on repeat? Yes, and not ashamed one bit!
✨Fargo’s writing!! I love her thriller books! Give me Scarlett - the serial killer any day!! But man - a romantic contemporary fiction novel that captures all the emotions?? Impressive!! I particularly love how she illustrated the singular focus required by high-level athletes! No room for compromise. “I became a skater because I wanted to feel like that. Fierce. Confident. A warrior goddess covered in glitter. So sure of myself, I could make my dreams come true through sheer force of will.”

Bottom line: read it! ⛸️🥇

4.5⭐- I always dreamed of being a figure skater as a child so I loved that figure skating was the focal point of this story. It was addictive and unpredictable, I didn't want to put the story down. There were a lot of characters to remember and most of them didn't have enough character development for me to remember. But for the most part, the inability to remember most of the side characters, didn't take away from the story. This book has a big overall question of how far would you go for success? It made the main characters unlikeable for most of the book to be honest but towards the end I was emotionally invested.

I highly recommend checking this out, especially if you grew up loving figure skating! I also loved that there were some nostalgic references sprinkled throughout the timeline of the story..

This book was a wild ride. It's a modern-day retelling of Wuthering Heights set in the cutthroat world of figure skating and ice dancing. The story centres on two headstrong and deeply flawed skaters whose chaotic, tumultuous relationship keeps everything tense and unpredictable. The story started off SO well, I was totally gripped, but as it went on, everything became soooo undeniably melodramatic. It was packed with so many plot twists it eventually became exhausting... there was betrayal, sabotage, incredibly toxic dynamics, and more. While the nonstop drama occasionally felt relentless (and unrealistic), it remained a page-turner. I could easily see it becoming a compelling TV adaptation, similar to Daisy Jones & The Six.

One of the standout elements for me was the structure. The story alternates between documentary-style interview transcripts reflecting on the past and first-person flashbacks unfolding the narrative in real time. This format kept things engaging and added depth to the world-building.

That said, the pacing did drag a bit toward the end–it could have been trimmed by about 100 pages–but overall, it was a fun read. Initially, the toxicity of the characters made it hard to root for anyone. Despite the years that passed, nobody really seemed to grow or learn from their experiences, yet I was still intrigued by the exploration of flawed humanity.

I wasn't crazy about the ending, but the majority of this book was still an addictive read. I'd recommend it if you can suspend your disbelief a little and are in the mood for a story full of tension, twists, and an unapologetic look at ambition and obsession.

Many thanks to Random House and Netgalley for the ARC!

5/5⭐️ 0.5/5🌶️ 1.5/5😢

MY FLABBERS ARE GASTED.

This Wuthering Heights retelling set in the competitive ice dancing world was absolute perfection. Evocative, scandalous, tender but toxic, this book had me on an absolute rollercoaster of feelings until the last sentence. When I tell you I was *literally* screaming/crying/throwing up when I read this book, I am not exaggerating.

The beautiful and intense love between Katarina and Heath will enthrall you, and the documentary-style interviews peppered throughout the book will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Please don’t miss this epic love story—perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid—I promise you won’t regret it!

This book has completely rewired and taken over my brain. I literally had to take breaks during this thing cause my emotions were all over the place. Don’t mind me going through Layne Fargo’s backlist because now I need to read everything single thing she has EVER written.

Drama. Angst. Tension. Obsession. READ THIS ONE PLEASE.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for this review!
I would give this book 4.5 stars. I was initially interested in reading this book due to hype from @apaperbacklife over on Instagram. And while the book was great, it wasn't THE best. The book is centered around Katarina and Heath told in a interview/first-person style. I will say I more enjoyed the personal chapters more than the interview/docustyle writing. I can see what Fargo was attempting to do with the style but to me, I think I would have enjoyed more if the story was told exclusively from Katarina's perspective or a mix of other peoples perspectives without the interview/docustyle. The way the book ended also fell a bit flat for me. I feel like Carrie Soto is back resonated well with me more than this book. But when this book was good, it was GOOD:
some of my favorite quotes include "Everyone thinks Heath Rocha was my first love. He wasn't. My first love was figure skating." followed by
"We were soulmates"
"When I was a little girl in messy pigtails, demanding to be watched from the front row, I'd had that sort of unshakeable semi-delusional confidence too."
"You're my home"
and finally "I might find it amusing, were I not such a professional."
Overall I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend for you to pick it up if you liked/loved Carrie Soto is back like I did.

Thank you so much to Layne Fargo, NetGalley, and Random House for the ARC of The Favorites! If you like the formatting and story of Daisy Jones and the Six, love Ice Dancing at the Olympics, and drama and scandal, you’ll enjoy The Favorites.
 
The Favorites alternates between what’s happening from ice dancer Katarina Shaw’s POV and the transcription from a tell-all/documentary 10 years later about the ice dancing incident in which her and her partner, Heath, were involved. This novel follows their experiences leading up to the Ice Dancing incident.
 
My one comment about this book is that I recommend reading it on audio. The script from the documentary interwoven with Katerina’s retelling of the events was enjoyable in the book, but I can only imagine what it would be like to listen to this tell-all, unauthorized documentary. I’m keeping an eye out for my library to get an audio copy to listen to and you should add this book to your TBR’s.

What a fun, fast read. We read this for our book club and it made for such a lively discussion. I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait reaad more by Layne Fargo.

BOY HOWDY MAMA I NEEDED THIS!!!!!

So my friend Ashley told me about this great ARC that she read back in December and I requested it immediately because I have no self control whatsoever. I hadn’t heard back in a while, so when this popped up as an option for my January BOTM I pounced!! (That approval came back after I got the book which is great because now I get to rate it EVERYWHERE and also…NG stats ya know)

I was hooked right from the beginning but MAN did this train wreck get more and more addicting as time went on. This had all the best inspiration and elements from Carrie Soto is Back, Wuthering Heights, and, now that I have started watching the Netflix Show, possibly Spinning Out?

While this is super romance heavy, I would call it more of a historical fiction. I laughed I CRIED I honestly and truly could not put this down. It has been so long since I was able to sit and get engrossed in something, and this was IT.

If you’re a fan of ANYTHING really - especially Taylor Jenkins Reid, women’s histfic, female rage, sports and the Olympics, a little bit toxic but for sure passionate romances - then you should discard your TBR and read this IMMEDIATELY.

Huge thanks to Layne Fargo, Random House, and NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review (and BOTM for the shelf trophy)!

Very entertaining read. You really feel the drama of the skating world and the confusing love/hate relationships created by competition. I started watching ice dancing videos because it won me over, never had an interest in anything Olympics prior to this book. Well done.

Thank you netgalley for the arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review. I absolutely loved this book from the writing style to the story line. Katarina Shaw grows up in small town Illinois and sees Shiela Lin win a gold medal ice dancing in the winter Olympics on television one night and decides she is willing to do anything to become just like her. Her father makes some sacrifices to make sure Katerina is able to skate. She meets Heath a foster boy who movies into her town and they connect immediately. They spend their lives together and Heath does everything he can to support her dream. Along the way their are enemies, jealous, injury. Will they make Olympic gold? Will they stay together? I could not put this book down. Five stars

The Favorites is objectively a well written book. The writing was beautiful and leaves the reader with many quotes to add to their arsenal. It was fast-paced and easy to read. Similar to your favorite reality tv show, once you read a chapter there’s no stopping until you finish the whole book. The characters were complex. Their relationships, even more so. This book was major toxic energy yet it was so hard to look away. There were so many moments I wanted to smack a character and tell them to get their life together (looking at you Kat….. Heath….. Bella) Layne Fargo wrote a book fantastic for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Jessa Hastings. This was an all around entertaining book showing the complexities of the ice skating world and the challenges that come with performing with the ones you love.

*Thank you Netgalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I could not put this book down! It was fantastic, the twists and turns had me turning the pages so quickly. Fantastic story and very rich characters.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. And the book of the year! I loved this story so much. I went and put on the Cutting Edge the second I finished.

OMG, this book was absolutely insane! I've never felt this level of frustration and pure emotional chaos while reading in a while 😭 It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, barely able to breathe, let alone put it down. The cliffhangers at the end of every chapter were like punches to the gut, making me need to turn the page immediately. And the interview-style format? Genius. It gave us a peek into everyone’s mind, showing how each person saw the same events through totally different lenses. It was brilliant, but man, it was frustrating in the best way. Thought-provoking, intense, and completely consuming. I was hooked from start to finish, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

an easy 5 stars!

This book had me hooked right away - drama (!!!), romance, ice skating, childhood friends to lovers, rivals, angst, tension, chemistry, twists and turns ( both literary & on the ice) … what more could a girl ask for??

I haven't stopped thinking about this book or these characters since I finished reading! I really wish I could somehow watch Kat & Heath skate in real life but in the meantime I'll have to manifest a book to screen adaptation (please please please).

I can't wait to re-read on audio - I've heard amazing things about the full cast narration!

a HUGE thank you to Random house for sending over an advanced copy! 💕