imagine the loneliest people in the world repeatedly stabbing one another with love and hate in equal measure and just when you think they shouldn’t be alive to stab another day, they turn around and stab YOU🫵. on ice!

real review to come tyvm (1/7/25)

okay update (1/10/25) actual thoughts, long and messy but whatever:

(1) i think my initial reaction still stands. but here’s more detail.

(2) this book was incredibly fun. i tore through it. it goes down incredibly easily just boom boom boom. and it really provoked an emotional reaction in me, which i find happens less and less the more i read; i feel quite inoculated. that said, i do think that was because some of it was melodrama. again, very FUN, but certainly more heightened. as someone who grew up on shonda shows in middle school, i can very well appreciate a Heightened Situation (bomb in a body cavity is some of my favorite television ever) but i don’t tend to seek that out in my reading so this was kinda new and i enjoyed it very much.

(2a)[note: some of the events at the end of the book, without spoiling, started to stretch my credulity and feel a little like the fics i was reading on wattpad also in middle school, but then i really liked the way it resolved (f*******a!) and the lesson katarina learned, they way it tied up threads from throughout, the emotional growth katarina finally had to face, etc. so i won’t complain too much, but when i was in the middle of reading those events i was like uhhhhh.]

(3) re: this being a wuthering heights retelling: i have not read wuthering heights, despite meaning to get to it, so i can’t comment specifically on the character representations and relationships and whatnot. i know the basic plot though, and i’d say the first half follows that plot fairly closely and the second forges its own path in order to continue the telling of this modern story.

(4) re: the characters: (again, idk exactly what they are like in wuthering heights but make of this what you will) i really liked katarina (kathy). she was not a passive object upon which others’ plots (romantic or vengeful) were imposed, but rather she had intense desire and drive that moved the entire story and all of the characters. she was very interesting to read about. heath (heathcliff) was very brooding, as i’ve always heard he is, but i feel like he otherwise got lost a bit. of course he has his intense love for katarina and his vengefulness upon his return, but he doesn’t have much face-level personality. just brooding. and so where katarina and isabella were deeply realized, heath felt more cartoonish. that’s not to say i didn’t love him and hate him at various times. he certainly elicited emotions in me, the reader, in addition to the other characters, but i found myself wondering if there was anything else to him?

(5) my understanding of wuthering heights is that heath’s nonwhiteness plays a key role in his social position and while this retelling did include that element, it felt a little hand-waved at. katarina and heath are both looked down on by the ice skating community: first for their nontraditional style—a reflection of their lack of money and access to the upper echelons of this world—and then later for their “trashy” choices (bringing drama to the ice, choosing to become media darlings/influencers, selling their romance, etc) which again reflect that they will never fit into the conservative, wealthy world of skating. while heath’s race is remarked upon, it’s mostly in passing, and he and katarina are both looked down upon together for the aforementioned reasons. sometimes we even see katarina receive harsher treatment for not fulfilling conservative womanly ideals. while i found all of that to be interesting, it would’ve also been interesting to see moments where heath was treated differently by the skating community not because of anything he did or his manner of behavior (he gets frisked at the airport once, but i emphasize by the skating community because that’s where katarina and heath are trying and struggling to find purchase). again, i don’t know myself how heath’s race is actually portrayed in wuthering heights or how people feel about it, but i think there’s more room for that in this retelling than fargo utilizes.

(6) i love ice skating movies and books. so. this was bound to be a hit.

in conclusion, so fun! read it and enjoy!

4 stars

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, but it was a very pleasant surprise. Thank you Random House for the #ARC and return for an honest review!

What did I/what to expect?
⛸️interactive and entertaining audio book!🎧
⛸️slow burn
⛸️dual timelines
⛸️if you like books by TJR
⛸️documentary style
⛸️figure skating info
⛸️family drama
⛸️”the pressure to be perfect”

What could have been better?
✨ Honestly I was very frustrated with all the characters… The level of immaturity was quite annoying at times.
✨the ending was very disappointing to me lol what was that?

“To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.”

From the moment she witnesses her icon, Sheila Lin, win the Olympic gold, Katarina Shaw knew that was her destiny too. When she meets Heath Rocha, a foster care kid with no family, the two form a friendship and a partnership that will span decades.

Wow. As soon as I read the synopsis of this book, I had to get my hands on it immediately. How convenient that I ended up devouring it during the Olympics, as so much of this book focuses on just how hungry these young athletes are to compete in the ultimate of sports championships, and just how much they will give up doing so. With everything you can imagine - from backstage drama to an intense love affair, beautiful friendships to bitter rivalries, this powerful and intense look inside the world of competitive ice dancing will have you on the edge of your seat at all times.

I was immediately taken with Heath and Katarina and found myself emotionally attached to each of them individually, as well as together. Because of the format and genre of this book, I had zero idea what to expect and that made the stress level as intense as the matchups that often left these characters broken and bruised. Their backstories were equally inspirational, and heartbreaking and it is hard not to have a rooting interest.

The formatting style is one of my favorites, and very reminiscent of Daisy Jones and the Six. Layne Fargo uses both first person from Kat’s POV and third person interview format from the documentary the reader is simultaneously a part of, and it helps to make the story that much more dynamic. As each interviewee describes the most intense moments, I can envision everything from the details in the room to the sequins on their costumes and everything in between.

I think this format will be absolutely perfect on audio and will help keep the pace flowing just a tad bit better than in the ebook/physical book, which can sometimes be slowed down by the back and forth. That said, every time I picked this one up, I had a hard time putting it back down. Basically, the second the audiobook is released, I will be doing a reread!

Read if you like:
• the Olympics
• ice dancing
• forced proximity
• friends to lovers
• second chance romance
• mixed media format
• all the drama

Thank you, Random House, for the advanced copy. Pub: January 14, 2025.

The only way I can describe this book is fun and addictive. The audio was so good with the full cast that I really felt like I was watching a documentary. The story was compelling and I felt all the emotions and high stakes of every competition. Layne Fargo did an incredible job with her research and characters that it really made me feel like these were actual people and I could look up their olympic performances.

I read this book in 3 days and honestly it would’ve been less if it weren’t because it was christmas eve and I had familial obligations or if I hadn’t stopped every few chapters to look up ice dancing videos. It’s safe to assume that Ice Dancing is my new hyper fixation. 😂

The Favorites release date is Jan. 15! You don’t want to miss out on this one! ⛸️

Aptly named, The Favorites has been (and I imagine will continue to be) a favorite new release of 2025. This book is undeniably unputdownable.

I TORE through this one. I can't even remember the last time I finished a physical book this quickly. The plot went from 0 to 100 fairly quickly and then just lived in that high drama, every-chapter-ends-in-a-cliffhanger space for the rest of the story. (If anything, I think it dialed up even higher in the last quarter of the book.)

The part of me that loves watching sensationalistic reality TV, soapy shows (like The OC), and, obviously, the Olympics could not get enough of this one. At the same time, I'll admit that it was not flawless.

Some of the drama felt like a bit much (although I was happy to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the reading experience). My bigger issues had to do with the portrayal of domestic abuse and toxic relationships over the course of the book. I'm not going to elaborate here, lest I spoil important points of the plot, but I encourage readers to check content warnings.

Overall, this was an enjoyable reading experience & I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves scandal-saturated contemporary lit.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

A huge thanks to Random House for an advanced copy of The Favorites by @laynefargo! This book was so much fun and lives up to the hype and will be on my top books in 2025 list!

The audiobook was fantastic. I didn't want to stop listening! Told in a documentary style with a full cast - which added to that documentary aspect and the story was addictive too. Loved seeing Kat share her side of the story along with the documentary. The figure skating aspect was so fun and it helped fuel the passion between Kat and Heath.

This was part coming of age, part sports rivalry with friendship and love thrown in the best possible way!

I'm loving seeing this everywhere because it's that good!

WOW Layne Fargo really hit it out of the park with this book!

I read They Never Learn by this author a couple years ago and LOVED it, so I was excited to see her announcement for this book last year. But when I saw it wasn't going to be another thriller but a fiction novel about Olympic ice dancing, I was VERY intrigued.

The story follows Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha, an ice dancing pair who meet as children and form an instant connection that makes them an unstoppable force on the ice and give them the opportunity to leave their turbulent lives in their small town in Illinois. We follow them throughout the years and their relationship as they rise through the ranks and become champion ice dancers. All the while we also follow their turbulent romantic relationship from childhood sweethearts to something more.

But their legacy is forever changed when their final Olympic Games appearance brings their partnership to a shocking end.

On the ten-year anniversary of their final Olympic Games approaches, an unauthorized documentary is set to air without either Shaw or Rocha's involvement and reignites the public obsession with the pair. The documentary sets to tell "the real story" of what happened by interviewing their closest friends and rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary after everything she has gone through, but after years of silence, she is finally ready to tell her side of the story.

The entire time I was reading this I could perfectly see this story being made into a limited series. The drama, tension, theatrics, and intensity that alone comes with Olympic level athletes is already the perfect backdrop for this story and Fargo did such an amazing job creating characters with so many different layers of depth I couldn't look away. Kat isn't perfect and she lets the reader know she's not and doesn't apologize for it, but also owns up to her own mistakes she made throughout her own career as well. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up rereading this next year during the Winter Olympics!

Kat and Heath…it was a whirlwind! Toxic, thrilling, addictive and at times over the top. I was invested in their stories past, present and future. Written in TJR-esque style reminding me of Carrie Soto and Daisy Jones & The Six. I loved the interviews from the documentary about Kat and Heath that were interspersed throughout the book between chapters. This style allowed readers to get multiple perspectives on the couple and all the gossip. If you have ever watched ice dancing or figure skating and wondered about the relationships behind the scenes this book is for you! You will be truly immersed in the life of skating and what it takes to win the gold.

Absolutely loved this book. Scandal, drama, obsession, plenty of plot twists set in the world of competitive ice dancing and the Olympics. Kat will do anything to win gold at the Olympics with her partner and boyfriend Heath. Neither one has money or a supportive family so they jump at the chance to be trained by the Lin Family. Ups, downs, partner changes, sabotaged performances this book has plenty of plot and drama that kept me turning pages. I was happily immersed in the competitive skating world.

I finished this book in two days... so to say I was obsessed would be an understatement. This has the potential already to be one of my favorite books of the year.

With a similar writing style to TJR books, I was immediately sucked into this story. I absolutely loved the combination of story telling and interviews / commentating outlines to break up the story and provide more context into what was going on. This book was such an emotional rollercoaster and all the twists had me GASPING!

I will definitely be doing a reread of this on audio bc it has a WHOLE FULL CAST - sign me UP! & honestly this book will be a comfort reread for me in the future too. This absolutely needs to be made into a movie or limited series - like right now. It would be so good & everyone would binge it so fast.

brb, I'll be thinking about this book for a long time

We're in the second week of January and already I'm reviewing what is definitely going to be at the top of my favorite books list of 2025! ⛸️❄️

The Favorites by Layne Fargo is pure perfection. If you enjoyed reading Taylor Jenkins Reid, particularly Daisy Jones & the Six or Evelyn Hugo, I think you will totally devour this book. 🫶🏻

This is an epic love story about elite figure skaters. I went into this book knowing minimal about figure skating and am now penning the 2028 Olympics schedule into my calendar (and also figuring out the platform to watch I, Tonya!). Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha, both kids living in nowhereville with no money and no connections, bust their asses to become the most formidable duo on the ice. They go from childhood sweethearts to world champs, with the most rollercoaster insane, scandalous, toxic, relationship. We get an insider view of the insane ice dance world and how far the contenders will go to get ahead - no one is trustable, and anyone will betray you. I LOVED the format here - through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals from an unauthorized documentary ten-vears after their final skate. ⛸️

👏🏻 IT IS SO GOOD! Scandalous, thrilling, addictive - I. AM. OBSESSED! 👏🏻 I was totally enamored by the characters and am crossing my fingers and toes that this will become an audiobook and be on the big screen! There is a *subtle* hint in Fargo's acknowledgements (this is why you must always read acknowledgement sections!!) about how she's hoping to divulge secret meeting deets after publication, so let's hope!! 🤞🏻

Thank you to Random House, NetGalley, and Layne Fargo for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Releases 1/14, get this on your holds/pre-order ASAP, this is definitely going to be a hit! 💖

I could not put this book down. If I wasn't physically reading it, I was listening to the audiobook. I was finding every possible chore to do just so I could get more audiobook time in. The full cast ensemble was great, but even reading the physical book I could. not. stop.

This was an incredible read. Great characters, great plot, great pacing. Just incredible.

I already know this will be one of my favorite reads of the year. I can't stop thinking about this story and these characters. Thank you so much to Random House for the ARC, I am in love with this book.

OBSESSED. the tension, the passion, i LOVED this. not a single thing i would change. i gasped, i cried, i am ruined i loved every second of reading this. i am 100% going to be reading this again.

If you’re into drama, ambition, and a little bit of heartbreak, *The Favorites* delivers it all on ice. The story revolves around Katarina Shaw, a fiercely determined ice dancer chasing her Olympic dreams, and her skating partner, Heath Rocha, a boy from the foster care system who she’s also in a relationship with. Their chemistry on the rink is undeniable, but it’s Katarina’s drive and grit that really push them forward.

Katarina’s life hasn’t been easy—her parents are gone, and she’s stuck living with her terrible brother, who’s done nothing to support her. Honestly, she’s had to fight for everything, pulling herself up by her ice skates (literally) to make it in the brutal world of competitive skating. When her idol, Sheila Lin, invites Katarina and Heath to train at her elite facility, it feels like a dream come true—or maybe a nightmare. Alongside Sheila’s twins, Bella and Garrett, the training is intense, and the world of ice dancing turns out to be even more cutthroat than Katarina imagined.

What really makes this story stand out is how it blends the fierce passion of chasing a dream with the messy relationships and sacrifices that come with it. The pacing is tight, and the documentary-style interviews from skating pros add a unique layer to the storytelling. It’s all about love, ambition, and finding your way, but without feeling too cheesy or over-the-top.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get over this book. I’ve been listening to The Last Time (Taylor’s Version) on repeat the entire day while holding back tears because I finished reading.

I’ve never read a book with an interview style section, so I wasn’t sure how much I was going to enjoy it. But oh my goodness… I don’t know whether I consumed this book or the book consumed me. The emotions this story and these characters drew out of me were so visceral and intense. I’m still wrapping my head around the emotional warfare this book put me through. The writing was incredible. The plot was riveting. The emotions were gut-punching. The tension ate me alive. The betrayal cause me actual heart pain. I seriously just found myself speechless after I finished reading. And I immediately wanted to start reading it over again.

I could not have imagined this book to have a single thing changed about it. It was genuine perfection. Layne Fargo is absolutely brilliant and I am completely in awe of this story she created. This will be a book I scream about from the rooftops and force people to read. I rarely get surprised by plot twists in books these days, but this book took me for a ride and had me gasping, yelling, and crying. But I LOVED it.

This book deserves to be praised and read by everyone. I can’t wait for people to get their hands on this. It is a breathtaking story and I will be thinking about this book constantly.

*Thank you SO much Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Wow! This was so fun. I wasn’t expecting to tear through it but it was so compulsively readable. Couldn’t get enough! Characters were well developed, the plot was outrageous but fun! I adored the pacing and also the history of the sport. Wonderfully researched and made for any ice dancing fan or novice alike. Bravo

5⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m literally at a loss for words! Kat and Heath are an addictive duo that steal the emotions from within your chest, lay them all out, to take you on a wild journey. Spanning from the tail end of adolescence all the way through adulthood in the world of elite ice dancing, this book offers a look into the minds behind the dream of wanting to become an Olympic gold medalist.

The format of this book was unlike anything I read. I know there are other books that have been written this way, but it was my first time reading a book setup as a documentary interview to go along with the story itself. I thought it was such an immersive way to get different point of views on the main plotline. It ruptures that fourth wall that books are prone to have and makes it seem as if you are right there watching everything unfold. On top of following complex, flawed, but deeply raw human characters, this book sheds light on the corruption that infiltrates itself into large organizations. The privilege, greed, narcissism, toxicity, egocentrism, it’s all there.

Throughout the entirety of the book, my mind kept replaying one question: How far you are willing to push yourself to achieve the dreams written in your heart as it’s concurrently destroying you in the process.

From the first pages in the book Heath and Kat had an undeniable bond. Both having come from tragic home life’s, their passion for a better life through ice dance left you wanting to see them succeed imminently. After a negative outcome to a competition, Kat and Heath were left with a promising opportunity and from there everything changed.

I devoured this book. It lived up to the height and then some. Layne Fargo has dreamed up a world so enthralling. Despite the amount of time covered in this book, the flow was seamless. Heath, Katarina, Bella, and Garrett hold such a special place in my heart with everything they put me through. I feel like my review is all over the place, and may not make sense, but this story left me speechless and I’m still just trying to gather all my thoughts.

There are just some books that, while you read it, know it will stay with you for a long time. Is this book perfect? Absolutely not. Did I love it? Yes.

did i finish this or did it finish ME????? barely survived this one but would do it again in a heartbeat. i'm sad i'll never be able to read this for the first time again.

I read this book a month ago and it is still consuming my every thought. I am genuinely addicted to heath and katarina's story. and it comes out on jan 14th so everyone get ready because you will never be the same again.

It is books like this that remind me why I love reading so much - books that grab me by the throat and don't let go, epic love stories that make me feel ALIVE, characters so raw and passionate and flawed and human, it makes me feel like I’m on fire. Help I’m still at the restaurant. sitting in this corner I haunt.

I stayed up till 4am to finish this book! I just couldn't put it down. It definitely lives up to the hype. I would never have thought that a book centered around the competitive world of ice dancing would enchant me so much. It gives me The Cutting Edge movie vibes but this is the twisty, ultra back stabbing, passionate, dark version. You're rooting for underdogs Katarina & Heath when they take to the ice dancing scene. Most of their competitors look down on this "rough around the edges"pair. They don't have a well known coach, fancy Olympic size skating rink, or flashy costumes but there is natural talent there & Kat's determination to make her dreams come true. When Kat's idol, Shelia Lin offers them a chance to train at her Academy, Kat wants to jump at the chance but Heath's hard knock life has taught him to never trust something that seems too good to be true. But he'll do anything to make Kat happy so off to LA they go. Once there, Kat gets a taste of the high life and her relationship with Heath will be put to the ultimate test. It's hard to know who to trust. There will be fighting, jealousy, sabotage, and life or death situations. Who knew ice dancing was such a bloody sport?! Read this!!