Oh. My. Goodness. I had high hopes for The Favorites and I was not disappointed!! I could vividly picture every single thing that happened. It was so well written and I could not put it down! It was SO good and I’m so sad that it’s over! I highly recommend!! I’ll be thinking about this story for a long time! I’d give it more than 5 stars if I could!!!

A huge thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All opinions expressed above are my own.

I love a novel about anything close to dance and this hit! We follow documentary style a couple that competes in ice dancing from humble beginnings to the Olympics. I thought the commentary between the chapters was so fun and added a lot to the story. I do think some of the reviews I saw overhyped how toxic this couple was, I was expecting something wild lol but that's on me. Definitely worth a read if you enjoy character driven stories that spans decades about a couple competing in a cut throat world!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an eARC of this book! Out 1/14/25

The Favorites follows Katarina and Heath — a mutually obsessed, toxically intertwined pair — as they become a world-famous ice skating duo. It’s a take on Wuthering Heights and is written in the style of Daisy Jones and the Six, the latter being a very obvious source of inspiration.

I tore through this book, even when it was making me angry, even when I was wondering how it could possibly be so long — I just couldn’t put it down. The pacing isn’t perfect, but that didn’t stop me from reading it in almost one sitting. It’s described as an epic romance, but it’s more like a melodramatic epic tale of ambition, competition, love, and tragedy.

This is certainly going to be on a lot of people’s best-of-2025 lists. It will also probably become a tv show/movie (fingers crossed).

(4.5 stars rounded up)

I have just read one of my Top book of 2025. Although it is only early in the year, I know this book is going to stay with me for a long time.
I have loved watching figure skating since I was young. You do not have to enjoy the sport to love this book!
This is a compelling story of heartache, love, adversity and definitely scandal.

Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha meet as kids, and you follow them through the ups and downs of being professional figure skaters. Sounds simple right? No. This is a complex relationship that takes you on an unforgettable journey.
Layne Fargo does a fabulous job of introducing us to other characters that play such an important role in Katarina and Heath’s world.
The saga is told by Katerina herself and also through documentary style interviews with friends, skating rivals, judges. It was absolutely a brilliant way of telling the story of the much loved ice dance duo.
This book brought about many emotions while reading. I was invested in this couple. Katarina Shaw was a character I won’t soon forget. So many ups and downs, both personal and professional and she kept going.
As I turned the last page, I was sad this love story had come to an end.
I hope this book gets all the praise and love it deserves once it is released on January 14,2025. Ahhh what a fantastic book!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read an early copy.

The way this book was so good it grew fingers and found their way in between the folds of my brain, I literally can’t stop thinking about it. Absolutely thrilling and page turning, Fargo truly puts a reader through every single emotion as they read Heath and Kat’s skating come up journey. The betrayal, drama, lies and toxicity just absolutely takes hold of you and won’t let go until you finish it. ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!! Will be recommending to everyone!

Could not put this down. This had everything I was looking for and more in an Olympics figure skating novel. Loved it.

I was totally immersed in this unputdownable novel. The plot is unique with an epic love story.
What an exhilarating blend of passion, ambition and heartbreak coupled with multiple surprising moments. I loved the mix of first person POV dialogue and interview commentary. The ending was wonderful.
Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and PHRAudio for the ebook and ALC copies!

I love watching figure skating and ice dancing. I was very invested in all olympic athletes as a child, and I love a dramatic story.

I also love a full ensemble audio cast! This book is addictive and bingeable. It’s got plenty of dramatics, plenty of memorable moments, and scandal!

I do not like Wuthering Heights, but wow do I like The Favorites. This isn't "Great Literature", it is soapy fun and I devoured every page. This book is getting so much buzz, and it is DESERVED. This is just pure fun. While it is 400+ pages, they go down like a cold glass of water after a tough workout. I usually read very literary, but I'm so glad I made time for The Favorites.

I don’t even know where to start with this one… What a phenomenal read. This book had me feeling every emotion under the sun!!! Stressed out, angry, happy, sad, and stressed out some more. If you’re looking for a book filled with complex characters, scandals, drama, a little bit of romance and a whole lot of “What in the world is going on” and “WHY???”… here you go!


The Favorites dives into the world of competitive figure skating, the beauty and the downright ugliness of it, and how the word “win” can change peoples lives forever. The story follows Kat, which then subsequently follows the story of Heath, Bella and Garrett. Altogether, an absolute whirlwind group of characters.


Set up in both first person and interview narrative styles, we get the intense story of Kat’s career as a figure skater, her growth as a person, and how it has altered every part of her life. We get to see her life from teenage years to adulthood through the lens of figure skating. We watch her and Heath leave home for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become some of the best in the world. We see how she went from being no one to someone everyone talks about for the rest of time. Having this story be written in both first person and interview style allowed for the readers to get both sides of the story, from the person herself and from those who perceived everything happening in front of their eyes.

This story is incredibly well-done. Its intense, captivating, and the emotions it makes you feel are just as complex as the characters themselves. It explores how the desire to win can be so detrimental in ways we never think about, how people can grow & change overtime in so many ways, how relationships can crash and burn and rise from the ashes. It exposes the ugly side of figure skating that no one would really know unless their in it, the beauty of it all, and that was especially interesting for me as someone who knows nothing about that world!!!

Layne Fargo takes you on an absolute ride with this one and as much as I wanted to scream at them all, I loved this book. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a work of fiction, with romantic subplots, depth, complexity, and emotion that leaves you feeling stunned from what you just read. I truly can’t say much because I think going into this and unveiling the story for yourself is the best way to read this book, but please!!! take this as my recommendation!!!

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book but I was thrilled with what I got. I devoured this book. Told in partial documentary form (ala Daisy Jones and the Six), it felt like I was reading a true life story of ice dancers Heath and Kat. (all the while envisioning all the drama from Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding back in the day). I loved how you had now idea how this story was going to end. All you knew is that SOMETHING happened but what it ended up being was so surprising to me that I had to take a breath. I expected something completely different and absolutely perfect for the characters in this story. It has been a very long time since I've watched the Olympics and ice dancing was a particular favorite so I enjoyed the "inside" look into this world (although some things might have been embellished, it still drew me in completely). I look forward to reading more from this author.

This book had me hooked so quickly. I dreaded having to put it down to go to sleep or work. There were many obvious shout outs to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (perhaps at times a little too obvious, but it worked for me). I loved the interjected parts of the interview documentary and the lead up to this big event they kept eluding to. Both Katarina and Bella had a soft spot in my heart. Heath however, not so much. The ending was perhaps a bit cheesy and too happily ever after for this kind of book.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I nearly finished this in one day but had to force myself to go to bed. I was hooked from the very first line. I had heard about The Favorites from another NetGalley reviewer that I follow and couldn’t wait to read it. It is 100% up my alley. Ice Skating, two people obsessed with one another over the course of decades, Olympics drama, scandal... Count me in. If you are reading and you think you know what is coming next, I assure you that you don’t. This book kept me curious and on my toes and shocked me once or twice in a good way. It is written in a similar style to Daisy Jones and the Six in terms of interviews and as if you are watching a documentary (which I love). Someone compared it to Carrie Soto is back but I wasn’t a fan of that book so maybe it is similar, maybe it isn’t. You decide but I highly recommend it.

She pursues her dreams on her own terms

Ten years ago the ice dancing pair of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha performed for the last time, the end of a meteoric career marked by electric performances, bitter rivalries, and mercurial passions. The public was obsessed with the pair then and still are, and an unauthorized documentary has been released featuring interviews with former friends, coaches, competitors, and others in the ice dancing world...but Kat wants the reader to let her be the one to tell her own story. Kat and Heath were not typical competitors....they were from very humble backgrounds and were only able to succeed due to a combination of talent, focus, sacrifice and a measure of luck. In a world of pretty doll-like blonde girl skaters from wealthy families and their male equivalents, Kat was a curvy rebel in thrift store costumes who was willing to do anything to reach the lofty heights of her sport like her idol Sheila Lin. Winning Olympic gold was Kat's dream, not Heath's, but he loved her enough to do anything for her. But the world of elite sports is brutal to those who join its ranks, physically and emotionally, and when your friends are also your rivals, when coaches and judges and sponsors have their own plans, it is dangerous to fully trust anyone. How many times can trust be broken and bonds severed before you find yourself alone and shattered? How much is anyone truly willing to pay to win it all? What is the real story behind Kat and Heath?
The Favorites takes a clear look at what it costs an elite athlete to compete at the highest levels, not just in money spent on coaches, training, equipment, etc, but also the grueling physical work, continual criticism on performance, and having to play the sports world's game according to rules set and enforced by others. Anyone who has ever fallen under the charm of an Olympic athlete and the story the media has spun around them will recognize what Kat, Heath and their fellow ice dancers are living through. How much of a chosen athlete's story is true, and how much has been spun into something purely for public consumption? Do you remember Torville and Dean? Nancy and Tonya? The Battle of the Brians? Athletes who were gay for years were not comfortable coming out publicly, and especially in the world of ice skating and ice dancing there was not a lot of diversity; both of these subjects come into play in the novel. Author Layne Fargo says that she drew upon Wuthering Heights for inspiration in telling this tale, and with names like Kat (Cathy) and Heath (Heathcliff), with plot elements like Heath being fostered by Kat's family when they were young, and with a combustible, ferocious love that more than dabbles with obsession, that can certainly be seen. It is a love story, a sports saga, and a cautionary tale featuring characters with tremendous heart and major flaws being hurt and making mistakes, reaching for the brass ring over and over again, and getting up when they fall (sometimes quite literally). Readers of Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones and the Six), Isabel Banda (Honey) and Julia Bartz will find this book of great appeal, as will those who for two weeks every four years become obsessed with those who effortlessly (or so it seems) glide, jump and spin on the ice...this is an addictive read with a protagonist in Kat who is hard to completely love but for whom it is impossible not to cheer. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me early access to this nuanced tale of ambition, love and passion in exchange for my honest review...once I started, I didn't want to put it down for a second.

This was a great book. A behind the scenes look at the world of ice skating: in particular: ice dancing.

It is also a love story.

Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha become partners and lovers but the road to the Olympics isn't easy for them.
They both start the journey as young teens with no money , no coach and no sponsers,
Katarina taught Heath to skate and she wants to win the gold medal more than anything..
They meet a twin brother sister team: Bella and Garett, their mother won the gold medal years ago and wants them to win the gold too.
She is their coach and when she watches Katarina and Heath perform she invites them to join her summer skating program.
Over the years they got to the Nationals and to the Olympics but it seems as though the gold medal is elusive.
They have a falling out and Kat teams with Garrett and Heath with Bella,
Injuries plague Heath and Kat causing them to drop out of the competitions. They get a second chance to compete at the Olympics but the competition sabotages them by switching Heath's back pain medicine with a banned substance causing him to collapse. They win the gold medal but due to the banned substance their medals are stripped and they are sanctioned by the Olympic committee thereby ending their dreams.

the favorites is addictive. it’s wuthering heights on ice for fans of the TJRU (taylor jenkins reid universe)—a feminist take on a classic tackling the politics, obsession, and extreme pressure of elite sports.

ten years after an olympic scandal ended katarina shaw and heath rocha’s skating careers, a documentary reignites public interest in the duo. told in competing perspectives—katarina’s POV and the documentary interviewing her and heath’s peers—the favorites follows kat and heath from childhood to the olympics, on and off the ice, together and apart.

i was captivated by fargo’s cinematic storytelling and the way she translated the cast of wuthering heights to the world of figure skating. (i was also reminded that i’m overdue for a reread of the original.) while the supporting characters’ commentary (via the documentary) added a level of lived-in realness that TJR fans will appreciate, i didn’t always love the stereotypes that certain characters fell into. i also never felt the urge to stop reading and google the characters to confirm their fictionality, which i always do with TJR.

side note: i shipped kat x bella more than kat x heath, but i guess that’s a me problem.

ultimately the favorites is more than just kat and heath’s story; it’s a commentary on passion and ambition, generational cycles, meeting your heroes, and the price of winning—and truly winning.

Thank you Random House and Libro.fm for my free ARC of The Favorites by Layne Fargo — available Jan 14!

» READ IF YOU «
⛸️ frickin love ice dancing, figure skating, ice anything
💞 are looking for a bit of romantic suspense
🧬 enjoy a unique structure in your fiction

» SYNOPSIS «
Kat and Heath have been together since they were ten, and their hard work and dedication has landed them among the top ice dancers in the world. But their relationship is turbulent. and their spats and splits only fuel the public's obsession with their volatile romance. As blood spreads across an Olympic ice rink, Kat will finally get what she wants, but at what cost?

» REVIEW «
Listen, I frickin LOVE ice dancing. It's actually my favorite of the skating-related disciplines, because it's so emotional and expressive. So a whole book about it—! I was in heaven. ALSO! I adore Johnny Weir, and he has a bit part in the audiobook as Ellis Dean. I highly recommend the audio version.

What I loved most about this book was the structure. We have Kat telling the story from her POV for the majority of the book, but between her recollections, there are "interviews" from a documentary about the pair that bridge the time gaps so neatly and flawlessly. We don't have to spend hundreds of pages detailing all the in-between things, because we get nice little recaps in those sections. Love it!

Romance is generally not my genre, but I enjoyed this because there's kind of a suspense to the whole story. I don't love that we are, in general, back to casting all Russians in the "bad guy" roles in books, but alas. That's my sole gripe here. Really enjoyed the pacing, writing, and story itself!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Katarina Shaw has always has her sights on becoming an Olympic skater. But coming from a humble upbringing, she’s knows she has to work extra hard to make her dream come true. Luckily, she has her first love and skating partner, Heath Rocha, literally by her side in her journey to Olympic glory.

Early in their career as a pair, Katarina’s raw talent sets them apart from the pack, although they are constantly compared to the fierce sibling skating legacy, Bella and Grant Lin. But Heath’s heart isn’t in it as much, his pursuit of the limelight seemingly a by product of being in Katarina’s shadow. As the stakes increase, Heath struggles to keep up, both on and off the ice. Eventually the pair part ways, but this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

As the years pass, we see the rise and fall of all four skaters as they struggle to juggle the personal and professional demands of an already taxing sport. Although the focus remains on Bella and Heath, it’s impossible to tell their story without the backdrop of the cutthroat skating world, along with the complicated relationships they have with their coveted rivals.

The Favorites is a razor sharp story of lovers on thin ice, told documentary style over the span of many years. While I did want a bit more out of Katarina and Heath’s initial meeting, there’s a lot or rich character development to chip away at here. The audio is particularly engaging as it’s performed by a full cast. As someone who grew up loving to watch figure skating and falling in love with movies like Ice Castles and The Cutting Edge, this book was a must read for me.

A love story at its core, The Favorites is an angst ridden thrill ride that will surely skate circles around the literary competition.

WOW - Daisy Jones walked so The Favorites could run. This book was insanely good. It was well written, its characters were layered, and the plot kept you guessing the entire time. The documentary/interview style parts were just enough to provide foreshadowing without giving anything away. Katarina and Heath are a REAL kind of love, which is rare to see in books these days, and the added dynamics of other characters were the cherry on the top. I loved how raw this book was, and as the story unfolded and everything had its point, I really loved how it all came together.

I loved this engaging and moving romance! It was wonderful to have a front row seat to the world of ice dancing competitions. Compelling characters who changed a lot throughout the story further added to my enjoyment.