I read about 20% of this book a few days ago then life got busy. I came back and read the remaining 80% in 24 hours. I was SO invested and I haven’t felt that way about a story in a long time.
If you love reading the toxic, raw, all-encompassing love of the Magnolia Parks series and also the atmospheric writing of Taylor Jenkins Reid that makes characters feel so real, this book is for you! I felt so immersed in the story there were multiple times throughout reading I wanted to look the characters up online and watch their performances. The documentary style of the book was incredible and I might have to listen to it on audio once it’s released!
I realized I have actually read Layne Fargo’s previous book They Never Learn, and the perfectly written suspenseful feeling I had while reading made complete sense. She knows how to write strong female leads doing potentially questionable things.
I could go on and on. This book was just exactly everything I love in a story. I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish and I will be thinking about it constantly.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

holy moly. i loved this. it was a mix between carrie soto is back and daisy jones and the six in the best way. and i just learned it was inspired by wuthering heights.

kat and heath are the ‘bad kids’ of ice dance. they go through so much in pursuit of an olympic medal. there is mystery, angst, girl-power, and friendship throughout the novel.

i ate. this. up.

First of all, I’m so grateful to Penguin for not only this copy, but my first ever PR box for this fictional Memoir of two childhood friends becoming incredible Skating athletes!


Personally, I’m not one for sports drama or anything- and it was entertaining well into halfway. But, I found myself feeling less than pleased. I feel maybe I wasn’t the right audience for such a thrilling endeavor, and the characters were dimensionally absent for me. I absolutely loved They Never Learn from this specific author so I truly wanted to enjoy it.

I would say if you enjoy TJR & any of the fictional sports genres, please read this!

What a fantastic book to end the year with! It’s got high drama, love triangles, complicated characters, and did I say never-ending drama? Katarina Shaw, with all her flaws, you can’t help but root for. Set in the work of cutthroat figure skating, the plot moves along at a great clip and I had a hard time putting this one down. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC - with a January release, make sure to preorder it!

"The Favorites" is MY new favorite!! I am completely obsessed with this book and these characters and am already considering a reread. Like, what do you mean this isn't nonfiction? I wanted Kat and Heath to be real so badly. I want to be able to look up their famous competitions and programs on tiktok. I am from the south and don't know much about ice dancing but this book did such an incredible job of painting a picture of the sport, explaining the rules, and making it make sense to me. I feel like an expert on the sport now.
The characters were so real. They all had flaws, they pissed me off at times, but that made them seem more 3 dimensional. I love nothing more than a bitchy female lead who won't take any shit from anyone, and Kat was exactly that and more. She reminded me a lot of Carrie Soto from Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The whole vibe of the book was very TJR in nature. She's one of my favorite authors so naturally I loved this. I even saw Layne Fargo thanked her in her acknowledgments! So definitely felt the inspo there.
I could not put this book down. It was so hard to find a stopping point ever. I was sucked in literally from page 1 to the very end, there was never any lag or boring moments for me. The story felt original. I was shocked at every twist and turn (maybe I'm easy to surprise). The interview style was fantastic, and I've heard the audio does a great job with this. I can't wait to listen to it too!
Definitely a new favorite book - perhaps the best I've read this year? Such a fun surprise fave. Would recommend to literally anyone! I think this book can appeal to the masses: there's a little romance, sports, LOTS of drama, smart dialogue, something for everyone!
Thank you so much for the early review galley!!

I've been hearing a lot of buzz about this book and I mostly understand why. It's very engaging and juicy; the drama, high-stakes, and soap-opera-like emotion really do keep you reading. This book delivers exactly what it promises, but I found it missing some sort of deeper emotionality or strong pull that would make me really connect. I think the characters could've used a little more dimensionality for my tastes. I'd definitely recommend this and I think it's a great read for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, or even Challengers and I, Tonya, although I didn't find the multi-media interviews to be all that necessary.

You can file this one under “Bookstagram made me do it” because once all my fave follows were talking about/loving The Favorites, I knew I needed to get my hands on it!! Thank you Random House for approving my NetGalley request 🫶🏼

This book was, honestly, so insane. I couldn’t believe the tension and then it would get crazier. I was stressed for heath/katarina basically the whole book?? Like maybe more stressed than they were competing? Because this book felt so real that heath and kat ARE real people right!!?

Katarina was such a fascinating character and watching her growth over the course of so many years while she grew up in the world of ice dancing was so good. I was enamored with this book because of Kat and the other characters (dean ellis!!! Garrett!!!? Bella??).

The style of third person interview commentary mixed in with Kat’s first person pov was pure gold!! I can only imagine how great of any audiobook this is.

I highly recommend this one! ⛸️🖤 Review to be posted on release day.

Easily one of the best books I read during 2024. I read another Layne Fargo book earlier this year and loved it so when I saw she had a new book coming out I immediately knew it was going to be good. The writing and plot reminded me alot of Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid but Olympic Ice Dance version. Each character was unique and brought their own flavor to the story. I thought this was very well done and will certainly be a hit for the beginning of 2025!

Wow.
I can't believe I read my favorite book of 2024 in December!!
I grew up figure skating so I had a feeling I would love this book, but I didn't realize it would be this much. I flew through the book in less than 24 hours and I really didn't want it to end. The way it was written reminds me a lot of Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid just told in the world of competitive figure skating. I already ordered a copy of this book because I absolutely need it on my shelf.
I see this book being extremely popular and think it would make an excellent TV show or movie. I will be recommending this book to everyone.
Thank you to Random House, Layne Fargo, and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.
This book publishes January 14, 2025

4.5⭐️ This was so much fun and I flew through it! I will absolutely eat up any drama in a book and I really loved the skating aspect! The documentary style convos that were added in was such a fun touch 🤌🏼 even though these characters were flawed, they were real and I loved seeing their lives and scandal unfold!

3.5 stars ⭐️

I have heard so many great things about this book - so I knew I had to read it! It started off pretty slow and took a while for me to get into, but the end helped bring together this novel about the scandalous lives of figure skaters. I really enjoyed the interviews between chapters - that style really worked for this book.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a copy of this book!

“To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.” Well they were also an obsession to me because I could not put this book down, and when I did I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

This book was just too good. I don’t know anything about ice dancing or figure skating but I was enveloped in this world. The twists and turns were perfect and kept me guessing the entire book. There really is a special mindset that comes along with being good at your craft and aching for the gold whenever you compete. I thought this was captured incredibly well.

This book was incredibly messy in the best way possible and will be a go to recommendation for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid. Pure entertainment in the same way reality TV keeps you gripped. I genuinely hope this book gets its flowers because it deserves all the hype. 4.5 stars rounded up 🌟

This started off really well, but in the end it didn't keep my attention. I'll try again at another time.

Many thanks for my gifted copy.

Wow! What an intense, compelling story.

With this book, we enter the world of competitive ice skating. It is brutal, merciless, thrilling and scary. It's hard to find adjectives that are dramatic enough. We follow along with Katharina (Kat) and Heath. They meet as children, they grow up as skating partners and become lovers and then enemies, alternately.

Others have said that the style of writing and the format reminds them of Daisy Jones and the Six. I concur…..the chapters are interspersed with interviews, descriptions of film clips, and reminiscences. The book also reminds me of The Still Point by Tammy Greenwood, which delves into the intensity of the world of ballet.

It shocks me how competitive and ruthless it is inside the skating world.

I can't say that I was particularly fond of any of the characters. Usually, that fact makes me dislike a book. But, not in this case. The story is both plot-driven and character-driven. Kat is a very strong character, right from the outset when she was a young girl. Because the subject deals with competition, every character, naturally, will do what it takes to win. This creates pretty tense relationships.

This book is such a conundrum for me. I thought it was a tad long, but, I didn't want it to end. Makes no sense. I guess I wanted to find out how it ended, but then I knew it would be over. Then, sadly, the ending sort of fizzled out. Considering all the drama that occurred throughout the book, the ending was a bit of a letdown. But, still a satisfying and entertaining read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

GAH, this was fantastic! Imagine if Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote a gossipy book about ice dancers and their journey to the Olympics, but made everyone a little more unhinged, and you would have The Favorites. I cannot recommend this book enough!

This book wow!!! I can’t remember the last time I was so locked in reading a book like I didn’t want to put this down and you just never knew what was coming I was on the edge of my seat and I didn’t want it to end!

This really took us through obsession between Kat, Heath and figure skating. Like if you look it up in the dictionary this book will appear. They could never make me hate Katarina Shaw!!!

What I loved the most was the style in which this story was told in a documentary style while simultaneously getting the story from Kat’s perspective and that was another element that I loved about this story. The intensity in the relationship between Kat and Heath and how much that changed in the pursuit of becoming Olympic skaters really was ambitious and exhilarating and just how much they’d do to win! I can’t wait until I get my hands on the audiobook and experience this all over again because that’s exactly what it is! SO good!!!

This book follows Katerina Shaw, an ambitious ice dancing prodigy chasing Olympic gold, and Heath Rocha, her foster-kid-turned-dance-partner with equal passion and drive. Their bond is intense—both on and off the ice—until a shocking incident at the Olympics shatters their partnership. A decade later, Kat’s side of the story is finally revealed through a documentary.

Wow—this book had no business being this good! I’ll admit, it hung out on my NetGalley shelf for a while, but after hearing all the recent buzz, I had to read it—and now I completely understand the hype! Think Taylor Jenkins Reid vibes (a la Carrie Soto Is Back and Daisy Jones & The Six), but with its own unique flair. The addition of interview transcripts throughout the book added such a great extra layer to the storytelling.

I’ve never read a romance set in the elite figure skating world, and let me tell you, it was brilliant. It captured the high stakes and intensity of the sport so vividly that at times, it almost felt like I was reading historical fiction. Kat and Heath’s relationship, intertwined with their careers, had me hooked. Spanning years of triumphs, heartbreak, and second chances, this book held me captive—I simply could not put it down.

Inspired by Wuthering Heights, this is a raw, dramatic tale of obsession, ambition, betrayal, and the cost of fame. It’s equal parts devastating yet beautiful. I cannot wait to download this on audio when it drops with a full cast—it’s going to be phenomenal. Mark my words: this is a book everyone will be talking about in 2025!

The interview style of some of this narrative was excellent. It kept the story moving forward and it was just enough to keep you guessing as to what was to come. The storyline did at times become repetitive as did the technical skating jargon but there is an intensity to this story which propels you to keep reading. I do think it could have been edited by about a 100 pages?! Overall, I quite enjoyed this one and think it will a popular novel especially if you enjoy watching the ice skating pairs every Winter Olympics.

I was immersed into the skating world immediately. The personal and professional relationship of Kat and Heath was captivating. I liked the interwoven interviews with others in the skating world. I did not love the Sochi stuff but did like how the book ended.
4.5 stars

Who knew that a story set in the world of competitive figure skating would grab me, but this story about Katarina Shaw, a determined figure skater, and Heath Rocha, a lonely foster kid turned skating partner, did! Their intense, passionate bond takes them to the top of the ice dancing world, but a shocking incident at the Olympics ends their partnership. Ten years later, a documentary stirs up the past, prompting Kat to finally tell her side of the story. Inspired by Wuthering Heights, it’s a tale of obsession, ambition, and the true cost of success. This book is full of drama! I will look to add other books by this author!