Typically I'd glance over an ice skating story inspired by a classic I barely read in high school. (more like glanced at the SparkNotes) BUT Layne Fargo wrote one of my favorite books, They Never Learn, and this cover is insane. And here we are... I'm obsessed!

💬: "Katarina Shaw was in the building, and that bitch had come to win."

📖: "To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession. An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice."

🤝: This may be a good fit if you enjoy:
- juicy, cinematic dramas
- a solid documentary element
- amazingly bitchy characters with heart

💭: Say hello to my newest darling. I'm admittedly stingy with five-star reviews, and Layne Fargo is two for two. I love her writing. Her female characters are always fierce. Some people might call them "unlikeable", but I hate how often that term is used for women who are unapologetically themselves. They're flawed, driven, and strong. The relationships are volatile and totally entertaining. The documentary element is so well done, and there's a perfectly snarky character in it who I'm obsessed with.

Have I ever read a 460+ page book so quickly? Nope! The short chapters and baby cliffhangers had me cruising, especially after the 50 percent mark.

⭐️RATING⭐️: I loved it! (5⭐️)

‼️ Note: You may be picking this up because you loved the BANGER of female rage thriller, They Never Learn. Please note this is not a thriller. While it has solid pacing, some exciting reveals, and a little blood, it is more of a drama. You may also be picking it up because it's a retelling of Wuthering Heights. My advice is to leave any expectations at the door, embrace The Favorites for all that it is, and enjoy the ride!

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ebook early in exchange for an honest review.

5⭐️ - I am going to start off by saying, I’m aware there were probably flaws here. My rating goes completely off of the fact that once I started it I couldn’t put it down, and it elicited true emotions from me that ranged from anger to hope to shock to happy.

I loved so much about this story. I loved that it felt like a mix of trash reality tv and a documentary full of scandal and betrayal. I couldn’t stop reading! The format and how everything was laid out was phenomenal! It was truly a movie played in my mind.

The story essentially revolves around two ice skaters with traumatic pasts who go on an absolute roller coaster of a journey to win Olympic gold. They are riddled with codependency and certifiable-y toxic. I loved every second of it. Grab yourself a copy on January 14, 2025!

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own!

I posted a review on both Instagram and TikTok on December 15, 2024. My handle is @stephlovesbooksss on both platforms!

I am so excited for this book to come out! Figure skating plus drama off the ice makes for a very thrilling ready! Also a modern take on Wuthering Heights? Sign me up! I loved it and I was all in from page one. The fast pace of and plot twists had me gasping out loud literally. I watched a show that was similar to this novel and I was reminded of how much I missed it upon reading this one. Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Can’t wait for everyone to read it.

This book follows Kat Shaw and Heath Rocha who are two ice dancers first starting out and competing. While are their first Nationals, they met Garrett amd Bella Lin, who are the children of famous ice dancer Sheila Lin. The four continue to compete for medals at different competitions. What happens in this book? Read to find out!

While the pacing of this book can take a little getting used to, it is well worth it for the strong character development and sweeping plot. This book was surprisingly funny and kept me entertained. This book reminded of my Carrie Soto is Back, but with more characters involved and a stronger story. I took off one star because the build up is slow. It paid off and I would highly recommend!

Thanks to Net Galley for providing the ARC for my review!

The Favorites is exciting in the way reality TV is exciting: high on the dramatics, but always superficial, lacking depth of character. The storytelling is good; you’re hooked and you want to find out what happens next, and it will make a phenomenal movie or TV series.

The documentary-esque storytelling was great, but the focus is truly on the drama, the shock factor, and the plot twists dropped in just to liven it up a bit. Very little felt organic, and you never really got to connect with any of the characters: Kat is quite unlikeable, and poor, poor Heath is so amorphous. He has a traumatic back story but he exists only to be a shapeless dance partner and to be the push/pull necessary for the dramatics, serving the author when the story hit a roadblock.

I’m impressed with the level of research needed to write this book, and the timing of the release is fantastic (with coverage of figure skating and ice dance on TV approaching for nationals and championships, etc.). If anything, this was my takeaway: watching these athletes compete with a new curiosity about their lives and how they got to the ice.

“They knew exactly what they were doing to one another. And they weren’t gonna stop until somebody won.”

Most people of a certain age know exactly where they were when the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding story broke. It was a raw and vengeful exposé at odds with the graceful and serene imagery of women’s figure skating. Shocking, jarring and just scratching the surface of what would become a 24/7 tabloid news cycle.

Told through alternating chapters of interview transcripts and first person point of view, Layne Fargo’s new novel had me hooked at the first chapter and didn’t let me go until the final sentence. The author tells the tale of Katarina Shaw, a young economically disadvantaged girl with dreams of gold medals, and Heath Rocha, a boy barely surviving the foster care system. Their unlikely ice dancing and romantic partnership begins as young teens, stepping onto the volatile path toward Olympic glory.

On the 10th anniversary of their final skate, all the key characters reflect back on what happened and why with as many shocking twists and turns as the culminating free skate. Heroes and villains, heartbreak and sabotage run rampant throughout the narrative, one I predict will be a fan favorite this winter!

A pair to match the characters in Marissa Stapley’s The Lightning Bottles, and the competitive tension of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Carrie Soto Is Back, I highly recommend putting this on your list.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Random House Publishing for the early copy in exchange for my honest review!

The Favorites by Layne Fargo is an exciting fast-pasted story of love and hate shown in the spotlight of cut-throat figure skating. I really liked how the story went back and forth between the documentary and FMC’s first-person accounting of what really happened behind closed doors. If you liked watching all the figure skating drama unfold in the 80’s and 90’s - this is that, but better.

3.75.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The second half of this book is a wild ride that I loved, the first half I feel like I had expectations it would be more adult fiction rather than new adult so that may have pulled some enjoyment from it. I LOVED the idea of Daisy Jones and the Six meets ice dance drama as an avid ice dance watcher, though I'm not a Wuthering Heights girl, which also influenced it. I think knowing about ice dance may have been part of the problem though, as I kept thinking "this would never be allowed to happen". I think if you're further removed from the genre it will work better for you. But overall it was thrilling tale of obsession in a world where anyone would do anything to reach the top

You absolutely HAVE TO read The Favorites on audiobook - the full cast production is amazing and will have you feel like you’re watching a documentary. Johnny Weir is one of the audio narrators and does an amazing job.

It’s been ten years since Kat Shaw and Heath Rocha last skated - and to commemorate the anniversary, a new documentary is being released. Everyone thinks they know what happened but there is definitely more to the story.

Kat and Heath were famous ice dancers and as the cover says: “Tothe world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.” I don’t want to say much more because I went in only knowing it was the new book ny Layne Fargo (an auto read author for me) and was about ice dancing. My only complaint is there were a few points it felt a little long and I thought it was getting close to the end only to see there was a lot left. But ultimately I found the story really satisfying and I’m glad it was all there.

Thank you to the publisher and PRH Audio for the free ebook and audiobook to review.

Thank you @penguinrandomhouse #partner for the gifted copy of this eARC!

If Carrie Soto Is Back got together with Daisy Jones and The Six and added a dash of Honey (the book), the end result is The Favorites! This book is centered around highly skilled ice skaters participating in competitions like World Championships and the Olympics. And boy oh boy there is a lot of draaaaammmmmmaaaa! In fact, there is so much drama that I couldn’t find ANY character in this book that I liked! The competitiveness of this book made these characters very undesirable, vindictive, cut throat and impossible to like. Personally, I’d say that’s exactly what worked for this book. There were several jaw dropping moments and moments where I felt like I just wanted to yell at these characters, but happy to report by the end of this journey, some came around and learned from their previous mistakes. Phew! Sadly, I think it’s possible Layne has captured real life in sports at this level. 👀 If you are an ice skaters, have ice skated, play or have played competitive sports in your life I think you’d really love this one! The good news is you don’t have to wait long because it’s out mid January!

Side note, I buddy read this one, and most of my buddies listened to the audio. Although I did not they raved about ten audiobook being absolutely brilliant!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Random House for providing me with the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

5 stars!!! This was amazing, engaging, gritty, fast-paced, heart-pounding, and so thrilling!! I was utterly captivated and on the edge of my seat throughout this entire book. Every time I thought the stakes couldn't get higher and things couldn't get worse for our characters, they did. Layne Fargo's writing was so addictive and evocative. I felt like I was really there with the characters on the ice. I also loved how she depicted the messiness and toxicity of their relationship. I can attest that the Wuthering Heights comparison is accurate!

I also really enjoyed the side characters because they ended up contributing a lot to the plot and becoming key players in the story. I really enjoyed how this book showed that things are never black and white as seen through Bella and Kat's friendship. I also love how determined Kat was even to her and other's detriment sometimes.

This was a story of two people who can't seem to stay out of each other's lives. The way they hurt each other just to make sure the other is still thinking of them. Toxic, but I love it!! Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can't describe it as anything except an "experience." Or like watching a documentary. Catch me on January 14th running to the bookstore because I need a physical copy to annotate!!!!

I loved this intense drama and epic love story set in the cutthroat world of elite figure skating! When Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha met as children in a northern suburb of Chicago, he was a troubled kid in the foster care system and she was a motherless girl who was sure that she was destined to become a champion Olympic ice skater. Skating was a means for the two of them to escape their turbulent lives and together they went from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers until a shocking event at the 2014 Olympic games ended their skating partnership.

As the 10th anniversary of their final performance approaches, interest has been revived by an unauthorized documentary that includes interviews with figure skating officials as well as friends and rivals of the pair and Katarina has also decided that it's time to share her side of the story. Alternating between Katarina's POV and transcript from the documentary, the narrative of The Favorites moves through the timeline chronologically beginning when they are teens until the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.

This is the kind of story that you get sucked into - I literally could not put it down! The reader knows from the introduction that there was a shocking incident at the Sochi Olympics but what happened isn't revealed until the end - there was so much tension and I couldn't stop turning pages late into the night because I needed to know!

The glimpse into the competitive figure skating world and how damaging it can be to the psyche of young skaters is fascinating as is the obsessive relationship between Katarina and Heath (inspired by Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights). This is a story of ambition, scandal and love with a strong female character who is not always likeable. Katarina is cast as a villain in the world of figure skating because she's more than a little rough around the edges and she won't play along and behave as she's expected to - I was rooting for her all the way! The Favorites is an enjoyable read for anyone but particularly good for anyone captivated by the world of Olympic figure skating.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

THE FAVORITES had me instantly intrigued from the plot description alone, and it did not disappoint! Layne Fargo does a fantastic job of fleshing out Kat and Heath's characters, and the complicated dynamic between them. I was completely invested in their relationship, and their individual journeys within the competitive world of ice dancing—I just couldn't put this book down! I would definitely recommend THE FAVORITES, especially for lovers of Taylor Jenkins Reid's novels, figure skating fans, and/or readers who'd enjoy a fresh, modern retelling of the classic Wuthering Heights. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

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

An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating about a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice.

This story follows the lives of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha who start out as a couple of kids from the wrong side of the tracks. Competitive Ice Dancing could be their perfect way out. This one really dives into this cutthroat world behind the skating. I was surprised how vicious and brutal these people could be. Kat and Heath are definitely like fire and ice and really have their struggles throughout. It's a definite "will they, won't they" theme on so many levels. Will they become a couple, will they manage to stay together, will they qualify for the Olympics, will they win a gold????? I loved the tension filled action as we try to answer these questions. Things definitely didn't always go the way I thought they would either, and this kept me flipping the pages. My only downside is that it seemed a little too long for me, otherwise a great heart pounding read about a sport I really didn't know much about.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wuthering Heights on ice? Cathy and Heathcliff on skates?! Considering that I loathe Cathy and Heathcliff, no one was more surprised than I that I found The Favorites a wildly fun read; it pulled me right in and I read it over a few days.

The writing is terrific, the characters fleshed out and realistic, and the end result is both engaging and compelling. The Favorites is definitely one to read and has my full recommendation.


****I’ve read a lot of reviews comparing it to Daisy Jones & the Six but having read (and enjoyed) both, I think it only merits that comparison due to the format of the story, which is similar to any oral history book.



Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the DRC

This book shows the savage world of elite figure skating. Katarina Shaw has always believed she was destined to win the Olympic gold. Her instant connection with childhood friend, Heath Rocha leads to a partnership spanning years of scandal, tragedies, and desires.

Captivating and addictive, heartbreaking and inspirational at the same time. This one was a wild ride, but I enjoyed every second. I HIGHLY recommend this one on audio. There were so many different narrators that made the story really come to life and the interview/documentary style at the end of each chapter was perfection! Ups and downs, passion, drama, friendships, rivalries. I definitely became emotionally attached to Katarina and Heath’s messy journey.

I feel like anyone who loved Daisy Jones and The Six will love this one too! It was really long at 448 pages, but I was honestly entranced the entire time.

This book was a wild ride where I never could have predicted what was coming next. It is dramatic and intense and the story just hooks you. Although it was fictional, every part of it felt so real. Katarina and Heath’s love story and skating relationship was crazy, but so enthralling to witness. I can’t encourage others enough to check it out.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the e-ARC.

I'm a big fan of retellings and Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite books, but I was still a bit skeptical about a modern retelling centered around figure skaters... The Favorites was actually really good though! Kat and Heath are childhood friends who grew up together (the backstory is pretty similar to the original story) and Kat dreams about being an Olympic ice dancer while Heath dreams about doing anything that will make Kat happy. The book follows a few decades of their life, centering on the highs of their athletic careers and the relationships they have with other skaters as well. There is documentary style bits between chapters in a similar style to the movie I Tonya, which I honestly could've done without but it wasn't awful and it did allow for some interesting foreshadowing.

If you're a fan of Wuthering Heights or figure skating or dramatic on again off again toxic relationships, this book is for you!!

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy.

You are going to hear a lot about THE FAVORITES next month because it is just that good. I never read any of Layne Fargo’s thrillers (not my jam), but @readingismycardio told me that I had to check out The Favorites. She was absolutely right.
The Favorites is the story of Katarina and Heath, high school sweethearts who grew up in a rural area of Michigan. Katarina’s parents died when she was in high school and she lived with her bully of a brother, Lee. Heath is a foster kid who adores Katarina. She’s into ice dance so Heath takes it up and becomes her partner. The book follows the duo through the years as they embark on a competitive ice dancing career that takes them all over the world.

I loved the book. The characters worked for me and I as totally invested in their relationship and the ice dancing competitions. This book reminded me of TJR book and Fargo actually studied writing under TJR and mentions her influence in the acknoweldgments. I always read the acknowledgments and Fargo’s thank yous are some of the best — especially the last sentence!

4.5 rounded up

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.