⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I didn’t know if I would like a book about ice dancing but I loved it. It sucked me in right from the beginning. I was rooting for Kat the whole time even though she wasn’t likable at times. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

Wow! I loved everything about Layne Fargo’s exhilarating novel, THE FAVORITES. I raced through this epic love story set within the demanding, cut-throat world of competitive ice dancing. It’s a unputdownable story filled with fascinating characters and all the drama we love both on and off the ice. A must read!

I initially checked out this book due to the age of the characters. If I had a New Adult section, I would add in heartbeat. I enjoyed the characters and the description of the novel by the publisher was spot on.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

Reading this was like watching one of those documentaries on Netflix but having the person they're talking about sit right next to you telling you what really happened. It was insane. All of it. Heath and Katherine's story has me with my mouth open the whole time I was reading. And that ending? Katherine, honey, I wish I could be like you, but hell no. Once I would have found out about what had happened between them, I would've left and never looked back.

The Favorites is my favorite book of the year!

This novel has it all: friendship, love, jealousy, hatred, scandal, heartbreak, reconciliation, betrayal.

Katarina Shaw has always known she was meant to be an Olympic skater. Her partner and her soul's mirror, Heath Rocha, would do anything for her. The unlikely skaters fight their way to the top where they encounter fame, death, and a scandal that might ruin their chances of ever being Olympic skaters.

The Favorites is told in a series of vignettes by Katarina herself interwoven with documentary interviews. The story is compelling, the characters are enthralling; I was ravenous for this book.
I would recommend this for fans of both Taylor Jenkins Reid and Rachel Hawkins.

This is the first ARC I've ever had the pleasure of reading! The Favorites is fiction, but is read as a documentary/memoir about a woman who is determined to win Olympic Gold, the friends/foes she meets on her journey, and all the challenges she must overcome.

Although this is quite different from what I usually read, this was an interesting story. There was drama at every turn that kept me interested. My feelings for each character changed multiple times, but each showed growth as well. I will buy a copy of this book when it hits shelves and I cannot wait to decorate the edges!

I requested this ARC because They Never Learn was my favorite book of this year. This book was quite the opposite, and I felt it was a bit too long. Overall, a good read with a satisfying conclusion.

More than three years after reading They Never Learn, Layne Fargo’s last book, I’ve been waiting for a new novel from her. I can definitely report that The Favorites was truly worth the wait!

Inspired by an American gold medalist in ice dancing when she was young, Katarina Shaw knew this is what she wanted to do. But as a girl growing up without money or family connections, just talent and drive, she has to work triply hard to make her dream come true.

She meets Heath Rocha, adrift in the foster care system, and she knows she’s found her partner. While Katarina is hungrier for greatness than Heath, he wants what makes her happy, so he commits to making their Olympic dreams a reality. And their turbulent relationship, along with a take-no-prisoners attitude and raw, unbridled talent, sees them reach the highest of highs and the lowest of lows—together and apart.

Yet when they finally reach the pinnacle of their career, tragedy strikes. Ten years after that fateful evening, an unauthorized documentary has been released, purporting to tell the whole story of Shaw and Rocha, chronicling their achievements, their failures, their supporters and detractors, and the unshakable bond between them.

This book is soapy, suspenseful, and absolutely addicting. I never thought a nearly 500-page book about drama in the ice dancing world would hook me so much, but this absolutely did. There’s lots of drama and even a little camp, and the book reminded me a bit of Daisy Jones. Bravo, Layne Fargo!

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the advance copy of the book. It will publish 1/14/2025.

Layne Fargo is one of my favorite authors! She writes women characters so well! This book was atmospheric as well as thought provoking. I love the writing style and how it just pulls you in and you feel like you’re almost part of the story! Read this book immediately.

I was admittedly suspicious when the marketing for this book kept comparing the content to Taylor Jenkins Reid, but this comparison was rather on the nose. To best sum up, this was as if Carrie Soto is Back and Daisy Jones and the Six had a baby. And make it ice skating.

With elements of the movie I, Tonya in there as well, THE FAVORITES follows (in)famous ice skater Katarina “Kat” Shaw and her scandalous rise to fame. Starting from Kat’s humble beginnings and spanning to her rocky relationship with her on-ice-and-real-life-partner, Heath Rocha, this book has it all.

Clocking in at almost 450 pages, there were parts of this novel that were drawn out and other sections that were very fast-paced; either way, I couldn’t put this book down and I didn’t want it to end. With all the twists and turns, there were multiple times where this book reminded me of a soap opera— not to say that that’s a bad thing (it felt rather well-suited to me), but I could also see this not meshing well with other readers. Given the (very) high rating this book has so far, I hope I’m mistaken.

I’m also a huge fan of Layne Fargo’s writing style. It’s simplistic to understand yet layered and nuanced at showing the complexities of the female experience. I can’t wait to read more stuff of her’s going forward!

All in all, I would undoubtedly recommend this to anyone looking for their next read. It has something for everyone to enjoy. My deepest thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The premise sounded so amazing, I had high expectations. However, it should be marketed more towards YA audience, in my opinion. This reads more like a YA sports romance than an adult book, in that the pleasure in reading this was not for the in depth exploration of the main characters' psyches - especially pertaining to sports psychology or the effects of childhood trauma on one's motivations or outlook on life- or the beautiful prose. Rather, if you enjoy toxic romance abound with gossip, misunderstanding, assumptions, high drama, this one's for you. I do enjoy reading about that kind of messy relationship IF I believe in the romance, but this book was structured in a way that most of the scenes take place on competition days, or through the perspectives of interviewees in the documentary, so I felt removed from both Kat + Heath, despite them being the main characters.

The development of the romance should take place during practice, during downtime, during dialogue scenes between the two lovers, where they talk about things. Instead, Heath was absent for a good chunk of the novel, and when he was present, was very one dimensional. I simply didn't feel a deep connection between the two. If anything, there was a stronger relationship between Kat + Bella, because we actually got scenes of their budding frenemyship! Also, this book is way too long for what the thin plot is. I felt like I was watching the same people have the same arguments, over years.

Overall, serviceable book if you want to turn your brain off and enjoy a toxic romance, but for a deeper exploration into an athlete's psyche and personal relationships, this book sadly missed the mark.

I really wanted to like this book, but for me it fell flat. The back and forth with the narrator to the story bothered me the most. I just couldn't really care about the characters or the story, Didn't end up finishing the book.

OH I’m obsesssed!! This was GOOD!😮‍💨 here’s some good (maybe niche) reasons you should preorder this one:

You know how when you watch an ice skating pair have insane chemistry you just want/NEED to believe they’re madly in love?? This was that.

You know how when you first watched the 2003 MTV Wuthering Heights movie you just couldn’t get enough of the TOXIC Heath/Cate relationship? This was that.

You know how Taylor Jenkins Reid writes books that just feel SO real you’re SURE the story actually happened and you have to google to make sure it’s NOT based on a true story? This was that.

and I ATE IT UP🥣🥣🥣!!!

Wuthering Heights🤝Carrie Soto is Back🤝Daisy Jones & The Six 🤝 ice dancing

The drama!! The chemistry!! I became immersed in these characters over the past 3 days with them and I can’t <b>wait</b> to reread it on audio because I knooow it’s going to be incredible in that format!! Full cast interviews anyone?!👏🫶 can’t wait to make ice dancing my entire personality!!

4.5 stars rounded up. This book sucked me in from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down! I read this in print but I have a feeling it will be an amazing audiobook.

(3.5 rounded up) I went into this thinking it was a mystery/thriller (100% on me, literally nowhere is it described as a mystery), so I was very surprised as the pages went on and it definitely was thrilling, but also leaned heavily into romance. The synopsis’s first line proclaims it “an epic love story,” so, again, the genre confusion is on me. That being said, I really liked this! I liked Layne Fargo’s previous novel “They Never Learn,” which is a feminist mystery/thriller, and this novel shows that regardless of genre, she is extremely good at developing a compelling story. This is a dual timeline story about a pair of ice dancers who are in love and all of the complications and trials they endure, from teenagedom to adulthood. The story, via the mixed media approach of a documentary, also includes voices other than our primary narrator, Katarina, the female dancer in the ice dancing duo, which I liked. It’s nice to get out of the main character’s head and adds a different perspective to events being written about. As someone unfamiliar with the ice skating/dancing world as a whole, I still felt drawn in to the dramas and lifestyle that being an athlete in this world brings about. I also felt the love story was fairly well-drawn, if a bit too much at times. The book is quite long and I sometimes found the prose overwritten. But my complaints were mostly minor. Layne Fargo has not missed for me yet.

This book has absolutely everything I love in a good fiction novel. I nod to a classic with a new twist, use of multi media, complex characters that you can't look away from, ambition, athletics, and of course, the will they or wont they. My only regret is that i didn't get to experience this on audio- I'm sure it will be amazing!

Thoughts

THE DRAMA!!

Y'all, I devoured this book. And it is a 448 page book, so it isn't small. But it had me enthralled. I just couldn't put it down.

This centers around childhood friends who dream of going to the Olympics for Ice Dancing. But they were not for wealthy families and it is hard to make it without money and connections. But Katarina cannot think of anything else. It is her dream.

As we know there has been some drama in ice skating but this book brought all the drama! Which, had me flipping the pages as fast as I could.

I am also glad Fargo has continued to write amazing women characters who a lot of people would consider unlikeable. She also points out the misogyny and hypocrisy directed towards women.

This was just such an entertaining read. I'd definitely recommend it. Thoughts

THE DRAMA!!

Y'all, I devoured this book. And it is a 448 page book, so it isn't small. But it had me enthralled. I just couldn't put it down.

This centers around childhood friends who dream of going to the Olympics for Ice Dancing. But they were not for wealthy families and it is hard to make it without money and connections. But Katarina cannot think of anything else. It is her dream.

As we know there has been some drama in ice skating but this book brought all the drama! Which, had me flipping the pages as fast as I could.

I am also glad Fargo has continued to write amazing women characters who a lot of people would consider unlikeable. She also points out the misogyny and hypocrisy directed towards women.

This was just such an entertaining read. I'd definitely recommend it. Thoughts

THE DRAMA!!

Y'all, I devoured this book. And it is a 448 page book, so it isn't small. But it had me enthralled. I just couldn't put it down.

This centers around childhood friends who dream of going to the Olympics for Ice Dancing. But they were not for wealthy families and it is hard to make it without money and connections. But Katarina cannot think of anything else. It is her dream.

As we know there has been some drama in ice skating but this book brought all the drama! Which, had me flipping the pages as fast as I could.

I am also glad Fargo has continued to write amazing women characters who a lot of people would consider unlikeable. She also points out the misogyny and hypocrisy directed towards women.

This was just such an entertaining read. I'd definitely recommend it.

I wanted to love this book but it missed the mark for me. I saw the vision and the plot line was interesting but i didnt like any of the characters. Im not sure if this was a romance but none of the characters were likable, all of their personalities were ice skating (either winning ir being forced to be in it) and none of them had any genuine friends or family relationships. Me not caring about any of the characters just had me skimming the book towards the end. But the chapters were short and engaging so it was pretty easy to fly through this book.

I fear that I’ve just read the best book I’ve read ever? At minimum the best book I’ve read this year.

This book will remind you why you fell in love with reading. Absolutely captivating, addictive, thrilling, and heartbreaking all at once. I gasped OUT LOUD multiple times. I just could not get enough and I’m sad every time I remember I finished this book.

Perfect for fans of daisy jones and the six, magnolia parks, and addicted to you.

I could not put this one down! I did not even realize how many pages this book was until I read other reviews that mentioned it's over 400 pages! Fargo's character development (of both main and side characters) kept me drawn in, and I appreciated the book's format with interview snippets weaved in. It helped push the narrative along.

4.25 rounded up to 5! Parts of it (the beginning and end - "idc what you think" statements) felt a bit too YA for me. Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the digital ARC!

Wow is this a long story - that’s why I gave it 3 stars. The story is good and gives the reader a very intimate look inside the cutthroat world of ice dancing and the relationships that form - but it couldve been written in a lot less pages.. Thank you for the advance read.