With the Olympics just around the corner this book was totally ON POINT for me! Admittedly I am a bit of a sucker for ice dancing - Virtue and Moir anyone?!?! That said, I also LOVE characters with complexity and darkness and realness and this book delivered! I was hooked from the get-go and LOVED the different PoVs, fast paced short chapters and the gossip perspectives. This books is a 4.5 for sure! No doubt it will make a BIG impact when it is released. Can't wait! Sign me up to read more from Layne Fargo.

Oh my gosh this BOOK! I was hooked from the first page and couldn’t put it down. It was a wild ride for sure; it was definitely not a typical romance and the characters were not always likable but their development was fantastic. The author did a fantastic job retelling Wuthering Heights. I have also looked every where for an ice skating novel that touched on all aspects of the skating world and this book is it!

4.5/5 stars!

Thank you to the publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC.

I loved this book, easy to pick up read a chapter and read more later. The book is told from a first person perspective, with intermittent present time news interviews documenting the story.

So many emotions. I cheered, I raged, I questioned myself. I NEEDED the main characters to stay together, and I needed them to split. I wanted to watch them succeed, and watch them crumble.

The cast of the book was colorful. You had the mean girl become friends, the constant questioning if it’s true.

I can’t wait for this book to come out.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾☆ 4.75 GOLD stars ☆☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Who let the Layne Fargo train depart without me on it and why are you just now letting me board?!

playlist 🎧: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/68p6m34QuKPd35vcjf0QSc?si=0d08c2f20dc343ff

A passionate tale of the bitter triumphs and self-inflicted tribulations of the elite figure skating world, The Favorites is a story that details the jarring reality of making a name for yourself in spite of those determined to oppose you for their own corruptive gain.

˚₊ · »-♡→ characters

In her own way, on her own terms, just as promised, our story is narrated by Olympic hopeful, Katarina Shaw. Every ounce the powerhouse I hoped she’d be, our female protagonist will convert you from a silent supporter of women’s rights, to a proud advocate of women’s wrongs. It goes without saying that you’ll probably pull out a couple hairs along the way though, her strong-willed disposition an acquired taste at times. As for me, I believe I’ve been designed to love even the sharpest of edges unapologetically.

Lost in the orbit of her protective and all-consuming nature, Katarina’s orphaned childhood sweetheart, Heath Rocha, finds himself chasing the dreams of his lover at the expense of his own self identity. A man you hate to love, Heath disparagingly turns the ashes of his desperate and dysfunctional relationship into wounded and ruthless ambition.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, Isabella Lin’s golden rule. As the poster child of Olympic gold-medalist, Sheila Lin, Bella’s learned that any relationship, platonic or romantic, is a distraction; a means to an end when it comes to her own competitive ambitions. A character that will keep you on your toes from beginning to end, the only person capable of taming the thoughtless and sometimes reckless abandon she conjures is her partner and twin brother.

The voice of reason, Garrett Lin is a reliable, yet reserved individual. With integrity that sets him apart from his familial counterparts, he kept me sane amidst a tragic rollercoaster of emotions.

Lovers, rivals, and champions, Kat and Heath’s dynamic is an enigma. Call it a scandal. Call it an obsession. Either way, as an angst lover, I’m down bad. I was rooting for them. I was rooting against them. I was rooting for everything in-between. Their partnership both on the ice and off is nothing short of salacious, cutthroat, and inevitable.

With a legacy destined to stay forever intertwined, the end is just the beginning for these two.

˚₊ · »-♡→ writing

Perfectly and predictably unpredictable, there’s no keeping a poker face with this one. I gasped, I laughed (okay, okay…snorted), I cried, I stared at the wall with a dropped jaw. You name it, I experienced it to a degree so extreme, it would sound made up if I even dared attempt to verbalize it.

I am just BEGGING, on my knees, absolutely salivating for this to be adapted for the screen. A sentiment, I would like to emphasize, I very rarely entertain. The imagery is far too surreal not to at least consider the mere possibility of it extending beyond the pages. The entire time, all I could think was, “oh the Daisy Jones and the Six girlies are going to eat this up!”

˚₊ · »-♡→ structure

The story being told in alternating timelines through documentary transcript and first-person POV give even the most sparsely seen characters a in-depth nuance. The suspenseful accounts from a colorful cast of potentially biased coaches, judges, and colleagues (excuse me, rivals) creates an addictive and thrilling tone that will make you lose all sense of time and reality.

Needless to say, Fargo’s mastered the art of captivating even the rowdiest of audiences with an unputdownable read.

˚₊ · »-♡→ tropes

That being said, forget hockey, the girls want more figure skating romances! I am the very anti-thesis of the word athletic, but I’ve somehow acquired the desire to become an Olympian. I mean, is it too soon to re-read? Asking for a friend…(it’s me…I’m the friend).

I would like to take a moment to appreciate 2021 me for going down the Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir rabbit hole that led me here. I will forever be indebted to you.

Thank you to Random House and Layne Fargo for so kindly providing me with an ARC. As always, all thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by early access to this title.

Clear your schedule, grab some wine and popcorn, and get ready to devour Layne Fargo’s much-anticipated Wuthering Heights-inspired novel in one setting. Don’t even attempt to do anything else because this emotional rollercoaster pulls you in from the first page and keeps you in a strangle hold. Is this an epic love story? Yes. Is it also about an ambitious young woman finding her own path in life while navigating what success looks like and the horrible costs to obtain it? Yes. Did I read it and love every second? Absolutely.

i need to have the physical version of this ASAP!!! this was ridiculously good, excellent, every positive adjective i can think about. it's giving elevated, sport-centered daisy jones & the six. from the plot, characters, ice-skating specific terminiology, everything in the book worked so well together. the romance was THERE, the drama was THERE, just it was so incredibly good. Random House // Layne Fargo if you see this im BEGGING for the physical.

The Favorites is a thriller, love story, and sports documentary book. Ostensibly based upon Heathcliff and Catherine from Wuthering Heights, this books tries to be too many things, and unfortunately falls flat. What could have been a tender love story, or a really in-depth look at the politics of elite sports, just becomes...drama.

The book follows Kat and Heath, friends, sometimes lovers, and ice dancing partners as they go from childhood to the olympics. We see them meet as children, start training for ice dance, and work their way to the upper echelon of the ice dancing world. Along the way, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong . The book is structured similar to Daisy Jones and the Six. At the beginning of each chapter there is a section from a documentary where someone from the main character's past (old skating coach, friend, etc.) gives the set-up, and then we switch to Kat's point of view. This...does not work well. Instead, we learn what's going to happen, or what cliffhanger we're about to encounter, and then see this exact plot point through Kat's first-person. The problem is, nothing is well motivated for what Kat or Heath do. They act like complete and total assholes to each other, but also love each other? There's no basis for the love, we're just told that since they faced adversity together as children they obviously do. Nothing from Kat's point of view emotionally motivates any of her reactions beyond her want to win. But that just makes her seem shallow and one-dimensional. And because SO much has to happen in terms of plot, much is sacrificed. I wish slightly less had happened plot-wise (there was some family stuff that doesn't seem to add anything?), and we had gotten more character interactions to motivate their feelings and actions. Also, unfortunately, the skating parts were incredibly disappointing. We're told but not shown the work they do, the practice, the competitions they are in. It just makes it feel half-finished.

Overall, I think this books needs to sacrifice some of the plot to grow the characters. I don't mind unlikable characters, but it needs to be motivated why they are the way they are. This book doesn't do that, and suffers for it.

I could not get enough of The Favorites! With every new challenge and circumstance, I was left wondering "How will they come back from this?". I'd recommend this to anyone but especially those who watched Challengers and fell in love/hate/respect with Tashi Duncan or read Carrie Soto is Back and couldn't put it down (Or if you often quote "I support women's rights and I support women's wrongs"). Katarina's unwavering determination was both a virtue and a vice. If you fell down the Virtue & Moir Olympic Ice Dance rabbit hole you'll love taking a fictional look into what harrowing lives may lie behind the beautiful performances. Tashi Duncan and Carrie Soto love tennis, Katarina Shaw loves skating, and Heath Rocha loves Katarina Shaw. Rocha is fleshed out in a way that even without his perspective you can read his mind and feel what's in his heart. Just like real people, there is pain and hurt and love and light and without it all together the story would be incomplete. I can see this one sparking great conversation when it is released and I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of this amazing story! I would not be surprised if this is picked up for a miniseries or movie, absolutely captivating!

This an epic novel about Katarina and Heath and their tumultuous life, love and dreams of Olympic stardom. Heath will do anything for Katarina and she will do anything to achieve her dreams. This book follows their rise in the skating world and also features portions of a documentary about their career. I was fully invested in this story from page one. I loved the interviews from the documentary portions of the book. These characters and this story feels like you are reading about real events that happened.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book for review.

The Favorites is a book that will not leave my mind for a long time. I really enjoyed Layne Fargo's other books and was excited to read something else she wrote. I know nothing about ice skating but that didn't matter because Fargo gave us a story about people. The characters felt so real. I felt as if I had read someone's entire life. This book had a similar writing style to some other authors like Taylor Jenkins reid. I personally can not wait to buy this book when it comes out in person!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Favorites by Layne Fargo.

If this book doesn't sit on one of those front shelves of Barnes and Nobles, I will be absolutely shocked. This is SUCH a beautiful and well fashioned story, definitely one of a kind.

Kat and Heath are two poor kids living in squalor who have very little supervision and also a deep love for ice dancing. Taken under the wing of a wealthy Olympic winner, they are given a rare chance to train with the best, but romance, jealousy and betrayal find their sticky fingers always getting between them. Will Shaw and Rocha (as the world knows them by) even win their Olympic gold, and will their romance go the distance.

This is a novel that you really have to sink into. You will grow to know and love so many of these characters well. It covers the span of years, often told in interview format by many of the people who were there. You will learn so much about ice dancing, and how brutal and competitive that sport can be. You'll also be swept up in a love story that is constantly tested by the powers that be. So good, I absolutely loved this.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of THE FAVORITES.

I could not put this book down! It reminded me a lot of the books that have been coming out with interview-style writing (Daisy Jones & the Six, Final Revival of Opal & Nev, etc). I did sometimes struggle with the pacing, as well as the characterization. I think I wanted more insight to Kat's inner struggles than we got. Still....this is absolutely going to be a hit when it comes out in January.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

a wuthering heights retelling for people who watch scott and tessa's pyeongchang moulin rouge performance every couple of months (me)

it's a great concept and was executed well. the plot was fast-paced and full of twists and turns from the original story as well as some creative liberties of course, i think it might be even more enjoyable to go into the book blind if someone hadn't read wuthering heights before. there are a lot of comparisons to daisy jones because of the documentary transcripts that follow each chapter. i liked it a lot more here than in daisy jones though, as it's not comprising the entire narrative and it's a neat way to establish more minor characters in the story and build out the world. i have a couple of quibbles about the pacing (would've liked to see more of heath and kat's childhood) and the ending (felt a little too convenient) but overall, really enjoyed my time with this book. i could see this being a hit with the taylor jenkins reid crowd and i hope it finds it's audience next year!

4.5 ⭐️

The beginning started out a little slow but by part 3 I didn’t want to put this book down! I loved following the ups and downs of Kat and Heaths story. The character development of Kat was *chef’s kiss*. There were a lot of rocky situations but by the end she realized what was truly important.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC!

The Favorites by Layne Fargo was a such an emotional and gripping story! I did not know what to expect going into this book, and was very pleasantly surprised. This book tells an epic story of ice dancing partners and their journey through the world of elite figure skating and life. I couldn’t get enough of Kat, Heath, Garrett, and Bella. I loved it, highly recommend!

Many thanks to @randomhouse for my #gifted (free) copy. Pub date 1/14/25.

Yes, I jumped way ahead of my ARC list to read this book, and I am not sorry at all! As soon as I finished this book, I immediately bought all @laynefargo previous books because I just found my new favorite author. Oh my goodness, this was a story that kept me so captivated, I had so many different emotions reading this that I didn't know what to think. The story, the main characters, side characters, the layout of the book, just everything was done perfectly. This would make an excellent movie or mini series, and I would be surprised if it doesn't get picked up. You guys, pre-order this and definitely add to your TBR because it's amazing!

Katarina Shaw's dream is to make it to the Olympics and win the gold medal for ice dancing with her partner and best friend, Heath Rocha. It's not an easy road for either one of them, but they eventually start making a name for themselves, and the people can not get enough of them. The last night of the 2010 Olympics, something happened that could possibly end their dreams.

Ten years later, an unauthorized documentary is in the works about the famous duo, and Katarina wants nothing to do with it, but she also wants the world to know the truth. Katarina tells us her story (documentary style) from the very beginning, spanning decades of her life, the good, the bad, and the ugly (and there is lots of it). Do you remember the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding scandal, or have you watched I, Tonya? If so, you won't be able to get enough of this book. I never wanted it to end! Again, pre-order this book or purchase on 1/14!

Wow!
This book was a great sports romance !
And it reminded me of like a mix between Daisy jones and the six and the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo!
It’s full of love, betrayal and the desire to be the best!
I enjoyed this a lot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Layne Fargo's The Favorites is a wild, gut-wrenching story about Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha and how their dreams of love and gold medals drive their relationship through heartache and desire. It's seductive and dramatic in all the right ways.

It's taken me some time to sit down and write a review for this book, but not for a bad reason. My love for this book is so strong that I'm not sure I'll be able to put it into words. This story is so impactful and memorable that trying to write a review for it feels impossible.

I originally wanted to read this book because it was about figure skating. I had been looking for books about my sport, but never really found any that interested me. Luckily, I happened to see the cover reveal post for The Favorites. I was so glad to see that people were finally noticing the potential ice dancing and figure skating have for a beautifully dramatic story of love and self-discovery.

One of my favorite parts of this book is that you can tell Layne Fargo did a lot of figure skating research before writing this book. It's not uncommon for books and movies about the sport to be inaccurate, so it's nice to see something that has so many accuracies.

The story is told in a mix of first-person POV that lets readers into Katarina's head and snippets of documentary interviews that let the side characters speak their minds. The combination makes for such an interesting mix of feelings that works incredibly well for this story.

Throughout the book, I went through a rollercoaster of strong feelings. I felt like I was experiencing every moment of Katarina's pain, anger, and joy with her. I went from crying and refusing to look at my phone, afraid of whatever heartbreak would come next, to sitting on my floor giggling and rereading lines over and over again. The way Layne Fargo wrote this book makes it impossible to not feel the emotions of the story.

This is the type of story that you could easily read in one sitting because of how addictive it is. Each chapter leaves you wanting more. It's a book you won't want to put down, but it's also a book you won't want to finish. I would've happily read 1,000 pages of this story if Layne Fargo wrote them. I'd read about the most mundane details of these character's lives if it meant the book didn't have to end. Once you fall in love with these characters and their story, you won't want to let it finish. And you will fall in love with these characters.

To me, this book felt like performing a figure skating program. You let yourself become one with the music and you block out the rest of the world to focus on the details of it. Each movement consumes your mind as they all come together to create something beautiful. That's exactly what this book did for me. Each scene captured my thoughts and took me into a story that I loved, a story that let me escape the real world. I couldn't ask for anything more.

This is my new favorite book of the year and one of my top favorite books of all time. It's a book I'll think about daily. It's a book that I will be immediately annotating when I get a physical copy on release day. This is the type of book I would give 6 stars if I could.

If this doesn't become your favorite book of 2025, I don't know what will.

Review on Goodreads (sophreadingbooks https://www.goodreads.com/sophreadingbooks) as of 7/6/2024
Review on Instagram (sophiesreading https://www.instagram.com/sophiesreading/) expected 7/8/2024

Quick synopsis: Since being a young girl, Katarina Shaw knew she wanted to be a gold medalist Olympic ice skater. At 16 years old she runs off with Heath, a foster care kid, to Hollywood to chase her dream. What she wasn’t expecting was a life filled with of scandal, betrayal, heartbreak, and pain.
Review: I LOVED this book. It starts with blood on the ice rink and then backtracks to the beginning. A story told in real time by the our narrator, Katarina, as well as being told alongside a documentary style interview that was held after the Olympics 14 years later on the most scandalous night… This book has it all- it’s dark, romantic, thrilling, and addictive. It is supposed to be a modern take on withering heights, the story of love and bonding between two trauma ridden and toxic people. If there is one thing Layne Fargo can do, it’s tell a damn good story. This story spans from the main characters being 16 years old to 40 years old and there is never a boring moment.
Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!! 🫶
Get your copy January 2025!!

And the gold medal goes to… THE FAVORITES by Layne Fargo!

The format of this novel is expertly aligned with the storyline and characters. The interview style of the documentary and the narration shifting between time is a perfect fit to showcase the characters as their own story lines develop throughout the novel. Even the minor characters shine in their interviews which provide more context and layers to the themes and secrets in this work. As I was reading, I felt as though I was watching the documentary on television and caught myself holding my breath at the end of each scene, desperately anticipating reading the next chapter.

Through this work of fiction, Layne artistically brings to life a very real world that most people only tune into every 4 years. THE FAVORITES is worthy of the gold!