I can’t get over how much I enjoyed this book. It grabbed my attention right away, and kept me completely entertained the whole time. I found myself feeling every sort of emotion towards these characters. Loved them, hated them, cheered for them and against them. I loved that we got the full story of Kat and Health, from the very beginning until the conclusion. I didn’t feel like I finished this book and was missing something. I can’t wait to see everyone else fall in love with this story on Jan 14th!!

If you grew up in the 80’s when figure skating/ ice dancing and the Olympics were all the rage on Tv, you will most certainly enjoy this book. You are taken on a ride as Kate and Heath start at the bottom skating and work their way up through the ranks.
Kay gets to train with her idol while escaping a terrible life away from her abusive convict brother.
I enjoyed the ride which meant I was able to read this book very quickly.
Be prepared to read a lot of interviews of multiple people as well as commentary through out from a bunch of people
I don’t like books that make me read text messages, emails or interviews with multiple people. So, while I thought this book was great, I gave it 4 ⭐️ instead of 5 because so many chapters were interviews/commentary.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc.

Wow. WOW.

I just finished reading this book, and I could have never predicted where we were headed, where we would land, and what it would take to get there.

Resilience. Determination. Work. HARD work. Love. Fierceness. Undeterred focus. Strength by the rose petal.

THESE are the characteristics in a FMC I love to see.

This story is easily gold medal worthy.

Get your hands on this book immediately. You won’t be able to put it down.

Wow. Just wow. The Favorites is the story of ice dancing duo Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha. Kat will stop at nothing to become an Olympic gold medalist and Heath will do just about anything for Kat. With the release of an unauthorized documentary, Kat decides to share her story, from the lead up to her first competition with Heath, to their final skate together. Throughout the book, we get bits of interviews from the documentary from various people connected to Kat and Heath. From the very first chapter, I was hooked.

This book was an emotional roller coaster. I cried, wanted to scream and throw my Kindle across the room, then cried some more. These characters are all flawed, complex, messy, and I loved and hated each of them. Well, some of them I just hated. I’ll be thinking about this story for weeks and absolutely cannot wait to listen to the audiobook. Now, excuse me while I go watch ice dance compilation videos and pretend they’re Kat and Heath.

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

This book was so interesting, I don’t think I have read anything like it before. It is pure drama in a way that there is plot twist after plot twist until the end. As someone who loves drama I was eating up every second of this, I could not put my Kindle down the whole time I was reading.
While the drama was fun I do think that this book lacked emotion. Our two main characters really had no discerning personality traits. Katarina’s was that she wanted to be a winner and Heath’s was that he was in love with Katarina. Other than that nothing, I feel like the side characters were even more flushed out than our main characters.
The author is constantly telling us things rather than showing us. Like we are constantly being told that Katarina and Heath are so in love with each other but we don’t see really any meaningful conversations between them or really any chemistry. I also feel like Heath’s character as whole was severely underdeveloped.
Also, Katarina has a major personality change at the end for which there was no build up really. She had one mindset and then in the next chapter she had totally flipped. This was jarring and really made no sense.
I did really enjoy the side characters in this book the way they are woven so deeply into the main character’s lives is so heartwarming and compelling. Especially with the way that the book ended.

Absolutely loved The Favorites by Layne Fargo! This will absolutely be one of my favorites of the year! I tore through this book in less than 24 hours.

If you loved Daisy Jones and the Six you’ll love The Favorites. I’m already recommending this to everyone!

The sports themes intertwined with a love story kept me invested.

The Favorites is one of those books that reminds me why I love reading. Thank you Layne Fargo, I can’t wait to read what you write next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing group for an advance copy!

Reading this book was an intense emotional journey. There were moments when I felt so furious, heartbroken, and frustrated that I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room. Just when I thought I had found peace, it would slip away again, leaving me feeling lost. But as I reached the end, I realized that’s how life is—full of unexpected twists and turns. Somehow, the story ended in a way that felt right, and despite everything, I loved it.

It reminded me of my love for the Olympics. I’ve watched every Olympics since I was a kid, and I’ve always been fascinated by the dedication and sacrifice of the athletes. I especially remember the 1998 Winter Games, where the figure skating really stood out to me. Watching the athletes give everything they had, chasing their dreams, was both inspiring and humbling.

The book also made me think about the battle for success and winning the gold, and how the desire for it can sometimes overwhelm athletes and those around them. The hunger for success isn’t wrong, but it can push people to the brink, clouding what really matters in the process.

The writing was addictive, and the interviews woven throughout the book were refreshing. They gave a deeper layer to the story and made it feel more personal, allowing me to connect even more with what was happening.

As I finished the book, I couldn’t help but reflect on the bigger picture. The story delved into the pursuit of success, but it also showed how fragile those dreams can be when the pressure becomes too much. It made me think about life in general—about what truly matters in the end. What do we really win when everything is said and done? What is the true cost of reaching the top, and is it worth it? These are the questions that stayed with me long after I finished reading. So I ask myself: what have I really won? What does it all mean?

Book Review: The Favorites by Layne Fargo
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Layne Fargo’s The Favorites is an absolute triumph, a novel so rich with emotion, complexity, and raw human connection that it left me breathless. This beautifully written, harrowing love story unfolds within the glittering yet brutal world of elite figure skating, and I was completely swept away. Fargo doesn’t just tell a story; she immerses you in the minds and hearts of her characters, leaving you reeling with their love, hatred, passion, and pain.

At its heart, The Favorites is the story of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha, two fiercely determined individuals bound by a connection that transcends the ice. From their humble beginnings—Kat chasing Olympic dreams without her family’s support, Heath surviving the foster care system—to their meteoric rise as an ice-dancing duo, their relationship burns with an intensity that is both awe-inspiring and deeply flawed. Fargo masterfully depicts the fine line between obsession and devotion, creating a bond so compelling it’s impossible not to root for them, even when their choices are maddening.

The novel is unapologetically raw. Fargo peels back the layers of Kat and Heath’s relationship, exposing their insecurities, ambitions, and darkest secrets. Neither character is conventionally likable, but that’s what makes them unforgettable. Their humanity—messy, beautiful, and deeply relatable—shines through. I felt every moment of their journey, from the fiery highs of Olympic triumphs to the gut-wrenching lows of betrayal and loss.

The narrative’s structure is another triumph. The use of an unauthorized documentary as a framing device adds a modern and voyeuristic edge, allowing Fargo to explore the public and private facets of Kat and Heath’s lives. As the layers of their story unfold, the tension builds relentlessly, and the truth behind their dramatic split is as shocking as it is heartbreaking.

Described as part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, The Favorites lives up to the comparison and then some. Fargo’s prose is as sharp as a skate blade, her characters as vivid and unpredictable as a live performance. The novel dances between love and hate, creation and destruction, with the grace of a gold-medal routine.

For me, The Favorites is more than a book—it’s an experience. It captured my heart and refused to let go, leaving me emotionally wrecked and utterly satisfied. This will be a tough book to beat this year. If you love stories that are equal parts passion and pain, with unforgettable characters and a setting that dazzles and devastates in equal measure, do yourself a favor and read this book.

Layne Fargo, take a bow.

If you're a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid's writing style, you'll LOVE Layne Fargo's THE FAVORITES. In the same vein of DAISY JONES & THE SIX, it's partially told in documentary style - following the tumultuous journey of figure skaters Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha. Intercut with chapters from Kat's POV, you get a very well rounded story of these two from many perspectives, and baby...I was eating that sh*t up like candy. Growing up as an avid fan of figure skating, I was living for the juicy drama of it all. THE FAVORITES is definitely for those fans of ice skating, soap operas and fictional autobiographies. I love Taylor Jenkins Reid, and I love Layne Fargo now. If it hasn't already been optioned for film or TV, it will be because the pacing hooks you and never lets go.

Special thanks to Random House Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

i will sing Layne Fargo’s praises for ever and ever. her work is so different from book to book (i LOVED temper and they never learn so i knew i had to read THE FAVORITES asap!

i loved reading something different - this was an intense, melodramatic litfic-esque book will have readers hanging onto every word. the full cast audiobook really brings this to life.

the twists in this book will leave your jaw on the floor. huge congratulations to Layne Fargo for another hit!

Thanks so much to Random House for the arc!

Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me. It dragged and the drama was there for shock value vs actual plot points. Some people who love the classic may like this though

really enjoyed this one. after seeing so many early raving reviews I knew I had to try and get this one and I’m so honoured to have gotten an ARC. this was like a reality tv show but in a book form. I loved every single moment of it and found myself grasping my kindle wondering what the heck is going to happen next. The characters were so well executed that they felt so real. beautifully flawed characters are my fav. I love characters that have a strong passion for something and this is exactly what was portrayed in this novel. I was obsessed from the very first chapter. My first read of the year and it was one that will live rent free in my mind for quite sometime!

imagine the loneliest people in the world repeatedly stabbing one another with love and hate in equal measure and just when you think they shouldn’t be alive to stab another day, they turn around and stab YOU🫵. on ice!

real review to come tyvm (1/7/25)

okay update (1/10/25) actual thoughts, long and messy but whatever:

(1) i think my initial reaction still stands. but here’s more detail.

(2) this book was incredibly fun. i tore through it. it goes down incredibly easily just boom boom boom. and it really provoked an emotional reaction in me, which i find happens less and less the more i read; i feel quite inoculated. that said, i do think that was because some of it was melodrama. again, very FUN, but certainly more heightened. as someone who grew up on shonda shows in middle school, i can very well appreciate a Heightened Situation (bomb in a body cavity is some of my favorite television ever) but i don’t tend to seek that out in my reading so this was kinda new and i enjoyed it very much.

(2a)[note: some of the events at the end of the book, without spoiling, started to stretch my credulity and feel a little like the fics i was reading on wattpad also in middle school, but then i really liked the way it resolved (f*******a!) and the lesson katarina learned, they way it tied up threads from throughout, the emotional growth katarina finally had to face, etc. so i won’t complain too much, but when i was in the middle of reading those events i was like uhhhhh.]

(3) re: this being a wuthering heights retelling: i have not read wuthering heights, despite meaning to get to it, so i can’t comment specifically on the character representations and relationships and whatnot. i know the basic plot though, and i’d say the first half follows that plot fairly closely and the second forges its own path in order to continue the telling of this modern story.

(4) re: the characters: (again, idk exactly what they are like in wuthering heights but make of this what you will) i really liked katarina (kathy). she was not a passive object upon which others’ plots (romantic or vengeful) were imposed, but rather she had intense desire and drive that moved the entire story and all of the characters. she was very interesting to read about. heath (heathcliff) was very brooding, as i’ve always heard he is, but i feel like he otherwise got lost a bit. of course he has his intense love for katarina and his vengefulness upon his return, but he doesn’t have much face-level personality. just brooding. and so where katarina and isabella were deeply realized, heath felt more cartoonish. that’s not to say i didn’t love him and hate him at various times. he certainly elicited emotions in me, the reader, in addition to the other characters, but i found myself wondering if there was anything else to him?

(5) my understanding of wuthering heights is that heath’s nonwhiteness plays a key role in his social position and while this retelling did include that element, it felt a little hand-waved at. katarina and heath are both looked down on by the ice skating community: first for their nontraditional style—a reflection of their lack of money and access to the upper echelons of this world—and then later for their “trashy” choices (bringing drama to the ice, choosing to become media darlings/influencers, selling their romance, etc) which again reflect that they will never fit into the conservative, wealthy world of skating. while heath’s race is remarked upon, it’s mostly in passing, and he and katarina are both looked down upon together for the aforementioned reasons. sometimes we even see katarina receive harsher treatment for not fulfilling conservative womanly ideals. while i found all of that to be interesting, it would’ve also been interesting to see moments where heath was treated differently by the skating community not because of anything he did or his manner of behavior (he gets frisked at the airport once, but i emphasize by the skating community because that’s where katarina and heath are trying and struggling to find purchase). again, i don’t know myself how heath’s race is actually portrayed in wuthering heights or how people feel about it, but i think there’s more room for that in this retelling than fargo utilizes.

(6) i love ice skating movies and books. so. this was bound to be a hit.

in conclusion, so fun! read it and enjoy!

4 stars

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, but it was a very pleasant surprise. Thank you Random House for the #ARC and return for an honest review!

What did I/what to expect?
⛸️interactive and entertaining audio book!🎧
⛸️slow burn
⛸️dual timelines
⛸️if you like books by TJR
⛸️documentary style
⛸️figure skating info
⛸️family drama
⛸️”the pressure to be perfect”

What could have been better?
✨ Honestly I was very frustrated with all the characters… The level of immaturity was quite annoying at times.
✨the ending was very disappointing to me lol what was that?

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

From the moment she witnesses her icon, Sheila Lin, win the Olympic gold, Katarina Shaw knew that was her destiny too. When she meets Heath Rocha, a foster care kid with no family, the two form a friendship and a partnership that will span decades.

Wow. As soon as I read the synopsis of this book, I had to get my hands on it immediately. How convenient that I ended up devouring it during the Olympics, as so much of this book focuses on just how hungry these young athletes are to compete in the ultimate of sports championships, and just how much they will give up doing so. With everything you can imagine - from backstage drama to an intense love affair, beautiful friendships to bitter rivalries, this powerful and intense look inside the world of competitive ice dancing will have you on the edge of your seat at all times.

I was immediately taken with Heath and Katarina and found myself emotionally attached to each of them individually, as well as together. Because of the format and genre of this book, I had zero idea what to expect and that made the stress level as intense as the matchups that often left these characters broken and bruised. Their backstories were equally inspirational, and heartbreaking and it is hard not to have a rooting interest.

The formatting style is one of my favorites, and very reminiscent of Daisy Jones and the Six. Layne Fargo uses both first person from Kat’s POV and third person interview format from the documentary the reader is simultaneously a part of, and it helps to make the story that much more dynamic. As each interviewee describes the most intense moments, I can envision everything from the details in the room to the sequins on their costumes and everything in between.

I think this format will be absolutely perfect on audio and will help keep the pace flowing just a tad bit better than in the ebook/physical book, which can sometimes be slowed down by the back and forth. That said, every time I picked this one up, I had a hard time putting it back down. Basically, the second the audiobook is released, I will be doing a reread!

Read if you like:
• the Olympics
• ice dancing
• forced proximity
• friends to lovers
• second chance romance
• mixed media format
• all the drama

Thank you, Random House, for the advanced copy. Pub: January 14, 2025.

The only way I can describe this book is fun and addictive. The audio was so good with the full cast that I really felt like I was watching a documentary. The story was compelling and I felt all the emotions and high stakes of every competition. Layne Fargo did an incredible job with her research and characters that it really made me feel like these were actual people and I could look up their olympic performances.

I read this book in 3 days and honestly it would’ve been less if it weren’t because it was christmas eve and I had familial obligations or if I hadn’t stopped every few chapters to look up ice dancing videos. It’s safe to assume that Ice Dancing is my new hyper fixation. 😂

The Favorites release date is Jan. 15! You don’t want to miss out on this one! ⛸️

Aptly named, The Favorites has been (and I imagine will continue to be) a favorite new release of 2025. This book is undeniably unputdownable.

I TORE through this one. I can't even remember the last time I finished a physical book this quickly. The plot went from 0 to 100 fairly quickly and then just lived in that high drama, every-chapter-ends-in-a-cliffhanger space for the rest of the story. (If anything, I think it dialed up even higher in the last quarter of the book.)

The part of me that loves watching sensationalistic reality TV, soapy shows (like The OC), and, obviously, the Olympics could not get enough of this one. At the same time, I'll admit that it was not flawless.

Some of the drama felt like a bit much (although I was happy to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the reading experience). My bigger issues had to do with the portrayal of domestic abuse and toxic relationships over the course of the book. I'm not going to elaborate here, lest I spoil important points of the plot, but I encourage readers to check content warnings.

Overall, this was an enjoyable reading experience & I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves scandal-saturated contemporary lit.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

A huge thanks to Random House for an advanced copy of The Favorites by @laynefargo! This book was so much fun and lives up to the hype and will be on my top books in 2025 list!

The audiobook was fantastic. I didn't want to stop listening! Told in a documentary style with a full cast - which added to that documentary aspect and the story was addictive too. Loved seeing Kat share her side of the story along with the documentary. The figure skating aspect was so fun and it helped fuel the passion between Kat and Heath.

This was part coming of age, part sports rivalry with friendship and love thrown in the best possible way!

I'm loving seeing this everywhere because it's that good!

WOW Layne Fargo really hit it out of the park with this book!

I read They Never Learn by this author a couple years ago and LOVED it, so I was excited to see her announcement for this book last year. But when I saw it wasn't going to be another thriller but a fiction novel about Olympic ice dancing, I was VERY intrigued.

The story follows Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha, an ice dancing pair who meet as children and form an instant connection that makes them an unstoppable force on the ice and give them the opportunity to leave their turbulent lives in their small town in Illinois. We follow them throughout the years and their relationship as they rise through the ranks and become champion ice dancers. All the while we also follow their turbulent romantic relationship from childhood sweethearts to something more.

But their legacy is forever changed when their final Olympic Games appearance brings their partnership to a shocking end.

On the ten-year anniversary of their final Olympic Games approaches, an unauthorized documentary is set to air without either Shaw or Rocha's involvement and reignites the public obsession with the pair. The documentary sets to tell "the real story" of what happened by interviewing their closest friends and rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary after everything she has gone through, but after years of silence, she is finally ready to tell her side of the story.

The entire time I was reading this I could perfectly see this story being made into a limited series. The drama, tension, theatrics, and intensity that alone comes with Olympic level athletes is already the perfect backdrop for this story and Fargo did such an amazing job creating characters with so many different layers of depth I couldn't look away. Kat isn't perfect and she lets the reader know she's not and doesn't apologize for it, but also owns up to her own mistakes she made throughout her own career as well. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up rereading this next year during the Winter Olympics!

Kat and Heath…it was a whirlwind! Toxic, thrilling, addictive and at times over the top. I was invested in their stories past, present and future. Written in TJR-esque style reminding me of Carrie Soto and Daisy Jones & The Six. I loved the interviews from the documentary about Kat and Heath that were interspersed throughout the book between chapters. This style allowed readers to get multiple perspectives on the couple and all the gossip. If you have ever watched ice dancing or figure skating and wondered about the relationships behind the scenes this book is for you! You will be truly immersed in the life of skating and what it takes to win the gold.