[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Favorites releases January 14, 2025

2.75

This will undoubtedly become one of the more polarizing reads of the year with its extremely toxic relationships and competitive environment that the story is framed upon, of which you’ll either love or hate as a reader.

Through a tell-all style, with added documentary transcripts interspersed throughout, <I>The Favorites</I> chronicles Katarina’s career as an ice dancer, and the many highs and lows of her personal and professional relationship with Heath, from when they first start skating together as kids, up until the Olympics that witnesses their last professional skate.

<i>The Favorites</I> suffers from being noticeably long-winded and monotonous. I desperately needed more suspense or another character pov to offset Katarina and the documentary transcripts, especially in the early stages of the story.

I’m not a fan when writers frame the outing of their character’s sexuality as a plot twist, so I was disappointed to see that here, especially with a character of colour.

I hated what became of Bella and Heath, both at the Vancouver games and in Boston. It felt like such a betrayal, and I really wish we had gotten a glimpse of some of their more intimate conversations as a way to better understand what their grieving process was like during the years Katarina isolated herself.

cw: physical abuse, cancer, drug overdose, infidelity

Ok, this book may be in my top 5 books of 2025! I absolutely loved it! It reminded me of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Carrie Soto is Back, which I loved. I really enjoyed the telling of Katarina and Heath. It was much more than a romance novel!

I absolutely could not put this book down. This is one of those up-until-5-am, texting-your-friends-they-have-to-read-it books. Kat and Heath's relationship was delicious and complex, the plot (for being a retelling) maintained a level of unpredictability, and by the time the book was over, I immediately wanted to look up fan edits because I never wanted to let these characters go.

I've read Wuthering Heights probably 10 times, so I'm protective of the story, but Fargo managed to do it justice while creating something entirely her own.

I'll be enthusiastically recommending The Favorites to absolutely everyone I know!!

OMG THIS WAS A TOP AUDIO AND BOOK FOR ME IN 2024. It was my last read of 2024 and I flew through it. I did this mostly on audio and the full cast was absolutely sensational. This was my very first Layne Fargo book and I will be running to her thriller 'They Never Learn' as fast as I possibly can. I LOVED the way she hooked you in the very beginning and kept the chapters fast paced. I literally couldn't stop reading because I needed to know what was going to happen next. Katarina and Heath were great main characters, but what I really loved was this was truly a story about Katarina. I felt like the romance was really backseat to this entire story. The documentary style chapters were so well done, and really easy to follow, especially on audio. IF YOU LOVE AUDIO PICK THIS ONE UP IMMEDIATELY. IT'S FULL CAST AND INCREDIBLE.

read if you like
- Carrie Soto is Back meets Daisy Jones & The Six
- emotional stories
- stories about strong athletes
- the olympics
- drama, drama, drama
- lit fic with a romance subplot

5/5 stars

For anyone who has ever imagined a romantic relationship between ice skating partners, this book explores whether it could possibly be real.

Katarina knows she has what it takes to be an Olympian, but she's going to need the perfect partner, and that search could take years, and it might end with romance.

This was a fun and fast read. I agree with the similarities between Fargo and Jenkins Reid.

I devoured this book. These characters are so real I feel like I should be able to look them up online. This is a harrowing tale of obsession and how it can change everything about you. This book was non-stop drama in the best way. I loved the way Kat and Heath struggled together and apart.

Do you like From Lukov With Love? Carrie Soto is Back? Daisy Jones and The Six? If you answered yes to any of those, please please pick this one up. It combines all the best aspects of those novels into something entirely its own. This novel is stunning from start to finish and is a 100% page-turner.

The small sections of interview between chapters of narrative were the perfect amount and really upped the suspense of what this whole thing was leading to. The chemistry between Heath and Kat was off the charts and the technical aspect of ice dance was presented in an approachable way. This is much MORE than your traditional romance.

Love everything about this!

Oh. My. Goodness. I had high hopes for The Favorites and I was not disappointed!! I could vividly picture every single thing that happened. It was so well written and I could not put it down! It was SO good and I’m so sad that it’s over! I highly recommend!! I’ll be thinking about this story for a long time! I’d give it more than 5 stars if I could!!!

A huge thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All opinions expressed above are my own.

I love a novel about anything close to dance and this hit! We follow documentary style a couple that competes in ice dancing from humble beginnings to the Olympics. I thought the commentary between the chapters was so fun and added a lot to the story. I do think some of the reviews I saw overhyped how toxic this couple was, I was expecting something wild lol but that's on me. Definitely worth a read if you enjoy character driven stories that spans decades about a couple competing in a cut throat world!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an eARC of this book! Out 1/14/25

The Favorites follows Katarina and Heath — a mutually obsessed, toxically intertwined pair — as they become a world-famous ice skating duo. It’s a take on Wuthering Heights and is written in the style of Daisy Jones and the Six, the latter being a very obvious source of inspiration.

I tore through this book, even when it was making me angry, even when I was wondering how it could possibly be so long — I just couldn’t put it down. The pacing isn’t perfect, but that didn’t stop me from reading it in almost one sitting. It’s described as an epic romance, but it’s more like a melodramatic epic tale of ambition, competition, love, and tragedy.

This is certainly going to be on a lot of people’s best-of-2025 lists. It will also probably become a tv show/movie (fingers crossed).

(4.5 stars rounded up)

I have just read one of my Top book of 2025. Although it is only early in the year, I know this book is going to stay with me for a long time.
I have loved watching figure skating since I was young. You do not have to enjoy the sport to love this book!
This is a compelling story of heartache, love, adversity and definitely scandal.

Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha meet as kids, and you follow them through the ups and downs of being professional figure skaters. Sounds simple right? No. This is a complex relationship that takes you on an unforgettable journey.
Layne Fargo does a fabulous job of introducing us to other characters that play such an important role in Katarina and Heath’s world.
The saga is told by Katerina herself and also through documentary style interviews with friends, skating rivals, judges. It was absolutely a brilliant way of telling the story of the much loved ice dance duo.
This book brought about many emotions while reading. I was invested in this couple. Katarina Shaw was a character I won’t soon forget. So many ups and downs, both personal and professional and she kept going.
As I turned the last page, I was sad this love story had come to an end.
I hope this book gets all the praise and love it deserves once it is released on January 14,2025. Ahhh what a fantastic book!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read an early copy.

The way this book was so good it grew fingers and found their way in between the folds of my brain, I literally can’t stop thinking about it. Absolutely thrilling and page turning, Fargo truly puts a reader through every single emotion as they read Heath and Kat’s skating come up journey. The betrayal, drama, lies and toxicity just absolutely takes hold of you and won’t let go until you finish it. ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!! Will be recommending to everyone!

Could not put this down. This had everything I was looking for and more in an Olympics figure skating novel. Loved it.

I was totally immersed in this unputdownable novel. The plot is unique with an epic love story.
What an exhilarating blend of passion, ambition and heartbreak coupled with multiple surprising moments. I loved the mix of first person POV dialogue and interview commentary. The ending was wonderful.
Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and PHRAudio for the ebook and ALC copies!

I love watching figure skating and ice dancing. I was very invested in all olympic athletes as a child, and I love a dramatic story.

I also love a full ensemble audio cast! This book is addictive and bingeable. It’s got plenty of dramatics, plenty of memorable moments, and scandal!

I do not like Wuthering Heights, but wow do I like The Favorites. This isn't "Great Literature", it is soapy fun and I devoured every page. This book is getting so much buzz, and it is DESERVED. This is just pure fun. While it is 400+ pages, they go down like a cold glass of water after a tough workout. I usually read very literary, but I'm so glad I made time for The Favorites.

I don’t even know where to start with this one… What a phenomenal read. This book had me feeling every emotion under the sun!!! Stressed out, angry, happy, sad, and stressed out some more. If you’re looking for a book filled with complex characters, scandals, drama, a little bit of romance and a whole lot of “What in the world is going on” and “WHY???”… here you go!


The Favorites dives into the world of competitive figure skating, the beauty and the downright ugliness of it, and how the word “win” can change peoples lives forever. The story follows Kat, which then subsequently follows the story of Heath, Bella and Garrett. Altogether, an absolute whirlwind group of characters.


Set up in both first person and interview narrative styles, we get the intense story of Kat’s career as a figure skater, her growth as a person, and how it has altered every part of her life. We get to see her life from teenage years to adulthood through the lens of figure skating. We watch her and Heath leave home for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become some of the best in the world. We see how she went from being no one to someone everyone talks about for the rest of time. Having this story be written in both first person and interview style allowed for the readers to get both sides of the story, from the person herself and from those who perceived everything happening in front of their eyes.

This story is incredibly well-done. Its intense, captivating, and the emotions it makes you feel are just as complex as the characters themselves. It explores how the desire to win can be so detrimental in ways we never think about, how people can grow & change overtime in so many ways, how relationships can crash and burn and rise from the ashes. It exposes the ugly side of figure skating that no one would really know unless their in it, the beauty of it all, and that was especially interesting for me as someone who knows nothing about that world!!!

Layne Fargo takes you on an absolute ride with this one and as much as I wanted to scream at them all, I loved this book. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a work of fiction, with romantic subplots, depth, complexity, and emotion that leaves you feeling stunned from what you just read. I truly can’t say much because I think going into this and unveiling the story for yourself is the best way to read this book, but please!!! take this as my recommendation!!!

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book but I was thrilled with what I got. I devoured this book. Told in partial documentary form (ala Daisy Jones and the Six), it felt like I was reading a true life story of ice dancers Heath and Kat. (all the while envisioning all the drama from Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding back in the day). I loved how you had now idea how this story was going to end. All you knew is that SOMETHING happened but what it ended up being was so surprising to me that I had to take a breath. I expected something completely different and absolutely perfect for the characters in this story. It has been a very long time since I've watched the Olympics and ice dancing was a particular favorite so I enjoyed the "inside" look into this world (although some things might have been embellished, it still drew me in completely). I look forward to reading more from this author.

This book had me hooked so quickly. I dreaded having to put it down to go to sleep or work. There were many obvious shout outs to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (perhaps at times a little too obvious, but it worked for me). I loved the interjected parts of the interview documentary and the lead up to this big event they kept eluding to. Both Katarina and Bella had a soft spot in my heart. Heath however, not so much. The ending was perhaps a bit cheesy and too happily ever after for this kind of book.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I nearly finished this in one day but had to force myself to go to bed. I was hooked from the very first line. I had heard about The Favorites from another NetGalley reviewer that I follow and couldn’t wait to read it. It is 100% up my alley. Ice Skating, two people obsessed with one another over the course of decades, Olympics drama, scandal... Count me in. If you are reading and you think you know what is coming next, I assure you that you don’t. This book kept me curious and on my toes and shocked me once or twice in a good way. It is written in a similar style to Daisy Jones and the Six in terms of interviews and as if you are watching a documentary (which I love). Someone compared it to Carrie Soto is back but I wasn’t a fan of that book so maybe it is similar, maybe it isn’t. You decide but I highly recommend it.