The Favorites by Layne Fargo will surely be on my favorites of 2025 list! I could not stop reading this delicious tale set in the world of competitive ice dancing. It was filled with drama, drama, and more drama. I really liked reading the behind the scenes for the competitive world of ice dancing. The story was just the right amount of drama and tension without becoming too much. I will be recommending this book to many of my fellow readers. Read and enjoy!

The Favorites by Layne Fargo is pure perfection.
I am new to Fargo's work but a huge fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid so obviously this one resonated with me. In the vein of Daisy Jones & the Six, this interview style mockumentary was as fascinating as it was moving. Not since the world sat slack jawed at Nancy Kerrigan's infamous ugly cry have I been so enamored by figure skating. The Favorites pulled me in and never let go. A tragic backstory, young love, love triangles, betrayal, sabotage, and a cutthroat stop at nothing passion for Olympic gold.

As enamored as I was by the words of this story I can only imagine the level it will rise to with an audio book & coming to life up on the big screen. Couldn't have asked for a better book to kick off 2025. A must read!

Thank you to Random House & NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. 5 stars!

“The Favorites” was absolutely everything I want in a sports drama: Cutthroat ambition. Drama. Scandal. Winning at all costs. Relationships. Tragedy. Overcoming the odds.

I was enthralled by this book and even at 448 pages, I didn’t want it to end. The storytelling is genius, and the use of a documentary script as a core part of the plot is perfectly executed. Many times, when an author tries to mix in a script or oral history, it doesn’t work for me. Layne Fargo makes it work and then some.

Our main characters are two rough-and-tumble kids from the Midwest, fighting for their chance at Olympic gold in ice dancing. Their story alone is entrancing. But the side characters, who come to life through their contributions to the documentary, really help to set this book apart. The drama does not end until the very end, and I was here for all of the tea. I had to keep reminding myself that this is fiction, that Rocha and Shaw are not actual US Olympians.

I think fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid — especially “Carrie Soto is Back” — will really love this one.

I’m in the midst of culling my shelves but already considering that I may need a trophy copy of “The Favorites”! This is a bold statement, but I predict it will be in my 2025 favorites

I did not find this engaging enough to continue, although I was interested in the subject matter (ice dance), I did not find the characters engaging enough and the entire circumstance felt a bit melodramatic. This is probably par for the course for the genre, but as I don't often read the genre and was mostly just interested in the subject matter, I was probably not the target audience.

Yes, yes 1000% times yes!

I couldn’t put this book down! Written in the same format and tone of Daisy Jones and the Six, I stopped to Google if Shaw and Rocha really took the skating world by storm.

It’s cut throat, ambitious, heartbreaking, and you won’t be able to stop reading. This is the book to read in 2025.

Thank you NetGalley, Layne Fargo, and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy.

Kat, who loves ice skating, meets Heath, a foster kid in the ice rink and they become friends. They are financially struggling skaters pursuing Kat’s dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. Over the next ten years we see their road to accomplish this is filled with drama and toxicity between people I would call frenemies. Heath and Kat have this toxic love story, to the world they were a scandal. To each other an obsession.

I really enjoyed this story, I hate comparing, but this story was reminiscent of Taylor Jenkins Reid, the formatting of Daisy Jones & The Six but also Carrie Soto is Back vibes. I say this because when TJR writes I am always googling to see if these characters are real people and I felt this way reading The Favorites.

I loved the first half, the drama the twists but the second half I found myself really not liking the main characters and the things they did and it became slightly repetitive. I kept hoping to find reasons to love them but I didn’t feel we were given explanation for a lot of things. They were flawed and unlikeable and I guess that was the point but I just wasn’t rooting for them, which is the opposite of how I felt reading TJR Carrie Soto is Back.

Read if you like:
•ice dancing
•olympics
•mystery
•I, Tonya
•drama

Thanks Netgalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was SO MUCH FUN! I couldn't put it down-scandal, steamy love, competitive world of ice dancing, rivals and livers-this book had it all. It's going to be a hit! If you want a great reading experience, check this out. I loved the creative way the author told the story: through the perspective of Katarina Shaw (one of the two members of the skate duo Shaw & Rocha) and the transcripts of a documentary made about said duo years later. Go read this!

First book of the year and I feel lucky to fall into such a banger of a plot. First, special thank you to @prhaudio, @netgalley and @librofm for the complimentary files to review.
I am no skater by all means, shape and form but who does not get captivated looking at a figure skater on a rink. This book was intense, in drama, in exploits and passion of the sport. I love Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha as characters. I love Layne Fargo’s They Never Learn back in year 2020 and I followed the author in social media. I can’t be more excited when the release of this book was announced because it certainly delivered. It is totally a different take from the previous book but has all the right surprises, emotion and potency. I love girl power story line and I love it even better when girl power were set at the perfect terms. I highly recommend this read!

“The Favorites,” Layne Fargo’s latest literary gem, follows Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha’s journey into the competitive world of ice dancing. From their initial skates to their final performance, their partnership has been a whirlwind of emotions and shared passions. Katarina Shaw is determined to become a champion ice dancer, and her unwavering dedication will test Heath’s resolve and commitment to her. This novel unfolds through the unique perspective of a documentary filmed a decade after Shaw and Rocha’s triumphant final skate. This was an addictive read and my favorite novel yet of Layne Fargo’s.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the DRC of this novel. “The Favorites” by Layne Fargo will be published 1/14/2025.

The Favorites is Daisy Jones meets ice skating partners — romance, scandal, found family, D R A M A - this book truly has it all, and I stayed up until 2 am one night finishing it. I will be thinking about Heath and Katarina for a very, very long time!!

The dynamic relationship between the two main characters, along with the supporting characters is extremely well done- I didn’t know if I wanted to love a character or hate them, and it was constantly changing. The timing of the book was perfect, and I would honestly read 400 more pages about these characters.
This book was a SIX ⭐️ read for me, and I can’t wait for y’all to get to read it on January 14th!!!! A HUGE thank you to @randomhouse and @netgalley for the arc!!!

The favorites…. This was a good read. It is in many different parts and is full of moments of confusion and awe of what skaters go through. Kat was going to get her way no matter what. I loved how the book ended with not doing what she thinks she had to do but doing what makes her happy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book completely blew me away! I absolutely loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The angst between the characters was so vivid I could feel it radiating off the page. Fargo did an incredible job building tension and layering the relationships, and some of the things that happened truly caught me off guard. The twists were unexpected but felt so natural to the story. Think daisy jones meets ice skating, but better!—highly recommend!

Bella Lin you will pay for your crimes!!!!!!! I do not forgive you!!!!!!! This was consuming and addicting and hard to put down, but I also really disliked it. Do with that what you will.

WOW I have no notes. This was fantastic and just the kind of book to round out the 2024 year of reading! This will be the book I don't shut up about for the rest of my life.

I have found a new favorite character in Katarina Shaw. She had so much drive and determination to win a gold medal at the Olympics throughout her skating career and never let the challenges thrown her way to bring her down or define her. The friends and family she gained along the way, however tumultuous it was at times, was 1000% worth the journey this book puts you through. The Favorites has everything within the pages to keep you hooked: lies, deception, sabotage, envy, and romance. I ate it up!

This book had strong undertones of Taylor Jenkins Reid's storytelling (ex: Daisy Jones & Carrie Soto) and it made me chuckle in the author's note her shoutout to TJR and her nod to researching ice skating for her book in a similar fashion to Taylor having to research tennis for Carrie Soto. It would be a tragedy if this is not made into a tv show or movie, this story was made for it!

I stayed up way past my bedtime and found any second of the day to devour this book. I already want to reread this and that is so unlike me! Clear you schedules on January 14th because you will want to be spending your entire day devouring this book!

This book is so well written. I don’t think it deserves anything less than five stars. When I first started this story I was unsure and not loving it, but the farther I got into the book the more I realized how addictive it was. Katarina and Heath's story is magnetic. It’s a story that has you experiencing so many emotions you have to pause for a moment. Once you pick up The Favorites by Layne Fargo you won't want to put it down.

“Imagine being so down bad you’d master a whole Olympic sport to spend time with someone.” 🤭

this book is part salacious scandalous love story, part daisy jones & the six interview style storytelling and I couldn’t put it down! I would be really curious to try, and also assume that the audiobook version of this would be incredibly fun and make this all the more compelling. truly a fun read and I expect a lot of people to love this!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

Can my favorite book of 2024 be a 2025 release?? The Favorites by Layne Fargo is my favorite book that I lost sleep to read this year, and an absolute joy to binge read over the holiday break. Imagine a Wuthering Heights retelling, but instead of Nelly and Lockwood's narrative interludes, you get snippets of explosive Netflix-true-crime-documentary style interviews. And instead of the Yorkshire moors, this tale is set on ice rinks around the world as we follow ice dancers Heath, Katarina, and their contemporaries as they chase Olympic gold. Everything is high stakes, high drama, high tension, and high suspense, and in my opinion, every cliffhanger chapter ending paid off.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Favorites. I'll be exploring Layne Fargo's backlist next!

This left me BREATHLESS. Will def be rereading on audio. I devoured the documentary-narrative structure and the DRAMA omg left me stopping abruptly from second hand anxiety. One of my top reads of the year, and the one I’m ending with!!!!

Do you ever read a book and just know you're going to love it after a few pages?

That's what my reading experience of The Favorites was like. After just a few pages, I told my husband this will be a favorite book of mine, no puns intended. The Favorites follows the relationship of ice dancers, Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha, who started working together when they were children. Unlike a lot of people who are ice dancers, Katarina and Heath don't come from money. Their love of each other and Katarina's love of the sport is what drives them. With behind-the-scenes drama of what it takes to become an Olympian, it asks if love is enough to get gold?

I didn't want to put this book down. I've always enjoyed watching the skating programs during the Olympics. I remember watching ice skating specials when I was growing up with my mother. It brought back a lot of memories of those early days of growing up. I loved the behind-the-scene elements of what it takes to be an Olympian. From documentaries and stories I've consumed, it felt very real. Although the novel is being advertised as an epic love story, I found the romance to take a backseat in the story to the drive of the characters. The story is told through a first person narrative from Katarina in the present and documentary interview style recordings of those close to their skating journey. I thought the two writing styles really worked together and also worked to validate or conflict the viewpoints of different characters.

Since I started reading this book I've been recommending it to friends. I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. It was everything I didn't know I needed in a novel right now.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

Infinity stars for this book. I am obsessed and speechless after finishing this. If you are seeing this book everywhere and everyone telling you to read it, read it!! I just love getting so lost into a book and this world of figure skating of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha. Even if you are not a figure skating fan I think you will find this story so captivating. It tells the emotional, toxic, dysfunctional love story of Katarina and Heath. It starts with their childhood and then their story to training for the Olympics.

I read and listen to the audiobook and it was such a phenomenal immersive experience. The audiobook has a full cast! It was like a movie for your ears and I think this book would be perfect for book to screen adaption— like a modern Cutting Edge! Audio narrators include: Christine Lakin, Louisa Zhu, Amy Landon, Elena Rey, Valerie Rose Lohman, Suzanne Toren, Graham Halstead, Julia Emelin, Layne Fargo, Eric Yang, and Johnny Weir. It was gold, pure gold and I loved every minute of it!

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