I loved this intense drama and epic love story set in the cutthroat world of elite figure skating! When Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha met as children in a northern suburb of Chicago, he was a troubled kid in the foster care system and she was a motherless girl who was sure that she was destined to become a champion Olympic ice skater. Skating was a means for the two of them to escape their turbulent lives and together they went from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers until a shocking event at the 2014 Olympic games ended their skating partnership.

As the 10th anniversary of their final performance approaches, interest has been revived by an unauthorized documentary that includes interviews with figure skating officials as well as friends and rivals of the pair and Katarina has also decided that it's time to share her side of the story. Alternating between Katarina's POV and transcript from the documentary, the narrative of The Favorites moves through the timeline chronologically beginning when they are teens until the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.

This is the kind of story that you get sucked into - I literally could not put it down! The reader knows from the introduction that there was a shocking incident at the Sochi Olympics but what happened isn't revealed until the end - there was so much tension and I couldn't stop turning pages late into the night because I needed to know!

The glimpse into the competitive figure skating world and how damaging it can be to the psyche of young skaters is fascinating as is the obsessive relationship between Katarina and Heath (inspired by Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights). This is a story of ambition, scandal and love with a strong female character who is not always likeable. Katarina is cast as a villain in the world of figure skating because she's more than a little rough around the edges and she won't play along and behave as she's expected to - I was rooting for her all the way! The Favorites is an enjoyable read for anyone but particularly good for anyone captivated by the world of Olympic figure skating.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

THE FAVORITES had me instantly intrigued from the plot description alone, and it did not disappoint! Layne Fargo does a fantastic job of fleshing out Kat and Heath's characters, and the complicated dynamic between them. I was completely invested in their relationship, and their individual journeys within the competitive world of ice dancing—I just couldn't put this book down! I would definitely recommend THE FAVORITES, especially for lovers of Taylor Jenkins Reid's novels, figure skating fans, and/or readers who'd enjoy a fresh, modern retelling of the classic Wuthering Heights. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

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

An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating about a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice.

This story follows the lives of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha who start out as a couple of kids from the wrong side of the tracks. Competitive Ice Dancing could be their perfect way out. This one really dives into this cutthroat world behind the skating. I was surprised how vicious and brutal these people could be. Kat and Heath are definitely like fire and ice and really have their struggles throughout. It's a definite "will they, won't they" theme on so many levels. Will they become a couple, will they manage to stay together, will they qualify for the Olympics, will they win a gold????? I loved the tension filled action as we try to answer these questions. Things definitely didn't always go the way I thought they would either, and this kept me flipping the pages. My only downside is that it seemed a little too long for me, otherwise a great heart pounding read about a sport I really didn't know much about.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wuthering Heights on ice? Cathy and Heathcliff on skates?! Considering that I loathe Cathy and Heathcliff, no one was more surprised than I that I found The Favorites a wildly fun read; it pulled me right in and I read it over a few days.

The writing is terrific, the characters fleshed out and realistic, and the end result is both engaging and compelling. The Favorites is definitely one to read and has my full recommendation.


****I’ve read a lot of reviews comparing it to Daisy Jones & the Six but having read (and enjoyed) both, I think it only merits that comparison due to the format of the story, which is similar to any oral history book.



Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the DRC

This book shows the savage world of elite figure skating. Katarina Shaw has always believed she was destined to win the Olympic gold. Her instant connection with childhood friend, Heath Rocha leads to a partnership spanning years of scandal, tragedies, and desires.

Captivating and addictive, heartbreaking and inspirational at the same time. This one was a wild ride, but I enjoyed every second. I HIGHLY recommend this one on audio. There were so many different narrators that made the story really come to life and the interview/documentary style at the end of each chapter was perfection! Ups and downs, passion, drama, friendships, rivalries. I definitely became emotionally attached to Katarina and Heath’s messy journey.

I feel like anyone who loved Daisy Jones and The Six will love this one too! It was really long at 448 pages, but I was honestly entranced the entire time.

This book was a wild ride where I never could have predicted what was coming next. It is dramatic and intense and the story just hooks you. Although it was fictional, every part of it felt so real. Katarina and Heath’s love story and skating relationship was crazy, but so enthralling to witness. I can’t encourage others enough to check it out.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the e-ARC.

I'm a big fan of retellings and Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite books, but I was still a bit skeptical about a modern retelling centered around figure skaters... The Favorites was actually really good though! Kat and Heath are childhood friends who grew up together (the backstory is pretty similar to the original story) and Kat dreams about being an Olympic ice dancer while Heath dreams about doing anything that will make Kat happy. The book follows a few decades of their life, centering on the highs of their athletic careers and the relationships they have with other skaters as well. There is documentary style bits between chapters in a similar style to the movie I Tonya, which I honestly could've done without but it wasn't awful and it did allow for some interesting foreshadowing.

If you're a fan of Wuthering Heights or figure skating or dramatic on again off again toxic relationships, this book is for you!!

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy.

You are going to hear a lot about THE FAVORITES next month because it is just that good. I never read any of Layne Fargo’s thrillers (not my jam), but @readingismycardio told me that I had to check out The Favorites. She was absolutely right.
The Favorites is the story of Katarina and Heath, high school sweethearts who grew up in a rural area of Michigan. Katarina’s parents died when she was in high school and she lived with her bully of a brother, Lee. Heath is a foster kid who adores Katarina. She’s into ice dance so Heath takes it up and becomes her partner. The book follows the duo through the years as they embark on a competitive ice dancing career that takes them all over the world.

I loved the book. The characters worked for me and I as totally invested in their relationship and the ice dancing competitions. This book reminded me of TJR book and Fargo actually studied writing under TJR and mentions her influence in the acknoweldgments. I always read the acknowledgments and Fargo’s thank yous are some of the best — especially the last sentence!

4.5 rounded up

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been on the lookout for a book with the same vibes as Daisy Jones and the Six for years and this one definitely has the same feel. I’ve long been fascinated by figure skating but never really got that into ice dancing and after reading this it makes me want to become a bigger fan!

his follows Heath and Katerina from the time they meet as kids up through adulthood and gives a glimpse inside the cutthroat and intense world of competitive skating. The format is really engaging as you hear from those two but it’s also set up like a documentary so you hear from several people who played large and small roles in their lives between the regular narrative structure. So the plot had me allllll in, following a couple throughout their fascinating careers?! Yes please! But I didn’t expect to be as obsessed as I was, I was addicted to the drama, the betrayals, the heartbreak, the romance, the glitz, the dark side of sports and so much more. Everything about this one was immersive for me and I suspect it will be hugely popular upon its release, I’m telling it’s SO good!

This book is completely different from Layne Fargo’s other work, but I still found it super compelling. She really knows how to weave a story in any genre, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

4.5 stars rounded up.

Ten years after her and Heath's final skate, Kat is ready to tell her true story, just as a new documentary reignites the world's obsession with Shaw and Rocha. Her truth is one of childhood tragedies, friendships, toxic relationships, and her journey through ice dancing, with Heath by her side. Can you handle Kat's truth?

If you love angsty, contemporary romances with plenty of drama, this book is a must-read. From the moment I read the blurb, I knew I would love it. It's a 5-star read that I couldn't put down, filled with scandal, trauma, love, heartbreak, and, of course, ice dancing. Phenomenal!

I really enjoyed the way this book was written, swapping between Kat's POV and the documentary interviews. It really helped to pull the story together, and made it feel more real. I loved the characters. I hated the characters. I wanted to throw my kindle at points. I laughed, I cried, I gasped- this book invoked all of the emotions. If that is your thing, pre-order this book immediately.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group, Net Galley, and Layne Fargo for the chance to read this eARC. All thoughts are my own.

God this book was everything I wanted it to be and then some. I don't care about ice dancing, I don't particularly care about the Olympics. But the characters in this, the drama, the intrigue, was everything. I want a million more books just like this. A character study on what it means to want something, to be consumed by your passion and drive. Absolutely obsessed.

I had a difficult time with The Favorites. The pacing felt too slow to keep me engaged. I was not interested in anything happening beteeen the characters. The detailed descriptions of ice dancing was not for me. Maybe I will revist the story in the future.

Wuthering Heights meets Carrie Soto Is Back. Toxic romance, frenemies, gossip and sabotage in the competitive world of elite figure skating. It’s juicy, dramatic and hard to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

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

I'm going to go out on a limb and say 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗦 is going to be one of THE books of 2025.

Katerina Shaw and Heather Rocha are two misfit and lonely kids who find comfort in each other and a purpose in ice dancing, eventually becoming the biggest - and most infamous - names in the sport. Layne Fargo tells their story in two ways - through a third-person oral history via an unauthorized documentary about the couple and from Kat's first person perspective, filling in the blanks no one else knows. It's impossible not to get immersed in the highly competitive ice dancing world and the duo's tempestuous relationships, not only with each other but with almost everyone else they come in contact with. Layne's writing is propulsive with twists I never saw coming and the competition scenes are an adrenaline rush, making you feel as if you're watching them in real time. I didn't want to put the book down until I got to the end and then I was sad it was over. I loved the format so much, I may need to give it a listen when the audiobook is released.

I would be shocked if 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗦 isn't a celebrity book club pick or optioned for a movie. It's got mystery and romance, it's emotional and engrossing, and the characters feel so real you can't forget them. It gets all the stars from me.

Thanks to Random House for the copy to review.

Note: Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC.

The first half of the book was a slow burn, and it took me some time to get into the rhythm. I did, however, appreciate the short chapters, which made it easier to power through the second half—I finished it in a single day! While I initially expected more of a thriller based on the buildup and hints of a major twist, the story leaned heavily into drama instead.

What stood out most was the characters' journeys toward self-discovery and growth, which I found compelling. The tone and narrative style reminded me of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s work. That said, the story could have benefited from a tighter edit—it felt longer than it needed to be.

Wow. What a great read! I absolutely adored this book. I was immediately drawn in by the cover and synopsis, and I'm so glad that I was.

This is such a good read. It tackles the competitive world of figure skating (more specifically, ice dancing), friendships, rivals, relationships, family drama, and more. The main character, Kat, is purposely meant to be unlikeable, but I still found myself rooting for her and liking her nonetheless. She is driven, passionate, and misunderstood.

I found the characters to be well fleshed-out and the relationships all felt authentic and realistic, which is something I really appreciate in a book. I could feel the emotions right along with the characters, and I felt everything from joy to anger (as well as several emotions in between) while reading.

I really don't want to say too much about the plot, because I want every reader to enjoy it for themselves as it unfolds.

I was telling a friend about this book as I was reading it and told her that it struck me as a blend of two Taylor Jenkins Reid novels - the style, the plot, the characters, etc. And I mean that in the BEST way. This author certainly has her own voice, and being compared to TJR is meant 100% as a compliment. Funny enough, the author did thank TJR in her acknowledgements and it sounds like she did some kind of research study with her, so it's no surprise that there's an element of TJR in the pages of this book.

I absolutely loved it and am so excited for others to get their hands on it!

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a lot of fun! As someone who has limited knowledge in the world of figure skating, I was worried I wouldn't fully grasp the story. Well that turned out to not be a problem at all, as all relevant details were explained well. I loved the characters, as flawed as they are, and was so interested to see how they evolved. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3/5*

I can see why some people loved The Favorites, but unfortunately I found it pretty consistently underwhelming.

As a huge figure skating fan, I loved this element of the story. It seemed well researched and well executed, and it was an excellent backdrop to the story. I’m a sucker for a good figure skating story, and this book hit the mark in this regard.

Getting into the actual story, though, I wasn’t nearly as impressed. It reads like a soap opera at times, and easily could’ve been 100 pages shorter—even at the end, I couldn’t tell you why half of what’s there was included. It slows down the story, and with the method of storytelling that keeps you at an emotional distance from every character except Kat, that slowing becomes extra obvious.

The twists disappointed me too, especially with how the beginning of the book so clearly is trying to set up Kat as a Tonya Harding figure. You spend the book with allusions to the terrible, cruel thing she did, just to never get there. An event that happens around 2/3 through the book would’ve made more sense as the climax than the actual climax did.

When we do finally reach the twist, it’s at near the 90% mark, and comes with a major tone shift that just didn’t work for me so late in the game. The ultimate reveal of what Kat did was so disappointing too—you realize after a certain point that it’s not actually going to be anything too bad, despite all the allusions in the beginning, but there’s just no pay off.

Ultimately, while I liked the premise of the book and really liked the format of the story, with interviews interspersed throughout, it’s just not for me. I do see why people loved this, though, so my advice is to simply temper your expectations and not buy into the hints early on.

I am a huge Layne Fargo fan, having been OBSESSED with They Never Learn, so I jumped on this novel as soon as I saw it. However, be aware it is quite different from They Never Learn. So once I got over my original disappointment that no one was murdered in the first chapter (I am primarily a mystery and thriller reader), I became obsessed again with Fargo's beautiful writing, this time set in the melodramatic and cutthroat world of competitive ice skating. Though not a traditional thriller, there is no shortage of adrenaline and drama here. This book at times has Flowers in the Attic vibes, but in a much more mature and intelligent way. The Favorites is more literary than Fargo's last work and makes me very excited to read whatever she does next. Hopefully I won't have to wait another two years for her next one, but if she continues at this level of quality, I'll wait as long as it takes. Five stars.