I really enjoyed this part-documentary style written, part first person narrated story of figure skater Katerina Shaw ⛸️

The story spans 15ish years as Katerina and her ice dance partner/love interest, Heath, grow up, and travel through the world of figure skating competition. Love the early 2000s/2010s timeline. Super bingeable read. If you ever loved watching figure skating as a kid like I did, or want to read a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights…this one could be for you. While the characters were all flawed in their way, I was totally invested in this one! Many thanks to Netgalley for the arc!

Thank you Netgalley for the digital ARC.

I stayed up way too late (and ended up calling in from work lol) to finish this book because I. Could. Not. Look. Away.

There’s so much tension and drama in this that I was hooked from the very start. Noy typically a fan of sport-centric theme in a book because sometimes it’s hard for me to follow along the commentary of it but ice skating is one of the only games I ever watch in the Olympics so this was a treat. I truly loved the format of the book: flashback interspered with documentary style interviews. For me, this book was reminiscent of Tomorrow x 3 but with competitive skating. The ending felt a little abrupt but it did tie up the ends nicely.

Overall, I truly enjoyed it and I’m disappointed that I didn’t read this sooner. I heard the audiobook is read by a full cast so I cannot wait to revisit this story again when it comes out!

Thank you for the ARC.

I decided to DNF this one. I love Layne Fargo's writing, and there was no exception here. I just couldn't care less about ice dancing and what goes into it. I understand this is a romance and I'm sure the romantic relationship develops throughout the book, but it was just too much detail on ice dancing for me.

4.5 ⭐️ If Carrie Soto is Back and Daisy Jones & the Six had a baby, it’s this book. Set in the Olympic skating (Ice Dancing) world, I couldn’t put this one down. Publishes mid January.

This is incredible & fascinating! I’m obsessed with Kat & Heath…their crazy love. I found a love for ice dancing while reading this & also looking up videos on YouTube! I loved the documentary portion of the book, the interview points.
Kat & Heath grew up poor but Kat KNEW she wanted to be an ice dancer! An Olympic GOLD medalist! &&& Heath…he just loved her enough to be anything she wanted! They were perfect & tragic!
The first 1/2 of this book was incredible & fast paced…I was obsessed! The second half got a little wild…I was pretty shocked with a few of the twists…not sure I was a fan. But the ending (before the ending) was a showstopper! OBSESSED with this book! I KNOW this is gonna be some BIG book club picks!

It's early, but I'm calling it now: I think this might be one of my favorite 2025 releases, and it might become one of my go-to recommendations for the year.

This is a Wuthering Heights retelling set in the world of early 2000s competitive ice dancing. Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha are childhood best friends turned lovers turned enemies and legendary ice dancing partners. With a documentary coming out about their fateful last dance, Kat puts the record straight, interspersed with interview transcripts from those in the ice dancing world around her.

Passionate, fiery, and salacious in the best way, I had so much FUN reading this - I didn't want to put it down. I think Fargo did a nice job paying homage to the source material while also putting her own spin on it - I would say that reading a plot summary of Wuthering Heights is probably sufficient background information to enjoy this. Kat is SUCH an unapologetic bitch, and I absolutely loved her. I also completely bought the tension between her and Heath - they were so bad for each other but also so good.

If you like women's wrongs, sports, and modern retellings, this is a must. It reminds me a little of Carrie Soto is Back - if you enjoyed that, you might like this too. A full, enthusiastic 5 stars from me!

I really enjoyed this book! The story was addictive, and the characters were so flawed, but redeemable in so many ways, that you couldn’t help root for them. Everything felt so real. The story did dive deep into the sport of ice dancing, which was cool, but at times lost my interest. This book is perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

I absolutely loved this book! So well done! I loved the characters and the journey they took over the years. I loved the ending. I loved the interviews for the documentary. This was one of my favorite books I’ve read in 2024.

WOW!!! This book has absolutely everything: suspense, drama, romance, heartbreak, and it all comes together so beautifully! This is an absolutely incredible read that will hook you from the beginning and won't let go until the absolute last page. I was so attached to all the characters and couldn't wait to see what would happen to them next!! This was so well written, a perfect gold medal for me! 🥇

I heard from many people this would be the book of the winter and I could not agree more. It is incredibly unique and truly transports you into the world of ice dancing. The format is amazing with the interviews. I’ve never read anything like this. The research the author put into this is incredible. Reading this was addicting and it’s an easy 5 star read. One of my favorite books of the year. Pun intended.
Thank you to random house, NetGalley and Layne Fargo for the advanced copy.

When she was four years old Katarina Shaw watched the Olympic champion Shelia Lin win her second gold medal on t.v. She looked up at her father and told him she wanted to learn to ice skate. The beginning of Kat’s journey was anything but easy. Living in an obscure town on the outskirts of Lake Michigan, the family did not have much money. Her abusive, addict brother Liam and loss of her mother left little happiness in the home. But her father supported her dream and managed to do everything he could to get Kat lessons and skate time at the local rink. She met Heath Rocha at ten years old. A sad sweet boy in foster care whose intense eyes watched her every move. Skating became their obsession and their friendship saved his life. Heath moved in with the family and as their dreams of competing became reality Heath would follow Kat to the ends of the earth to make her happy. Landing in Los Angeles at the Lin Academy was the ultimate coup. Grateful to be there Heath and Kat stopped questioning why Bella and Garrett, the famous and wealthy Lin twins would want their competition right under their noses. Apparently keeping their rivals close became another complicated drama within the intensely theatrical ice dancing community. Kat’s fixation on Olympic gold trumped all emotions and decisions. Friendship, betrayal and dreams of victory - these young skaters would do whatever it takes to get the gold. I thoroughly enjoyed the ice skating, romance and twisted relationships but A LOT of skating detail that not everyone will love, this novel easily could have been a 100 pages less. Releases January 14, 2025.

I read about 20% of this book a few days ago then life got busy. I came back and read the remaining 80% in 24 hours. I was SO invested and I haven’t felt that way about a story in a long time.
If you love reading the toxic, raw, all-encompassing love of the Magnolia Parks series and also the atmospheric writing of Taylor Jenkins Reid that makes characters feel so real, this book is for you! I felt so immersed in the story there were multiple times throughout reading I wanted to look the characters up online and watch their performances. The documentary style of the book was incredible and I might have to listen to it on audio once it’s released!
I realized I have actually read Layne Fargo’s previous book They Never Learn, and the perfectly written suspenseful feeling I had while reading made complete sense. She knows how to write strong female leads doing potentially questionable things.
I could go on and on. This book was just exactly everything I love in a story. I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish and I will be thinking about it constantly.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

holy moly. i loved this. it was a mix between carrie soto is back and daisy jones and the six in the best way. and i just learned it was inspired by wuthering heights.

kat and heath are the ‘bad kids’ of ice dance. they go through so much in pursuit of an olympic medal. there is mystery, angst, girl-power, and friendship throughout the novel.

i ate. this. up.

First of all, I’m so grateful to Penguin for not only this copy, but my first ever PR box for this fictional Memoir of two childhood friends becoming incredible Skating athletes!


Personally, I’m not one for sports drama or anything- and it was entertaining well into halfway. But, I found myself feeling less than pleased. I feel maybe I wasn’t the right audience for such a thrilling endeavor, and the characters were dimensionally absent for me. I absolutely loved They Never Learn from this specific author so I truly wanted to enjoy it.

I would say if you enjoy TJR & any of the fictional sports genres, please read this!

What a fantastic book to end the year with! It’s got high drama, love triangles, complicated characters, and did I say never-ending drama? Katarina Shaw, with all her flaws, you can’t help but root for. Set in the work of cutthroat figure skating, the plot moves along at a great clip and I had a hard time putting this one down. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC - with a January release, make sure to preorder it!

"The Favorites" is MY new favorite!! I am completely obsessed with this book and these characters and am already considering a reread. Like, what do you mean this isn't nonfiction? I wanted Kat and Heath to be real so badly. I want to be able to look up their famous competitions and programs on tiktok. I am from the south and don't know much about ice dancing but this book did such an incredible job of painting a picture of the sport, explaining the rules, and making it make sense to me. I feel like an expert on the sport now.
The characters were so real. They all had flaws, they pissed me off at times, but that made them seem more 3 dimensional. I love nothing more than a bitchy female lead who won't take any shit from anyone, and Kat was exactly that and more. She reminded me a lot of Carrie Soto from Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The whole vibe of the book was very TJR in nature. She's one of my favorite authors so naturally I loved this. I even saw Layne Fargo thanked her in her acknowledgments! So definitely felt the inspo there.
I could not put this book down. It was so hard to find a stopping point ever. I was sucked in literally from page 1 to the very end, there was never any lag or boring moments for me. The story felt original. I was shocked at every twist and turn (maybe I'm easy to surprise). The interview style was fantastic, and I've heard the audio does a great job with this. I can't wait to listen to it too!
Definitely a new favorite book - perhaps the best I've read this year? Such a fun surprise fave. Would recommend to literally anyone! I think this book can appeal to the masses: there's a little romance, sports, LOTS of drama, smart dialogue, something for everyone!
Thank you so much for the early review galley!!

I've been hearing a lot of buzz about this book and I mostly understand why. It's very engaging and juicy; the drama, high-stakes, and soap-opera-like emotion really do keep you reading. This book delivers exactly what it promises, but I found it missing some sort of deeper emotionality or strong pull that would make me really connect. I think the characters could've used a little more dimensionality for my tastes. I'd definitely recommend this and I think it's a great read for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, or even Challengers and I, Tonya, although I didn't find the multi-media interviews to be all that necessary.

You can file this one under “Bookstagram made me do it” because once all my fave follows were talking about/loving The Favorites, I knew I needed to get my hands on it!! Thank you Random House for approving my NetGalley request 🫶🏼

This book was, honestly, so insane. I couldn’t believe the tension and then it would get crazier. I was stressed for heath/katarina basically the whole book?? Like maybe more stressed than they were competing? Because this book felt so real that heath and kat ARE real people right!!?

Katarina was such a fascinating character and watching her growth over the course of so many years while she grew up in the world of ice dancing was so good. I was enamored with this book because of Kat and the other characters (dean ellis!!! Garrett!!!? Bella??).

The style of third person interview commentary mixed in with Kat’s first person pov was pure gold!! I can only imagine how great of any audiobook this is.

I highly recommend this one! ⛸️🖤 Review to be posted on release day.

Easily one of the best books I read during 2024. I read another Layne Fargo book earlier this year and loved it so when I saw she had a new book coming out I immediately knew it was going to be good. The writing and plot reminded me alot of Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid but Olympic Ice Dance version. Each character was unique and brought their own flavor to the story. I thought this was very well done and will certainly be a hit for the beginning of 2025!

Wow.
I can't believe I read my favorite book of 2024 in December!!
I grew up figure skating so I had a feeling I would love this book, but I didn't realize it would be this much. I flew through the book in less than 24 hours and I really didn't want it to end. The way it was written reminds me a lot of Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid just told in the world of competitive figure skating. I already ordered a copy of this book because I absolutely need it on my shelf.
I see this book being extremely popular and think it would make an excellent TV show or movie. I will be recommending this book to everyone.
Thank you to Random House, Layne Fargo, and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.
This book publishes January 14, 2025