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.”

‘The Favorites’ is easily one of my favorite books of the year. Once I picked it up, I did not want to put it down! The book is written as an unauthorized documentary covering the careers of ice dancers Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha, where Kat wants to win and Heath only wants Kat. I can’t speak to the accuracy (full disclosure: I’ve never been an ice dancer), but the plot was engaging and gives readers a behind the scenes look at the cutthroat competition of becoming an elite athlete. I like characters that are flawed and the (albeit sometimes toxic) relationship between Kat and Heath felt real. The pacing kept me on the edge of my seat and I thought the foreshadowing throughout the book was subtle and well done. Overall, I think the book is fantastic and I would highly recommend it!

5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was like watching a documentary and should be made into a tv show! I love how the story was written. The characters were messy and there was a ton of drama. I was very much into this book and did not want to stop reading. This will be a top book for 2025 for sure!

what a book about shaw and rocha. They have been a skating together for a long time. They get training with the lin's . They are a messy friends and lovers during this time. shaw and rocha love each and are each other's home. But they are have many skating issues through the years. Loved bella and garret and how they were in the both of their lives and how it all ended and and having their different loves.

4.5 stars. What a wild ride! Katarina Shaw is a poor midwestern girl determined to win Olympic gold. She partners up with her childhood friend, Heath Rocha, and their magnetic connection makes them a promising ice dancing team. The book is told retrospectively ten years after their final skate and looks back at the twists and turns of their life. Katarina is the primary narrator, but her sections are interspersed with clever and quippy interview-style snippets from an unauthorized documentary about Shaw & Rocha's career.

This book is drama, drama, DRAMA to soap-opera levels. The author has a surprisingly good understanding of the sport of ice dancing but of course takes some big creative liberties as one would expect in fiction. Those with insider knowledge of figure skating will find themselves nodding in appreciation at times at its accuracy just as often as they roll their eyes at its embellishments. The pacing was excellent and the twists and turns keep the reader engaged. I'm deducting half a star because with so much time spent on dramatic plots and toxic relationships, by the end I'd been told how the characters had evolved rather than having it be demonstrated. It needed a bit more time devoted to the character development in order for me to have felt that where they end up was true to their characters.

If you're looking for a wild ride of drama, cut-throat ambition cloaked behind pretty smiles and designer dresses, and passionate-yet-toxic love, this book delivers.

Thank you to Random House for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel via NetGalley.

WOW. WOW WOWOW. I couldn’t believe how HOOKED I was with this story immediately. The small documentary in between chapters, they were worded perfectly. I felt like I was really watching a documentary about two athletes that actually existed. All of the characters drew me in, and I wanted to know all of their stories I was enthralled with the ice dance portion of the writing because I happen to love ice dance, and I wished that I could actually see the performances that were described the drama, the plot the people it was so addicting and I cannot wait to see more from this author

Thank you Random House for this advance copy. The bottom line here is - I’m too old for this book. 😂 The drama and romance were lost on me. It felt like a mash up of too many things instead of standing on its own - the documentary style of Daisy Jones, the fierce competitor of Carrie Soto, a toxic romantic relationship for CoHo fans, sprinkle in some Wuthering Heights and make it feel YA. Clearly I’m too curmudgeonly to enjoy this, but I think it has all the elements to be a BookTok sensation! I will say the cover art and the synopsis are both excellent. They definitely drew me in and convinced me to give this book a try.

If I had to give this book a one-word review, it would be enthralling. From the moment I picked this book up, I was gripped. Kat and Heath were such compelling characters that even when they were being messy, you can’t help but root for them. The story is well paced, even with the inclusion of the interview bits. Every bit grabs you, which is hard to do. All of the characters were so compelling. A truly special book that is sure to be everywhere.