I deeply regret not reading this sooner because OH. MY. GOD. Believe the hype. Prior to picking up this book, I had no interest in ice skating and honestly, no desire the change that.

133 pages in and I found myself down a Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir wormhole watching Olympic performances on YouTube so I could imagine Katarina and Heath better..

I was completely obsessed from start to finish. This is hands down one of the best books I’ve read in months - THE FAVOURITES deserves to be your favourite read of 2025. Layne Fargo, take a bow.

Immersive, Contemporary…
Ice skating duo Katarina and Heath became a world obsession, loved by all, their passion evident - until one isolated incident changed everything. Ten years later, along comes a docuseries - unauthorised, yet it is to be the spark which ignites a public obsession. Will a long time silence be broken? An intricate saga bubbling with drama and big characters and further brought into a wholly contemporary setting with clever use of a multi media narrative. Compelling and immersive.

I love ice skating & wanted to love The Favourites so much, but some aspects of this book really let me down.

I loved the way the skating was written, and the descriptions of Kat & Heath's passionate performances. The interview segments were an amazing addition as they allowed the reader to get outside perspectives on Kat & Heath's careers and scandals, and also allowed for an element of foreshadowing.

The pacing was the biggest issue for me - I struggled to feel engaged with the characters or plot until 40-50% through the book. It felt like the author was constantly trying to introduce plot twists, but many of them were predictable or had no later consequences in the story. The sabotage plotline could have been much more interesting if it was introduced earlier on in the book, but it was left to the last minute and felt rushed. So did Heath's proposal on the ice - it was jarring to read as he'd grown up with Kat and should have known better than anyone else what she would want.

This was a brilliant, epic story !

We follow Kat and Heath as they try to escape their harsh upbringings to be the best ice dance couple in the world. The story follows them through several decades of their lives and how their tempestuous relationship affects them both on and off the ice. The novel also features inserts from a documentary about the pair and gives us an insight on them from other perspectives.

This was so well written and was very engaging. It was engrossing and hard to put down. The documentary element added a great extra level to the book. Loved the character and plot development. Was really fun with the backdrop if ice skating too.

Highly recommend this novel.

The favourites is billed as part Daisy Jones, part Wuthering Heights; I can't comment on the later, having never read it, but I do get the Taylor Jenkins Reid reference. For me though it has Carrie Soto vibes and as much as I loved this one, TJR is a much superior read, with better developed characters and more depth to the grit.

Overall though I found The Favourites a hugely enjoyable and exciting read; I flew though it using audio and kindle so I could keep listening when I had to put the kindle down. And I know others thought it was too long......I could have had more!!

This is one of my favourite books of the year so far! I didn’t really know what to expect going into this, but found myself thoroughly hooked. I didn’t ever want to put this down or for it to end - I’ll definitely be reading more by Layne Fargo in the future.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc. 🫶🏻

A wuthering heights retelling set in the competitive world of ice skating? Sign me up!

I really enjoyed this and can see it becoming a popular hit. It’s told in a unique way which makes it stand out and makes it memorable. Personally, I wanted more from heath and kat in terms of their relationship but overall, I had a great time and would highly recommend this.

The story is told through Kat’s pov, who gives us her side of the story, but it’s also told through a documentary that the reader is ‘watching’. This gives us interviews with guests who were in Kat’s life and important people within the ice dancing community. I found this interesting because it was different to a usual storytelling style, and we get multiple pov’s on different events. The cuts between both these povs flowed really well and enabled certain moments to at first be told through a glazed over rhetoric from people in the documentary, to hearing the full true story from Kat. I found this to be an interesting exploration of how media can divert attention and make things seem different to how they are.

I do feel some of the relationship dynamics could have been stronger and more built up, and I had a hard time connecting with the story as much as I would have liked too due to this, but the characters alone were well written, and memorable.

I could see the similarities to the corresponding characters in Wuthering Heights, and how the story was inspired from that book. I did enjoy the retelling element and found Sage to retell that story well. The writing was good, and I would look to this author again after reading this.

I enjoyed it, but the enjoyment was bolstered by knowing that it was inspired by Wuthering Heights. It didn't have the grit of the original. It was a fun beach-read vibe read.

This book had popped up on my radar a few times so I was eager to get reading. Sadly, I found that I just couldn’t engage with the story and I really didn’t like the characters either!

Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha were once the biggest names in ice skate dancing. Now, on the 10th anniversary of their last skate, a documentary drops telling their story. From childhood sweethearts to world class champions, the path to success was tough and full of drama. Kat hasn't taken part in the documentary but as she watches, she tells us her side of the story.

The Favourites is exhilarating and action packed. We see Kat and Heath as kids and how they became partnered up, the hard work they put in despite their broken home lives and how they caught the eye US ice dance Olympic Champion Sheila Lin. We see them move to LA to train in her ice skate rink, along side her twins Garrett and Bella. The story is a whirlwind of training, competitions, costumes and music, with plenty of ups and downs.

The story is inspired by Wuthering Heights, so if you're family with that, you'll definitely recognise some of the character names and plotlines. There has also been comparisons to Taylor Jenkins Reid, with Layne Fargo acknowledging her at the end of the book. This is partially because of the style of the novel, which is similar to Daisy Jones. The latter is written like the transcripts of a documentary, while The Favourites has elements of that, interjected with Kat's observations. There is also a dash of Carrie Soto is Back, the TJR novel all about a tennis legend returning to the courts for one last go. The Favourites also has elements of this, from the perspective of the cut throat world of ice skate dancing and the passion and determination of professional athletes.

Character wise, most of the characters in here can be unbearable at times. But there's some lightness (especially in the form of Garrett) and I don't mind characters who can be unlikeable but relatable and human.

A fantastic, juicy and dramatic book that's a rollercoaster of a ride, The Favourites will have you hooked and you'll be seeing sequins in your eyes for days after reading this!

5 stars! This book was one of the best I’ve read in a long time, thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for this arc. I could not put this down and was so invested that it was hard to remember that these characters weren’t real life athletes. What an addictive story (will be mentioned in a YouTube video soon @caramurrayy)

This made me feel every emotion that exists. Toxic, messy and unlikeable characters will always be a guilty pleasure of mine!

The Favourites, to me, is like if Daisy Jones and The Six meets Ice Princess in the best way possible with about 10x more toxic characters and it was phenomenal.

We follow the story of Kat and Heath’s epic story of how they became legendary figure skaters and their very messy love story. Kat is very much an unlikeable character and yet I adored her. I grew to love her strength and how she was unapologetically true to herself and her goals.

Kat and Heath’s relationship was definitely an epic love type of story that paired with their skating, turned a bit toxic and messy and had me shouting at them for some of their very questionable choices.

The author did a phenomenal job and bringing all the characters to life and made you believe you were watching a documentary on their life. It was so entertaining and I was gripped the entire way through the book.

Huge thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The Favourites in exchange for my honest review.

Daisy Jones and the Six meets The Cutting Edge.

What an exciting, engaging read. I must have audibly gasped in at least three different places! Also I’ve just realised - Katarina and Heath, as in Cathy and Heathcliffe from Wuthering Heights? All the generational trauma, the narrative framing devices… I may have to go back and read it again to find more Brontë references.

An author I’ll be looking out for in the future. Also, when’s the film or TV adaptation? I’m longing to see all those skating scenes played out for real.

Behind the scenes in the world of ice skating. Enjoyed this very much. Liked the style of writing as well. Just flew through it wanting to know what happened next.
Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC in return for my honest review

An epic love story set in the world of competitive ice dancing. This story was intriguing and kept me hooked from the start. Loved it.

I had seen so many reviews on The Favourites by Layne Fargo that I felt compelled to read it so when it came up for review on Netgalley I jumped at the chance and luckily got accepted.

This is an epic love story that blew me away and made me realise that I actually love a good romance story.

We meet main characters Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha, two very different individuals brought up in very different circumstances. Both ice skate partners that raise to be Olympians, we follow them on this beautiful yet very emotional journey and their story really gripped me.

Both characters were so intriguing that I did not want this novel to end, its such an amazing journey.

Thanks to the author, Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

I initially put this book on my list after audible recommended it as one to watch out for. Then it started getting a ton of hype, which put me off picking it up for a while, having had a lot of disappointment in the past from hyped books. However, for me, this is a book that absolutely deserves the hype. It’s so bingeable - the chapters are really short but the end of each one leaves you wanting more. Most of all, the characters felt so real that I found myself feeling all of their emotions, and also wanting to go on YouTube to watch videos of Kat and Heath skating, only to remember I can’t because this is a work of fiction!

I’m a big fan of Taylor Jenkins Read and loved Carrie Soto is Back. I completely agree with those drawing the parallels between these two authors and, if you enjoy TJR, I would definitely recommend giving The Favourites a try. Like Carrie (and real life athletes like Serena Williams), Kat is trying to navigate a world where being a strong, competitive woman is more often perceived as being arrogant and difficult. While she is extremely selfish at times (which I think is often a necessary part of being an elite athlete) and makes some frustrating decisions, it’s also easy to forget (because of her accomplishments), that for most of this book she’s a teenager/very young woman whose grown up without a mother and, more recently, without a father too. The character growth both she and Heath go through is extremely satisfying, even if it’s also extremely painful at times. I loved it, and I think it’s a story that will stick with me for some time ❤️.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this book.

The Favourites by Layne Fargo🩷⛸️

I had been seeing this book everywhere for a while and so many people seemed to be loving it. I saw lots of comparisons to TJR writing which immediately had me sold. It was to expensive on kindle but I didn’t really want another hardback (just because I don’t have much room left on my shelves and they take up space!) until one day I just caved and ordered it from Amazon🤣 and I’m so glad I did.

I’m not going to say much in this review because I don’t want to spoil anything and I went into this more or less blind, I knew it was about two ice skaters but other than that I was clueless which I definitely think is the best way to go into it. I was hooked from the beginning to the end to be honest, if I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it. I ended up listening to some of the audiobook on Spotify while doing some jobs in the house and I would recommend listening to it as well. I was so intrigued by all the characters and how the story was going to go. Right up until the end I still had no idea how it was going to end but I do think it wrapped up perfectly. This is my first read by this author but her writing was completely addictive! I definitely want to look into reading some more of her books. I definitely agree that this is similar to TJR writing, you’re just completely immersed in the story and it has the same interview element as Daisy Jones and The Six.

The characters did have a bit of a toxic element (but sometimes that is exactly what I love), which just made it even more addicting. There were so many twists and turns I was on the complete edge of my seat the whole way through in the best way possible. I loved the feeling this story left me with and would 1000% recommend picking it up.

A modern Wuthering Heights, yes please!

This was addictive, in all the right ways. The tension, emotion and characters were unlike anything I’ve read in a book for a while. I saw that people were comparing it to TJR’s Daisy Jones, and I think it worked really well!

Definitely one of my FAVOURITES of the year so far!