The way this book is written is what kept me interested, I enjoyed the documentary structure and how the timeline unfolded.
Shaw & Rocha aka Kat & Heath grow up together and also grow in their skating career, this book follows the trials and tribulations of competitive ice dance. I have to say for me personally there are no likeable characters but this didn’t stop me getting stuck in.

I would recommend this book, especially to anyone with an interest in the sport.

Kat and Heath have skated together since they were young, however, they don’t have the budget of most other ice dancing teams and it’s obvious. When they have the opportunity to leave their world behind for the city lights of LA and be coached by Kat’s idol (and also biggest competitors Mom), Heath is reluctant but Kat won’t stop at anything to achieve her dreams.

This is told in part by interview style and definitely gave me Daisy Jones & The Six vibes, but it was predominantly just in prose. I really enjoyed this book and it definitely deserves the hype it’s getting! None of the characters are particularly likeable and I usually don’t like a book where I don’t connect with the protagonist but this was definitely an exception. We also got a glimpse of how it ends in the prologue which kept me hooked!
One of the best books I’ve read for a while and a definite easy 5*. Thank you @eloise.reads for recommending it!

Thank you to Layne Fargo and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story was not what I was expecting, but it positively surprised me. The narrative is structured like a documentary, and the drama is exceptional, featuring a very closed-door romance. The rivalry keeps the characters on edge, and their development is outstanding.

Absolute perfection is this book! Whether you highly interested in the skating world or just want a good hook you by your seat book this is DAISY JONES & THE six on ice! I loved every minute and will be counting the minutes till it’s on screen

Beautifully brutal. This book gives a mix of ‘Daisy Jones & the Six’ meets ‘Magnolia Parks’. Perfection!

Sports romance is not a genre that usually appeals to me but there was something about this one that drew me to read it. I'm so glad I did as this is a really great book.

We follow the story of Katerina Shaw and her ambitions to be a gold medal winning Olympic skater. Nothing is going to stand in her way and she brings childhood sweetheart Heath Rocha along for the ride. This is a captivating read about ambition, obsession, friendship, rivalry and the lengths people will go to in order to win.

It did take me a little while to sink into this book but when I found myself thinking about the characters when not reading, then I knew I was hooked. I loved the writing style, especially the use of the documentary style way of moving the plot along. I loved the drama, the tension, the heartbreak and the scandal. I think Kat is a fantastic character. She's fierce and determined and I enjoyed following her character development throughout this book.

Thank you to Random House UK, Vintage and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Ever since I first watched Torvill and Dean back in the eighties, ice skating has always held a mystique for me, not as something I wanted to do, accident prone and two left feet means that when it comes to me and ice it’s a case of never the twain shall meet. But watching skaters, their grace, elegance, and speed as they seemingly flew effortlessly across the rink was addictive to the younger me so when I saw The Favorites was based around a skating trope, I just had to read it. I loved the overall story even it did destroy all my naive illusions. I knew skating wasn’t easy especially at that level but everything that went into it, the intensity of the training, the competitiveness, the pain and the drive to win at all costs shocked me. They basically lived and breathed skating with no room for anything else to the extent that the initial attraction between them was probably down to the convenience of close proximity rather than any feelings. The writing was first rate and kept me absorbed from the start without being too technical and the chemistry between the protagonists Heath and Katarina was electric and essentially what made them such a great pairing on the ice till it blew up just as they were at the pinnacle of success but that’s where it lost marks for me. When I’m reading a book the difference between whether or not I’m going to love it or merely like it comes down to the characters and if the author has made me care what happens to them and unfortunately, I just didn’t like Katarina. Saying that I could honestly see this book being adapted for the big screen and being a hit, I know I’d watch it.

The Favorites is a book that is hard to describe! It is a romance set in the world of sports, but it is so much more than that. It is a story of scandal, rivalry, love, family and found family. We get to follow our protagonists through many years from poor, lonely young loves, to (in)famous champions and more. The highs are high and the lows are low. I could not have guessed half of what was going to happen in the lives of our protagonists, but I enjoyed every second of the ride.

Recommended for fans of high intensity, dramatic reads. You do not have to be a lover of romance novels, or know anything about ice skating, to get hooked on this story.

This was addictive from the start - I love the interview style of writing to break up the action of the chapters. It’s a brilliant portrayal of toxic relationships and how the world of competitive sport can affect your decisions. I am not a fan however of time jumping in books and therefore that dropped a star for me but that’s a personal preference

GOD what a read. I tore through this one while sick with flu, and it was transportive - the perfect antidote to how bad I felt. It’s a retelling of Wuthering Heights - lost on me largely, i’m not going to lie - set in the ultra-competitive world of ice dancing. It’s part documentary style, part POV of one of the main characters, Kat Shaw.
I absolutely adored this book! Characters can so often feel ephemeral to me as a reader with no imagination (there are dozens of us) but the characters in this novel felt so real to me, I found myself doing a fancast in my head while reading. One of the only other books I’ve done that with in recent years is Daisy Jones and the Six; the comparisons are justified, to my mind!
Fargo writes with an earnestness and sincerity about ice dancing and romance that can border on cheesy but I ate it up. The main characters, Kat and Heath, live in poverty in the Midwest, but find each other at a young age. Kat is also obsessed with ice dancing from the time she can walk, and they fall head-over-heels in love at a young age, with Heath following Kat into the cut-throat world of ice dance. Slowly but surely, the couple work their way up the competitive ice dance ladder.

They are unstoppable together, but their passion for one another causes a lot of drama, to say the least. And how I loved the drama! I was gripped by the twists and turns of this story, and at times had no idea what was going to happen next. There is just as much interpersonal drama as there is sporting drama, which I loved - a couple of romantic plot twists left me genuinely screeching.

I read an early copy of this so I didn’t see any acknowledgments/author’s notes, but I’d love to know it the author acknowledges any real-life inspirations for the incredible ice dancers in the novel - i’ve seen one review that mentions Lin & Lockwood, the inspirational ice dancers who introduce Kat to the sport, are based on Torvill and Dean, who won a gold at the Olympics in 1984. I love little tidbits like that, so fingers crossed these real-life legends get their shout out in the finished copy of The Favourites.

An outrageously fun and dramatic novel that I had the best time with. It’s out now and I’ll definitely be picking up a copy ASAP!

Heath Rocha and Katarina Shaw are American Figure Skating champions, destined to win big at the Olympics. Everyone loves them, and the Gold medal is almost guaranteed.

The Favourites is told largely from Katarina's (Kat's) point of view and follows Heath and Kat's rise to fame, from their early years of skating together as poor teens with no coach, to the Olympic games.

They are as famous off ice, as they are on. Their relationship is complex and dramatic.

The stuffy skating committees and official boards hate them, the fans love them.

Together they are unstoppable.

Ten years on from the Sochi Olympics, a tell all documentary is being made about them 'the Favourites: The Shaw and Rocha story', and the novel intersperses bits of the documentary with Kat's point of view.

We hear from fellow skaters, coaches and friends of the pair, and wonder who exactly is telling the truth, and who is embellishing.

I saw a quote that described this book as Part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones and the Six and thought nah, not possible, but it is genuinely the closest I think I have come to another Daisy Jones style book, and I absolutely loved it. (And it would make a great movie/tv series..)

It's early days of course, but I think The Favourites will be one of my favourite (no pun intended) reads of 2025. It has something for everyone, and was a really enjoyable read.

An Okay Read 🤔

Not what I was expecting. Whilst I finished the book it didn’t grip me, I think more young adult vibe.

I had to stop this book. I got about 10% in which is my minimum for all books. I was looking forward to a book about ice skating as I used to skate when I was younger but this book did not grip me in anyway. One thing I did really love was the news reporter script, that was one thing that kept me interested but unfortunately I don’t think this story is for me and I’m looking for something of a faster pace

This story follows the life of an elite figure skating couple. It is written as a novel, with a documentary style interview at the end of each chapter. This adds so much to the story! If someone had told me this was based on a true story, I would have 100% believed them.

We may only be in January, but I already know this is a strong contender for being in my favourite reads at the end of the year! It was that great! It was so full of twists, turns, and scandal!

I can genuinely say I was hooked from the very beginning and had 0 idea at any point where this story was going. It kept me guessing till the very end.

Every single characters personality shone through in this story. It was such an amazing cast of characters, I felt like I genuinely knew each ones intentions and mindset.

This will definitely be a book I'll be recommending to everyone.

Who knew the world of ice dance could be so ruthless? The Favourites proves this as an addictive and propulsive novel about two young skaters, Katarina and Heath, whose epic and dramatic love story spans many years, filled with fights, love, injuries, passion, and betrayals. The story is narrated by Katarina, interwoven with fragments of a documentary chronicling the rise and fall of the celebrity couple. While this documentary-style format didn’t resonate with me as strongly as it has in other similar books, it still added an intriguing layer to the story.

The book was dramatic and soapy but magnetic and engaging at the same time. Heath and Katarina were so toxic (especially Heath) that you almost didn’t want them to be together, yet you couldn’t help but feel they were meant for each other. Their relationship, alternating between love and hatred, drove the story forward with intensity.

The world of competitive ice dance was a central element of the plot, and I was thoroughly captivated by how everything worked—the alliances, the rivalries, the system, and the corruption. It provided an original and refreshing theme, one I had never encountered before in a novel.

Despite how much I enjoyed the book—it stayed on my mind even when I wasn’t reading—I feel it could have been shorter. Unfortunately, the ending felt slightly underwhelming after all the preceding drama. Nevertheless, this was an unforgettable and epic story.

This book has been everywhere on my feed since the new year and once I had heard it was a Taylor Jenkins Reid vibe with figure skating I was sold! Skating has always been something of an obsession of mine so I was thrilled to be able to get stuck into a new book with this as its theme, especially with Wuthering Heights, one of my favourite classics as its inspiration.

I read this book so fast, it was a really addictive read and I didn't want to put it down. I was so quickly sucked into the skating drama and rooting for my favourite characters. I found only Garrett to be truly likeable but by the end I had come to care for Bella, Heath and Katarina with their strange spiky ways. I think the book could have been longer to allow it to be more emotional, a lot had to be packed in to span Heath & Katarina's entire skating journey however a lot of it felt quite shallow and surface level. To be a five star read I wanted to be more emotionally invested and maybe shed a tear or two!

I wish the title hadn't been changed for the UK audience, I get that we spell favourite differently but I think the change is somewhat infantilising- we are perfectly capable of reading books set in America(!) with that word 'misspelled'. I also found as a Brit and skating fan, the rewriting of history to erase Torvill & Dean's historic and legendary Ice Dance Gold medal at the Sarajevo olympics grating. It's already fiction, maybe there could have been fictional Olympic dates/host cities to avoid this.

I loved the ending, it was so dramatic and somewhat unexpected although I never doubted that they would compete one last time. Whilst the communication issues and strange love triangle wouldn't normally be for me, it really worked in this context and I am so glad I read this! I will definitely look out for more historical fiction by this author in the future, it has reignited my skating obsession and I will be spending the next few months wishing I was living in this book.

4.5 stars

Thank you so much to Vintage Books and Netgalley for my e-ARC :)

Imagine my delight when I realised this was a Wuthering Heights retelling with a differences; it’s nothing short of phenomenal. There were times when I gasped out loud, got carried away in the twists and turns of the ice rink and the back stabbing of the off stage drama. I didn’t expect to care so much about Kat and Heath, it’s worth the hype, I promise.

“The Favourites” by Layne Fargo is a gripping mix of passion, ambition, and scandal, blending the intensity of “Wuthering Heights” with the behind-the-scenes drama of “Daisy Jones and the Six”. The story centers on Katarina Shaw, a figure skater who has always believed her destiny lies in the Olympics. Her life and career take a pivotal turn when she teams up with Heath Rocha, a troubled foster kid, to form a powerhouse ice dancing duo. Their electrifying chemistry and rollercoaster relationship captivate the public, until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games destroys their partnership. Ten years later, an unauthorized documentary resurfaces, reigniting public fascination with their story. As Kat finally decides to tell her side, the narrative weaves between her perspective and the sensational interviews from the film, unraveling the truth behind their rise to fame—and the explosive rumors that have followed them ever since.

This book is a fast-paced and entertaining read, filled with complex characters and twists that keep you hooked. I finished in 24 hours despite it being almost 450 pages. The documentary-style writing gives the story a voyeuristic edge, making it feel like you’re watching a trainwreck unfold. However, while the story is engaging, the writing itself is fairly simple, and it lacks the gothic richness of “Wuthering Heights” or the emotional depth of Taylor Jenkins Reid's work. “The Favourites” reads more like a YA novel at times, with its melodramatic flair and younger sensibilities. This could be a turn-off for readers expecting a more mature narrative, but there’s no denying its broad appeal.

Despite these drawbacks, “The Favourites” will likely find a big audience—especially those who enjoy binge-worthy, dramatic reads that are more style than substance. It’s an entertaining ride, but a little more depth in the writing could’ve made it even more memorable.

This book is all the things! I have never enjoyed or been so on the edge of thin ice pun intended as I was with this book! It’s like Daisy Jones & The Six on ice! It needs to be made into a movie!

This book follows Katarina Shaw in the world of elite figure skating. The story brings the drama, scandal, romance as well as the highs and lows of competitive sport. The characters are not without flaws and not always entirely likeable but I was fully invested in their story.

This was pure addictive entertainment! Once I got into the story, I could not put it down! Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid will love this. A mix of Carrie Soto and Daisy Jones. I really enjoyed the format of both Kat’s POV and interviews for a documentary made 10 years on from the events of the 2014 olympics.

I think this would really lend itself to audio format as I gather it’s a full cast and so I will definitely be getting this on audio to try it out. This would also make a great TV/movie adaptation.

4.5 stars. Highly recommend. Thank you to NetGallery and Random House UK, Vintage for the e-arc.