#3 [2026/CBR18] The Favorites by Layne Fargo

I saw The Favorites (2025) by Layne Fargo on some year-end, best-of lists and decided it was worth a try. It is a story loosely based on Wuthering Heights, written in the style of Daisy Jones & The Six, and based on the the competitive sport of ice dancing. Pairs figure skating was one of my favorite Olympic sports to watch back in the day, so I figured a book about ice dancing could be interesting.

Katarina Shaw was obsessed with ice dancing ever since she was a kid, watching Sheila Lin win the Gold medal at the Olympics. And even though Kat lived on the outskirts of a small, midwestern town without all of the resources many ice dancers employ, Kat was determined to succeed. And then she met Heath Rocha, a loner foster kid, at the rink, and the two were inseparable. Heath learned how to skate for Kat, and their connection made them a great ice dancing couple.

Heath and Kat faced a ton of obstacles. After Kat's father died unexpectedly, Kat's drug addict brother made their lives difficult. They had no money for coaching, costumes, or choreography, but their talent got them noticed. When Sheila Lin invites Kat and Heath to Los Angeles for coaching at her private academy, Kat jumps at the chance and drags Heath along with her.

Sheila had twins back in the day, and her prodigy are now looking to follow in her gold-medal footsteps. Bella and Garrett are everything Kat and Heath are not. They have all of the privilege and pressure that come with being the children of Sheila Lin. And there are other ice dancing couples, too, all training together and fighting for supremacy.

This story is told as an unauthorized documentary, ten years after something "scandalous" had occurred in the ice dancing world, involving Kat and Heath. The book uses interviews and descriptions of footage from that time. This is interspersed with Kat's description of her side of the story.

I thought this was a fun book, and I had a good time with it. I have read Wuthering Heights, but it was too long ago. I don't remember it well enough to compare the plots. However, Fargo seemed to do a good job in capturing the intensity and drama of ice dancing, as well as the intensity of Kat and Heath's often unhealthy relationship. My only complaint is that it sometimes felt a little repetitive. Countless times, Kat and Heath came into a competition on top, only for something to go wrong during the final dance. I began expecting it.

I just started watching Glitter and Gold last night, Netflix's special on the top ice dancing couples going to the 2026 Olympics. I was interested in the show because of The Favorites, and what I've seen so far definitely fits with the drama in the book. Ice dancing couples are breaking up and switching partners constantly, including switching nationalities in order to compete. The last Olympic gold medalist ditched his partner to start ice dancing with the woman whose partner was banned from the sport because of alleged sexual assault. Two of the top couples train at the same rink. And because the judging is, in part, subjective, it increases the tension even more.

To sum up: I enjoyed the book, and I will probably be watching some Olympic ice dancing shortly.