The Favourites

i can’t rate this book. it was well written, thoroughly entertaining, and fast paced. i audibly gasped multiple times. it’s undeniably good. however, i feel sick to my stomach. i have a hard time with bittersweet messy shit like this in books because i use them as an escape, and i don’t know i can’t handle dirty realness like this in my books. i don’t think i enjoyed it. i think i found it entirely frustrating and i can never read this again. i’m pretty sure that makes me a weak bitch but … whatever.

After seeing and reading a lot of rave reviews of this one on bookstagram I knew that I needed to pick it up myself as it sounds like a book that I was going to enjoy. Its full of twists, turns and I was unable to put it down at times. The only way to describe how this is written is like Daisy Jones and Six – Told through a TV Documentary and then the events from Katarina’s perspective. It was truly addictive!  

Life hasn’t been kind to Katarina, who has always dreamed of becoming an Olympian. But growing up in poverty meant she had to fight tooth and nail to reach the top. Her path crossed with Heath Rocha, a foster kid with his own struggles, and together they formed an unbreakable bond. So, when her idol, Sheila Lin, invites Katarina and Heath to train at her elite facility, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime—or maybe a trap. Training alongside Sheila’s twins, Bella and Garrett, Katarina discovers that talent and hard work aren’t enough in this cutthroat world. Ice skating became their escape, propelling them from obscurity to royalty in the skating world—until a devastating incident at the Olympics shattered their dreams and their lives.

A decade later, the world is still captivated by their story, now the subject of a tell-all documentary. The book alternates between gripping documentary interviews, where various characters offer their takes on Kat and Heath’s journey, and Kat’s raw, personal narrative of what truly happened. The result is a riveting tale brimming with anger, passion, and resilience.

It’s a story about love, obsession, and finding your way, without veering into overly sentimental territory. Having loved Fargo’s previous novel They Never Learn, I was thrilled to see her tackle the high-stakes world of competitive ice dancing—and the scandals that come with it.

kinda starting to hate when you can tell that books are being written in hopes to become a limited tv series

A lot of thngs appealed to me about this book going in - from the gripping description to the breathtaking cover. It is told in half narrative, half interviews with the characters (think Daisy Jones and the Six style), and Fargo did a fantastic job using the two to weave the threads of a complex story together seamlessly. While there were many things I really enjoyed, I felt that the book just kept building up and up and up...and then it didn't have a shock factor that swept my feet out from under me. Perhaps it just went on a little bit too long and it began to feel repetitive, or maybe I was able to anticipate the ending. Nevertheless, this is a great read if you're looking for something to feel immersed in, and if you're yearning for the excitement of sport, celebrity, and scandal.