The Favorites Audiobook By Layne Fargo cover art

The Favorites

A Novel

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The Favorites

By: Layne Fargo
Narrated by: Christine Lakin, Louisa Zhu, Amy Landon, Elena Rey, Valerie Rose Lohman, Suzanne Toren, Graham Halstead, Julia Emelin, Layne Fargo, Eric Yang, Johnny Weir
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About this listen

To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.

An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

“Part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story” through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.

©2025 Layne Fargo (P)2025 Random House Audio
Coming of Age Sports Women's Fiction

Critic reviews

“Violent passions, bloody on-ice accidents, bedroom betrayals, sabotage, paparazzi-driven scandals, and nonstop cliffhangers . . . Colleen Hoover–style romance heads to the Olympic rink. Buckle up.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here

“A true literary triple axel: a smart and nuanced retelling of a classic, a tense sports drama, and a perfectly twisted romance.”—Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Heiress and The Wife Upstairs

What listeners say about The Favorites

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Fantastic full cast audio!

I couldn’t give this book 5 stars fast enough! I listened on audio and highly recommend it. The full cast audio was spectacular!
The whole story was full of unexpected twists and turns and kept me wondering throughout. I couldn’t stop listening! Such a beautiful and heart breaking story that you need to read!

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This is amazing

I love the interview/documentary style format of this story. This book made me happy, sad, MAD, want to scream and laugh. I loved it so so much. So much tension, angst and drama!

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Incredible!!

Just WOW!! This book was incredible, bingeable and even more than that memorable, because I have never read anything like it. I loved reading a book in the figure skating world and then to have that book be so incredible was even better!

I don’t want to give anything away, I think going in blind is the best, but I can say that I had no idea how this story would conclude and come together and somehow Layne did it. The ending was worthy of the story that led us there. Highly suggest this one, you won’t regret it!

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OUTSTANDING!!

this was SO SO well narrated! it was so so entertaining & I absolutely loved the style that this was written in. The audiobook was the perfect way to read this book.

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Best book I’ve listened to in a long time!

Wow! That was an excellent read! Listening to the audio felt like I was watching a movie. Great character development, storyline, drama - I loved everything about it and highly recommend!

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Original & Heartfelt

I was engaged in the storyline from start to finish. I’ve listened to 100s of audiobooks and this was by far the best in recent memory.

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I've never screamed at an audiobook before!!

This had me at ice dancing. But I had no idea... Slow burn. Then twisty and tense and sizzling and savage. SO. GOOD. SO. MUCH. FUN.

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This book was made for audio

It's only January, but I feel confident that this may be my favorite book of 2025. This book was an emotional roller coaster that I could not put down.

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Narration

I am particular about my audibles because sometimes the narration is too dramatized and that annoys me. The narration of the many characters in this book was done perfectly.

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The Favorites is THE favorite

I was enamored with this cover from the first time
I saw it. It reminded me so much of a Renaissance painting. The colors, the raw emotion, there was something in the image that conveyed YEARNING. The sense of longing and bottomless near toxic desire. This is 100% the reason I needed to read this book.

It wasn’t until I hit play on audible that I realized it was not just a full cast but a FULL cast. The reason for this will be apparent from the first page of Katarina Shaw’s story, but initially I wasn’t sure how anyone would keep up with so many changing dialogues. And yet, it was seamless. You didn’t just read the story of Shaw and Roche, you lived it, felt it, breathed it. From the preteen years of names in a heart to the epic heartache on a sidewalk in the pouring rain. The highs and lows, and sometimes rock bottoms, you were there as all the key figures surrounding the skating couple gave testimony and gossip to nearly two decades of story.

In a sea of endless books with the same plots, arcs, and tropes, The Favorites stand out with a refreshing ice dance duo aiming for the Olympics and a documentary style overlay woven between the narration of Kat telling her own story. Descriptions of archival footage and cellphone videos, blogs and flip phones from the early 2000s, give a nostalgic grounding to what would normally be a confusing narrative to follow. Characters developed on page and through those interview/ video POV’s create an entirely new depth of realism.

At the end, I’m incredibly satisfied albeit drained emotionally from a whirlwind lifetime read over 450ish pages. But there is one thing I can say for sure, the feeling of yearning that drew me at first? That will be how I’ll always remember The Favorites, a story that continued chapter after chapter to evoke a yearning for more.

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