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A review by lostinfictionaluniverse
The Favourites: Lace up for the must-read thrilling love story you'll be obsessed with in 2025 by Layne Fargo
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I just finished The Favourites, and I’m feeling a bit torn. The whole figure skating world mixed with drama and obsession sounded amazing, and the way it’s partly told through a fake documentary is a cool touch. It definitely kept me reading because I wanted to know what really happened between Kat and Heath.
The book starts strong, setting up their intense partnership and all the messed-up dynamics between them. Their relationship is complicated and full of passion, jealousy, and ambition, which makes for some pretty juicy drama. But after a while, it felt like the same issues kept repeating, and the story got kind of stuck. The middle part dragged for me, with lots of emotional chaos but not much actual progress.
I wanted more depth from the side characters, but the focus is so heavily on Kat and Heath’s toxic connection that everyone else feels like background noise.
The ending was okay but felt rushed and not as satisfying as I hoped. It leaves a lot of things open-ended, which can work sometimes, but here it just felt like the story didn’t fully deliver on its potential. Fargo’s writing style is good, and the story had potential, but it didn’t completely work for me.
The book starts strong, setting up their intense partnership and all the messed-up dynamics between them. Their relationship is complicated and full of passion, jealousy, and ambition, which makes for some pretty juicy drama. But after a while, it felt like the same issues kept repeating, and the story got kind of stuck. The middle part dragged for me, with lots of emotional chaos but not much actual progress.
I wanted more depth from the side characters, but the focus is so heavily on Kat and Heath’s toxic connection that everyone else feels like background noise.
The ending was okay but felt rushed and not as satisfying as I hoped. It leaves a lot of things open-ended, which can work sometimes, but here it just felt like the story didn’t fully deliver on its potential. Fargo’s writing style is good, and the story had potential, but it didn’t completely work for me.