The Favorites by Layne Fargo

I was really looking forward to reading this book. I love books and movies about ice skating - and I watched every minute of the ice skating events in the Winter Olympics earlier this year. I had a difficult time adjusting to what I thought the book was going to be like vs what it actually was. The blurb on the inside cover made it seem like the story was about a young couple, with tragic childhoods, coming together to take the ice dancing world by storm with their best-friend relationship, unique style, and passion for skating (and each other) propelling them to the Olympics. Not exactly. I wish it had been that.

First of all, most of the relationships in the book were toxic on some level, especially the two main characters, Katarina & Heath. Katarina is consumed by winning at any cost. She doesn't really seem to care about who she hurts along the way. It doesn't even seem like Heath wants to skate. He is only skating because he loves (and is highly dependent on) Katarina. So how do these two make it to the Olympics?? Well, it's a long, hard story, that's for sure. I don't mind reading about a few bumps along the road to success, or relationship issues because of decisions made by one or both people, but most of the people in this book were untrustworthy at best, and icky at worst. I get that these competitive athletes/coaches/trainers have to be self-absorbed to make it to the top. But the entire story hopped from one toxic environment to another; one toxic person to another; one accident and/or distraction to another. The negative energy was never-ending! I kept waiting for something - anything - positive to happen!

I was expecting something "tragic" to tear Katarina & Heath apart - or deeply affect their relationship - but honestly, their entire relationship was unhealthy. They were selfish, needy, demanding, controlling, and sometimes downright cruel to each other. This was more of a Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding story (cruel actions to take a competitor down), when I was expecting a story about two broken people coming together because they both loved skating and each other more than anything. If you can look beyond the toxicity - or enjoy reading about that kind of thing - the writing style is engaging. I kept reading to see how it would all turn out, so I was invested in the story. 

Wendy's Rating: ***1/2