Review: The Favorites
/3 stars. Okay so this took some getting used to after all the moody noir I've been consuming. I was also immediately kind of side eyeing it for trying to be Big Little Lies or Daisy Jones with the mixed media = Greek chorus approach. And with the figure skating angle... I was like, okay, trying to be Megan Abbott are we? (aren't we all though?) But once I settled in and got beyond the hilariously on-the-nose character names (Gemma Wellington LOL), I was completely hooked.
This is the story of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha, childhood sweethearts turned skating partners - their rise (and various falls - pun intended) in the ice skating world through the 90s and 2000s. Navigating an intense relationship, past and present traumas, competitive rivals, tempting endorsements, and the physical challenges of being rigorous athletes, Kat and Heath orbit each other in truly toxic ways while keeping their eyes on the prize: to win Gold at the Olympics.
Some personal context: I grew up in the 90s watching figure skating at the Olympics, so I was a rapt witness to the Tonya Harding story - I absolutely love The Price of Gold documentary about it. I recognized echoes of that narrative (media-driven rivalries, the haves and the have-nots, the white trash scrappy girls versus the princesses) almost instantly, so at the very least, this author went in with a good grasp of the world. (Once again, noting that I am a fan of this world, not an insider. I have no clue how accurate it is.)
So I liked that aspect, a lot. It's all fascinating. But ultimately this story kind of made me feel icky. Part of me was like - okay, the point is that Kat needs to learn a big lesson, right? A big life lesson about priorities, and competition, and respecting the wishes of your loved ones instead of using them, climbing on them, to the top, which turns out to be kind of an empty place to be after all? It kind of seemed like Heath wanted her to learn that lesson. What's worse: loving someone with an incompatibility that intense, or hoping/wishing/expecting/driving them to change? Maybe Heath is the one who needed to learn a lesson. Maybe he did, ultimately. We only get Kat's POV, but he's as guilty and vindictive as she is.
That's really too much deep thought for a saucy, salacious ice skating soap opera. The twists! The turns! The twizzles! That's what we're here for! I just had to dock a star because of my least favorite trope - ouch - but this would make a really great beach read. Hey - it kept me awake and turning the pages, and I have a four month old who is teething, rolling, and going through a sleep regression. I will be checking out other books by this author ASAP.
The Favorites on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads