The Favorites: Already The Year’s Best Guilty Pleasure Read

The Year’s Best Guilty Pleasure Read May Have Already Arrived

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If this seemingly endless January has taught us anything, it’s that there’s never been a better time for some (serious) escapism. We all need to take our joy where we can find it no matter what form it comes in, and refrain from judging others for their preferred methods for finding a way to think about literally anything else. When it comes to books, some readers find solace in the swoony worlds of romantasy, others in the fast-paced worlds of thrillers and mysteries. But no matter what our genre of choice is when it comes to comfort reads these days, I think that by the end of 2025, we’ll all agree on one thing—that the horny ice skating novel The Favorites could not have possibly arrived at a more perfect time.

This immersive, wildly addictive story of a pair of ice dancers and the drama that follows them both on and off the ice is the very definition of a guilty pleasure. (Which, truly, you should never feel guilty about anything you read, but that’s a rant for another day.) Fast-paced and full of colorful characters, it’s incredibly fun from start to finish, even if it hardly meets anyone’s idea of “serious literature”. The characters are compelling and raw, the scandals are juicy and shocking, and the unflinching view of the sport’s dark underbelly is as fascinating as it is horrifying.

Told via alternating narrative sections and sly snippets from a fictional documentary called The Favorites: The Shaw and Rocha Story, the book follows the story of Katerina and Heath, two poor Midwestern kids from damaged backgrounds who find a home in each other. Katrina’s lifelong dream has been to be an Olympic skater and follow in the footsteps of ice dancer Sheila Lin. Heath, less interested in skating for its own sake than in partnering with Kat in every way possible, essentially tags along for the ride, and the pair fuck and fight their way through qualifying competitions, skating academies, fancy parties, Olympic trials, and more.

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After a disappointing sixth-place finish at their first National Championships—which they drive themselves to in a car stolen from Kat’s drunken older brother—the pair catch the attention of Lin herself, who’s now the head of her own skating school in Los Angeles. Uprooted from their lives in Ilinois to the City of the Angels, they’re introduced to how the other half lives: pedigreed skating prodigies whose rich families donate to the very organizations that drive the sport, whose parents serve on all the boards that make decisions about who represents America on the international stage, and who have been training with big name coaches since they were old enough to walk. Sheila’s own children—twins Bella and Garrett Lin—are also members, and the foursome finds their lives hopelessly intertwined as rivals, teammates, and (occasionally) friends.

Kat and Heath are, as the story repeatedly tells us, not the most technically proficient of skaters as a duo, but their chemistry brings the heat in a way that will come to captivate crowds the world over. Their struggle to adapt to their new surroundings, training schedule, and publicity spotlight causes cracks to form in their relationship and exploits the differences and divides that were already present. But no matter how much either of them tries, they can’t seem to quit one another—or at least, not for long—and, though it may seem crazy at times, you won’t be able to keep yourself from rooting for them (at least a little bit ). Yes, their story is full of some truly unlikely and unbelievable twists—from bloody on-ice accidents and outright sabotage to bedroom antics and paparazzi-fueled meltdowns—but the non-stop cliffhangers keep the pages flying. (Don’t be surprised if you tear through this book in 48 hours or less.)

Featuring backstabbing competitors, traitorous friends, and a tea-spilling gossip blog with the utterly perfect name of “Kiss & Cry,” The Favorites’ rollercoaster of a narrative will be catnip to anyone who has spent any amount of time obsessing over ice skating pairs like Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir or really just loved the movie I, Tonya. The inside baseball vibes of its story—which is surprisingly upfront about how absolutely terrible the sport of ice skating can be from a safety, diversity, and even a competitive angle—are fascinating, and the cutthroat behavior exhibited by nearly every character is car crash-level captivating.

But the story’s refusal to apologize for Kat and Heath’s (and Bella and Garrett and Ellis and Sheila and Francesca’s) worst traits is downright refreshing. Yes, they’re all ambitious and selfish and stubborn and bitchy, but in many ways, they have to be. Otherwise, this sport would eat them all alive. The end result is a book where you’ll come for the messy drama, but find yourself staying for the genuinely compelling characters, who are often completely awful but never anything less than fully authentic.

The Favorites is available now.

Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter and Bluesky at @LacyMB

The Year’s Best Guilty Pleasure Read May Have Already Arrived