Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Release date: 16 January 2025
Back cover blurb: To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession. Everyone thinks Heath Rocha was my first love. He wasn't. My first love was figure skating. Katarina Shaw has always known she’s 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 fans with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style and rollercoaster relationship. Until, at the Olympic Games, as the world holds its breath, a shocking incident instantly destroys their partnership. Ten years later, an unauthorised tell-all documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha. If Kat wants to own her story, she must break her silence. As Kat’s account of her dramatic rise and fall alternates with scandalous interviews from the film, The Favourites spins into a dance between passion, ambition and what it truly means to win. Sensational rumours have haunted Kat and Heath’s every step for years, but the truth may be even more outrageous than the headlines.
Heath Rocha and Katarina Shaw are American Figure Skating champions, destined to win big at the Olympics. Everyone loves them, and the Gold medal is almost guaranteed.
The Favourites is told largely from Katarina's (Kat's) point of view and follows Heath and Kat's rise to fame, from their early years of skating together as poor teens with no coach, to the Olympic games.
They are as famous off ice, as they are on. Their relationship is complex and dramatic.
The stuffy skating committees and official boards hate them, the fans love them.
Together they are unstoppable.
Ten years on from the Sochi Olympics, a tell all documentary is being made about them 'the Favourites: The Shaw and Rocha story', and the novel intersperses bits of the documentary with Kat's point of view.
We hear from fellow skaters, coaches and friends of the pair, and wonder who exactly is telling the truth, and who is embellishing.
It's early days of course, but I think The Favourites will be one of my favourite (no pun intended) reads of 2025. It has something for everyone, and was a really enjoyable read.
The Favourites is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.
Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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