I just finished The Favourites. I entered it not knowing that it was a retelling of Wuthering Heights. It’s a poor retelling, one that doesn’t work for a very obvious reason. In The Favourites, Heath and Katarina are like-able. You’re rooting for them even through the difficulties that their fiery relationship bring. In Wuthering Heights, it’s very clear throughout the book that Healthcliff and Catherine and both difficult/terrible people. Heathcliff is very much an anti hero. When he abuses people, you don’t feel betrayed as the reader or upset. It’s in his character to betray. Everyone hates him, including the reader! But in The Favourites, when Heath betrays Katarina again and again, it’s agonizing and heartbreaking because he’s a true hero. He loves he, he’s quiet and grumpy but basically a devoted guy. So at the end, when he betrays her in a way that the author clearly shoe horned in there as an unjustifiable nod to Wuthering Heights, the reader is left angry and incredibly disappointed in him. We expected better of Heath! But we never expect anything of Heathcliff.
If you were left heartbroken by The favorites and would like to read a book about a competitive skating pair that won’t make you throw the book against the wall, by an author who didn’t adapt poorly adapt a classic, I recommend, “From Lukov With Love” by Mariana zapata.
by WheresTheIceCream20