The Favorite(s) With Layne Fargo

Barely Famous

PodcastOne

Talk Radio, Society & Culture

4.7 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of Barely Famous Kail sits down with author Layne Fargo, writer of The Favorites, They Never Learn, and Temper, to talk toxic women, ambition, and why being an “unlikable” female character is actually the goal.

They get into the dark, figure-skating drama of The Favorites (inspired by the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan scandal), full-cast audiobooks and what it really takes to keep writing after 100+ agent rejections. The ladies also dive into jealousy between ambitious women, BookTok’s impact on feminist fiction, and why choosing authenticity over likability is the real power move.

If you love morally gray women, messy friendship dynamics, and feminist thrillers, this episode is for you!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The weight is over. Dive into Audubles' most anticipated collection, the best of 2025, featuring top audiobooks, podcasts, and originals across all genres. Our editors have carefully curated this year's must-listens, from brilliant hidden gems to the busiest new releases.
0:23.7	Every title in this collection has earned its spot.
0:28.3	This is your go-to for the absolute best in 2025 audio entertainment.
0:31.6	Whether you love thrillers, romance, or non-fiction,
0:33.6	your next favorite listen awaits.
0:38.8	Discover why there's more to imagine when you listen at audible.com slash best of the year.
0:42.5	Welcome to the shit show.
0:43.7	Things are going to get weird.
0:45.9	It's your fave villain, Kail Lowler.
1:05.4	And you're listening to Barely Famous Podcast.
1:07.0	Thanks for having me.
1:07.8	I'm so excited to be here.
1:08.4	Me too.
1:11.5	So I actually just listened to the favorites on audio. Oh, amazing. Okay. Yes. And so I was so super excited when you agreed to do this because I was like,
1:17.1	I have never listened to an audio, an audiobook that was so well done. And I love
1:26.0	audiobooks. I always have three, three books going at the same time.
1:30.3	One audio, one Kindle, one physical copy. If other books are not done on audio like the favorites,
1:37.3	I don't want any parts. Full past, loved it so much. And what inspired you to do the favorites? Well, it kind of came out of two
1:46.9	failed projects, actually. I was working on a book about Ice Dancers, but it wasn't the favorites.
1:53.1	It was more of a like thriller, murder mystery kind of thing. And then I was working on a Gothic
1:58.3	romance. And they were both terrible and I kept going back and forth between that.
2:03.4	And then I reread Wuthering Heights to try to get inspiration for the Gothic book and decided to make a Wuthering Heights retelling about ice dancers.
	...

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