I really enjoyed this story! It did start out a little cheesy for me with Gina flying to Alaska to "meet" her new dance partner. It was a total set-up. It was fun to see the behind the scenes at a reality television dance competition, though.

I loved both Gina and Stone--individually and together. Gina tried really hard to not play to the Latina stereotype. She did not want the shomance her producers were wanting, but her chemistry with Stone was off the charts--both on the dance floor and off. Their dance scenes were as emotional and hot as their love scenes.

Stone--such a good giant of a man. (6'7"!) Stuck on his family's own reality television show, Living Wild. He wants out but doesn't want to disappoint his parents. He is only participating in the dance show to help pay for his mother's medical bills.

It says this book is the first in a series and I will definitely read more from this world!

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

“Take the Lead” by Alexis Daria
Career – and? - or? - Love
Yes, I did love this story and became very attached to the two primary characters. Although I loved the story I could have enjoyed the book more without witnessing the intimate scenes, which I only glimpsed enough to get to the next scene in the book. My guess is that those scenes sell books. Happy Reading ! !
NOTE: This review expresses my honest opinion.
I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley.

At this point I think Alexis Daria can do no wrong. I’ve read three of her books and they were exactly what I was looking for. She writes fun romances between diverse characters who are all unique and have their own motivations for behavior. Everyone enjoys a well written book and all of hers have knocked it out of the park for me.

This book follows a professional dancer and an unwitting reality tv star appearing on a spin off of Dancing with the Stars. The passions flare as they become more comfortable and learn to lean on each other in order to win the competition. He wants to win to help pay his mothers medical bills (which says a lot about the current state of insurance in the US) and she wants to win because she’s tried for four years and she doesn’t want to risk losing her job. They have to put a lot of trust in each other to make their dreams achievable.

This book hit me in all the right feels, even when I wasn’t expecting it. I got emotional, I smiled, I blushed, and I cheered along for our couple. And that’s really all I’m looking for in a romance. I want to believe it is possible, I want to feel their passion for each other, and I want to fall head over heels for them and all of that was done in this book.

I loved it so much and I definitely think it’s important to keep seeing diverse and own voices when it comes to romances so reading this was a treat. Stone and Gina were a power couple and I definitely think it Dance Off was something on the air I would tune in each week to vote for them. They get a solid 100 score from me.

💃🕺🪩 Take the Lead ARC Review 🪩🕺💃

Thank you so much to Alexis Daria @alexisdaria and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Take the Lead is a contemporary romance centered around a dance competition reality show! Gina, the dance professional and choreographer, is determined to win this season and help solidify her dancing career. When meets her new dance partner, a survivalist from Alaska named Stone - she feels optimistic about their chances as we as a healthy dose of attraction towards giant outdoorsman. She has the responsibility of teaching him how to dance…what could possibly go wrong??

I absolutely loved this book! It was such a fun read! As someone who’s watched reality dancing competitions and shows about Alaskan homesteaders, this was so fun to see them come together in a fun and engaging way! I loved the characters of Gina and Stone individually, they each had a lot of depth and growth in the book, but put them together and they were fantastic - I love mutual pining SO much!!! And the side characters had just as much personality!!

Overall, this was a solid 4 star read for me! I would have liked to see Gina figure her sh*t out a little sooner, just because Stone is a squishy cinnamon roll who needs all the love, but that’s a “me” issue and definitely not a book issue. Three flames for smut - it’s a smidge of a slow burn, but when you’ve got two athletic, bendy people, fun things definitely happen!! If you enjoy an opposites attract, Insta lust that leads into delicious workplace tension and sexy dances with grumpy/sunshine vibes, definitely pick this one up! It’s a joy to read! I can’t wait to read the next in the series!!

Review to be posted on Amazon upon publication

I did not realize at first that this was a re-release of Alexis Daria's debut novel! I must say that for a debut novel, it is pretty well written. Gina and Stone were super easy to fall in love with, and it's why I wish we could have spent more time with them developing their emotional connection behind the scenes of the competition. The middle of the book focused a lot more on the dancing and competition and less so on Gina and Stone's developing relationship outside of the physical stuff. There could have been a better balance between competition and their relationship.

I will say that the third-act breakup felt a little out of place, Stone seemed too understanding of a person to let that break-up happen so easily. The end felt a little rushed, Gina had some really great realizations at the end and I wish we would have spent more time with her coming to those and exploring them with her before the end of the book.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

OBSESSED!

I love Dancing with the Stars, so when I read this blurb, I was hooked. And after reading it, it was EVERYTHING. For anyone who has ever rooted for a rooted for a showmance/romance couple on a competition reality TV show, this book will leave you so so happy. I loved the premise and it felt like a fun behind the scenes take on DWTS with an adorable romance story thrown in!

The FMC and MMC ooze chemistry and I really enjoyed all the little cute butterfly moments that the author left throughout the book. The book was a fast and easy read and I will definitely be picking up more from this author!

I'm going to get very blunt with y'all but I feel like it's necessary for this one. As a white woman growing up in the south, I have always known a fair amount of privilege. Over the years, I have tried to look at that privilege and take inventory of it while attempting to be a better ally. It doesn't always happen until I am face to face with it. This was one of those cases.

Our FMC, Gina, is a Puerto Rican woman in her late 20s on a competition dance show that is vaguely like <I>Dancing With The Stars</I>. She is one of their regular cast members during the show and is paired with Stone, who is a reality TV "star" from a survivalist show that includes his family. Throughout the book, as we see Gina and Stone falling for one another, something Gina kept coming back to was being insistent that she would not be involved in a "showmance." Gina says she does not want to be seen as the sexy Latina and does not want it to ruin her image. At first I totally understood where she was coming from, as I can understand being a woman it impacting her image. The further the story went on, though and the more Gina pushed back with this excuse, I was understanding less and less. By our third act breakup when Gina was using this to tell Stone why they needed to breakup, I was extremely frustrated. I didn't get why it was <I>that big</I> of a deal. Then I sat on it. Of course I wouldn't understand it. I'm a white woman. It was not meant for me to relate to, but it was made for me to learn from. I needed to look at my own privilege where I was saying, "<I>It can't</I> really <I>be that bad. It can't affect her this badly,</I>" and realize that while it might not affect <I>me</I> that badly, it surely could affect Gina that badly.

I was almost three-fourths of the way done with this book when I realized it was a re-release of Daria’s DEBUT novel! For a debut novel, this was very well written. I felt like the beginning pulled me in. I immediately loved Stone and Gina. I wish there was more behind the scenes with them. I felt like toward the middle it focused only on dancing and the show. I wanted more of them connecting psychologically rather than just physically. Stone is usually a very understanding character and very careful with others’ feelings so the third act break up seemed out of character for him. I thought the ending wrapped up almost too quickly. I thought Gina made some good realizations and I wish those would have been explored just a bit more.
All in all, this was a fun and interesting read!
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Tango straight into my feels, why don't you?

I've loved every Alexis Daria romance I read before this so I was delighted when St. Martin's was kind enough to offer me an ARC of her debut, new and improved. Won't lie, I was a little concerned this wouldn't match up to her Primas of Power books because it got off on a rocky start. I genuinely hated the first two chapters. Gina and Stone meeting for the first time where and how they did felt so wrong and unappealing to me. It also felt like a misrepresentation of the two main characters in general. Once they both got back to LA and started rehearsing for the show, that was when I came back on board.

I cannot believe this is the first dance competition based romance novel I've ever read. Heck, it's the only one I can even think of existing. The opportunities for romantic tension and chemistry were through the roof! I enjoyed the premise of a knock-off Dancing With the Stars show more than I expected I would. It was balanced really well between the show nights and rehearsals while still building the relationship. Also incredibly believable. My knowledge of DWTS is limited to one episode watched by accident but I was able to very easily picture every scene Daria wrote here, right down to the costumes and the dance moves.

The two main characters were solid! I, of course, liked Gina the most. She just felt more fleshed out, her personal stakes far higher than Stone's. I also just related to her more. She's a woman in a cutthroat industry that looks for any excuse to write her off, a danger made more serious by her being a Latina. Over the years that she's been on the show, she has fought hard to dance the way she wants to and to kick back on the hot, steamy Latina stereotypes the producers have tried to force on her. Her being protective of her private life was so valid and I fully supported her.

Stone just didn't compel me as much. I did like him, but more than once I said "get over it, bud" when he considered what to do about his family and his life. Like, your parents literally asked you to give up everything you had going for you to do a stupid fake reality show that you hate, and you didn't even stand up for yourself. Definitely a crappy situation, but you made this bed, sir. He also seemed a bit of a caricature of a love interest. I mean, the man is randomly 6 foot 7 and huge huge. I like 'em tall but that's a bit extreme.

What kept me from fully loving this is how much of the book is sex scenes. And that may be a selling point for some, but in the context of the story, it didn't work for me. Stone and Gina absolutely have some serious chemistry, and it was clearly inevitable that they would get together. However, they hooked up at the halfway mark rather than the anticipated 75%, and almost every chapter after that was another steamy scene. It got a bit boring. Especially when the romance itself felt a bit ... surface-level. I wanted to get to know the characters better and it felt like a lot of the opportunities to do so were thrown away in favour of another sex scene that didn't do much for the plot itself. Again, a selling point for some, but not me here.

If given the choice between the third Prima book and the sequel to this, I'm going to go with the Primas.

4.5 stars (rounded up)!

I thoroughly enjoyed "Take the Lead" by Alexis Daria! It's a character-driven romance about Gina and Stone, two people who have both been given public personas they are trying to shed in one way or another. Gina is a dancer on a "Dancing with the Stars" type of reality show competition, and Stone is the "celebrity" contestant. His family participates in a reality show as well, one that showcases their lives living in Alaska in the wilderness and how they survive up there away from big city living. Their chemistry is palpable from the moment they meet. As time rolls on, Gina and Stone are obviously smitten with each other. The dancing premise of the story leads to many, MANY sexy and sensual moments of tension and sweating and yearning, but Gina does not want to get roped into a "showmance" with Stone. She knows the ramifications that something like that could have on her career and public persona. As they slowly but surely put the pieces of their feelings for one another together, their chemistry is undeniable, and it's like a dam breaking loose.

I loved reading all of the descriptions of the dances, and how those sensual moves are often the only time Stone and Gina get to touch one another. We learn what it takes and how much work goes into being a dancer from behind the scenes. This is one spicy book! I love the OwnVoices Puerto Rican representation in this book! Gina felt like an authentic, lived-in character. She is strong in more ways than one, but she still manages to be vulnerable, too. She is constantly worried about not becoming a stereotype, so much so that she might let it get in the way of her potential relationship with Stone. Stone is also authentic in other ways. He has been given a stereotype to live up to (husky, hulking mountain man), but he knows he's more than that. Sensitive, artistic, opinionated...everything he's NOT allowed to be on TV. Alexis Daria weaves a delicate tapestry of sensuality, sexiness, dance, and trauma together to form one helluva book! I hope she continues this series with some of the secondary characters from this novel! I'd sure as heck read them!

Thank you to NetGalley, Alexis Daria, and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with an ARC copy of this book! All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for my review.

Thanks @netgalley @stmartinspress and @alexisdaria for the early look at Take the Lead. It’s perfect for fans of Dancing with the Stars and anyone who loves Daria’s HOTT and emotionally satisfying books. It’s available on February 14, 2023.

After several lackluster years on The Dance Off, Gina Morales is hoping her newest costar, sexy survivalist Stone Nielson, will finally be her ticket to the finals. To increase their chances, they agree to a showmance. The explosive chemistry between then is hard to deny making them question whether there’s a real future for them.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Tropes: opposites attract, reality tv, fake dating

Take the Lead by Alexis Daria is sweet romance about two strangers, teamed up for a reality TV dance competition who have an instant attraction. Gina loves her job in entertainment and refuses to get involved with her celebrity dance partners. Stone is a reluctant reality-TV star who longs for an authentic life.

Overall, I liked the premise of Take the Lead, the pace was really good, and it was steamy in places, but ultimately the chemistry between Gina and Stone was lacking. They definitely have physical chemistry but we're missing the scenes where they are truly emotionally vulnerable and intimate with each other. I wanted more of what they are like off the dance floor.

Fun to read, and I would recommend to anyone who loves romances and Dancing with the Stars.

Such a great comfort read!! I absolutely fell in love with both Gina and Stone. They were both so different from each other yet they absolutely clicked together. The plot, characters, and overall story were beautifully executed by Alexis Daria.

Gina Morales is a professional dancer on, The Dance Off (a reality TV show similar to Dancing with The Stars) and she has had her eye on at least making it to the finals. Perhaps this season is her chance when she is paired with rugged Alaskan Wilderness star Stone Nielson...but when it becomes clear the producers have paired them off as an elaborate "showmance" (TV show romance), Gina has her doubts as she has explicitly stated that she will not participate in any showmance - even if it is to potentially further her career. However, their chemistry is undeniable on screen and off. Will the passion on the dancefloor be Gina's undoing?
This is a re-release (originally released as an e-book in 2017) just in time for Valentine's Day, if you're feeling romantic. Told from alternating POV of Gina and Stone, this is a steamy contemporary romance novel with the dating-but-must-hide-growing-feelings trope with a Latinx lead. Alexis Daria does an excellent job in creating friendships amongst women that are supportive and without competition. Gina struggles with her personal morals while also maintaining the covert relationship with Stone. Meanwhile, Stone is pulled into reality TV due to his family financial struggles. The personal and professional stakes are high for the MCs and readers will find themselves empathizing with both characters' reasoning during the conflict.
Overall, a fun read for Valentine's Day and if you enjoy competitive dancing reality TV, 3.5 rounded to 4.

Alexis Daria is just awesome. I loved her Primas of Power books and this was excellent as well. Gina and Stone were 🔥🔥🔥. The story was good, the side characters were good, and the romance was great. It was spicier than I expected!

Definitely excited to read Natasha’s book when it’s out!

When I saw this book, the cover immediately drew me in. I'm one of the worst dancers in the world, so dancing fascinates me. This book made me almost think I could dance lol!

This book follows Gina, a professional dancer on a dance competition show, and Stone, a wilderness reality tv star as they dance their way through a show! Gina is completely against showmances, but fortunately for us, Stone was too hard to resist. This book was unputdownable. I finished it in 2 days. It was heart-warming and spicy.

I was given an ARC by Netgalley and St Martins Press in exchange for an honest review! Do yourself a favor and buy this book!

For many years, I have watched Dancing with the Stars and always wondered what went on behind the scenes that we were not privy too. Take the Lead really opened up that backstage presence for a dance show for me! If you have ever wondered just how scripted a show like this is, then be sure to read Alexis Daria's hot dance debut!

Gina is the professional dancer, and after five years, she wants to win it all. Stone is a reality star in his own right, but he's not keen on being this much in the spotlight. He takes on the task to help his family and embarks on hot, steamy journey he had not expected.

From the wild Alaskan frontier to the glitz and glam of Los Angeles, the pair get to know each other as the sparks fly and feet jive. Yet, there are secrets being kept and the pressure of winning, on both sides, mounts. As the script tangles the relationship they discover, they must ensure that their dancing is perfect so they can take home the prize and not overlook what is important to both of them.

If you are looking for a hot romance with visions of reality TV dancing their way into your dreams, then this is the perfect novel for you! Stay tuned for more!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

Reality TV? A dance competition show and an Alaskan survival show?
Yes please!
I love the drama and with the dancing it really makes things so much sexier.
Gina and Stone had so much chemistry from the beginning and just got hotter and hotter. A fun read that sucks you right in, I couldn’t put it down.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for an eARC.

Take the Lead is another charming story by Alexis Daria. The lead character, Gina, is a dancer on a Dancing with the Stars-esque show who is partnered with a member of a reality TV "survivalist" family. Gina is written as a more career driven than I'm used to seeing in a romance novel, and it's refreshing for her to be given ambition and a healthy love story, even if the story toys with whether she can really have them both. As much as I like the love story, I could just read an entire series detailing how her career changes over the years and be happy.

Stone's story is a bit complicated for me. Although Stone is written as kind, generous, and patient, it never feels like he is as developed as Gina. Every time the story begins to explore just how toxic his family is, the story cuts away, or Stone stops thinking too hard about it and mentions how much he loves his mom. Instead of providing depth to his character, it made him feel underwritten.

Overall, I did enjoy this story. I'll just be crossing my fingers for a series about Gina's career.

3/5⭐️

The Dance Off is a reality competition show with professional dancers that pair off with celebrities. Gina is the professional dancer and Stone is the celebrity from a survivalist reality show. They immediately have a natural chemistry but producers want them to have a showmance.

I really liked the concept of this one and I liked the characters but I found myself not feeling invested until the second half of the book. I also think I might have liked it more if it was in first person POV. But this story was really cute! Gina so talented and driven and Stone is basically a quieter mountain man that’s so sweet! A good romance for fans of reality shows and competition shows.