This re-release of Alexis Daria’s debut novel was so fun, sweet, and steamy.

Gina is the professional dancer on a Dancing with the Stars-esque reality show, and she is paired for her next season with Alaskan reality tv star and outdoorsman Stone. It’s clear from the beginning that the show is trying to make the two of them an item for ratings, which is not going to fly with Gina. However sparks DO fly and as the finale creeps closer questions on if this city girl and the forest man can make it, while keeping the networks focus on their dancing rather than their chemistry.

Great Latina representation, fun premise, hella chemistry, and an all around good time. It drug a bit in place, which keeps it from 5 stars, but I would recommend it all the same! It comes out next February and is perfect for the month of love!!

Fun and spicy romance set in a reality show dance contest. A fun look behind the scenes of reality television.

Take the Lead by Alexis Daria was so amazing; I was swooning from page one. Alexis Daria has such a great voice and her writing is amazing, I truly enjoyed every second I spent reading this book.
This book was so much fun, I literally couldn't stop reading it.
The characters Gina and Stone are freaking phenomenal.
I loved their dynamic was so much fun. They instantly pulled me into a world I was completely enthralled by.
A funny, sexy and beautiful story set against a reality dance tv show. Remarkable!
This rerelease is bound to be a show stopper. If you enjoy Dancing With the Stars you'll fall head over heels for TTL!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

St. Martin's Press & St. Martin's Griffin,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

A fun and uplifting (get it? Like a lift in dance?) romp about a professional dancer trying to win on The Dance Off to secure her job being paired with a big, burly Alaskan man who stars in his own family’s reality show. She’s also fighting the producers (fucking Donna), who want her to have a showmance, at every turn to stop them from over sexualizing her as a Latina. Lots of emotional baggage in this one and a clear message about the meaning and power of family and familial duty at the price of one’s happiness. Thoroughly enjoyable 4/5

A DANCE OFF NOVEL, COMING 14 FEB,2023

The book is beautiful, charming, hilarious and fun.
I absolutely loved the setting of Alaska.

Absolutely adored Stone & Gina❤️❤️💗✨️💫

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

This.book was the perfect mixture of romance and reality television. I loved the chemistry between the two main characters and their journey to loving each other. Stone and Gina have now become one of my favorite couples! Such a quick read but an even enjoyable one!

literally so grateful to St. Martin’s Press for letting me read this early, i’m a huge fan of alexis daria’s work and was hoping this would be another 5 star read for me from the start. i can honestly say it definitely earned that rating! this book felt like a breath of fresh air (cheesy i know) and a perfect escape from all my semester assignments and readings. it was so FUN and easy to get lost in, stone and gina pulled me in in a way not many characters usually do in romance books, their struggles and emotions were so powerful i couldn’t put this down.

can’t wait to get a physical copy of this in february!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed the setting of this book - seeing the behind the scenes of a reality show and dance competition show was just plain fun! Stone was a sweetheart and the writing was very well-done.

I appreciated some of the side characters, as well! Especially Jackson 🧛🏻‍♀️🐺

What held me back from enjoying this more were the very “typical” dramatic moments. Gina displayed some immaturity in these moments that seemed out of character, and so did Stone sometimes. I’m all for a little bit of drama in the relationship, as long as it seems natural and reasonable. While what happened caused the characters to be understandably upset, the way they behaved during it was a little aggravating.

I’d say this was a 3-3.5 star read - it was enjoyable, and had plenty of fun and steamy moments. I think a lot of people could really like this story, as Alexis Daria is a talented writer and always provides a fun setting for her lovable characters!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a very well-paced and entertaining experience! The chemistry was great between these characters, and I genuinely enjoyed reading about bot hStone and Gina! Usually, I find that in romance novels, one of the leads is much more developed than the other. However, that wasn’t really the case here. In Take the Lead, Gina was motivated by qualities intrinsic to her character, such as her identity, backstory, and traits such as ambition and pride. Stone was motivated by his past as well, and I found his attraction to Gina really sweet. I really like it when the man is more in love than the woman. Also, I liked that these characters instantly had an attraction. In a fast-paced story such as this where romance is basically the entire plot, I often find the build-up tedious, so I liked that the author basically elected to skip straight into the romance. Also, I loved Gina’s friend and roommate, Natasha. I always love a supportive best friend character. Additionally, I read a book with a similar reality TV premise earlier this year, and I thought this story did a comparably better job of balancing the amount of time focusing on the reality TV aspect and the romance. An appropriate amount of time was devoted to fleshing out the show, and it didn’t take away from developing the characters/A-plot. Finally, I love a good happy ending, so the way the pieces all fell into place near the end made me seriously happy!

My only criticism is that I generally hate third-act breakups, especially in a novel where romance is the central plot. I find them to be predictable and drag the book’s plot to a halt, as readers often can infer that the couple will reunite by the end. Additionally, I found that many of the side-characters were either arbitrarily ‘good’ or ‘evil.’ This was especially apparent in the film crew, most notably Donna, who was comically cruel and seemed motivated only by a desire to oppose whatever Gina wanted.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that is a fan of the romance genre, as I thought the relationship between the two characters was very well executed! This book was light, fun, enjoyable, and cute!

GIna has been a dance instructor for a competitive dance show for years, though she has never been able to win a season yet. This year, when she is partnered with a hunk from a wilderness survival show, Stone, she knows she is being set up for a showmance she can't resist. This book follows them as their relationship forms and they compete in the show.

Loved this book, quick easy read and well written. I love Alexis Daria's writing style! definitely a must read

Take the Lead by Alexis Daria
“Success is a fickle thing, and the entertainment industry isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
~~~~
I would like to thank Alexis Daria, St. Martins Press, and NetGalley for granting me access to an eARC.
I absolutely adored this book; the theme of the two different world’s combining. Then for this book just the overall great feeling when reading; is hard to put into words.
The FMC and MC were the perfect duo. And the side characters also had great personalities.
I also thought there was some really good life lessons in this book that people should take to heart. I won’t say what they are cause that would be spoiling; and others might see it differently.

This was a fast, fun, cheesy, sweet romance! I've read Daria's first 2 in her "Primas of Power" series, and according to her intro here, this one, "Take the Lead" is actually her debut novel, that she wrote back in 2017 and is now being re-released. It doesn't disappoint & definitely serves up more of what readers enjoyed in "You Had me at Hola" and "A lot like Adios".

The premise is pretty cheesy & super hollywood -- two reality shows collide when Stone, a back-woods Alaskan goes from his family-survival-in-the-bush reality show to be a contestant on a dance-competition show with Gina the career-driven Puerto Rican professional dancer as his partner. It's really fast paced, light and spicy.

There are a few points where the dialogue doesn't sound quite like spoken chat, and maybe Stone's character could have had a little more depth. But I liked the way the plot clipped on at a good pace; the 'evil' people aren't TOO bad - there's not much angst, just a fun, zippy read.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am in love with this book. Everything from the concept to the writing to the characters was perfect.

I have been a lifelong fan of Dancing With the Stars ever since I was a kid. This book felt so nostalgic to me for that reason. The rehearsal scenes and the show scenes were really well written and they had the perfect balance with the rest of the plot. While the entire plot line revolves around the show, I appreciated that there were scenes outside of dancing.

This book is so ridiculously well written. The characters leapt off the pages. I could see the costumes shimmering. I can't visualize dances at all but I almost could with this book. The emotions were affecting me. Everything was perfect.

I have formed emotional attachments to these characters. Since they were so well written I felt like they were real. There were multiple moments when I thought I could turn on my TV and watch them dance. They had insane chemistry and their struggles felt real. Additionally, their emotions felt raw. Their conversations were natural (or natural for a professional dancer and a guy on wilderness reality TV show). These characters came alive.

I could keep writing about how much I love this book but I think everyone should just read it and see for themselves.

I loved this! I've read two other books by Alexis Daria and this is my favorite. It was really cute and I loved the main characters!

Did your grandma force you to watch dancing with the stars religiously ten years ago? Just me? I think that is why I loved this book so much, it brought that same comfort and had a unique hook. Alexis’s books are so vibrant and funny and romantic, this one is no exception. Highly recommend!!

Unfortunately, this book fell strongly into the "not for me" category. I was so-so on Daria's "You Had Me at Hola" but the premise of this was intriguing enough (I love reality TV and I love dancing) that I picked this up. However, it was not my vibe, the reasons being:

1) Wow, the angst. There was so much "We WANT to be together but we CAN'T because of REASONS" that I stopped caring. And it wasn't limited to the protagonists. The secondary characters all contributed with the Everything Is High Stakes feeling, with quotes like "Your father and I just want to remind you how important it is that you not say anything that could jeopardize our show. We're relying on this, and we've all worked hard to build this image." I mean, come on. First of all, who talks like that, second, can we be a bit more subtle, just in general?

2) The bad guys were hit you over the head obvious. A producer blatantly ignoring the wishes and comfort levels of a cast member, not to mention openly threatening them? A cutthroat Olympian who says things like "Only one of us here has spent her whole life learning to dance on ice skates. This show is going to be a breeze" and is trying to sleep with the male protagonist? Ease up a bit here, please.

3) I didn't really like the main characters. Like, they were fine, but they were either lusty or angsty the entire time. I don't know why they fell for each other, besides the fact that they're both Super Hot.

4) SPOILERS -- The cause for the inevitable third act fight/break up was so laughably obvious and avoidable I kind of wanted to scream.

So... yeah. I will say, I appreciated that this had a diverse cast with a Puerto Rican woman as the protagonist, and the "So you Think you can Dance" style show was a fun setting. I can see why other people enjoyed it, but this was not the book for me.

Thank you St. Martins Press, for allowing me to read Take the Lead early.

Aw, a dancing competition, just what I needed! A smile grew on my face while reading this story and I really loved the writing. A perfect comfort read when you're feeling down or just want to feel happy!

This book was such a joy! I love Alexis Daria's books and it was so cool to go back and read her first book and see the seeds of the common themes (strong Latinx women, family, excellent chemistry).

I was rooting for Gina and Stone to win the competition, but also for them to figure out how they could be together. Their chemistry was excellent and the dance competition provided the necessary forced proximity.

Contemporary romance has not always been working for me this year, but this book had everything I love about the subgenre.

I also love reality tv books and always feel like the producers get such a pass, but here it was refreshing (and true to life) to see them be manipulative and a bit evil.

Another Alexis Daria book that I ate up!

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I started dancing salsa when I was 17 years old and it became a huge part of my life; meeting new people, making friends, building relationships! So I absolutely loved the dance aspects of this book and could totally relate. 🫶🏼

Dance connects people in a way that’s unique but could be very intimate, and I loved to see that chemistry building between Gina and Stone! 🔥

💃🏻 Opposites Attract
💃🏻 Close Proximity
💃🏻 Biracial Relationship
💃🏻 Strangers to Lovers

Fun, sexy and swoony, I highly recommend this one!

Thank you for the Arc - i love Alexis Daria and thought this was the best book in her series. I didn’t realize this was a re-release of an existing book I’d already read and reviewed.