4/5 Stars

3.5/5 Spice

TW : Lying, Sexual Harassement

Rep : Latine Main Female Character

Thank you to St Martin’s Griffin and Netgalley for providing me with this sampler in exchange for an honest review.

This book was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I had never read a book that took place on a dancing competition show and I loved it so much more than I thought I would. Both characters had so much depth and their motivations felt so real. While I am not Latine, I loved all of the representation in this book, it talks about food and dancing and culture. Of course I don’t know if it is accurate but if it was it was amazing to see.

Take the Lead is centered around Gina, a professional dancer on The Dance Off, and Stone, is on the reality show Living Wild with his family. All Gina wants is to prove herself on the show and win with just her skills to prove that she doesn’t have to be forced into the sexy latine stereotype to win and not get involved with her partner, Stone. Stone has been forced to do Living Wild for years but it hasn’t been enough to keep his family out of debt, he is on the show to win money to pay off his mothers surgery debt and give any extra to his younger siblings for college. When Gina learns her job is gone if she doesn’t make it to the finals, she has to make sure she does everything she can to get there without playing into the showmance her boss wants, except that becomes complicated when she can stop her attraction to Stone from growing as time goes on. Stone hates LA and wants nothing more than to go back to Alaska when this show is over except how he can pick his priorities when his attraction to Gina won’t stop intensifying. They both have to pick what matters most to them, their careers or each other?

I don’t see enough books talk about how hard it is for Latine Women in any entertainment industry to not automatically be perceived as sexy instead of being respected for their skills that got them to where they are. This book provides a lot of commentary on how hard it is for Latine women to be taken seriously and not just labeled sexy, it also shows how many people think that if it gives them a leg up then they should just embrace the label instead of stand up for themselves. Gina wants to prove to her family, especially her nieces that you don’t have to be seen as sexy to succeed in the entertainment industry, which is such a powerful motivator and instantly made me love Gina. Gina walls herself off from any relationships after being hurt in the past and she has to learn how to break those walls down while also fighting that lens of the media that wants to label her a sexy.

Stone is fighting the whole book to break free from the role he has been forced into for years on Living Wild, and he struggles to understand some things at times. He has been forced to stay in a quiet role and this is the first time he is able to be himself in a long time. This definitely causes issues in their relationship but they are realistic issues of being in a relationship at the same time as figuring out who you are as a person. It added to the depth of their relationship and made me feel a lot more for them as a couple.

I highly recommend this book for fans of romance, reality tv, and dancing.

This was cute! Nothing super special, but I liked the cover and writing was good. Loved how original the plot was!

4/5 💃🏽

I have been an avid Dancing with the Stars watcher since the first season (with some breaks when I thought they were giving attention to right wing hatemongers, let’s be real, they’re not always great with casting) and was v excited to read a romance on a fictionalized DWTS type show called The Dance Off. I love Daria’s You Had Me at Hola series a lot and was excited to read more of her work. This is her first novel, which has been given a new cover and new pieces of story and will be published in February 2023. I didn’t read it before the rewrite and couldn’t tell what was new, so all that to say, it’s not jammed with new content just to relaunch the book. Whatever was added worked really well for the story.

So what’s the story? It’s a story of two people - Gina, a Dance Off pro on her fifth season, and Stone, a reality tv star for a show called Living Wild that he films with his family in the Alaskan wilderness - who are tied down by their own choices of reality tv life and the boxes that puts them in, and they of course also fall in love while competing together on the show. I love DWTS so every bit of the Dance Off was a delight - it was pitch perfect, down to the dances from week to week, the competition, showmances, and the ugly trophy. I really liked Gina’s real view of how tv packages people - she’s fighting being characterized as a sexy Latina and wants the focus to be on her dance skills, so doesn’t want a show romance. Stone was hot and really grew on me as the story went on.

Will Stone win the ugly mirrored trophy? Will Stone win Gina’s heart beyond Dance Off? I had a great time reading to find out. Also it was super fun to read as the current DWTS season was going on and as I real time speculated about showmance’s with my daughter.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had the opportunity to read an ARC(thanks NetGalley!) of this re-release of the author’s debut novel and it was great fun. I’ve read 3 others by Daria and really enjoy her storytelling style.

I’ve never watched any reality style dance show before and now I kind of want to, but it wouldn’t be the same without Gina and Stone. What an adorable pair, navigating life and show business and how to pursue what they want out of life.

The “final-act drama” wasn’t my favorite but I understand the use of such a trope. I felt things for the characters throughout the book and very much rooted for their happy ending.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book Gina is traveling to Alaska for a tv show. She meets her new dance partner who she is attracted to. This book was a quick read.

⭐Book Review⭐
Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for the #AdvanceReviewCopy

Stone is a celebrity in a reality show set in Alaska's wilderness and Gina is a competitor on a reality TV dance show. Due to family obligations, Stone agrees to join the dance show and gets partnered with Gina. Gina's tasked with teaching Stone the moves! Neither is looking for romance but the moment they meet, sparks catapult all around the dance floor.

This started strong, gripping, and full of promise but as the story progressed, I lost some interest and mainly because of pacing. The relevant scenes were tight, but the story just needed to be tightened up and chipped away at to reveal its true beauty. I didn't care for Gina's character much, but she and Stone had chemistry that felt believable. Stone was a great male lead! And the ending left me satisfied.

If you love Dance, give this one a try.

Overall I liked it.
3 stars.

⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Like all of Alexia Daria's books, this is an incredibly fun setup for a romance story. An Alaskan survival hero + a ballroom dancer heroine + a reality tv dance competition = a perfect forced proximity, opposites attract, high steam read. Despite being set in the reality TV world, Daria's creation of characters and their conflicts never felt fake or forced or produced, but rather were deeply grounded in honest portrayals of the nuances of fame and the lies we keep in the name of family. I loved Stone and Gina both separately and together, but the entire time I was reading I was frantically trying to figure out how they were going to make it work -- which to me is the sign of a very well-written and plotted story.

Now, how can I get my hands on the second book in the series??!!

This is such a good romance. I really liked the main characters and thought they fit together well. The conflict in the story was believable and not too farfetched as I see in some of the books in this genre. I definitely recommend this book for fans of romance.

Very good read Stone and Gina give dancing the star vibes along with a boy meets girl attitude. I usually stay in the Fantasy lane but I really enjoy these down to earth books too. Plus who doesn’t want a tall as heck mountain man to cuddle on a cold night.

Confession time. I don’t watch reality television of any type – dating, housewifing, remodeling, competing, etc. No criticism intended. It’s just not my thing. However, the theme has gotten really popular which means that many of my recent reads have used a reality television backdrop, including this one. I’m going to try to keep my reality television prejudices from affecting my review, I swear.

Okay, moving on to the review. The premise of Take the Lead by Alexis Daria is that a really hot off-the-grid reality star with limited dancing experience joins a dancing competition show. Stone (yep, that’s his name and the author tries to make it okay with some explanation of how the children all have weird nature names) is doing the show because his family needs the money. Gina, his partner, is a professional dancer. She’s trying to win the show to take her career to the next level and her producer is threatening to cut her if she’s not successful.

So, now that you’ve got the plot, let’s talk about the fundamentals of the story. The character arcs are okay. Stone’s is a little unbelievable to me. He gives up a good job and a relationship to live off the grid with his parents and his large family. It feels contrived but it might be a completely normal contrivance for reality television which, as noted, I am not in a position to judge.

Gina is a well-crafted character. She’s powerful, successful and excellent at her job. Of course, the story wouldn’t exist without her being conflicted about having a relationship with her partner. That part also feels contrived, especially because her boundaries (which she chooses to break) cause conflict with Stone. I kind of dislike miscommunication as a tool for separating love interests but at least the author allows Gina to grow.

I don’t love the story arc, though I’m not including any spoilers. The author has built up that Stone longs to return to Alaska and Gina needs to be in LA or NYC. The ending doesn’t, in my humble opinion, resolve this fundamental conflict. These are incompatible requirements and there isn’t a believable solution other than one of them deciding love is more important than their individual needs.

One final thought: a big shout out to the author for having Gina wise up and make Stone wear a condom. I’m so tired of reading books where the woman doesn’t require a condom. Haven’t we read enough unexpected pregnancy stories or seen enough news articles about STD transmission to understand that “I’m clean and on the pill” isn’t the answer?

I received a digital ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

TAKE THE LEAD was such a fun and surprising read. Dancing with the Stars is one of my guilty pleasure shows and it was so much fun to see all the nods to the show. I’m not entirely sure that I was totally sold on Gina and Stone as a couple. Their physical connection was there but I didn’t really get a whole lot from them emotionally. I had a blast reading this though, and definitely recommend to anyone who’s a fan of reality talent competitions!

It was a little slow in the beginning, but it picked up and I really enjoyed it. Overall I recommend reading this book.

Alexis Daria is now an auto-buy romance author for me! Her books are known to have a lot of chemistry between the leads that you can feel leap off the page, and this story of Gina & Stone, in a Dancing With The Stars-type setting is no exception.

If I have any critique here, it’s that I wish the 4th act were a little longer - I wanted more!!

Needs one more pass with a dance editor to make sure all the details are accurate. There were a couple of times with things like the woman putting her hand on the leader's lower back during the basic step, which is not standard and almost not possible if his arms are where they are supposed to be. Simultaneously too many details like that and not enough scenes of practicing. Some of the mechanics of the competition were also glossed over. There was also more sex than I personally wanted, but it was all used to serve the development of the relationship, so that worked. I really liked that the characters were genuinely conflicted over their life goals, rather than some fake misunderstanding. A cute and fun story that could use some tightening up.

I first read this book years ago and am so glad that I took the opportunity to read it again. It was just as good, if not better, the second time around.

When professional dancer Gina is paired with reality star Stone for reality show dancing competition it is apparent from the start that the network is looking for a showmance. Neither of them intends to go there, Gina is not going to damage her reputation as a professional and Stone cannot risk getting too close to anyone and risking the success of the show he stars in with his family. However as the weeks go by and the foxtrot moved onto the tango, walls come down and the people behind the personas get to know each other and maybe even more.

With sizzling attraction and a really entertaining behind the scenes glimpse and a reality show this was a book that is easy to lose yourself in. I do wish that Stone’s family situation had been given more resolution. I was tense anytime he was with any of them.

Already planning my reread of the next book in this duology.

4 stars

When I saw Alexis Daria’s name on a gorgeous cover of a book, you know I had to request it!! I mean that cover is too pretty for words😍

If you’re a fan of Dancing With The Stars, then this book is right up your alley! I used to watch that show all the time and when a dancer and celebrity actually got married in real life, it reminded me of this book!

This book was fun, the opposites attract trope is such a classic, and the dancing was contagious!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the earc in return for an honest review

Wow this one was spicy from the start! These covers are so misleading sometimes haha but I did like the story and concept a lot. I wouldn’t mind reading more DWTS themed stories!!

I was disappointed that even up to 96%, there was still no real, heartfelt communication between the MC's. I prefer a stronger emotional connection in a romance than Gina and Stone had; what the two shared seemed more physical, void of a stronger connection.

The drama in this one went on way too long for me and the obstacles between the two also went on for far too long. This novel unfortunately didn't work well for me but I will read more of the author’s work.

This book fantastic! I love this authors writing style! It was romantic, smutty, dramatic, very creative. I fell in love with this love story. Main character Gina a Puerto Rican professional dancer. She is part of a television show called “dance off” which is basically like dancing with the stars. She gets paired with Stone he is a reality star from show called living wild based out of Alaska. This is opposites attract both come from two different worlds but in away know about reality tv and can relate with the drama that comes with shows like these. Publicist love pushing narratives our main characters aren’t happy with. These two have an immediate attraction, there is so much passion and tension while learning their choreography. We are talking spicy tangos and some hot dances. With the attraction so palpable “omg I was blushing” Gina has always had a rule for herself DONT GET INVOLVED WITH PARTNERS. she is a professional she is fighting this attraction she has for stone everyday she is around him. Her career comes first, she is driven and fierce and focused to come on top on this competition and win. Stone himself struggles with his attraction for this hot talented dancer. But he himself holds back knowing he has his own secrets and family obligations. The romance in this was so cute and then when you least expect it “BAM” the spice kicks and man it was Hot! Loved every bit of this book! I can’t wait to own my physical copy! I can’t wait to read more by this author

this was a fun read. I loved the pace of the relationship-building, and how the two MC opened up to each other as they became closer. The premise of a televised dance competition was brilliant, but also showed the seedy side of reality shows. The sexy times were HOT, and both characters had real growth throughout the book. thanks to Netgalley for the ARC