In Alexis Daria’s debut, the sparks fly between a professional dancer and an Alaskan reality television star on a “Dancing With the Stars”-esque competitive reality show. Gina Morales is a professional dancer who has been on the Dance Off for a few years but has never won that coveted trophy. With her career prospects on the line, she’s determined to whip Stone Nielson into shape. Stone is a naturally quiet person and he’s really only doing the show to help out his family. Gina quickly shifts his priorities.

Gina and Stone are paired together by the show’s producers. Being well used to the machinations and manipulation of reality television, Gina quickly realizes that the production team is trying to set them up in a “showmance” i.e. a fake television romance. She’s not pleased. While it would be good for votes, she’s ever conscious of her image and doesn’t want to be portrayed as a stereotypical sexualized latina, so she keeps things professional between them.

That turns out to be harder than she expected, though, as Gina and Stone are frickin’ adorable together. They make a great pair on the dance floor but an even better pair off. Gina is bossy and demanding as a choreographer and coach and their early scenes give major Johnny-and-Baby-in-Dirty-Dancing training montage vibes. Gina tries to resist the attraction, but she just can’t.

If you have a thing for caring, loving heroes, then you need to go flex your one-click finger because Stone is a textbook case. He’s been stuck in a rut he doesn’t like for years because his family needed him. If he can help someone he cares about who needs it, then he darn well will. When he finds out that getting to the show finals is critical for Gina’s career prospects, he’s all over it. He’s a giant loving sweetheart of a man.

This book is so much fun. The characters have depth and chemistry. The romance is adorable and hot all at the same time. The book is just great. I want the next one and I want it right now.

I’m not a reality television fan but it doesn’t matter, Take the Lead is a fun contemporary romance that charmed me from the beginning.

The good:

- Own voices romance with a Puerto Rican heroine, huzzah!

- The story sucked me in, which doesn’t always happen when I read contemporaries. I like my romances to be a bit separated from normal life and this fits the bill, with two celebrities falling in love while on a competitive tv program.

- Both Stone and Gina know that tv people are kind of evil so neither one is caught off guard when producers push them into a “showmance”. I appreciate that one character doesn’t have to school the other on how Hollywood works, keeping the couple on an even footing.

- I was there for all the dance scenes, despite not being all that into dance.

- The writing is solid, and I wouldn’t have thought this is a debut. Well done.

The not-so-good:

- While I was having fun the show season feels a bit long to me.

- The story trades in secrets and miscommunication, not my favorite tropes.

I really enjoyed this book despite it not being in my romance wheelhouse. So if you like celebrity culture, family secrets, competition, and a tiny slice of (fun!) crazy, this is the perfect book for you.

If you’re a fan of Dancing with the Stars or other reality TV show dance competitions you are definitely going to want to pick up Take the Lead, a lively, energetic and sexy contemporary romance by début author Alexis Daria. And if you’ve never watched one of these competitions before, after reading this story you’ll likely want to add it to your viewing schedule. The plot is fresh and original, giving the reader almost a voyeuristic behind the scenes look at what makes or breaks the dancers on the stage. Along the way it details the romance between a professional Puerto Rican dancer needing to make the finals or be cut from the show and her partner, an Alaskan lumberjack who’d rather be anywhere than on the stage.

Gina Morales is ready to take her fifth season on Take the Lead by storm and hopes she’ll be paired with someone who will be both capable and popular enough to make it to the finals. Her producer has made it clear that if she doesn’t make the final three, she’ll likely be out of a contract for next year. All signs point to success when her partner turns out to be Stone Nielson, one of the stars of his family’s reality TV show, Living Wild, set in Alaska. Tall, handsome and fit, Stone has the qualities every female dancer on the show wishes for in a partner. With a little luck and a lot of hard work, they could be the couple to beat.

Stone hates Los Angeles. He misses his old life in Juneau where he lived and worked quite happily before being coerced into participating in a show with an adoring audience who don’t realize that much of the circumstances of their day-to-day existence of the contestants are fake. The medical bills from his mother’s hip operation are the only thing that convinced him to join the dance competition. What makes the whole thing bearable is his partner, Gina.

Gina’s producer Donna thinks that Gina and Stone would make the perfect ‘showmance’ for the season, something Gina absolutely opposes. The last thing she needs is get slotted into a stereotypical ‘hot Latino dancer’ role that will make it that much harder for people to take her seriously. She has aspirations of getting into acting when her dancing days are over and an ‘affair’ on a TV show is not going to help her career. But she and Stone do have some serious chemistry, and the more time they spend together, the deeper their connection becomes. As their relationship heats up both on and off the stage, can a happy ending for them on the show mean one in real life too?

What a fun read! The dance show/reality TV element is so well handled that it wouldn’t surprise me to find out the author has been staking out reality dance competitions backstage, because the drama, personal relationships and week by week eliminations had me flipping the pages eagerly to see what would happen. As the author is herself Puerto Rican, she adds an authenticity to Gina’s character that comes across in her mannerisms and expressions (as well as her cooking!). Gina’s enthusiasm for dance is equal to her skill, and she’s able to teach Stone both the physical steps and the emotional expression required to achieve their goal every week of impressing the judges and getting the viewing audience to vote for them. Her skills are not limited to dance though. She choreographs scenes, chooses appropriate costumes, and knows the ‘business’ side of the competition – the need to be ‘on’ for the camera at all times. If this is wearing for her at times, it’s only in the quiet down times off camera with Stone that she is able to let some of that go.

Stone is the strong, silent type. Or at least, that’s his character on his family’s show. He has to remember to hide anything about himself and his family that doesn’t fit with how they are portrayed on TV, especially if cameras are around. Being with Gina is eye-opening for him, not just because he realizes he can dance, but because he’s forgotten what it’s like to have fun, to be in the moment and enjoy life. She brings out the side of his personality that’s been hidden away and he likes this side of himself. In private, they can step outside of their TV personalities and be themselves.

While the attraction between them leads to on-stage chemistry that they can shrug off on camera as being a result of the hours they spend together and their strong friendship, off stage they eventually hit the sheets in some steamy love scenes. Keeping their feelings for each other private becomes increasingly difficult. While Stone would have no problem coming out into the open, Gina believes the resulting publicity would do more harm than good for her in the long run. In the end her decisions will affect them both.

Besides watching Gina and Stone grow closer, it’s equally fun to follow them in the competition. The other couples are well described, and as some of the dancers have been with Gina on the show for a few years, they feature prominently as secondary characters. I’m not going to give away whether or not they make it to the end, but suffice it to say Gina and Stone get more out of the competition than they ever expected. If you are looking for a fun, flirty, exciting romance, you should add this one to your to-read list.

This review has been posted at All About Romance. An abbreviated version will be posted at sale sites.

Take the Lead follows Gina and Stone, two reality TV stars, as they compete with the other contenders in The Dance Off, a network-TV dance competition. Both have different reasons of joining; Gina is in it to finally win it, since it’s already her fifth season, and Stone sees the prize money as a chance to alleviate his family’s financial troubles. However, Gina realizes immediately after meeting Stone that they’re being set up for the show’s romance bait, something she’s been adamant with the producers that she would not do.

What I love most about Take the Lead is the relationship between Gina and Stone. Gina is fierce about protecting her reputation. She recognizes her privilege by being Puerto Rican on a show with a nationwide audience, so she remains resolute about doing her job to the best of her abilities and not be stereotyped as another sexy Latina, which means she needs to keep things with Stone professional. She has dreams of making it big in this cutthroat business, and she will not let anything stand in her way. Stone, on the other hand, loathes the “celebrity” life. He never wanted to be a reality star, but was pulled into it due to his loyalty to the Nielson family. Stone has his own secrets, things that will affect his family and their livelihood if they become public. I love how they grew closer the more they spent time with each other, and how they became each other’s solace. Gina and Stone have strong chemistry with each other and it’s so entertaining to watch their bond shift from colleagues to lovers.

My only issue with the story is that the pacing felt slow in some parts and rushed towards the end, but other than that it’s a pretty solid debut, and I’ll be keeping an eye on more of this author’s works.

A playful, steamy romance set in the world of competitive dancing.

I love Dancing with the Stars. The drama, the contrast of celebrity and talent, the glitz and glamour and sparkly dresses. With Take the Lead, we get to go behind the curtain with a dancer who’s desperate to win and her reluctant partner, a wilderness expert.

I loved Stone and Gina. They were both realistic, well-rounded characters fighting against the roles that society had decided for them. They did fall into that time-worn trap of miscommunication but they each had understandable motives and worked to make things right as soon as they realised how badly they screwed up. There is a satisfying scene where they both get their grovel out and hash out their issues. Better yet, Stone doesn’t ask Gina to give up her dream for him and doesn’t give it up. In the end, they both win.

The start of the story did seem a little slow but I enjoyed how the dances showcased the slowly growing relationship between Stone and Gina. I feel like the wealth of characters added depth but slowed down the plot - but if they get their own book (and I especially hope Tash does) it will all have been worth it. I understand the conflict being the show itself and the desire for ratings, but I was slightly put off by both the antagonistic characters being fame-hungry women with boundary issues.

I enjoyed reading this book and if you like a slow burn romance against the backdrop of fame, I definitely recommend giving this a go.

take the lead is set during a dancing like the stars-esque reality competition. professional dancer, gina morales, not only wants to win the trophy, she needs to win in order to keep herself on the pro-dancer rotation. as a proud, yet fiery, latina, gina is careful about her portrayal on the show. she wants to avoid falling into stereotypes. and she's been burned by fake relationships in show business before.

this season she's paired up with alaskan mountain man, stone nielson, a fellow reality tv star who's main purpose for being on the show is to ensure that his family has enough money to pay off his mom's medical bills. dancing is as far out of his comfort zone as one might imagine, but from the moment he meets gina they simply click.

the producers of the show notice the obvious chemistry and try to encourage gina to play up a showmance, something gina is adamantly opposed because she feels like it typecasts her as a sultry latina. but not only is she attracted to stone, she likes him a lot, and the more time they spend together the harder it is for them to keep their hands to themselves.

when they do finally give in, gina does her best to keep everything on the down-low. except stone doesn't want to hide his feelings for gina. he's sick of keeping secrets. his family's show is a lie, his whole life feels like a lie, and gina is the only real thing in it. why should he hide? but gina doesn't see how this could be real when her life, her career is in the big cities of los angeles and new york. while stone's life is in the middle-of-nowhere alaskan wilderness.

i really enjoyed stone and gina's story. i liked the backdrop of the reality dance competition. i don't know if the author has any insider information on the industry, but it felt like she really knew what she was writing about and that added another layer of fun. and i love the threads of puerto rican culture that daria included throughout the narrative. you can tell when it's authentic, and this was. i'm always happy to see fellow puerto ricans in print. especially now.

Such a fun read by Alexis Daria- I loved it even though I haven't watched dancing competitions on tv in ages!!!! really strong, engaging characters!!

3.5 stars -- I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

There were a few things that stood out and made this a must request book for me, and it was those things that I enjoyed the most in this story.

First, I'm a sucker for a book about dancing.  I'm really not a very good dancer myself (though I still try, I have, like, ZERO grace), so I ALWAYS admire dancers of all types, from ballet to ballroom and beyond.  And it boggles my mind how anyone can not understand the athleticism involved.  So I loved seeing the bits of dancing thrown into this story.  Strangely, having just read another book based on a dancing with the stars type show, I will say that while the dancing bits were good, they didn't live up to that other books inclusions somehow...  Maybe because Stone was so large and strong, you didn't get to see his struggle enough.  The author made it look easier than I think it is...and I just didn't *feel* the dancing quite as much...  BUT if I didn't have the other book to compare to, I probably would have loved it more.  And there was the practice with the Argentine Tango...that was pretty awesome.  Maybe it's that the dancing was more glossed over in the second half, and I just wanted to bring back more of my own memories learning ballroom dance.  Huh.  This was a part I thought I loved, and I *did*...just maybe not as much as I thought.

OK, SECOND: Ms. Daria NAILED the diversity component.  I think this is what you get from #ownvoices...because the author is latina, you get a very realistic latina heroine.  I loved that aspect of Gina's character, and seeing her fight to not be viewed as a stereotypical oversexualized latina was just so well done.  And you know what else I loved?  It wasn't just one heroine that was hispanic!  There was actually a lot of diversity in the whole cast of characters (and not just hispanic)!  From other dancers to production staff to judges to hosts...it was just so real, you know?  I don't understand why more authors don't diversify the whole cast more.

And the great thing about this book is that the author doesn't just tackle the issues surrounding Gina being latina...she also tackles how women in the entertainment industry are treated differently than men, particularly in regards to romantic relationships with other people in the industry.  AND we also get to see some of the effects of sexualizing men through Stone, and how he's portrayed and what producers want from him (just take his shirt off).  I really loved that those things were all silently woven into the plot, but weren't too preachy.

This review is already getting long, and I haven't even gotten to characters, which is what I tend to focus on.  I enjoyed Gina for the most part, and while I understood her reasons for how she approached her relationship with Stone (wanting to keep it secret), I did start to lose my patience with her...  It started feeling really selfish the longer it went on, and like she didn't even try to understand it from Stone's perspective.  So in the end, I had a hard time believing her love for him.

Stone, on the other hand, was pretty adorable.  Don't get me wrong, he had his own selfish moments...but he was kind of a beta boy, and you know how I love my beta boys.  He may have the appearance of an alpha, but his personality was anything but.  He was sweet, considerate, respectful...he made me swoon with how much he cared for Gina, and how, once he changed his tune, he was willing to do so much to make her dreams come true.

In the end, the reason I'm knocking it half a star (but still rounding up) is that I just felt like I was missing some magic...  There was just something missing in the writing...something I can't put into words...that just kept me from getting sucked in and getting my emotions fully involved.

Si vous lisez en VO et si vous êtes fans de DALS ( si vous ne savez pas ce que signifie ce sigle c'est que vous ne suivez pas assidûment Danse Avec les Stars) cette romance est faite pour vous et ne pourra que vous conquérir. Je découvre la plume d'Alexis Daria avec ce premier tome de la saga A dance Off Novel et j'ai hâte de lire d'autres romans dans cet univers qui me parle complètement. Fan de la première heure, je n'ai jamais manqué une saison sur TF1 et même si nous sommes dans une version romancisée de cette émission TV je suis sûre que nous ne sommes pas loin de la vérité.

Gina Morales est une jeune femme de 27 ans qui en est à sa 5ème de The Dance Off et qui aimerait enfin remporter le trophée tant convoité. Pour cela elle est prête à tout sauf à faire passer sa relation avec son danseur pour ce qu'elle n'est pas. Au fil des pages nous découvrons à quel point Gina tient énormément à l'image qu'elle donne à voir aux médias , à ses fans , à sa famille et aux paparazzi. Cependant Donna Alvarez la productrice en chef ne l'entend pas de cette oreille et comme dans toute émission de télé ( réalité ou non) , les dés sont pipés et certains danseurs ne sont que des pantins dans les mains de l'audimat et la course à l'audience. J'ai adoré le personnage de Gina car c'est une femme entière qui a de très belles valeurs et qui a un incroyable talent. Elle s'entend très bien avec son amie Natasha Diaz avec qui elle vit en collocation. Elles connaissent les rouages de l'émission mais cette année , Donna a décidé de mettre une épée de Damoclés au dessus de sa tête. Soit elle va en finale soit elle peut dire au revoir à sa carrière télévisuelle.

Malgré ce chantage , elle va développer une réelle relation avec Stone , la célébrité qu'on lui a attribuée. Elle va au fur et à mesure des choréographies dévoiler aux yeux des spectateurs les réelles capacités et les progrès de cet homme sauvage. Il a des capacités c'est évident et il va lui aussi sortir du rôle qu'on lui a attribué depuis tant d'années dans Living Wild. Aux côtés de cet homme sauvage et naturel, Gina va éprouver des sentiments qu'elle s'est toujours refusé de ressentir depuis son fisaco avec Ruben. Cette histoire l'a forcément marquée et a influencé la personne qu'elle est devenue aujourd'hui. J'ai aimé le style de l'auteur qui nous permet de fermer les yeux et d'imaginer les chorégraphies des artistes présents. Pour les initiés , les danses ne sont plus un mystére et on en apprécie chaque instant et chaque moment. En découvrant les coulisses d'une émission connue de tous, on ressent aussi de la colère et du ressentiment face à ces ouvriers de l'ombre qui scénarisent les moments de répétitions , d'échanges pour amener le public là où ils veulent les amener. Gina saura t-elle survivre à cette marée de requins? Quel choix fera t-il au moment crucial?

Stone Nielson est une célébrité qui s'est fait connaître avec l'émission de TV réalité Living Wild qu'il réalise aux côtés de sa famille . Ils sont 7 frères et soeurs plus leur parents à vivre constamment sous le regard des caméras ce qui fait que plus rien n'est naturel chez lui. Tout est donc calculé pour se faire apprécier des spectateurs et entretenir le leurre encore plus longtemps. Dès les premières pages on sent que c'est un être brut de décoffrage qui vit en Alaska loin de tout mais qui au final ne vit pas vraiment sa vie. Il s'est enterré dans le rôle du candidat solitaire et silencieux capable de survivre en milieu hostile et le milieu dans lequel il va devoir évoluer à Los Angeles est sans doute et contre tout attente le plus hostile. J'ai aimé ce personnage car on le voit évoluer en milieu inconnu mais c'est comme si il pouvait revivre à nouveau. Il est enfin lui même et je dirais même que ne plus être sous l'influence néfaste de sa famille est un réel plus. Les Nielson vivent leur vie de manière programmée et rien n'est laissé au hasard. Lâcher du leste fera donc le plus grand bien car pour une fois Stone se concentre sur un projet qui ne se focalise pas entièrement sur sa famille étouffante. Il va au fil des semaines, des danses et des moments partagés avec Gina découvrir qui il est réellement et qui il ne veut plus être. Pourra t-il se sortir de ce cercle vicieux? Pourra t-il échapper aux demandes de sa famille? Vivra t-il enfin sa vie?

Bref, je ne peux que vous recommander cette lecture VO car elle vous fera passer de supers moments. La danse est la thématique principale mais par le biais de l'émission , des personnages, Alexis Daria évoque les thématiques fortes liées aux émissions de télé où derrière les paillettes se cachent des choses peu glorieuses. Leur carrière passera t-elle avant leur vie et leur sentiment?

I thought this was a really cute book. I love DWTS so to have a novel set in that world was really fun for me to read. The main characters were so easy to like. I especially loved the hero and how he was always so sweet. I found it a bit of a stretch to believe his family was hiding this big secret and it didn't get out. The ending was a bit dragged out but the epilogue was great. I'm eager to read more by this author.

Alexis Daria's Take the Lead has such an original storyline that I was salivating for this book like nobody's business. It meshes a Puerto Rican dancer, a gruff Alaskan survivalist, and a Dancing with the Stars like competition. How fun this book was!

Stone doesn't want to be on a dancing show, but because of his family he finds himself flying down to LA and hobnobbing with a different flavor of reality TV. But when he meets his new dance partner, it's more than their dance steps that heat up.

Gina has to win this season of The Dance Off or she loses her job. Of course, she's paired with a guy with no professional dancing background and who doesn't take the show seriously. But each week, their dances become more demanding. There just might be something else burning between them.

I loved these two! While Stone is gruff and serious, Gina has this bubbly personality that Stone can't help but fall for. The last thing Gina will ever do, however, is fall for a fellow co-worker. The structure of the story is absolutely brilliant, and there's obstacles big and small, internal and external, that you can't look away from the page.

There's also this line of burning chemistry sometimes...it wasn't anything overt, and yet, it was some of the most tantalizing tension I've read in a long time.

May I also say that I loved how the country boy had to take on the city life? It was another fresh take on this story that makes Take the Lead stand out. This was a delectably charming book that pulls out all the stops and asks what you would do to win.

Not only in life, but in love.

4.5 stars!

*I voluntarily reviewed an arc via the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Loved this debut!

Puerto Rican professional dancer + Mountain man reality star + dance competition = One happy reader!! ♥ ♥

"You light me up. You helped me remember who I was before, and see clearly who I am now and who I want to be."

Gina and Stone were fantastic together. Both dealing with unwanted expectations and trying to break free from the molds the public put them in, they find comfort and so much more with each other.

Gina has dreams. She wants to dance, sing, and act. Her mother gave up a potential career as a singer for a man who eventually walked away from her and his family, and Gina refuses to let history repeat itself. Being a pro dancer on the Dance-Off is fun,rewarding, and a great stepping stone in her career, but she refuses to let herself be pigeon-holed as nothing more than the sassy and sexy Latina. She's more than that and having the producers try and push an "are they or aren't they?" angle is something Gina refuses to go along with. Her career is the most important thing to her, and she won't compromise that for anything...or anyone.

Stone is known as the strong and quiet one on his family's reality show. His family has built their public persona on being wilderness survivalists and all that entails, but privately, things aren't as they seem. Stone has become frustrated and tired of living a double life. Going on the Dance-Off will help his family with some of their financial issues, but he wasn't expecting to get paired with someone like Gina. Someone so full of life, fun, and energy. Someone who hurdles his carefully constructed walls easily. Someone who brings out the side of Stone he hasn't been since before his family's reality show.

"You make things...easier."

"What do you mean?"

"It's easier to talk with you. Easier to think. Easier to...feel."

The way Alexis Daria wove this story was terrific. I was equally invested in Gina's and Stone's individual growth, their journey as a couple, and their ups and downs as competitors on the dance show.

The instant attraction that Gina and Stone felt evolved wonderfully into so much more. Their connection was believable and the stolen quiet moments they were able to share were both heartwarming and sexy as hell.

The pacing was a little uneven at times (zooming through scenes that I think should have been expanded to add depth or giving too much time to scenes that didn't really add anything), but even with that, it didn't pull me out of the story.

And can I just say the dancing was awesome! I'm a fan of dance movies and watch Dancing with the Stars every season, and everything in this book hit the notes that I love. Alexis Daria showed so many different aspects of dance...how personal it could be, the commitment involved, and how it can lead you to discover sides of yourself you try to hide or didn't even know existed.

"She'd danced the tango countless times, with countless partners. It had never, never been like this.

This was foreplay. He was showing her his intensity, what he was capable of, and what he'd do to her - for her, with her - if she let him."

This is a debut book by a debut author that I highly recommend.

I can't wait to see what's in store for Natasha (Gina's best friend and fellow competitor) and Dimitri (a judge on the show).

But more importantly, I can't wait to see what more is to come from Alexis Daria. With one book, she's got a fan in me!

There was nothing wrong with this book. It was a solid okay read. But not more than that. Maybe it's the fact that I don't like reality TV in the first place that made it so that a book that focused on the life styles of two people who were engaged in reality TV up to their eyeballs wasn't the best thing. But it was far from the worst as well.

Gina Morales is a young Puerto Rican dancer in her fourth season with The Dance Off when she gets told that she needs to get into the finals in order to keep her job as a dancer for this show. Preferably with a showmance, which is an idea she absolutely despises.

That's when her celebrity for this season rocks up. Stone Nielson is from the reality TV show Living Wild. It's clear very early on that he has given up a great deal for it because he's a good brother and son, but also he is right at the end of his rope and hardly wants to be in the reality TV business anymore.

I really liked both these characters. Alexis Daria did really well with giving them both enough personality that they both came right off the page. The dual PoVs worked really well here as there was a bunch of plot that definitely benefited from the fact that we got both sides of the story.

But, it did suffer from being a novel that felt like it went on for too long. A bunch of this was to do with The Dance Off's season itself. Also there was a bunch of miscommunication and bad communication that needed to be worked out. The end result, though, was that I felt like the drama was extended just for the season to have plot all the way through it. Which... given that that is what I don't like about actual real life reality TV shows, didn't really grab me.

What did grab me was the opportunity Gina had to work on a real stage musical with her idol. Sadly, that only took up about 10% of the entire plot. Clearly only because if this had been more of a plot, Gina probably would have walked away from The Dance Off midway through its season.

I think I would have liked to see that, actually :)

Good love story and will make me wonder who is attracted to each other next time I watch Dancing with the Stars....Great read!

In the UK we call it Strictly Come Dancing, across the pond it’s Dancing With the Stars, but whatever name it goes by, if there’s glitter, sequins, fleckerls, foxtrots and fake tan involved I. AM. THERE. So a romance centralising around all this?

No stranger to reality TV, gorgeous 6’7 bearded Alaskan wilderness star, Stone Nielson is more at home chopping wood than shimmying his hips. But when he’s partnered with LA based pro dancer, Gina Morales on The Dance Off, it’s not long before she coaxes out the moves hiding beneath the muscle and the man-bun.

“I had dreams of a gold-medal-winning figure skater, who already knew how to dance…”
“Instead you got a wild man with no dance training and terrible social skills.”

I loved Stone. Quiet, contemplative and brooding, he’s a gentle giant and I enjoyed seeing how his confidence grew as the competition progressed. Gina was a fabulous female lead and her bright and vivacious personality complimented Stone’s perfectly. And whilst both refuse to be cornered into a showmance to boost their popularity and show ratings, their attraction to one another is undeniable.

“The intensive nature of the training and filming schedule forced an intimacy that was unlike anything in the real world.”

Naturally it’s only a matter of time before Stone and Gina’s tango becomes that of a horizontal variety and trust me, all the build-up and tension towards it is seriously worth it. But what really struck me were the real and poignant nods to Gina’s personal plight and her battle against stereotype with her being Puerto Rican and a performing artist, which played an important and valuable part to the story.

“The worst would be playing into the ‘sexy Latina’ stereotype, setting a bad example for my nieces, and losing out on future jobs because they think I’m unprofessional.”

Fun and sexy with the right balance of fight and conflict, Take the Lead wasn’t flawless—at times the pacing felt a little rushed with regards to the live shows—but it is a strong, satisfying series opener and debut from Alexis Daria: I’m looking forward to reading more from her and seeing what treats lie in store when pro dancer, Natasha and show judge, Dimitri get up close and personal in Dance with Me.

Soooooo this book danced its way into my heart (i couldn’t help myself ok? lol) I have to thank twitter for cluing me into this wonderful book! It wasn’t on my radar til recently so extremely grateful for twitter peeps who made me aware of it because hi hello new fave here!

Listen, I love reality TV. Granted, I haven’t watched much Dancing With The Stars, was more an America’s Best Dance Crew watcher buuut I love dance movies and I have seen some episodes of DWTS and this book felt sooo authentic in it’s portrayal of the reality show angle.

Stone and Gina’s chemistry, so off the charts. I love that building tension between then. The dancing practices were just perfectly crafted for all the yummy sexual tension, and awkwardness. MmmHmmm.

And lemme just shout about how Gina is Puerto Rican and the author is toooo. yessss.! We see pieces of her culture intertwined throughout. Gina is also pretty adamant about not wanting to go along with the producer’s showmance (show-romance) idea, so as not to perpetuate the sexy, promiscuous Latina stereotype. This added some real internal conflict to her character, along with some baggage from her childhood where her father was concerned. I felt this internal conflict was so well done. Up until the end we see Gina struggling with what she wants and if that want includes Stone.

And Stone, my word, this guy, i adored him. He’s this big dude (about 6ft, 7 if i’m remembering correctly) but he’s so aware how his size can intimidate people, he makes all the effort to appear less so. He was just really sweet and I also enjoyed the development of his internal conflict, where his family’s reality show was concerned. So many heart eyes for him, man his character was so well crafted!

There’s a big cast of secondary characters who added a lot of depth to the whole reality show angle. We get a lot of different personalities in one space and it makes for some good reading. Some secondaries I loved, others not so much (looking at you Lauren and Donna >.> lol)

I’d like to give a shout out to Gina’s roomie and best friend Natasha because her personality shone off the page for me. She was a great support system for Gina. teasing her about Stone, being their for her, offering advice when things went south with Stone. Just a really great friend. I especially liked how towards the end there we saw her getting some advice from her mother and sis. So important to see her having the women in her life, supporting her, while also telling her giiiirl get it together! 😀

I was particularly pleased how Gina and Stone actually communicated! They talked things out. Sometimes this led to fights buuuut they talked.

And omg THE DANCIIIIIING!!! I loved learning about the different dances they had to perform each week. Gina came off as knowledgeable and skillful on her craft. And those dances? Damn, the author really did an excellent job of capturing the at first awkwardness, then the feelings and tensions when they had to perform. Loved that! Felt like I could picture their rehearsals and performances so easily.

And I read the final dance while hanging out with my family and listen…the raw emotion the characters felt, and the judges felt, was simmering off the pages let me tell you! I think that final dance has got to me my fave of them all. I don’t know howwww Alexis (the author) made the emotional aspect of that dance leap off the page but wow!!
This was a great debut. And I’m awaiting the sequel for Natasha’s story 🙂

This was a really fun contemporary romance. I've never watched a celebrity dance show, so I don't know how realistic that part was, but I really enjoyed the characters and the story. The author did a great job of connecting the reader with the characters before there were any steamy scenes, which you don't see enough of in contemporary romances. I look forward to the next book in this series.

Ballroom dancer Gina has a "no love interest" clause in her contract with a "Dancing with the Stars" inspired reality show, but even she isn't prepared for the instant chemistry she has with her latest partner, reality star Stone. Stone only joins the show to help pay his mother's medical bills but is also immediately drawn to Gina.

Their dancing lights up the TV and eventually the leads to sexy times. Gina wants to keep it secret, Stone just wants her. Is their love simply made for TV or for real?

A nice debut featuring a Puerto-Rican heroine, a man-bun sporting woodsman, and great steamy chemistry.

This debut novel did not disappoint! As a dancer from a young age myself, Gina's passion and commitment to her craft especially resonated with me! Cannot wait to read Dance with Me!