Take the Lead by Alexis Daria a leading five-star read. This book was so good, I was dancing round the room and having a jig at work, I have two left feet so it wasn’t pretty but I couldn’t help myself. If you have any inclination to dancing you need this book in your life, if you enjoy romance or reality TV you also need this book in your life. The writing was so well put together, I need to go see what else this author wrote and get reading.
The chemistry between the main character is so hot I am amazed their feet aren’t on fire. The dancing is hot and they are amazing. They both have their own reasons for wanting to do well on the show, Stone Neilson as he needs the prize and Gina Morales wants to progress to the next level. Gina is a city girl with big plans, and has had trouble in the past with men.
There is so much going on in this book but it all ties together and is a great story with plenty to keep you hooked.

I requested this book because I love Dancing With the Stars. I'm the type of fan that follows the dance-pro's I admire on Instagram and will read articles in magazines that feature them. I enjoy watching the behind-the-scenes footage/ the rehearsal antics and love finding out about how these pro's/celebrities are like when they aren't on the show.

This book is like a treat of epic proportions for fans of DWTS. I absolutely loved what I was reading and stayed up all night finishing this book. Reading was like getting an up-close invitation to what goes on in such a reality tv show. So cool! I loved that there was a good balance of the show stuff (costume-fittings, rehearsals, show performances) and the off-cam, down-times, giving ample room for the growing relationship between the MC's.

If I'm not mistaken, this is Alexis Daria's first book and I'm floored as this book is pretty-darn polished. Ms Daria did such a great job of fleshing out the MC's and writing a well-paced story. Count me as a fan of her writing style. (This book is a dual POV, btw, which is totally my jam.)

I grew to love both Gina and Stone and was cheering for them all throughout. Heck, I even loved Tash/Natasha, Gina's roommate/bff/co-star pro-dancer on the show. In fact, I'm so excited that book 2 will be about Natasha and Dimitri (one of the judges on the show).

If you like DWTS, SYTYCD, movies like Step Up, then I would definitely recommend this book. I would also recommend this book to those who enjoying reading about strong heroines and gentle sweet men (bec Gina was more alpha, imo, than Stone).

I received an advanced e-galley of this book from NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book! My thoughts are in no way influenced by this early preview.

Latinx <I>Dancing with the Stars</I>-inspired contemporary romance? Sign me up. I thoroughly enjoyed this fun, fresh plot that explored the complicated nature of being in the public eye, burgeoning careers, and deep-rooted emotions about honesty, family, and love. (Prepare yourself for a bit of steaminess too!)

The book starts with Gina flying to Alaska to meet her new dancing partner, producers and camera people in tow. When she meets Stone – not at all who she had been expecting – an undercurrent of attraction begins to build. Once Stone meets her in L.A. to begin rehearsals and live performances, their chemistry picks up steam. Their attraction is not without some hurdles and hiccups, and at times I found myself frustrated with characters' responses to things, it came together really well.

Gina is a strong, focused woman who is looking to break down stereotypes about Latinas and become a star, and I thought Daria did a wonderful job portraying her as a three-dimensional heroine that you could root for. Stone is a quiet, honest guy with a complicated relationship with his family, but very likable and altogether more beta than I would have expected.

The one thing I didn't love was the focus on the physicality of the characters, which is so common in romance novels. It made sense given that this book was about dancing, but I'm appreciating romance plots that are more subtle with the imagery these days.

I'm looking forward reading Daria's writing in the future, especially since the next book will focus on Gina's best friend Natasha. I'm so happy to see more Latinx representation in contemporary romance and would highly recommend this to readers of Alice Clayton and Alisha Rai.

This book was a great addition to reality television fans everywhere. This was such a fun, sexy, and romantic story of two people meeting for the first time and the unexpected attraction. Will Stone and Gina realize that dancing together doesn't have to be the end or is distance just to far. Loved this book and thank you NetGalley and Alexis Daria for allowing me to read this ARC and write a honest review.

This book review will be published by The Book Queen. I'll come back and post the link when it goes live.

REVIEW:
Listen. Take the Lead is perfect. PER.FECT. I loved this book. I want to take this book out behind the high school and make out with it. This book was goddamn good that after I finished reading it, I spent the rest of the day watching Strictly Ballroom, the Step Up movies, and Magic Mike. This book made me want to sign up for dance lessons----and I am a white girl with NO rhythm! I clap on the wrong beat and my husband jokes I need a walking helmet! I’d sooner give up romance and only read Jonathan Franzen novels before I’d take dance lessons! I just wrote a paragraph with like 18 exclamation points, and I hate exclamation points! I have been reduced to a quivering pile of happiness at the perfection of this book. I mean, I guess you could stick around for the particulars, but if you haven’t one-clicked yet, I really can’t help you.
The characters in this book are both trapped in a web of their own making, beholden to their lives as reality TV stars. Gina Morales is a professional dancer on a Dancing With the Stars-type show. This season, her partner is Stone Nielson. He and his family are stars of their own reality show about being survivalists in Alaska. He’s farmed out from the family show to the dance show to try and win enough money to pay for his Mother’s medical bills. Gina is determined to win this season, knowing it could catapult her career to the next level.
Gina and Stone have all the chemistry, but their beliefs about who they are and how to be in the world couldn’t be more different. Some of it on the surface: he loves Alaska and she’s a city girl; he’s quiet and taciturn while she’s bright and chatty. On a deeper level, each character is fully developed, with a set of fears and foibles that make them afraid of making a future together.
I loved Gina. She’s strong, hard-working, and knows exactly what she wants. She’s also savvy about the ways in which the whole system is working against her.. Early in her career, she had a boyfriend who used her to get ahead and then dumped her. She’s determined not to let anyone else have a chance at ruining her career. She is instantaneously wary of Stone, sensing her producer is setting them up for a “showmance.” While other dancers might enjoy being at the center of a showmance, Gina negotiated a contract that expressly outlaws being cast in that light. Even though she can’t resist him and their romance is real, she explains when they need to keep it secret, “Do you have any idea how much my agent fought them on the showmance angle when I was hired? A lot. And because I’m Puerto Rican, I’ve been fighting against the ‘sexy and promiscuous’ Latin stereotype my entire career, something that’s hard enough when you’re a dancer....You don’t get to make this about you.” Gina’s broken her own rules by getting involved with Stone, but she is convinced that if others know about their romance, it will hurt her career. There is no part of her worry that seems contrived or hysterical, by the way. It just feels real. She’s a woman of color, and she knows damn well she can’t make any mistakes. But is Stone a mistake?
What Gina doesn’t realize is that Stone has been lying for his family for years. Their reality TV show is contrived, and his whole life is managed, scripted, and filmed. Stone doesn’t ever have the chance to be himself, because his reality TV contract forbids him from sharing anything that would ruin the illusion of his family’s life in the Alaskan wilderness. Stone loves his family, but he cannot wait for his contract to be over so he can return to a regular life. Stone is impressed that Gina lives by her principles while he is living a lie. It is painful for him to keep Gina a secret. He thinks, “Everyone wanted him to be silent--his family about their pasts, and Gina about their relationship. The silent protector, keeping secrets and putting aside his own needs. Well he was sick of being the quiet and reserved one.” Stone’s inner turmoil is just as real and grounded as Gina’s, and neither of them can figure out how to move forward together.
It’s this conflict and character building that makes Take the Lead a 5 star romance for me. I cared for both of them, wanting both of them to get what they need and to end up together. It truly takes compromise and work from both of them to find that HEA. Part of the reason I called this book perfect is the flawless execution of their emotional and their physical intimacy. Every steaming glance builds the heat, ever kiss feels earned, and the sex simultaneously builds intimacy and reveals their vulnerabilities. I desperately wanted them to end up together but had no idea how it would happen.
Finally, I think the best books are always having a larger conversation about society and the world. Yes, this book needs a Spotify playlist and a YouTube channel of dance clips. But it’s also as damning an indictment of reality TV as the scripted lifetime show Unreal. On Twitter, author Cecelia London recommended another novel that takes on reality TV called The Last One by Alexandra Oliva, saying “She really nails the bullshit involved in the way the media is presented to us, and how it creates doubt in our minds.” Take the Lead is doing something similar, but oh so personal. Gina and Stone are caught in the web of expectations of family and society, but I couldn't read it without wondering about the webs keeping me in place, or the webs I am inadvertently weaving for others.

A thoroughly entertaining and engrossing debut, Take the Lead uses the structure of a television dance competition to show the love story between a professional dancer and a reluctant reality show star.

I enjoyed the absolute hell out of this book. The main couple stood out as real and relatable against the artificiality of the reality show backdrop. The secondary characters were also charming and endearing. A review of a romance often references whether a reader was "rooting" for the main couple, and in the context of this book, I was rooting for them all the way: as a couple, as a dance pair, as a team. I wondered how they would bridge their differences, which seemed insurmountable, but the narrative handled it with grace.

I was given an advance reader's copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I liked this book. The chemistry that Stone and Gina have is evident from their first meeting. It only grows the more time they spend together. It was like one of their dances, the give and take that they share.