This book sucked me in from the very start and I couldn't put the book down. I was hooked right away with these two characters. I loved the banter in this book , the attraction betweent these two was amazing. I loved this book and please add it to you TBR list and you won't be disappointed.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This was a great book that found a nice balance between being fun, romantic, steamy, and thoughtful. Gina is a dancer on a celebrity competition reality show, when she gets partnered with Stone, who is also starring in a reality family survival show in Alaska. Their chemistry is immediate, but they are also really different and navigating a complicated reality show dynamic, while also learning to dance as partners - so there is a lot going on! This is my third book from Alexis Daria and I think this book was great in so many ways. I loved the tropes of reality show drama, grump and sunshine, opposites attract (country boy and city girl). The steam was amazing, Stone and Gina were both great characters, and the drama was just the right amount to push this story along and invest me in how it was all going to turn out. I feel like this has movie potential written all over it, and it would be in the same league as something like Magic Mike with a more romantic comedy vibe. But this book was also thoughtful, with themes on microaggression, women of color in the entertainment industry, learning from past mistakes, and balancing career aspirations with love. I have also learned it’s a re-release of her debut novel, and she lengthened it from a novella to a full length novel. I thought it felt overall the right length, but my only critique (and it’s so small, I really loved this book) is that the pacing felt a little off sometimes. Maybe that’s to do with the rewrite vibe? Overall, I highly recommend this book for fans of Daria, Latinx contemporary romance, and high steam.

Fun, steamy and a little uneven. This is the debut novel from Alexis Daria digitally released in 2017. Now it has been updated (what ever changes that means) and being re-released. The premise is a Gina Morales is a New York City Puerto Rican professional dancer on The Dance Off. (Think Dancing with the Stars.) She gets teamed up with Stone Nielson, a gorgeous 6’7” man from Alaska. He and his family are stars of a survivalist reality tv show.

He needs to get as far as he can because his mother has medial bills. This is Gina’s dream and she wants to continue to build on her performing career. He doesn’t love his family show because much of it is fake. Gina doesn’t want shortcuts like pretending to be in a showmance that may further her along in the competition. I love that she is concerned about falling into a Latina stereotype of using her body to get ahead. She knows she represents her family and community.

Things I liked:
Gina is a great character. She represents her ethnicity and tries to keep her rules of conduct. (ex. no alcohol during while competing)
The steaminess is off the charts high. They are together several times with references to other times not on the page.
The dancing descriptions are realistic and give a feel for the competition and the manipulations by the producers for ratings.
I love where Gina ends up.

Less good:
I didn’t love Stone’s character. He isn’t honest with Gina until well after they are intimate.
The conflict could have been the producers manipulations but instead makes it about the characters choices.
Did not love the epilogue. Of course you know they’ll be together, it is a romance. But Stone especially becomes everything he hated at the beginning of the book.

I can see why after the success of the authors more recent books there is an interest in putting this out for a bigger market. It is very fun and entertaining and I’m happy to have read it. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for a review.

"Take the Lead" was a delight from beginning to end. I couldn't find anything to complain about with this book. Both the main characters are well-developed, and their chemistry is off the charts. Tension comes from all corners of this book, and it was hard to step away from the story. I loved the setting of a "Dancing with the Stars"-like show, and the addition of another reality show was interesting. I expected to like this book, but I didn't expect to be emotionally attached to the characters, their story, and the world of "The Dance Off."

I loved this book. Alexis Daria writes well thought out characters. The incorporation of reality tv and dancing with the romance was unique and the writing was fun.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy this book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Gina is a professional dancer on a <i>Dancing With the Stars</i>-esque competition show. Stone lives in Alaska and stars on his survivalist family’s reality TV show, and ends up agreeing to join <i>The Dance-Off</i> as a way to pay his mom’s medical bills. Gina resists her producer’s scheme to turn her and Stone into the season’s “showmance” – fearing she would get pigeonholed as the “sexy Latina” rather than succeed in her career ambitions for her talents. Stone resents having to go on a silly dancing show, especially because it will make it that much harder to lie about the secrets his family is keeping from the world.

This book was just plain fun. I’ve really enjoyed [author:Alexis Daria]’s Primas of Power series so far, and am pleased to say I was not disappointed by [book:Take The Lead]. While a lot of romances can go overboard with the instant attraction/sexual tension trope, the dance competition setting let Gina and Stone’s story get quite steamy with lots of sexual tension from the outset.

I would love to have explored both MCs’ family dynamics more, especially since they were so important to why they make the choices they do. And I’m thrilled to get more of Gina’s best friend/roommate Tash in book two.

[book:Take the Lead] by [author:Alexis Daria]
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5 stars rounded down
🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ for the hot hot dancing, and the ~dancing~ (in bed) and the tasty Puerto Rican dishes
🕺💃⛸️🏈 for the fun cast of characters

I thought that Stone and Gina were absolutely adorable. I thought that Stone was especially adorable and I felt so bad for him that he was so self-sacrificing for his family and that it cost him a lot mentally to compromise himself that way. I felt bad for Gina carrying a lot of pain from her father around as a child and it continuing to effect how she saw her relationship with Stone. I'm glad that talking to her mother helped her to discover that she was holding onto the negative viewpoints of her father. (Not that he was undeserving, but sometimes a child's perspective can over or under react to what's happening around them.)

I loved the Dancing with the Stars concept this book had and it makes me eager to read any of the other books that Alexis Daria might have in the Dance Off world. (Hopefully there will be more sequels.)

Overall as a debut novel, I really enjoyed it and I think that it was a pretty strong book. I'm excited that this book is being rereleased with a new beautiful cover.

4/5 stars

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for giving me a copy, all opinions are my own.

This was a spicy fun slow burn ride! Two people competing against each other is already fun and then add these two it’s magical I love how the mmc is a cinnamon roll. It always a treat to see a big strong man be a big old softie on the inside !

<i>Thank you Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!</i>

I think that when it comes to celebrities dating in stories, I almost get super stressed out about it. There are always very high stakes at play more often than not, and romances can be littered with miscommunications and mis-matched goals. I think that this book did a good job at fleshing out Gina. Her goals and motivations where made extremely clear from the get-go, and she's a likeable character who just wants her career to take off without being overly sexualized by the media. A genuinely good way to have her stakes be decently high. I think that the chemistry between her and Stone was fun to read, and the steam was pretty on-point for the on-page sex scenes.

Now for Stone. First off, I can't get over that his name is Stone. It was <i>the</i> most masculine name that could be churned out for this. I think that his story and his development needed work. I get that he's holding a big secret, but we don't really get to see how it's truly effecting his life, especially because we don't see enough moments with his family. I also don't think we don't get enough moments with him and Gina, and how that secret truly effects her. When it came down to the secret reveal, it turned out that those "high" stakes didn't matter. He actually gets a good end of the deal! With no consequences to him or his family, what was the point of him being scared to even mention it in the first place? I think more scenes with him and Gina, that were explicitly not sexual, would have helped us build a sense of "wow this secret is really hindering him," plus it would build their bond.

I also think that the ending really kind of felt lackluster. I think that because of what I just mentioned above on Stone's family and his big secret, it felt weird to have him and Gina just fall in with no consequences after the reveal. It was also out of nowhere that they would move to Alaska... when Gina's got a Broadway show to run in New York. How would she even agree to that? She spent seconds in Alaska, believed she was going to get mauled by a bear, and agreed to move there when her job is literally at the other end of the country? It made no sense.

Overall, I enjoyed a majority of this book, but the story needed some work!

I love romance, I love reality television, and now I love Alexis Daria. This book was so sexy and fun! I'm off to check out her other books now!

3.5⭐️ I bumped this up to 4 stars because this was the authors debut that’s getting a re-release and I know the author has written incredible works since this one.

This book follows our two main characters Gina and Stone. Gina is a dance instructor on a tv dance competition and Stone is an Alaskan survivalist reality star who are partnered up on Gina’s dance show. As the show progresses Gina and Stone’s attraction to one another grow which is a big problem for Gina who has sworn off dating her dance partners and wants to be taken seriously in the entertainment industry.

I really enjoyed the dancing aspect in this book especially towards the end where Stone is really “feeling” the dance it got so steamy! The spicy scenes were HOT!! Loved all the spice! With that said it is pretty insta lust-y so I do wish there was more relationship development that wasn’t wrapped around the show. The dance show was a HUGE aspect of this book as expected by the cover and synopsis but I do think it pulled away from more plot/character development. This book really picked up for me in the second half.

Overall I thought this was a fun, sexy and entertaining read and I’m definitely looking forward to more books by this author in the future!

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.