Take the Lead by Alexis Daria

This book is a re-release but feels incredibly fresh. 

Gina Morales is one of the experts on a television dance program. She has been on the show for awhile but has never won. She needs to come out on top so that she can stay on the show. Hopefully she gets matched up with someone famous. Well, he sort of is.

Stone Nielsen became famous when his family with eight siblings was scouted for a reality show when they lived in the wilderness. He hates it. But he needs the money to help pay for his mom's surgery so... more reality television. 

While their show handler feels different, Gina does NOT want to have a showmance. First, she wants to be taken seriously as a dancer and second, she doesn't want to perpetuate the myth of Latinas being oversexed. But she is fiercely attracted to Stone and they start a romance behind the scene.

What happens if their personal time together becomes public? How will the chips fall?

A little too much of a big misunderstanding at the end, just too much drama but overall a fantastic book.

Four stars

This book comes out February 14, 2023

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Amor Actually -- anthology

A collection of short stories by various Latinx authors that takes the various story lines of Love Actually and turns them into stories with happy endings. I appreciated getting to read some new authors and those stories were fine but I ended up liking the authors which I had already read a little bit more, probably because I already know their voices and read them because I like them.

Three and a half stars 

This book came out December 7, 2021

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

A Lot Like Adiós by Alexis Daria

I started this book thinking I'd read a chapter and then get on with the chores I needed to do today. Hours later, I am left with a happy book hangover. Daria has knocked this book out of the park. Not quite friends-to-lovers (it's been too long since Michelle and Gabe were truly friends), not quite a fake relationship (they do sort of adopt one for "reasons" but they both acknowledge it is already something more) but it sort of still is both. More, it's two people who have always had simmering feelings for each other and the time apart allows them to jump right into the space they may not have found had they stayed together. And they TALK to each other. Gabe is a little bit of a butthead at the end but he figures it out quickly and gets the girl in the end. I only wish we had seen just a little bit more of Zack and Riva, the space show fanfic written by our main characters that is interspersed throughout the book.

Gabriel Aguilar knows that you can never go home and he doesn't want to. Except that's where his business is taking him. Back to New York and back to his childhood best friend, Michelle Amato. He had basically ghosted her nine years ago and he's not sure of the reception he's going to get but his gym is expanding to NYC and she is a marketing genius whose help they need to grow. 

Michelle is pissed. And curious. Why is Gabe getting in touch now? It's been almost a decade. But she once loved him; both as a friend and almost as something more. And when she makes a list, the pros of working with him outweigh the cons. Besides, maybe she can finally get some resolution about what happened so many years ago.

Five stars

This book comes out September 14th, 2021

Follows You Had Me at Hola

ARC kindly provided by William Morrow and Custom House, and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread June 2022

What the Hex by Alexis Daria

It's been five years since Catalina Cartagena left Isla Bruja. She was a clothing bewitching whiz and burned out early. She's been in New York and hasn't used her magic since then. Now she's back for her oldest sister's wedding. But something is amiss on the magical island and the only other person who seems to realize that something is wrong is Diego Paz, Cat's high school nemesis and brother of the groom. Not wanting to alarm anyone over the fact that the groom seems possessed, Cat and Diego work together to make sure that their respective families' power isn't overtaken and they don't have niblings that are literal demon spawn. 

A short story but richly woven. Alexis Daria creates a magic world with deft strokes and minimal description. The characters have a depth that is surprising in such a short story. My only complaint is really how short it is. With Daria's skill, this would have been an amazing full-length novel. I really hope this isn't the only book set in this world. 

Four and a half stars

This audionovella came out July 1st, 2021

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

I had heard this book reviewed on a couple of podcasts but when it became available at my library on the same day I listened to the Smart Bitches Trashy podcast episode with Alexis Daria, I considered it fate. Her explanation of the story as well as Sarah’s intense enjoyment got me really stoked.
And this is a wonderfully enjoyable story about two stars of a new series. The leading lady, Jasmine Lin Rodriguez, has just made it into the tabloids for all the wrong reasons. Her other big problem is that she doesn’t really speak Spanish. She understands it just fine and has the accent mostly down but it’s not a language she uses every day.
The leading man, Ashton Suárez, is aging and he knows it. He is definitely tending out of “hero” in the telenovelas he’s known for and into “villain.” He didn’t even make it to the finale of his latest series! This series is his last chance to break into American television. He has always avoided interviews because of a fairly valid but secret reason. And, even though he finds himself falling quickly for Jasmine, he doesn’t disclose this secret to her. That does cause a misunderstanding at the end but it is quickly cleared up when both come to their senses.
The melding of Jasmine and Ashton’s stories with the telenovela storyline was just wonderful. It took me a bit to get into the book but when I did get into it, it was just a fun ride.

Four stars

This book came out August 4th, 2020

Followed by A Lot like Adios

Borrowed from Overdrive

Opinions are my own

Reread June 2022