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| Happy Valentine’s Day, there! In honor of the holiday, we asked readers to share their favorite literary love stories. Plus, when it comes to romance, sometimes the movie is better than the book. And for readers who aren’t feeling the love, we have 19 stories of romance gone wrong. |
 | The Introduction |
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| Alexis Daria’s Take the Lead |
The Book
When Alexis Daria’s dance competition reality TV romance debut Take the Lead came out in 2017, it was named one of the best romances of the year by Entertainment Weekly and the Washington Post. But it was only available as an ebook. It’s now out in print for the first time—with a gorgeous new cover.
The Author
Since her beloved debut, Alexis has written three internationally bestselling romances, plus several sweet and sexy short stories. To celebrate the new edition of Take the Lead, she chatted with podcast host and author Kelly Reynolds.
Kelly Reynolds: What changed from when you first wrote this book and the new release?
Alexis Daria: I finessed the beginning and the end; I felt like those were a bit rougher. I also went through and strengthened Stone's arc. I added a scene where he goes out with a couple of the guys from the show, which was my dad's idea. Thanks, Dad! There were also some characters who had been cut down in the original. I wanted to make sure that they were given more page time, even if it was just to describe them with details I knew about them, but that hadn't made it into the first version of the book.
KR: How much Dancing with the Stars did you watch in preparation for writing this book?
AD: Well, to be fair, I already watched the show religiously. It was one of the things that sparked the idea, the thought that some of the dances really tell a story in those 30 seconds. I thought it would be a fun project to write the story that's being told in these dances. At the same time, I also watched a lot of survivalist reality shows. I couldn't come up with a scenario where the happily ever after was going to be that they went to go live in a tree. I didn't want to write a survivalist romance per se. So I mashed those two ideas together and wrote a survivalist going on the show.
KR: If you were on Dancing with the Stars, what would be your dream dance number?
AD: The one that I love the most is the pasodoble. I would be terrible at it, but I love it because it's so dramatic and mean. They always have fire and explosions and stuff with the paso and it's very forceful—a lot of stomping and getting in each other's faces. I feel like that would be really fun. I mean, I would get sent home, but it would be fun.
Read the rest of Alexis and Kelly’s conversation here, then check out three romances that Alexis loves: |
 | | The MacGregor Brides | | A pair of 90-something grandparents play matchmaker for three of their granddaughters in this funny and charming set of stories. | | Add to reading list |
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 | | Ice Planet Barbarians | | After being abducted by aliens, Georgie and her fellow captives are stranded on a frozen planet. When Georgie leaves the ship in hope of finding help, she runs into a huge blue alien who insists that she’s destined to be his mate. | | Add to reading list |
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 | | The Ex Hex | | When the man who broke her heart years earlier turns to the little town where they first met, Vivi realizes that the bad luck that follows him may be the result of a curse she placed on him in a moment of post-break up misery. | | Add to reading list |
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 | The Highlight |
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| “Shamshine and Sunshine are not the same thing. Anybody with training can tell the difference. Just like anybody with training could tell that Winfred Pimsley was a crook. But he was my kind of crook.” |
 | | The Shamshine Blind | | Part noir mystery, part sci-fi dystopia, this debut follows a detective through the underbelly of a criminal world that deals in weaponized emotion. | | Add to reading list |
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 | The Stack |
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| Love Gone Wrong |
| From Daphne du Maurier’s gothic thriller Rebecca to Colleen Hoover’s twisted love story Verity, the literary world is full of not-so-happily ever afters that explore romantic relationships that go sour in sometimes deadly ways. |
 | | The Truth Hurts | | After a whirlwind vacation romance leads to a surprise marriage, Poppy is relieved when her new husband suggests they never talk about their pasts, since she has secrets she’d rather keep. When they return to his big old house in London, however, she starts to wonder exactly what kind of man she has married. | | Add to reading list |
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 | | The Confessions of Frannie Langton | | In this gripping mystery, a servant on trial for the murder of her employer, Dr. Benham, and his wife reflects on the circumstances that lead to the murder, including her illicit affair with Mrs. Benham. | | Add to reading list |
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 | | Our Kind of Cruelty | | Mike Hayes has designed every aspect of his life to please V, his beautiful girlfriend. When she suddenly announces her engagement to another man, he’s sure it’s all part of their elaborate game—and he knows his role is to get her back, no matter the cost. | | Add to reading list |
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 | 20 Words: Guess The Novel |
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| A young woman's letters to a popular talk show host go unanswered as her relationship turns increasingly sour and dangerous. | |
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| Answer in footer |
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Together with  |
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| The Love You Deserve, Delivered to Your Doorstep |
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 | Bookmarks |
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Critical Love
Fellow authors are raving about Fiona McFarlane’s hotly anticipated historical suspense. Ann Patchett calls it “brilliant, fresh, and compulsive readable.” Critics are loving the novel too; Kirkus says its “a masterpiece of riveting storytelling.” |
 | | The Sun Walks Down | | A six-year-old boy goes missing from his family’s farm during a dust storm; the members of his small Australian community band together to find him in an increasingly desperate search. | | Add to reading list |
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The Sequel
Fans of Jason Bourne also love Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X series about Evan Smoak, who was raised to be an assassin but escaped from a secret government program and dedicated himself to helping people in need. |
 | | The Last Orphan | | When Smoak is captured by the US president, she offers to let him live—if he helps her by killing the uber-powerful billionaire opposing her environmental bill. | | Add to reading list |
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 | Bookworld |
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🧛 Huge news for Twilight fans! Stephenie Meyer says she’s working on two new books in the series.
❤️🩹 Authors, editors, and agents are hosting an online auction to raise funds for disaster relief following the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
🩸 You author Caroline Kepnes talked to Publishers Weekly about what’s next for America’s favorite literary psychopath.
🎵 Julie Andrews and her daughter have a new picture book coming out this fall.
👩🏻👩🏻🦰👩🏽🦱 The show based on the book by Lisa Taddeo and starring Shailene Woodley was canceled by Showtime only to be picked up by Starz. |
 | Page to Screen |
|  | | The Power | | Olivia Colman takes on one of literature’s most iconic roles as Miss Havisham in the trailer for the upcoming adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, coming to Hulu next month. | | View Trailer |
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