3.5 stars ⭐, rounded up!
As soon as I saw this book on netgalley, I immediately put in a request for the ARC. It is both discouraging yet not surprising that this is the first widely published contemporary romance novel where a Native author gets to center a Native couple falling in love. I am hoping that this book gets the publisher support it needs to become a huge success so more Native authors can write fun, swoony romances.

Ember, the protagonist in this book, is struggling with a lot of setbacks. She has had to spend money on her brother's legal issues and put her dreams of college aside to make ends meet. Also she is met with silence when she applies for jobs outside of the reservation. She comes up with the idea of checking the White box on a job application instead of the Native American box and she gets interest right away. Now I will point out that she also fudges a lot of the details on the application, giving herself qualifications, experience and education that she doesn't have. Outright lying by a protagonist in books, especially in situations where they can easily get caught really ramps up my anxiety. I spend the first third of the book like 😬😬😬😬 hoping things don't blow up for her. It was honestly a relief when she did fine in the role itself although it struck me as some serious magical realism that someone with zero corporate or admin experience could just be dropped into a role where they are an executive assistant for a CEO of a huge corporation and pull it off. No matter how meticulous and anxious her personality was, it seemed like a huge stretch. I kept thinking "How does Ember even know how to type fast enough? Use all these software programs?" Every executive assistant I have worked with has definite "Magical wizard holding this entire place together" vibes which would be hard to recreate when you're basically winging it in every aspect of the job. Still, for the sake of the story I managed to suspend disbelief and go with it since I was enjoying other parts of the book.

I really loved the love interest Danuwoa, whose character was very believable and endearing. I felt his exasperation at Ember's lies that continued after she was in the job. She grew a lot though and they got a good HEA that I could get behind.

All the side characters were fun. I especially loved Danuwoa's little sister.

A small ending spoiler...






I really loved how Ember was able to turn to her tribe for the support she needed to get the education and experience she wanted. It was a great way to end the book!

A cute and silly office romance about two indigenous individuals in OKC. I laughed, I teared up, I shut the book from frustration and I giggled. There were times I thought the storyline was a little ridiculous but there is so much real, human experience throughout the whole book that kept me coming back. Ember and Danuwoa’s story was flawed and sweet and goofy and spicy. I loved the causal and frequent dropping of indigenous words through the book. The characters are fully fleshed out and Walela is by far my favorite. I think this was a solid debut and I definitely look forward to what Danica Nava cooks up next. Thank you Danica Nava, Berkeley Publishing, and Net Galley for the E-ARC.

Tropes: workplace romance, forbidden/secret, protective MMC

Favorite quotes:
For every Indigenous woman who has ever felt invisible. I see you. I am you.

I’d never had a serious boyfriend or anything. I usually just had elaborate crushes on guys I had hardly ever talked to and created a false reality in my head about why the relationship never worked out. It was safer that way.

Never in my life had I been so earnestly checked out.

This book was so relatable, but also a totally different lived experience than my own. It was fun and serious, sexy and cringey, just like real life. I look forward to seeing more from this author!

Witty, fun romance with plenty of substance! This was a delight to read. Ember is a lovable chaotic you can't help but root for. She lies when in a pinch, yes, but she's spunky, resourceful, loving, and clever--and Nava creates a compelling voice for her that will hook you immediately. And Danuwoa is swoony and very sexy, and they have chemistry that has tension but also lots of joyful laughter. This was a ton of fun - highly recommended!

Thank you to Net Galley and Berkley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. Appreciate the representation for what it is and what it's achieving for a minority community. I'm not clicking with the writing style, though, so unfortunately I'm calling it.

3.75 ⭐️

What a lovely and unique romance. I loved it so much but Ember lying all the time was making me so anxious 😬

Wow! Wow! Wow! What an absolutely breathtaking debut by Danica Nava! I enjoyed every single second of this book! Danica did an amazing job of building the characters, the workplace, and the community within this book. It felt like I truly knew every person and the environments created felt like realistic ones that either I have navigated or that I have seen others navigate. I know this book will allow readers, Indigenous or non-Indigenous, to feel seen, understood, and loved!

Ember is a liar, but also a good person! This girl can do no wrong in my eyes! She was making me cry, cackle, and even had me feeling proud of her in certain moments. Her character development was absolutely phenomenal and I think the ways that Danuwoa helps her in that growth is really beautiful.

Danuwoa is probably one of the sexiest MMC I’ve ever read! This man had me feeling things! His kindness, patience, and honesty made him not only the ideal man, but also exactly what Ember needed.

These two characters compliment each other so well! Their ability to communicate with just facial expressions and subtle touches made me absolutely squeal every single time! Their romance was sexy and quick, but it didn’t feel rushed or surface level. While reading I could feel that these characters genuinely liked each other and I could feel the love growing between them as the book progressed!

I cannot recommend this romance enough! It is definitely my favourite workplace romance that I’ve ever read and I already can tell it is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2024!!!

First of all, I absolutely love this gorgeous cover. I really like the indigenous representation. What I didn't like was Ember. I didn't like her character and that made it difficult for me to get through the story.

I think the author shows great promise and there's definitely an audience for the book. It just wasn't for me.

Thank you Berkley for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

When I first learned about The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava while scrolling threads one day, I was so excited to see it. First of all, one of my gateway romances was a workplace romance. It’s a trope I don’t always lean towards but every time I read it, I’m reminded of how much I love it. The tension! It’s unmatched. Secondly, since I read so much Romance, i’m thrilled to add an Indigenous author and story to my shelves. Love is a universal feeling, so everyone should be represented in the genre.

Overall, I really liked this book. I think the opening scenes were so great at setting it up. I didn’t vibe with some of the pacing but I think it balances the more difficult moments that are necessary to the story with the swoony rom com moments. I highly recommend reading the author’s note at the end. There’s a lot of pressure to the “first” and I’m glad the author was able to tell a story authentic to her.

Synopsis:

“Ember Lee Cardinal has not always been a liar—well, not for anything that counted at least. But her job search is not going well and when her resumé is rejected for the thirty-seventh time, she takes matters into her own hands. She gets “creative” listing her qualifications and answers the ethnicity question on applications with a lie—a half-lie, technically. No one wanted Native American Ember, but white Ember has just landed her dream accounting job on Park Avenue (Oklahoma City, that is).Accountant Ember thrives in corporate life—and her love life seems to be looking up too: Danuwoa Colson, the IT guy and fellow Native who caught her eye on her first day, seems to actually be interested in her too. Despite her unease over the no-dating policy at work, they start to see each other secretly, which somehow makes it even hotter? But when they're caught in a compromising position on a work trip, a scheming colleague blackmails Ember, threatening to expose their relationship. As the manipulation continues to grow, so do Ember’s lies. She must make the hard decision to either stay silent or finally tell the truth, which could cost her everything.” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Tropes—I love a workplace/office romance and I haven’t read one in so long! I love the tension this trope creates and there was definitely a lot at stake in this story.

The Characters—I really could identify with Ember’s need to present herself as someone she wasn’t. It took me a long time to accept that my journey is my own and my worth isn’t reflected by my accomplishments. I obviously I have privileges discussed in this book, but the core of her struggles made me feel seen.

The Conflict—I thought the conflict was very realistic which is great as a reader but very sad and difficult to read about as a human. But, it all made sense and moved the story along.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

Some Romantic Moments Felt Forced—I just wanted a little more depth, but I think it’s because this started with a little insta-love/insta attraction and sometimes that’s hard for me to buy in to.

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Spice Rating: 2/5 Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Content Warnings:

racism, racial slurs, cultural appropriation, abandonment, classism

Even after sitting with it for a few days, this is an easy 5 stars for me. It's strange to think that we needed to wait until 2024 to get our first traditionally published Native American romance, but I'm glad the time is here and that Danica Nava is blessing us with this delectable story.

The Truth According to Ember has so much I love in a romance: a protagonist that feels like a friend (even when you yell at her for the decisions she's making), chemistry and tension that leap off the page, discussions of real-world issues that don't feel heavy-handed, people and situations that feel authentic, and of course, some hot scenes.

Plus, that scene in the supply closet?! It's what my romance dreams are made of!

This is such an easy recommendation that I shared it with at least a dozen people within 24 hours of finishing it.

I loved this one! Ember takes a while to learn her lesson but the story is so enjoyable. Danuwoa is so kind and gentle and patient with her. They have great chemistry. Some of the comedy does lean towards outdated. This novel does read closer to women’s fiction than romance. Can’t wait to read more from Nava!

The Truth According to Ember is a fantastic debut romance that celebrates love, family, friendship and community. I really loved Ember and reading about her journey. The romance between Ember and Danuwoa was really sweet and fun to read about. This is definitely an upcoming release that should be on everyone’s radar this Summer.

I saw something that said this is the first romance by an indigenous author published by a major publisher. It’s about time! I loved the representation in a contemporary story that isn’t centered on trauma (not because I don’t want to hear that but because all people should be multidimensional). This says some things about marginalization and how to treat people without being overbearing.
As for this as a contemporary romance, it’s a cute story with likable characters. It includes some of the usual tropes and wording, but it’s well written and has a satisfying ending. I’ll be looking for the followup that’s teased at the end.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

I enjoyed this book and I loved seeing the native representation. The story revolves around Ember, who lies to get a job where she meets the mmc, Danuwoa.. Ember continues to lie which STRESSED me out. I just wanted her to be honest with the mmc since he was so sincere with her the whole time. Overall, I really enjoyed the novel.

this was a super fun debut and while it did suffer from the usual too-quick plot wrap up in the third act I otherwise had a great time reading this! Ember was a strong narrative voice and the chemistry between her and Danuwoa was well done. so cool to finally see an own voices Native American romance from a major publisher, now give us more of them!

I know many buzzy romance novels dropped this year, but I hope one of this year's buzziest will be discovering that readers have gotten their first Native American rom-com. This novel is entertaining and offers readers a fresh perspective on workplace dynamics and the challenges Native Americans face in contemporary society.

Ember is in her twenties and struggling financially. Now rejected for her 37th time for a job, she decides to fabricate her education and job background to land a corporate position that will finally give her a leg up. Along with these subtle shifts in her work history, she also answers the ethnicity question on applications with a half-lie checking the box for white instead of Native American. These omissions and adjustments do land her a promising job interview for an accounting position that could change the trajectory of her financial life as long as her struggling vehicle can get her there.

Through a comedy of errors on her way, she meets a handsome man named Danuwoa, who works at the same corporation. With one swoon-worthy hair tuck behind his flowing braid, Ember is smitten with the IT guy.

However, the company's strict policy against workplace romances means she has to quickly give up pursuing a romantic relationship with him as feelings escalate in the office.

This novel offers many laugh-out-loud moments as she navigates the weird corporate culture, from not understanding "all hands on deck" to never knowing what they do in the company due to their vague website description. I laughed so hard that I got a few weird looks from my family members as I poured over these relatable corporate scenes.

What sets this novel apart is its authenticity. Nava draws from her experiences to paint a vivid portrait of modern Native American life, from everyday microaggressions to deep-seated fears. Somehow, it easily navigates that tricky terrain of becoming one-note or preachy by embedding natural moments that I found eye-opening as a white reader.

As the couple are from different tribes, navigating their language differences offered an extra layer of charm for readers that I had not considered until reading this book.

Sometimes, characters in their twenties don't feel relatable, but Ember's messiness is endearing. I laughed out loud at the shenanigans while admiring her scrappiness in trying to get herself out of a difficult financial position. I am excited to see what this author writes next because I can see this novel being a massive success.

Can you root for a character without necessarily supporting all their actions? Because that’s how I felt about Ember. She struggles a lot, often through circumstances that are partly of her own making, but the other causes are systemic and that is something that I actually found pretty relatable as a BIPOC. Women of color are human too, and are imperfect, and Ember really reflected a flawed, yet relatable individual. It really made her three dimensional.

I absolutely loved Danuwoa as a love interest. He was so charming and regularly left me squealing out loud even when he wasn’t outright flirting. He’s supportive and understanding, having a shared background with Ember, but when it comes down to it he has reasonable boundaries and when he is upset and becomes estranged from Ember in the third act, not only did I understand his reasoning I kind of agreed with him. But because of Ember’s circumstances I couldn’t completely condemn her either, and I felt the narrative did a good job showing the nuance in their situation.

The workplace conflicts were understandably frustrating, even moreso since they resembled real life and I appreciated seeing such experiences be represented, and it acted as a way to bond not only Ember and Danuwoa, but also those characters to the reader.

I really liked that Ember’s solutions to her problems, besides her personally apologizing to Danuwoa, involved connecting with her community. It showed that while many problems are systemic and not individual, there are solutions that are also not just individual but communal.

I really appreciated the specific setting of Oklahoma and centering Indigenous characters. There were a lot of cultural details that I thought were neat to see as someone who isn’t from that region, that contributed to making the story its own.

Overall, this book was laugh out loud hilarious, with fun tropey scenes and pop culture references that worked so well in the story. I loved Ember, who is scrappy, down to earth, and relatable. The forbidden workplace romance was well executed with plenty of spicy moments, and the chemistry was off the charts! I adored Danuwoa, who had an instant connection with Ember, especially the way he teased her.

In addition to the romance, the story also focused on Ember's experience with office politics and racism, as well as her struggles with trying to find a job as a Native American woman. Although Ember feels that she has to lie in order to be successful in her new role, it's still easy to feel sympathetic based on her situation. Ember also has to deal with challenging family dynamics while trying to handle everything on her own.

The supporting characters are great too. I loved the inclusion of an out and proud bisexual character, and Danuwoa's little sister was so cute!

I fully recommend this book and would love to read more by this author.

This was such a great rom-com! My favorite part of this book was Nava's incredibly hilarious prose and lovable characters. Despite feeling a bit anxious about Ember's lies getting out of control and waiting for all of that to blow up, I felt like she was still so relatable. As a people-pleaser myself and as someone that is continuously working on creating boundaries, I really saw myself reflected in her. The character relationships were also so fun to folllow and I really enjoyed their banter and dialogue.

Most importantly, this story had such much diversity, particularly Native representation. I'll say it now and I'll say it always - WE NEED MORE REPRESENTATION IN LITERATURE. I loved seeing Native people and culture in this story, and I thought the author did a great job tackling themes of racism, systemic oppression, sexism, and bigotry incredibly well.

Highly recommend this book if you're looking for:
✨ workplace romance
✨ great character relationships
✨ complex family dynamics
✨ a Native Daddy
✨ only one bed
✨ a bit of spice

Thank you to @NetGalley, @Berkleypub, and @danica_nava for an e-ARC of in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Truth According to Ember has great Native American representation, humor, and is all in all a fun ride. It’s one of those where you know the protagonist isn’t thinking of the consequences of her actions, and it’s hard to watch… but the fall out is not as cringey as I feared it would be. I loved the heroine and hero, and there’s a great cast of secondary characters as well. I definitely will read more from this author! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc.