“I’m pretty sure this is a bad idea.”

The Truth According Ember was a story of what can happen when all those little white lies you told start to add up. Ember is twenty-five years old living paycheck to paycheck after her younger brother skipped out on bail and she lost the money she had saved to continue her college classes. After not even receiving a call for an interview after the umpteenth job application, she and her bestfriend Joanna come up with the idea to check the Caucasian box instead of the Native American one and fudge her credentials a tad bit. Lo and behold, she gets called in for an interview, lands the job and even finds herself soon promoted. However, the lies are starting to snowball and that little interoffice HR rule about not allowing romances, seems more like a suggestion when Ember and the IT guy Danuwoa have chemistry impossible to ignore.

I was just Ember Lee Cardinal, a sometimes liar, but mostly an overall good person.

This was all told from Ember's pov and in a way that readers are on her running thoughts ride, this isn't typically my personal favorite writing style. I started to feel it lead to overly describing on focuses I didn't care about anymore and thought paced in a way I started to find exhausting, if this style doesn't bother you, though, your mileage will vary greatly from mine. I also thought this had more of a New Adult chik-lit feel but for Ember being twenty-five, all of her pop culture references felt pretty dated (yes, I know about those quirky youngin's that love older movies (Say Anything) but all the references were like this). For the most part, Ember is a character you're going to root for, even when some of her white lies will start to have you stressed out and yelling for her to stop. Starting from a place unprivileged, she tries to out play a system that wants to keep her locked out of it. There's definitely confronting racism, sexism, and nepotism moments in this.

Being caught kissing him in front of the CEO’s nephew was the absolute worst thing that could ever happen.

Danuwoa comes into the picture pretty early, they have one of those relationships where Ember's always somehow embarrassing herself in front of him and telling him obvious lies to make herself look better (she's borrowing the car, not the owner of a 1996 holding on by a thread Toyota). Even though we don't get his pov, it's easy to read that he likes her and, mostly, finds her obvious lies amusing. However, I found the romance fairly weak, this is more Ember's new adult, coming into my own, slice of life story. For the vast majority of the story, Danuwoa is a paper doll, it's not until around 70% that we get a deeper look at his character and background, he has a younger sister he cares for because his parents died. He's the acts perfect, looks perfect interest for the heroine that I, personally, didn't find had much substance to his character make-up. They go on a work trip where suddenly, there's only one bed!, and we get a feeling required hot bedroom scene and from there you'll get all the buzz and bullet point words and phrases that stands in for emotional depth romance.

This all started because I just wanted to be an accountant, damn it.

The latter half is about Ember talking about how important this job is to her and thinking about how that HR rule about not dating could ruin things but inviting Danuwoa up to her floor for a hot quickie because her boss is supposed to be gone an hour, it just didn't fit right and felt ignore previous character building in favor of hot scene, so I guess, again mileage may vary. Danuwoa also proclaims once how important the job is to him but he's more of the “doesn't want to be a dirty secret” and wants to just come clean to HR. It, of course, all blows up in Ember's face, the romance and job lies, and we get Ember learning some life lessons and what she really wants out of life.

There's some family life issues going on for Ember, relationship with her brother, father, and community that I enjoyed, I found myself wishing this just would have been made a contemporary fiction coming of age and left out trying to add enough romance to get a romance tag. The relationship between Ember and who became a bit of a work mentor, Natalie, was one of my favorite relationships in the book, that friendship would have been great to see grow. Also, Ember learning to ask for help from her community and getting a talking to from her Auntie felt like it could have been a great heart of the story.

The writing style of riding Ember's thoughts, created a pace I started to find exhausting and along with a romance I didn't find myself invested in, had this not hitting the right mark for me but I also think there was some great coming of age and cultural issues threaded into here that definitely hit right.

These characters were so much fun and showed the struggles of trying to just get in the door. Once there it’s not as glamorous and it’s just a job anyone can do so why was it so hard to get an interview without marking the white box.
Ember kept telling little lies and some that she didn’t need to tell but she was projecting an image of herself. I Didn’t like a lot of the self important bros she worked with. As an auditor i cringed with all the stuff they said to her as she was just trying to do her job.
I did enjoy her relationship with Danuwoa the IT guy. Wish she wasn’t scared to have a real go at it before some silly antics but she doesn’t want to lose her first job.
She also has some family conflicts with her brother that are causing stress. Her roommate and bestie is hilarious and has no filter.

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley and the Berkley Besties program.

This is a zany story that follows Ember as one little white lie on her resume snowballs into more lies than she can keep track of. Some of them are innocent, while others start to get serious and impact her life, relationships, and even her new job. I didn't have an issue with her fibbing about her ethnicity on her job application. I know that is a real thing that happens and I wish companies would stop asking those demographic question. None of that actually matters when it comes to job performance. I had an issue when she started lying about her cat allergy and continues to lie about completely stupid stuff and then lies about stuff she knows is unethical but does it anyway. I know it was supposed to add an element of humor to the book, but the humor didn't always hit. It felt like she kept making a bigger mess of things instead of trying to straighten things out.

The author did a great job capturing the various types of aggressions that one experiences in an office environment. I've never worked at a start-up but I've worked in the corporate world for almost 20 years and have certainly experienced or seen misogyny and other types of questionable behavior during my career. Ember was really naïve and lacked experience, so I kept hoping she would ask someone for help or mentorship, even if it were Danuwoa. The two of them had great chemistry first as friends and then as a couple. If she were going to trust anyone it should have been him. It is addressed in the book why she has a hard time asking for help, and that makes some of her decisions and actions make more sense as we approach the end of the book.

I'm so glad that Berkley published this Own Voices Rom Com, and I hope to see more of them in the future.

The Truth According to Ember is delightfully entertaining while also holding precious space for the visibility of Native Americans. I absolutely loved this debut and am so excited to see what will be next for Danica Nava because she totally slayed with this book.

Can a meet-cute involve baby vomit and lies? Apparently so. When Ember Lee Cardinal, love her name, gets tired of trying to get hired for countless jobs only to be turned down because of her ethnicity, she decides to tell a little white lie that she's white and what do you know, gets a job in the corporate nightmare jungle where microaggressions and even more lies await. And when she meets the perfectly charming and disarmingly sweet Danuwoa, Ember is about to go through a whirlwind of love, lies, and maybe even. . .the truth.

This book was wonderful and while I am not in the minority that so desperately needed and needs representation in literature - especially the romance genre - I still appreciated the dynamics, the diversity, and the culture that was brought to startling life within these pages. I will definitely be tuning in for whatever else Danica Nava writes in the future. I highly recommend it, it's so so so good.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 ⭐️ I don’t normally rate romcoms this high which is really saying something about how much I LOVED this book. This is a Native American romantic comedy with so much funny banter and tension and a forbidden work romance. If you want a fun spicy corporate workplace romance, this is it!

The romance was so wholesome and cute. I was giggling and kicking my feet A LOT! 🤭 I love this man. Dan is top tier book boyfriend material.

The author has a way of sucking you into the story I literally felt like I was the main character and was getting so much anxiety from her lies. She had me sweating 😅 It was also a hilarious with little crumbs of shrek and the emperors new groove. Iykyk

I’ve never heard of Native American food but the way the author wrote about it has my mouth watering 🤤 I want a friend corn burrito and fried cinnamon bread so bad now! I would love to learn more about the indigenous culture and would love to see more from this author and other indigenous authors. 😊

If you took anything from my review let it be this. Pick this book up right now! 👏🏼

✨ Review ✨ The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava, narrated by Siena East

Thanks to Berkley, PRHAudio and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

Okay. First, a big kudos to Nava for doing the work to get an Indigenous romance published. There are so few out there that this is a huge!

Ember's struggling to get a job in an office and so she lies on applications that she's white (not technically a lie, her dad is white) and that she has an associates degree in accounting. When she gets an interview and a job at a fancy tech start up though, and meets the hot IT guy, the lies continue to pile up.

I don't love stories built on lies and miscommunication and even though the IT guy picks up on many of these lies early, it's not my favorite romance trope/tool. But with that said, I love the ways this represented Indigenous culture and shope Indigenous people existing in the modern world. Nava sets out to carve space in the romance genre for Indigenous peoples and she nails it.

I also appreciated how this book grapples with the struggles faced by Ember and others like her moving into the corporate world. Similar to first-generation students struggles in higher ed, Ember has to figure out how to navigate new spaces and expectations. While this sounds decidedly unromantic lol, I love how she blended this in with Ember and Danuwoa's romance. The cast of side characters was also a delight! I'm back for whatever she writes next!

🎧 The audio was great. It brought me right into the story and I admit that I never went back to the print book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: f/m contemporary romance
Setting: Oklahoma City
Length: 9 hours, 8 mins
Pub Date: August 6, 2024

I was so excited to read this book because I loved that both main characters are Native American which you just don’t see much of in romance. Kudos to Danica Nava for bringing these characters and their history to the page.

But while I loved the diversity of this romance and the cover which is gorgeous, the storyline wasn’t enjoyable for me. I could understand why Ember created her first line to get a better paying job and to start an actual career, but the lying just became too much and prevented me from really liking and supporting this character.

I liked Danuwoa and his relationship with his sister was super sweet but he wasn’t enough to carry this story past all of Embers lies and craziness at the workplace.

I do hope that the publication of this novel will usher in more Native American characters in romance!
Thank you for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

What a cute romance!

I loved all the indigenous representation in this book and how that was actually a central focus of the story and not something that was just thrown in here and there. There was so much humor in this book which I was not expecting but that I love in my romance books. The banter between our two main characters was always on point and so fantastic. I was obsessed with the way that they would playfully poke fun at one another. There is also a found family aspect in this book with all of the side characters that was my absolute favorite part. Ember had so many fantastic people in her life who truly only wanted the best for her and I adored them so much.

Now, I did have some issues unfortunately. First, I hated the third act conflict so much. I know that the entire premise of this book surrounds the idea that Ember lies. She tells these little white lies to protect the ones she loves and to combat an unjust system that treats her poorly because of her race and ethnicity. However, she CONSTANTLY is lying. Even after she secures the job... she keeps lying. Even when Danuwoa catches her telling "innocent" lies and plays them off... she keeps lying. In fact, the big conflict doesn't even go down because she lied. She gets caught doing something that she shouldn't have and that causes another character to doubt her ability to handle complex work situations. He totally dismisses her lies. But all her lying, to Danuwoa especially, leads to the big third act breakup and it was so stupid. All Ember had to do was STOP LYING about stupid shit. I hate when lying/miscommunication is used as the third act conflict and that's what this book did. I also hated the sex scenes. Definitely gave me the ick.

So, while this isn't a new favorite romance of all time, I did have such a fun time with this. I would love to see this become a series because I need to see these other characters get their happily ever afters too!

What a beautiful and inspiring book. These characters were wonderful and I look forward to the next book by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Truth According to Ember is a delightful read that has made me interested in reading more romance, especially by this author. What I appreciated most was the storytelling. It is vibrant and fast-moving without being stilted or too forced. Every interaction and moment flows naturally, and every character's personality seems whole and true. It made it so that focusing on the story at its core was the main prospect. There was also so much in this story without being too much. It kept the plot from feeling repetitive, constantly moving forward. The pacing of this was spectacular. There was always something new and essential to the plot coming up, which I enjoyed, instead of having to ruminate in Ember's same thoughts. That is an issue I have with a lot of romance and this book did not do that, so I appreciate that aspect.

I love getting an Indigenous romance as well. I've read a few before but I can remember not even two years ago having no Indigenous romance books to turn to, not so easily accessible or solely focused on the characters being Indigenous, anyway. It was done well, being a very consistent point mentioned in the novel as Ember is Chickasaw/Choctaw and Danuwoa is Cherokee. There's also tons of Indigenous side characters as well, with a variety of personalities.

What I also love for this novel is how the author portrays her main character, Ember. She does not hold her back from being flawed and complex, while also not being harsh. Again, a great balance that is so preferred. She's a kind character, who is making mistakes. Even at 25, because sometimes you don't find your way until later on. More often, you don't, and I think that is a good lesson for all adults. Ember is relatable, messy, determined, and a go-getter. I do think Danuwoa sort of paled in comparison, but he wasn't unlikable. He seemed very simple, and straight-forward. I wish there had been more intent in leaning into his sense of humor because Ember does mention she likes his humor a few times and I really don't see it. It comes off as typical humor that most people have rather than him being extra humorous. I think that would have been fun and given him more to shine with.

As I mentioned several times before, I think this book is just really well balanced. I loved how the romance aspect as paired with Ember's own journey. It didn't always overcome her every waking thought, and she wasn't obsessive with her attraction to Danuwoa. It definitely is there, but evenly spaced out so all elements of the story get the attention it deserves. It is a romance that focuses on the disparities of Indigenous people, the racism we face, how we're just doing our best to achieve our dreams, and the very human experience of making mistakes. Of trying so hard to do the right thing that you can sometimes slide backwards and hurt others.

I will say that I do wish the book had addressed more of how Ember was able to pass for white, where other Natives like Danuwoa, could not. Especially with that being the big catalyst in her applying for the job at Technix and landing an interview. As White Natives we definitely have to be very aware of that and how we tackle it in all areas. Other than that, everything was handled very well and this is a beautiful depiction of Indigenous love.

This was a fun workplace romance. It didn't do anything revolutionary with the plot, but I loved seeing Indigenous representation and that Ember was the one who had to make the grand gesture. It was nice to see that trope flipped on its head. Overall, I liked the story and characters.

Thank you to the publishers, and to NetGalley, for a free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I'll be honest here - I wanted to love this. I loved Ember, and all her fun, messy, frustrating, silly choices she made. The story was super interesting and the premise was well considered (lying to get a job? That's crazy .... and oddly believable). I liked the representation and honestly, all the characters, and I thought that Ember's growth in particular was well done.

The writing, though, just wasn't doing it for me. Often the dialogue seemed tight and overdramatic, or unbelievable in general. It felt like reading a script without context or emotion in parts - and I'm not sure if that was just because there wasn't as much emotional detail, or the nature of the story. I do think the writer is talented, and I look forward to reading more from her - this could just be a result of a debut novel with lax editing. The pacing also seemed off - we jumped time so often and it was almost a bit jarring.

Overall, a promising writer, but the story wasn't for me.

This was a fun book, and I really appreciated the opportunity to read it! I will recommend this book.

The cover is beautiful and what initially caught my interest but the synopsis convinced me that I had to read it. I loved the Native representation and insight into the culture.

Ember Lee Cardinal is a Native American woman struggling to make ends meet. After her 37th rejection, she takes matters into her own hands and gets creative with her qualifications and ethnicity on her resume. If no one wants to hire Native American Ember, then maybe white Ember has a chance.
It’s no surprise when she’s called in for an interview and lands her dream accounting job. Now she just needs to learn how to do the job.
On the day of her interview she meets fellow Native and IT guy, Danuwoa Colson and they immediately hit it off. Problem is, the company has a no-dating policy. What could possibly go wrong?

To be honest, I had a hard time rooting for Ember which made it difficult to fully enjoy this. After getting the job, the lies keep coming and eventually snowball out of her control. I wanted her to succeed but all of her lies were stressing me out. I understood the reasoning for the lies on her resume but after that a lot of it felt unnecessary.

There are some great side characters but Danuwoa and his little sister were my favorite!
I really liked Danuwoa as the love interest - he’s such a sweetheart! I’m all for a workplace romance and the forbidden aspect added to the tension.

Overall, this was a good debut and I’m looking forward to whatever Danica Nava writes next!

The writing in this was beautiful. Ultimately this was not as focused on the romance as I maybe would have expected. The banter and characters were so fun and I really enjoyed them. The main thing that made me struggle with this book was Ember's lies. Which really shouldn't come as any surprise with the title and synopsis. But so many of her lies were completely unnecessary and she specifically kept lying to the love interest long after it was acceptable in my opinion. Adding in their lack of agency due to the no dating policy at work (which is one of my least favorite things) and I was struggling because they really should have been together but couldn't do to other people. I also struggle with family members who don't care about the harm they cause you. Ultimately I would be happy to read more by this author but it would need to be a completely different type of conflict for me to want to pick it up.

I really wanted to love this one but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I knew the story was based on Ember telling a couple lies to get a job. I didn’t realize just how much the lying would continue and on things I didn’t think were necessary. In general that isn’t a favorite trope for me but I wanted to give it a shot. Also - while I know real corporate life can be boring and slow for a story - I felt the way things went for her at work to be so unrealistic and over the top that it was hard to just go along with it. Thank you to the publisher for the free book to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This one just had me kicking my feet and giggling the entire time! Anytime Danuwoa and Ember interacted, their chemistry had me blushing for them. Their humor and banter is simply everything. However, Ember and her lies were driving me a bit crazy. I definitely feel like it did not need to go that far, but it’s hard to say I can blame her given her childhood and past. In a way I can highly relate to Ember and her avoidance when it comes to asking people for help out of fear it will bother others. I also understand how hard it is to survive and make it far in a world that only seems to try to pull you down because of your ethnicity and race. Hence why I was a little bit unhappy with Danuwoa’s harsh reaction towards everything when he knew just how harsh the work environment was on Ember. I’m just glad all worked out and they came back together in a way befitting the both of them. Overall this was a witty, humorous, and heartwarming story that I think many will be able to relate to. This beautiful book published August 6th so go grab a copy!

Favorite Quote: “Don’t let anyone try to walk all over you or treat you as less than. It took me years to grow a backbone, and that is why people call me the Wicked Witch. I have learned to say no and say it often”

I fell in love with this Indigenous romance and can’t wait for the next one by Danica Nava! I feel like she gave us a glimpse into a world we don’t see enough of. The fact that what Native American’s go through every day is also put into a scene is so seamless with how it’s a peeve that they struggle with. It’s definitely something I want to learn more about outside of what this book has to offer.

Ember is the perfect friend and sister. But she just can’t catch a break. She has always been told to try her best and she will go far but every time she does try; it seems she can’t get far enough. With a new position opening up for an accountant; Ember decides to tell a little lie.
Danuwoa is everything I think we want in the perfect man; attentive, caring, and is willing to help any way he can. He’s definitely my next book boyfriend with his unwavering commitment to helping Ember and keeping her spirits up.

I loved the instant attraction and the meet cute that was so cute and held such a funny memory for the two characters to remember. Ember has steadfast love for her family and friends but doesn’t know how to accept help. She falls into the need to tell small lies to keep her secret from everyone at her new job while also losing herself in the process.

I feel like the experiences she learned along the way in this book is a great touch on how she lives her life and now she matures. It gives all the feels of a lighthearted love story while also diving into deep issues of abandonment and inadequacy. Once Ember realizes she has the help of her Nation and of her family and friends she finds a way to make her own path. I can’t appreciate this book enough. I highly recommend you read this book before the year is up!

Overall, I enjoyed this book! I do often struggle with 1st person writing, especially in a more conversational tone with the reader, but that is absolutely a personal preference, and after a few chapters I got used to it and all was well. Also the lying did stress me out some. I knew the premise was that the MC lied some to get a job (which I had no issue with) but then it snowballed and there were way more lies after that that I wasn't expecting and I was worried for her! I did absolutely get swept up in the drama and the romance! I really liked the relationship between the main characters and felt like they had a really natural build to it. This book did confirm that I personally could not work in an office job, haha!

Thanks to Berkley for a free copy of The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava which came out on Tuesday! #berkleypartner

This is the first Indigenous romance written by an Indigenous author and I really liked that aspect of learning about some Chickasaw and Cherokee culture while reading The Truth According to Ember. But I really struggled with how much Ember lied. I know the title and blurb kinda mentioned some lying but it was a little too much for me. I understood why she didn't say she's Native American on her job application by all of the other lies made her seem so immature and how much she lied took away from the story for me. Overall it was a quick book and I'd recommend it.

I want to read more from this author and the chapter from her next book looks super cute!