The Truth According to Ember

A Chickasaw woman who can’t catch a break serves up a little white lie that snowballs into much more in this USA Today bestselling rom-com by critically acclaimed author Danica Nava.

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 as well: 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.

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Published Aug 6, 2024

384 pages

Average rating: 6.72

52 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Gias_BookHaven
Dec 30, 2025
7.5/10 stars
While I don't like characters that make me question their motives all the time. I find that Don knows that she says the first thing that comes to her mind most of the time. He sees how flustered she is most of the time and quirks a brow when she says something he doesn't believe. Their banter and humor does match and the flirting I like because it's close to my sense of humor. I also feel like Don recognizes Ember harbors shame of her background. It was called poor shame I think when it came up. This is all filtered through Embers eyes so maybe it's not a full 100 % accurate take on Don's character. 

I felt like the Ember's lies wouldn't have all been uncovered if things had gone differently but I do think that she and Don's relationship issues were solely linked to her insecurites and self-doubt which fulled her impulsive lying. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from Nava
hillary_scholz
Jan 13, 2025
6/10 stars
This was fine for me. All of Ember's lying stressed me out and brought me out of the story a lot. I feel like I didn't see a lot of her personality because she was so concerned about being caught in her lies.

I love that this is an indigenous romance written by an indigenous author! I don't think we have enough of those in the romance world and I'm so glad that this was written. It just wasn't my cup of tea, unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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