e-Audio, 10:02:42
Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
Release Date: July 22, 2025
Published by: Books on Tape (Berkley)
Read from: July 19-21, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: (I received a free e-ALC from the publisher and their app. This did nothing to influence my review. Thank you to the publishers for the free ALC copy.)
Content Warning: Cultural Appropriation, Emotional Abuse, Bullying, Sexual Content, Racism, Sexual Harassment, Addiction, Pregnancy, Alcoholism
For Readers Interested In: Adult, Audio, Contemp Romance, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Native American), Realistic Fiction, RomanceA Muscogee pop star and a cowboy who couldn’t be more different come together to strike a deal in this new romantic comedy by Danica Nava, author of The Truth According to Ember.
Pop singer Avery Fox has become a national joke after posing scantily clad on the cover of Rolling Stone in a feather warbonnet. What was meant to be a statement of her success as a Native American singer has turned her into a social pariah and dubbed her a fake. With threats coming from every direction and her career at a standstill, she escapes to her estranged grandmother Lottie’s ranch in Oklahoma. Living on the rez is new to Avery—not only does she have to work in the blazing summer heat to earn her keep, but the man who runs Lottie’s horse ranch despises her and wants her gone.
Red Fox Ranch has been home to Lucas Iron Eyes since he was sixteen years old. He has lived by three rules to keep himself out of trouble: 1) preserve the culture, 2) respect the horses, and 3) stick to himself. When he is tasked with picking up Lottie’s granddaughter at the bus station, the last person he expected to see is the Avery Fox. Lucas can’t stand what she represents, but when he’s forced to work with her on the ranch, he can’t get her out of his sight—or his head. He reminds himself to keep to his rules, especially after he finds out the ranch is under threat of being shut down.
It’s clear Avery doesn’t belong here, but they form a tentative truce and make a Avery will help raise funds to save the ranch, and in exchange, Lucas will show her what it really means to be an Indian. It’s purely transactional, absolutely no horsing around…but where’s the fun in that?
*MY THOUGHTS*
I was worried about this one because I only felt meh about her first one, but this one?! Yeah THIS IS IT. I really enjoyed this one. I was mad af about the brat of the FMC, but I still enjoyed it overall. This one is definitely the one I’ll be talking about all the time.
Ok so when I mentioned the FMC, she was really annoying. I can’t believe in 2025 she didn’t know that you don’t just blindly trust yt people. I can’t believe she let them dress her in that and then disappear and let her fend for herself. That shit wasn’t right. And her mom wasn’t really great either. And she knew this but still listened to them. I think that’s the part that messed with me the most.
And then she met the Cowboy, Lucas. And let me tell you, after I finished reading this, I looked up SO MANY Cowboy of Color books LOL I LOVED that he wasn’t letting her slide and called her out on her bs. I also loved that even though he called her out and said what she was doing wrong, he still took the time to share how she should do it right. When they finally got together, it was HAWT! He took care of her in so many different ways throughout this book and I loved that so much.
The romance between the two of them was weird to me. I can say for a fact that I don’t like enemies to lovers, but this one was actually really good. And I think it made me most mad because I don’t actually like this trope so I was shocked into liking it. I think what got me was the way it felt real. She was annoying and he actually seemed annoyed lol And he was not afraid to tell her “Naw, that wasn’t right.” Even if she didn’t want to listen. She needed that because literally no one in her real circle was willing to do that for her.
Lastly, I loved the character growth in this one because there’s some for almost every main character. For some that’s rough to do for one main character, so seeing it done for multiple people was so impressive. That says something to Nava’s writing style and her growth there. I don’t remember any of this from her first one. And now I can’t wait for her next one. It’s going to be so cool to go back and see her work from book to book and how much she grows and changes.
This was the cutest book! As someone from the South, I loved this and I really hope there will be more books with Cowboy Lucas, his small town people, and this Native pop singer in Nava’s later books. I’m not done loving these characters yet.
Overall, I give this
