I really love how Danica creates a relationship between her readers where they can learn and grow along with her FMCs. Both Ember and Avery feel very real, we experience their very human selves and don't feel obligated to love them as they are on page one. Danica balances this sort of slice of life vibe in Love is a War Song and I found that to really enhance our connection to Avery. There is growth and discovery that we get to experience and I, for one, find that refreshing. It's very humanizing.

The tone of the last 20% or so felt shifted (maybe even a little rushed?). It threw me off a bit with the suddenness of it all. Thank you to Berkley for this ARC opportunity, all thoughts are my own.

i was immediately hooked with this one and could not put it down. i knew i would love this with the tropes that are included (listed below). the banter…i am obsessed with lucas and avery!!!! lucas is a true grump and avery was not afraid to push his buttons back. LUCAS!!! the man that he is!!! my heart ached for his backstory. i loved watching lucas care for avery as time went on and watching avery break down her walls and learn more about her heritage. their relationship grew at a pace that worked really well and made you root for them.

this had hannah montana movie vibes which was my favorite movie growing up. i love the lesson of always finding your way back home. this was my first book from this author and it will not be my last because i had a great time and fell in love with the writing.

avery’s rolling stone cover was supposed to be a success statement as a Native American pop singer, but it did not turn out that way. she starts to receive threats and her career is at stake so she escapes to her estranged grandmother’s ranch in oklahoma. the ranch is home to lucas since he was a teenager and has lived by simple tiles to keep out of trouble. lucas cannot stand what avery represents but they are forced to work together and he soon realizes, there is more to her than the pop star image. she helps with a fundraiser to save the ranch and he teaches her what it means to be Indian.

tropes: cowboy x pop star, small town, slow burn, indigenous rep, forced proximity, enemies to lovers

LOVE IS A WAR SONG by Danica Nava

Thank you @berkleyromance for my gifted copies 🫶🏼 #berkleyig #berkleyromancepartner #penguinrandomhousepartner

I really enjoyed Nava's debut, but dare I say I enjoyed her sophomore novel even more (and that cover... 😍 swoon)!

The story follows pop star Avery Fox, who flees to her estranged grandmother’s ranch in Oklahoma to lay low following a scandal. There she meets Lucas Iron Eyes, a quiet, brooding cowboy, fiercely protective of his Indigenous roots, and not at all impressed by Avery. While they initially butt heads, they eventually find common ground and sparks fly. Meanwhile, Avery begins to rediscover her identity, finding love, healing, and purpose in unexpected places.

Love Is a War Song is a humorous, heartfelt Indigenous cowboy romance novel. Blending themes of love, music, family, community, and Indigenous identity, Danica Nava delivers a love story that’s as healing as it is swoony. I especially loved the thoughtful exploration of what it means to be “Native enough,” and the raw, honest look at complicated families. With its grumpy/sunshine dynamic, cultural nuance, and unforgettable characters, this one’s a standout summer romance! 💕

📌 Available now

Y’all know I can’t resist a cowboy romance, and “Love Is a War Song” is no exception! 🤠

Read if you 💕:

• 🎤 Pop Stars forced to hide in small towns
• ☀️ Grumpy x Sunshine
• 🐴 Indigenous Representation
• ✂️ Impromptu Disaster Haircuts

Avery’s story is full of crazy hijinks! The fast pace had me barely catching my breath—just like Avery herself—making her fish-out-of-water moments even more fun to follow. The single POV really pulls you right into her head, and I loved every second of the chaos. 😍

💖 The romance is sweet, but for me, the real star was watching Avery uncover more about her family. I love a good mystery mixed with a sense of belonging!

Danica Nava’s writing shines in the ensemble scenes, which are funny, warm, and so full of heart. 💘 I cannot wait to see what she writes next! 🙌

While I paid for my special edition, Berkley Romance did send me a free copy of the paperback edition! #berkleybookstagram

Thank you to Penguin Random House for sending me an ARC of this book for review.

Unfortunately, this one didn’t live up to my expectations especially after how much I loved Nava’s first book The Truth According To Ember. It just felt like the goofiness was turned up to a level that I just could not deal with. It was a matter of taste, for me. The main character, Avery, was just too bumbling and so painfully embarrassing to witness. It went from fun to second hand embarrassment very quickly. Along with some of the slightly ridiculous family dynamics that felt almost like caricatures of dysfunctionality, this book unfortunately left little room to be redeemed. However, I did thoroughly enjoy the way Avery connected back to her Muskogee roots and I also really loved her love interest, Lucas. It was so nice, as an indigenous woman (though I’m Chumash and not Muskogee) to see this kind of story depicted through the lens of a romcom. You don’t get to see many Indigenous romcoms out there, but I’d love to see more from many different authors depicting an array of experience. It’s uncomfortable for me to be fair and critical when I feel like I’m knocking down one of the very VERY few examples of representation we have in romance, let alone literature as a whole. I wish I could have loved this book, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. Hopefully it will work for other readers.

3.5 Stars
It’s clear Nava challenged herself to expand her FMC’s world with her second novel. Not only is Avery struggling to advocate for her artistic vision, but she’s mending familial wounds and redefining her relationship to her identity. I loved how Avery was able to blossom in the warmth of her community and the way reciprocity was at the center of her journey. The love between Avery and Lucas was deliciously slow and scorching. By the end, I felt like I knew both of them in real life.
The writing occasionally took me out of the reading experience (it could have benefited from some tightening up), and I wish we sat in some conversations longer for a more satisfying resolution. However, this was so compulsively readable that I can’t help but recommend it!

agh this was absolutely stunning! the cowboy romance everyone needs. Funny, smart, emotional and romantic. LOVED!

Avery, a popstar, went to her grandma’s ranch to escape the criticism of the public.

I loved seeing Avery reconnect with her roots. She had been so far removed from them, but living on the ranch helped her remember where she came from and what was truly important.

And Lucas, the grumpy cowboy who had been tasked with showing her around, was the best! He was broody and wanted nothing to do with her, but he fell hard and saw her for who she was.

This was my first book by this author, but it won’t be the last.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one! It was so well written that I actually had to put it down a couple times at the beginning because I was getting so mad at the side characters for not giving my girl a break! They all redeemed themselves though, and I loved the way the book ended! The romance was hot AF too.
I'm 2 for 2 with Danica's books, so she's on the auto-buy list now!

Overall this was a pretty enjoyable sophomore novel from Danica Nava! I think I enjoyed her first book more, but this one was still really good.

Love is a War Song I highly recommend for those who are looking for their cowboy or small town novel fix.

Avery Fox has become a joke after an "oops" experience featured on Rolling Stone. Needing to get out and save her career, her Mom ships her out to live at her grandmother's ranch in Oklahoma. The grandmother she hasn't talked to. Which is fine, but that Lucas (Grandmother's main ranch hand) doesn't want her there and she has to earn her keep. People think she is there to ruin everything by throwing her money into just solving every problem currently happening. But she is able to prove them wrong, one song at a time war song style.

Danica Nava's sophomore novel gave me the "Hannah Montana" movie vibes. It had me laughing and then wanting to google and do some more research about different cultures. It's one of those stories where you think "ohhhhhhhhhhh" about then want to look more into, in the best way. While there were some things that I felt could have been better wrapped, this is a solid read out NOW.

Absolutely wonderful. lovely character development, pacing, and I got to learn a lot about the power of indigenous community. Avery has a heart of gold and Lucas made me swoon. I just adored this--especially the stick ball scenario!!

Rating: 4⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

There was so much about this story that I was looking forward to: indigenous rep, cowboy MMC, and pop star FMC. From the beginning, I was hooked by the pop culture references and overall quirkiness of the FMC. She was relatable and you really do feel bad on everything that is happening to her. Sometimes, these characters that have fallen from grace are annoying but I didn't get that feeling with Avery. I was really rooting for her from start. I could understand how she got dragged into a media maelstrom after her very inappropriate cover.

I liked how part of the story was Avery discovering what her culture meant to her and her family. I also identified with the characters explaining that there isn't one way to be something or other people shouldn't be defining whether you are "enough." The parts where this was explored were my favorite and I wish the author had explored these elements a bit more. I wish her relationship with her mother and grandmother were further explored as well.

The love story with Lucas made me so giddy. He was everything I wanted in a MMC and his backstory just added to his character. I really liked how Avery held her own and was willing to learn. The side characters were so much fun and I want to be friends with Mary Beth.

There were so many delightful moments mixed in with short insights into what it means to be of a heritage which you didn't necessarily grow up with but is so integral to who you are, it was refreshing to see in a cowboy romance.

Thank you to Danica Nava and Berkley for this eARC.

After being canceled for wearing a warbonnet on the cover of Rolling Stone, pop star Avery Fox is sent to her grandmother's Oklahoma horse ranch to lay low. But instead, she discovers her roots, and tries to figure out what it really means to be Muscogee—and maybe fall for the grump cowboy too.

"I know that before stepping foot in Oklahoma there were only three ways to piss me off. Now there are four. All I have to do is see your face and it will set me straight off."

I absolute adored this book. I enjoyed Nava's debut, but her sophomore outing was so much stronger (although I needed like, 50 more pages!). The charm and wit just sparkled right off the page, and I adored Avery, who went from spoiled but hardworking yes-ma'am to questioning who she really was. I loved that she was willing to learn, and that she wasn't afraid to say that she wasn't afraid of hard work—and that there were multiple ways to work hard. Also, she was willing to say that she didn't know what she didn't know. A true fish out of water experience.

Anywho, I enjoyed her enemies (annoyances?) to lovers relationship with Lucas, even if it felt a little fast. And I liked how Avery found community at last, and realized that ignorance isn't really an excuse, but that there are a lot of different ways to be Native American—and blood quantum and tribal enrollment aren't the be-all-end-all of it (belonging to the community is!).

I think, in the end, I just wanted more!

This was so cute, and brought lots of heart-eyed emojis to my inner Disney Channel loving child.

I received an ARC from the publisher

The book of the summer! I loved every second of this book and I wish it was 300 pages longer because I couldn't get enough of Lucas and Avery. The fish out of water trope is one of my favorites of all time and Danica Nava executed it flawlessly. Avery is pop star who is disgraced after a major controversy and escapes to Oklahoma, where her mother's estranged family resides. This is where she meets Lucas, who is a ranch hand at her grandmother's ranch. Avery is enlisted to help out during her stay there and finds herself is situations where everything is new to her and she stubbles her way through it. It was clever and funny with how Avery navigates being uncomfortable but she tries her best because she wants to win everyone over. I loved reading about her journey of learning more about her culture and being Native, with Lucas's help of course.

I won't spoil it, but his love confession almost made me cry! 10/10 can't wait to reread.

This pulled me right out of a reading slump. Informative and enjoyable - really got me caring about the characters. I look forward to more from the author

With the comparison to The Hannah Montana Movie, you might get an idea of where the plot is going, which isn’t a bad thing. This story follows Avery Fox, who is a Native popstar, finally getting her big break, but things don’t go exactly as planned. It ends up being a PR nightmare for her as she wears a feather warbonnet on the cover of Rolling Stone, which brings in a lot of questions about whether she’s Native and if she’s enrolled in a tribe.

To try to smooth things over, Avery’s mother sends her to Oklahoma to be with her estranged grandmother, which feels like a nightmare. Things get even worse when she gets to OK and her grandmother isn’t there to pick her up but a handsome cowboy named Lucas is. It’s clear from the beginning that Lucas is no fan of Avery’s, and the feeling is mutual.

From there, it truly becomes a fish-out-of-water story for Avery as she’s trying to figure out herself, her culture, and see where she fits. At times, she makes some bad decisions and does some stupid things, but it makes her all the more real. The same can be said for Lucas, as the two feel like they’re never going to be able to be together, especially with their conflicting lives.

Ultimately, the story is just as much about the romance between the two as it is about Avery’s growth. She learns more about herself, her family, and her heritage, which helps her to become a better person and artist. While the story does play out very similarly to The Hannah Montana Movie, it makes the story all the more endearing. If you’re looking for a new cowboy to swoon over and love a classic Disney movie, then you’ll like Love is a War Song.

💗 Contemporary Romance 💗

A Native American pop star’s career is in shambles so she lays low at her grandmothers ranch and meets a handsome ranch hand.

This story completely captivated me! I love the idea of a pop princess and cowboy. This story definitely delivered!

I really loved Avery’s character. She was living at the whim of everyone else’s wants in the beginning so it was nice to see her work through that. Learning along with her about her Native American heritage was also really interesting.

Lucas made for a great book boyfriend. He was very supportive and gave great guidance about her community but he ultimately allowed Avery to find her way on her own. This was spicy but not very explicit.

Three generations of women represented was one of my favorite parts of the book. Secrets between them come to light at a nice pace. The ending was very movieish and I loved every second!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

☯️ Opposites Attract
🎤 Pop Star and Cowboy
🧬 Family Secrets
💗 Romance
🌱 Character Growth

🙏🏼 Thank you @berkleypub for the #gifted copy of #loveisawarsong !!

💗💗💗

I appreciate Nava's focus on writing Indigenous characters and settings in the context of the romance genre and I loved her first book. This one did not appeal to me quite as much, mainly because I never connected with either of the main characters. The setting was well drawn and I felt with this book as well as her other book that I am getting a good slice of life of indigenous Oklahoma. I will recommend this to readers of romance and diverse voices.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Thank you Berkley Romance for the gifted eARC!

I really enjoyed 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙄𝙨 𝘼 𝙒𝙖𝙧 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙜! I loved Avery’s path of self-discovery. She is a Muscogee pop star, but she has never been able to explore her heritage. When she is forced to go and stay with her grandmother, she gets the chance. And of course a hot grumpy cowboy is there to greet her (although he can’t seem to stand her). This was such an interesting take on the cancel culture. It’s a layered story that I found myself completely invested in from the start.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 ⇣
Small town
Cowboy x pop star
Enemies to lovers
Slow burn
Fake dating
Single First POV
Spice