Mulan is a financial analyst working in a misogynistic world of finance bros. Forced to take over her father's pet acquisition, she must deal with Shang, the head of his family's whiskey business. Plot twist, she has also pretended to be her dad to save face, a decision which is put to the test after she meets Shang and his family in person.

I'm not usually a fan of mistaken identity/intentional deception plots but I was willing to make an exception for a story based on the movie Mulan. Just like with the movie, it's hard not be frustrated by the sexism Mulan faces. I didn't enjoy Mulan needing to prove herself to men, but given the movie it wasn't a surprise to find it here. There is just a *lot* of sexism in this book, from so many angles, that it gets to be a bit much after a while in terms of a plot point. The tension of Mulan's lie and iffy business ethics definitely carried the story along. For me it got to a point where it felt uncomfortably like gaslighting, which hindered my overall enjoyment. Some of the plot points felt stilted, and since the reader knows the book is loosely based on the movie this makes some of the events of the story feel a little formulaic. Still, I enjoyed Mulan's relationship with her cousin Mushu, who was just the right amount of comic relief. There was nice messaging about the strength of family love, as well as learning how to be true to yourself and persevering when so many people want you to fail. There's definitely instant attraction between Mulan and Shang, and given the short time frame there wasn't much on-page time to get to know Shang. But he and Mulan were well matched and I liked them both. If you're a fan of false identity, insta-love, workplace romances with HEAs, this is the book for you. 3.5 stars. Publishes June 3, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for providing and eARC of this story, all opinions are my own.

very cute! a good remake that others will very much enjoy. there were parts that weren’t for me but i can see others loving this book

This was my first experience with this series. I really wanted to enjoy it, but I should have know since I stuggle with retellings. I understand why the characters were named the way they were, but it threw me out of the narrative every time. Then the characters felt more hyperbolic and shallow. Not really the story I imagined for a retelling.

I'm sure plenty of people will enjoy the book! I think it was mostly a me problem, and maybe a bit of the writing style. Thank you for an early read of the book!

A Mulan remaking but as a rom com!

I wanted to like this, I truly did. I LOVE Mulan. It is one of my favorite Disney movies. First let me say thank you for keeping Shang. I was so livid when the live action Disney film took him out completely...like serious heartbreak.

But I am going to have to say that I sadly didn't enjoy this read. I think Sutanto is a great writer. Her Dial A for Aunties is such a fun read but the problems I had with this read was just too much to ignore.

First thing: Mushu. Making Mushu her girl best friend and keeping the name Mushu was just a mistake! Either take Mushu out of the story, keep the best friend and rename her giving her Mushu humor vibes or just give us a small child with the hilarity that Mushu brings would have been a better choice.

Second thing: I'm all for girl power and know there is a sexism problem in the workplace but man this book went a little too heavy on it where it just felt too cringey. It was far too cliche and I did not enjoy it.

Thank you Netgalley for this review but I sadly must pass on this one.

Jesse Q. Sutanto can do no wrong in my book (no pun intended). She slays every genre. I was ecstatic to get an ARC of this book.
Fa is her fathers right hand woman at his hedge fund company. Everyday she is talked down to, under minded, and overlooked by the finance bros that work for her father. Her degrees have no merit or worth in their eyes.
When her dad has a health emergency in the midst of an acquisition (a whiskey brand Fa has warned him against acquiring), Fa is in a bind.
So what does she do? Pretends to be him. She meets the family led by dedicated, handsome Shang.
Jesse S. has painted a very fun read as Fa tries to impress Shang and his family at their ranch. All while fighting her feelings and attraction for Shang and pretending to be Fa Zhou (her dad).
Worth Fighting for is funny, cute and I'm sure relatable in some instances. Well written and engaging, it's the perfect Summer read.
I have never been too big on romance. But when done right, count me in.

3.5/5 ⭐️, 0.5/5 🌶️ (implied, closed door), 0/5 💧

🥟 Mulan Retelling
🥟 Patriarchal Mindset vs Strong Women in Workplace
🥟 Instalove
🥟 Single POV

There’s a particular/special experience in reading a book in the Meant To Be series than other fiction novels because you’re reading with the expectation of a modern retelling of a popular Disney movie and you’re trying to make all the connections. I think sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I love to see how creative the author is in making the loose connections to make it modern.

I enjoyed this book overall but I found myself distracted trying to think “Is Mushu really like this character” etc, and this may be a me problem, whereas others may just read and enjoy the loose connections.

I thought there were moments of the Chinese culture that was expressed in the book that was insightful, informative, and wonderful to experience!

I also thought the struggle of women in the workplace was also very well explored in this book.

Most of my issues with this book had to do with the plot points - it felt a bit over the top and exaggerated, but I can see how that style was chosen for this kind of book. I just had some trouble putting all the pieces together as a whole, while I liked certain aspects a lot and others not so much.

I think ultimately this just comes down to personal preference, and if you’re reading this book for a silly and ridiculous time, and that is your expectation, I would imagine that you would enjoy your time. If anyone’s very strictly loving Mulan and wanting to see more parallels to the original, I’ll be really curious to hear if this met their expectation.

A fun, f*ck the patriarchy book packaged as a exaggerated and modern Disney Mulan retelling, incorporating cultural perspective and highlighting strong women.

Thanks for the arc to NetGalley

What do I say about this series? It keeps getting better and better. I absolutely adored Jesse Q Sutanto’s other series so I was very excited when I heard she would be writing the Mulan retelling in this series.
Mulan just wants to show her father that she is the son he deserves. Working for him at the family business. She puts in long hours and sacrifices everything else. When her father shockingly has a heart attack she vows to make his last deal go through so he doesn’t have to worry about the business while he’s recovering. The problem is they are a traditional Chinese family that doesn’t feel women can be leaders or run a business so she pretends to be her father and to show them how capable she can be by pretending to be like her father. The story is adorable and fun and empowering for women. I loved all the side characters and Mulan’s growth and her crazy cousin. Highly recommend.

As the right hand of her father’s private equity company, Fa Mulan knows what it takes to succeed as a woman in a man’s world: work twice as hard, be twice as smart, and burp twice as loud as any of the other finance bros she works with. So when her father unexpectedly falls ill in the middle of a critical acquisition, she is determined to see it through. There’s just one hitch: the family company in question is known for its ultra masculine whiskey brand, and the brood of old-fashioned aunts, uncles, and cousins who run it—lead by the dedicated but overworked Shang—will only trust Mulan’s father, Fa Zhou, with the future of their business.

Rather than fail the deal and her father, Mulan pretends she’s Fa Zhou. But the email leads to a face-to-face meeting, which leads to an invitation to a week long retreat at Shang’s family ranch. One meeting she can handle, but a whole week of cattle wrangling, axe-throwing, and learning proper butchering techniques, all while trying to convince Shang’s dubious family that this young woman is the powerful private equity CEO they’ve been negotiating with? Not so much—especially as she finds it harder and harder to ignore the undeniable spark between her and Shang.

I really enjoyed this! Mulan is one of my favorite Disney films, and this was just chef's kiss for me. I loved the characters. The cultural side of things adds a nice twist to what might otherwise be "just another romance" and the story was well executed. 4⭐

I received an advanced complimentary digital copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

Let’s talk about Mulan! The fifth installment of the meant to be series is here and features finance aficionado Mulan. Her father’s company is getting ready to acquire a whisky distillery company, but her father has a heart attack the night before the negotiations. Mulan assures her father that she will take care of it. She discovers that the whiskey company only works with males. However, the email exchanges between her father and this company does not identify gender, so she decides to pose as her father to save the acquisition. The Li family is not impressed, but offers for her to visit their ranch to prove herself. The real shenanigans begin on the ranch as she tries to herd cattle, shear sheep, and fjord a river on horseback. The stand out character in this book is mulans cousin Mushu. She brings major comic relief and helps Mulan along the way. The author does a fabulous job with the storytelling. It was like a movie playing in my mind during each chapter. This is certainly one of the better installments in the meant to be series.

A modern retelling of the Mulan story. I enjoy reading and learning from stories that take place in cultural settings other than my own. That was a strength of this story. A strong woman goes bey9nd cultural expectations and brings strength and success to a challenging situation. The book as a whole was uplifting and enjoyable. The story was, in central part, uneven. There were parts that were humorous and engaging. Other parts were draggy and hard to swallow. There were sections that were pas the level to be believable. They made me pause and knocked me out of the flow. The worst was the tent scene. One knew that scene was going to happen,, but the set-up was just not realistic. Why did Mishu and Mulan not just share the big tent and Shang take Mishu's tent? That was the logical solution. It was an overly obvious and not realistic set-up. There were better and more reasonable / creative ways to play that scene out. The handling of the ranch section of the story was heavy handed and a bit too long. I had to push through that to get to the final section that was better crafted. At the end I was smiling and feeling positive.,

Thanks to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the advanced reader copy.

I have loved many of Jesse Q. Sutanto's books (the VERA WONG books are my fav!), so I was excited to read WORTH FIGHTING FOR, especially after reading Jasmine Guillory's fairytale retelling of Beauty and the Beast. But, WORTH FIGHTING FOR just didn't work for me. I can't quite pinpoint what didn't work, but I found myself disengaged as I read and couldn't remember whatever I'd just consumed. I'm just not the reader for this one.

I love Disney. I love all of the Meant to Be books, and I was SO excited to hear that Jesse Q. Sutanto was writing Mulan’s story.

I loved loved loved the updates Jesse did to Mulan’s story. She handled Mulan with care and made Mushu the BFF I always wanted.

As I read more romance books, I find myself over and over again dreading miscommunication tropes. Mulan, is indeed a miscommunication trope. Sutanto did her best and overall I did enjoy the book. I just always want to rush the clear communication to the front of the line!

Overall this was a fun, nostalgic read. I am excited to continue more with this series!

This book was good overall, but obviously it is all based off a miscommunication trope. I think it was super wrong for Mulan to take her relationship with Shang so far when he didn't know who she was really, and I gave me a sour taste.

Overall I loved the spin off element, and think it is absolutley worth the read

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I am not sure if it was because his was book 5 in a series, but I really struggled with getting into the story! I understand that this was a Mulan based story - and Mulan is for sure one of my favorites, so a reimagined contemporary romance was really exciting to me. I really loved the premise of this book - the way the author really took this one into a different direction than one might think of when it comes to Mulan, but I really appreciated it also. I really loved how there were so many subtle references to the movie also and I really loved that!

However, I felt like the pacing of this book was all over the place - sometimes it was really slow and other times it was too fast. I wasn't really invested in any of the characters either - not sure if that's a result of the pacing issues, or if it's something else entirely. I also truly felt like there was no chemistry between the main characters so believing any sort of romance was very hard to do for me as I just couldn't believe any connection as being there!

It was a decent read in general, and again - the premise is absolutely incredible, I can just say that it didn't entirely meet my expectations. I do feel like others will really love it!

3.5 stars! Another fun addition to the Meant to Be series of modern romcoms of Disney princesses…this time with Mulan (but missing the most iconic of mulan lines I was hoping to find “would you like to stay for dinner? Would you like to stay forever”)

In this modern adaptation, Mulan has been successful in her finance career by taking on the vibe of the finance bros to shut down the casual workplace sexism she faces daily. When her father wants to buy a family owned whiskey company led by CEO Shang - and then has a heart attack, Mulan must take his place not on a traditional battlefield but in the battlefield of contract negotiations!!!!! Oh what fun!!!

This was a wholesome and sweet story, with sometimes rushed relationships and lacking the enotionality behind chemistry. It brings a classic tale to the modern age, and addresses some of the day to day sexism women in business face, especially women of color!

Thanks so much to Jesse Q Sutano and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

For a Mulan retelling romance this was a fun time, it was cute and definitely had a lot of familiar elements like the movie. The author did a good job incorporating the original story into the modern world in a way that felt natural. It was an easy read rom-com and it was cute and had some solid moments. I don't think for me that it was very memorable and it didn't really give me the swoon feelings that I want from a romance. If you're looking for a cute rom-com Mulan though this is a great option and it also works well as a summer read with all the ranch scenery.

I received an eARC thanks to Netgalley and Hyperion Avenue, all opinions are my own.

Mulan is a woman trying to make it in a man dominated field. For years she has made herself seem like “one of the guys.” But she has also worked twice as hard at her father’s company in order to prove her worth as a woman. When her father falls ill it is up to Mulan to ensure his upcoming project goes through, even if it means assuming a new identity. Can she bring honor to her family?

I’m always a fan of retellings, especially when they involve Disney. Mulan was definitely a favorite movie of mine growing up.Between the music and a strong female character what else could little ole me need?

This book did a very good job blending in elements from the Disney movie but also focusing on Chinese culture. You could tell the author took great care in making sure the cultural elements were well represented.

I also enjoyed the dual settings of the story between being in the city and office life contrasted to that of ranch life and the wilderness. These two settings helped play pivotal rolls in the story and I truly found myself wishing for more time at the ranch.

However, there were several drawbacks for me. One major thing was how much the word “finance bro” was used. I understand the need to stress about sexism in the work place but in the end the word became redundant and lost all meaning. Not to mention the rushed elements of romance between Mulan and Shang. With this supposed to be a love story it felt almost pushed to the back burner.

Overall, this was a cute fast paced retelling. If you’re looking for a strong female lead and cultural representation then this one is for you.

I didn't know how doing a modern take on Mulan would work, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I loved it so much. I thought it was brilliant to make her a woman in finance. Instead of a woman going undercover as a man, it's a woman in a male-dominated field impersonating her dad after he had a heart attack. After all, they'd only connected through email, how would they know?!

When she goes to the family farm to prove herself that she is who she says she is, is when things get good! The rest of the family is suspicious of her, but Sheng seems to be on her side and they even start brewing this forbidden love aspect. I liked that instead of Mulan going off to train/fight in war, she is having to prove herself through a handful of ranch tasks that prove she's "man enough." Her cousin Mushu was her biggest supporter, but also somehow always put her in terrible situations was comedy gold.

I enjoyed this story so much! It held a lot of depth about the pressure of family expectations and being a woman in a male-dominated industry.

Read if you enjoy a forbidden workplace romance with a strong female lead and AAPI representation. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I loved Worth Fighting For by Jesse. Q. Sutanto!

So far I've read 3 books from the Meant to Be series, and Worth Fighting For is my favorite one. I enjoyed the modern day setting of Mulan. She works at her father's (Zhou) hedge fund company and he's in the process of acquiring Wutai Gold. Wutai Gold is a family owned and operated business and has internal conflict amongst the stakeholders on how to proceed. Some of the family members are misogynistic and want their business to continue to reflect a man's man type of brand.

Zhou has a major health scare and needs to recover. Knowing that acquiring Wutai Gold was important to him, Mulan decides to take the helm and pretend to be Zhou and buy the company. Mulan and her cousin, Mushu, go to the Wutai Gold family ranch and manufacturing plant to learn more about the company. A big problem is that Zhou communicated to Shang and his family that he grew up on a farm and was a master in things like horseback riding and tending to farm life. I LAUGHED OUT LOUD several times reading Mulan dive in to these tasks that she doesn't really have a clue on what to do!

I absolutely adored her relationship with Shang.

Honestly the only thing I didn't like about Worth Fighting For was the constant reminders of the typical "finance bro life." I feel like with her being a leader at the company (and her dad as the owner!) that they're supposed to be the ones to reflect and influence the kind of work culture they want to have for their company.

Anyways, I really do love this book and so happy I got to read this as an ARC. Thank you, NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read this as an eARC! I can't wait for my preordered physical copy to arrive! :)

A modern day retelling of Mulan, part of the Meant to Be series.

As a romance centered around a woman trying to make it in a mans world - I enjoyed this quite a bit! Mushu definitely gives an Awkwafina vibe that I loved, and Mulan and Shang are very sweet together. The aunties cracked me up, and Auntie Jiayi is one amazing woman.

But when I think of it as a Disney’s Mulan retelling, it falls short. Sure, Mulan sorta pretends to be someone different - but barely. It didn’t feel as major to me as Mulan pretending to be a man, and the lie actually grew tiresome after a while because it was so silly and did she not think there might be ramifications if they went through with the contract under false pretenses? There was a character named Mushu and I loved her, but Mushu the dragon had to help Mulan to show his own worth - Mushu here just helped Mulan for the fun of it. So with those two things, maybe I just don’t feel like the stakes were high enough - though I understand it would be difficult to write a contemporary romance with stakes similar to actual Mulans. But on top of that, there weren’t as many nods (that I noticed anyway) as there have been in other Meant to Be books and I think that was the most disappointing.

So I would give this 3.75 stars overall. I think based on just how it is as a romance, aside from getting annoyed with the lying because she really should have realized sooner how unrealistic she was being, it would be a 4 stars overall. But for my own expectations when it comes to “Disney’s Mulan Retelling” I have to dock a quarter of Star.

I would still recommend it, and I loved the authors note talking about how much this meant to her! I also tear up at that moment in the Disney film and appreciate her own ties to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.