Mulan works for her father’s private equity company and has to navigate being a woman in the business world. Just as they are working on the acquisition of a family whiskey brand, Mulan’s father becomes ill. Given that the family only ever corresponded with her father over email, she decides to pose as Fa Zhou to secure the acquisition. The family owned whiskey brand is lead by none other than Shang. Mulan (posing as Fa Zhou), attends a week long retreat at the family ranch. She brings along her coworker and cousin Mushu as she tries to finish the deal

I saw one review pitch this as a 90's romcom and there is no better description. I had fun with this one and I adored the characters! Such an interesting take on the Mulan story for sure,.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This was a sweet romcom about an Asian woman who must pretend to be manly to win over a sexist family looking to sell their business. It was easy to read, I loved the cultural elements, and it read like a cute 90’s romcom movie. In the on-screen version of this book, Awkwafina would be the perfect casting as the MC’s cousin and best friend. I could think of no one else reading her funny quips.

I love so many other books by this author, but this one is not for me. I know it's story of Disney's Mulan, but from the very beginning it just didn't work for me. I've pushed through as much as I can, but it's a dnf for me.

Worth Fighting For by Jesse Q. Sutanto was an adorable modern-day Bay Area Mulan retelling, complete with the Disney adaptation’s pitfalls for Mulan and a hint of humor with cousin Mushu.

I was worried that a book about high finance/Finance bros was going to have me tuned out and turned off by page 2, but surprisingly enough, Sutanto did an amazing job at keeping it real, yet approachable and understandable at my non-finance bro level.

I also appreciated the tackling of the big themes of gender bias and outright discrimination in some workplaces, but the emerging trends of all genders trying to forge a new and more egalitarian tomorrow. …and the romance was so smooth, too. *All the heart eye emojis*

Thank you to Hyperion Avenue and NetGalley for this ARC!!

So excited we got a Mulan inspired retelling from this series. I have enjoyed the previous books so I was very happy to receive a ARC for this one.

While you can definitely feel the essence of the movie, Worth Fighting For is delves more into the family relationship and the romance. I felt the author did a great job showing Mulan's struggle with trying to help her family while also working in a male dominated field. Shang's brothers really made my blood boil! I liked how the situation was handled and thought it was believable.

Shang is dreamy here. He's defying the male expectations of his family and is very unapologetically himself. I loved the relationship he and Mulan had. It was flirty and fun, but still heartwarming. Also the banter between them was so good!

A great retelling!

I've read several of the Meant to Be series, and I think this one may be my favorite so far. Worth Fighting For has plenty of Jesse Q. Sutanto's trademark humor (I had to pretend I was having a coughing fit as I snorted out loud over some of the farm antics), but it's also absolutely full of heart. This feels like a deeply personal book, dealing with sexism, the immigrant experience, and the struggle to be true to yourself. Worth reading for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to Hyperion and NetGalley for the advance reader copy of Worth Fighting for by Jesse Q. Sutanto.

Mulan works for her father’s private equity company and has to navigate being a woman in the business world. Just as they are working on the acquisition of a family whiskey brand, Mulan’s father becomes ill. Given that the family only ever corresponded with her father over email, she decides to pose as Fa Zhou to secure the acquisition. The family owned whiskey brand is lead by none other than Shang. Mulan (posing as Fa Zhou), attends a week long retreat at the family ranch. She brings along her coworker and cousin Mushu as she tries to finish the deal.

I was so excited to receive an eARC! What a lovely and creative reimagining of Mulan! It was so fun to see the different ways this story was reimagined, from plot points to the characters. I adored the romance development between Mulan and Shang. This story also had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions! I enjoyed many of the side characters, and of course, I loved Mushu, who stole the show over and over again!

I’d like to thank Hyperion and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first book I’ve read from the Meant To Be Series and I really enjoyed it. Mulan was my favourite Disney movie growing up and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this retelling! Jesse Q Sutanto really brings the characters and themes to life in this version of the story.

Mulan is working in finance at her father’s firm, doing her best to fit-in in the male dominated field and keep her father happy. The Li family runs a very tradition whisky company, whose CEO is none other than Shang.

When her father, Zhou, has a medical emergency in the midst of a new acquisition, Mulan impersonates her father in order to beat their competition, a rival company whose CEO feels slighted by her mom choosing Zhou over him.

After Zhou spends weeks boasting over email about growing up on a farm, Mulan finds herself with a tough task—convincing the Lis that she has what it takes to run help their company.

I really liked this book. The chemistry between Mulan and Shang was cute, and the addition of Mushu was a humorous and fun take. The formatting did make it a bit harder to read though. It was a cute, short read.

This was a really fun retelling. I love the story of Mulan and I wasn’t sure how I would feel about a modern retelling. I think Jesse Q. Sutanto’s writing as always is hilarious. She writes such witty fun characters. I really enjoyed how she even had Mushu in this storyline. The chemistry between Mulan and Shang was wonderful. I loved how the hiding / deception of Mulan was handled instead of her cross dressing in an army. This was a very believable change with her pretending to be her father through emails and never stating that she is actually in fact a man. This story was a great blend of humor with a dash of romance with a modern feminine twist. I haven’t read any of the other Meant to Be books but since they are all standalones I didn’t notice missing out on this story.

Overall this is a fun fast paced retelling full of humor and shenanigans and a cute romance. I think fans of Mulan will enjoy this modern day interpretation.

This is a modern day retelling of Mulan. I really enjoyed this retelling because its relatable for many women who work within male dominated professions.

In the story Mulan, FMC, pretends to be a male to be taken seriously as a financial expert by clients who had the mindset that only males could ensure their company’s success. I enjoyed how Mulan changed their opinions through her commitment to their family first then their company.

The bright spot was Li Shang, the MMC, because he was different than the other males within his family. He was open-minded, without ego, and saw Mulan as the talented woman capable of helping his family’s business.

The slow-burn romance development was on point. The banter between many of the characters, especially the women, was hilarious. Overall , I would recommend this book to friends. This author is a must buy for me.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to provide feedback. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I love the concept of this series and have (thus far) found the execution to range from she lid to excellent. This continues that trend, with a really fun update to Mulan. There are a couple clever winks at the Disney movie that made me smile. I loved the relationship between Mulan and Mushu. It kept the general vibe I expected while properly fitting into the story. This is a fully closed door romance, so don’t go in expecting spice (other than attitudes and in the cooking scenes). The banter between Mulan and Shang is spot on. I thought the pacing was a little off and it was somewhat hard to keep track of the various family members (although that might have been intentional).

Not my favorite from this princess re-telling series. Formulaic and predictable.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC!

I'm a fan of The Meant to Be series so I was excited to read this modernization of Mulan. I think this is probably the hardest story to update so far. I loved that this story dealt with issues of gender discrimination and cultural tradition. It would be a great choice for readers who love Lauren Kung Jessen's work.

The transition of the characters to the business world was a smart one. Also the character of Mushu as Mulan's ride or die cousin was so clever. She retained the hilarity of the character in the Disney film, but was more grounded. She may have been my favorite. Mulan and Shang had great chemistry and it was easy to see how well they balanced the other.

Feminist themes were throughout the book and done well. I appreciated Shangs mom and her quiet moxy. It was a little hard to get into this book, but the pacing sped up and by the time they were on the road trip I was enjoying it. 3.75 stars. Thanks to Net Galley and Hyperion for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Mulan is one of my favourite Disney stories and I couldn’t wait for this book! Thank you so much for the ARC! I love that the book kept all the original character names but changed it to finance bros lol. It was a fun time!

This has to be the cutest remake ever! So far I have loved every book in this “series”! I’ve always loved Mulan and her story and this was the most darling take on it!

Thank you so much, NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. You are going to want to pre-order this!

Mulan was truly astonishing. I loved it when she truly opened up to be herself and stopped masking. I loved Shang, how he was unapologetically himself even with the stereotypes expected of him from the men in his family. I also loved his mom! This was such a beautiful story. Mushu was HILARIOUSLY adorable. The fun cousin but all her own self, and I loved that for her. The twist was great, and I loved how the book wrapped up! Such a wonderful read, family oriented, but also showing what women in business have to deal with.

I received this book from NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

Worth Fighting For is a fun, modern taken on the classic Disney fairytale Mulan. I really enjoy Jesse’s work and her writing, and I am obsessed with all things Disney and I love a good rom-com, so this was a very fun read!
I appreciated the subtle nods to Disney and the original Mulan while not making it glaringly obvious (other than a few of the same character names).
The FMC Mulan is the VP of her family’s private equity company that her father started from the ground up. She deals with the very real issues and obstacles that women deal with on an every day basis, both professionally and personally. Especially working amongst “finance bros” and trying to live up to the expectations of her Chinese heritage. I got angry a few times at the horrible instances of sexism she went through, but appreciated how it related to her character development.
Her father is trying to land a deal with another family run business with Chinese roots. But the whiskey company is known for being extremely masculine and stuck in their old ways of thinking.
Mulans dad falls ill the day before their meeting with Wutai Gold company and not wanting to disappoint her father, she pretends to be him. The only correspondence that her dad has had with the CEO of Wutai Gold has been via email and after reading through their previous conversations realizes she can pretend to be her dad for the meeting.
She has to jump through many hoops to prove her “manliness” and ability to be trusted with the acquisition and finds herself in silly, unfortunate situations. Of course along the way her and Shang, the CEO of Wutai Gold find themselves developing feelings for each other that they tip toe around due to possibly going into business with each other. And to add to these comical events her no filter, unashamed cousin Mushu is adding to the chaos.
There is so much character development, teeth grinding, swooning, smiling, and boundaries being set in this book.
I do wish there was some more spice and laugh out loud moments though!
Many thanks to Net Galley, Hyperion Avenue, and Disney Worldwide Publishing for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this! I hadn't read any books in this (loosely connected) series before, so I wasn't sure what exactly to expect as an adaptation of the animated movie. I loved the reimagining of Mulan into a contemporary world with the same pressures of gender-bias and family expectations. There were Easter-egg moments from the movie in the book that made me laugh out loud!

Amazing retelling of Mulan! I am half Chinese so this meant a lot to read and I love this author. Thank you for this amazing novel. Other Disney fans will rejoice for this one.