Happy release day to this book! I have long been a Disney lover and wanted to try these. I wanted to love this one but felt a bit like it was trying too hard to be Disney, rather than Disney-inspired. So I think it was an instance of interesting, fun writing that ended up just not being my strongest cup of tea. I'll give it another try eventually.

I think this book was a great way to make Mulan contemporary and adult-aged. It was well-written and I like Jesse Q. Sutanto's style.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.

Fa Mulan is one of the top employees at her father's finance company, a field that happens to be male-dominated and maintains the “boys club” vibe. When her father falls ill during a high-profile acquisition, Mulan decides this is her chance to prove to her father that she is ready to become a partner. Only the company they are acquiring tends to focus on being hyper-masculine, but the communications that have occurred with Fa Zhou, Mulan’s father, are just vague enough that Mulan thinks she can take the opportunity to present herself as Zhou. Now they want to meet in person, and Mulan is forced to present her leg to Shang and his elders face to face.

After the less than ideal meeting, Mulan is invited to a week-long visit to Shang’s family ranch where she will have to convince them that she is Fa Zhou and get the sign-off on the merger. As the week goes on Shang and Mulan grow closer, but will the budding relationship and rocky merger survive Mulan’s mix-up?

This is another entry in the “Meant to Be” series, where various writers take beloved Disney stories and turn them into contemporary rom-coms. Worth Fighting For, is a modern take on Mulan written by Jesse Q. Sutanto.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who already loves the series, or enjoys Jesse’s other works. There’s even a cheeky blink and you’ll miss it reference to her other books. This was an enjoyable twist on a story that I loved growing up, and Jesse balanced the main story with lovable side characters. There was the constant use of “finance bro” in the beginning but tapered off enough to not detract from the story.

Overall I would rate this a 4/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book!

3.5 but rounded up.

Mulan is one of my all time favorite Disney movies and I was super excited to read this book! Loved the spin on her being in finance! While a bro dominated field, I loved that we also get a super smart STEM storyline as well. My favorite character was our side character and Mulan’s best friend Mushu! Just like the amazing dragon in the movies, she is fierce, funny, thoughtful and surprisingly intuitive underneath her comedic outer layer. I love that even she gets her HEA in a job she loves. The female empowerment in this book is spot on!

I appreciated the Chinese culture that was incorporated and the male toxicity that still exists. With that said it definitely got to be too much and when added to all the talk of finance bros it started to annoy me. However I really enjoyed Shang, our MMC, who while working as CEO of the company doesn’t share this mentality and also openly cooks delicious meals despite his uncles telling him that’s the females job.

Over all if you love the movie Mulan you will likely enjoy this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion for providing the ARC.

I have followed the Meant to Be Series since the beginning, mostly because I love the authors they've picked for the series, but also because I am a sucker for a good retelling. However, this one fell flat for me.

I have not read Sutanto before, but this book was difficult for me to get into. It was a mixture of things, but it mostly had to do with her style of writing and some of the characterizations she portrayed. The prose came across as very rudimentary and did not capture me in the way that I wanted. It was hard for me to focus on this book and the writing really failed to capture my attention. The characters also came off as a bit inauthentic and it made me not want to engage with their story.

I don't believe this is an issue with Sutanto specifically but rather the fact that this is a retelling based on a Disney movie. The decision to play it closer to the movie's plot versus not at all is a hard choice to make, and I do think that this book falls a bit short in that regard.

🤠Review🤠
4🌟
📖Book: 40/78
📚 Title:
Worth Fighting For
✍️Author:
Jesse Q. Sutanto
📄Pages: 320
💫Genre: Fiction•Romance
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📝Synopsis 📝
Mulan is her dad’s right hand and knows how to strive in a man’s world. Her father falls ill right before a business deal leaving her to seal the deal. Only problem is the company they want to buy out is known being a rather masculine whiskey company. She goes out of her way in hopes she doesn’t disappoint her father and wraps this deal up in a bow for him.

💭My Thoughts 💭
First of all, I didn’t know this was part of the Disney’s Meant to Be collection (book 5), but it can be enjoyed as a standalone and that I did. I truly enjoyed this book so much since it had me laughing out loud and swooning so much with Shang. Slow burn indeed, and I do feel it lacked spice (very PG-13) however it didn’t take away from it being such an enjoyable read. The ranch experience she had to go through had me laughing so hard but also admiring her perseverance. This book was a modern spinoff of Mulan with an emphasis of the expectations a woman has to deal with in a man’s world.
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💭QOTD💭
Which is your favorite Disney movie/character?
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#WorthFightingFor #romancebook
#bookstacommunity
#bookreview
#bookreviewer #contemporaryfiction #bookrecommendations #Netgalley #bookworms #bibliophile

A more romance-heavy retelling of one of my favorite Disney movies, Mulan.

A decent read overall, but probably not something I would re-read.

Despite its slow start, the book still managed to keep me engaged till the end. The romance was quite cute, though lacking a bit in build-up and tension.

One of the more glaring reasons for my initial disinterest was the more than normal unrealistic and illogical reason for Mulan to hide her identity.

While there are things that I disliked in the book I did enjoy how most of the characters were written. I also enjoyed how the traditional ethnic and gender biases were written and broken throughout the book.

The story of Hua Mulan set in modern times.

Mulan is a badass female holding her own amongst the finance-bros. When her father’s health suffers a set back, Mulan takes it upon herself to finish the acquisition of a company her father holds near and dear to his ❤️. Unfortunately, the company owners are stuck in their traditional Chinese ways with a large emphasis on misogyny and are less than thrilled to see a woman trying to purchase their whiskey company. Impersonating her father, Mulan sets herself to prove to them she is a capable leader but doesn’t expect to fall hard for the handsome CEO in the process.

This is the 5th book of Disney’s Meant To Be collection featuring different authors who reimagine the Disney classics of our childhood into modern day romcoms.

I have always loved the tale of Mulan as it’s the first time I had seen of representation in a Disney princess who looked like me in some way. The romance between Mulan and Shang was beautiful but my favorite part of this whole story was when Uncle Hong poured his heart out about his American dream. That part is for all of us who often forget who we really are when forced to put on our masks and be the “model Asian.” Thank you, Jesse Q. Sutanto for putting it into such a beautiful dialogue. It definitely made me tear up and remember that the American Dream was built on the backs of immigrants.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Hyperion Avenue for the eARC!

Disney’s Mulan gets a modern retelling in Jesse Q. Sutanto’s ‘Worth Fighting For’. Mulan is one of my favorite Disney movies, so I had high expectations going into this book, and it did not disappoint! Jesse Q Sutanto traded in the original movie’s military premise with ultra-masculine business world. The love story ran at just the right pace, and the novel was filled with lots of laughs that I come to expect from Sutanto’s books. A fun read! Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

Loved this book! Highly recommend this book for any Mulan fans.

Thank you Jesse Q Sutanto and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first novel I have read in Sutanto's Meant to Be series, and it didn't disappoint. Cue the nostalgia mixed with modernity and feminism, and you have a new-aged Mulan. Instead of Mulan literally dressing like a man; it is more of a metaphor as she pretends to be her father (and managing partner of finance firm) whose gender was unknown to potential clients he had been previously corresponding with. This novel explores Chinese culture, gender norms, misogyny, and of course, love. Sutanto is comical in her retelling of a disney princess story. She delighfully weaves in Chinese sayings, dishes, and cultural norms; painting a a picture and understanding for the reader. One small tidbit that made me double- triple-quadruple take, is how often and easy Mulan's hands become tired! I swear, every few chapters, her hands were ready to give up on her! I would definitely read the rest of the Meant to Be series, as Sutanto remains close enough to the story, while still stirring new life into it! Very unlike other novels I have read by her, but just as good!

Thank you to #NetGalley and #HyperionAvenue for the ARC in exchange for a nonbias review.

I am a sucker for fairy tale retellings and a Disney fan. This seemed perfect for me for that alone. Another check in the positive column is also that I've enjoyed Jesse Q. Sutanto's writing in the past. Sadly Worth Fighting For was a miss for me. While I did see the fun and humor in Sutanto's writing in Mushu, the rest of it just fell flat. I missed from the Disney film the comradery of the fellow soldiers with Mulan. All that's left, besides lusting for Shang, is a lot of toxic masculinity. There were honestly times were I contemplated DNFing it, but I wanted to see how it would resolve. I don't foresee myself coming back to this novel in the future, like some of the other Meant to Be novels.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hyperion Avenue for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

These books not realistic but are good fun, especially if you come from Asian culture and can relate to some of the quirks!

Mulan is one of my all time favorite Disney movies and so naturally I thought l'd love this book. But I wanted to love this book more than I actually dis.
Overall it was a cute book but there was just some things that went for me.

3 ⭐️
thank you to hyperion avenue for the ARC.

i was so excited to read "worth fighting for" since mulan has always been my favorite and i grew up watching the movie. while of course all that is in common with the film is the names and part of the premise, i still could not wait to get my hands on this book. i also thought it was a fun addition to be set in the bay area (as a fellow bay area girlie lol).

i did find the first 25% of the book to be a bit info-dumpy and so many names were dropped that i felt like i was sort of losing the plot. and what truly surprised me was how much i liked shang's character. he was always so unafraid to just be himself and he just stood out the most to me! mushu was always my favorite in the cartoon film but she irked me a few times throughout this retelling. the girl-boss mulan in this retelling was also a fun addition! the one thing i couldn't quite connect to was the romance - it just sort of fell a bit flat for me... 🥲

Loved this retelling!. If had enough Easter eggs for my Disney loving heart, while still telling a unique and creative story!! Definitely checking out more by this author!

In this Mulan retelling, we find Mulan battling sexist and dated opinions rather than going to war. I loved the humor in this book and especially loved the relationship between Mulan and Mushu (now cousins in this modern take). My one con was the insta-love between Mulan and Shang but that won me over too as their relationship became truly adorable. The ending also felt a little fast but, all in all, this was a hit!

Mulan adult romance retelling with a cowboy(ish)? This was meant to be (huh, pun intended) for me. Unfortunately, this was just ok. I can't quite put a finger on what I didn't love about this. The characters were ok, the story was ok, I just wanted more. Was Mushu supposed to be helpful? Because she just seemed to keep making things worse (I can't remember if this matches the movie. I may need to rewatch). It could be that there were so many moments where she could have easily admitted the truth (and really should have before getting intimate). Perhaps it's just my hatred of this trope that made me not love this?

Overall, it's still a cute little read if you love Mulan, but one of my least favs of this series.

Consistently with this series, I have been very curious about how the authors are going to modernize and "age up" the Disney version, and I've consistently been impressed- maybe by this one most of all. Jesse Q. Sutanto did a great job honoring the spirit of Mulan with this contemporary story, and don't miss the author's note at the end about her connection to it.

ARC Review of “Worth Fighting For” by Jesse Q. Sutanto

⭐ 4/5 Stars

A Mulan retelling with whiskey, gender politics, and slow-burn tension? Sign me up. “Worth Fighting For” by Jesse Q. Sutanto blends corporate drama, laugh-out-loud moments, and a heartfelt journey of self-discovery in a way that felt both fun and meaningful. Think: fish-out-of-water meets forbidden romance, with a fierce female lead navigating a world that constantly underestimates her.

I loved how Sutanto wove in real conversations about misogyny and cultural expectations without ever losing the charm or humor. Mulan’s loyalty to her family, her struggle to be enough, and her eventual growth were really satisfying to watch unfold, even if the romance leaned a little insta-love at times. Honestly though? Mushu (her cousin) and Auntie Jiayi (Shang’s mom) totally stole the show for me. More of them, please!

This was my first book by Jesse Q. Sutanto, and I’m absolutely diving into her backlist next. I laughed, I rooted for Mulan, and I even got a little teary.

Thank you NetGalley, Jesse Q. Sutanto, and Hyperion Avenue for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own ♡

Review posted on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7621009501
And StoryGraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/ec3dcd29-0056-4d1a-aeed-306e28784f2a