Fighting

by Samantha Ann

Minhwa swore he would never go back. Not to the town that shattered his heart. But life had other plans. Now part of an internationally successful K-Pop group, he’s back for a “Hometown Concert”. He’s forced to reopen the massive wound on his heart. The main cause? Her.

Mercy never stopped caring about him. Not even after becoming the girl he believed betrayed him. She spent years watching him from afar, cheering on his successes. But when his group, CLAR1T, announced a tour with a stop in their hometown she knows it’s time to face him again, clear the air between them but also share bad news that could ruin his life.

152 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2026

Reviews

[Bridget Rose]

I will forever be grateful to Samantha choosing me to ARC read these novellas for her because I have grown so attached to these characters, to this world, that it's always a pleasure to be back with them in their world!!

Like all of her other books I've read, I absolutely loved this one! I cannot wait for the next one and hopefully I will be a beta reader again so I can tell you all to go read this series right now!!

[Char]

Really enjoying this series and the Hangul interspersed within it, even if it's tricky keeping up with the names of the past book MCs now...

[Maggie Boyd]

I always like the premise of Ann's books: an ordinary girl, a K-pop star, an unexpected situation. They are smexy romances and don't really try to punch above that level. In this volume, we meet Minhwa and Mercy, who, due to a classic big misunderstanding, haven't spoken in years. After their anything-but-amicable split, Minhwa went to Korea, joined a K-pop group, and became a resounding success. Mercy joined Minhwa's dad's company and followed Minhwa's rise to fame from afar. Their worlds collide when a clause in his dad's will threatens to cost Minhwa something valuable.

Contrary to what he believes, Mercy has always loved Minhwa and has strived to do what she thinks is best for him. She never intended for the hurt she caused in the past to create this rift between them, and she hopes that by helping him now, she can heal some of that pain. Once that barrier is gone, though, will they be able to get back to where they were?

It's a romance novel, so of course. It's not a great romance novel, though, so we take a trope-laden journey to reach that HEA stop. The characters are likable, though at times inexplicable due to the hoops they have to jump through to make our story work. It's a quick, easy read and fun if you just need some brain candy. The biggest irritant for me was the Korean sprinkled inexplicably throughout the text. If you are looking for authenticity, food, culture, and world-building, beat adding a foreign word in a foreign alphabet every time. This is the only author I have ever seen do it, and it really doesn't work. Disrupted my reading enough that I graded down a full star for it.

[Ruth Head]

This series is so fun!

[Brianna Kelly]

Idolized series favorite

This has to be my favorite book in the whole series. I can’t wait to see what else this author has in store.