Member Review
Review by
Jill N, Reviewer
Isabel “Bel” Maier feels like a stranger in her new school. The Essex Academy for Art, Science, and Technology is a far cry from her former high school in Van Nuys. These kids are intense, with their AP classes and their sports and their clubs and their college applications for top tier universities. Bel isn’t sure where she fits, especially when she realizes that she forgot all about her catapult project.
She was supposed to design a catapult that would throw a water bottle successfully. And she had forgotten all about it, until her friend Jamie pointed out all the other students running around the school with their catapults. With only minutes before her physics class, Bel comes up with an idea that she might be able to throw together with a few handy office supplies. A quick trip to the library for a pilfered tape dispenser and some quick adjustments, and she’s ready to go. But when her teacher, Ms. Voss, asks to have a word with Bel, she knows that her teacher knows how fast she threw that together.
Bel thinks that she’s about to get some bad news. But instead, Ms. Voss tells her that while she does know that Bel threw that together right before class, she also realizes that it is a creative solution. And it was the most successful catapult in the class. Ms. Voss wants Bel to transfer to the AP Physics class and consider joining the robotics team. Bel had always played around with tools and came up with creative solutions to the problems in front of her—her father has lots of tools and equipment, even a forge where she could make her own knives—but things with her father are complicated right now. So she said she’d think about it.
Teo Luna is the son of a top tech CEO. He grew up with wealth and privilege, but he understands that and works harder than everyone else to show that he’s serious about . . . well, everything. He is the top of all his classes, especially AP Physics. He’s the best soccer player in the school. And he basically is the robotics team. He leads the team, and he’s going to do everything he can to win Nationals again. Nothing can stand in his way. He is headed straight to MIT, and nothing can distract him. Especially not a girl.
But when Bel shows up at the tryouts for the robotics club and he sees the designs she’s drawing, he sends everyone else away. He believes that Bel, with her elegant designs, can help take their robot to the next level. Most of the rest of the team just go along with the decision, because he’s Teo. But another girl on the team, Neelam, objects. She realizes that Bel doesn’t have the foundation to take her designs to the next level, but Teo refuses to listen. He wants Bel.
As the weeks go by, and the robotics team prepares for their first competition, Bel finds that her feelings for Teo are warming. She sees that every girl at their school (and some of the guys) have a crush on Teo, so she doesn’t think that she has a chance. But he finds her differences intriguing. She doesn’t dress like all the other girls. She asks questions that disarm him. And she struggles to use their engineering software, but she can take raw materials and create something that hadn’t existed before.
Does love stand a chance for these high school robotics engineers? He hasn’t had a chance to be anything but successful. She hasn’t had anyone who believed in her and could point her towards a future she could be excited about. He wants to find quick solutions for problems, and his family had the resources to make it happen. She lives in a world of uncertainty, not wanting to move forward until she knows for sure. Do these individuals have the ability to come together and form a team, or do their differences just keep them at war?
My Mechanical Romance is Alexene Farol Follmuth’s teen rom com set in a robotics team. These high schoolers work hard and fight hard, trying to find the solutions that will make them winners in the robotics competitions and in life. This deep dive into what it’s like to be a girl in a STEM program shows the ups and downs, the frustrations and pitfalls, shining light onto the areas where we as adults still need to improve. By creating a smart and creative thinker like Bel in this male-dominated program, Follmuth helps readers see the possibilities for smart women who are willing to stand up to the system and pave new roads.
When I saw that this book was about a teenage romance set to a robotics team competition, I thought it sounded adorable. I was wrong. My Mechanical Romance is so much more than that. It is a story of finding yourself, of learning how to hope in a world where you had felt defeated. It’s about learning to speak your truth despite the haters and listening to Taylor Swift just because it makes you feel good.
Watching Bel become someone she didn’t believe she could be, that she didn’t even know she had the right to become, is so inspiring. And watching Teo soften and see that there is more to life than living up to everyone else’s expectations for him is moving. The conversation is fun and flirty, the robot fighting is so entertaining, and the slow burn romance is sweet and lovely. It’s a fun read for the summer, but it will make some ripples for readers once school starts back up too.
Egalleys for My Mechanical Romance were provided by Holiday House through NetGalley, with many thanks.
She was supposed to design a catapult that would throw a water bottle successfully. And she had forgotten all about it, until her friend Jamie pointed out all the other students running around the school with their catapults. With only minutes before her physics class, Bel comes up with an idea that she might be able to throw together with a few handy office supplies. A quick trip to the library for a pilfered tape dispenser and some quick adjustments, and she’s ready to go. But when her teacher, Ms. Voss, asks to have a word with Bel, she knows that her teacher knows how fast she threw that together.
Bel thinks that she’s about to get some bad news. But instead, Ms. Voss tells her that while she does know that Bel threw that together right before class, she also realizes that it is a creative solution. And it was the most successful catapult in the class. Ms. Voss wants Bel to transfer to the AP Physics class and consider joining the robotics team. Bel had always played around with tools and came up with creative solutions to the problems in front of her—her father has lots of tools and equipment, even a forge where she could make her own knives—but things with her father are complicated right now. So she said she’d think about it.
Teo Luna is the son of a top tech CEO. He grew up with wealth and privilege, but he understands that and works harder than everyone else to show that he’s serious about . . . well, everything. He is the top of all his classes, especially AP Physics. He’s the best soccer player in the school. And he basically is the robotics team. He leads the team, and he’s going to do everything he can to win Nationals again. Nothing can stand in his way. He is headed straight to MIT, and nothing can distract him. Especially not a girl.
But when Bel shows up at the tryouts for the robotics club and he sees the designs she’s drawing, he sends everyone else away. He believes that Bel, with her elegant designs, can help take their robot to the next level. Most of the rest of the team just go along with the decision, because he’s Teo. But another girl on the team, Neelam, objects. She realizes that Bel doesn’t have the foundation to take her designs to the next level, but Teo refuses to listen. He wants Bel.
As the weeks go by, and the robotics team prepares for their first competition, Bel finds that her feelings for Teo are warming. She sees that every girl at their school (and some of the guys) have a crush on Teo, so she doesn’t think that she has a chance. But he finds her differences intriguing. She doesn’t dress like all the other girls. She asks questions that disarm him. And she struggles to use their engineering software, but she can take raw materials and create something that hadn’t existed before.
Does love stand a chance for these high school robotics engineers? He hasn’t had a chance to be anything but successful. She hasn’t had anyone who believed in her and could point her towards a future she could be excited about. He wants to find quick solutions for problems, and his family had the resources to make it happen. She lives in a world of uncertainty, not wanting to move forward until she knows for sure. Do these individuals have the ability to come together and form a team, or do their differences just keep them at war?
My Mechanical Romance is Alexene Farol Follmuth’s teen rom com set in a robotics team. These high schoolers work hard and fight hard, trying to find the solutions that will make them winners in the robotics competitions and in life. This deep dive into what it’s like to be a girl in a STEM program shows the ups and downs, the frustrations and pitfalls, shining light onto the areas where we as adults still need to improve. By creating a smart and creative thinker like Bel in this male-dominated program, Follmuth helps readers see the possibilities for smart women who are willing to stand up to the system and pave new roads.
When I saw that this book was about a teenage romance set to a robotics team competition, I thought it sounded adorable. I was wrong. My Mechanical Romance is so much more than that. It is a story of finding yourself, of learning how to hope in a world where you had felt defeated. It’s about learning to speak your truth despite the haters and listening to Taylor Swift just because it makes you feel good.
Watching Bel become someone she didn’t believe she could be, that she didn’t even know she had the right to become, is so inspiring. And watching Teo soften and see that there is more to life than living up to everyone else’s expectations for him is moving. The conversation is fun and flirty, the robot fighting is so entertaining, and the slow burn romance is sweet and lovely. It’s a fun read for the summer, but it will make some ripples for readers once school starts back up too.
Egalleys for My Mechanical Romance were provided by Holiday House through NetGalley, with many thanks.
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