I loved this book the characters are amazingly written and feels so real and romantic that you can't put the book down even for a second. It's amazing must ready for everyone.

Young Love + Women in STEM + Senior Year of High School = One fantastic and enjoyable story! When Bel’s teacher pushes her to engage in a higher level of science and join one of the school’s competitive teams, Bel could not be less enthusiastic. She’s used to floating under the radar and doing just enough, quite the opposite of Mateo Luna, the captain of the team, who does it all. As Bel and Mateo begin to work together, they challenge and push each other to be the very best they can be, on and off the team. Hilarious and empowering, “My Mechanical Romance” by Alexene Farol Follmuth is definitely one to read!

I absolutely ADORED Bel, one of the main characters of this story. She feels entirely real and reminds me so much of the students in my classes. Her sense of humor is quirky, and her inner struggle with when to speak up and when to go with the flow leads to some awkward but necessary confrontations. I loved those moments because I feel like they give teen readers a model for addressing what’s bothering them and shows that a person’s wording doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be important. Bel’s friendship with the other girls in the story is so supportive, and the one relationship that appears to be a more “girls tear each other down” type of situation ends up revealing an impactful lesson, too.

I wasn’t as enamored with Mateo’s (Teo) character, but his parts were still enjoyable. Teo’s role (in addition to being the 2nd of the dual POV) seems to be that he is representative of ways in which men have privilege in STEM, ranging from the subtle to the overt. However, when Bel would point out that Teo had these advantages, there wasn’t really conversation or change from Teo beyond variations of “No, I don’t; I work hard” and “Yes, you’re right; moving on,” which felt frustrating at times. That being said, Teo is certainly a high-achiever and struggles with meeting the expectations he has for himself as well as the expectations of those around them, something that many high schoolers may find valuable to see in their stories.

Prior to reading this, I never understood the thrill of battle robots; now I do. I’m also absolutely going to be putting this book on my classroom shelves due to the realistic portrayal of teens, the focus on the journey of women in STEM, and the moments of wrestling to figure out who you are, what you want to do, and how to make it happen. Readers who enjoy contemporary young adult fiction, stories with a focus on STEM, and novels with a theme of coming-into-your-own will enjoy this book.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

i loved this book. i feel like the characters were perfectly fleshed out and the plot was ACTUALLY intresting. i also relate so much to bel, i love her. thanks netgalley for the arc :)

The cover for this book was just, so pretty. I loved the rep in it and the storyline seemed to be really good. Sadly I could not get into it despite all these positives, so instead I have reccomended it to all my science-romance loving friends.

It took me a bit but I ended up liking this one more than I originally thought! I appreciated the high school vibes that were pretty accurate (from what I remember) and I think its a great STEM focused YA romance that should be in schools for fun reads!

This has such an adorable cover! I wish i prepared myself for this top be a YA. That was on me and not the author. Sadly, I had to DNF because its harder for me to relate to. Doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a try!

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House for an eARC of My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth in exchange for an honest review.

CW: sexism, misogyny, racism, cultural appropriation, infidelity, sexual assault, divorce, cursing, vomit, violence

Bel is a high school senior with no desire to go to college. When a teacher notices her intelligence and invests in her by *strongly encouraging* her to join the school's robotics team, Bel discovers a passion for engineering that she didn't know she had. Along the way, she makes friends, navigates the competition and support experienced by women in the engineering field, and restores relationships with her family members. Oh ya, and she might be falling in love with the school's top soccer player / robotics badass.

This was cute, but meh. It took me quite a while to feel invested in the storyline, and I ended up finishing this book via audiobook after the publication date. I appreciated so much about this book, particularly that it shows how teachers investing in their students can drastically change the trajectory of their futures, and the theme of empowering women in STEM. However, I don't think this book needed the romance aspect at all. While the romance added some tension to the plot, especially near the end, I think the primary messages of the book would still have come across loud and clear without the romance. Bel's relationships with her family members and female friends were by far the more interesting dynamics throughout the book.

Overall, a cute read, but I think it is much better consumed as an audiobook. For someone like me who doesn't particularly enjoy descriptions of action-packed scenes, the audiobook helped me to move through the robotics competitions with a lot more ease.

I would definitely recommend this book to young women who enjoy reading about the dynamics of platonic relationships, and want to feel challenged and encouraged.

thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc!

this was a cute and easy read. i like how alexene dealt the gender inequality in the STEM field. i like that every character is not two-dimensional. they all deal with something and we see that thru our main characters' perspective. i like the romance between them. it's kileg. im particularly interested in how alexene dealt w family dynamics. however i was hoping that it will be dealt more, but as soon as the conflict was fixed, the story was over.

im also a bit critical of the filipino representation.

anyway, i would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a short ya romance book with STEM girls as our main characters

'My Mechanical Romance' by Alexene Farol Follmuth .This book was amazing, I could not put it down,it was cute and sweet, but it still addressed problems real young adults would have in real life like pressure and sexism. Each character also had their own personality/story and you got to see how that develops them. Without lacking romance which kept it enjoyable and fresh, you got to see how the people around them mold/shape their love story. The book had some diversity(having different cultures) . Truly a five-story read. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an Arc in exchange for an honest review.

really fun and female-driven romance! i loved her adult SFF debut and it was refreshing and fun to experience a different style and writing for a different age-group!

This was so much better than I expected!! The pace was slower but I never got that “dragging through the book” feeling. I love the personality shown through each character. Definitely a book I’m adding to my bookshelf just so I always have a copy!

i thought i would like it more than i did. maybe i'm just not the target audience anymore? it was cute and good, but not an all time fave for me. just a normal contemporary romance.

this book i loved it a girl finding steam/ stem and also finding what she wants in life as well as finding love. If you like reading and you like shows like battlebots and don't mind a little love in your stories this book is for you and it also for ppl who love romance and doesn't mind some robotics in their stories,

Loved this so much! Super cute YA contemporary. I loved the writing style and the character relationships. Thanks so much NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this title!

I really enjoyed this book. I think that the author did a great job in writing well developed characters as well as an engaging plot. I really enjoyed the romance in this book, as well as the STEM aspect. As someone who reads a lot of romance it is nice to see it take place in a different context. I will definitely be reading more books this author publishes.

My Mechanical Romance was a quick and fun YA contemporary with some important themes. I think a lot of teenagers will be able to relate to Bel and will enjoy the banter and romance that develop in this story.

Our main character Bel is encouraged to join the robotics club. She isn't sure about this, but isn't welcomed with open arms. The members ignore her and the only other girl on the team isn't exactly friendly either. Bel really had to fight for her place on this team, but they slowly start seeing she really can help them. I loved seeing her find her place in this team and the other members seeing that she really belonged.

Bel was a character I think a lot of teenagers will be able to relate to. She's dealing with her parents' divorce and how she should feel about both of her parents all the while she's also trying to figure out her life. It isn't easy for girls in STEM and I think Bel's story shows us this. Add it being senior year and deciding what to do about her future and she's under a lot of pressure. If you really think about teenagers have to make quite a few important decisions at a pretty young age.

I wasn't a big fan of Mateo at first, but the more we got to know about him the more I really understood where he was coming from. His home life wasn't always easy either and he spends his time split between using his brain and participating in sports. For me he ended up being a really likable character.

As for the romance I love how it slowly develops. This definitely isn't a case of instalove. Mateo and Bel slowly start bonding over robotics as they get to know each other. They realize even though they're pretty different they have a lot of things in common. I love their banter and road to a romantic relationship.

On top of that there were a lot of fun side characters that I would love to see get their own stories. My Mechanical Romance is a perfect summer read filled with quite a few different subjects that I definitely think readers will enjoy.

¡Muchas gracias Netgalley, por darme una copia de este libro a cambio de una reseña honesta!

Me costó mucho engancharme con el primer capítulo pero una vez que llegue al segundo no pude parar, fue muy entretenido y rápido de leer.

Me encanta Bel, cómo fue creciendo desde el principio hasta el final, cómo encuentra su lugar y se abre espacio por si misma. Teo me gustó mucho, entendí como se sentía y me encantó su relación con Bel.

Me hubiera gustado que Teo tenga algún tipo de reconocimiento hacia los demás personajes y que se desarrolle más su relación con su padre. También, que se desarrolle un poco más la historia de la familia de Bel. Que todo eso tenga un cierre pero como la historia va sobre el romance y crecimiento de Bel, entiendo que no pase pero me hubiera gustado más con esto

I tried and tried to read this book. I DNF at 25%. The formatting was weird. The characters unlikeable. And I had no idea where the story was going. :/ I hate not finishing the book but, it is what it is.

Okay, I absolutely adored this book!

Story time: I was a STEM student in high school - I was in the tech stream, I learned CAD (hated it, like Bel), and I did robotics (we didn't get far as a school team lol). So when I say this was my jam, it 100% was.

First of all, I loved the diversity - there was a fantastic mix of female and male characters, diversity in cultural backgrounds, and in future goals. I loved seeing that because it felt so realistic - maybe it's cause my team and friends were a diverse crew, but it worked well and I adored them all!

Bel is a bit lost in life. She has people telling her what she needs to do, who she needs to be, but she's directionless when it comes to her future. This was so real on so many levels and I loved seeing her find a mentor in her teacher, Ms. Voss, and growing into herself and her interests. Bel eventually finds her own, non-traditional way to pave her future and I loved seeing that represented. I also loved seeing her have a large group of friends, and close girlfriends who have different interests, but they support one another's goals. How sad is it that that is so rare to see?? There was no jealousy with her friends, just love and support and fun.

That being said, I loved the Neelam dynamic - the fact that WOC, especially in tech, are generally forced to band together just because of those two facts is kind of BS. I appreciated the dynamic they had - respectful (over time) of each other's skills, but never close, and that's FINE. I know people will hate Neelam, but I loved her and what she was fighting for. In the end, her and Bel's fight against the patriarchy and set gender normative roles and interests was amazing and I loved seeing their two different paths to figuring out how to take up their own space in the discipline.

Teo was a lot. A high school kid with the world on his shoulder trying to be all things to all people. His growth was also fantastic through the story and I loved how him and Bel helped each other better themselves throughout the story and build each other up (again, over time) to become better versions of themselves. It was really satisfying to see and I adored the epilogue. This is very much an opposites-attract love story, and like an I-misunderstood-you-and-made-a-bad-impression-to-lovers-type story. This is also a PG book (lots of kissing and cuteness; no sex, etc.) for those who are not into that, but there's some underage drinking.

As a whole, this is a book focused on building robots and finding yourself with your friends. The robotics aspect was so much fun and I do truly hope that more women, especially WOC, get into design technology, mechanical, and mechatronics, they're fun disciplines, but too many women are turned away from them before they even get a chance to explore it.

I wish there was more depth to the secondary characters, but also respect that this was Teo and and Bel's story. Their friend group was a lot of fun, but because Teo and Bel are busy all the time (and so were their friends) they felt a little shallow on the character dev side. Not a bad thing, but it would've been a nice-to-have. I also wish there had been a bit more depth with Teo's family. In contrast, Bel's family came to life on page!

All in all, this was a fun book. Admittedly, it felt longer than its 272 pages, but I was never bored!

TWs: underage drinking, bullying through alienation (short, but you still feel it), sexism, divorced parents due to infidelity

Rep: Jewish Mexican MC, Filipino MC, women of colour in STEM

Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World Building: 5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Pacing: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

eARC gifted via NetGalley by Holiday House in exchange for an honest review.

The author has written it so well. The plot is very investing, honestly it took me by surprise. So much better than what I expected. This was a very wholesome read. I enjoyed it so much. this was a super fun read and I would totally recommend it if you're a looking for a cute romance set in academia. Nerds are so hot! Also, women in STEM- more power to you.