This book had great characters, good chemistry, and I loved the S.T.E.M. setting! I especially love female characters who thrive in male-dominated fields.

This was a fun and fresh read!

This super cute Romcom was a nice plate cleanser and I loved it.

The writing was amazing, and the storyline was down to earth. I really enjoyed this story, maybe due to my son sharing one of the characters names.

I also liked the troupe of enemies to a couple. Even though this was a YA romance, I thought it had the right amount of real life situations. It kept me intrigued and wanting to know more about the main characters.

Bell and Teo were cute, and I loved that the story went past their High school era.

This was such a cute YA romance set amongst a high school robotics team. I loved seeing our leading lady Bel find her way and prove her worth in the male-dominated world of STEM. I enjoyed the opposites-attract romance with Teo and seeing how they pushed one another to be the best versions of themselves.

It was a fun and heartwarming read that hits on important topics without being overly-sciency.

Thanks NetGalley and Holiday House for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Bel would rather die than think about the future. College apps? Extracurriculars? No way. But when she accidentally shows she has a talent for engineering at school, she’s basically forced into joining the robotics club. Meet Mateo (Teo) Luna, captain of the club, who recognizes Bel as a potential asset—until they start butting heads. Bel doesn’t care about Nationals, while Teo cares too much. But as the nights of after-school work grow longer and longer, Bel and Teo realize they've made more than just a combat-ready robot for the championship: they’ve made each other and the team better.

This book was an easy read from the start, as most YA books are. Bel was a likable and relatable character and Teo seems to be picture perfect to his peers, even though he's not and is struggling under the pressure he puts on himself. There is almost instant chemistry between Bel and Teo and I was hooked on what would happen next in their relationship as much as what was going to happen with their robotics competition!

I loved this book from start to finish and recommend it to fans of YA books, romance, coming-of-age stories, or fans of great books.

I rate this book as 5 🌟!

I'd like to say a huge thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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I loved this book way more than I expected since I've been drifting from YA novels. I love how the characters are, and how they stand up for themselves. It was adorable and I really appreciated the feminist aspect in the book.

I will admit that I was drawn to this title because it reminded me of "My Chemical Romance" and boy am I glad that it drew me in. I didn't know what to expect with the robot building of it all because my only experience with that in media is Big Hero 6 but I was shocked by how much I enjoyed it. Who knew robotics could be that much fun? Even though it was YA it still packed a punch in my opinion. All of the characters were really well fleshed out and I was truly rooting for all of them. I thought Teo was just adorable and I think YA readers near and far will really have fun with this one.

thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc!

as a former robotics team member I loved reading about teo's and bells individual characters. this was an unexpected cute read and I was hooked from the very beginning. this will always be one of my favourite academic rivals to lovers reads. I had really good time reading this, and with the plot, the writing and every little thing about this book I grew to love the two main characters and side characters. glad that I took a chance and dove into this amazing book

This was an adorable novel. I am a big fan of romance novels that are academic rivals to lovers. It was very sweet and I appreciated the feminist and women in stem kind of aspect that was playing in the background.

olivie blake has done it again creating a fantastic book that captures your heart i love to see more stem based book out there and it really feels empowering to see poc girls crushing it in stem aka a make dominated field and holding there own , i thought bel was a fun and awkward character that felt like a story about real teenagers and the teenage experience was captured perfectly

I loved this book!! Seeing a girl in STEM who may not give off those vibes at first glance is something that I think many young girls will relate too. I loved the robots and the competition and I honestly found this book such a fun and fresh take a on a ya contemporary!! Will definitely be recommending this one!!

A fun YA romance focused on STEM. Seeing girls in STEM in reading is SO good, but sadly this did not work out for me. I found the writing lacking, the main characters just okay, and the romance bland. This book says it is enemies to lovers, but there is barely any "enemy" parts. The issues the main characters dealt with felt real, but this book felt pretty simple and like any other YA contemporary romance on the shelves at the moment. I had some issues with the writing and it felt like the author was using specific terms incorrectly.

Good for anyone who enjoyed Ali Hazelwood's work and wanted a fluffier or more high school romance. Would definitely put this in the hands of a teen who is interested n STEM and wants a sweet romance!

This is actually the first book by Alexene Farouk Follmuth / Olivie Blake that I’ve ever read, which is honestly kind of strange because I’m very much on BookTok and aware of her SFF books. But what can I say? I’m a YA contemporary reader and writer at heart, so it’s fitting that this was my introduction to her work.

I cannot emphasize enough how obsessed I am with this book. Alexene’s writing style just perfectly encapsulates the neurotic, nerdy, too-smart-for-their-own-good teen, and reading this was like having a window into what my own life would have been like had I decided to be a STEM kid instead of a humanities kid. It didn’t matter that I had no idea how any of the engineering stuff worked in this book—I could feel Bel and Teo’s passion for their work (and for each together). This is absolutely going to be my new go-to YA romcom rec for the foreseeable future. I only wish that I could’ve had, like, 20 more pages of Bel and Teo being happy and in love.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. Review based on final copy. All opinions are my own.
I requested My Mechanical Romance based on the cover and premise alone, not realizing that Alexene Farol Follmuth was also Olivie Blake at the time. I really didn’t get the hype for The Atlas Six, and had DNFed it, but hoped this was a case where I simply preferred her writing in one genre over the other. Unfortunately, while I appreciate what she was trying to do here, I didn’t gel with it.
I do like the general intent. While I don’t feel drawn to any STEM fields myself, I am aware of the sexism within those industries…and how it can be worse when you’re a woman of color due to being doubly marginalized. Bel personally faces accusations of being the “token woman of color” and being added to the robotics team solely for “diversity points,” something that is very common to hear in this day and age, instead of pausing to consider the merit people like her add, due to their talent and diverse background.
Bel is also generally relatable in her own right, because of how she expresses what it’s like to be a child of divorce. I appreciate how she attempts to handle it in the most mature way possible, with the acknowledgment that this change in family dynamics has had a major impact on her.
Teo is ok, but definitely suffered from the book being a bit too short to delve into his story equally. The romance is cute, but this is yet another book that dramatically oversells the rivalry aspect, when it’s incredibly tame.
And I don’t know if it’s the way that the author writes about academics and technical things that just puts me off or what, but that seems to be the common denominator here and with TAS. The latter book went hard in terms of the “magical academics” to the point where I didn’t care about the many characters introduced. And here, while the smaller main cast made it easier to connect with them, the depiction of robotics dragged the book down for me.
So, while this book didn’t entirely work for me, it’s probably a reflection of my issues with the author’s style and choices more than anything else. This is a great book unpacking the issues of young women of color in STEM fields, and I can see why it resonates for that reason.

This is a great example of a STEM romance! The characters were great, the romance was super sweet. I think its also great to portray women in STEM in a YA book because young girls definitely need more examples of that.

I liked how the author were able to discuss that mechanics were not only built and discovered for men only, a lot of women are also inclined with it and are really interested in it. I liked how how the author wee able to bring the discrimination and lack of trust that men trust in women in handling things like mechanics.

This was an extremely adorable and lovely young adult romance that has absolutely lived up to the hype it has been receiving. I loved each and every one of the characters, especially our leading cuties, Teo and Bel - their romance was every type of sweet and wholesome, I was rooting for them all the way.

looooved this! this book was cheesy at times but it called itself out so it's fine! i love teo and bel with my whole heart and want them to thrive eternally. alexene, as always, has a way with words and romance and i enjoyed reading another stellar of her work. just love!

- thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an early review.

This was amazing! I really enjoyed everything about it. I don't read YA that often anymore, but this book had me hooked. I will always enjoy enemies to lovers and I adore that STEM is getting more attention in novels. This book was so easy to devour. The characters were easy to relate to. The entire story was cute, funny, wholesome, just overall EXCELLENT.

I loved this young adult romance! This book conveyed every teenager's feeling right towards the ending of high school. It's so difficult to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life, and the fact that society pressures you to think that it will be the most important, life defining last decision you make, makes it all the more scary. Add family expectations in the mix and then mental health issues are bound to arise. And to have a massive acknowledgement of this in the book felt like a breath of fresh air.

Here are the boxes it ticked for me:
enemies to high school academic colleagues to lovers? check
boy meets girls family by accident trope (and is absolutely adorable)? check
girl gets boy into Taylor Swift? check
women in stem? check
the feminism? check
AN AMAZING EPILOGUE? check

Seriously, that ending was everything!!

My Mechanical Romance is such a wholesome, fun YA coming of age romance with an enemies to lovers vibe. It's super nerdy with characters who don't fall into the stereotypes or archetypes that you would expect. It features a wonderfully diverse cast of characters. Bel is super smart, independent, with an adorably quirky sense of style, and so much to learn. Teo is also super smart, but spreads himself too thin in an effort to prove himself. We flip back and forth between perspectives and watch as our two love interests come into their own and find both each other, and themselves.

Thank you to Net Galley and Holiday House for advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.