Thank you to Netgalley and Holiday House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

My Mechanical Romance is one of the best young adult books I’ve read this year. It’s so wholesome and honestly just made my heart happy. It’s filled with amazing representation that is extremely important. The main form of representation is Bel representing women in STEM. Follmuth does a fantastic job of discussing and depicting the tribulations women in the STEM field have to go through. They’re not taken seriously, people don’t give them a chance to participate, there are fewer of them to begin with, and so much more that I’m missing. It’s so important to give these women a voice and for young girls to see that it’s possible to succeed in the STEM field.

The romance between Teo and Bel was adorable. It’s academic rivals to lovers which is a trope I haven’t read too much of but absolutely love. Seeing them butt heads at the beginning but learning to help each other and care for each other was so sweet and endearing. I loved their witty banter and how they were able to comfort one another. They were just so cute and I had a great time reading their story.

Overall, I would definitely recommend My Mechanical Romance to anyone looking for a cute YA romance. It was slower paced than I was expecting but I never lost interest and still had a great reading experience. The romance was adorable and more importantly we have essential representation. I’m excited to read more from this author!

Thank you Netgalley and Holiday House for letting me read this story. Such a cute read! Bel has to start a new school her senior year & with no real direction or plan for her future, she couldn't think of anything worse. When she accidentally shows a hidden talent, she lands on the robotics team. Teo is the captain of everything. He's sporty and smart. He's the one everyone leans on and expects to lead them to every victory. Bel just isn't as sold on his perfection as everyone else.
I love the characters! Bel is quirky and wonderful. Teo is the unusual combo of brains and brawn. Dash is one of my favorites & you have to love to hate Neelan. I love that there is some feminist vibes and that Bel finally figures out how to step in and take up her own space. Highly recommended for rom-com lovers!

Reader’s Notes:

– this is told from Bel and Teo’s points of view

– there are about 30 curse/not nice words

– there is a scene with the guy’s shirt being removed while they are kissing; kissing also sometimes involved roaming hands

Review:

I enjoyed reading Bel and Teo’s story. Though some of the robotics/mechanical terminology flew over my head, it didn’t take away from understanding what was going on. I could relate to Bel and how she didn’t really know what she wanted to study after high school. And I liked how the author wrote about the different dynamics for girls and guys and the expectations they put on each other when it comes to robotics knowledge. It was interesting to see that Bel and Neelam had two very different experiences when joining the robotics club and why. And how that changed different characters’ perspectives when they realized how the two girls felt/were treated while participating in the club’s activities. I also really enjoyed seeing Bel and Teo’s love bloom in their experiences together. I especially liked the Holi festival scenes with the colorful powders being thrown everywhere and the group making it into a game of who could get more of their team’s color on others.

Bel doesn’t enjoy the pressure that comes with trying to figure out her future. It certainly doesn’t help when well-meaning people constantly ask her about college applications. She just wants to go through school and take her time putting it off until the last second. But the pressure goes up when a teacher discovers Bel’s hidden talent for engineering and she is forced to try out for the robotics club. And she accidentally gets in. But the worst part is that though the team saw her potential in tryouts, they barely trust her to do anything now that she’s part of the team and she can’t commiserate with the only other girl on the team as Neelam seems to hate her. The only person she might be able to get through to is the team’s captain, Teo. If they could only stop butting heads over the little things…

Teo is determined to win Nationals and add another point to his college applications to make him look like a better candidate for his dream school. And when he sees Bel’s application for the robotics team, he thinks she’d be a great addition to put them over the top and guarantee their success. But when she starts giving him advice on his own designs, he goes in on himself and ignores her. He knows that her advice is good, but it is hard for him to reconcile his abilities and ego and her advice so he largely ignores what she has to say until he can process it all and accept it. But he doesn’t realize that it is hurting their chances in Nationals until they work together on their skills afterschool. They begin to open up to each other during this time, become friends, and wonder if maybe they could be more…

OMG this was so cute! I loved this so much. I would have loved this when I was a teenager. The writing was great and easy to read. I loved the message of girls belong in these male dominated fields like STEM. Bel and Teo are so cute and I could definitely see this story being adapted into a cute ya netflix movie. Definitely recommend this!

thank you to netgalley and Alexene Farol Follmuth for the arc in exchange for a review!

so I requested this while I was (still am) struggling through the atlas six and I was worried that this would be a dnf but I finished it within a couple of days. it would've been one if I didn't have to work. this was a lovely story and I liked both the main characters. at first I didn't like teo much but he grew on me. bel, however, she had me by the neck from moment one. she's shy and unsure of herself but will also tell you her opinion and not shy away from discussion, which I loved. she grew so much throughout the book and I was genuinely happy to see where she ended up at the end.

overall this book was so lovely and cute and nerdy and just exactly what I needed when I picked it up. if I see it in store, I will be sure to purchase it.

My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth made me feel all the good feelings. If you’re looking for some light reading that touches on important topics: this is it. It’s got the enemies to lovers, it’s got the feminism and it’s got the coming-of-age. The cherry on top? Diversity (that comes across as natural and is not tiptoed around).

Bel’s a bit lost. She's recently transferred schools. It's her senior year, and everyone is thinking about their college application. She would too if only she knew what she wanted to do. When her physics teacher pushes her to join the (mostly boys) robotics club, she's reluctant. Especially after it seems their leader, Teo, doesn't seem to like her very much.

I liked Bel’s inner monologue and I could really connect with her. She doesn’t know what she wants in life, she has difficulties with making choices, and she just lets things happen to her. She’s a bit eccentric, a bit snarky, but ultimately kind. The way she talked was realistic and relatable to me as well. She often struggled with trying to explain things with words and that was weirdly refreshing. I like my main characters to have a personality and depth, flaws and talents, and Bel definitely fits in that box.

This book has a dual point of view: Bel's and Teo's. There’s a (mild) enemies to friends to lovers romance. I wasn’t sure about Teo at first, but he grew on me. At the start, he was very much the representative of the “boys club”. Although I would have liked for him to have been a bit more fuck the patriarchy at the end, he did change his ways. Teo and Bel had great chemistry. They were cute, relatable and down-to-earth. I like that it wasn’t all mushy and fluffy, but, still, I would have liked for them to have more “moments”. In a way, this story went against some gender stereotypes by making Teo a perfectionist and an overachiever. In a lot of books I’ve read, it's usually the girl. This was refreshing and made Teo more relatable to me.

Usually, the romance aspect is really important to me. While I really enjoyed the romance, I mostly liked being in Bel's head and watching her grow. I like the women in STEM aspect as well and women claiming their space in a classroom. I wasn’t bad at STEM courses in high school, to be honest, but it’s been a couple of years, and my education was in Dutch, so the mechanics went over my head. Still, it was fun to read about people passionately discussing robots, and I’m all for the representation of girls/women of colour in STEM.

The high school setting wasn’t some idealistic all-American portrayal as often happens. While this book depicts teenagers, they are more in the category of starting college than the high-school-drama category. I loved this (as a college freshman) because it meant the protagonists aren't immature, and the conflict, while teenagey, was handled relatively maturely. Related to this is that the ending worked in a that’s how life actually works way.

I could give you a lot more of my thoughts on the side characters and Bel's and Teo's home life (all positive feelings), but I think I'll leave it at this.

I would definitely recommend this if you’re looking for a young adult book that’s relatively mature. To me, it was mostly about finding who you are, what you like, and what you want to do in life. It’s about claiming your own space. Plus, not to forget, a pretty great enemies-to-lovers romance.

PS. If you thought this had anything to do with My Chemical Romance, I have to disappoint you.
PSS. Look at that incredibly cover!!

eARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to Netgalley and Holiday House for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5
So first of all, WOW. I never was a big fan of YA romcoms but this one definitely stole my heart. I loved both main characters, their competitiveness and the way they went from being academic rivals to friends to lovers. This book was definitely one of the most relaxing and quick reads ever but it wasn't just a dumb romance and it also talked about women's struggles in jobs that are typically done by men. Olivie/Alexene really didn't disappoint with this one and Teobel are now one of my favorite ships. Ill be recommending this book to everyone when it actually comes out.

my mechanical romance follows two high school seniors, bel and teo. bel is a transfer student who doesn’t know what she wants just yet, and quite frankly finds it ridiculous that she should know at her age. teo is the son of a ceo and has grown up being told who he should be. he’s done high school robotics all three years so far, and going into his fourth, doesn’t expect the quirky new girl to be just what his team needs.

i’m a sucker for dual pov romance, so the fact that this book had that made it even more enjoyable. i loved getting to see their relationship dynamic and banter from both bel’s and teo’s viewpoints. additionally, the discussions of women in STEM and the prejudice they face were well-done, in my opinion. these discussions were definitely necessary for a book about a girl in robotics to have, but they also didn’t make the book depressing. seeing bel find her place in robotics was so beautiful!

i recommend for any YA romance fan, especially girls/women in STEM!

My Mechanical Romance is the perfect match for you if you love cute YA romances. And the STEM representation is just the cherry on top.

I LOVED the women in STEM representation. I loved how the author delivered great examples of what we women have to go through just to get the equal amount of treatment that a man gets. Like it seriously infuriated me at moments, which just proved that the author did a great job.

It goes without saying that I absolutely loved Bel. Watching Bel’s engineering journey was truly a wonderful feeling. On the other hand I really did NOT like Teo in the beginning. But as I went on reading I started understanding him a lot more. His character development is definitely one of the best things about this book. And I just loved the side characters (mainly Dash ofc and I had a complicated relationship with Neelam but I really started loving her).

I liked learning about science and stuff, however I think there wasn’t anything ??? going on whenever there wasn’t a robot wrestling match so I think that’s why I’m gonna rate it a 3.5 instead of a solid four.

I had lots of fun reading this book and I’m way to attached to Bel and Teo. Also props to Ms. Voss actually. We all need a Ms. Voss in our life. Even if there may be plenty of Richardsons and Macs out there never let them win EVER !

The perfect YA contemporary romance. I swear.

This book was absolutely amazing, and it’s taken me so long to form any coherent thoughts about this book because I’m so giddy, hehe.

My Mechanical Romance was super interesting because it really centers around Bel who essentially does not know what she want’s to do with her life, she has a natural talent for engineering, but in a lot of ways, she’s just unsure. It’s her senior year, she’s at a new school, and she’s roped into joining the robotics team after revealing a talent for engineering. Now she has to navigate the challenges of being a woman of color in STEM and the vulnerability of a first love.

I feel like Bel was the perfect character to serve as a YA protagonist. Often in YA books, the main character is this extremely gallant, self-assured person with everything planned out, which I feel like no teenager actually is. Sure we all have our aspirations, but it’s so easy to relate to Bel who just feels lost.

Bel and Teo were such great characters, their banter with one another, they were giving modern-day Anne and Gilbert academic rivals to lover vibes. I was absolutely giddy reading this book. Also as an added bonus, it’s dual POV. A dual POV academic rivals to lovers contemporary YA romance that centers around a woman of color in STEM. I mean how am I not supposed to love it?

This book made me want to join the robotics team, even though I am a Jamie, the Mock Trial Model UN liberal-arts kid. This book was so accurate to the high school experience, or at least the one I’m experiencing (minus the academic rivals to lovers), from the texting to the multitude of Taylor Swift references. I feel like the most inaccurate part was Teo wearing boat shoes, but it did make me chuckle, so I’ll excuse it. Also, the characters were so diverse which made me so happy. Overall a great read!

If you’re a fan of Alexene/Olivie’s other works you will love this book. While it’s not a new adult book nor is it fantasy, she really wrote another love story that left me wishing I could have a love story written by her.

-

Thank you to Holiday House for the eARC. I screamed when I got the email, and I was not wrong for having that reaction.

My Mechanical Romance is a classic YA romance novel. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl get together. This novel is not any different but predictability is often what I look for in a romance novel. I already know the boy and girl will get together what I always enjoy is reading through what it takes for them to get there.

It starts with Bel, the female main character? moving schools senior year and her teacher Ms. Voss realizing she needs to be in more challenging classes after a catapult project gone wrong (right?). This leads to Bel jointing the robotics team despite not wanting to and spending time with our male main character, Teo, who is in charge of running the robotics team.

Overall it was a pretty good book. As a person in STEM myself I can relate to how difficult it is to balance a science career and many other activities. Especially as a WOC in STEM there is still much misogyny and discrimination in those fields. The misogyny exhibited from other characters is very realistic. Specifically from the boys on the robotics team. Even though they actively don’t say anything against women they are still showing signs of sexism in the way they ignore the female members of the group. Neelam was a great example of the treatment of women in STEM. Her always working to prove herself is realistic and relatable and even when she seemed cold towards Bel I couldn’t help but support Neelam and understand her view of things.

Both main characters, Bel and Teo, were well written I wish I could have gotten more backstory of both of them but what I did get provided enough for me to understand them. Showing the juxtaposition between Bel just coasting through school and Teo putting enormous amounts of pressures on himself show the realities and duality of high school students. I can understand being a poc putting the weight of the world on their shoulders to please their parents. Which is another thing the representation of pocs is amazing. It’s natural and doesn’t feel like they were just put in to fill some kind of quota. The only problem I see with them is how Bel is perceived to be quirky and often their dialogue is seen as awkward or not exactly how a high schooler would talk.

Overall it was a wonderful romance book. It is relatable in so many ways. It’s funny at times and overall adorable. It’s not breaking sexist stereotypes in STEM or providing philosophical inquiry but it is providing an enjoyable time and a cute romance with realism and that should be enough.

This was a very cute YA romance. I went into it expecting some heavy-handed discussions of women in STEM with a little bit of romance sprinkled in. I was pleasantly surprised to find the ratio skewed far more in favor of sweet YA romance with discussions of women in STEM sprinkled in. There was also just a lot of fun discussion of competitive robotics, which was not something I was super familiar with and thoroughly enjoyed learning more about. I also just really liked the female lead. She was like Stargirl in that she was fun and a little eccentric with a good heart, but her male lead was way less whiny and terrible than Jerry Spinelli's title. Teo was a great male lead. Very smart, very intense, but with a good heart that beat strongly for the girl he loved.

If you're looking for a sweet romance to hand to a student who is also into robotics or engineering, this might fit the bill. For high school librarians, great addition to the collection. For middle school librarians, this one could be added at your own discretion. There is definitely mention of possible sex, but nothing actually happens on page. Cursing is minimal and there are a couple of incidents of underage drinking but nothing is especially wild or crazy. I"m a middle school librarian myself and will likely add it to my collection when it is published.

STEM ROMANCE! Everyone will love this because I loved it. Not cringey romance and there is perfect ratio of everything you need ina. romance book

It was so wow, absolutely lovely! I loved the friendship between all the characters, also women in STEM I love!!! The growth form the characters form start to finish is very noticiable and it was definitely for the best! Yo rally recommend, the book is awesome and the romance is really cute <333

Wait, what??? Alexene Farol Follmuth is Olivie Blake? I just recently reviewed “The Atlas Six” after getting it from NetGalley, but I had no idea that “My Mechanical Romance” was also hers! I kind of love that fact.

Also, time for a disclaimer: I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The first thing that caught my eye was the super cute cover, but frankly, the whole book is very cute.

My absolute favourite part about “My Mechanical Romance” is the very fact that Bel, the main character, had her whole world rocked by the discovery that she’s really good with… robots. That’s also the main plotline – we have Bel, an unmotivated senior in high school, who has no idea what she likes and where and what she wants to study, but after submitting a last-minute school assignment, she’s pushed by one of her teachers to apply for the school robotics team instead of getting a low grade (kind of like in Mean Girls). There, she finds out that she’s pretty good with building robots, but her work is by no means easy, because, being one of the few girls on the team she’s often looked down upon and made to feel like her input is not as good as is that of the boys on the team. Also, she meets Teo, the smartest boy in school, and the star of the robotics team.

I liked reading about Bel’s hard work and perseverance, and the way she, and Neelam, the other robotics girl, challenged the stereotypes and showed not only the boys, but also the teachers and the other teams that girls are quite capable of succeeding in male-led fields like robotics and engineering. I felt that that was a very positive message explained in a positive way (that’s to say I don’t like it when creators, of either books or visual media, try to show girl power by putting guys down – if anything is toxic, that is) – the author really focused on refuting the ideas men had that girls/women are less capable, instead of putting down the men themselves.

I also love competitions in either books or movies/tv shows, I just find it so exciting to follow the characters while they strive to achieve some goal and to do it against others, especially ones who don’t believe in them – it’s just a trope I enjoy, so points for this, too.

As for the mechanical romance between Bel and Teo, well, it was cute, what can I say. It was definitely pretty naive, but that’s to be expected from two high school students, and I appreciated the fact that they did not have a super toxic/dramatic relationship, but were rather dealing with their own issues and, sometimes, the inability or difficulty in expressing them to each other, or even themselves.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had themes of first love, complicated love between family, the expectations we place on ourselves, and the expectations we allow others to place on us.

This story felt like a real representation of what it feels like to be a high school senior: scared, excited, and sad to be leaving your childhood officially behind.

It's fun and I would certainly recommend.

WHAT A STORY!

My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth (who is also known as Olivie Blake) was my first book of this author and....
OMG! I LOOOOOVED IT!
Bel and Teo are in high school. He's the boss of the robotics team and she is the new girl in his team. Was it a good idea to follow her teacher's advice? What will all the other guys will think about Bel?

I totally DEVOURED this book!
At first I wasn't sure if I'd be in the mood for a cute high school romance... but it was SO MUCH MORE!
Alexene Farol Follmuth has a great way with words and I fell in love with the characters right from the start. ❤
My Mechanical Romance isn't just about a boy and girl falling in love.
It's also about growth, support, strength and faith. Talking about discrepancies in the technical world where there are more men than women. Well, and women who have to fight for their rights and how they have to earn the trust of others etc. It's nit even comical that there are so many differences between men and women which aren't even necessary.
Buuuut. Yeah, back to the book! ❤
I loved that this love story is such a great variety!
Awwww! And c'mon how can you not swoon about Teo - especially Bel and Teo together!
Both are wooooonderful characters! Both so different, but somehow kinda the same too.
It was wonderful to see how dislike can turn into so much more when you're willing to give someone else a chance. Fight against your prejudices and be open to one another. ❤

Thanks a lot to Alexene Farol Follmuth and Holiday House for this ARC via NetGalley.

This is my honest review in my own words.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book.

Starting this, my expectations were already high, but after reading, they were somehow exceeded! The characters were likable and easy to root for, even the side characters. The concept was something I loved. The writing flowed well and I loved the style the author wrote it.

I could understand the struggles Bel went through as a girl, and how women are mistreated in the workplace. I liked the way the author highlighted the way the opinion of men were considered more important than those of women.

The romance: it was so adorable and cute! Bel and Teo are great together. The fact that it was enemies to lovers was also an added bonus.

Overall, I loved this book and I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a book with lots of diversity, female empowerment, and great romance.

This was such a cute YA romance. I really liked how it was a slow-burn romance that slowly developed over the course of the book. I really liked the writing style which was different than I've seen for a lot of YA contemporary books and it felt a lot more sophisticated. Overall I loved the storyline and I am interested in reading more from this author.

I’m still smiling at how absolutely adorable this book is! It somehow combines nerdiness with feminism while normalizing women in science and I. Am. Here for it!! Plus you get the added bonus of friends encouraging you to just be you!

“You’re this new color I didn’t know existed and now I see it everywhere and I’m like, thank God I can see it now. Such a bummer if I never did.”

Isabel Maier’s character arc is phenomenal. Being thrown into a new school her senior year of high school is already discombobulating, but add on top of that a well-funded private school with an extensive robotics program she knows nothing about as well as her parents' new divorce and it goes to being outright overwhelming. OAs the story progresses, we get to see how she’s treated as a female in a STEM program and the differences she faces compared to her male counterparts. She has to fight for her place in this world, not just with the males but with every person who makes her feel inferior because of their preconceived notions of her.

“The world is not very helpful to a smart girl. More often it will try to force you inside a box. But I urge you not to listen.”

Everyone needs a cheerleader like Ms. Voss or Jamie in their lives! The supporting characters were so well written that it was easy to see them each with their own personality. Dash is hilarious, Neelam has some things to work through, and Teo… Oh, Teo.

“You don’t have to make the world perfect so people will love you.”

Mateo Luna is the other point of view we get to read and I loved his sections. His lifestyle and background were explained so well without having to go through chapters of explanation. You get a really good feel for who he is as a person so when you finally get to see them come together so naturally, it’s heartwarming. And that ending! That wasn’t the conclusion I expected - it was so much better!

There are so many inspiring quotes, but I think my favorite thing about it is that it’s actually really funny! Full of fun banter, competition, and exhilarating new love, My Mechanical Romance is my top YA read of the year for sure!