This was a cute rivals to lovers, which was easy to read and quite enjoyable.

The main plot follows Bel joining the schools robotics club, and eventually finding her place at her new school, and passion, which gives her a path for the future whilst also navigating her personal life and family drama. There was a nice balance between quirkiness and more serious topics, and I enjoyed that. The story is quite slow at first, and there is a lot of science and technical terms that I was unfamiliar with, but regardless, the story was cute, and the robots were cool.

The character's were difficult to like at first, but thankfully, there is a lot of development and they challenge each other and become a lot more bearable. I could relate a lot to Bel not being certain about her future and lacking passion, but eventually finding it, and it was nice to see her grow in confidence and stop selling herself and her contributions short.

I was unaware that this was written by the author of the atlas six, but enjoyed it and would be interested in seeing more young adult works.

This book was sweet and cute. It was nice to see another book about a female in the STEM program love the inclusion of it. It was a fun book to read and one of my favorite tropes enemies to lovers. It was a little slow in the beginning and I did get lost with some of the terminology but it could be due to my lack of familiarity with the terms. Don't let that discourage you from reading it though it is worth it. The character development is great and relateable. Bel is so indecisive and wary to step outside of her comfort zone but with Ms. Voss encouragement it helps her navigate a male dominate enviornment . Teo is the star athlete/ student that everyone goes along with what he says. In reality it shows how he has so much pressure to live up to his family name and be the star of everything. It is very relatable becaus real pressures of high school and then college looming with applications and decisions to be made. The robots were awesome and i loved reading about it! I did not think I would enjoy it as much as I did but to me I would definitely reread it again. Thank you Net galley for my ARC!

Fun, romance and robotics, everything that I like!
I really loved this book. The author creates these academic rivals to lovers that is so good, I really would read a series about these couple and their friends. I liked all the college environment and the robotics competition. I think that this book talks about important themes about knowing what you want to do in your life and the toxic masculinity in the engineer area. I loved the development of the main couple, building from enemies to friends and then lovers. I would reread it 1000 times!

Thank you NetGalley and Holiday House for the ARC!

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH!

To be honest, right now I'm practically not very interested in reading about the story of a youth who is looking for their dreams. However, one thing that attracted me to this book was because it deals with robots, girl and STEM. Maybe the reason is too personal because I also felt that way when I was at school and I was trapped in there.

As I said above, this book will follow Bel who still doesn't know what kind of future she wants. Where will she continue her education or what major she will pursue. Until finally she worked with the robotics team which she unexpectedly would become her favorite thing and of course there was Teo Luna there.

This book tells a lot about the robotic team and their matches. It might be difficult to imagine with many robotic terms and parts but I like these moments because I think the author is able to build the excitement and atmosphere of a tense match and all the excitement of the competitors.

The story about Bel and Teo who also have to start thinking about their future is also fun to follow. Especially when those who initially kept arguing and then spent a long time together until they finally fell in love. Because there are two points of view, we can see clearly what they really think and feel for each other and it's cute. I love them as a couple!

If you like story evolve around academic especially in STEM, I highly recommend this!

I’m not going to lie, it was a bit difficult to get into and read through mainly because i didn’t understand have of the things there were saying in BUT it was so cute. I loved how awkward, how angsty, how heavily “teen” it felt, it was all so relatable. From the way everyone spoke to eachother, from the “enemies to lovers”, to how school can be, etc. so so wholesome !!

4.4 stars

-Academic rivals to lovers
-Women in stem
-POC representation
-Dual POV

This book was adorable, and I adored it! The rep was pretty impressive compared to the other novels I've read, and the joy I got when I found out there was POC rep was terrific. This is the first time I've read anything by Alexene Farol Follmuth or Olive Blake, most known for her work on Atlas Six, and I'm confident I'll enjoy her other work as well.

Bel and Teo's points of view were displayed throughout the book, which was quite refreshing, and I absolutely enjoyed it since I am a major sucker for dual povs. They're a force of nature and hilarious. Their tiny flirting remarks at the start of the book were to die for, and the character development was incredible. With Mateo, as a Latino, and Bel, as a Filipina, you can witness a tiny representation of their culture, whether in their home life or daily.

The one thing I really admired about Bel was that she had a strong personality and wasn't changing her entire attitude simply for a male. Bel's character development, in particular, I felt was significant and needed because, as a high school student myself, it's challenging to figure out what you want in life honestly. Especially in your final years of high school, the pressure and stress can become overwhelming, leaving you in utter confusion about what you want for the future.

The robotics aspect was entirely new for me because I'd never read a book dealing with STEM in any way. Still, I saw it as a trip down memory lane and enjoyed it since, a few years ago, I was on a robotics team, participating in competitions with friends and the feeling of adrenaline pouring through my veins.

I ALMOST FORGOT THIS, BUT THE HOLI FESTIVAL PART WAS SO CUTE!

Overall, as you read the book, you become aware of the various challenges that women, particularly those of colour in stem, face, which I found enlightening because I didn't know much about the subject. Bel and Teo were adorable, and the book does a good job of depicting the realities of high school relationships.

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on May 31, 2022!

Such a cute read! I love the uprising of “women in STEM” books, and I thought Bel was a great character! Her character growth and strength were inspiring.

Obvi I’m always here for the romance, and Bel and Teo were adorable! Hot nerd are the best. The rivals-to-friends-to-more trope worked well. I know zero about robotics but really enjoyed learning through the characters/story.

Certain parts felt a little slow, but overall this was a really enjoyable read. Thank you to Holiday House and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This book sounded very intriguing and after a lot of hype and other reviews which made me curious, I decided to also request this book. Unfortunately, it was not for me. Though the book is not at all bad, I just could not connect with the writing of this book at all. To me, it was a strange feeling how high level the writing was because I expected it to be a simple romance book, but the dialogue and the big wording threw me off. The dialogue seemed unrealistic to real life and there was a lot of internal talking and explaining without much happening.

I believe that for people who specifically are more interesting in for example STEM and might be in this stage of their lives this would be a great book. The storyline was interesting and its rivals to lovers with a very diverse cast. I feel like this would be a hit or miss and sadly it was a miss for me. I will definitely try one of this author's next books again. The sequel to TA6 sounds promising and I feel like the writing style was better fitted to a book like that, so I am excited to see how that book unfolds.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review.

Adrenaline is peculiar when it comes to competitions, and when it's about high school robot competitions, it isn't the exception.

Bel has never had the urge to be in a club, specially one in the tech side of the school but Teo, the robotics team leader as well as a teacher of hers, sees potential in her, despite not knowing about what or how the computer programs used in the club work or even to work in a team.

It hit just right in the enemies to lovers department, but I think that the best part about this book is the whole STEM topic. Specially when you're a woman in that department. We see it in the way the team wholly depends on Teo since the beginning of the book and how they consider Bel less of a teammate because she doesn't know how to use the computer programs or another teammate who is always dismissed because she complains a lot. With these attitudes, not a whole lot of wanting to learn. And even worse, we see favoritism based on gender from the teachers. Disgusting, but truthful.

It's a fast paced novel, with a lot of focus on doing what you like even if it involves unconventional methods, team work, accepting your weaknesses and strengths, and maybe even accepting that you can't do everything, and receiving help is not the end of the world. The romance was cute, a nice touch, and something I wholly enjoyed but compared to the rest, it somewhat falls short.

The dual pov was pretty great, seeing both sides on the situations presented and how the story moves forward from Bel and Teo's perspective gave a us a bigger overview on how some of these situations are very focused on only one gender, while the other doesn't even notice something happened.

such a cute little story about two stem kids :) teo can be so annoying but also so cute, i love both of them so much. bel's style is described in such a cool way as well, i really enjoyed the emphasis on it & how teo points it out / obsessed over it 24/7 (LISTEN... funky pants are on his mind all the tiiiiimeeeee). also this shows the reality of women and girls in stem really well!! i'll definitely recommend this book to my girl friends who are majoring in stem fields <3

overall, a really sweet romcomish young adult story!

This YA was absolutely ADORABLE!!!

First off, I absolutely LOVE the title of this book, it’s so clever.

I thought it was such a fun read, and could relate to the pressure’s that the MCs struggled with, especially with college and making your parents proud. I know it is something that a lot of teens face growing up, and this story did a great job highlighting it.

*thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!*

Thank you again @netgalley, @holidayhousebks, & @afarolfollmuth for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

God, I love this book. It is so well written, I flew right through it, and I feel like I have so many thoughts & yet I somehow can’t seem to find the right words? That’s how much I enjoyed it, tbh. It’s been awhile since I read YA so I was a bit hesitant at first, but MMR really does have the entire package. Well-developed & layered characters + dual POVs? Check. Diverse leads (a half-Filipino queen, Bel Canto!!), each w/ complex family dynamics? Check. Academic rivals-to friends-to lovers? Double check. Banter that is equal parts fun, smart, and hilarious? Check. Kickass women in STEM? Check. Exploring all the many biases & microaggressions women in STEM face every day due to working in a predominantly male field? Triple check. I mean it when I say: THIS CUTE AF ROMANCE HAS👏🏼 IT👏🏼ALL.

I highlighted/tabbed so many great parts & quotes (which I cannot share until pub day, I know, I’m sad 🥹)— Teo & Bel are such wonderful characters. I love how this book is as much of a love story as it is about two people discovering what it means to make space for themselves to be who they really are & go after what they really want. I saw a lot of my younger self in both of them and, as the byproduct of both crippling self-expectations AND also being caught in the middle of a messy divorce while in HS, their storylines made me feel so….. seen. It was bittersweet almost, bc I wish I had been able to read this gem of a book back then. I know I would have felt a lot less lonely if I had.

Anyway, anyway. I could say so much more but then I’d never shut up haha. My only “gripe” doesn’t even have to do w the book itself, only that the formatting for my Kindle eARC was totally wonky…. But that just means I’ll definitely be buying more than one copy come pub day! 🤗 SAVE THIS POST. PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK. READ IT ASAP. YOU’RE WELCOME. 🤖🤍

Yall, this book is so good and so exhilarating! When they said nerds are hot, damn both Bel and Teo are so finee! I am totally in love with their robotic talks (even though I don't understand that much about tech, engineering and stuff). The fun part of the story will always be the robotic match. It was so thrilling and instead of reading a typical romance book, it feels like you are reading a sport-romance theme. And the way they put the ending is just chef kiss, love it so muchhh! I originally wanted to give this one 4 stars but because of the robotic thingy I'm giving it 5 (maybe 4.5).
What I love to see in the books I read is the character development and this story delivered it nicely. I kinda like to see Bel and Neelam's relationship improvement and the author surely put it very nicely for both of the characters.
ps. Sheesh people would hate Neelam, but somehow I think she is really cool.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the e-ARC.

I've been reading Alexene (AKA Olivie Blake) work since she self-published Masters of Death. Her fairy tale collection is amazing and once more she didn't disappoint with this really cute YA.
This story happens during the senior year in high school of our main characters and all the things that come with being a senior and having to apply for college with no idea of what it is that one wants to do in adulthood. I wouldn't say it falls into the enemies-to-lovers trope, because they did not seem like enemies in the first place, but it is a nice way to show how young adults can fall in love.
I find the story well paced and the characters are definitely relatable and having two points of view made it even more relatable. I really liked the strong female characters, that are both Bel and Neelam specially for having such different personalities.

Also, "nerds are hot" and the ones who can build robots, even more xD

I really enjoyed this book, its an amazing YA Romance debut novel. It was well written, witty and just fun to read. It made me want to go witness a robot fight match🤣 Bel is this eccentric happy go lucky person that has amazing talent but no real motivation to pursue them. When she by accident reveals that she has an knack for engineering and she is kinda forced to join the robotics team. Its a male dominated club and the boys ignore Bel, there is another female on the team Neelam but she hates Bel. The captain of the Robotics club, Teo recognizes Bel's talent but they soon start budding heads.

This book is an Academic rivals to lovers and it explores the difficulties of being a woman and a woman of colour in STEM

I highly recommend this book♥️

Thank you Net Gallery for the eARC)

oh my god.
A CUTE LITTLE NERDY HIGH SCHOOL LOVE STORY IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEED.
I feel like maths and science enthusiasts are rarely every represented as the main characters in a story and when they are it's done.... not that well. BUT
this book is so so so adorable.
I loved Bel as a character and seeing her fall in love with robotics literally from the beginning. It's so refreshing to see that she didn't actually like at first and tried it out only because her physics teacher (she's so cool) urged her to but then ended up loving it.
As for Teo I was a bit iffy about him to begin with because he was a bit bossy but I think you understand a lot more about why he's like that. Plus they're only high school kids so this isn't even a massive flaw or anything. I did LOVE the fact that he was so open to helping Bel and how kind he is. It just shows how considerate he is. AHHH I LOVE THESE TWO.
the story itself is just chill and cute and nothing felt unecessary it was just.... nice. It made me smile a lot

One aspect I really liked was Neelam and her place in the club. Now I love Bel and while I don't think Neelam being mean to her was justified but Neelam being angry at Bel is completely normal and justifiable because it's very very clear how Neelam's not taken seriously when (I'm sorry to the other guys) she's the smartest or at least the second smartest and most talented in the club. It's funny how she's kind of villanised at the beginning because it just shows how women feeling rightfully wronged about injustice and prejudice towards them is seen as then being annoying, unecessary and rude. The way Bel and Neelam have a talk afterwards and Neelam explains how Bel got it easy is just so so so important!! I just love this little addition to the story. I find that olivie always adds subtle (well not so subtle) digs at problems in society and even as alexene farol follmuth she does not fail to.

Highly highly recommend this book. It made me feel so understood and it just a story that I rlly liked

Loved this book. When I first started reading it, I thought it would be a typical, cringy, romance story, but this book exceeded my expectations. I loved loved loved Bel, she had so much depth to her character. All in all greatly enjoyed this book. I got an Arc from netgalley for my honest review.

This book was wonderful and wholesome! It's written beautifully and teaches young women that it's okay to take up their own space in the world and to go after your dreams, despite all those that might disagree.

TBel was easy to fall in love with, as was Teo. The chemistry between them was amazing. Enemies to lovers in a STEM setting couldn't have been done any better.

Great book! Rare to find a YA rom-com that is geared toward the nerdy side of HS. Who said robotics was a bad thing? Follmuth definitely takes it for a positive spin in this trope.

Thank you to Holiday House and NetGalley for the eArc!

I absolutely adored this YA romance! This is the kind of YA book I wish I had when I was a youth myself. The romance aspect was pure and wholesome. The STEM rep was top notch. It felt very empowering! I love Bel and her quirky bird pants. I love Teo and wish he wouldn’t take on so much pressure. I love how they balanced each other out. I appreciate that this book also normalized getting a college rejection letter. I also loved that it made robotics so cool, and I felt heavily invested when they were at Nationals! It was just v good. I would recommend to anybody, not just the youths!!! 5 stars!