ADORABLE 😭💖💖

Enemies to lovers ✔
Women in STEM ✔
Cool physics stuff ✔
Girls making robots ✔
Diversity in STEM ✔
Heartwarming romance ✔

Bel has recently transferred to a fancy new private school, where she's hoping to mostly just bide her time until graduation. Teo is the captain of the robotics club (and the soccer club, and the unofficial making-girls-swoon club). They have nothing in common... until one of Bel's teachers singles her out for a hasty completed project and, rather than yelling at her, convinces her to join the robotics club.
Suddenly, Bel and Teo are spending a lot of time together. Suddenly, for the first time in her life, Bel cares about something-- actually really cares. As they prepare for Regionals, Bel and Teo bond over engineering.

My Mechanical Romance is a sweet, funny coming of age story about two people who seemingly have nothing in common but end up teaching each other how to find their passions and discover who they are and what they really want.

This book about two teen nerds is so awesome and well written! They talk about robots and stuff which completely went over my head but it was so cute watching these kids discuss stuff they are passionate about. The book also touches on how it is hard for girls to study science and engineering because of the misogyny. Both Bel and Teo are great characters!

Even though this book takes place in high school, everyone should read it. It seamlessly tackles the issues of women in STEM fields and showing how men should respond. It manages to be funny and cute and have a “realistic” romance on the side. It is really about Bel finding herself and how to stand with people while figuring out who she is. Amazing read.

This book was exactly what I needed. It was an easy read that touched on topics that hit home for me. It really made the teenage love realistic, which I enjoyed.

𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚. 𝙉𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙨. 𝙍𝙤𝙗𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨.

I absolutely adored this book! The storyline and themes were great and the characters were very well written also. This is definitely a book that leans more towards teens and young adults, but as an adult reader I still enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley and author Alexene Farol Follmuth for the opportunity to read this one in advance!

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝:
• Two main character point-of-views. I really liked this set up because it allowed for insight into both Bel and Teo’s thoughts and motivations.
• The author touched on some salient and relevant themes throughout the book and did a wonderful job approaching these views and using them to develop the characters further…effects of divorce, the burnout that comes with perfectionism, challenges for girls in the STEM world to name just a few.
• The banter and the relationships between the characters were perfect. I especially enjoyed the dynamic of the robotics team and there were lots of moments that had me chuckling out loud.
• The story moved well and it was easy to follow along.

𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝? Absolutely! The story is very engaging within an interesting context and while I feel like the book is geared more towards teens and younger adults, it could be read and enjoyed by all.

Release Date: May 31, 2022

This cover is beautiful. The first thing that caught my eye. This book is I bought it for the cover without the description kind of book. The book on itself seems awesome!

Okay, so I definitely wanted to read this because of the cover. It’s gorgeous and playful, and I’ve been hurt before when I’ve chosen books by that. This was NOT the case this time.


This whole “girls in STEM” theme im finding in books is interesting. Sometimes it’s so heavy handed it gets in the way of the story. But I loved the way it was approached here. I love that the “women in STEM” problem was from Bel— which gives it an “outsider’s” perspective. Because she isn’t jaded and having fought for years, which helps the reader see it more easily without it being heavy handed. And giving Teo’s perspective on it, showing how he begins to question his motives and the motive of being there, it lends itself to a greater understanding of the narrative.

Now onto the story. It’s ADORABLE. Enemies to friends to lovers, it’s just such a great trope. Two is thoughtful, but still a gent. He isn’t so one dimensional that he would be totally fictional, but he’s understanding and has depth. And his interesting relationships with his parents. I AM HERE FOR IT. Bel is such a cool character because we get to see her come out of her shell and “take up her own space”.

And I love the side characters. They aren’t just placeholders, but truly interesting. I would read about each of them (Dash especially? Maybe even her brother Luke? Jamie? I just really enjoyed all of them).

And there were so many well written emotional scenes. The soccer scene had me laughing out loud! The scene at the end between Bel and Mac had me actually tearing up. And the EPILOGUE!! Not what I expected in THE BEST WAY.

Read this book immediately.

I absolutely adored this book and I could not put it down. I loved the sweet lovestory. But I loved the character of Bel even more. I was able to connect to her on many aspects and I liked how it showed the difficulties of being the female gender in a male dominated world. Moreover, I feel like having an exact plan for your fututre is always expected but I know it's alright to change the career path any time and to take time to figure it out. Moreover, I liked how mature both were and realized their weak and strong points.

Thank you so much NetGalley for the ARC! Slow burn & enemies to lovers romances have always been 2 of my favorite genres, and this simply did not disappoint! The author perfectly captured young love and all the complications that come with not only discovering who you want to be, but what you want out of the world as well. Touching on issues like sexism, especially in what is typically a male dominated field (engineering), in young adult fiction is something not done enough, but the author beautifully handled it! I cannot wait for release day for everyone to meet our leading lady Bel and her brilliant brain!

this book took a while for me to get into it- the first half was quite slow-paced, but the second half was much more interesting. pros: bel and teo were cute when they finally got together, and i loved the side characters. i also enjoyed the descriptions of the robotics tournaments and how the robots were built! however, my main complaint i didn't really feel connected to either of the main characters for much of the book. i think something about the writing style contributed to that, but i'm not sure what. some of the messages fell flat as well. overall, though, i did enjoy this book, and it was a pretty good science-y read!

thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book for this honest review

→ 4.5 stars

It's a slow pace romance but never been boring.So much better than what I expected. This was a very wholesome read. I enjoyed it so much😩😩 I never thought that I'll enjoy robotics and anything about engineering. I highly recommend this book if you're a looking for a cute romance set in academia. Nerds are so hot! Also, women in STEM- more power to you!

thank you netgalley for the arc! as soon as i saw academic rivals to lovers and women of colour in stem i was so excited and thankfully it didn’t disappoint. i loved all the characters and their different relationships so much. they all felt very real which is refreshing because when some authors try to write modern teenagers it ends up being inaccurate and really awkward to read. bel and teo were so cute i was invested in them the whole way. i cant wait for ig editors to read the book because teobel had such good quotes im obsessed i need edits now!! i appreciated the way that sexism and privilege were discussed in the book and it is super important to have those types of conversations in real life. the only slight problem i had was with the end. bel and teos personal issues/problems didn’t feel fully resolved to me, i wish the book was a bit longer so they could get wrapped up better. all in all this was a super cute ya romance and i had a lot of fun reading it, id definitely recommend!

A very cute romance. I was expecting a lot of engineering terminologies which would go above me but they were fairly good. Along with romance, this book had a healthy amount of side stories like divorce, school change, new friends, bias based on gender and many more. I was waiting for Teo and Bel to get together for so long and it was just beautiful that they stayed together. It wasn't forced on a happy ending where they stayed together forever and ever but a much more plausible ending which I love. I really can't pick out anything I would like to change about the book. It was awesome and I loved it😍

Thank you Holiday House, NetGalley, and Alexene Farol Follmuth for the ARC!!

This book is absolutely adorable, a classically cheesy romance with vivid characters and a heartwarming main couple. The backdrop of the plot being senior year of high school at a private school with a record for STEM-related excellence was so interesting and the book provided valuable insights on being a woman, specifically a woman of color, in STEM. The inclusion of robotics competitions also heightened the stakes for the whole main cast as well as the readers.

Bel is someone who has no earthly idea what she's doing in life at the age of 17/18 and it's very refreshing to see. Teo is very aggressively in the opposite direction, and so their initial incompatibility is obvious and is heightened by their character flaws. However, over the course of the book, they mature together and their relationship is heart-wrenchingly cute. It was really nice to see that both Teo and Bel had things to overcome and they didn't just magically go away when the two got together.

The side characters are all highly likeable, specifically Dash was a standout. However, I found the remarks made about Lora and Holi to be a bit off putting as a South Asian person. I got the joke though I didn't like it.

This book is a ya enemies-to-lovers romance about two students who do engineering. That's a really bad explanation, so probably just read the blurb instead lol.

This is by Olivie Blake, which I only found out when I read other reviews, and she so successfully switches from writing The Atlas Six to this book, even though it's completely different.

I really liked the diversity of the two main characters, and how their families and home life were a big part of their lives. Both Bel and Teo were really well developed and I liked both of them a lot; they were both likeable but had their flaws which made them human. The other characters were also really well-written too, they were developed and didn't just feel like side characters.

As someone who doesn't have a STEM bone in their body, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the engineering and physics side of the book. It's all explained really well and is easy to grasp if you don't know anything about science.

There are a lot of important things covered in this book, I particularly loved Neelam's story line, and I loved Bel's relationship with her teacher.

The romance itself was really really sweet, Bel and Teo's relationship felt genuine and actually felt like two kids who were falling in love. However, I don't think that they necessarily had the chemistry that I would have wanted them to have.

Overall, I really liked this book, it made me smile a lot and I had such a fun time reading it.

Bel has just transferred to a new private high school for her senior year, and things are a bit up in the air. As she settles into her new surroundings, she struggles with a lack of direction for her college applications. When she accidentally reveals a talent for engineering though, she is recruited to the school's robotics team, where she meets the competitive, accomplished Teo Luna, who seems to have everything figured out. Heads butt and sparks fly as Bel explores a newfound love for robotics while carving her own space in a world where not many people look like her. As Teo and Bel challenge each other, enmity turns to camaraderie, and maybe something more...

I absolutely love STEM romance, and I think this one really excelled at exploring the intricacies of a relationship in an academic setting. There are a lot of things that are often glossed over for the sake of a cute story, like a woman needing room to find her own space, and I think the author really got to the heart of that in this novel. The plot was surprisingly complex, exploring not only Bel's individuality but also the weight of parental expectations, the complexities of female friendship in STEM, and the perspectives of people of color. These topics were coupled with an exciting, fast paced plot and explosive chemistry between the two main characters. I absolutely loved this novel, and I highly recommend it for fans of YA romance!

i loved this book so much!!! not only did it include my fav trope ever (rivals to lovers), but it had filipino representation and women in stem!! honestly 3 of my favorite things ever. the characters were so well written, even the side characters, and the plot too. i also loved how there were filipino words in the book, and seeing my fav filo foods (sinigang and lumpia)? i was freaking out!! will definitely reread it again once it comes out because bel and teo mean so much to me. this is definitely one of my fav reads this yr, can’t wait to read more from the author<3

thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc!!

I. LOVED. THIS.

This was the cutest thing I have read in a long time!!

Academic (rivals?) To lovers with a diverse cast of characters? YES. PLEASE.

I loved every minute of this, nothing fell short and everything was well written. The issues the characters faced were on track with what seniors in hs face (finally)!!

Dual POV with both Teo and Bel (the cutest)

And just an overall heartwarming read!!

I’m not going to lie, I grabbed this book because of the cover and the title alone. The wordplay on My Chemical Romance screamed out to my 2006 teenage emo girl and I couldn’t pass it up. All that is to say, I started reading without reading so much as a blurb and was a little shocked to find myself reading a Young Adult novel. Not that I have anything against young adult novels but when you go from reading what is essentially porn on paper to YA it’s a bit of an adjustment.

Once I was able to switch gears I couldn’t put this down. Bel and her indecision about who she is, her skills, her abilities, what she wants out of life, all the way down to her glittery Doc Martins spoke to me. Okay, yes, I’m nearly twice her age and am not debating my collegiate future but life in general but I still related hard to the girl who didn’t have a clue.

Opposite her was the boy who had it all together…kind of. Teo was that all too perfect kid that seemed to always have the answers and was the backbone of the groups he was involved in. Of course, no one, and especially not a teenager, can withstand that kind of pressure all of the time. Especially when most of it came from himself.

The romance is so well done. Bel and Teo switch from antagonistic to friends to more in such a seamless, natural fashion. The moments of tension and the “will they, won’t they” is masterfully done. As is the moment when it all falls apart and the slow path back together. It was just masterful. Alexene writes under Olivie Blake and I’ve put her on the TBR list because I can’t wait to see how she handles it in an adult romance.