This book is so cute! I was nervous to read it since it was YA but it didn’t feel like it. If there wasn’t the reminder that they’re high school students I would have forgotten. Each character spoke and acted super mature for eighteen which I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing yet. I love the representation especially showing the struggles for women in STEM! I dislike the miscommunication trope which it seems I’ve been reading more if lately. However, it starts out where the two lovers are enemies which justifies the miscommunication between them. As the relationship between them progresses so does their communication so it’s limited and is easily fixed. I really related to Bel as the youngest child of divorced parents I really understood her. The writing is also super well written! There is just so much about this book I really liked that I’d ramble on and on about it.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC!

Definitely worth ⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭑

This book is super cute and I loved seeing Tao and Bel let down their walls. There are times in the book where it seems like it’s trying to be “woke” but it didn’t take away from the overall story so I didn’t mind it. I really liked that the book was more about her finding who she is and what she likes than it was the romance. Don’t get me wrong it’s definitely still a romance I just think that Bel’s personal journey is more important.

I received an arc through netgalley.

WOMEN IN STEM❗️💯👌🏻😩👏🏻

i know it's only March but this might be one of my favorite reads this year. it was a wholesome read & i enjoyed it very very much. as someone who's not good with scientific things, the author written it so well and made it super easy to understand. the pace was a bit slow at the start for me but it never got boring. i also love the dual POVs as i got to understand both Bel and Teo from their own perspectives. it was a super fun read and i got totally hooked.

the characters was everything and all of them are so well developed. i love bel's uniqueness and i loved watching Bel gain confidence. Bel's development was everything. and then there's our dear Teo who carried all of those responsibilities on his own shoulder. my heart rooted for him with his absent yet demanding father and all the pressure that everyone and he, himself, put on him. i'm glad that they both helped each other to grow. the banter between Bel and Teo was adorable and had me screaming. like ''please just kiss already!!!".

the supporting characters were equally well-written. Bel's friendship with Jamie and Lora was heartwarming and also Teo's friendship with Dash. Dash was super adorable and i love his platonic friendship with Bel. pretty sure everyone would kinda get pissed at Neelam at first but her anger about how she was treated hit home. Ms. Voss was my favorite and pretty sure we all need her in our lives. special mention to Luke, i love him and i'm glad Bel has him as a brother.

i loved the diversity, how there's a lot of representation of so many different cultures and ethnicities. i also love how the author showed the double standards of woman in STEM. the narrator's voice was funny and made it super interesting. overall, i especially loved the epilogue. overall, it's a really fun and quick read. if you enjoyed The Love Hypothesis, i'm sure you'll enjoy this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Holiday House for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Another one to go on my favorites shelf! This book was a sweet, teenage romance story that I definitely recommend if you’re looking to get out of a reading slump, or looking for a cute, light read. It was a tiny bit slow in the beginning and some parts in the middle, but I didn’t mind at all. The plot really started to pick up when the robotics team takes part in the Regionals. The characters were all facing their own struggles and problems, which made them really relatable. Take Bel for example. She was facing a situation where she felt like she had to choose from two people that she really loves, which I’m pretty sure a lot of people have experienced before. Mateo, the love interest in this book, was also very relatable because he was struggling since everyone had expectations of him, he was feeling really stressed and pressured, which I’m sure a lot of people have felt before. I love both Bel and Teo, but my favorite character has to be Neelam. She was jealous of and disliked Bel in the beginning because Bel never had to work for anything, she got in by luck, whereas Neelam worked for everything but people still disregarded her. She was so upset, I just wanted to go and hug her, but I knew she was the type that hated hugs, so I didn’t haha. The relationships in this book were sooo cute and so well developed! I absolutely loved the dynamics between Bel and Teo, they are so cute together! I also liked how the tension between Bel and Neelam got resolved. Another thing I would like to point out is that it was great how femenism was incoorperated into the story! As a femenist myself, I was a bit mad to see how the girls in the AP Physics class were treated. Overall, this was a great read for me and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone!

Bel does not want to think about the future. College applications? What is that? But after she gets accepted into the robotics club, she discovers a passion she did not think was possible. However, because she’s a girl, some people don’t seem to take her seriously. On the other side of the spectrum, there’s Teo, whose whole life revolves around getting into his dream college, MIT. Captain of the football and robotics teams, Teo has his whole future planned out. When Bel and Teo first meet, their personalities clash, but Teo sees potential in Bel, and he will not let it go to waste.

The characters were very likeable. I think the author did a very good job at characterising teenagers, which sometimes can be exasperating. Overall, I liked all of them, specially Teo. Are we surprised?
Bel is a very special girl with such a brilliant mind. She has a special eye and her personal touch on the robots was the best. I think Bel’s character is so important for girls who want to get into sciences but are discouraged because it is a male-dominating field. I felt for these girls so much, but I am glad they proved everyone wrong and they succeeded in the things they liked.
Teo has a lot of pressure from his family, teachers, and friends to be the best version of himself. They all think that Teo can manage everything and do not realize that he is a teenage boy who is probably going to get burnt out and who maybe just wants to live a little and not have to worry constantly. The adults put so much pressure on him I was scared he was going to break. I loved Teo and I think he deserves many good things.

I love the message towards girls who want to get into science/mechanics but are discouraged by bigots. Good representation. Very cute novel.

Women in stem. Need I explain more?

Firstly, I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of My Mechanical Romance in exchange of an honest review.

The cover was the first thing that drew me into this book. Then there's the synopsis. See, I'm not a big fan of science. Actually, if I'm being completely honest, I despise science, especially physics. That being stated, I was undecided about whether or not to request this book. At the end of the day, I was fortunate to pick this up.

Teo Luna and Bel Maier are two "nerds" who are compelled to work together in My Mechanical Romance. Teo has been the robotics club's captain for several years. He has a reputation for being serious, studious, and a nerd. Not just any nerd, but a really attractive one. Bel, on the other hand, is a new student who is working hard to maintain her GPA in preparation for her future.

This book covers misogyny, sexism, and racism all at the same time, which are important topics. To be honest, it's rare to come across a romance book that tackles these issues without relying on preconceptions, so kudos to Follmuth for that.

The romance in this novel made me laugh, cry, and scream all at the same time. To avoid spoilers, I'm not going to say much more— but academic rivals to lovers and forced proximity? Excellent tropes. Did I mention Teo memorized Taylor Swift's discography in order to make Bel laugh?

In terms of the characters, each one is relatable in their own manner. Bel is the character with whom I have the most in common. Her academic aspirations, her love for Taylor Swift, and her Filipino heritage? Yes, she is unquestionably one of the most relatable protagonist.

Overall, I love this book. Please don't mind if I start using it as my main personality right now.

Bel is a bright student who especially has great ideas on physics and a new transfer to highschool. Through her teachers' guidance (some kind of obligation) she had to attend robotics team and met Teo. Teo was a completely another story, he was cute, smart but also overwhelmed by expectations. In this super cute story Bel and Teo discovered their expectations from life, from love and also from themselves.

The story is incredibly cute and I really loved to read the development of the characters. Every one of the character represents another issue about being a teenager: like being a girl in STEM community, being perfect, being subject to discrimination, being in love etc.

As a conclusion this story is not an ordinary high school romance, it also contains growing pains of the characters and this made the all book is so real. I would recommend My Mechanical Romance all of the YA readers who love to read about first loves but also the life struggles.

PS: After I finished the book I get that author of the book Alexene Farol Follmuth is also Olivie Blake ! OMG ( Atlas Six is one my favs!)

I am just a huge sucker for YA contemporary romances, although I will admit that the romance genre hasn’t been serving me well lately. BUT, this was absolutely perfect and took me out of that slump with contemporary romance. I’m kind of at the same point in my life as these characters where I’m having to think about my future (likely also going into STEM as a woman), while also not really being sure if what I’m passionate about, or if there’s anything I’m even good at, like Bel. I think the book does a really good job of showing that, especially how life isn’t just a set linear timeline of primary school, secondary, sixth form and uni. School isn’t for everyone, or people might need some time figuring it out or might not have the resources to go after something they’re passionate about yet, and that’s okay! This book did a wonderful job of showing that with a cast of very lovable and relatable characters.

An important theme as well was the exploration of the struggles and nuances of being a woman in STEM. In other YA contemporary books I’ve read that explore this, the female protagonists tend to also in a way come off misogynistic, shaming more feminine presenting or stereotypically ‘girly’ women; or the book could come off as a bit discouraging to women who are looking to work in STEM. This book doesn’t suffer from that, and if anything I felt encouraged to learn and work harder towards experimenting and figuring out what I want. Altogether, I loved reading about the bot fights and how they were building their robot. I expected to be bored, but it ended up being v v engaging!!

I must also mention the romance because aaahhhhhh it’s been so long since I’ve felt this giddy throughout reading a romance book!! It’s just very wholesome and I think the pace at which their relationship progressed was just so perfect. I feel we got a good amount of time with both characters and their feelings and ahhhhhh I just loved it. It is definitely going down as one of my favourites of this genre. (little aside to make a recommendation of one of my favourite YA romances ever: Tweet Cute!! granted, it’s not stem but the rivals to friends to lovers aaaaaaa man i love it)

There are obviously some things I didn’t enjoy as much about this book; for one, I feel the third act conflict could have been handled better, I’d have liked to see Neelam be fleshed out more…but overall, I just really enjoyed the book and I can’t imagine giving this a lower rating or really dwelling on any of that. It’s just a good-fun time, and despite my apprehension considering how this author is known for more dark fantasy books, I am very much looking forward to her upcoming work like this!

Thank you to Holiday house and Netgalley for giving me an eARC to review.

This book is Young adult contemporary and is enemies to friends then slow burn friends to lovers

It has a diverse cast of very smart teenagers and apart from the romance also focuses on the struggles of girls in STEM, family dynamics and the dilemma of being about to finish High school but still having no idea what you want to do with your life or where you want to live it.

STEM subjects pretty much go over my head, high school was a really long time ago for me and I knew nothing about robotics prior to reading but I still enjoyed this book. The main characters and their individual struggles resonated.

The author also writes under the name Olivie Blake and her fantasy novel The Atlas six is all over social media right now. I am currently a few hours into the audiobook of The Atlas six and would have no idea they were by the same author if I had not been told. While both books are about super smart students the two books are very different in tone. My Mechanical romance definitely being aimed at a younger audience.

Adorable, charming, and engaging. A quirky STEMinist romance in the vein of The Love Hypothesis or the Kiss Quotient but for the YA Teen set. The characters are complex, relatable, and grounded. Bel and Teo challenge each other while still bringing out the best in each the other and the world of high school robotics is a fun setting for the plot. It is also wonderful to see how the female characters each handle being rare in the STEM world in unique and complicated ways. All and all a delightful read and I would highly recommend it to any STEM interested teen looking for a little science and a little love on the page.

I can't say I absolutely love or hate this book, it was an average YA romance, a bit cheesier than I would've liked, but I'm aware that's the genre.

I liked the diverse cast and the dynamic of the robotics team, but I have to say, Neelam was the standout character because she was the only one who wasn't in a fantasy world of her own.. This book discussed issues surronding WOC in stem, and I thought the execution was great, it was standard, and puts things into perspective.

The romance was meh. I couldn't care much for it, the banter was okay and entertaining, but I wasn't attatched to the characters. They had typical teen problems, which isn't a bad thing to incorporate into a book, but those problems were only went into at a surface level, and I woulod've liked to maybe learn more about Bel and Teo in order for me to like them more.

The ending of this book felt abrupt, if you're gonna do a final act conflict like in most romance books, then please let it not last 20 pages. The ending was rushed, and it seemed that everything was resolved way too quickly, to the point where it was pretty much Bel and Teo coming to realizations in their internal monologue, and I rolled my eyes when Teo finally realized he was being sh*tty towards some people without understanding their perspective.

Overall, this book was not my thing, but I think people who love cheesy romance will like this one. The themes were great, the romance was not.

Thank you to Holiday House and Alexene Farol Follmuth for the ARC.

4.5/5

This book reminds me of a YA Love Hypothesis, and I am all for it.

Bel is intelligent and independent, and if you are looking for a book with a young female protagonist that involves STEM, this is for you.

Let's not forget the romance. Teo and Bel are adorable, and academic rivals are obviously a plus. I liked how the romance comes in later and allows the character to build a proper relationship first.

My only gripe is that I found the beginning of the book a slow read, but it eventually picked up, and I really enjoyed it.

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint.

This was decent. I enjoyed reading it at times but I wasn’t ecstatic about it. Bel & Teo are two sort of unique characters however I’m not sure I like them all that much. I think Teo’s a tad bit underdeveloped (I don’t think I could elaborate without giving spoilers so just take my word for it) and Bel’s cluelessness about her talent at engineering just annoyed me. I actually think it was my least favorite part of the story. If you’re looking for something light and easy to read this then this would be a great pick!

**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review**

If you are looking for a sweet but yet poweful romance with woc in STEM and a kind of academic rivals to enemies, look no further cause this book has it all. The start is very strong as we are introduced to our great characters and their individual personalities. Bel has to be one of my favourite mc ever! Teo is just wow. The side characters were all very well written and i think this author is my new automatic read/buy. Really enjoyed the representations, and the divorce part was so realistic i felt seen lol. Just yeah, read this book!

“𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑜𝑦𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦, 𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑠, 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜”

An adorable romcom with academic rivals to lovers, this one is the fastest read I’ve had in a while. I could not put it down. I needed to know how this relationship would play out, but also how their teams robotics competition would end.
I can’t tell you how much I wish I read this when I was in high school. Not only it is the center a cute trope, it really nails what it’s like to be a girl in STEM! I found myself getting nostalgic about my own high school as it reminded me how hard it was. She completely nails it when delving into the pressure high schoolers face over the fear that even just one quiz will impact their whole life. Overall, so wholesome. There was also a lot of stellar girl friendships and the most important one was actually a rival girl in the club. If you like The Love Hypothesis, give this one a try. Oh, last thing, I am obsessed with this cover, gorgeous.

Rating: 3.5 stars
When I started reading this book, I thought I would not like it, and I would have to force myself to finish it, but after the 20% mark, I started to genuinely enjoy it.
One thing I really liked about it was the characters – I wasn't sure I liked them at first, but I grew to love how they are portrayed. I like how the author wrote about their flaws and struggles; it was authentic and relatable. The side characters were so fun to read about too!
Altogether, this was a cute and really charming book. It was mostly clean, which I appreciated. If I had read it a few years ago, it would have easily been a 4/4.5 book—I gave it 3.5 stars because I don't think I'm into books like these anymore. It was mostly clean, which I appreciated. If you’re looking for a fun and sweet book that’s easy to read — you’ll like this book.

Women in stem? YES PLEASE!! I enjoyed this book so much! It was fun. Romantic. Quirky. I loved every bit of it.

Thank you NetGalley and Holiday House Books for providing an e-ARC of My Mechanical Romance for an honest review.

RATING: 4.5 rounded up

Teo Luna is the golden boy at Essex Academy. Not only is he a great athlete, he is also super smart! He takes all AP classes and is the captain of the school’s robotics team. He’s the person people can depend on and has his life after graduation perfectly planned out.

Bel Maier is the new girl who would rather do almost anything except discuss her college applications (or lack there of) and future plans after high school.

A mishap with a physics assignment causes Bel and Teo’s worlds to collide at Essex Academy and the result is absolutely adorable :)

I was initially drawn to this book because of its beautiful cover! After reading the book I think it’s even more perfect 😍

When I first started reading it took a little time for me to get into the story. However, once Bel and Teo actually started interacting with each other things really picked up!

I enjoyed the banter and competitiveness between Bel and Teo while they were working together and getting to know one another. Teo was able to be vulnerable with Bel in a way he wasn’t with any of the people in his life. Bel’s refusal to be another one of Teo’s “yes men” is what endeared him to her.

One of the big draws to this book is it’s discussion of girls and women of color in STEM. Alexene Farol Follmuth did an excellent job highlighting Bel’s struggles being one of the few girls in AP Physics and one of the two female engineers on the robotics team.

The character of Neelam was a wonderful contrast to Bel as another girl in STEM. Neelam plays a critical role in getting Bel to see how difficult it is for girls especially BIPOC girls to gain entry in to advanced STEM classes and extracurriculars like robotics. Ms. Voss was a true hero to me in this book! I adored her encouragement of Bel to take up space. She taught Bel to be proud of her contributions to the team as well as the things she created on her own.

The romance didn’t come into play until the second half of the book, but it was super cute! The epilogue was perfect and has me yearning for a sequel with Bel and Teo in college! A girl can dream right?

This is a slow read, incredibly slow, even for me, but it’s delightful when it actually gets down to it. The whole robotics background was a little confusing for someone inept at science, but aside from that it was fascinating when I could wrap my head around it.

I loved Bel, her POV was hilarious and she had the great balance of snarky and sweet. Luna was a little hard for me to connect with. For some reason I kept reading it like he’s a girl - I think because of the last name. Anyway, they were full of personality and they meshed really well together.

Luna had flaws and I realised he could be very arrogant which initially turned me off him, but with bel (and after their initial frenemies situation) he was a lot more open and endearing, very cute.

And Ms. Voss 10/10. I loved her determined character and how she pushed Bel to achieve the best she could achieve.

Overall, I would recommend this for those who are looking for a cute read for the spring/summer months.