Absolutely loved. This was a perfect YA romance. Meaningful messages, lovable characters. I enjoyed every page!

This is a super sweet high school romance, but it also takes a look at the treatment of girls in STEM and the barriers that start in high school (and earlier) that make it difficult for women to find a place in these fields, especially women of color.

One of my favorite things about this book is that while the characters are pretty much all united by their friendships through the robotics club and their AP classes, they are all from different cultural backgrounds.

Bel is dealing with a lot, and keeps most of it to herself, even after she develops a close friend group. Teo keeps a lot to himself too, but some of it I think he keeps from himself. He feels like he needs to be the leader and that if he isn’t on top of everything, it will all fall apart. It doesn’t help that his Physics teacher, coach, friends and team seem to reinforce that impression.

Teo is initially impressed by Bel, but when she doesn’t immediately agree with him, a sort of animosity develops between them. He has a hard time seeing the barriers Bel and Neema, the 2 females on the team, face that are removed from all of the males on the team. Eventually he does come to recognize this, and his part in it as well.

The other characters in their group are fun and quirky, especially the ever hungry Dash, Teo’s best friend. And even when insecurities and misunderstandings pull Teo and Bel apart, their friends remain intact for them.

As a couple, Bel and Teo are completely believable. They balance each other out and bring out the best in each other, even though they are both carrying extra weight on their shoulders.

I absolutely loved the Epilogue and felt like the ending of this book was perfect.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley on behalf of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was written like a love letter to women in STEM. I find you can rarely find books where the MC is a woman who is in STEM so I loved how this author captured that event so well. I adored Bel and Teo as individuals but even more so together. They really complied each other. I’m so happy that Bel found her voice and what she loved to do. Here’s to hoping more books include women in STEM!!

So, if anyone has seen The Fosters, think of the episodes when Mariana is in robotics club and has to fight for her spot as a female in STEM. And then when her team is at their robotics competition and she has to drive around the robot they made and and it’s really intense because you don’t know if their hanging arm is going to work or not and the girls get to prove they are just as capable as the guys are. Okay now add in some romance and some college application drama. That’s this book. And it was wonderful.

I had such a fun time reading this book. The best part about it was that it was unique and not just another YA romance that’s the same as every other. It was a fresh idea that was exciting and felt very realistic.

I thought it was really enjoyable and I loved reading Teo and Bel’s story. The characters were all fun and very relatable, as they stressed over high school ending and real life beginning. It is a feeling almost everyone goes through at some point in their senior year, where they are nervous about the unknown that they will soon be embarking on, and I think it was conveyed very well in this book. I loved reading the engineering part of this much more than I thought I would and I was rooting for Teo and Bel‘s team throughout the book. I never felt bored reading this, which is a sign of a well written story if you ask me.

As far as YA goes, I think this was a great and original story and I would recommend it again and again.

Thank you to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Such an incredibly cute coming of age story!

I absolutely LOVED the FMC and MMC and their banter. Rivals to friends to lovers to rivals. Gah the nerd-o-meter was off the charts and it was so well done. I was intrigued they whole book and the narrators did such a good job.

The highlight of not only an FMC taking up space in the STEM field but also at the same time not knowing who or what she wants to be. It took me back to my college days when I switched majors and had no clue where I wanted to go from there.

This is perfect for young women who are getting ready to enter their next stage of life and enter into adulthood and for those who have been misunderstood and lost in the system.

This is a beautiful read. It is slow paced, fluffy and all together feel good. It is a very cute read. The only thing I didnt enjoy was the unresolved family tension.

Despite not liking the unresolved family tension with Bel's family, I enjoyed this novel a great deal. Bel and Teo were awesome together and their ups and downs felt like like a real relationship. I enjoyed all the side characters and I really loved the Rory/Paris from Gilmore Girls vibes I got with Bel and Neelam. Overall, this was a fun read.

This is a beautiful YA book. It has a slow pace, but it is interesting still. I love that this is a story of first love that is not overly sexualized. It is a very cute read.

YA novel about Bel getting into robotics her senior year of high school and Teo the leader of the robotics team. They come from two very different upbringings but still face challenges with school and dating. Bel the barely getting by type and Teo is the uptight always planned guy.

Loved these characters and this feel good story. All pretty much guessable if you read any type of romance.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

𝙊𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙮 𝙔𝘼 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙔𝙏 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩-𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙨 𝙎𝙞𝙭!

I went into this book without knowing much other than it was getting so many great reviews. I can definitely see why many enjoyed this story, but for me, I don’t think it clicked as much as it did with others.

The writing style was quite a surprise. I really enjoyed this author’s way of writing these characters as nerds.

For me personally I always struggle with Young Adult romances. I don’t usually relate to the characters and don’t find them as interesting. However, that wasn’t the case in this one. I did really enjoy how these characters were written and described.

The nerd talk between the characters and the drama was so intense. I loved following both of them working together, and enemies to lovers are always my favorite romances to read. Even the side characters were super captivating!

I loved how this book focused on women in STEM in such a moving way. I think it’s so cool when authors focus on such important topics in a way that can be relatable to readers.

I always struggle with connecting to the romance between two young adults. To me, it’s just a bit difficult to believe in a HEA. I also found the romantic side to have been rushed too quickly. It felt like instant love. Overall, it was a quick and fine read. I can see why many enjoyed this, but there’s an intended audience for it.

Thank you so much NetGalley for the review copy, all thoughts are my own!

This one was so much fun! I don't read that much YA romance anymore, but this one kept me entertained regardless.

I didn't know this was written by the same author that wrote The Atlas Six until I was approved, I was so excited! I love STEM, I'm a biologist myself, and I think that's what made it good for me, but the story itself I don't know.. it just felt a bit fast. The friendships were amazing and I think Bel and Teo would be better of staying friends (im sorry)

My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth is an adorable YA Romance that combined STEM and Robotics with a light-hearted enemies to lovers romp. The characters are lovable and relatable, especially Bel, and they seemed like people I would actually be friends with. Teo reminds me of how my hubby was in Highschool so I definitely rooted for him. If you like adorable romance in unlikely scenarios, this book is for you!

Such a fun YA romance and extra points for the cute punny title. I really enjoyed this story set around high school robotics competitions. The characters felt well rounded and realistic, especially in their approaches to joining the club and competing. While the story fell into the enemies to lovers trope, I appreciated that this story didn't rely to heavily on that trope alone to push the story forward. The supporting characters were also delighted and really added to the fun feeling of My Mechanical Romance.

I did find the epilogue a little heavy on the girl power vibes but I also recognize I am not necessarily the target audience for an uplifting story of a multi racial high school girl paving a path for herself in a world dominated by men.

I loved the idea of a story of a girl in STEM - and while I think many may enjoy the book I struggled to appreciate the characters and the plot. I’m giving it 3 stars because even though it wasn’t for me personally, there’s tons of people who will enjoy the book!

This ook ended up not being for me, unfortunately. I bit too much high school drama and not enough real character growth.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book was cute but ultimately felt cliche and unoriginal. While I enjoyed the rep and the girls in STEM, the characters often came off as brash and unlikable, even after they were supposed to have their redemption arc. Bel, the main character, had a lot of 'manic-pixie-dream-girl' energy, and while I liked where her character ended up, I felt as if she stayed the same for much of the book and didn't end up with as much character development as I would have wished. I think that Teo, the other lead, also ended up being rude and unlikeable for most of the book, and while you understood his motivations more by the end of the story, he still didn't carry the same charisma as the other characters and ended up feeling a bit flat at times. There was nothing deeply wrong with this book, but it just didn't have anything in particular that made it stand out very much. Overall, it was good light reading, it just wasn't particularly memorable. 3/5 stars from me.

As a stem student and a hopeless romantic i requested this book and it is so freaking good! This book features academic romance some might say it is an academic rivals to lovers but i don't see it as one, grumpy x sunshine trope, dual pov, how hard it is to crave academic validation, an accurate portrayal on what it is like taking a stem course and what it is like to be a woman under a stem strand and how difficult it is to be one. When i was halfway through this book i really like it and my ratings would be 3 stars but when it is like 3 chapters left i changed my ratings to 4 stars it was so good! As a swiftie the part that raised my standards is that the main character bel is a swiftie and the male lead teo learned taylor's whole discography and memorized taylor's song just for her. This book is really fun and kinda angst towards the end totally recommend especially if you're a stem nerd.

3.5 ⭐️
This took me a little while to get invested in the story. It could have been the narrator of the audiobook that I didn’t super love, but it just seemed a bit too young for my liking. I ended up liking the main characters, but a couple of the side characters were pretty annoying to me because they acted so childish, even though they were supposed to be seniors in high school!

Bel and Teo were pretty cute. Once they actually started understanding their feelings better, they were so lovable. I enjoyed their dynamic together, and really liked how happy and cute they were once they started a relationship. Light, easy, and making each other better is everyone’s relationship goals right? Yes. They did it so cute. Loved them.

I thought the high school robotics team was a really cool setting I honestly didn’t know much about but loved reading. The imagery was spot on and I could see the competitions playing out on my head (even though I know nothing about robotics!)

Overall, it was a cute fun read. Easy and enjoyable, but I probably won’t be going back to it. This was a fun, different kind of novel that turned out well!

My Mechanical Romance is the story about Bel and Teo who are basically thrown together in the same college by fate. Bel is an awesome heroine, I love her attitude and how unique she was in just everything, and super smart too.

I loved seeing Bel grow as a person and take up her own space and make her presence known. I also loved reading about Teo's struggle to balance his academic life, his athletic life, and his priorities with his robotics team, mostly due to parental pressure and what people expected him to be. They balanced each other out well and they brought out the best in each other.

I also appreciate how Alexene Farol Follmuth talked about the sexism and the struggle that women in STEM face every day with Professors like Mac favouring just the guys on the robotics team and his AP Physics class while he continually shut down Bel's concerns and moods. I'm glad that such topics are making their way into more books now.

And how can I forget about the mention of Holi in the book, I was so elated and felt like I was in the book.

I really enjoyed the slow burn, academic rivals to lovers story - the banter was fantastic and I liked seeing how the relationship developed between Bel and Teo. Also, the writing style is quite adorable and the characters are quite relatable. I just love these nerds!

If you feel like you reading a good young adult romance, don't think too much about it. Get this book asap. This is not your usual YA romance, it's sweet and very mature.

Thank you Netgalley!