My Mechanical Romance, by Alexene Farol Folmuth, follows two characters drawn together by their school robotics team. Bel has just transferred schools at the start of her senior year due to her parents' divorce, and finds herself thrust into AP Physics and onto the robotics team after accidentally revealing a hidden talent for engineering through a thrown-together-at-the-last-minute physics project. Teo Luna, on the other hand, had been single-mindedly pursuing robotics for the entirety of high school, determined to excel in everything and help everybody. As the two clash over robotics decisions, they eventually find themselves becoming unlikely friends, and soon even more.

I really liked Bel. She's funny and relatable and always true to herself. She's quirky, but not in a not-like-the-other-girls way, which I appreciated. I really enjoyed her struggles with her parents expectations of her, how to feel about their divorce, and what she wants for herself. She has two older brothers, though only one of them (Luke) plays any sort of real part in the book. They're very different; one goes to Dartmouth and is doing pre-med and computer science, while Luke dropped out of college and also seems to be trying to figure out what he wants to do. Between those two opposites, Bel's still trying to figure out who she is, and what future she wants to pursue.

Teo, meanwhile, is bearable, I guess. He's at his best halfway through the book when he's interacting more with Bel; I just couldn't get interested in him as an individual character. He;s under a lot of stress from his father, who's a celebrity app developer of some sort, and doesn't see either of his parents much. He's very driven, very much a know-it-all, and has apparently never been challenged on anything until Bel comes along. I did like him well enough by the end of the book, but he was definitely a bit insufferable at the beginning. I do think the book would have been stronger if he'd not been a narrator, and Bel was the sole protagonist, but I did warm up to him.

I did really like the romance of the book, though I wish it had been explored more. There were a lot of time jumps and such, and I wish we'd gotten to see more of the gradual development of feelings between the two. What elements of the romance were there were adorable and I shipped it so hard; I just wish there was more of it.

The thing I liked most about the book was its discussion of the way that women are generally treated and looked at in STEM. Bel's realization of this, and her conversations with Neelam, one of the only other girls on the robotics team, on the topic are some of the strongest elements of the book, and are another factor that I wish was covered more. I've been on high school robotics teams, and there are elements of sexism discussed in the book that are definitely at play there, if in more subtle ways than depicted here.

One big pet peeve for me was the unrealistic qualities of the college process as depicted here, primarily just the notion that a character who only applies to one school, that school being MIT, would have any reason to expect to get in there. You need to apply to more than one school in this day and age, particularly if that school is MIT.

Overall, I did enjoy My Mechanical Romance, and I'm giving it four stars. It's a really cute YA contemporary book, and if you love that genre then you'll love this. I really liked the STEM aspects of it, since we don't see that a lot in these types of books. Although Teo annoyed me, the romance was still cute, and I think most other aspects of the book were done really well. I'm giving this book 4 stars; if you're a fan of When Dimple Met Rishi or other enemies-to-forced-colleagues-to-friends-lovers books, then definitely give this a go.

This book was such a joy to read. I was a bit apprehensive as I have read too many romcom novels recently that promised a great story but turned out to be utterly disappointing.
The genre women in STEM is very close to my heart, which prompted me to request an ARC.
The writing was simple yet enthralling and I was sucked into the story from the first page.
It was a cute romance novel but had a lot of layers in between. Follmuth delivered the story beautifully without any irrelevant irritating miscommunication between the protagonists or villains.
I would highly recommend this book!

I want to thank NetGalley, the publishers at Holiday House and the author, Alexene Farol Follmuth for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

*Beware: minor spoilers.

The reference to My Chemical Romance and the lovely cover made me press that request button and I am sorry to say that this book was a little disappointing for me.

“If high school is good for anything, it’s proving that nothing lasts forever.”

I wanted to like this book, I really did and was so sure that I would after seeing positive reviews. But I didn't like it. I think my high expectations may have played a role in this as well. Apparently Olivie Blake is Alexene Farol Follmuth's pen name and I was surprised when I learned that the author who wrote this also wrote The Atlas Six, one of the most popular books on tiktok. That's also a reason why I was very excited to read this book. I have not read The Atlas Six yet but I know that it isn't a bad book from all the reviews I've seen, so I was very sure that I would love this book. Turns out I was wrong.

“My brothers are all pre-med, but I’ve been told every single day to act like a lady, to smile and be polite, to be pretty and dainty and what boy ever has to hear that?”

I LOVE academia books and women in STEM has been my go-to books for a while now. I wanted to start by saying that this book, unlike some others, managed to give us a glimpse of life in an academic setting. I’m glad that we actually got to witness the experiences of a woman in STEM. Honestly, the level of academic validation in this book is unhealthy. Despite that, the Taylor Swift and La La Land references saved the book. The witty banter between Teo and Bel was okay. There was too much physics and mechanics lingo, and I skipped most of those parts because I didn't sign up for that. To be completely honest, I liked Teo and Bel better as friends. It was obvious (and inevitable in a way) that they were going to end up together but they were good as friends and as friends only. Sorry not sorry.

“[...] his spotify is currently paused on Taylor Swift’s entire discography so he can learn all the words that make her smile, even when she doesn’t want to.”

Here are my brief (or not so brief) thoughts about the characters:

Bel: Basically, she is a quirky manic pixie dream girl wannabe who wears mismatched socks and weird earrings and gets told that she’s weird 24/7, which I think she takes pleasure in hearing. Another main character that I cannot stand, surprise, surprise. She was my least favourite character for many reasons that I will not list. Okay well maybe I'll list a few. She keeps saying “um” and “like” in literally 2/5 sentences and I wanted to hit her with a hardcover book just for that. And yes, you guessed it! She’s not like the other girls. She doesn’t wear trendy stuff (“her hair isn’t tied back with those bungee cords that all the girls seem to be wearing these days.”) which is like, um, SO HOT RIGHT?? I'd marry her just because she is different than the others!!!! (I'm being sarcastic in case you didn't get it lol) I just cannot stand this trope whatsoever.

Teo: Teo Luna, the spoiled love interest from Beverly Hills. He is a "cool", rich guy who is just so sick of all the attention he is getting that he finds this girl who isn't even interested in him and falls for her. He literally says: "she looks like she’s forgotten I was even here, which is interesting.", so cliché. Apparently “everyone is in love with him”. WOW. A shocker. He lacked depth and character and the only thing I liked about him was the way he tried to learn some Taylor Swift songs for Bel.

Neelam: A morally gray character perhaps? I don’t know. I didn’t like her until her inspirational speech about overcoming sexism. I got second-hand embarrassment from a fictional character (Bel) forcing to become friends with Neelam, just- sweetie no.

Dash: He was adorable, the epitome of a golden retriever and the only tolerable/lovable character in the whole book. He was a softie and a great friend that Teo failed to care for in my honest opinion (#relatable). Poor guy, SOMEONE LOOK AT THE NEW NACHOS HE INVENTED. I’m glad he decided to change his major to something he is actually interested in. I, myself am very familiar with the concept of being *influenced* to study medicine, engineering or literally anything that brings "good money". And Dash, thank you for deciding to do what you love instead of being forced to do something you don’t enjoy and be someone who you are not. Love you, keep being awesome <3 (also it’s Bel’s loss babe dw.)

Ms. Voss: Weirdly, this teacher was always compared to Bel’s mother (does she have mommy issues??? or maybe she just sees her as a mother figure. Dunno). I did like her feminist tendencies (like the sign she prepared for robotics competition: “Who Run The World”) so, go Ms. Voss.

Overall, this book wasn't very bad but it wasn't very good either, it was mediocre and an easy read. I think for me, it got better at around 60% and that was when I was finally interested, even just a little. This book was not for me but if you are into mechanics, or robots then this might be your cup of tea! One bad review doesn't mean a book is bad, neither does one good review mean that book is good. People have to see it for themselves and that's what I did. Thank you for reading my rant-review :)

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a YA romance I genuinely enjoyed from the beginning. It felt incredibly real and while I loved the cute moments between Bel and Tao, some of my favourite parts were Bel discovering her passions and realising her love for engineering. I thought the side characters were all really fun and fleshed out and I genuinely enjoyed the characterisation of everyone (even characters who were unlikable). I thought the issues that Bel faced as the new girl and as a girl in STEM were covered really well and felt incredibly accurate to real life. Overall, this has been one of my favourite YA romances I've read in a long time!

[Thank you NetGalley and Holiday House for providing this ARC to me in exchange for an honest review.]

Sign me up for more STEM based books like this!!

Bel is a new transfer student whose coming off a bad year, and is kind of looking for a place to belong. While all her classmates at this new school have high plans for college and their life, Bel finds herself blank when she thinks about her future — especially when she's asked directly about it.

Teo Luna was raised with very specific expectations as the son of a tech whiz, and those expectations as his father's son seem to have followed him into high school as well, where they're all waiting for Teo to be that stand-up guy, available for everything, a master of all trades, involved in every extracurricular under the sun.

Bel and Teo are thrown together when a teacher spots Bel's innate talent for design, and leads her straight to the robotics team that Teo captains. Bel doesn't have a lick of expectation of being accepted onto the team, but Teo spots her sketching out a better, near-flawless design for the audition problem, and he's sold.

They get off to a rough start, obviously.

To Bel, Teo is nothing but a rich, stuck-up boy who doesn't know how to take criticism and feedback, and just wants everyone to agree to everything he says. To Teo, Bel is infuriating because she's standoffish, and doesn't play as a team — and she's a threat to his life plan because he'd never counted on someone like her in his life.

They're both right and wrong, obviously.

The best part of this book was undoubtedly that these kids were allowed to be kids, and make stupid decisions, and get in trouble with their parents. Bel and Teo come from very different backgrounds but a lot of the flaws they have are similar, and they manage to strike a balance between themselves.

Bel's relationship with her family was a cornerstone of this, and while I do wish there had been a little bit more resolution on that front, it wasn't necessary for the purpose of the story so I don't think the book was lacking anything. Teo came off as someone who comes from privilege, and a lot of his flaws came from the fact that his privilege is rooted with his dad's expectations of him. I like that the author didn't shy away from those two co-existing statements.

I loved watching Bel and Teo's relationship develop through the book, through their common ground, and while I don't understand a lick of whatever was explained here besides the basic physics, I love that both of them got a change to feed off and balance each other's goals and help support each other — even if they hit a few major roadblocks along the way!

I also think that because these are high schoolers, some of the plot choices make sense. They are inevitably going to mess up in ways that are embarrassing because at that age, you don't know what you're doing, so you do stupid things, learn a lesson and then hopefully not do it again.

It wouldn't be a true review of this book if I didn't talk about the very real element of women in STEM that the author put in there. We have side characters who, in my opinion, are representative of the two extremes of approaching the misogyny — Neelam, who will push harder to try to get a spot to the point of bitterness, and Lora, who might just defer to the norm in a bid for honey instead of vinegar.

As a STEM major myself (particularly a woman of color!), I've been through the exact dilemma that Bel and the other girls were going through. Never being seen, always watching it be "a boy's world," watching teachers shower praise and accolades on the male students and never anyone else, etc etc. These are things that were familiar to me in high school and college, and are still familiar now, and I loved that we could get the representation for that. Because when I was in school, no one ever talked about it. You were expected to keep your head down, because if praise didn't turn your way, wrath and blame certainly did.

This book isn't as serious as that, but it's just as serious as you'd expect a book about 17 and 18 year old high schoolers to be. They're learning lessons as the book goes on, while falling in love with each other, and I think that was done fantastically.

Honestly, I just love the way the characters were crafted. I swung back and forth on a lot of them before realizing that was the point! They're finding things out about themselves, and somewhere, it dragged up all my stuff from high school, too, about being the overachieving student trying to score a spot to go to medical school.

(Also let's be real, I love seeing nerds being celebrated because I, too, am a nerd.)

This book was a great read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes the academic-rivals-to-lovers trope, dual POV, a snarky girl just trying to find her way, a spread-too-thin boy trying to do it all, and to anyone who’s ever felt like they don't belong!

Bel changed her school in mid in her senior year, in her new school everyone had a plan and everyone expected that Bel also have a plan but she didn't and she felt suffocated there.

To her misery, she got accepted into the robotics club and she had no idea what to do because she wasn't wanted that and she had no idea about programs and software but she was good with metals because of helping her dad and her brother with his car.

And there was Teo Luna extremely handsome, intelligent, Captain of the robotics club and a very good soccer player and rich. They both are extremely opposite to each other well you know they say the opposite attracts.🤭😉

When Teo decided to help Bel to understand programming the love might be bloom between these two.💞🥰

🗯 I love the trope when I read the synopsis I immediately wanted to read this book. All characters are good and interesting. 😍

Where was this book when I was in high school?? Follmuth’s YA romance debut is all I hoped it would be- a heartwarming romance, and a major lesson for the young women of the world- it’s okay to take up space. I myself am currently in my first year of an engineering PhD, and let me tell you I have never read a book with such resoundingly accurate lessons and themes. The lighthearted tone is perfect to have young readers easily digest the topics tackled, like sexism in the STEM field. Bel’s struggles are within all of us, and readers of all ages can take something away from the lessons Bel is learning about herself, her passions, her confidence, and self worth.. And of course, the book shows the cool side to engineering that I myself definitely didn’t know about until I was much older.

Isabel “Bel” Maier feels like a stranger in her new school. The Essex Academy for Art, Science, and Technology is a far cry from her former high school in Van Nuys. These kids are intense, with their AP classes and their sports and their clubs and their college applications for top tier universities. Bel isn’t sure where she fits, especially when she realizes that she forgot all about her catapult project.

She was supposed to design a catapult that would throw a water bottle successfully. And she had forgotten all about it, until her friend Jamie pointed out all the other students running around the school with their catapults. With only minutes before her physics class, Bel comes up with an idea that she might be able to throw together with a few handy office supplies. A quick trip to the library for a pilfered tape dispenser and some quick adjustments, and she’s ready to go. But when her teacher, Ms. Voss, asks to have a word with Bel, she knows that her teacher knows how fast she threw that together.

Bel thinks that she’s about to get some bad news. But instead, Ms. Voss tells her that while she does know that Bel threw that together right before class, she also realizes that it is a creative solution. And it was the most successful catapult in the class. Ms. Voss wants Bel to transfer to the AP Physics class and consider joining the robotics team. Bel had always played around with tools and came up with creative solutions to the problems in front of her—her father has lots of tools and equipment, even a forge where she could make her own knives—but things with her father are complicated right now. So she said she’d think about it.

Teo Luna is the son of a top tech CEO. He grew up with wealth and privilege, but he understands that and works harder than everyone else to show that he’s serious about . . . well, everything. He is the top of all his classes, especially AP Physics. He’s the best soccer player in the school. And he basically is the robotics team. He leads the team, and he’s going to do everything he can to win Nationals again. Nothing can stand in his way. He is headed straight to MIT, and nothing can distract him. Especially not a girl.

But when Bel shows up at the tryouts for the robotics club and he sees the designs she’s drawing, he sends everyone else away. He believes that Bel, with her elegant designs, can help take their robot to the next level. Most of the rest of the team just go along with the decision, because he’s Teo. But another girl on the team, Neelam, objects. She realizes that Bel doesn’t have the foundation to take her designs to the next level, but Teo refuses to listen. He wants Bel.

As the weeks go by, and the robotics team prepares for their first competition, Bel finds that her feelings for Teo are warming. She sees that every girl at their school (and some of the guys) have a crush on Teo, so she doesn’t think that she has a chance. But he finds her differences intriguing. She doesn’t dress like all the other girls. She asks questions that disarm him. And she struggles to use their engineering software, but she can take raw materials and create something that hadn’t existed before.

Does love stand a chance for these high school robotics engineers? He hasn’t had a chance to be anything but successful. She hasn’t had anyone who believed in her and could point her towards a future she could be excited about. He wants to find quick solutions for problems, and his family had the resources to make it happen. She lives in a world of uncertainty, not wanting to move forward until she knows for sure. Do these individuals have the ability to come together and form a team, or do their differences just keep them at war?

My Mechanical Romance is Alexene Farol Follmuth’s teen rom com set in a robotics team. These high schoolers work hard and fight hard, trying to find the solutions that will make them winners in the robotics competitions and in life. This deep dive into what it’s like to be a girl in a STEM program shows the ups and downs, the frustrations and pitfalls, shining light onto the areas where we as adults still need to improve. By creating a smart and creative thinker like Bel in this male-dominated program, Follmuth helps readers see the possibilities for smart women who are willing to stand up to the system and pave new roads.

When I saw that this book was about a teenage romance set to a robotics team competition, I thought it sounded adorable. I was wrong. My Mechanical Romance is so much more than that. It is a story of finding yourself, of learning how to hope in a world where you had felt defeated. It’s about learning to speak your truth despite the haters and listening to Taylor Swift just because it makes you feel good.

Watching Bel become someone she didn’t believe she could be, that she didn’t even know she had the right to become, is so inspiring. And watching Teo soften and see that there is more to life than living up to everyone else’s expectations for him is moving. The conversation is fun and flirty, the robot fighting is so entertaining, and the slow burn romance is sweet and lovely. It’s a fun read for the summer, but it will make some ripples for readers once school starts back up too.

Egalleys for My Mechanical Romance were provided by Holiday House through NetGalley, with many thanks.

With this book, I think it is more of a case of 'Its not you, its me'. While I typically love STEM romance novels (and I use the term 'romance' loosely, as I wouldn't consider this novel romance, but I digress), I think the fact that this one was a young adult book, I found that I wasn't enjoying as much of the book as I wished. I found myself getting stressed out by the amount of responsibilities that Teo was undertaking and I was getting flashbacks of my own high school experience. I LOVED the robotics competition scenes. I felt the suspense and energy of the situation as I was reading and I really enjoyed those scenes. I am glad that books like this take a look at a woman's experience in STEM fields and I am glad that there was a support system in place for Bel when she was facing tough comments. While I wouldn't recommend this book to my friends, I may recommend this book to my niece who is heading into high school. #MyMechanicalRomance #NetGalley

Bel finds herself starting school in a new place her Senior year in high school. She's always been a tinkerer. She loves to build things, but she's also never really known where she wanted to go once school was over.

In comes an amazing teacher, at her new school who recognizes Bel's skills almost immediately and challenges her to join her prep school's robotics club. Not really thinking robotics was her thing, Bel reluctantly joined. In robotics, she meets the prep school king, Teo. The guy every girl loves, and every teacher and adult adores. He's perfect in every way, intelligent, athletic, a kind guy, but we learn there's more to him than that.

Bel and Teo are an unlikely pair, her from a broken family without much income, him from a well off family and a driving, controlling tech guru of a father. Their differences are obvious, but they push each other in ways no one else has.

Robotics club brings them together, but the way they build each other up, the way they are each better with the other around, that's what I'm here for.

I saw the title and read the synopsis for this one and was so excited! I'm not gonna lie I had high expectations going into this one - and My Mechanical Romance met them all!!! I highly recommend picking this one up!!!

"Like most people, there are things I love in life - cheese, being right, the beautiful rarity of a well-timed clapback - and things I don't."

Bel is such a cool character. She's completely unique! She's a mix of minorities with this adorably religious mother. Not like overbearing but in that every time Bel swears she thinks of her mother doing the cross or something that made me snicker! She wears her own clothes that don't match that are completely whimsical. She's not sure what she wants to do with her life. Her brothers' are very defined - one is sporty and the other is brainy and she just doesn't know where she fits in. She doesn't have any close friends and she struggles with her parents' divorce. This is such a great coming of age novel. There's struggles and hardships and she doesn't have it all together. I loved reading how Bel grows and matures and figures out her life stuff! Her new friends Jamie and Lora are so supportive and funny and strong!

Teo is that driven kid that's never really been a kid. He has responsibilities and plans and his and others' expectations to meet. Bel is like this fabulous breath of fresh air to him. She's unpredictable and he needs some of that in his life. I love that he's also a mix of minorities with this religious abuela! There's so much diversity in this book! I'm so here for it!! I love his bestie Dash! He loves food and making jokes! I felt like a could relate to Bel and Teo which made it easy to fall in love with both of them individually and together! The STEM representation in this is so cool! I wish robots had been a thing when I was in school. It was written so well! I could understand what they were talking about while learning new things without feeling like reading a textbook and bored.

The writing is crisp and fun! The pacing is perfect! I couldn't put it down!! I read this all in one afternoon! The "Big problem" was well written and the way the characters handled it was exactly how I see them acting. I like the consistency and not writing just to add drama. Standing ovation to Alexene! She's now an auto buy author for me!! And holy crap - I read her acknowledgements at the end and just sobbed! I mean who highlights the acknowledgements?! I do now! It was amazing!!

"In fact, sometimes I wish we heard parts of this story less often - the environments that make us feel we aren't welcome, the equal credit we have to fight for, the perception that we are less than we are. The microaggressions, the gatekeeping, the dismissal we face that sometimes, in our low moments, we may mistake for being the truth. But even if that's how our story begins, that isn't where it ends."

"I wrote this for us, for girls that we are and the ones that we were. For the women we will be; for the many who will come after us and find, if we do our job right, that there is room for them here. For those who battle each day with impostor syndrome; with doors that slam shut; with criticism from others who doubt us. For those who try and are tired but who hope and aspire because we, for better or worse, have that rarity, that gift, of creativity and curiosity and wonder. For those who can and will change the world."

I'm getting each of my girls their own copies of this one! I love the message in it - girls you can do whatever you dream! This isn't a boys club!! Break the ceiling!! I couldn't recommend or love this book more!!!

There’s something so incredibly heartwarming about reading YA books. For one, when it comes to books such as this one, you cannot for the life of you be in a sad mood. My Mechanical Romance follows Mateo (Teo) and Bel, two teenager with the weight of the world seemingly on their shoulders.. Teo, a young man used to being the one everyone counts on was the definition of Type A Personality and trying to do a million things all at once. Bel, on the other hand had family struggles that were keeping her from realizing what she actually wanted out of life.

When one day, Bel’s physics teacher pushes her to live up to the potential that she undoubtedly has, forcing her to sign up for the robotics team. I can’t even explain how angry I felt at so many points in time in this book as I read what we women have had to contend with from the moment we’re born.

“You should smile more!” “Oh you must be on your period.” “For a woman you are..” “Female CEO, Doctor, Officer (WHY must female/girl go before a position?!)”

The list is incredibly endless and it’s incredibly frustrating. So that the author took on a story with a young girl in STEM, one of the most male populate fields? It was incredibly amazing. Not only am I just in love with the author’s writing but all the topics she brings up of things not only women have to deal with but stereotypes that men have to deal with as well? I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful it was to read this book & I hands down recommend this book!

Here we have a YA romance book where we get to read about rivals that might become Lovers (read it to find out).
We also get to read about waiting on acceptance or rejection letters to college and the characters feelings.

The thing that made me request this book was the cover combined with the title.

For me this book was a 3 star read but I don't feel like that the book was waste of my time.

IF you like reading YA romance books this might be a book you would enjoy :)

Thanks for this read :)

Thanks to @netgalley for the e-ARC.

A premissa do livro é simples: um grupo de robótica do ensino médio, que inclui uma menina com um talento natural para matemática e design e um menino que sempre soube que robôs era tudo o que ele mais amava.

As complicações começam para Bel quando você é uma menina e está na área que majoritariamente é dominada por homens e ainda tem que resolver aos 17/18 anos o que vai fazer o resto da sua vida. Enquanto para o Teo, o problema sempre foi perceber que é não é responsabilidade dele resolver tudo e que ele não precisa ser excelente em tudo para finalmente ser amado.

Eu amei o livro e os personagens— a leitura só não foi mais fluida porque eu li pelo app do NetGalley. Acho que o que contribui para ser um livro único é trazer essas questões tão presentes em nossas vidas quando estamos no ultimo ano do ensino médio de maneira natural e sem um peso de “ai você está perdido pq não sabe o que cursar na faculdade” ou “faça as coisas porque é isso que você espera de ti, não algo que terceiros esperam de ti”.

E a verdade é que sempre que eu pego um livro novo para ler. Eu quero ler esperando que ele seja meu mais novo livro favorito e que a experiência com ele vai ser única e foi exatamente assim que eu me senti com esse livro. Especialmente para mim que tem sempre uma dificuldade de “morrer de amores” por livros YA; sempre me irrito com personagens dessa faixa etária, mas tem um que são tranquilos e o casal BelTeo foi assim pra mim. Eles são muito fofinhos.

Ao ler MMR, você pode esperar encontrar referencias da Taylor Swift, conversa no carro, roupas do estilo criativo romântico (fontes: não foi preciso) e termos de robótica, matemática e física que eu passei reto.

O livro já foi lançado (31 de maio) e é assim que chegamos no final desse rolê.

The title of this book and that cover drew me in immediately. Then when I read the synopsis I was so excited. A YA Rom-com that is rivals to lovers about girls in STEM sounded fantastic. It did not disappoint. I loved how Bel and Teo grew together!
Thank you NetGalley and Holiday House for an advance copy of the book. This is my honest voluntary review.

This book was a bit of a slow burn for me - it took a bit to get into the characters and storyline, but when I did, I loved it! To be completely honestly, I was more invested in the storyline about our FMC finding her passion and confidence in robotics than the teenage romance - but I still enjoyed the story as a whole.

I think young women need more stories like these - it gives them permission to occupy spaces where women aren't traditionally welcomed and encourages them to truly dive into their passions and dreams.

I'm marking this book as dnf. I really wanted to like it a lot, but for some reason I just couldn't get into the story. There's nothing wrong with it, it just wasn't my thing this time around. The characters were both lovely and I hope they end up together!

I think part of it had to do with the formatting, it was hard to tell who was speaking and it wasn't always clear who the main character was in that moment. I believe a lot of this was due to the way it was formatted in the ebook I had.

Bel has just moved to a new school and is reluctantly joining the robotics club, which is run by Teo. Soon they start to fall for each other, but what will happen when it is time for them to leave school and head to college?
A great YA read.

this was so fun to read. i'm actually a little sad that i didn't pick this book up and devour it sooner.

i enjoyed this SO much. with all of my cells.
every character. every moment. every word.
i was giggling at 1am and when i eventually marked this book as read, i was getting teary-eyed.

i don't think i'll ever get tired of plotlines meant to uplift girls in their choice of study. or to uplift girls. period.
the whole issue of putting girls down because it's a "man's career" was handled so well. and with such tenderness it was such a relief. this book has so much depth, i can't wait to re-read it and act like it's the first time.

this was one of my favourite reads of 2022. the 5star is well deserved.

I LOVED this book! Teo and Bel are the cutest, nerdiest, couple that embody the stereotype of Gen Z, without the embarrassing bits. Both are incredibly smart and are faced with their own personal struggles that are addressed very well. There are so many issues that are acknowledged and are actually resolved, rather than just being plot points or character development points.
I love that Bel just doesn't do anything at first. As someone who also had no direction in their year of senior year, she was extremely relatable. I love that she also made space for herself in the world and put herself first. We often have characters who are too selfless and learn to be selfish but in MMR we get the opposite and it's PERFECT.
Teo, my poor sweet overdone lil child. Dude has been through it. Sure he's super achieved and has a lot of money, but he's also worked wayyyy too much for that to be just his personality. I really enjoyed his character development. He was like the opposite of Bel, as in he was too selfless and could NOT put himself before others until he was literally throwing up.
HELLOOOOO ROBOTICS!!! 100% here for the STEM, nerd, absolute chaotic geniuses that are in this book. I do not understand any of it, but I loveeeee how they all got so excited over the nerdiest lil things.
Read for
Rivals-to-friends (not the romance part)
friends-to-lovers (this is the romance part)
High-school setting, but it's actually accurate, no weird traditions just a bunch of nerds
STEM
WOMEN IN STEM
Lots and lots of banter
they’re both genius idiots