Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth. Perfectly titled, this YA Romance is centered around engineering and robotics. Adorable main character that I loved!

This is an amazing slow burn that later hooks you when amazing friendships start forming. This one friendship though….. it evolves into something way more amazing than a friendship.

This book is about a theme I’ve never read before but it’s amazing even if i can’t imagine being like Issabel

Thank you NetGalley and HolidayHouse for providing me with an advance digital reader copy in return for an honest review!

"Take up your own space, Bel. Don't let other people tread over it."

Despite having enjoyed The Atlas Six which was written by the same author, I tried to lower my expectations on this book because there were only rare occasions I really loved YA titles. Not to mention a book about high school students building robots? Not my thing. But... but.. THIS BOOK REALLY SURPRISED ME! DESPITE ALL FLAWS AND THAT, IT WAS EVERYTHING I COULD EVER ASK FOR IN A YA BOOK!

If like me, you also love books with:

💖 Good Filipino representation (read the first page and literally thought the character was Filipino)
💖 Taylor Swift references !?!?! (which is probably enough reason why you should read this!!)
💖 Strong female character in STEM that you could probably relate to
💖 Boy-obsessed trope (Teo ily sweetie x)
💖 Lovable secondary characters
💖 Great storyline that will keep you up at night, blushing, giggling, and everything while reading it
💖 Feel-good vibes that will comfort you in tough times

Then, YOU SHOULD READ IT! GO FOR IT, SPEND THAT MONEY, IT WILL BE WORTH IT. TAKE THIS AS A SIGN TO TREAT YOURSELF TO A GOOD BOOK!

As for me, I will definitely binge-read her other works while waiting for The Atlas Paradox to come out!

Before I end this review, I'd like to thank you, Olivie, for making amazing male characters that actually don't exist irl. Now my standards for men are so high??

P.S. This is my first time writing a review on Goodreads so that itself already speaks something about how much I appreciate this book!

She didn't know her life she can make stuff on quick and when she was told to give robots a try she likes it but didn't know everything untill he helped the more they hung out the more they wanted to help each other in life

Honestly I didn't expect much considering the current state of YA romance. But it turned out to be quite good.

The female protagonist doesn't spend any time on the 'not like the other girls' section. She's just a lost girl with a passion for science who's being dragged into the rat race of academia. And good God, isn't that one of the most relatable dilemmas for a high school kid to have? Not dramatic relationship problems. Not saving the world. Just not wanting to choose a career when you're not even an 'adult'.

The born perfect and lucky without trying aspects of the leads is a bit hard to digest.

The robotics and geeky stuff is balanced enough to be exciting and interesting but not overdone to the point of boredom/textbook drought.

The feminist/misogynist bits are showcased well enough yet lean towards justified misanthropy (Neelam). But male domination in academia and the societal norm of mechanical engineering being gender exclusive is an important discussion.

I kinda was hoping for some closure on the parental issues. But I guess the author was trying to be realistic. xD

I'd like to thank Netgalley for the ARC.

THIS BOOK WAS PHENOMENAL

I don't even know where to start with this book. I was hooked from the beginning of this book. Once I started it, I could not stop and read it in one sitting. This is the first book I have read from this author and I went in completely blind and boy was I not disappointed.

Bel was thrown into the robotics club by her teacher Ms. Voss. Teo, the robotics club captain, decides that she has the most potential of all the candidates that have tried out. The readers then follow Bel and Teo's blooming friendship take a turn for the worst... until it doesn't.

This book was one of the best books I have read this year, with well-rounded characters with interesting backstories. The story was well-paced and the plot was interesting. I easily connected with the characters and was able to quickly immerse into the story. WELL DONE <b>*insert clapping here*</b>

*I received an ARC from NetGalley for an unbiased review*

This book was cute.

Girls taking on STEM and not letting things get in their way? As well as enemies to lovers? Yes, please.

Bell and Teo had their up and downs but were sweet characters who had good intentions. There were some characters throughout I had a hard time liking but for the most part they redeemed themselves by the end.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Thank you netgalley and Alexene Farol Follmuth for the ARC of this book.

This was such a nice fresh breath of air compared to my usual thriller reads. It was a cute YA romance between two people Bel & Teo. This was a super quick and easy read. Told by both POVs the story progresses and we learn more about each character.

Loved the nerdy aspect of this book and feel this is a great refreshing YA romance novel.

4,6 ⭐️

I was afraid of being disappointed with this book, not because I didn’t like the premise but because I loved it. Enemy to lovers? WOC in STEM? I mean WOC IN STEM?! Freaking yeaaaaah.

It’s a great read, the MC and support character are touching but I will talk mostly about Bel. It’s not that Teo is not interesting, it’s more that even if it’s a great character, I will say it again: WOC IN STEM.

Bel is a fantastic character, touching, real, funny. She doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, but seems to be the only one without a career plan. YEAAAAH, choosing your passion, what to do with the rest of your life in high school is expected but it can be hard. Her nuance relationship with her father felt honest. To find a new between a child and its parents, after a divorce, is challenging. I’ve loved her growth. You should not be afraid to take some space, everyone deserve it.

It’s refreshing young adult romance, you should give it a try.


Thanks NetGalley for an ARC in exchange of an honest review

This was so much fun! I loved the relationship and the characters were so well developed I fell in love with them as individuals too. It was well written, full of love for STEM and robots and had loads of valuable messages! 10/10 would recommend

3.5

This book was so cute! It's been a while since I read a young adult romance and, even though I don't feel like I'm part of the target anymore, I still enjoy the cuteness of it all.

There is so much representation in this book. Most of the characters are POC and the representation of women in STEM is amazing and beautiful. I love Bel's relationship with her friends and Teo, although I have some complains (not big), just little details. I would have LOVED to see more of Bel's and Dash's friendship. They say they are the same person and I would have enjoyed seeing more of them. Also, Bel and Teo's relationship is beautiful and I loved it, BUT I was expecting academic rivals to lovers and it was barely that.

I sometimes didn't understand what they were talking about when they spoke about the robots and physics, but overall, I really enjoyed this story:)

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

I ADORED this book!!! The young girls of color in STEM rep is so well done in this book!!! Ostensibly an opposites attract YA romance between two high school seniors who get forced to work together, it also has great messages about the hurdles girls face trying to enter STEM fields, especially girls of color.

When one of her teachers notices how talented Bel is, she coerces her to join the robotics club where she meets Teo and discovers a love for engineering. The romance between Bel and Teo is sweet and wholesome. Both help challenge the other to expand their horizons and find the courage to take chances. I also really enjoyed the friendship that developed between Bel and her other female teammate Neelam. These two started off butting heads but eventually form a bond as they show the boys how great girls can be at STEM too.

Perfect for fans of Jennifer Yen's Love, decoded or the Disney movie Big Hero 6. The robot building and competing storyline was so fun and this book is sure to help inspire a new generation of girls in STEM!! Much thanks to NetGalley and Holiday House for my advance review copies!

Relatable Nerds. Loved the book more than I anticipated. It was a quick read, a nice story and nice characters. It was not really gripping and there was not too much depth but it was a fine read and will be a fine read to anyone who loves romance and enjoys enemies to lovers and nerds in one.

I got a free copy through Netgalley, this is no way affected this review.

ACADEMIC RIVALS TO LOVERS!! I REPEAT, ACADEMIC RIVALS TO LOVERS!!

This book was so much fun to read. I loved how all of the characters interacted with each other, their banter and just their personalities. Every single character was well fleshed out and I loved reading about every single one.

The author also knows very well how to write academic rivals to lovers. It was amazing to see how Bel and Teo went from competing against each other to working together and growing into something more.

I did wish we could have delved a little more into Teo’s side of the story, because I feel like we focused a lot more on Bel. But nevertheless, I really liked reading about these characters and their story

So I received this as an arc but I lost my copy before I could finish. I made it enough of the way in that though I wouldn't fully trust my review I don't want to mark it as will not give feedback because I've got some opinions to share! I will admit that lately I've been struggling to read romance books, as someone on the aromantic spectrum, so me picking up a romance book probably wasn't the best idea. Butttt i did enjoy this book for the most part!! I really loved the premise of exploring women in stem ahhhhhh that part killed me. I wish I had gotten to read more and hope you can take some of my thoughts into consideration!!

First of all the characters are genuinely so adorable and believable together! And you get to know not only the two point of view characters but all of the other characters as well AND you get to see each and every one of them fully rounded through the different points of views! The cultures and interests of the side characters are just about as explicit and interesting as the main characters.

Second of all the message and discussions about college in this book are fantastic. As a coming of age story, it shows a wonderful amount of diversity in whether people know where they're going, are completely lost, or are somewhere in between. Also and this is dumb but if you care you care while this is inherently a book about the importance and joy that STEM/Robotics brings both Tao and Bel it doesn't look down on people who decide not to go to college, go to a college that isn't the most prestigious and it doesn't for a second imply that the STEM fields are inherently more important than Humanities. This is a MAJOR plus for me because so many academic-driven YA books miss this by only showing singlar acceptable paths.

Third of all I really liked that there was a flash-forward at the end and we got to see Bel and Tao together but also competing. Because their banter is incredible and I think that a lot of YA books miss out on whether or not the romance ends at graduation.

Fourth of all, THE BIRD MOTIFS!!!! MY HEART <3<3<3!!!

Disclaimer: I received a free Advanced reader copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I would have liked the diversity of the two leads' backgrounds in terms of race and religion explored a bit more. It seemed more like costumes for the characters to wear, rather than something that informed their characters or how they act. Maybe Teo could wrestle with some Catholic guilt, and that's why he has trouble agreeing to do too much. Because of past guilt when he didn't. Maybe Bel could have been conflicted about siding with her white dad over her Philipino mom, not just who had infidelity and caused the marriage to end. It just seems like a wasted opportunity, when only a few lines here and there could have been added to make the book not just about misogyny and teen romance, but also racism. But maybe it was there and got edited out because it's a YA book and the editor(s) wanted to simplify it. I still found it funny, engaging and I learned a lot about competitive robotics clubs.

5 ⭐️

Thank you Holiday House and NetGalley for an advanced copy for review.

"Take up your own space, Bel. Don't let other people tread over it."

Bel Maier is a Half-Filipina who has no idea where her future is going and is completely averse to filling out or even talking about college applications. She transferred to an illustrious academy where she accidentally showed an aptitude for engineering and was immediately recruited to join the school's award-winning robotics club.

Teo Luna is the captain of both the robotics and soccer teams, and he is the only son of one of the most successful software companies. On paper, his life looks perfect and easy. But is it truly easy being the perfect son, friend, and captain all the time?

I devoured this book in a few hours and I cannot say enough good things about it. It is delightful and sweet and can be hard-hitting at times. It's a story about finding what sparks our passion and pursuing it, navigating challenging family dynamics, and taking up our own spaces in a world where we are told we shouldn't.

17-year-old me would have related to this a whole lot. There are still parts of it that resonate with 30+ old me. The first is that - you don't have to figure out who you are and who you want to be right away. It isn't too late for you, despite the pressures of society, family, friends, etc. It's okay to be a little lost and to try different things. At the same time, it's okay to lean on other people. To not be perfect whatever it is that people expect us to be. It's okay to be a kid and enjoy life.

The diversity in this book was incredibly refreshing too in a completely organic, not-trying-to-hard kind of way. And the romance between the main couple was adorable. I also love how realistic and encouraging this book was. It wasn't fairytale-like in that everything comes easy and works out perfectly in the end. It takes work and effort but it's worth taking up that space.

This was such a cute and heartwarming book and I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. All the characters are deeply flawed, yet so lovable. There were so many instances where I could relate to Bel (and Neelam) in terms of their experiences as women in STEM. Teo took some time to grow on me because of how dismissive he was to Bel in the beginning. But he grew on me eventually and I love him now! All the moments between Teo and Bel made me swoon! I really enjoyed their dynamic a lot, especially the epilogue made me so happy! I love when characters’ dynamic remain mostly unchanged after they get into a relationship. I love that Teo and Bel still challenge each other and have the playful rivalry between them despite of being a couple.

One of the things I did not like was how they treated Neelam. Well she’s also not the nicest person ever but the whole robotics team was very dismissive of her and rarely took her seriously. Even though things got somewhat sorted in the end, they never actually shown any appreciation for her work. I understand her feeling like an outsider within the team and that just makes me sad for her.

Overall I loved this book and would definitely recommend to everyone! Especially the fact that I enjoyed it so much while I’m in the middle of a reading slump says a lot about how good this book is!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Holiday House for the e-ARC to read and review. A few chapters into my reading, I physically left my cozy reading nook and went to my local bookstore to pre-order a finished copy for myself, because it was THAT good. I've never done that before - purchased a book I was already reading? I just really needed to support it and also see how the edits may have progressed with the published version.

It's hard to say exactly why I found My Mechanical Romance so enjoyable, but it definitely had a lot to do with the snappy writing style and great themes of getting into STEM. It wasn't just that it's great to see YA works encouraging women to get into STEM fields, but that it was a super realistic look at the many ways that can play out. We're at this moment in history where a whole generation of girls may have already grown up KNOWING they can break into STEM, while still encountering age-old challenges along the way. There are still stereotypes and road blocks at every turn, even if today's teens could have been involved in robotics type programs since they were tiny tots. I found that this book did a great job at illuminating those different areas of tension and aspiration while keeping the whole tone exciting and engaging. The romance wasn't even my favorite, it was just one element of a really cool slice of life type story.