Had really high hopes for this book, because The Atlas Six was an immediate all-time favourite (same author, different pen name!). And objectively, the writing style was strong and recognizable, but it didn't work for me at all. It made the book feel overwritten, because it felt like every single line needed to be as snappy as possible, and that made for an exhausting reading experience to me. On top of that, no matter how much I loved the concept of girls in STEM, I just found the story to be really uninteresting, and it couldn't hold my attention.

before i start the review, i would like to let everyone know i was grinning like a total idiot throughout 95% of this book because of how cute it was.

my mechanical romance is a cute academic enemies-to-lovers with the main character being a woman in STEM. i recommened this to anyone who wants a light and cute read. the story is like any other generic YA romance, and there were times where the characters would annoy me and i'd find them a bit pretentious, but i let that slide because no one is perfect (even fictional characters). i loved the banter between the two main characters and the development of their enemies to friends to lovers relationship. i also really liked the emphasis on struggles of women on in STEM and just feminism in general throughout the book. my chemical romance shows girls that their gender doesn't define them. it shows the struggles of the main character being a girl in STEM and gives a good lesson of how just because someone is a girl, it doesn't mean they're lesser than a guy. it shows that no matter the gender, anyone can succeed if they try hard enough. i truly did enjoy this book, and even though i'm in the biggest slump ever and super busy with school, i managed to finish it in just a few days.

thank you Holiday House and NetGalley for the e-arc.

I really enjoyed My Mechanical Romance!! It was a quick, easy read with main characters and friendships with fun dynamics. The story is told through the perspectives of high school seniors, Bel and Teo. Bel wants to go with the flow and not have to worry about the pressure of whatever is out there after high school while Teo is quite the opposite and feels like he always needs to have the solution to everything in order to have his life together. But you know what they say... opposites attract and these two find themselves learning to work together on the Robotics team. The more they work together, the more you can see how their relationship helps them find a balance between being too chill and too uptight. Bel and Teo have great banter and natural chemistry which made both of them so easy to love.

I loved the strong female characters in this story. Not only did Bel have good qualities as the main character, but other female side characters did as well. Whether it was her mom working to support the family; her ambitious, kind, and loyal friends and supportive female teacher. The representation of women in STEM and the struggles they face in a male-dominated industry was done so well especially showcasing it at the high school level where they haven't even started their careers yet. It is such an important topic and I hope many young girls will read this book and realize they deserve to take up space early on. I also appreciated how the story showed the struggles girls face in a variety of ways because while girls are already at a disadvantage, not everyone's experience is the same and at the end of the day we need to support each other! (Bonus points for the Filipino representation with Bel being half-Filo go women of color in STEM!!!)

Thanks to Holiday House and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this book! I thought this book was a carbon copy of all the middle grade romcoms I read when I was younger. I think it does what it sets out to do, but it is nothing spectacular.

absolutely LOVE this book!!!! i really adore the high school romance somehow it's so sweet and just such young innocent love (IN WHICH I LIKE OF COURSE) i also just like how i automatically sympathize with both the main characters because i just relate with their struggles :( as someone who just graduate high school and get in to college a few years ago, i still rememble the struggles and the anxiety from not knowing what to do with your future, especially in Bel's case it's so frustrating :( ANYWAYS i love this book, i love the romance SO MUCH, the chemistry between them 😍😍🥰 the friendships!!!! and reading this makes me miss high school 😭😭 IMMEDIATEY 5 STARS WHEN I START GRINNING AND PUNCHING MY PILLOWS WHENEVER I READ THE CUTE ROMANCE PART

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House for providing me with an advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

“Take up your own space, Bel. Don’t let other people tread over it.”

Girls in STEM!! Boys who are nerds and also idiots!! Complicated family relationships and fear of the future!!

For all intents and purposes, I read this in one go. I absolutely could not put it down. In the beginning, I wasn’t totally certain I’d love it, but even then I was hooked and invested and, shocker, by the end I was crying and obsessed. The plot is somewhat slow to start, but it picks up quickly and everything builds until suddenly you’re reliving long-buried high school memories and for some reason you’re okay with it. It makes you nostalgic for that high school rush and, for me at least, made me proud of how far I’ve come from the senior scrambling to have everything figured out. The romance is sweet and adorable and it was so easy to root for Teo and Bel all the way through. Did they put my emotions through the ringer in the last half? They sure did, and I loved every second of it.

Every single one of the characters is unique and endearing and I couldn’t get enough of them. The emphasis on women (and WOC) in STEM and on women supporting women warmed my heart, and on the flip side watching Bel face all the sexism that comes with the field made me angry and sad and so proud of all the big and small ways the women in the book all pushed back against it.

As much as I want to keep this review somewhat short for once, I can’t not talk about Bel. I saw so much of myself in her, both in terms of myself at her age and myself now, and it just made everything hit that much harder. Even the very basics felt eerily similar: I did robotics, I was good at math even though I didn’t like it or want to be, etc. And that’s without even touching on the deeper stuff. Even if you don’t relate to Bel as much, her emotions come through so clearly on the page and she’s so easy to sympathize with and root for and I love that teenage girls will have a character like her.

Frankly, I would read anything this author writes, which is saying something because it’s not easy to get me to read YA contemporaries. While this felt definitely distinct from her other books, it still had all the excellence and emotion that I look forward to. There’s a moment towards the end of this book where a younger girl sees Bel at a robotics competition and is inspired by her. Bel recognizes that she only has to inspire one person to choose STEM, and that person in turn only has to inspire one person; that everything builds and this is how change starts. This, I think, sums up both the book itself and how I hope this book will affect teenage girls considering STEM.

i’m in awe of how cute this book is! the pace was little slow in the beginning but it was honestly worth it when it started to pick up! i wasn’t sure what to expect when i started reading but i’m so happy i continued it! the relationship between bel and teo was so wholesome and i loved seeing their little moments and glances before they even got together. you could tell they cared so much about each other. also, this book is dual pov so we got to see the thoughts of both bel and teo!

bel is the cutest ever! i love how throughout the entire book, she never stopped being herself. she was such a relatable character to me personally and it meant a lot being able to see her grow. in the beginning, you could tell she wasn’t sure what she was doing but throughout the book you see her become more confident in her abilities and it was amazing to see!

teo omg! i swear i just wanted to give him the biggest hug. this man was so kind and generous and always wanted the best for everyone. he always wanted to help and take on others problems before his own. such a selfless character! and he had such a soft spot for bel and it was so sweet!

overall, this book was absolutely adorable and aside from the romance, the message it gave across was amazing! i 100% recommend this book if you are into cute, fluffy romances and robotics! happy reading!💗

What an easy read! Very pleasant.

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House for providing me with an arc of this book

"The world is not very helpful to a smart girl."

Storyline/Plot: I think the storyline is super realistic for a high school girl to have to overcome. I remember when I was in my senior year, and even now just 6 years later, the stress of trying to find out what you were going to major in and what you're future would be like, I mean I still don't know. It has been a long time since I've read a whole book about high schoolers, and it does make me realize it feels like those themes are on the younger side, for me personally, which makes me feel super old. The writing style is very fluent and easy to understand, and it's such a short book, it definitely helped me get through it. Really I just had troubles really connecting to the story with how young it felt, and I did find myself just wanting to get the book completed.

"Because wherever I am, I want her close by."

Romance: I enjoyed the light romance progression in this book. I think that it was easy going, and fairly stress-free even in the heated moments. Of course, it's not the height of the story, and the development of character for Bel and Teo is really where the focus is.

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

Characters: I enjoyed the character development, especially for Bel. Her finding her own voice and making her future her focus, and not what other people think your future should look like. I also enjoyed watching Teo realize his feelings. But of course, these are high schoolers, so I had an extremely difficult time connecting with them because it felt like children.

World-Building: The world-building is based on a real place, so I don't have too much to say.

"You're dangerous, Bel Canto."

Overall, it was a light, nice, read. But I didn't really feel drawn in. When it truly releases, I don't believe I will reread it. It was worth it for the time being, but I have other things on my TBR I am more focused on rather than a reread of this.

Firstly, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review this book!
Secondly, I DNF'd this book 35% of the way through. Please make sure you read other reviews, specifically those that finished the book, to form your own opinion before reading.

I'll start with what drew me to the book in the first place: THE TITLE! My Mechanical Romance? Super similar to My Chemical Romance, be still my heart. I thought it was a cute little reference, especially considering the song "Teenagers" by MCR is also referenced in the book. Not to mention the cover is adorable, the premise of girls in STEM is great (despite me not knowing anything about the field) and Ms. Voss (Bel's teacher) telling her to take up more space. That especially stuck with me as I read. I also loved Bel and her personality, and her sticking up for herself.

Unfortunately, that was about it. The premise was fantastic - but I felt as if I were forcing myself to read through this book. In 2022, I promised myself I would not continue reading any book if I found myself not enjoying it entirely. I really wish I liked this book, but everything from the plot to the conversations between characters fell flat. One of the things that bothered me the most is the family issues taking place in Bel's life; I assumed (and was confirmed right, after reading other reviews) that Bel's parents were divorced. However, while Follmuth alludes to Bel's familial issues in the beginning of the book, it isn't until 25% of the way when Bel talks with her brother Luke, that something is finally addressed - barely. There still is no solid confirmation that the parents are divorced or separated, just that Luke is moving out to live with their dad.

As I mentioned earlier, the plot of Bel (being forced to) join the robotics team was interesting, but I personally hated the way Neelam and Bel butted heads - shouldn't women (or young girls) uplift each other in a field that works against them? I don't know if their relationship changes (I hope it does) but it left me with a bad feeling. The transitions from one scene to another, one conversation to another were poorly executed. It was confusing and I found myself rereading to understand what was going on. Not to mention, the friendships that Follmuth constructs are two dimensional at best; what was the point of Dash's and Teo's friendship? Teo always seemed annoyed by Dash, who seemingly contributed nothing. As for Jamie and Bel, their friendship felt flat as well. How did these characters meet? Why are they friends? Do they have common goals, problems, interests? I knew none of this from reading the first 35% of this book.

There was so much more I felt like this book could offer, but I know readers will enjoy it anyways - and I hope they do. This just wasn't for me.

Ah what a cute little read! This YA novel about a girl in ROBOTICS and a Romance with the “hot” nerd it just drips with adorable-ness.

Received an advance copy from NETGALLEY in exchange for an honest review.

The overall boom was very cute as I said before BUT the pace was a bit slow and I kept putting the book down because I was ready to fall asleep a few times HOWEVER once Bel and Tea finally got together the pace picked up and things really happened all in all super cute little book

OMGGG such a cute romance!! It was everything I wanted it to be and more!! Finally more representation of women in STEM, yesss. Not only that, but women supporting women instead of taking each other down. I couldn’t stop smiling, such an interesting concept!

I. Love. Nerds. I also love STEM romances. Even better the female character working in Robotics? Sign me up...TWICE! I did need a glossary for a few parts but overall I loved this story. It was developed very well and I felt like I was working in the field. Likeable characters definitely make a book so much more enjoyable.

Really great YA Contemporary read! Robotics, check. WOC in STEM, check. Smart main character and love interest, complete with witty banter, check. Parental and societal expectations causing realistic and relatable issues, check. This one is lots of fun.

I'm not going to lie, it was really hard to get through the first 20% of this book as I wasn't particularly fond of the characters yet and there wasn't much happening plot wise. But past that stage it really picked up and I devoured the book in less than 24 hours.

Bel easily became one of my favorite characters as I related to her and the "What am I going to do with my life after high school?" dilemma. I felt stuck in one place and left behind by all of my classmates who already knew what they wanted and the author represented these feelings very well through the character of Bel.

I also enjoyed the way the story talks about women in STEM and the hardships they go through, starting in the classroom all the way to the competitive field.

The writing was light and funny. the banter between the characters made me laugh and the romantic moments had my heart beating a thousand miles per hour. I also loved how descriptive it was in regards to the scientific/robot building aspects, it made it easy to understand (as someone who can barely add up 2+2).

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced reading copy.

I had a great time reading this book. At first, I remembered my time at high school. I connected with Bel because I also had a hard time deciding which university to apply to and which career.

As a chemical engineer, it makes me happy to read about women in STEM. The author did a great job representing all the difficulties for women that want to study or work in that area.

The characters are very likable and we get to know both Bel and Teo on a deep level (their dreams, fears, etc.) At the end of the book, we can see their development.

In general, I liked the narrative. But the language was sometimes a little difficult to understand, mostly when they were building the robots.

Finally, the romance: I liked the way how things happened. The main characters were really cute and I enjoyed their story.

Final thoughts: it is a well-written book that can be read fast. I highly recommend it.

My Mechanical Romance is a story that will conquer you more and more chapter after chapter.
Here are some tools the author used to write this tremendously cute story:
🛠 high school romance;
⚙ girls in STEM;
🪛 hot nerds;
🔧secret tutoring;
🧰 academic rivals to lovers.

This is the story of Bel and Mateo.
Bel is a girl who doesn't know what to do with her life. She wish life could point things out to her and magically make her understand the right thing to do.
Mateo is captain of the robotics club. He's extremely focused on always being the best at everything. He's the one everyone else rely on. That means he can never fail.
Once their paths collide, Bel finds out she likes building bots and challenging Teo makes her feel alive. Teo, on the other hand, discovers the only thing that he can easily do with no pressure: be with Bel.

I adored this book.
I loved the honest, concrete way in which Bel and Teo build their relationship. Yes, the love story is really cute and kinda makes you say "awwww" aloud more than once. Still, it is not trivial at all. It's not like one day they can't stand each other and the next one they're madly in love. On the contrary, they spends hours, days, months studying each other until they find the perfect tools to use in order to build a relationship with strong foundation.
I also think that in this book the author did an amazing job in dealing with the gender equality issue. I happened to read it during World Women's Day and it couldn't have been more perfect! I felt so empowered by every single female character's story. I'll leave you with my fav (and very explanatory) quote: "I think that maybe if Neelam and I helped one girl believe she could do it - and that girl helps another girl - and that girl helps someone... I glance over my shoulder and see Ms. Voss who holds up a a glittery sign: WHO RUN THE WORLD?"

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

“The world is not very helpful to a smart girl,” says Ms. Voss. “More often it will try to force you inside a box. But I urge you not to listen.”

This cute fluffy book was such a fun read.
Exactly the element I was looking for in a rom com romance. And its about STEM. Like come on, as if that isn’t the perfect reason to explore this book.

Reasons to absolutely pick this book:
1. As I already said, its about STEM especially women in STEM.
2. Romcom fluffy romance
3. (sorta) enemies to lover, I repeat, ENEMIES TO LOVERS
4. Academic
5. Short read

Also, look at the cover! I could fawn over the cover all day and they look so cute<3

The story follows Bel who is in her senior year and has no idea what to do with her life. Unlike the other students in her year, she has no plans for her future and hadn’t chosen any college yet. All this changes when one of her teachers find her potential in engineering and insists her to take AP Physics and join the robotics clubs. Find out her journey from here as she deals with the hardships of being a girl in STEM that too of colour.

I loved the fact that the characters are actually realistic. They have their own flaws and it was relatable. The diversity is *chef’s kiss*. Like them celebrating Holi is all I needed to satiate my desi heart.

Mini Love Hypothesis

“I like to think I have eccentric tastes in most things, but I like Taylor Swift, too. I’m human after all.”

The fact that the main character is a swiftie just adds to it✨✨✨
I’d totally recommend this adorable book.

This was such a fun read. I loved all the characters so much and miss reading about them already. I laughed out loud multiple times while reading. The side characters and friendships and family relationships were just as wonderful as the main romance. All the characters felt fleshed out and flawed in very realistic ways. It's a low stress read with characters who are doing their best and making mistakes and learning from them. There were times when THE MESSAGE of the story felt a little heavy handed, but I didn't really mind because it was such an enjoyable read overall. This didn't stray too much into the whole boys vs. girls thing for me, though I'd have liked some mention that gender isn't a binary. If you're looking for a funny and lighthearted YA romance with very little drama and quite a few laughs, this fits the bill perfectly. I hope to read more by this author in the future!

The difficulties of high school, friendships, and fitting in are the context for Bel's senior year of high school at a new-to-her private school. A teacher pressures her into joining the robotics team, and she participates actively on the team as she makes friends and learns how to be a team member. A fun read for strong-minded girls!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. From time to time I find myself reading ya and I am so happy I picked this up. This book served everything it was supposed to serve, from the representation to the plot in general, it was truly a wonderful reading experience. I loved the portrayal of women in male dominated fields because it extraordinary how hard they have to work to be acknowledged or have their opinions taken into consideration.