For months, I had been dreading reading this book, and I can't believe I just finished it in one sitting. This was a fantastic book to read. The story was particularly relatable to me at this age, when adolescence was at its peak, especially in terms of societal expectations and 'finding oneself.' This book forced me to consider my past experiences and life choices. The rivals to lovers trope was pretty short-lived, but it was still entertaining to watch their romance develop. You should absolutely check this book out! This is a must read.

this book was adorable like it’s truly one of my favorite romcoms. as someone who hates physics, this book made me wish i loved it so i could do robotics too. all the characters were so sweet in their own ways and teo and bel were the cutest ever. their romance was so simple and so relatable i loved it so much.

I geuinely had a fun time reading this book. I really enjoyed the book. Perfect for those looking for a fun and quick read

I was only 30% into this when I realized that this was definitely going to be a 5 star read. And it was.

I love this book so much. I've been looking for more academic rivals to lovers books, especially in high school settings such as this one after finishing Today Tonight Tomorrow. And this one really takes the cake for me. I loved it so much that I practically devoured this in a day, and I honestly cannot wait for people to be as obsessed with them as I am right now when this book finally gets published in May.

I love the characters. I love Bel, she's such a fun character and I relate to her not having long term plans like her other peers in her new school apparently do. I also love Teo - he's my new favorite character in YA honestly. If I were to meet him in real life though, I would definitely judge him like Bel did in the first half. I would also try to lock him up in a room and tell him to rest because this boy definitely had way too much things going on in his life.

I liked that this was in dual POV because being in both their heads was fun. I liked the way Bel doesn't want to admit her crush on Teo during her POV, and I also liked being in Teo's where he's so unabashedly praising and talking about Bel in the most lovesick way in his head. The guy falls first is definitely a favorite trope of mine and I just love Teo's take on it so much. I also really loved their banter - I think out of all the academic rivals to lovers romance, the banter in this one is my favorite because they felt very realistic.

The romance in this is also god tier. I'm definitely being subjective about this and I don't care because I spent most of the time reading this smiling and giggling to myself. I love their development (also again, very realistic. I can see some of these scenes happening to my high school friends) and I love that they're so comfortable around each other and the fact that they have each other's back. I also just love how they both learned from each other from the start, and how they're not afraid to have these hard conversations before finally coming to terms and understanding each other. There's this one part in the middle that I highlighted all the way through in my kindle with the color pink and kept rereading for 10 minutes because it was just such a great scene.

I also love the friendships in this!!! I love Jamie, Lora, and Dash. I love Jamie's messages and conversations with Bel SO MUCH. They're so funny and Jamie Lora Bel really captured female friendships in high school (well at least mine) very well. I also love Dash, and his absurdity that Teo talks about in his POV.

Another thing I loved was the way STEM was captured in this. I haven't read much STEM romances but this one was just amazing. STEM here isn't just like a little background thing in the back to add to their personality (like some romances do), but instead played a huge part in the plot. I have no idea whether its accurate or not (but knowing that the author's husband is a professional in Physics and helped her a lot in this aspect, I definitely believe it's accurate) but the way physics and the technicalities in the Robotics were explained was really great (although I hated that subject back in High School so my mind kind of shuts down every time Teo starts talking about torque or velocity). I also just think the author has a way of explaining these subjects wonderfully like she did in TA6, even though the subjects and topics were so different from each other. I feel like I'm an intellectual every time I read her books. I also liked how this book also touches on topics such as the difficulty and prejudice that girls have to face for being in STEM, and all the double standards that apply to them because of it.

I would definitely recommend this to people who wants to read realistic academic rivals to lovers romances set in high school. If you liked books such as Today, Tonight, Tomorrow; Not Here to Be Liked and Meet Cute, you'll definitely love this one.

Now I gotta try and make my local bookseller stock this book on their stores when it's out because I will definitely be buying myself a copy and telling everyone I know on booksta to do it as well. Mark my words.

I really do not know how to put into words just how much I LOVED THIS BOOK! Omg it was so so so good.

I usually am not a romcom/romance lover so I was really not expecting to like this book, but I absolutely LOVED it! It is only March and this just might be one my favorite reads of the year!

My Mechanical Romance was such a cute romcom. I loved the unique premise of the robotics/mechanics part of the book. The main characters were lovable and relatable. The relationship was seriously so wholesome and adorable.
*slides off cliff*

Anywayyyyyy. Would recommend.
-comes out May 31st, 2022

Thank you so much to netalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Cute story. Wasn't really for me, but I know other readers, especially fans of YA will really like this one.

This is the kind of YA romance I want my daughters to read. Badass girls and robots—I mean, need I say more? I’m a huge fan of the author, and this book didn’t disappoint. It highlighted the tiny little things that add up into bigger problems that women face everyday in a way that was relatable and also hopeful.



Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC version of this novel! This review is my honest take on this delightful story.

•I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as i did. It started off slow and i was confused cause i couldn't tell if it was based in college or Highschool but then like half way i came to the conclusion it was based in highschool but yoh the things these kids studied i was asking myself what kind of highschool is this cause you are pressuring these kids but again i can't say much maybe that's how things are done in the states.

•I also try to avoid reading books about charcaters based in highschool cause its really hard to relate to them anymore and sometimes the writing isn't always that good i end up asking myself why the author didnt just make it a college romance cause of all the things that go down. They always make the characters have like these parties and its always about the football/hockey jock and the shy/new girl etc we all know how those go...the drama, but this was so refreshing the ML may play soccer but his main interest is robotics and i may not know much about it but i really enjoyed reading and learning about robotics. And when the FL also finds her love for robotics it was just so cute as to how they showed love for what they wanna do. i don't regret reading this cause it was relatable for highschool kids ...and if i was still in Highschool I'm sure would relate to it.

•Also can we appreciate that it has women in stem💃🏾💃🏾
Thank you Netgalley for this ARC

OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK! I was really into it and it was such a great read. The plot was overall good & so are the characters. The story wasn't dragging which makes it good, i'm thankful to read this book & I super enjoyed it

Many, many thanks to Holiday House and NetGalley for providing me with this digital ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

My professional review:

I am so glad that I loved this book with my whole heart because at the beginning I was really skeptical of the story but Alexene Farol Follmuth aka Olivie Blake definitely did not disappoint.
Firstly, the plot is so interesting - it's surely not only a romance as I expected. As a woman in STEM, I really appreciate the commentary on sexism and elitism of the field as they are very well-represented in my opinion. The story about academic validation also amuses me a lot - as I relate very much to some of the characters in this regard. Furthermore, the way AFF wrote the succession of the events is very smooth and it really helps with the reading after the rough beginning (at least for me).
Next, the characters and their development, without surprise, were well-executed. Every character has their own flaws at the beginning, and it's quite satisfying to see their evolution and how their relationships helped them with it. Indeed, the development can be considered "rushed", but I am definitely not mad because it's a short book, and overall, very consistent.
Finally, the romance. As expected from the one of only Olivie Blake, it's *chef's kiss*. I love how their relationship played out, and how the spark of the yearning period doesn't disappear after the relationship started. The competitiveness of a classic-academic-rivals-to-lovers arc, the tension, the yearning... Everything was perfect. After that rough beginning, Bel and Teo indeed became one of the couples I am gonna think about for a long time.
However, I do have some small complaints. As previously said, the beginning was hard for me to get through because it felt very juvenile and disconnected from the rest of the book. Additionally, while I have never really hated Neelam, I find her actions around Bel kind of unjustified. Other than that, this book was a solid 4.75/5 for me. I really hope Olivie Blake will write more YA romances because her writing in this book is so good.

Anyways...

My unprofessional review that CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS:

1. ACADEMIC VALIDATION IS THE BEST FORM OF VALIDATION BITCHES
2. *cries* He calls her "bel canto" *SCREAMS*
3. kisskisskisskisskisskisskisskisskisskiss...... OH MY FUCKING GODDDDDDDDD BWJSWJJSJNSJWJSJJSJ
4. Kai my little sunshine
5. Confident, unapologetic girlbosses in STEM who aren't afraid to take up space >>>>>>>>>>>
6. If she doesn't make you a mechanical sparrow bot, does she even love you?
7. The reunion *cries*
8. Do I want to date them, or do I want to be them...?

This book was beautifully written and a quick read. The subject matter was unique and intriguing to me. At times I found it difficult to distinguish the voices of the two main characters. I also found some of the male characters infuriating, but that was the point. I LOVED the feminist aspect of this story. The graciousness between women and the support that they gave to one another was beautiful. I’m not a woman in STEM, but I believe we need more women in STEM, and this book will help encourage women to get there. There’s nothing I love more than a book that showcases the power of females.

This was a really fun read! I enjoyed all of the representation of different cultures and backgrounds in it and I think that it made this book much more relatable and realistic. I loved Bel and I liked how she was truly just one of those high schoolers who were lost because they aren't written about enough. I really liked reading from Teo's perspective as well since I got to see who he really was instead of just how he presented himself to everyone else. The relationship between Bel and Teo was super cute and I liked how the progression of their relationship was realistic and gradual and the connection between them was believable. This book gave some insight into a lot of different cultures since Bel is half Filipino and Teo's is Mexican. There were also a bunch of side characters that were a part of different cultures and I loved the little details this book had about parts of them. I loved the relationship/conflict between Neelam and Bel, I thought it was very realistic and I think this book captured the struggles of girls in STEM really well.

3 stars

nerds in love!! "my mechanical romance" is a YA romcom that follows bel and mateo. bel joins the robotics club mateo is captain of. the two immediately butt heads yet as the novel progresses, they start to see in another light.

this was a really cute romcom with a focus on STEM. the way bel and mateo's relationship developed was cute (academic rivals to lovers >>) but i do think it was kind of rushed. the formatting knocked some points off for me. the way the arc downloaded on my kindle made it kinda awkward to read and it really lessened my enjoyment of the book.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the copy :)

This review is also posted on goodreads at the following link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4582589434

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

I had decided to add this book to my DNF list at around 15%.

I unfortunately was forcing myself through it and it felt slow paced and wasn't able to grab my attention although going into it I expected to love it. Im sure this book is still amazing once it gets started in the main plot advancements and I may return to this later on although for now I don't see myself finishing this book.

this was so cute!! a fun and quick read about a teen romance, i liked the focus on engineering and how it presents the struggle that woc in stem face. bel is a relatable character, and i loved to read her development; also the ending was perfect, although i felt like it happened a bit too fast. but still it was good, finished in a sitting

If you haven’t laid hands on the book yet, here’s your clue to stop reading. This review has spoilers.

You’d surmise for someone who gave a book five whole stars, it must be easy to recapitulate. Well, you’re wrong. It doesn’t work that way with this masterpiece. Heard about The Love Hypothesis? Yeah, this book is a little similar, but cleaner. I was so skeptical about who is the villain when the book started, but the end was so satisfying.

I love, love, love Mrs. Voss, and even though she might not be the most softspoken, Neelam is indeed the strongest feminist-zing character I’ve seen in a long time. And Dash and Lora, are by far the sweetest characters in the book. I was secretly hoping they’d date, but Ravi is as good (I guess). I don’t know if Dash really had very strong feelings for Bel but I feel equally sad for him anyway.

The Holi scene, OH MY GOD. I am an Indian, and trust me, Indian movies have very romantic scenes dedicated to Holi as their background. But this one somehow crossed any and all record ever established. Probably because I lived it vicariously and it was my imagination, but everything that the author wrote, I felt tenfold. I’m happy that Neelam finally got the chance, even if Teo had to be sick for it. But most importantly, it was the epilogue that got me. I mean, it would’ve been great if Bel went to MIT but it was even better that she didn’t. Because life doesn’t really work all as you wish, and sometimes, you have to leave emotions behind to work on what’s actually important. I was happy that Teo and Bel were still going strong, and I wish they’d do it forever, except yeah, they’re a fiction of the imagination.

All in all, I totally recommend this book! I mean, add this to your TBR and read it as soon as you finish whatever you’re currently reading. Adding this to my re-read list, be right back!

this was very cute and i really loved the focus on engineering. my main griffe is the writing is a bit cringy at times, but that’s a staple of the genre, and i was able to overlook that. also the book is advertised as enemies/academic rivals to lovers and it’s not. there’s no academic rivalry between the two love interests, and they never really hated each other. but still, it was very enjoyable, and i finished it in a sitting.

this was adorable!

i was initially hesitant to pick this up because YA contemporary romance is not my genre and i have since outgrown it. i also think that adults cannot write believable teenagers in love and that the usual attempts at writing this are dumb and juvenile, but this book proved me wrong. the plot, characters, and themes were well-written. i was not annoyed by the characters nor did i overly cringe at the dialogue (though of course i did, i believe it's part of the genre's experience). i actually found it quite enjoyable.

young people in love can actually be so cute and enjoyable, they just don't get it right most of the time. this did it right though, and even if i'm not into this genre, i like to think that i can judge if a book is good or not; this one's good.

I was dying to get my hands on an ARC of this book, so thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with one in exchange for an honest review!

First of all I love love loved the book! It’s been a while since I read a YA contemporary and this was such a fun and sweet read. Our two leads are academic rivals to lovers (or as one of the main characters friends’ describes them: enemies to work colleagues to lovers). Bel has just transferred to an academically rigorous STEM focused school for her senior year of high school, where she is ends up in AP physics and robotics club with Teo Luna. Bel and Teo have very different upbringings and life goals - Teo is the son of a famous software developer who has his whole life mapped out, whereas Bel has never really known what she wants to do after high school. They butt heads at first over the plans for their robots, but when they work together they have great chemistry.

I thought the romance between the two characters was so cute. They really balance each other out and help each other deal with the pressures of their parents and expectations for the future. Outside of the romance, I really appreciated the way the author dealt with the challenges that girls face when they go into a field as male dominated as physics and engineering. Especially being a ~ woman in stem ~ myself, I think it’s great that heroines like Bel and the other girls in this story are going to be out there for teens to read. Even beyond science and robotics, the author does a great job of capturing the feeling so many teens have in high school, with the pressure of applying to schools and feeling like the success of your future depends on your life at 17. I especially related to Bel in not knowing what you’re really interested in enough to want to study long term. And I think lots of other people will too when this book comes out!

Full review is posted on Goodreads and StoryGraph

I truly enjoyed this young adult romance. This was a well written high school romance with lovable and relatable characters. I am especially enjoying the new trope of academic and STEM enemies to lovers .

Bel and Teo end up having to work together as a team when Bel is forced to join the robotics club that Teo is captain of. The pair butt heads at first, but the more time they spend together, the more their feelings change...

This story had everything from strong female lead to strong willed love interest that both came with their share of personal struggles. I laughed out loud at several moments and looking ro more from Alexene Farol Follmuth.