Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange of a honest review!

I am NOT a romcom contemporary girl. Definitely not my favorite. And yet... If all books were like this one, I would absolutely DEVOUR the genre. 5/5 stars, no doubt.

Let's start with the writing. Alexene has such a way with words; i saw it in The Atlas Six, her adult fantasy book, and now here, too. If I could highlight the whole book, I would have. I love how the main characters have very different personalities and how it echoes in their voice – the first person narrative was a great choice here.

Bel is my queen; I love her sarcastic remarks and her weird phrasings just as much as Teo does. I am just.. so proud of her?? And Teo!!!! In the beginning, I had the feeling he would be insufferable, you know, like rich smart boys in high school are, but the insight on his thoughts and how he sees the world really helped his case here. And damn, what a development.

I also loved the side characters. Each of them added something special to the narrative, and it's ridiculous how it only took me 272 pages to care SO MUCH about these kids and feel so proud whenever they accomplished something. A big shout-out to Neelam, another girl in the robotics team, and Luke, Bel's older brother; they are absolutely amazing.

This book made go back in time to when I was the one making the big choice of "what do you wanna do in the future?". In fact, so many of my personal challenges since my teenage years were exposed here, thrown in my face: how Bel is affected by her home situation, her relationship with her brothers, her struggle to find out what she wants to do when she's so damn young and should still be learning, how she has to try twice harder than the boys to be heard and seen in STEM; how Teo feels like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, how he thinks people will only love him as long as he can be of service to them, how he must be the top on everything like that will prove his worth... Like, dude. I was emotional during the whole damn book. The author took all of these themes and wrote them in a cute and light-hearted way, while still making me teary.

As for the romance... Perfection. Chef's kiss. Their big banter and rivalry didn't last long, but it was wonderful anyway. They are so damn cute, and I love how they push each other forward. The ending got me wishing a whole new book following them.

So, yeah! I strongly recommend this one. It's already on my top 2022 reads for sure!

What happens when you give someone who doesn't like contemporary books a contemporary written by Olivie Blake/Alexene Farol Follmuth? You get someone who suddenly has a new genre they love. I truly cannot say how much I loved this book. The romance was absolutely adorable. Teo and Bel are literally perfect for each other. They pushed each other to grow through the book, and it was truly beautiful to see; Teo helped Bel realize her genius, while she helped him realize his privilege. Their awkwardness, their cuteness, the way their genuine with one another, all of it- I was grinning like idiot because I loved them too much. Gosh, I need a whole series about them. Ok now to the stuff that brought me to tears. Mateo Luna- I haven't felt that represented in a character for a very long time. The overachieving, Latinx student who takes on everyone's problems because that's the only way he thinks people will love him? CALL ME OUT Olivie! Olivie wrote this part of so many students so beautifully and it brought me to tears. The discussions of sexism in the STEM fields? Olivie wove it in so perfectly. Neelam is literally one of the best characters in this book. The way Olivie showed the sexism from robotic club, to competition, to college acceptances, to teachers. She's truly a genius. I wish this book could be mandatory reading for all STEM clubs. Just so perfect. The discussions on making students at 18 figure out their entire damn lives? SO NEEDED. Honestly, this book belongs in every high school curriculum. Alexene is such a gifted writer and I've found a new favorite author. Basically, this is going to be one of my favorite reads of this year and is going to launch me trying a new genre. If you're wondering whether you should read this bool, don't even hesitate; the answer is YES!

“Ms. Voss once told me that I needed to take up my own space in this life, and as right as she was then, I think I’ve managed to take it a step further. It took me some time, but I think I finally know the secret: that you can stand up without standing alone.”

At the start of her senior year and following her parents’ divorce, Bel transfers to a new school and feels like more than ever she has no plan, no direction, and honestly doesn’t really care to have one. Her physics teacher recommends she try out for the robotics team, and she gets in. As she discovers the world of high school robotics, Bel discovers herself, and robotics captain Teo Luna along the way.

At its very core, this is so much more than a high school love story. This is a story about figuring out your place and the world, which during your senior year of high school can seem incredibly daunting. Bel’s going through a major transition when she starts at Essex Academy, and while she is initially despondent about high school, college, and her future, she discovers something and someone that she loves! I love that this book not only features girls in STEM, but it also brings to light some of the issues they face, and the fact that not everyone believes they belong there (not true, they totally belong there). I’m not typically one to poo-poo a book romance, and while I LOVE Teo and Bel together and love that they helped each other navigate a difficult season together, I think I appreciated the narrative of Bel taking up her own space in life MORE, and I would’ve loved if she didn’t do it with a boy by her side.

Thanks to NetGalley and Holiday House for providing this ARC. All opinions are my own.

My Mechanical Romance is not, by any means, a bad book. It is, however, a story I found incredibly hard to connect to. Something was just… missing. I didn’t click with either one of the main characters, to the point that I wasn’t even really rooting for them: not as individuals, not as a couple. It was still enjoyable to see their relationship develop, and though the “academic rivals-to-lovers” trope didn’t exactly reach its full potential, I had fun. Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me grinning the entire time. I was in a bit of a reading slump and then this book came along and I breezed through it in 2 days! I loved the portrayal of the struggle of woman in STEM, and the characters were simply fantastic. Also, if you loved Big Hero 6, you absolutely have to read this. Overall, of you are looking for a YA romance with a focus on math, science, and robotics, you NEED to read this!!!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in return for an honest review.

It was a cute concept. The Teo-Bel relationship with a Dash thrown in felt too contrived and I wasn’t here for it. We need more girls in STEM, and this story could have brought a lot more power.

Thanks to NetGalley and Holiday House for the ARC.

I'm in tears after finishing this book. I just loved it so much! It completely has my heart. It's so weird because usually, I like a very specific kind of contemporary, and this would not be it. I don't typically like high school romance or high school drama books or just fluffy contemporaries in general, but for whatever reason, I felt like I would adore this, and I did.

5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was one of my most awaited reads for this year, and I am so very glad to say that it did not disappoint. Bel and Teo might just be one of my new favourite ships and all the characters in this book are so lovable. 10/10 would recommend.

i had such high hopes for this book ever since i first came across this book cover on goodreads and read the description. that hope increased tenfold when i found out the author of this book is olivie blake (aka the author of one of my fav books from 2021) writing under the pen name, alexene farol follmuth. and then i got the book as an ARC through @netgalley last week and i abandoned all my currenr reads and proceeded to read the entire book in a couple hours. and my high hopes were met.

it’s only february but this might be one of my fav YA romances of the year. i absolutely loved all the characters and understood them and their conflicts and wants/needs so well because of the way they were written. (yes i’m talking about neelam too.)

idk how many people will relate or understand neelam and her pov but i completely understood her and where she was coming from and i could relate to her situation and feel her rage at the world and the way the world kept closing in and shutting her out of opportunities. i don’t think i’ve read a character like neelam in a long while and i was really happy to read about her even if she wasn’t the main character. ofc it wouldn’t be a romance and more of a commentary on this world if she were the main character lol, and ofc i did and still do love bel and teo with my entire heart but i wanted to highlight my pov about neelam because idk how many people are going to talk about her.

anyway, this book was perfection. all the physics and robotics stuff obviously went right over my head (there’s a reason it was my least fav science lol) but i absolutely loved it and highly recommend reading it if you enjoy YA romances.

if this love letter to this book hasn’t convinced you already, here are some of the tropes that are this book to convince you to add this one to your tbr and read it as soon as it comes out on May 31st!
- enemies to lovers
- grumpy x sunshine
- found family// ragtag group of friends
- lovers in STEM

Thank you NetGalley and Alexene Farol Follmuth for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

'My Mechanical Romance' is a fun YA romance novel, complete with academic rivals and a sweet and empowering narrative on women in STEM and feminism in general (particularly targeted toward young girls). The character arc of the main female character, Bel, follows the struggles of belonging, especially in a male-dominated group, and not knowing what to do in life. It's something that most people, especially girls, can relate to.

The romance aspect of the book was charming and adorably filled with good cheesy moments - the kind that leaves you smiling in real life! The main characters were relatable and had such Gen Z personalities, I was actually shocked that an author could express high school language so well and it didn't feel forced at all. The book had plenty of light and heart-warming moments to love.

The book is on a simpler level in terms of how mature the writing is, and it was different from Olivie Blake's (Follmuth's alter) sophisticated writing that it took a while to get used to. I also didn't like the amount of political buzzwords used in the book, though it's more common nowadays in Gen Z to use, it felt almost like a Riverdale scene attempting to sound woke. However, it's writing style is fitting for many young readers!

Overall, this is an enjoyable read perfectly suited for YA audiences and romance lovers, it's sure to make your day reading it!

Didn't expect this to hit so personally with me. At first I was thrown off by Luke's offhanded joke of Filipinos being "dumb Asians" or "jungle Asians" but I'm sure Alexene didn't mean any harm or to offend anyone with that comment. Sure, it did enrage me at the time, but now that I've finished the book, I can definitely say that Filipino culture here has been shown with respect and undeniable love. The little quirks of Bel's mom like immediately feeding Teo upon arrival is *very very Filipino-mom-like.* It is a CRIME in Filipino households to NOT feed your guests the moment they step into the house. That scene also just reminded me of how much I missed eating my grandmother's lumpia, and my mom's sinigang. There's none better in the world.

For as long as I can remember, I've always been top of my class. If not valedictorian, then salutatorian. I winced as I read the pressure Teo was feeling, because I've been there too many times to count. Knowing that you *can't* fail, because you're the leader, you've got many people counting on you, expecting the best of you, and have no choice but to continually shine and shine that only facet of yourself for everyone else's pleasure that your true self becomes abandoned. I sympathized with Teo for that, and when he slowly learned to let go, to ease a bit, and give myself a lot more sympathy, care, understanding, I couldn't love him more.

I'm currently a freshman in my fallback school, and to be honest, I'm not enjoying it. The struggles I feel right now are so in line with both Bel's and Teo's. The fact that I don't have a definite plan in the future and I feel like I'm *always* being pushed to something. In elementary, I was pushed into journalism. I was good at it, I won competitions, but I never really enjoyed it. Yet I still did it, because I was good at it, and people said I was, and there was already an expectation burdened upon me. So that little scene at the end when Dash did exactly what I couldn't made me feel very proud of him. The fact that Bel finally found the courage of taking a decision upon herself to take hold of her future and embrace her passion and her talents made me tear up a bit. Like her, I didn't get into my dream school. The rejection crushed me because deep down I knew that of course I didn't get in, that I deserve it. Because truthfully, for the last few months, I didn't even try. I just skated by on the goodwill from the teachers and classmates I've gained over the years of being Little Miss Perfect. I feel so close on giving up, though, but after reading Bel and her beautiful journey, I can only hope I get an ounce of her strength one day.

Alexene, if you're reading this, salamat. Grabe naitulong sa akin ng istorya mo, at alam kong marami ring ibang mga taong babasa neto at mararamdaman ang kasiyahang naramdaman ko.

Charmingly Quirky Enemies to Academic Rivals to Lovers

I've known this author's writing style since her fanfiction days as Dramione was the first fandom I joined. I squealed when she made a few references to her fanfic work like How To Win Friends And Influence People.

If you like...
-cool young women building robots
-quirky characters
-weird, precious love

You need to read this!

It was refreshing to have a story where the main character, Bel, didn't have a set plan for her life in high school and felt overwhelmed by the pressure to just know. Uncertainty about the future is such a relatable concept for all ages, especially with the pandemic. At 25, I still do not know what I want to do with my life. I have had so many jobs and different forms of income, and I never felt like I could fit in with a world determined to put me in a box. My heart was with Bel the entire story.

Funnily enough, my husband is a mechanical engineer and he did robotics from middle school through high school (he coached as well in college). Teo reminded me so much of him cause my husband just knew what he wanted from life and what he wanted to be since a young age. Even though you are set in what you want, you still have to face all the pressures and the assumptions of the world.

The beauty of this story is in the quote in the epilogue, "you can stand up without having to stand alone". In this world, we are encouraged to do it all on our own, to not need or seek help. Witnessing Bel and Teo fall in love, you can sense that they are better together. For some of us, we are truly ourselves when we are with the people who are there and support us, whether that be a partner or a best friend.

This was a quick read and I truly enjoyed the romance between Bel and Teo. Unfortunately, there were some parts that dragged on where I would have liked a longer epilogue or more chapters of post Nationals. In her fanfics, I also was more connected to the side characters than I was in this book.

Overall, I felt like this was a unique and captivating plot for both Bel and Teo as I could relate to both of them even now in my mid 20s.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book!

thank you for netgalley for the copy in exchange of an honest review! :)

I sped read this book in about a day. I loved the women in STEM concept — and feeling as if you have to carve out your own place in a world where you don’t fit. it was gooooood! highly recommend!

Thank you so much Netgalley and Publisher for this copy!

This was a pretty enjoyable YA romance read and if you were a huge fan of The Love Hypothesis I think you'll enjoy this as well. I was also surprised that there was Filipino representation here, and I really enjoyed that bit too.
It was very easy to get into this book because of the trope academic rivals, and the banter between Bel and Teo was pretty entertaining.

I loved this book because our main character, Bel, is actually half Filipino who was forced to join the robotics team after one of her teachers told her that she had a huge potential for it. Reading about Bel's high school adventures honestly made me feel a bit nostalgic with mine. We see her struggle to compete and feel pressured because with she thinks her classmates have their whole life planned out already.
Aside from that, I love how realistic this book was when in came to the pressure we feel from our parents when it comes to academics. It always made you feel like if you fail, you'll be such a disappointment and they won't love you anymore.

Teo is our genius hero here, and I loved him. He was such a reliable friend to everyone, he was attentive to everyone's needs and he was always there to lend a helping to others. I love his connection with Bel, he definitely inspired Bel to embrace herself and to always be the better version of herself. Which is why their romance is pretty adorable, they were always open and understanding of one another and they were a team when it comes to everything.

Also, this book tackles the sexism oftenly observed in the engineering field. We see the girls here struggling to prove themselves and always working hard for the approval of others.

Overall, such a easy and fun book to read!

AHHH this was so good!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ It melted my heart!! It was definitely one of the best YA romances i’ve read recently. who doesn’t love a good stem romance?!

7.14 on cawpile, so it's a low 4 but a 3 felt too low. I enjoyed the robotics parts and the STEM and the message about girls in science. The romance was kinda eh for me, I didn't really feel it

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

this was a really cute read! i loved both teo's and bel's individual characters and as a former robotics team member and current woman in stem a lot of the effort that was put into including accurate details was not lost on me. i did love teo's and bel's dynamic throughout the book and how their feelings developed for each other was very well written and nothing felt too rushed. that being said, i do think the last 20% wrapped up too fast for me and while the pacing of the rest of the book was great, the conclusion and epilogue didn't leave me feeling satisfied. without spoiling anything, a lot of the issues that bel and teo had in their relationship and individually ended up getting resolved too quickly considering how much buildup there was surrounding these problems. overall this was a cute ya romance and i would recommend it to people looking for a fun, easy-to-read book!

This book was everything I like about YA romcom!!!

Our main character, Bel, is very fun and SOOO relatable. It always makes me a bit emotional to see a character on the page going through the same kind of struggle as I am, and being lost and trying to figure out what to do with your life is definitely something I can relate to (yes, even tho I’m now in my 20s). It was also very heartwarming to see Bel getting support from the people around her, whether it be at school or at home. Teo was also a really nice character. Although his “confidence” (let’s call it that for lack of better word) that he is absolutely needed to make things work around him throughout most of the book was a little annoying, so it was really nice when he realized the world wasn’t gonna fall apart if he couldn’t hold it (Atlas reference haha). His struggles and fears were also very relatable.

The relationship between the two characters was really nice and cute and I absolutely loved seeing their relationships with their friends and classmates.

Finally, what gave uniqueness to this book was of course the robotics/mechanics side of the story. I liked how the book tackled the matter of sexism in science-related fields of study without pretending to be magically solving it. My hope is that this book will show young teens that they CAN pursue science careers if they want, but also that they can do that while being themselves (whether it be girls who like makeup or like to read romance books or whatever!).

Thank you to Netgalley and Alexene Farol Follmuth for providing me with this arc! It is great to see Olivie is a great writer in any genre she chooses!

I loved that this book explores the perception of Girls and STEM studies- and Bel is as bold as they come coupled with the anxiety of youth, the indecision and yearning to be loved and understood by peers and the adults.
This story started slow in that first chapter and after that it picks up and I for one loved Bel's teacher who proposed that she try her wits out in the Robotics class reminding her that she's got a mind like everyone else, what matters is that she uses it.
The cover draws attention and the story keeps it. Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.