This was so wholesome. I absolutely loved the women in STEM rep. Especially since I am a woman in STEM and I could really relate to alot of the things talked about. Although, I went in thinking this would be in a University environment so I was little disappointed at first when I found out it was set in High school. I do prefer reading romance between adults, but that's completely my fault for misreading the blurb. But, I do not regret reading this! It was really cute and the characters are all so likeable (yes, even Neelam).

And I just want to point out that, no it is not an enemies to lover, or rivals to lovers, or whatever you want to call that trope. It is simply a strangers to lovers which, in my opinion, is the best trope.

There was something else that really surprised me. And that was the fact that this is written by the same author as The Atlas Six. Which is just mind-boggling. I couldn't help but compare the writing style between the two books. The writing in The Atlas Six is so rich and complete, but in comparison, My Mechanical Romance seems so shallow. The dialogue and description was sometimes repetitive. I just feel like of the book had a few more revisions it would be perfect. Because I know for a fact that author can do better.

I absolutely enjoyed Alexene Farol Follmuth's YA debut about enemies to lovers in STEM. The narrator does an excellent job telling the story. It was refreshing to listen to and inspiring to listen to an audiobook about a young woman of color in STEM. Bel is a new student at her school and to an extent feels like she is out of place in the advanced courses she is being pushed to take. Her POV even begins with her comparing how big a difference all of this is from her old school. As she eases into AP Physics and the robotics team, Bel learns a lot about the field and about Teo, who she ultimately ends up falling in love with. Teo's POV is also written into the story and we get a sense of his struggles as well. Overall, it was an enjoyable listen and I would highly recommend it.

MY MECHANICAL ROMANCE💗🎮
Author:Alexene Farol Follmuth
Score:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
English Level: B2
Recommended age: +16

"I've always believe that there's a possibility for everything in the world to collide for a single perfect moment, and that sometimes, if you're lucky, you get to have one for yourself."

Thank u to @netgalley and @holidayhousebks for an ARC and my honest opinión of the book🥺💗✨
This book is coming to realease on May 31st.
This is a YA contemporay rivals to lovers romance with Girls in STEM💗🎮
This book reminds me of" The Love Hypothesis "that is on eof my favourite books ever and reading this book make me Love more this TROPE of Girls in STEM but for a young public.
Here we meet Isabell But never call her by her full name, she likes "Bel". She likes to build thing but when she makes a proyect for a class, she reveals a great talent for engineering at school and then she have to join the robotica club. That's when she met Teo Luna the captan of the club and a good soccer player, Who revognizes Bel as a potencial asset-until they start building heads. They have to work on a bot for The Nationals of Robot combat and in the time they pass building it, they've made space for each other and themselves.
I love so much how the author introduces so well the engineering and robotic terms that for me they were easy to understand. Bel is so Real in all the aspects, her personality is so happy and bright but also she is afraid to not be good enough and that other people don't recognize all the effort she put.
In Bel I see all the girls that are afraid of trying all the STEM things because the people told then that it is only for boys and the girls don't do that and they have to be different.
Regardless of the romance history, the most important thing of this book is "follow your dreams"there always be people and oneself that is going to stop our dreams but if it makes you happy, you have to go ahead.That is what I learn of Bel and also have birds in my pants.
TEO LUNA GODDD, I Love him so much! Teo is not that perfect like he seems, and he makes mistakes and that is okay.Teo is the grumpy in this history and also the most kind, beautiful boy.
Outside, teo is very serious and that he is always the best in the team, but being able to see and learn more about what happens in his life was wonderful. Teo grew as a person throughout the book seeing his mistakes and how he could improve and also who he wanted to become.
Bel and Teo's relationship was simply beautiful and how could it not be, if the nerds are very handsome.
At first I thought that this relationship would be very forced but as the book progressed I began to see and notice those details that one contributed to the other. The two are like a puzzle, they are a complete piece on their own but when united they can achieve great things.
It doesn't have +18 scenes but it does make us understand that in an aside from the book but nothing explicit, since it is focused on a younger audience.

The secondary characters as well as the main ones were very good.
The ones I liked the most were Dash, Teo's friend, he was very funny and he is the one who will always make you laugh. Luke, Bel's brother who cared for her and protected her too much, and the nickname he called her, awwww I loved it. And Jamie and Neelma that I would have liked to see more of the two of them and get to
know them better.
That ending ahh I feel like it was the best to end this story but I will miss you very much and I assure you that I will buy the physical book because so far it is my favorite book of the year and I will not tire of recommending it.
Love the two narrator, they are Bel and Teo and listen to them give me 1000000000 butterflies and I love it!!!
My favourite book of the year💗

This book has💗🎮 :
-Grumpy FMC x Grumpy MMC
-Rivals to Lovers
-Light Academia
-Have to work together
-Dual POV
-Robotic and Mechanical references
-Feminism
-Girls in STEM
-Robotic and Soccer male protagonist
-Taylor Swift references
-Robot fights
-Cute moments

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the advance audiobook of this title, in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who grew up long before robots were commonplace and high school students were building them, I never really considered what a robotics competition was like. If this book is anything to go by, it’s quite a cutthroat world! In addition, it’s typically male-dominated—and not typically a setting for romance.

Bel has a lot on her plate. Her parents have separated, and she has moved to a new home with her mother and her brother, as well as starting at a new school in senior year. She’s feeling pressure from everywhere about what she plans to do with her life—and her science teacher basically forces her into AP Physics and the robotics team tryouts. When she makes the team, she suddenly finds herself working closely with Teo, the golden child of the school, the captain of the club.

How will Bel, a girl with no robotics experience, but a lot of practice tinkering in the yard with her father and brothers, do on a high-powered team? How will a girl with no thoughts about the future handle working with a group of kids who have already mapped out their college and career plans? And does she have a future with Mateo??

The narrators of this book were so wonderful, I probably would have enjoyed listening to them read the real estate ads in the newspaper. I didn’t want this book to end.

"Because she surprises me, because she makes me laugh, and because this, whatever it is with her, is the only thing I ever do that’s easy.
Because wherever I am, I want her close by."

Themes & vibes:
• nerdy YA romance
• high school setting
• rivals-to-friends-to-lovers
• coming of age
• girls in STEM
• dual POV

This was so adorable! Cute, and fun, and well written, and deliciously nerdy!

Building robots is not how I picture a good time, but this kept me engaged and glued to the page the whole time. I loved how entertaining both the plot and the writing style were.

The MCs were so sweet! They were amazing separately and even better together. And they grew so much throughout the book.

And the romance aspect of this book was just - chef's kisses. Honestly, I think this may be the best YA contemporary romance I’ve ever read. It gave me all I’ve been looking for and more.

I really hope Follmuth will write more in this genre - I’d be the first one to read it all and I’m sure many more people feel the same.

If you want to see my much more in depth review, you can check it out on my book blog NovelOnMyMind.

A huge thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth in exchange for an honest review.

This was a sweet YA and I think a lot my students would enjoy it. It was a nice story while reading, but not one that that I will remember for long. I liked the STEM aspect of it - its like Ali Hazelwood books for younger teens. and I would definitely recommend it for a school library.

I love STEM romance books. I’m a very big Ali Hazelwood fan and this felt like a YA Ali Hazelwood, women in STEM romance. Super cute, well executed, slow burn YA romance. I also love books where I learn about science, so this was extra fun.

This is a sweet romance story between two young people in STEM.

I really enjoyed the discussion about how boys are encouraged to learn and try out engineering and girls typically are not. While most explicit gender-based discrimination has been removed (in my country, not everywhere unfortunately), this more subtle form of inequality still remains. I really like the message this book sends out to young readers: Both girls and boys can be good in building battle robots and anything else. Just do it!

The romance itself I wasn't that interested in. At times I was kinda bored. There was nothing really bad about it. I liked both MCs and most side characters. But there also was not something that made it stand out for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with the audio-ARC!

Since part of my background is in physics, I simply loved all the geeky moments.
It touches on very important topics, namely the struggle of women to enter worlds previously considered only for men and, another less talked about, the choice that can define the rest of our lives.
In the end, it's a fun read and I recommend it.

I listened to the audiobook. The book is super cute! The narrators put on different voices for the side characters and since they were teens and enthusiastic it got a little annoying. It kind of sounded mocking at some points or that the side characters where dumber than they were.

I loved the main characters! And I really loved diving deeper into their lives and relationships and why they would get on each others nerves in the beginning! I loved how it touches on sexism in male dominated interests and the difficulty of proving yourself in situations that seem set up against you.

I also appreciated diving into the characters’ struggles of needing to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives in high school and all the pressure schools and colleges apply to kids.

Super cute read and loved every minute of it even if I know nothing of robots!

Narrators 3 stars
Narrator ls had great voices. A little over the top for me personally

Story 3 stars
The story was fun, light and a quick easy read. (or listen in this case.) Great job for a first novel. Definitely a book I would recommend to my 15 year old neice.

This was okay. Love the cover. Love the whole idea of the book. (Because who doesn't like Girls In STEM?)

I was a little annoyed at how everyone was treating Bel, but she also had a bad habit of not communicating with her teammates and just DOING things and expecting them to be happy about it.

It was nice getting to see the characters grow and learn more about themselves and what's important to them and how to learn to accept it.

Thank you to RB Media and Netgalley for the audio ARC.

Audiobook review - My Mechanical Romance is both a YA rom/com and a realistic look into girls in STEM. While I love the teen drama/romance the book features I thought the portrayal of the discrimination/sexism that girls face in STEM was fantastic and I hope eye opening for many. I highly recommend this for all YA collections!

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.

Feminist, STEM, Robotics, Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Duel POV, Coming of Age, YA.

I was completely blown away by this book. It dove a lot deeper into systemic sexism and the patriarchal biases women and girls in STEM continually face than I thought it would. Bel starts a new prep school in senior year and is challenged by her science teacher to join Robotics and to make an effort in discovering her talents. Teo is the son of a high-profile tech genius, struggling to understand how to trust, let go and sort out how to find the balance between obligation and his wants. They meet, they don’t see eye to eye but eventually come together in Robotics Club.

What I loved so much was that Follmuth doesn’t dance around or lightly broache the issue that it continues to be hard for females in the STEM field on all levels. Rather she, brings it to the forefront of the story in a way that enhances instead of overpowers. There's still a healthy amount of teen drama, angst and sweet romance but it doesn’t shy away from critucal issues. The dual POV highlights how cultural norms and systemic patriarchy affects each character differently throughout the story. Like how their teacher Mac, is understood completely differently between Bel and Teo.

I do wish there was a bit more of a resolution for Teo’s character and his family issues. Also, it would have been nice if her teacher Mac, took more responsibility for his seemingly unknown actions towards Bel and the other girls in her class. Regardless this was a fantastic read and I absolutely adored the epilogue, it gets all the heart emojis. I do believe that everyone should read this, not only future and current female scientists but, everyone, it carries such an important message.

Shout out to the narrators Amielynn Abellera and Christopher Salazar for a great job.

“I need to take up my own space. I need to be my own push”
“You can stand up without standing alone”

Special thank you to #NetGalley, #AlexeneFarolFollmuth and #RecordedBooks for sharing this digital copy, these are my honest thoughts on #MyChemicalRomance. Also, a thank you to narrators #AmielynnAbellera and #ChristopherSalazar.

Thank you to Holiday House, RB Media, Recorded Books and NetGalley for the ALC/ARC in return for my honest review.

I was attracted by the title and the girl in STEM theme, but unfortunately, the book wasn’t for me.
So, I expected more MCR because of the title. A bit disappointing. And, I had a hard time finishing the audiobook because both narrators didn’t work for me. The female narrator was over the top and the male was quite slow. The dialogues seemed forced. But, don’t take my word for it because there are many positive reviews out there.

A cute romance that unfolds in high school robotics.

I liked that this story revolved around characters in STEM and there was a cute romance. I loved that it wasn't the typical nerdy girl changing herself to fit some popular girl stereotype. Bel was just who she was the whole time. I enjoyed the alternating POVs between Bel and Tao, I think it helped move the story along and really show the two sides of the blossoming romance.

audio-specific: There were two narrators, one for Bel and one for Tao. I liked Bel's narrator a lot, but Tao's seemed to be a little slow for my taste. He was still good but just wish it had been picked up a little bit in the pacing.

overall an enjoyable romance in the world of STEM.

content warning: misogyny, sexism

Thank you so much to net galley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this audiobook. I really enjoyed this book and having a cool trendy book about robotics, I didn’t really care for the relationship at all tho.

This was a really fun YA romance! I loved the STEM representation especially in regards to women in STEM. It took me a bit to get the characters straight because some of them have multiple nicknames, but once I got past that the book was very enjoyable.

*thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review
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okay enemies to lovers but make it stem, yes yes yes sign me up!
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This book was WAY FREAKING CUTE! I loved Bel and how determined and strong-willed she was. I loved Mateo luna and how supportive he was.
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This book was charming, witty, and nerdy in the best ways, I flew through this in a day and enjoyed every second of it!