Titles: My Mechanical Romance
Author: Alexene Farol Follmuth
Genre: Romance, Coming-of-Age
Published: 2022
Rating: 4/5
Trigger Warning: Misogyny, Infidelity, Parental Divorce, Racism
BLURB
Bel would rather die than think about the future. College apps? You’re funny. Extracurriculars? Not a chance. But when she accidentally reveals a talent for engineering at school, she’s basically forced into joining the robotics club. Even worse? All the boys ignore Bel—and Neelam, the only other girl on the team, doesn’t seem to like her either.
Enter Mateo Luna, captain of the club, who recognizes Bel as a potential asset—until they start butting heads. Bel doesn’t care about Nationals, while Teo cares too much. But as the nights of after-school work grow longer and longer, Bel and Teo realize they’ve made more than just a combat-ready robot for the championship: they’ve made each other and the team better. Because girls do belong in STEM.
In her YA debut, Alexene Farol Follmuth, author of The Atlas Six (under the penname Olivie Blake), explores both the challenges girls of color face in STEM and the vulnerability of first love with unfailing wit and honesty. With an adorable, opposites-attract romance at its center and lines that beg to be read aloud, My Mechanical Romance is swoonworthy perfection. (add on goodreads)
THOUGHTS
I had a love hate relationship with this book. I loved most of it, hated certain technicalities. But, I enjoyed the book, it did make me smile. I’m sure you have already read the synopsis above, you know the plot already. So, I will just go ahead and share my thoughts:
What did I love about this book?
This book is not very plot oriented, it was character driven, and all about the college vibes. It had dual p ov, which made my heart flutter. I enjoyed the shy, nerdy guy and the chic, sunshine personality girl — cute.
Being an adult, I absolutely dislike the teenage banter and all. But, I somehow managed to enjoy reading about teenage indecisive thing – may be because looking back made me realize, that someday I was in Bel’s shoes. The huge burden of choosing a particular field and the overwhelming pool of choices.. ugh. relatable stuff.
I absolutely beamed with happiness seeing women supporting women and how they pursued what they did best without being shy. I loved the Women in STEM thing. People of Color representation also made me happy.
I related with Bel the most whenever she confronted people without fear – my cute badass teenager. Love her whole personality – hot and nerdy.
Romance – was cute and not steamy – appropriate for people who like open door romance books and are not fan of spicy stuff. If you go into this book yearning for spicy – you will get disappointed for sure.
What I disliked about this book:
- mind-numbingly huge chapters – trust me they were longer than the radius of earth.
- the notorious bully was an Indian girl. I mean just why? isn’t it always the other way round? anyway! not getting political but, I seriously did not like that part.
- Why does every girl with the name “Isabella” name herself “Bel”?
Other than the above-mentioned things: I adored the book and enjoyed it a lot. If you are thinking of suggesting a book to a teenager – they will enjoy it a lot.
By the way, the quotes in this book have my heart. ❤
Pages And Quotes 