Reviews with content warning for Classism - My Mechanical Romance

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth

15 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm not going to lie, I picked this book up because it was £2 at The Works, if it was on Amazon or Waterstones at full retail price, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. However, it was a cute read.

This book has two points of view. The first is Isabel, but she prefers Bel and she has accidently revealed a talent for engineering whilst at her new school and now she is being forced to try out for the robotics club. Bel has got too much going on at home, with her parents recently splitting up, joining a new school, her older brother being Mr. Perfect and then her oldest brother just quitting college. Her parents have pushed Bel to try and get into a decent college, but she doesn’t know what for until she discovers the robotics club where everyone believes she is there for the “Diversity” quota. The second point of view is Mateo, but he prefers Teo, he is perfect on paper – captain of the football team and the robotics club and his parents are celebrities with his dad being a CEO and his mum being an influencer. He just wants to be himself and try and get through senior year so he can finally be him at M.I.T not Harvard like his dad wants. Teo sees Bel as a potential asset, but they couldn’t be more different and as the nights of after-school work grow longer, Bel and Teo realise they’ve made more than just a combat-ready robot for nationals, they’ve made a connection. But with graduation approaching, their differences and what they want for their futures, threatens what they’ve built together.

It was a very cute and easy read. I didn’t need a lot of brain power to read it and felt like it was very fluffy. The storyline was predictable but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it; it just means I knew exactly what was going to happen. Dash saved this book as well; he was so funny throughout and just reminds me of every single sidekick that people love more than the MC.

I didn’t like how quick it changed from enemies-to-lovers; it could have been so much more. The characters were very two-dimensional and expect for them both hating being at home and that Bel was “weird” for how she dressed, and everyone fancied Teo. That was it really. Teo became like his dad with trying to force Bel to be the perfect girlfriend when they have only been dating for weeks. The men in this book (Mr Luna and Mac) hating on Bel for no reason except that Teo was hanging out with her drove me nuts especially Mac like you are a teacher that looks like the robotics club surely you would be pushing all your students and not just your best student. I would have preferred a bit more of the academic rivals' side, it was like one minute they had their differences due to Bel calling out something with Teo’s robot and the next Teo’s like I can’t stop thinking about her.

I feel like this book would have been better if it was a bit longer, the epilogue just jumped straight into two years, but I would have liked to see Bel and Teo progress through college.

Content Warnings

_persephone_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Okay so I'm not going to pretend like this is some sensational profound book, with it's romance or it's feminism, but for a simple YA romance, this was definitely a favorite of mine. 17 year old Bel moves to a new school senior year after her parents get a divorce. She has to navigate an entire new world, in terms of academia and home life. She was never really interested in much in school, didn't know anything about her future, but that changes when she gets into her new school's robotics club. While this book has a huge focus on romance- It is a romance book after all- in my opinion, it has an even bigger focus on feminism. On the struggles of being a woman in STEM, or just being a woman in life in general. This book was obviously a teen book, and if you don't like when teen books use a more- for lack of a better word- adolescent way of speech, in both internal and external dialogue, then you may not like this book. But still, this book is for everyone. While certain parts may be more relatable to women in STEM or women in certain places in their lives, this book shows an accurate portrayal of any woman in any workfield or place in their life (or as accurate as a fictional YA novel could be). I love how it showed many different women with many different personalities and goals all struggling with how being a woman in a man's world affects their lives. And though this book seemed to have the stereotypical 'mean girl' character, Neelam, here it shows her in a different light, it humanizes the the teenage girl that everyone seems to hate so much,

Bel and Neelam, even end up really good friends by the end, who support each other

. Now as much of a feminism I am, at heart I'm a romantic, so onto Bel and Teo. I ended up liking them a little less then I probably should have for one simple reason, this book was marketed as an academic rivals to lovers. Now, was this just that? In a way, yes. But when you think academic rivals, what may come to your mind, and what came to mine is two people, which most likely have known each other for a while (or at least before the start of the book), who have competed, and actively compete with grades and other school activities, they also probably heavily dislike each other (or at least pretend to). While in some ways, that description fits parts of the book, it doesn't with most things. Seeing as it's a new school, Bel and Teo had never met before the start of the book. They don't really compete with anything, their are parts where they do but they are so minor that they are practically non-existent, they are even on the same robotics club, the theme of which is basically just 'Teamwork'. And the only part that really fits is that there is a part where they dislike each other, in a way, anyways. At the beginning Teo thinks Bel is "weird", which in my opinion doesn't count as dislike, especially when he was also admiring her the entire time. Then there was when Bel "challenged his masculinity" which is as a close as we get, as Teo then becomes uncomfortable around Bel and sometimes did 'dislike' her. In the beginning you could also say that Bel disliked Teo, although I would say it's more indifference then dislike. Although all of that gets turned around pretty quickly and they are then pretty friendly with the other. While going into it wanting and thinking it's an academic rivals to lovers made me not like them and this book more than I should have, I still did love Bel and Teo. Teo did start out not truly understanding what it was like for Bel and his other female classmates, and even being somewhat misogynistic himself sometimes (on accident of course), but he definitely made up for it by actually listening to what Bel said and changing his point of view on it all, and siding with her over their vaguely sexist male teacher, as well as many other small action that heavily redeemed him over the course of the book. They were very sweet together and though

there was a third act breakup in this book, like most other romances, which I didn't really enjoy

I thought it was at least somewhat well done, and I liked how it wasn't just done to create conflict, it actually furthered and developed Bel's character, and

it made her someone, even without him around

. All in all this book as pretty amazing for what it was, a contemporary YA romance, with themes of feminism and women in STEM.

Representation:
-Half Filipino (WMC)
-Mexican (MMC) (It is implied that he his mixed, but it doesn't actually say)
-Jewish (MMC)
-Indian (Two side characters)
-Women in STEM
(There is also references to some girls liking girls or some guys liking guys, but there weren't any actual characters, at least openly, who were queer, which was disappointing)

Content Warnings

amberinpieces's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

takarakei's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Battle bots x YA romance
Women in STEM!
Dual POV

This was a very cute YA contemporary romance. I don't think that's really my genre... but if it is I think you would really enjoy this! I did love Bel's journey of finding her path into young adulthood.

Content Warnings

edsheeranslittleelf's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

sweetsxrrxw's review

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

the main reason why i picked up this book is because it was one of the shortest in my tbr. it took me about 4 days to finish it, not gonna lie, but still it was a nice read.

overall the book was really sweet. i felt like the main characters (even some of the side ones) were well-built and three-dimensional. like, i don't know, it was easy to understand them and see where they were coming from. (this is dedicated to kai, i dont care if they portrayed him as someone who was constantly panicking or stressing about stuff, he is so me)

both teo and bel were really relatable characters. i could totally understand bel's struggle of not knowing what to do with her future and never really having anything planned. i would be totally lying if i said i stopped being like her. i do not have a filipino mom, divorced parents or an older brother who i should look up and, what the hell, im not even a stem girlie, but it was super easy to understand bel.

btw, i loved the fact that she ended up not attending mit. it was a nice way to prove that, even if your plans fail, you can still succeed and/or be happy with your path.

and what can i say about teo? a character who feels the need to fix everything and not ever letting anyone down? someone who believes people will stop loving them if he stops being perfect? HE IS SO ME. and if we take into account the love for his girlfriend and how he would do anything to spend time with her or see her smile, he just turns out to be one of those characters you can't help but love.

however, even though i know this was a short romance novel and that she lowkey did so, i am kind of disappointed that the author didn't deepen more in that topic. but i guess we can forgive that because of the sick confession!

but it has to be said that the romance plotline was a bit fast-paced and partly ofr-screen. i can understand why, though. i believe that since this is a book focusing on women on stem, it had to show the struggles they face.

one detail i really loved is how neelam, the character who had probably faced more of that sexism (mixed with racism because, yeah, it happens) never really changed her personality. although she becomes friends with bel once she understands why neelam acts the way she does, by the end of the book neelam hasnt been sugarcoated or anything and is still true to herself. AND OF COURSE, i was super happy when bel let neelam be the driver. i truly did not think about that option for a few pages, but it was nice to see a female friendship boooming

so, yeah, i am not sure if this is one of the best romance books i've ever read or whatever but it was truly nice to read; it was cute, funny, empowering and inspiring... each thing at the right time. and the diverse cast of characters is definitely a big plus so i would truly recommend this if you're in the mood for a stem-themed ya romance <3

ps: when i added this book to my tbr i had absolutely no idea it was from the author of the atlas six. i guess this counts as my first olivie blake book, lmao.

Content Warnings

annikaa's review

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adventurous inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

ttreads's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Content Warnings

nicole_zx's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Content Warnings

roshanreads's review

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House Books for the eARC!

If there’s one book you should read this year, this is it. I love this book. It’s definitely one of my favourites this year, possibly ever. My Mechanical Romance has everything I possibly could have wanted in a book; dual POV, girls in STEM, a diverse cast, and characters that fail sometimes, and quite badly. Once I picked this book up, I could barely put it down. Obviously, it was a five-star read without hesitation, and that’s a rating I don’t usually give to romance novels.

My Mechanical Romance is the story of Bel Maier as her talents for robotics and doing her homework the day it's due lands her in an advanced physics class and gets her a place on the school robotics team. She’s not particularly happy with either of those events, which is understandable considering the less than warm reception from some of the other robotics team members. However, over the course of the book, she finds her place and her natural talents begin to shine as the team prepares for the biggest robotics competition of the year.

I have so many good things to say about this book that I almost don’t know where to start, but that doesn’t help convince people that they should read the book (you really should, by the way). I loved this book so much I basically forgot to make notes because I was so focused on finding out what was on the next page and what was going to happen.

Bel and Teo are so cute. I love how they worked together as rivals and when they didn’t see eye to eye, and then still competed with each other after they were together. They talked to each other about the problems they were having, and they worked so well as a team! Also, how could I not ship them after reading the line ‘Because wherever I am, I want her close by’? It would be literally impossible. Spoiler time, even when they broke up, they still cared about each other and believed in each other.

Now, time for even more spoilers because I want to talk about everything that happened in this book to whoever will listen.

The problems the characters face in this book seem so real. Neelam talking about how women in STEM aren’t taken seriously and have to work so much harder to prove themselves made me tear up a little bit more than I want to admit, and Neelam and Bel crushing Richardson and his bot after the comments he made was phenomenal. I’m so glad Neelam and Bel became friends towards the end of the book after their rocky beginning.

Even the breakup felt realistic. The pressure on Bel to get into MIT was building, from Teo telling his father about Bel getting in, to Neelam telling her that she shouldn’t expect to get in just because she can build a good robot. There was even a conversation about how incredibly hard it is to get into a super prestigious college if you don’t have the right start in life, and how unfair it is to expect people to compete with someone with all the benefits in the world.

I love how Bel goes from having, like, zero goals beyond high school and avoids doing homework and assignments until the last possible minute, only to win a robotics competition and have a college seek her out specifically because she’s so good at what she does. I love that Bel didn’t get into MIT when she applied with Teo, and I love that her plans didn’t work out exactly as she wanted them to. Despite the fact that I was devastated for Bel, it was a nice reminder that happy endings don’t need to be exactly as you envision them. </spoiler?

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, read this book. You won’t regret it at all. This book alone makes me want to auto-buy anything and everything Alexene Farol Follmuth writes. I gave it a five-star rating, and it’s the reason I made a 2022 Favourite Books list. Read My Mechanical Romance.

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