Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - My Mechanical Romance

Absolutely loved this book. Dealing with women in stem as well as mixed race kids I just felt seen through and through and wished I had this a few years ago when I studied engineering.

This book is a new comfort read and I’ll forever be attached tbh.

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astereads's review against another edition

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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

4.25

In general, the book is focusing more on equality than the romance itself and I don't mind, really. It's more interesting to be honest. Listening to this book feels like being forced to sit in Physics class LOL. But seriously, this is like a breath of fresh air for me. Listening to a romance audiobook and learning how to build a robot? Awesome.

Learning about hydraulics and shits, pushing each other to be the best version of themselves, women equality in STEM, this book has it all. I came from women-majority career so I might not be able to relate to Bel but this book makes me understand a little about her struggle in STEM. I know just being a woman in regular workplace often receive discrimination, so I can't imagine being her. She's constantly reminded that her position in the team is only to gain diversity point when in fact she's better than all the men.

At first, I really didn't like Teo's character, he sounds like Mr. Know-It-All, brushing off Neelam's and Bel's input and didn't like being told no. But I see his character development throughout the book, so at the end I'm okay with him I guess.

I also love Bel and her character development, hers is more defined than Teo. She transferred to her new school, not knowing (or acknowledging?) her potential and especially didn't know what she wants to do for her future (and that's totally understandable, I've been there, we all have). But she's open to suggestion and always pushes herself to grow. Love that for her!

Overall, it's a nice experience listening to this book, the narrators made the story more lively and I'd recommend you to read this if you want a lighthearted and insightful reads.

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j_hudbook's review against another edition

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inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

*TINY SPOILERS AHEAD*

This book managed to remain lighthearted and fun despite dealing with some hard topics such as misogynistic views in a STEM setting and how that paves the way women act in a usually 'masculine' type setting.

I found that the book was hollow and the ending seemed rushed. I feel like the writer should've encorperated more of the mechanical side of this book into the romance side and vise versa, making it seem more rounded up. Frequent time skipping sometimes even months into the future doesn't help

This book is definitely meant for a younger audience as opposed to older teens.

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lainiereads's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Super cute, and I really enjoyed the main characters individual storylines. I was not a Teo gal at the beginning, but he won me by the end. Bel though? Loved her the whole time, she is a queen. The robotics aspect of the story was super fun, and even though I didn't understand any of it, I was still able to understand what was going on. Super Super cute!!!!
Be aware, lots of sexism going on in this book because Bel is a woman in robotics. I got so annoyed many times throughout just from the sexist side characters, but Bel gets to prove them wrong. Oh and I loved Bel's bestie Jamie, she was the best side character. <3

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const_elle_ations's review against another edition

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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

5.0

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whatjasread's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-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

2/5

I will preface this by saying I'm not a young adult, so definitely didn't expect to love this, but I had gone into it thinking it'd be... better. Considering we've seen what Follmuth can do in The Atlas Six (Olivie Blake being her pseudonym for adult works), this reads very much as an amateur piece of work, but that could just be me. I think the premise and the overarching message of the book are great - we always need more women in STEM, bonus points from me if there's a romance involved - but the execution was very far off the mark.

I didn't like any of the characters - Neelam was just plain annoying and I don't like a women v women story arc; Bel grated on me with her constant umm-ing and ahh-ing, and I think the quirkiness just wasn't for me; Teo was an asshole and nothing could've redeemed him for me.

The book touches on themes such as divorce and figuring out family dynamics thereafter, and it was those elements that really heightened the experience for me. But the romance lacked any kind of chemistry for me and I just wasn't convinced by the book at all, unfortunately.

TWs: divorce, alcohol consumption (underage), reference to sexual content, adultery (before book)

Tropes/rep/themes: filipino-american fmc, latino american jewish mmc, women in stem, enemies to lovers, found family

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