Reviews with content warning for Racism - My Mechanical Romance

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth

5 reviews

_persephone_'s review against another edition

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

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

martapsalvado's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

Who knew a book about a high school robotics club could be so cute?

This is a very light read, with an interesting YA premise. It's a romance, sure, but it's also about friendship, family, girls engaging successfully in activities that are traditionally male-dominated and the pressure and expectations that teenagers have to deal with.

Content Warnings

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

5.0

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.

Content Warnings

rensreading's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.25

this e-arc was provided to me by netgalley

it took me quite a while to actually pick up this book. not because i was busy but because i wasn’t in the mood for a high school romance until about mid-april. im not a fan of stem and this book had a lot of that to go around. i took a small break about halfway through this book to tear through another and then came back because i couldn’t leave bel and teo alone for too long.

i really liked them both individually and together as a couple. they were very honest and straightforward with each other when it really came down to it. bel was funny and weird and teo was besotted by her weirdness bc his best friend, dash, is the exact same lmao

i definitely thought they’d break up after high school though. i didn’t really buy that they were in love, especially not when they confessed that to each other. it just didn’t feel like it was developed well enough to reach that point at the time that it did is all.

teo trying to look the other way when it came to the misogyny and sexism that surrounds bel and neelam really annoyed me though. and mac? still hate him. bel should not have “forgiven” him so quickly. just because she gained the approval of a man who was being such a passive-aggressive misogynist towards her for most of the school year doesn’t mean he actually realizes all the wrong he did. and neelam? i wanted to like her character but i couldn’t. the bitter, fiercely intelligent woman in stem trope? drag it out back and take it out of its misery already. i’m not saying she had to be all happy-go-lucky though. she just didn’t need to act so much like that that others didn’t seem to like her even one bit. it’s so easy for people to say you’re difficult to work with when you truly are difficult to work with and are too jaded by the environment to try and change that.

the complicated relationships with parents was a nice touch though. i still don’t like teo’s dad. i feel like the author was trying to cook up a specific angle about teo’s relationship with his dad and then decided to turn off the heat just as it was beginning to sizzle. a lot of the book felt like that by the third act to be honest. not to say this was awful, it just wasn’t groundbreaking or life-changing is all.

oh, and luke? has my whole heart. hope he’s thriving!

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