Reviews tagging 'Violence'

My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth

3 reviews

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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dlrosebyh's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted fast-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

Women in stem. Need I explain more?

Firstly, I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of My Mechanical Romance in exchange of an honest review.

The cover was the first thing that drew me into this book. Then there's the synopsis. See, I'm not a big fan of science. Actually, if I'm being completely honest, I despise science, especially physics. That being stated, I was undecided about whether or not to request this book. At the end of the day, I was fortunate to pick this up.

Teo Luna and Bel Maier are two "nerds" who are compelled to work together in My Mechanical Romance. Teo has been the robotics club's captain for several years. He has a reputation for being serious, studious, and a nerd. Not just any nerd, but a really attractive one. Bel, on the other hand, is a new student who is working hard to maintain her GPA in preparation for her future.

This book covers misogyny, sexism, and racism all at the same time, which are important topics. To be honest, it's rare to come across a romance book that tackles these issues without relying on preconceptions, so kudos to Follmuth for that.

The romance in this novel made me laugh, cry, and scream all at the same time. To avoid spoilers, I'm not going to say much more— but academic rivals to lovers and forced proximity? Excellent tropes. Did I mention Teo memorized Taylor Swift's discography in order to make Bel laugh?

In terms of the characters, each one is relatable in their own manner. Bel is the character with whom I have the most in common. Her academic aspirations, her love for Taylor Swift, and her Filipino heritage? Yes, she is unquestionably one of the most relatable protagonist.

Overall, I love this book. Please don't mind if I start using it as my main personality right now.
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jadebear's review

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funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I would have liked the diversity of the two leads' backgrounds in terms of race and religion explored a bit more.  It seemed more like costumes for the characters to wear, rather than something that informed their characters or how they act.  Maybe Teo could wrestle with some Catholic guilt, and that's why he has trouble agreeing to do too much.  Because of past guilt when he didn't.  Maybe Bel could have been conflicted about siding with her white dad over her Philipino mom, not just who had infidelity and caused the marriage to end.  It just seems like a wasted opportunity, when only a few lines here and there could have been added to make the book not just about misogyny and teen romance, but also racism.  But maybe it was there and got edited out because it's a YA book and the editor(s) wanted to simplify it.  I still found it funny, engaging and I learned a lot about competitive robotics clubs.
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