Take a photo of a barcode or cover
wildheart_baby 's review for:
My Mechanical Romance
by Alexene Farol Follmuth
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
I picked this up as part of a storygraph challenge, and was interested by the synopsis.
Bel is a girl who by her own admission, is weird, and socially awkward, saying random things, that tend to confuse other people, she is finishing up her final year at an elite school, and she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, until she ends up as part of the robotics team.
Teo is the captain, of the robotics team, and captain of the football team, a driven student with a huge amount of privilege, (namely a wealthy family) who wants to get into MIT, and has a courseload, that shows how determined he is. After seeing Bel design an egg drop device, that he realises will slow the drop, and protect the egg, immediately dismisses all the other students trying out, much to the annoyance of Neelam, another girl on the team who has spent four years being looked over, and having her ideas dismissed.
Over the course of the book, Bel starts to fall for Teo, and vice versa, and Bel starts to see that she could become an engineer.
The book hits on a lot of issues for women and girls in stem, being ignored, having to work harder than the boys, needing to be a team player, when they push back on situations, like the AP Physics teacher giving the best table in the class to Teo and his friends. It also highlights that Bel hasn't had to put in the work that Neelam had to, and that she is given an easier time because Teo is immediately drawn to her.
I enjoyed that each chapter was made up of the two main character's viewpoints, that give their perspective, on the situation. Also give a shoutout to Ms Voss, the teacher who saw that engineering comes naturally to Bel, and pushed her into the harder Physics class, and to try out for the robotics team. And boo to Teo's dad, who is a brilliant programmer/engineer, who has no time for his own son, but does find time to critisise when Teo starts to spend time with Bel.
The one thing I though was a little confusing, was when, I read football, and saw scrimage mentioned as part of a practise, I guessed that it meant the US game, but then later it mentions soccer.
Bel is a girl who by her own admission, is weird, and socially awkward, saying random things, that tend to confuse other people, she is finishing up her final year at an elite school, and she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, until she ends up as part of the robotics team.
Teo is the captain, of the robotics team, and captain of the football team, a driven student with a huge amount of privilege, (namely a wealthy family) who wants to get into MIT, and has a courseload, that shows how determined he is. After seeing Bel design an egg drop device, that he realises will slow the drop, and protect the egg, immediately dismisses all the other students trying out, much to the annoyance of Neelam, another girl on the team who has spent four years being looked over, and having her ideas dismissed.
Over the course of the book, Bel starts to fall for Teo, and vice versa, and Bel starts to see that she could become an engineer.
The book hits on a lot of issues for women and girls in stem, being ignored, having to work harder than the boys, needing to be a team player, when they push back on situations, like the AP Physics teacher giving the best table in the class to Teo and his friends. It also highlights that Bel hasn't had to put in the work that Neelam had to, and that she is given an easier time because Teo is immediately drawn to her.
I enjoyed that each chapter was made up of the two main character's viewpoints, that give their perspective, on the situation. Also give a shoutout to Ms Voss, the teacher who saw that engineering comes naturally to Bel, and pushed her into the harder Physics class, and to try out for the robotics team. And boo to Teo's dad, who is a brilliant programmer/engineer, who has no time for his own son, but does find time to critisise when Teo starts to spend time with Bel.
The one thing I though was a little confusing, was when, I read football, and saw scrimage mentioned as part of a practise, I guessed that it meant the US game, but then later it mentions soccer.