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A review by livinthebubble
My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
This was a fun read, although at times it was a little too young for me.
Characters
Teo (I'm going to be honest, every time I read his name, I first read Tuna) - He was a wholesome character. I really liked how he noticed small details about Bel.
Bel - In the beginning, she kind of annoyed me. "And girls aren't usually into robots." Says who? It's 2022, can we please not. She obviously changes her stance on that by the end of the novel, but just having that, in the beginning, gave me the ick. Although, I appreciated having the representation of women in STEM, especially a "girly" girl.
Mrs. Voss - love her, we all need a Mr. Voss in our lives.
Dash - loved him, felt bad for him when he got rejected by Bel
Jamie - loved her, very quotable:
Characters
Teo (I'm going to be honest, every time I read his name, I first read Tuna) - He was a wholesome character. I really liked how he noticed small details about Bel.
Bel - In the beginning, she kind of annoyed me. "And girls aren't usually into robots." Says who? It's 2022, can we please not. She obviously changes her stance on that by the end of the novel, but just having that, in the beginning, gave me the ick. Although, I appreciated having the representation of women in STEM, especially a "girly" girl.
Mrs. Voss - love her, we all need a Mr. Voss in our lives.
Dash - loved him, felt bad for him when he got rejected by Bel
Jamie - loved her, very quotable:
"..she does not like boys. (She's just unfortunately attracted to them.)"
"Jaime: omg I hate you so much and also I ship it so hard
(...)
Jaime: enemies to lovers
Jaime: the perfect ship
(...)
Jaime: enemies to academic colleagues to lovers"
I enjoyed most of the characters, although the side characters were kind of better than the main two, in my opinion.
Romance
It was a little too YA for me, I think. Although I really liked the academic rivals to lovers trope, and the romance was mostly cute, it was also a little cringey.
Ending
The ending was cute and realistic, I guess, so I can't really complain.
Sexism
Most, if not all, of the male characters said or did misogynistic things to their female counterparts. I got a little annoyed that their behaviour was not fixed/addressed. Mac did say that he learned something from Bel but I still feel like it should have been more addressed. (Although I did like the scene at the end with the sister)
Struggles of the average highshcooler
I liked to see how high schoolers are put under a lot of pressure, family expectations and not knowing what to do. Deciding on what you're going to do for the rest of your life is hard (I say when I still don't know and am in my 20s).
Overall, a fun read, I would recommend it to a younger audience rather than to someone in their 20s.
This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Minor: Misogyny and Sexism