A review by beckyyreadss
My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth

funny hopeful 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

3.0

I'm not going to lie, I picked this book up because it was £2 at The Works, if it was on Amazon or Waterstones at full retail price, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. However, it was a cute read.  

This book has two points of view. The first is Isabel, but she prefers Bel and she has accidently revealed a talent for engineering whilst at her new school and now she is being forced to try out for the robotics club. Bel has got too much going on at home, with her parents recently splitting up, joining a new school, her older brother being Mr. Perfect and then her oldest brother just quitting college. Her parents have pushed Bel to try and get into a decent college, but she doesn’t know what for until she discovers the robotics club where everyone believes she is there for the “Diversity” quota. The second point of view is Mateo, but he prefers Teo, he is perfect on paper – captain of the football team and the robotics club and his parents are celebrities with his dad being a CEO and his mum being an influencer. He just wants to be himself and try and get through senior year so he can finally be him at M.I.T not Harvard like his dad wants. Teo sees Bel as a potential asset, but they couldn’t be more different and as the nights of after-school work grow longer, Bel and Teo realise they’ve made more than just a combat-ready robot for nationals, they’ve made a connection. But with graduation approaching, their differences and what they want for their futures, threatens what they’ve built together. 

It was a very cute and easy read. I didn’t need a lot of brain power to read it and felt like it was very fluffy. The storyline was predictable but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it; it just means I knew exactly what was going to happen. Dash saved this book as well; he was so funny throughout and just reminds me of every single sidekick that people love more than the MC.  

I didn’t like how quick it changed from enemies-to-lovers; it could have been so much more. The characters were very two-dimensional and expect for them both hating being at home and that Bel was “weird” for how she dressed, and everyone fancied Teo. That was it really. Teo became like his dad with trying to force Bel to be the perfect girlfriend when they have only been dating for weeks. The men in this book (Mr Luna and Mac) hating on Bel for no reason except that Teo was hanging out with her drove me nuts especially Mac like you are a teacher that looks like the robotics club surely you would be pushing all your students and not just your best student. I would have preferred a bit more of the academic rivals' side, it was like one minute they had their differences due to Bel calling out something with Teo’s robot and the next Teo’s like I can’t stop thinking about her.  

I feel like this book would have been better if it was a bit longer, the epilogue just jumped straight into two years, but I would have liked to see Bel and Teo progress through college. 
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