Scan barcode
A review by staysunny
My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Thank you to Netgalley and Holiday House for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
My Mechanical Romance is a YA contemporary romance that follows high school seniors Bel and Teo after Bel transfers schools and joins the robotics team. Teo is an only child, star student and captain of the robotics team; Bel is the youngest of three, smart, has good building sense, and a little directionless at the start of the book. While told in dual POV (which I love seeing and wish was more common!), I felt that we were following Bel’s story more than their story.
I do wish we had gotten to see more the bots in action and would have liked to know more about the technicals or mechanics of the actual building of the bots. This is one thing I personally look for when a romance or rom com has a more niche topic featured. Since the story had more of a focus on Bel we also saw how she handled being a young woman exploring a STEM field. I thought this was handled very well, especially because it could have been so easy to fall into a “not like other girls” rhetoric. I appreciated getting to see how Teo thought of Bel and how people treated her, as well as how Bel was experiencing things firsthand.
Storytelling-wise, I found the narrative a bit repetitive and slow at times, and I had a few issues with how close Bel and her friends seemed to become in such a short period of time. In contrast, the way the teenage characters spoke with each other felt very natural, which is not always a given in YA contemporary stories.
My Mechanical Romance is a YA contemporary romance that follows high school seniors Bel and Teo after Bel transfers schools and joins the robotics team. Teo is an only child, star student and captain of the robotics team; Bel is the youngest of three, smart, has good building sense, and a little directionless at the start of the book. While told in dual POV (which I love seeing and wish was more common!), I felt that we were following Bel’s story more than their story.
I do wish we had gotten to see more the bots in action and would have liked to know more about the technicals or mechanics of the actual building of the bots. This is one thing I personally look for when a romance or rom com has a more niche topic featured. Since the story had more of a focus on Bel we also saw how she handled being a young woman exploring a STEM field. I thought this was handled very well, especially because it could have been so easy to fall into a “not like other girls” rhetoric. I appreciated getting to see how Teo thought of Bel and how people treated her, as well as how Bel was experiencing things firsthand.
Storytelling-wise, I found the narrative a bit repetitive and slow at times, and I had a few issues with how close Bel and her friends seemed to become in such a short period of time. In contrast, the way the teenage characters spoke with each other felt very natural, which is not always a given in YA contemporary stories.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content