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kimbyy 's review for:
My Mechanical Romance
by Alexene Farol Follmuth
Okay, I kind of like this book. Not only is Bel a successful Woman in STEM, she’s creative, has a good sense of fashion, and represents a Woman Who Takes A Somewhat (emphasis on somewhat) Alternate Path to STEM glory. I like it when characters can be both #girlboss and also have a feminine side that they are in touch with because often when girls are portrayed as smart, they reject all facets of stereotypical femininity (similar topic to Why Can't A Smart Woman Love Fashion), and Bel doesn't do that. I guess I liked how they work together in engineering contexts and how that translated into friendship and then into liking each other somehow, though. They did sort of ignore the cultural appropriation problem of the Holi festival that Neelam brought up, choosing to just listen to her and then just go anyway and kiss or whatever. There was still weird stuff with fancy colleges, but as a non-STEM person idk how it works. A part that rubbed me the wrong way was when Teo offered to call MIT and just ask them to have Bel come, and like (A) she can handle it on her own (she shouldn't have applied to ONE school and (B) shouldn't we *not* try to fix problems by using wealth and class to "fix" them, and the problem is sort of glossed over. Many issues. Glossed over. But this is a YA romance so ;-; It’s a like 3.25 out of 5. It’s the best book I've read so far that deals with both STEM and romance.