my mechanical romance by alexene farol follmuth- arc review
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Bel would rather die than think about the future. College apps? You’re funny. Extracurriculars? Not a chance. But when she accidentally reveals a talent for engineering at school, she’s basically forced into joining the robotics club. Even worse? All the boys ignore Bel—and Neelam, the only other girl on the team, doesn’t seem to like her either. Enter Mateo Luna, captain of the club, who recognizes Bel as a potential asset—until they start butting heads. Bel doesn’t care about Nationals, while Teo cares too much. But as the nights of after-school work grow longer and longer, Bel and Teo realize they’ve made more than just a combat-ready robot for the championship: they’ve made each other and the team better. Because girls do belong in STEM.
I want to thank NetGalley, the publishers at Holiday House and the author, Alexene Farol Follmuth for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
*Beware: minor spoilers.
The reference to My Chemical Romance and the lovely cover made me press that request button and I am sorry to say that this book was a little disappointing for me.
“If high school is good for anything, it’s proving that nothing lasts forever.”
I wanted to like this book, I really did and was so sure that I would after seeing positive reviews. But I didn’t like it. I think my high expectations may have played a role in this as well. Apparently Olivie Blake is Alexene Farol Follmuth’s pen name and I was surprised when I learned that the author who wrote this also wrote The Atlas Six, one of the most popular books on tiktok. That’s also a reason why I was very excited to read this book. I have not read The Atlas Six yet but I know that it isn’t a bad book from all the reviews I’ve seen, so I was very sure that I would love this book. Turns out I was wrong.
“My brothers are all pre-med, but I’ve been told every single day to act like a lady, to smile and be polite, to be pretty and dainty and what boy ever has to hear that?”
I LOVE academia books and women in STEM has been my go-to books for a while now. I wanted to start by saying that this book, unlike some others, managed to give us a glimpse of life in an academic setting. I’m glad that we actually got to witness the experiences of a woman in STEM. Honestly, the level of academic validation in this book is unhealthy. Despite that, the Taylor Swift and La La Land references saved the book. The witty banter between Teo and Bel was okay. There was too much physics and mechanics lingo, and I skipped most of those parts because I didn’t sign up for that.
“[…] his spotify is currently paused on Taylor Swift’s entire discography so he can learn all the words that make her smile, even when she doesn’t want to.”
Here are my brief (or not so brief) thoughts about the characters:
Bel: Basically, she is a quirky manic pixie dream girl wannabe who wears mismatched socks and weird earrings and gets told that she’s weird 24/7, which I think she takes pleasure in hearing. Another main character that I cannot stand, surprise, surprise. She was my least favourite character for many reasons that I will not list. Okay well maybe I’ll list a few. She keeps saying “um” and “like” in literally 2/5 sentences and I wanted to hit her with a hardcover book just for that. And yes, you guessed it! She’s not like the other girls. She doesn’t wear trendy stuff (“her hair isn’t tied back with those bungee cords that all the girls seem to be wearing these days.”) which is like, um, SO HOT RIGHT?? I’d marry her just because she is different than the others!!!! (I’m being sarcastic in case you didn’t get it lol) I just cannot stand this trope whatsoever.
Teo: Teo Luna, the spoiled love interest from Beverly Hills. He is a “cool”, rich guy who is just so sick of all the attention he is getting that he finds this girl who isn’t even interested in him and falls for her. He literally says: “she looks like she’s forgotten I was even here, which is interesting.”, so cliché. Apparently “everyone is in love with him”. WOW. A shocker. He lacked depth and character and the only thing I liked about him was the way he tried to learn some Taylor Swift songs for Bel.
Neelam: A morally gray character perhaps? I don’t know. I didn’t like her until her inspirational speech about overcoming sexism. I got second-hand embarrassment from a fictional character (Bel) forcing to become friends with Neelam, just- sweetie no.
Dash: He was adorable, the epitome of a golden retriever and the only tolerable/lovable character in the whole book. He was a softie and a great friend that Teo failed to care for in my honest opinion (#relatable). Poor guy, SOMEONE LOOK AT THE NEW NACHOS HE INVENTED. I’m glad he decided to change his major to something he is actually interested in. I, myself am very familiar with the concept of being *influenced* to study medicine, engineering or literally anything that brings “good money”. And Dash, thank you for deciding to do what you love instead of being forced to do something you don’t enjoy and be someone who you are not. Love you, keep being awesome <3
Ms. Voss: Weirdly, this teacher was always compared to Bel’s mother (does she have mommy issues??? or maybe she just sees her as a mother figure. Dunno). I did like her feminist tendencies (like the sign she prepared for robotics competition: “Who Run The World”) so, go Ms. Voss.
Overall, this book wasn’t very bad but it wasn’t very good either, it was mediocre and an easy read. I think for me, it got better at around 60% and that was when I was finally interested, even just a little. This book was not for me but if you are into mechanics, or robots then this might be your cup of tea! One bad review doesn’t mean a book is bad, neither does one good review mean that book is good. People have to see it for themselves and that’s what I did. Thank you for reading my rant-review :))
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