It could have been SOOO much better, if only Teo and Bel were academic rivals and enemies for a longer time. From the beginning I was cheering her on and hoping she would finally fight back and stand up for herself and when she did, I felt proud. While in this intense yet friendly debate, I looked up the age range for YA books and didn’t realize that’s it’s a pretty gray area topic and apparently rather controversial.

It’s actually a pretty accurate depiction of how hostile nerd guys are towards women in “male dominated fields,” it’s just this throughline is thrown to the wayside and glossed over in the third-act. it helps form an instant connection with the characters, firstly because the two mcs have their own pov, and secondly because I felt like I really was inside their head because their thoughts felt so natural and matched their age perfectly.

I would highly recommend this book for anybody who wants to have a richer STEM lead in their life, or to inspire a young friend/family member that being a nerd is cool and to never be shamed of your interests. If you want to see my much more in depth review, you can check it out on my book blog NovelOnMyMind. The way this teacher told the girls to be a team player when they had new ideas BUT THEN always listened to the boys, especially everything Mateo said was infuriating.

Furthermore, the romance aspect goes from not exactly nemesis, but certainly frosty, to something more. And Neelam does, in fact, have her reasons for her anger and frustration, and her anger and frustration with Bel in particular. I didn't particularly felt connected with his character but Teo was great until he tried to make or fix everything right for everyone.I wish I could say it mattered even a little bit what his question was, but it really never crossed my mind to choose anything but him. Here academics are the focus and sure while Bel was interested in STEM, it was not something she considered herself doing at her new school, however thanks to Ms. When Grace saves his life in a kayaking accident - if it was an accident - and Evan's troubled son arrives to stay, all three are drawn together in a way that forces a reckoning with their personal traumas and draws them back into society. they set up the foundation for academic rivals to lovers from the way they talked about one another and how she seemed to get annoyed with him from the start. But the boys in the club don't listen to her and Naleem, the other girl on the team doesn't like her.

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. I liked Bel and Teo, both as individual characters and as a couple; her quirkiness and individuality was really nice as was her hints of vulnerability, and I liked seeing Teo’s stiffness soften as he began to develop a bond with Bel. I also loved how even though Naleem was very rude in the beginning of the book towards Bel, that Bel never stop trying to be nice to her.My Mechanical Romance is precious not only to watch the characters bloom, but to watch them navigate the sexism in STEM. It prompts me of the time my peers had things figured out while I was still obsessing over BTS and had no idea what to pursue. I was looking forward to reading this SO MUCH because I've had such good luck with rom-coms recently, Today Tonight Tomorrow and Better Than the Movies being my top two favorite rom-com books, but this book just annoyed me. Despite my overall lack of background knowledge on the subject, I never felt lost when the characters were referencing topics, as the author explained them in a simple way. This novel tackled a lot of serious issues including heavy family dynamics, but it was still lighthearted, romantic, and did not come off as preachy.