Welcome to my stop for MY MECHANICAL ROMANCE by Alexene Farol Follmuth!
Alexene Farol Follmuth, also known under the pen name Olivie Blake, is a lover and
writer of stories, many of which involve the fantastic, the paranormal, or the
supernatural, but not always. More often, her works revolve around the collective
experience, what it means to be human (or not), and the endlessly interesting
complexities of life and love.
Alexene tripped and fell into writing after abandoning her long-premeditated track for
Optimum Life Achievement while attending law school, and now focuses primarily on
the craft and occasional headache of creating fiction. As Olivie, she has been published as the featured fiction contributor for Witch Way Magazine, as well as the writer for the graphic series Clara and the Devil and a variety of other books. The revised hardcover edition of her cult favorite The Atlas Six releases March 2022 from Tor Books. As
Alexene, her debut YA novel, My Mechanical Romance, is coming May 2022 from
Holiday House.
Alexene lives and works in Los Angeles, where she is generally tolerated by her rescue
pit bull. She can be loosely defined as the sort of person who picked up sparring as a
means to improve writing fight scenes. To connect with Alexene online, visit her website
www.olivieblake.com or find her on Instagram @afarolfollmuth
TITLE: My Mechanical Romance
AUTHOR: Alexene Farol Fullmuth
PUBLISHER: Holiday House
RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2022
GENRES: YA Contemporary, YA Rom-Com
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Nerds are so hot.
Especially battle robot building nerds.
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 built more than just a combat-ready robot for the championship: they’ve made
space for each other and themselves.
This sharply funny, academic rivals-to-lovers romance explores both the challenges girls
of color face in STEM and the vulnerability of first love with unfailing wit and honesty.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
This was a super cute, unique story from one of the writing community's rising stars. There is quite a bit of diversity and different cultures which makes this story amazing. I also love the academic rival storyline; those are always fun! Girls of color in STEM? Yes, please!
I also loved the idea that not everybody has to know what they want to do right out of high school and that it's OK not to commit to any one thing. I'm teaching my kiddo now that he needs to experience a lot of things including trying out new hobbies such as painting, sports etc to find out what you're passionate about. It's important to branch out and sometimes go out of your comfort zones. You may discover a hidden talent!
The first quarter of the book was really slow, but it picked up toward the middle The character vices were unique and stood out. I think a lot of teens and older readers will relate to them.
I don't know why I couldn't quite click with the book. I think it may be because the story is very straightforward without many surprises. The synopsis states Bel and Teo were rivals but I didn't get that impression while reading the book. Perhaps that added to my slight disappointment. I also needed more of a connection between the two.
I think readers will still enjoy this and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a unique YA story.
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