Review: My Mechanical Romance

You guys won't believe the sheer amount of times that I have tripped up on this book, often calling it "My Chemical Romance." If you don't know who MCR is, then my friend, we can no longer be friends. Because MCR was one of the biggest pillars of my emo phase. Though you never really get out of your emo phase.

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.

QUICK THOUGHTS AND REVIEW: 3.7/5, I'M JUST ANGRY THERE ISN'T A SINGLE MCR JOKE IN IT.

Possible Trigger Tags:

1. Sexism

2. Misogyny

3. Classism

4. Cultural Appropriation

5. Bad parenting

6. Mention of infidelity

WHAT DID I FEEL ABOUT THE  BOOK'S: 

1. Writing Quality: The writing quality is definitely different from what I've read on Olivie Blake's other work. And yes, Olivie Blake is actually Alexene Farol Follmuth. And please don't come attack me for saying this because this fact has already been revealed in both Goodreads and the author's insta. And I would like to think that this is different from Olivie Blake's usual work because a. It's young adult and b. it's pace is set quite different from their other novels. I was quite expecting a slow paced novel. This is quite a considerable break.

2. Character Development: Okay, so I might have a lot to say.

Bel: I love her character. She's bubbly, funny and at the same time introverted. At some point I found her pretty relatable because in my senior year I really wasn't interested in what school had to offer for me because I knew the grades I'd gotten wouldn't have helped me in the long run. Especially since I wasn't interested in a 4ft x 4ft cubicle, working a 9 to 5 job. That's fricking confining even though for some people it's a dream job and I understand that. It's just that I'm not a person who'd like to be confined to a single place. But yeah anyways, in that sense I did relate to Bel. And I really like that she doesn't always have her shit sorted out, it might be very sadistic of me but I like it when fictional characters are more of a mess than I am because in real life people around me are more focused and have their shit together.

Teo: Teo's character, did seem off as a very stereotypical micromanager to me. He definitely is too uptight and likes to think that without him everything will fall apart but he also seems to lack that X factor that makes him qualified as a book boyfriend. I really love him, he's smart and he's got these problems that do not make him seem like he's perfect. Because clearly he's got some daddy and mommy issues and he's got a very high sense of perfectionism, some X factor is missing.

Okay, but their dynamic? Please, academic rivals to lovers is hands down one of my most favourite tropes. Seriously, it scratches my head so well. LIKE THE ARGUMENTS? THE TROPES? THE WITTY BANTER? THE REFERNECES? THE FUCKING TENSION? Like yes baby, come on, fuck me against a library shelf and make out with me while we argue whether integral calculus is superior, integral or differential calculus. [Integral calculus is, but you didn't hear that from me] That shit's fucking hot. Okay, maybe I should have kept that PG. ALSO THIS LINE

“Come with me,” I say. She bites her lip before answering. “Where?” “To Cambridge,” I say. “To MIT.” “Oh.”

You might as well had asked to marry me because DAMN.

Neelam: Neelam isn't one of the main characters or present as Dash or Jamie are, but certainly one of the most impactful characters. She's often seen as rude or being an asshole to everyone else, but I guess that is justified. She's just as qualified or good as anyone else on the robotics team, but everyone shuts her down or tells her to be a team player, which, I'm gonna be pretty honest will cause some resentment. And I think her character is pretty much justified in hating everyone. High School is just a concrete version of Man Vs Wild. 

3. Couldn't put it down- Ness: 7/10. 

4. Intellectual Depth: I think there was some kind of truth in the book. Women, or any other person who's not a cishet man has it way harder in STEM. Because people would always look up to a man for decision making or anything important even though a woman would be even more qualified to do the job. And I'm an AFAB, currently gonna be in STEM and this has happened to me more oftentimes than not. People would actually often look past my qualifications and look over to my male friends for things. And it's the sad truth. AFABs, no matter how hard they try, or how hard they do, people would always want something more from them.

5. Plot: Okay, first of all, where are the MCR jokes? I so badly wanted them to be incorporated, because HELLO, you're basically making me trip up the name more than 5 times in a single hour. I think I've mentioned it more than enough times now. BUUUUUUUT. ACADEMIC RIVALS TO LOVERS? Wait, would it be academic rivals to lovers or enemies to lovers. You know what, I'm sticking to rivals to lovers. Because that trope is gold. GOLD. It's the best trope after fake dating and lovers to enemies and you can't convince me otherwise.

OVERALL, A NICE READ, not what I was expecting, but in a good way.