I love me a Casey McQuiston novel, and this one is no exception. Queer representation is on point. The characters were quirky and endearing. Dual POV with a switch in narrators halfway through. This ends up being a really interesting take for me. The foodie tour had me drooling and wishing I could cook even a smidge as creatively. I loved Theo and Kit's backstory: childhood best friends turned lovers, breakup, lust filled tour around Europe, reconnecting. Job Well Done. Nothing has quite hit the magic that Red White and Royal Blue hit, but Casey will always be a one-click author for me.

WOW. WOW. WOW. What an incredible and poignant novel. I was very interested going in to see how a McQuiston would handle a dual POV, especially in first person, but they blew my expectations out of the water. I laughed, I cried, I felt everything one hopes to feel when reading a damn good book.

The Pairing is a dirty, messy, beautiful, soul wrenching, stunning queer love story meets Eat Pray Love's love child. It was full of food and drink and merriment and friendship and love and lust and dirty messy feelings and honesty and UGH. ITS SO GOOD. A stunning novel by Casey and I absolutely freaking loved it.

This was a DNF for me. I was really looking forward to this one as RWRB is one of faves of all time. Also, as a bi woman I was anticipating their narrative. However, it seemed off. Instead of being this bi journey it just seemed like a horny travel and food story.

This felt confused and oddly more horny than anything else. I didn’t find either character compelling and in this instance, don’t believe they should ever get back together.

I'm sorry this one just didn't resonate with me like their other books. I unfortunately didn't care about their games to not admit they were still into each other. I did, however, looooove all the food and would love to eat everything in the book.

I’ve been unsure how to rate this as I just finished it. I love the two main characters and love the explanations of the food/wine in each place. I even enjoyed the side characters. The first half of the book was meh to me, but then picked up and I loved the second half of the book and glad I kept going. Sometimes I was so angry at the characters, but I honestly think that’s the point. The ending made me happy and I felt that was truly how it should be. May write more tomorrow once I’ve slept on it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

3.5 stars

If I am anything, I am a lover of indulgence and hedonism in all its (harmless) forms, so this ode to both these things in literary form was an instant yes for me. And it is everything it promises to be; indulgent, hedonistic, delightfully gluttonous, and most importantly, horny. The issue however was, I did not emotionally connect with the hörniness of it all. It didn’t evoke the visceral response in me that I was looking for. And I don’t mean to say it wasn’t spicy enough, it just didn’t make me feel things.

What did however make me feel things was the setting, and the entire tour. From Paris to Palermo, I was in love. With places I’ve never been, with things I’ve never eaten or drank, with people I’ve never met. The author’s writing as always, flows like water, or wine in this case, and every description is so evocative of the sights and sounds and smells I felt like I was there. And I really truly wanted to be. Travel feeds my soul, and what I wouldn’t give to be on this exact experience. I wanted to take notes, and I honestly will carry passages from this with me if and when I go to these places.

Coming back to our MCs, Kit and Theo are young and modern and unlike most conventional romance MCs you’ll meet. Sexually open and flouting all norms of gender, they’re both effortlessly cool but also achingly real amid all their worldly finery. Kit is the sensitive boy wonder pastry chef, a lover of all things beautiful, and a boy I found deeply relatable in his appreciation of the finer things. He’s a Taurus through and through.

Theo on the other hand is also exciting and cool, but I always have a problem with nepo brats with a woe is me narrative, refusing to accept help where it’s freely given but happy to self destruct so eventually they need that help to save them anyway. I felt like Kit was constantly trying to put them on a pedestal while moulding himself to what they needed, and while he made mistakes too, I was more often frustrated with Theo. Even as I understood them. However, I do think they were a perfect match for Kit and grew into themself by the end, but it was hard to get over some of their decisions while our boy here was clearly hopelessly in love. There’s no shortage of yearning in this story.

Adding life to the story, along with each stop on the tour, which is a character on its own, was all the people we meet through Theo and Kit, their fellow travelers, Sloane, Maxine, Paloma, Orla, so many people we don’t even meet but hear about from them, and of course Fabrizio. Every single person adds the perfect amount of seasoning to the decadent lil pastry that’s this book. While this is not McQuiston’s funniest or most emotional entry, it’s like a cup of hot chocolate to warm the heart, or a hearty pasta that feeds the soul.

I have loved Casey McQuiston's stories since I fell in love with Red White and Royal Blue. I was so excited to read this one.
It follows Theo and Kit on a European Food and Art Tour. Urghhh This is like my dream tour. The art, the architecture, the people, the food...oh my word ....the food - this book made me sooooo hungry. I really enjoyed the tour and road trip part of this story. I am always a little hesitant about 2nd chance romances so I was a little hesitant going in but it was ok. The first part of the book told from Theo's point of view was really good to me. I loved that kind of build up, to why they broke up, how she was going to handle being around him again. I have to say the why they broke up was a big let down. I kept waiting for a big reveal of something but seems like it was pretty much just miscommunication. Theo's over reaction is on par with her world and how she handles the world at 100 miles per hour but the fact that Kit just let her go was like - what?? ..that doesn't seem right. He was so type A and understanding of Theo's faults through their whole childhood and type living together, it seemed weird that he wouldn't have checked in with her even if they were mad at each other.

I loved being in Theo's mind. It was chaotic and fast paced and they were just so fun. I really enjoyed all those parts of the book.
Then the book switched the Kit's perspective, and this was a bit of a slough for me. I found Kit's POV slow and repetitive and almost frustrating.
So while I love the POV from Theo, Kit annoyed me. I loved the art, food and travel piece of the book., I loved that Theo really grew and found her place in the world.

I loved all the side characters - the tour group, the people of the towns. I think I could have done without the race for the most partners to hook up with it. I am not always a huge lover of sex scenes with other parties when I am reading a romance novel. I understand they have a more open relationship to sexual relationships but dang - this was a lot and dang this had a spice level that made even me blush. Not for the faint of heart.

So overall I liked the story - I enjoyed one POV more than the other. I loved the road trip. The spice level was way high.
I do love Casey McQuiston's writing, and I really like the road trip /travel parts of thes story. Very enjoyable.

oh my god. this was amazing. almost makes me want to get into wine? which is crazy and isn't actually going to happen.
both theo and kit are so loveable and so flawed and real. i cannot relate to basically anything about them but i still found them profoundly compelling and complicated and true. which is insane, really.
i don't know how to write a real review of this book because i will be forever losing my mind over it, honestly. genuinely, my only mildly negative comment is that the phrase "flax linen" is redundant lol. which is can forgive a million times over because of the beauty of the language used all over this book.
i love how deeply romantic this was despite the fact that kit and theo spent the majority of the book sleeping with other people. that's crazy, but it worked so well that i can't help but be awed by the brilliance. casey mcquiston, you are a genius.

Torn on this one. As foodie and travel-lover, I thought I'd love The Pairing, but ended up finding Theo (and their nepo-baby "struggles") so insufferable that by the time we reach Kit's POV, I just felt completely disengaged.

CMQ is a writer whose books I usually enjoy, but The Pairing felt repetitive in ways their previous books have not; it's kind of an endless stream of booze, food, and sex, which sounds great in theory, but just wound up...boring. Not a lot of character growth, a very-American portrayal of Europe, and the major entitlement displayed by the main characters at every turn (we all have credit card bills, Theo, and most of us don't have family offering to pay them off), made The Paring very meh. YMMV, particularly based on your tolerance for characters in their late 20's who seriously need to grow up. It's delightfully queer, though.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion

While The Pairing is a decent read from the perspective of a food-centered travel story, it's underwhelming as a love story.

Theo and Kit used to be a couple, until they were separated by a Big Misunderstanding. The weird thing is, they clear up that misunderstanding fairly early - like, in the first third of the book. And then they proceed to eat and fuck their way around Europe for way too many pages. I got bored with it.

The details of the tour are also a little strange. What sort of a tour makes customers sleep in a hostel but serves multiple bottles of $350 champagne at dinner?

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is out now!

Theo (short for Theodora) and Kit were lifelong friends turned bisexual couple until they got into a blow out fight on their way to their food and wine tour of France, Spain, and Italy and break up, not to speak again. Four years later and with a month left on their voucher for the food and wine tour that never was, Theo decides now is the time to go…when she runs into Kit who has also decided to take the tour again. At first angry with one another, they make amends and strike up a friendship as they eat and drink their way through Europe and make a “friendly” wager along the way: who can sleep with the most locals out of the cities they visit. But this brings up jealousy, old hurts, and possibly even love that they were both so sure was over.

I LOVED all the descriptions of the food, culture, cities, and (to a lesser extent) the drinks. It really built the setting up SO well it makes me want to go on my own European wine and food tour! What a didn’t love were Theo and Kit, the most pretentious people in the world. Theo is a wine sommelier in training and when she describes any wine or drink I wanted to roll my eyes. “A lot of tannins, but they’re gentle, like they’ve had a long time to think about it.” - An actual line of dialogue that is said by Theo and I think it was the cause of my Kindle k*lling itself. Kit is a patissier and majored in art history but is somehow a little less pretentious than Theo, but he did cry in every sex scene (EVERYTIME?!). Also - in every city they just happen to run into an extremely hot bisexual that wants to bang within literal minutes of meeting? Please. I also find it funny they decide to name their French business Field Day as a play on their names but wil totally fo over non-English speakers heads (who will be their main clientele). Overall loved the culture/food details but the romance didn’t do it for me and the MCs annoyed me.

This book is odd in a way I don't enjoy. The two main characters look alike but are bisexual, one a woman and one a man. And they are having nightly sexual encounters with other people. The whole thing makes me squeamish-- like falling in love with your mirror image. Not for me.

Thank you SMP Romance and Macmillan Audio for my gifted copies. All opinions are my own.

Red, White and Royal Blue is an all time favorite and I think this has now my second favorite Casey Mcquiston book.

I’m not sure I have enough words to describe my love for Kit and Theo. They were best friends for most of their lives and partners before they break up on the eve of their European food and wine tour.

They haven’t seen each other in years when they meet on the same tour we were supposed to take together. I loved their sumptuous tour of so many major cities in Europe. This will definitely make you hungry so be prepared. Despite clearly not being over each other, they make a game of who can have the most hook-ups.

I liked how this was a broken into Theo’s perspective and then Kit’s. This definitely made me want to go on a European food and wine tour!

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024. I have loved 2/3 of Casey McQuiston’s books and was so looking forward to this one; I mean bi4bi, European summer, food tour! It sounded amazing.

Unfortunately, I quickly found it wasn’t for me. As a bisexual woman I’m all to aware of the stereotype that being bisexual makes you more promiscuous, that given that your attracted to multiple people you’ll automatically sleep with everyone. A lot of authors have done really strong work to counteract that stereotype and unfortunately this book heavily perpetuated it with the way the ‘hook up’ competition was set up. Let me be clear, the hook up competition itself isn’t the problem but the way the characters approached it just felt yucky to me.

I DNFed around 23%. In addition to the above I just didn’t feel any connection to the characters. Definitely bummed this one wasn’t for me.

This book was a fun, spicy read—perfect for foodies and travel lovers! 🌶️✈️ The pairing of delicious culinary adventures with globe-trotting romance kept me hooked. However, I have to admit, this wasn’t my favorite by this author. 🤷‍♀️

Also, can we talk about the cover? It didn’t appeal to me at all, and I only picked it up because of my love for the author’s previous work. I feel like the cover really doesn’t do justice to the story inside! 🙈

Sadly this was a miss for me. I felt like I came into the book and was missing background information on the main characters. I’ve enjoyed Casey’s books in the past so was disappointed this missed my expectations

Theo and Kit have run the relationship gambit, from friends all the way to exes who are no longer in each other's life. When their relationship came to a screeching halt on an intercontinental flight to their dream European food/wine trip, they both went home and never spoke again. That is, until they both ended up redeeming their trip vouchers at the same time. Now stuck together for a three week whirlwind tour, they agree to a hookup competition as they catch up on their past. What could possibly go wrong?

This was one of my most anticipated reads this year, but it fell a bit flat for me. It just wasn't my favorite, as much as that pains me. I thought it had a lot of potential to develop the characters and their backstories, but the focus was a bit more on the hookup competition and food and wine aspects. We start with Theo's POV, and I didn't find their nepo baby personality to be all that likable or relatable. About mid way through, it switched to Kit's POV, which I enjoyed a lot more. It seemed pretty clear that Kit had extremely strong feelings for Theo, and I found this half to be far more endearing. Despite their miscommunications, I was pulling for them as a couple. Throughout their tour, the food and wine elements were strong, and it felt like those were heavily researched. The other main aspect of this story was the hookup competition. It initially sounded like it would be a fun plot line, but you have to really suspend disbelief. Literally everyone they encountered was ready to immediately hookup with complete strangers. While this was a cute summer read and I would recommend giving it a try, I don't think it will stick with me long-term. Pick this one up if you want to take a frustrating yet emotional food and drink filled romp through Europe.

Thank you to Casey McQuiston, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars
Was this book incredibly ridiculous and read like a 2015 tumblr fever dream? Yes. Did I absolutely love it? Also yes. But I do love terrible media content (my mom and I watch the Real Housewives together every week though I no longer live with her) so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

The Pairing is a lush foody adventure through Europe where everyone is hot and not straight (not a criticism!). Theo and Kit, not so recent exes end up on the same European bus tour and are both immediately out of their comfort zone. Still despite their bad breakup a few years earlier they resolve to become friends and eventually competitors. The competition? Sleep with as many people as possible with the ultimate prize being Fabrizio their hot Italian tour guide. Of course Theo and Kit still have feelings for each other (not a spoiler if you've ever read a romance novel). They also have shit they need to work through first and though sometimes the personal development seems rushed it does feel authentic.

The novel is divided into two sections, the first part is narrated by Theo and the second part is narrated by Kit. I really enjoyed getting both their perspectives on their relationship (past and current). No spoilers but there is a HEA but again it feels deserved.

I did enjoy this just as I've enjoyed all of McQuiston's earlier works. I know my library will definitely purchase this and I will recommend it to patrons looking for a rompy, lgbt, summer romance. But I will also try to point them in the direction of other lgbt books/authors. McQuiston is a fantastic writer but they are not the only queer writer out there though based on their popularity it can definitely feel that way.

Ok minor spoiler but the bus driver on this European tour is a lesbian named Orla and she met her wife when they were classmates in Derry. Hmmmm .....

Anyway I really liked this book I definitely recommend.

I was provided a free copy of this book through NetGalley.