I didn't hate this, but I didn't love it like I did previous selections by McQuiston. Theo was insufferable and, in a rom-com, it actually is important to like the characters. The writing was good, everything felt realistic, and the humor was funny, but Theo's selfishness, the inability to just talk, the pacing somewhat . . . it was a bit meh. And the premise of the two competing over conquests . . . it sounded funny, at first, but when I read the book, it felt cringe.

Theo and Kit grew up best friends, fell into first love, but haven’t talked in four years. They had a horrible fight and broke up on their way to Europe, and both end up using their refund credits at the same time, ending up on a romantic bus tour as the only two singles. As they move through a food and wine tour of Europe, they decide on a wager to hook up with people other than each other - when that’s all they want.

This book took me on a summer trip to Europe, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Not only did I adore the settings, the food and wine descriptions and the way that CMQ drew me in, but I fell in love with the characters. They were complex and lovely and finding themselves, and also fully whole.

It’s a spicy second chance romance at its core, but it’s also a book about friendship and finding your passions. I loved it.

Definitely their communication could’ve been better, but the travel descriptions and friendships more than made up for that frustration.

The Paring by Casey Mcquiston is the 3rd book I've read by this author. It may be my favorite one yet. Though all have received 5 star reviews from me. This book made me laugh and cry. Sometimes at the same time. This was a beautiful and heartbreaking story. I especially like how the author did the duo POV by splitting the book. Not only did they do a great job distinguishing the different characters, giving them very different personalities and characteristics, but even the way the character narration of the story felt vastly different. I liked both main characters, but I'm absolutely in love with Kit. His poetic way of looking at life and love is beautiful. This book was so fun to read. The travel, the food, the drink, and the friendships they formed along the way, no detail, was spared. I felt like I was right there on the trip with Theo & Kit. I've already purchased my own copy of this book. I look forward to rereading this book again and again. Thank you, netgalley, for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review.

Theo and Kit, childhood best friends, fell deeply in love and then broke up on the plane ride to Paris. Now both have expiring vouchers for that food and wine tour they never went on, and both (unknowingly) have signed up for the same tour.

I am a huge fan of Casey McQuiston, who wrote this book, and this story is another great addition to her body of work. The romance feels epic because of McQuiston’s expert writing skills, and I desperately want to go back to Europe and eat (and drink) my way through it thanks to McQuiston’s incredible descriptions. This is a beautiful book, and I definitely recommend it.

I’ve adored quite a few of Casey’s books, and really wanted to love this book, too. The sumptuous descriptions of food, wine, and Europe were absolutely delicious, but I found the love story lacking.

The storyline (sleeping with lots of other people, all gorgeous and willing) didn’t seem to be a legitimate way to bring Kit and Theo back together. Theo's journey with bisexuality felt real and earned, especially when framed through Kit's reactions. Still, their connection wasn't as strong as I would have liked it to be. The break-up and the reconciliation seemed unearned, since most of the work was done off of the page.

Overall, I didn't find much emotional resonance in the, admittedly, lush and gorgeous travel story. I’ll keep reading Casey’s books; I usually love them. This one just didn’t hit for me.

I love McQuinston, but I think this premise just isn’t for me. A second chance romance needs to be heavy on the romance for me and this really wasn’t that. Hard to love characters in a relationship I didn’t find myself rooting for. Looking forward to the next!

Childhood best friends turned lovers Theo and Kit had an epic breakup at Heathrow before their epic culinary/art/wine tour of France and Italy even began; Theo went home and blocked Kit’s number, and Kit stayed. They both received vouchers for the trip, and at the eleventh hour, before the vouchers expire four years later, Theo, now a sommelier in training, crosses the ocean again to join the tour, only to end up in a seat on the bus next to Kit–he didn’t take the tour at the original date, either, and wasn’t expecting Theo. They agree to a truce of sorts, and then, since the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else, they challenge one another to a hook-up competition for the duration of the tour. Because they’re totally over each other, right?

The first half of the novel is from Theo’s point of view: we learn about Theo’s struggles with ADHD and feelings of failure around launching a viable career. Having failed the sommelier exam three times, Theo is currently flying under the radar as a mixologist in a microbus and distancing themselves and their perceived weirdness around their famous family of movie producers and actors. Once on the tour bus, Theo dissects their relationship with Kit even as they find themselves spiraling closer to their former friend and lover.

The second part of the novel is Kit’s life update and take on the relationship. Kit has been killing it as a pastry chef in France. It is in Kit’s half that Theo, bisexual and androgynous, reveals to Kit they are now using they/them pronouns. Kit, also bisexual, not only takes it in stride, but immediately respects and validates it.

Their reunion plays out against a stunning backdrop of France, Spain and Italy; the lush sensory details reminds me of the classic Californian coming of age novel Weetzie Bat at a slower pace. The writing is juicy, by which I mean luscious, steamy, emotional, horny, rich and decadent, and ripe with so many allusions to art, architecture and literature it’s nearly gluttonous. One of Kit and Theo’s pasttimes is playing a game called On The Fly, where they verbally compose dishes and drinks, taking one element from a menu presentation to create something new and fresh until one is declared unable to be topped; it speaks to their dynamic in so many ways, from their artful creativity to their ability to work in harmony, to their culinary instincts and expertise, to their competitive nature, to their playful give and take, to their conscious turn-taking of topping in bed. Another game that showcases Theo’s nose is a wine guessing game, and their mastery is awesome.

I love how simply, honestly, and authoritatively the novel portrayed a one true pairing that didn’t limit itself to being straight or being monogamous. Most of all, I loved this sense that they could not have stayed together when they were younger, and needed the break to grow up a little, gain confidence and maturity, and come back together as their best selves. The Pairing is a novel I devoured twice, purchased the day it came out in special edition, and will lament the day the digital galley with all my bookmarks disappears from my e-reader.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #ThePairing via #NetGalley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press.

I felt very annoyed that Theo’s main struggle was “is a nepo baby.” But my frustration there pales in comparison to my delight at how fun and horny this book is. The second half is MUCH better than the first and if you can get past the overindulgent descriptions of food and scenery, it is a fun book. (My eyes glazed over at all of the scene descriptions as they started to blend together, which is really funny knowing that the author actually did a similar trip in order to more accurately write about each place. Don’t care! More kissing and tension!)

Ugh. I really disliked this book. The characters weren’t likable, the plot was problematic. The relationship simply wasn’t believable. I was so hype for this book and wanted to love it so I powered through despite wanting to DNF and it was so bleh.

This Casey McQuiston read was not like any of McQuiton's other reads. I did struggle with it, but found the banter and the competition to be very entertaining once I got into the story. I just recommend going into this one without thinking it is a McQuiston book!

If there's a Casey McQuiston book hitting the shelves you better BELIEVE that I'm waiting with stars in my eyes. And they've done it once again. As many of my reviews will reflect, I am a HUGE fan of food/beverage based stories, especially with fantastic descriptions. Casey spared no beautiful scenery, complex flavor palette, or gorgeous baked bread scent mention. Additionally, I loved Kit and Theo and their connection. Admitedly, I preferred Kit's perspective, as I was ready for some straight up love at this point! Another favorite queer romance just found.

A story that revels in its own decadence in the best way. Read for a riveting romp through the world of European food and wine, told through the lens of a pair of pining disaster queers. If you love stories filled with steamy queer sexcapades and food porn, this is absolutely for you! Honestly my favorite of Mcquiston's so far (and I've loved them all)!

{AD} I'm a huge fan of Casey McQuiston but this was probably my least favourite of their books. It's an ode to hedonism, pulsating with wild pleasures. It feels too gluttonous to read in one sitting though as it can be an overwhelming experience.

What I Loved:
🍷 The descriptions of the food tour across Europe - the places, food and wine.
🥐 The LGBTQIA+ representation.
🍷 The beautiful prose with some exquisite quotes.
🥐 The side characters.

What I Disliked:
🥐 I didn't *love* Kit or Theo as main characters. Both were a bit bland and I didn't connect with either.
🍷 The sex scenes were almost too much for me (but that's my personal preference entirely and other readers will disagree as pleasure is the entire thesis of this book!).
🥐 It was missing the humour of earlier books.

But I am sure the right reader will adore this story and I'm still glad I read it even though I won't be re-reading.

Such a cute book. I was alittle worried since I DNF’d one last spot for its pacing issues but I felt like this book fixed it!

THE PAIRING is Casey McQuiston at their steamiest and most unapologetic and it is 5/5 stars so good, the perfect escape.

This story follows Theo and Kit, exes who end up on the same culinary tour of Europe. What follows is a sexploration of France, Italy, and Spain, full of Casey McQuiston’s beautiful descriptions of settings and food and emotion. I read this on my way to Germany and it was exquisite to be reading about the magic of traveling while actually traveling - swipe for an early passage I loved!

The reason I say this is Casey McQ’s most unapologetic work is because there’s a lot that shouldn’t work here (which you can find details of in Goodreads reviews if you’re curious). RED WHITE & ROYAL BLUE feels near-perfect to me in its character development, its build of emotion, its somehow-realistic plot despite the premise; whereas THE PAIRING lounges in its imperfections, its literary/romance “rule” breaking, its blatant ~miscommunication~ issues. And yet I loved it!

It was interesting to read this after ALL FOURS because both books have a focus on pleasure but are (obviously) very different. I love the exploration of escapism both have at their core, the question of, “What if I just said “fuck it” and genuinely did what feels good for me, despite long-lasting impact, despite the status quo?”

This book is two things: hungry and horny.

If you like beautiful descriptions of probably delicious food, you will get more enough here. That part was just fine for me. I don't care that much about reading about meals.

Now, the horniness. Theo and Kit, who haven't seen or even communicated with each other since their break-up, are quite surprised to see each other on this tour. Kit is a bit more happy about it than Theo, who generally seems like they want to crawl into a hole and hide at all times. And that was the main problem I had with this book -- Theo's point of view is so hard to read. Theo is incredibly frustrating. I can buy a lot of things about this story, like everyone is somewhere on the bi spectrum and hooking up with beautiful strangers is just *the* thing to do on vacation in Europe, but I could not buy that Theo was at all pleasant to be around. When the POV switches to Kit, it was a breath of fresh air, though then we also get him dealing with the frustration of Theo.

I was hoping this would have the magic of McQuiston's other books, but it just wasn't there for me.

Casey in fantastic and always an auto-buy. I think their books sell themselves! But I will still absolutely be book talking this one and adding to lists now that the marketing boycott is concluded.

This was such a beautiful story. The journey and love story flowed well. I enjoyed the dual perspectives!

The Pairing follows Theo and Kit, childhood best friends turned ex-lovers, who find themselves on a food and wine tour through Europe years after a devastating breakup. What was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip is now a reunion neither expected. To ease the tension, they create a playful game—competing to see who can hook up with the most people. But as the tour takes them through the stunning backdrops of France, Spain, and Italy, it becomes clear their connection runs far deeper than any competition.

McQuiston masterfully blends humor, heartbreak, and chemistry, bringing Theo and Kit’s complex relationship to life in a way that feels raw and real. The journey through Europe was beautifully written, with rich descriptions of food and culture that made me feel like I was right there. The unique POV shift halfway through that is unlike any other romance I’ve read, letting us see their love from a new angle. If you're a fan of second-chance romances, this one will steal your heart!

I recommend for fans of spicy contemporary romance, especially those who love travel, found family, and a bit of emotional chaos.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin's Griffin for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I think I have two caveats to this review. 1 is I hate second chance romance. 2 is I love Casey McQuiston. Lucky for me, Casey’s writing made me love this second chance romance. Theo and Kit are my new book boyfriends (I think Theo wouldn’t mind that distinction). I loved the use of dual narrator, I’ve never read a book where the first half was in one POV and the second half was in the other. I think it was very effecting to get me to fall in love with the characters in real time. I felt like I knew Theo and Kit, they felt like friends before the book was 1/4 of the way done. I also LOVED the food and travel content. I now must go to San Sebastián and while Barcelona was already on my list, it has skyrocketed to the top. This is now in my romance novel hall of fame next to Red White and Royal Blue. Highly recommend