A gorgeous and tender second chance romance with realistic and dimensional characters whose connection is steamy and believable.

I truly did not think I could love a book more than I loved Red, White and Royal Blue and then I read The Pairing. Decadent, sexy, hilarious. Deeply bisexual, and it had me in my gender feels pretty much immediately. If you want an extravagantly queer book, full of delicious descriptions, this is it!

Effortlessly charming and full of warmth! McQuiston delivers another vibrant, joyful romance packed with humor, heart, and undeniable chemistry. So, so hot!

This book was so cute! I loved the inclusiveness and it just had all the angst, along with the good feels.

another delight from casey mcquiston! i loved the characters, the different settings around europe, and the food

This book had me dreaming of food and a European vacation. Ultimately, I was not a fan of the sex pact plot line and didn't feel connected to either main character. I previously enjoyed this authors books and was disappointed in this one but I will continue to read their new books.

Oh my gosh I need a European vacation after reading this book! The settings and characters were delicious. I loved the characters’ stories and how they grew.

Ok I went into this one blind. I absolutely adored the author's previous book, Red, White & Royal Blue. So I was expecting to love this one too.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I was not really big on the sex pact plot line. It was more annoying than anything else. There was so much focus on it that I felt a lack of development and romance was missing between Theo & Kit.

I was also not a fan of Theo. They kind of annoyed me most of the book.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵. 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

This is a story about traveling the world to find your home.

There were parts of this I really enjoyed, and it made me laugh out loud. The travel abroad vibes and second chance romance elements were really fun and as always Casey nails the queer rep. The nepo baby struggles made me roll my eyes a bit, and it felt verrrrry long but it was overall still a cute book.

3.5. ⭐️ rounded to 4.

Thank you so much Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the copy!

I first read Casey McQuiston’s writing back in 2022 with Red, White & Royal Blue, and that is one of my favorite books to this day. The Pairing was a delightful follow up for me in their work, and I absolutely demolished this story.

Theo is such a delightful and confidently awkward character — like their vibes are truly unmatched. I enjoyed their chapters the most.

Such descriptive storytelling with vivid imagery of the scenery and characters. I know we’re technically in the character’s heads in all books, but this time it REALLY feels like we are. Also, the way McQuiston describes the food and the scenery and everything in the setting — it’s like a vivid hallucination of Europe. Cheaper than plane ticket, but still a great experience.

And I haven’t even touched on the dynamic love story that is Theo and Kit. Ugh, they hurt my heart and pieced it right back together.

Also, I would kill to visit their combination patisserie/bar. I’m hungry and thirsty just thinking about it.

It’s currently -15C and snowing. It’s beautiful but I’d much rather be on a summer European tour with Theo and Kit. In The Pairing we follow these two bisexual exes as they each go on a trip to Europe, solo. Only to run into one another, stuck on the same tour bus. As they go from romantic city to romantic city, why not make a bet? To see who can hook up with their hot tour guide first. A recipe for success, definitely not disaster.

McQuiston blew me away with Red, White and Royal Blue and I loved One Last Stop. I was excited to get to this one but unfortunately it came up just a bit shy of a fave for me. I really wanted to escape to Europe tough, the food descriptions and the feel of being in Europe really seeped through the pages.

Still an enjoyable read I’d recommend if you’re looking for a fun rom com but it missed the “I’m obsessed with this” mark.

I’ve been waiting for Casey to charm me just like RWRB for some time and this was a solid effort. Can’t quite match the previously mentioned, but I enjoyed this.

While I enjoyed the author’s previous books, The Pairing unfortunately fell flat for me. I liked the concept, and hearing about the locations and food were my favorite parts. But I was not interested in either of the main characters, finding them kind of annoying.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a second chance romance novel that was full of drama and yearning. I could not wait for Kit and Theo to realize that they could be together and could love each other. Theo was a difficult character for me because they were a lot to handle at times and I was so happy in the end when they got over the past and were able to move forward with an open heart. I loved the backdrop of this story and really enjoyed the trip Kit and Theo were on.

I tried to love this, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I’ll be chasing the high of Red, White, & Royal Blue for an eternity it seems.

Wow. This is so completely different from Casey McQuiston’s other reads for me. The Pairing has a lot of sex in it and most of it is left to the imagination until Kit and Theo get together. I usually am not into a book about a potential couple hooking up with other people unless it’s their kink and sometimes even that doesn’t sit well with me. I think this is why I kind of sat in the middle of my feelings until about half way through. Then the author did this great switch where we heard the story from the other viewpoint.

First all we heard was Kit’s viewpoint and I have to be honest, I kind of don’t like Kit. I didn’t really care for Theo either. Up until the halfway point where the viewpoint changed, I was not invested in either character and I was kind of bored with the story. Then the switcheroo happened and I love Theo. He makes the story for me. He gives Kit flavor (and yes, I realize I punned there (chuckle)). Now I am invested.

I enjoyed the secondary cast. I am disappointed about the main characters always assuming things about people. I would think as rainbows that they wouldn’t jump to conclusions about humans, but they are young and dumb.

I loved the travel part and learning about the food and wine pairings. I don’t drink wine at all - can’t stand the taste or smell. But I love to bake so I found all of this fun and fascinating.

Overall, I kind of don’t know how I feel about the book (chuckle). I really like Theo and I am glad that there is a happy ending. I like the romance from Theo’s side of the table. In the end, there was France (sigh), really hot sex, and cake.

Casey McQuiston is always an author I will happily read! I was really intrigued by the setting of their story here and it really made me excited to read it. The biggest thing I appreciated was the emotional vulnerability between the two love interests. It felt very real and tangible and no unauthentic. It felt very accurate to what a queer love journey feels like. I will continue to read McQuiston for this reason and consistently recommend their books!

I was really excited to read this book (especially since I loved Red White and Royal Blue) but I was not expecting this book to be as long of a read as it was.

I loved all of the details in the book and the way the food and sites of Europe are described made me want to hop on a plane and fly to Europe myself! However, some do the description and minor details felt too drawn out, in addition to the main romance.

I enjoyed both Theo and Kit and character (and maybe liked Kit a bit more lol), but the stop and go of their relationship from exes and ex-childhood best friends to tentative fiends, to “yeah we can be friends”, to “let’s have a sex contest”, to pining over one another, to “Pretty Woman”-style ruling for fooling around, to lovers was just way too convoluted and I felt like a lot of extra parts of this book could’ve been cut out to make room for the bigger picture of the novel, which is finding yourself and how loving and accepting yourself can help you love someone else in a new way.

There was something nice about this novel that made me keep reading it and I really enjoyed the second hand experience of busing France and Italy through the lens of a sommelier in training and pastry chef. And If you love super detailed descriptions of Europe and commentary on food, wine, and art that borders on pretentious, then you’ll enjoy this book.

However to just pose the elegance of a three week European food and wine tour, this book also involves a chaotic second-chance friends-to-lovers romance with LGBTQ+ representation, and steamy scenes including any combo of only one or both MCs. So if you’re into that, then you might enjoy this book a little bit more than I did.

I LOVEEEEEED THIS BOOK. SO SLUTTY AND PERFECT. Casey McQuiston can do no wrong in my eyes. The entire book was so engaging and I really felt like I was on a European tour with the characters. So obsessed.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this book.
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Like many others, I’ve read every McQuiston title so far and this one definitely hits the mark. The Pairing is more verbose and certainly spicier than their previous works, but it works for the piece. Kit and Theo are childhood friends, to lovers, to a messy break-up, to sharing a European vacation after years of not speaking. I really loved the way the POVs were split up, and felt like I really got to understand their personal growths within themselves and each other.
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My parents and brother are in the midst of planning their own trip to Italy, and this book made me jealous that I can’t join them to visit some of these places and taste some of these dishes. If you are a foodie, this book is for you, and even if you’re not, then it will make you wish you had a chef on hand to recreate the meals McQuiston describes.