I loved this. I had such a good time and it desperately makes me ready for my trip to Italy later this year. Theo and Kit were great leads and it was a nice change of pace to read in 1st person. I enjoyed the more emotional parts in the second half of the book from Kit's POV.

Two bisexual exes accidentally rebook the same European food tour four years after a devastating breakup. Instead of communicating about what went wrong (which, honestly, is hard work), they challenge each other - who can hook up with the most people during the tour? Note - this is not the book for you if you don’t like it when the leads hook up with other people!

The first half was very slow for me to get into, but the second half picked up! For me, this was better to read (vs. audio) because of all the detailed food, wine, European travel descriptions.

“‘Hmm. Hold on.’ Theo studies the fountain more closely. ‘I know this place. It’s in the seminal rom-com—‘ ‘Roman Holiday,’ I say at the same time Theo finishes, ‘The Lizzie McGuire Movie,’ and we laugh.”

Any book that references The Lizzie McGuire movie automatically gets extra cool points.

“I lean in and give Theo a solid, deep kiss. They taste of coffee and pistachio and sunscreen, like the love of my life.”

The ending was very full circle and satisfying to read. Fans of messy exes, food, wine, travel, and hookups are sure to love this one!

I Received an advanced reading copy, receipt of which did not impact my review.

I can't help but think Casey McQuiston may be a one-hit wonder for me...After loving RWRB, I thought Shara Wheeler was good not great and have not been able to finish any of their other books! I truly don't know where the disconnect is for me because I love CMQ's premises (food tour through Europe is so me!!!!); I just haven't been able to connect with the characters like I did with both Alex and Henry.

I have been such a fan of CMQ, but each of their books has made that fandom a bit shakier. Everything I love about their best work (banter, fully drawn tertiary characters, compelling stakes) were fully absent here. There was a conversation about 30% of the way in that I expected to be the big reveal at the end, so after that happened, I really felt no more investment.

This is a great book if you are traveling in Europe or sitting poolside, but unfortunately it absolutely was not for me.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have really enjoyed her other books so I was excited to receive this one as well.

I loved the setting and loved seeing Europe through their eyes and I'm a foodie so that was fun to read about but to be honest I just wasn't invested in Theo and Kit. This is a SSSLLLOOOWWW burn and made it hard to connect to these two. I hated the part about the "bet". I feel like it was juvenile and made it harder for them to come together.

I love CMQ and I love the risks they took with this book — it’s a horny bisexual romp about exes who end up on the same food-and-wine tour of Europe and deal with their repressed feelings by competing to have sex with the most locals. If that premise gives you the ick, you will not enjoy this book, and that’s okay! It’s a thrill to watch an author gain confidence and make big swings, and this book feels like a big eff-you to the straight cis readers who loved CMQ’s debut Red, White, and Royal Blue but never touched another queer romance afterward.

I enjoyed the book as a novel but not as a romance. Casey can write a sentence and a joke better than almost anyone in the genre today. This book is so gay, so loud, so sensory, so lush. But The Pairing messes with the rules of the romance genre in ways that frustrated me. It’s rare to read a romance where the main characters sleep with people other than their love interest(s). As a non-monogamous reader, I would genuinely love to see that change, but I don’t know if CMQ stuck the landing on making space within genre romance fore casual sex. Some readers take their criticism in a slut-shaming direction or decry The Pairing for stereotyping bisexuals as promiscuous. I don’t think those arguments are fair, but I think readers are reaching for reasons why this book made them uncomfortable. To me, the various Europeans that Theo and Kit bonk are thinly written and feel more like pawns than people. Pawns is too harsh; they are written like the food and wine the tourist main characters sample on their tour. I was relieved when Theo and Kit finally got together, not because I was all that invested in their relationship but because they didn’t seem to care about anyone other than each other.

The Pairing is a second chance romance between two high school besties turned lovers who break up at an airport and reconnect over a long delayed Europe trip.
I really wanted to love this book but if I'm being honest I was bored reading it. I love the various settings as they travel through Europe and the food porn is devine. But this was the slowest slow burn in the history of slow burns and the bet made to see who can sleep with as many people on this trip just didn't do it for me. Theo and Kit came across as really childish and they couldn't seem to get it together until the end of the book.

3 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you like:

-traveling/ European landscapes ✈️
-2nd chance romance 💘
-childhood friends to lovers 🥰
-lgtbqia+ main characters 🏳️‍🌈

This might be the book for you!

Casey McQuiston is an auto-buy & read author for me! They have the ability to write some of the sweetest lines I have ever read that left me kicking my little feet.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this ARC.

The Pairing was an okay read. While there were elements I enjoyed I definitely think I just had different expectations from the romance.

I was able to listen to the audiobook as well and the dual narrators were fantastic and made the story more enjoyable.

The first half of the story is in Theo’s POV and the second half is in Kit’s POV, which I liked. There were some great tropes like forced proximity, best friends to lovers to exes to lovers, and a second chance romance.

The LGBTQIA representation, with Theo being non-binary and both Kit and Theo being bisexual was refreshing and just beautifully presented.

The overall premise was interesting. I loved the wine and food element and the European setting. There were some great side characters and some sweet and amusing moments as well.

I will say though, the first half of the story was very slow-paced and not really my favorite. I definitely enjoyed the second half more, especially because it was Kit’s POV who I liked more to be honest.

The romance was the biggest issue for me in this book though. It was very underwhelming and just not what I was hoping for. While they did have some angst and pining, I just didn’t believe in their connection. The main reason for this was because they both continuously hook up with other people during their trip. While, the sexual wager was a big subplot I just didn’t expect there to be so many scenes and moments with other people. The sleeping with other people last until 50% into the story. So it just made it hard for me to believe in their romance when there was no real development or growth in their relationship until almost the end.

There were some spicy moments and scenes but again some of those were with other people. Theo and Kit do have some sweet and heartfelt moments though.

The last few chapters were pretty good and the epilogue was nice. Overall, not my favorite book from this author but still an okay read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for allowing me to read an ARC of The Pairing by Casey McQuiston.

Heartbroken exes and childhood best friends on a European food and drink tour together? What could possibly go wrong...

OMG ALL THE FEELS. Reunited exes is one of the tropes I struggle the most with (bear with me...) simply because it often makes me feel so sad and emotional, and boy does Casey McQuiston make me feel all the feels (in a good way!). The longing. The desire. The emotional growth. The food. The drinks! All of the senses and all of the emotions were involved in this book. Also, prepare your credit card for the upcoming purchase of plane tickets (or the strong wish for them like myself) because this book truly takes you along for the tour, and while you get a lot of time with the characters, you also get so much time with delicious food and drink descriptions and gorgeous travel notes. Just putting it out there....The Pairing movie would be SO good!

Definitely Recommend!

Reading this book was an absolute treat. After loving Red, White, and Royal Blue and liking One Last Stop I was so excited for The Pairing. This follows two exes Kit and Theo who end up booking the same three week European food and drink tour after not seeing each other for four years.

The love and passion between these two characters is just so palpable on the page. Mcquiston creates such a rich back story for the characters and blends together the way they fit then, and the way they’ve changed and could still fit together now. It is also unapologetically queer and erotic in a way I haven’t seen very often. The descriptions of the sights, sounds, and especially tastes of each European city are described to perfection and made me endlessly hungry. I wish I could read this book again for the first time.

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.