As an enthusiastic fan of Casey McQuinston’s Red, White & Royal Blue, I was eager to get my hands on The Pairing. This was, by far, my most anticipated book of 2024. However, I found myself sorely disappointed.

*The Pairing* is a second-chance romance novel following ex-lovers Theo Flowerday and Kit Fairfield through a chance encounter at the very same wine-and-dine vacation tour they missed four years prior.

The Romance:
I’ll be the first to admit I struggled reading this novel. The writing provided little reason to believe the main romance beyond an empty promise of past chemistry. As for the emotional beats expected of Romance genre fiction, they were tacky and misplaced. Neither character felt ready for a successful relationship and I couldn’t bring myself to ignore the significant red flags from both parties.

“Is that all this has been to them, with me? Self-destruction?
I don’t know what difference it would make if it was. Does it matter if Theo is fucking me to destroy themself, if I’m destroying myself to fuck Theo?”

In the end, I could not root for Theo and Kit and dreaded that they would give their relationship a second chance at all.


The Plot:
While the writing seemed to sacrifice romance for plot, there was no real conflict or drive to begin with. Between erotic material that made little attempt at a narrative, the constant barrage of food and wine descriptions, and a lack of emotional payoff, I had long stopped caring about the hook-up competition or the characters, and very little remained after that. By the time Kit’s POV brought a besotted freshness to the writing, I was beyond exhausted and soon, that too became frustrating.

*The Pairing* felt like a wonderful concept badly executed. Left and right, characters outside of Theo and Kit dropped everything for the tourists’ pleasure and needs. Outside of their convenience as attractive bodies to use, transport, or timely advice, the side characters seemed to exist for little else. For a select few, a scarce attempt was made at character development, but this came near the end of the novel. In a way, that accurately summarises many of the plot devices and developments—badly-timed—and perhaps the novel’s meandering pace would’ve benefitted from being shortened.

This rendition of a painfully Americanised Europe makes for good summer escapism. I was seeking something with a little more depth. A lot of research clearly went into the various settings; however, the overwhelming paragraphs of food and wine detail had me skimming more often than not.

In its celebration of hedonistic culture, this novel featured explicit content nestled in YA tropes, with grown adults whose behaviour seemed to conflict with their age. This wasn’t personally for me and I was somewhat expecting this read to be more mature.


Theo & Kit:
I must say, however, that my experience of this novel wasn’t all doom and gloom. If you can look beyond the lack of realism, there were certainly moments of charismatic humour and some brilliant prose and dialogue.

“Here, now, under a shower of sparks, he looks like just the person who would have missed me, the one who wouldn’t have left.
The truth is, I never stopped loving that person. I only stopped believing he existed.”

McQuinston’s expression of Theo's gender identity is masterfully planned and executed. Several craft decisions such as the order of Theo and Kit’s POVs and their stylistic choice of withholding Theo’s pronouns in the first half of the novel produced quite a profound effect.

When Kit’s POV—unaware of Theo’s nonbinary identity—addresses them incorrectly and leans toward feminine impressions of them, the deep wrongness felt as a reader was rather stark. I came to read this novel already aware of Theo’s gender identity. Beyond that head knowledge, it was something else to experience the discomfort of being misgendered and the deep satisfaction after Theo’s pronouns were corrected.

Outside of this, I found the characterisation of Theo and Kit to be flat. Theo’s nepo-baby complex irritated me throughout the novel and I did not see the purpose of it—the late 20s unease and guilt of accepting financial assistance could have been equally communicated without the odd sympathy for Theo’s voluntary poverty. As for Kit, his POV orbited wholly around Theo. It quickly dawned that Kit did not seem to exist without them; his hero-worship was either concerningly obsessed or shallow.


The Bottom Line:
On many occasions, I should have chosen to DNF this book; however much I wished otherwise, this read was not for me. The genuine characterisations and emotional arcs that I came to love from Red, White & Royal Blue were dearly missed and most of all, I finished this novel frustrated at not having come to know any of the characters.

On the other hand, there are definitely readers this novel will appeal to. I appreciate how well McQuinston’s fresh experimentation with writing form expressed Theo’s nonbinary identity.

For these reasons, I have rated *The Pairing* 1.3/5 stars, rounded down.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this ARC!

I tried so hard to finish this book. I picked it back up several times and just could not get into it. I found myself not caring about the characters. Maybe it was the old lovers coming back together that I didn’t care for but overall this book was not for me.

"Casey's first novel Red, White & Royal Blue has been my go-to recommendation for friends since 2019, and I'm so glad they delivered another equally brilliant novel full of rich characters and visceral experiences. The Pairing follows Theo and Kit, two bisexual ex-lovers who reconnect on a European tour four years after their devastating split.

What follows is a sensual and spicy feast for the senses, as the pair taste and smell and touch and thoroughly enjoy themselves across the continent, all while realizing the importance of being known, exactly for who you are."

This is hands down one of the best books of the year I've read. This epic love story soans decades. Casey McQuistion delicately addresses learning disabilities, fear, the struggle of self worth and acceptance. When 2 souls are meant to be the tale is woven beautifully and is absolutely exquisite.

Queen Casey!!!!

I was not surprised that I enjoyed this one, but wow didn’t expect it to be so spicy! wooo. chile. I enjoyed this one a lot though. following two bisexual exes in a european setting, this story was so well written, plus I was laughing so hard. her books have the funniest one liners that will make you laugh out loud!!

really the only deduction for me, was i’m not a huge second chance romance kind of gal. & it usually always affects my rating in a way. not by much this time around because truly Casey is a beautiful writer & I get lost in her books. they are clever & fun & unputdownable truly!

LGBTQ books are becoming a favorite of mine to read. I love the authenticity it brings & shows throughout. I can picture it & it’s just like a vivid color art in my head & casey does an amazing job with it in her writing. she’s quickly becoming a favorite author of mine.

- MM romance (both bisexual)
- Second chance romance
= Travelling across Europe

What to expect in The Pairing:
- Travel descriptions to fuel your wanderlust and food descriptions to fuel your hunger. You don't want to read this on an empty stomach!
- Possibly the horniest book Casey has written!
- Great character development and depth, diving deep into topics like gender identity and worthiness as they reconnect and rediscover each other.
- Switching POVs halfway through so we get to understand them both.
- Casey's signature witty and banter-filled writing style.

Prior to their newest release, I had read two of Casey McQuiston’s books and loved both. I was excited to read their third adult novel, The Pairing, out this week.

This one is a second chance romance between two childhood best friends, Kit and Theo, who had dated before a bad breakup four years ago. On the cusp of taking a European food tour, they went their separate ways and never spoke again. But they both had vouchers to take the tour within 48 months, and both happen to have booked it now at the same time. Kit and Theo will have to spend a few weeks together. Awkward due to their breakup… but maybe a chance to mend things and become friends again. Or a chance to have a sex competition, whatever! But is that all a distraction from the feelings they still have for each other?

Tropes & Narrative Devices:
- Second chance romance
- Childhood best friends to lovers to exes to lovers
- Forced proximity
- First-person POVs (both Theo and Kit)

What I Liked:
- Settings in England, France, Spain, and Italy. I love travel and any books set in other countries. (Especially Spain, since I lived there for a year!) I enjoyed following the main characters on a tour across these countries, seeing the sights, taking in the culture, and practicing the languages.
- Food! Did I mention that it was a food tour they’re on? There are plenty of descriptions of local cuisines, desserts, and drinks that will make your mouth water.
- Bisexual characters. Both Kit and Theo are bisexual, and they have insightful conversations about their sexualities. They also have a lot of fun with their sex competition, sometimes going after the same people.
- One of the characters is nonbinary. This is revealed later in the book, so sorry for the slight spoiler. Regardless, I don’t read nonbinary main characters often, and it’s nice to see the representation here, as well as the characters’ discussions about gender identity.

What Didn’t Work for Me:
- So much drinking. I don’t drink so I can’t relate.
- Kind of too much sex? I’m not a prude, and I like my spicy romances, but this book sometimes feels a bit too hyper-fixated on the characters’ horniness and constant need for sex. It could have used more breathing room from that to balance it out.
- Slightly juvenile? All of Casey McQuiston’s books have a certain youthfulness to them that makes them feel somewhat New Adult as opposed to just Adult. Not a problem at all, but not quite what I usually want from otherwise adult characters.

Final Thoughts
The Pairing is a great book that will appeal to foodies and people who like wine, anyone who loves travel and likes books set in Europe, and fans of second chance romances. It has a youthful energy, and with the sex competition between Kit and Theo, it’s on the spicier end of spectrum. I liked the characters and overall enjoyed the whole story, even if some elements weren’t entirely to my taste (pun intended).

Such a cute, second chance at love book! I honestly wish more queer books explored the second chance at love trope, it’s just so sweet to read.

Theo and Kit are great characters to watch as they grow and them finding each other on a good tour of Europe is so on brand and incredibly adorable. Being a die hard Red, White and Royal Blue fan, I was so excited to see another adult fiction book from Casey. Highly recommend for people who want to try some new tropes, loves queer romances, and some spice.

This book seemed to be filled with unnecessary vulgarity. I don’t tend to read or request spicy books, so perhaps my expectations were skewed but I thought that a very intriguing plot was hard to connect with due to too much smut.

I appreciated how Theo’s pronouns transitioned from she/her to they/them halfway through that novel. Using plural pronouns to refer to a singular entity is very difficult for me, so I found this to be great exposure.

Thank You to NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to SMP Romance for the advanced reader copy and to Macmillan Audio complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

The Pairing is a second chance romance between Theo and Kit. They were originally childhood best friends who became lovers. The two broke up right before taking a culinary tour of Europe together. And now, they have somehow both managed to rebook for the same trip years later just as their vouchers would expire.

What I loved about the book was the amazing food descriptions. This story made me want to travel through Europe, eating all of the amazing food at the same amazing sites. The chapters were fairly long, with each named for and lasting as long as the tour stop.

I love seeing a book that is bi for bi, but for me, this one leaned into bisexual stereotypes too much. It seemed to play up the idea of promiscuity that I find far too commonly used as an insult. And that regularly took me out of being able to enjoy the story.

The writing was fantastic, and I appreciated that the dual POVs were split between the front and back half. And I appreciated the author's essay about their approach.

There was great narration by professional narrators, Emma Galvin and Max Meyers. I didn't appreciate the interludes from Casey McQuiston, as they were a much faster speaking rate. I prefer fiction to always be narrated solely by professionals.

3.75 stars rounded up

3.5 stars - The Pairing was definitely a mixed bag for me. I really liked some parts but also felt like some parts were too long or completely unnecessary.

Theo Flowerday and Kit Fairfield are exes who just so happen to rebook a canceled European food and wine tour at the same time before their vouchers expired from a doomed past trip. Theo is a budding sommelier in southern California with a custom cocktail side hustle and Kit is a Parisian pastry chef and definite romantic. They travel across Europe, eating, drinking, hooking up with other people (ugh - not my favorite) as part of a competition with each other and slowly getting to know each other as friends again. I liked the playful sides of each other that they brought out when they were together. It made me like each of their characters so much more because these two on their own were not my favorites.

The travel aspect of this book was really cool, but so much of the events in each location were the same. Also the food/wine pairings that were rambled off so often felt like a bit much - I understand the intention behind them, but as a non-foodie, it took me out of the story. I wanted the relationship conversations to happen earlier so that there was some time to enjoy the two of them being together after SO long apart (both in the book and after their break up).

I was really intrigued by some of the side characters but felt like we met so many of them but didn’t really get to know much about any of them, something that I missed from the story. The story is told from Theo’s POV (first half) and then Kit’s POV (last half), which was an interesting choice, but I found myself much more invested when it was Kit’s perspective - not sure if that was because his romantic notions appealed to me more than Theo’s uncertainty but the second half of the book flew by for me. Overall, I think the book felt too long. It has so many interesting parts, but the repetition during the trip and how long it took for them to have a real conversation started to bother me.

Four years after their breakup on their way to a European food tour, Kit and Theo broke up. Now they find themselves back on the same tour, unbeknownst to each other, before the voucher expires. Since their breakup they haven't had any contact with it one another. This tour will be a good time to extend olive branches or let festering wounds get overrun.

I like parts of this novel and highly disliked others. For one, I really liked the way each stop of the tour, which acted as chapters, was introduced. The location is paired with an alcoholic beverage and baked food specific to the region. They also tended to indulge in each one during the chapter too. I liked Kit as a character. He felt mature, but you could tell he still needs help pushing himself out of his work comfort zone. I really didn't like Theo. It makes it hard since the first half of the book is told in Theo's perspective. Theo felt very immature to me and blamed everything on either someone else or that they were "good enough" to enjoy whatever life was throwing their way.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

Rating: 3.5

The Pairing was lusciously sweet and spicy. Sensual descriptions were applied as religiously to the food and art as they were to the love and lust the characters experienced. I spent the entire book with a sneaky little smirk that my partner kept remarking on. In a perfect world, you’d read it on a beach in Cinque Terre or at a café in Paris, but if travel isn’t in your plans, go read it anywhere you can hide your flush from Kit and Theo’s sexy escapades.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 and it pains me to write this review. I do wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't had such high expectations for it. Ultimately though, I think this a book you love or you don't, there's no in between and for me it was a slog. I kept going hoping for things to turn and for me to fall in love with it, which never happened. There are a lot of rich descriptions of food, wine and scenery, which as a non-visual reader added nothing for me and made it feel even slower.
There were elements I quite liked and moments I really enjoyed but it wasn't enough to counter my overall impression that this wasn't for me.

The Pairing, about exes who end up on the same European food and wine tour, was thoroughly enjoyable, just not not my favorite from Casey McQuiston. I usually get frustrated by romance that relies on miscommunication, but I thought the trope worked well here. I liked the dual perspective, but I think it would have been better to switch back and forth rather than getting Theo’s perspective for the first half and Kit’s for the second half. I’’ll likely revisit this one soon, because I think the reading of the first half will change now that I understand Kit’s POV. This book was spicier than I prefer - the scenes weren’t any more detailed than One Last Stop or Red, White, & Royal Blue, there are just more of them. Overall, it had a lot of the same charm, banter, and chemistry from One Last Stop and Red, White, & Royal Blue, and it was so incredibly queer (in the very best way)! I’d definitely recommend it for fans of McQuiston’s other adult novels. Just be warned that this book is filled with tons of cliches about Europeans, which I’ve already seen some readers frustrated by. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

Thank you to St. Martin's and MacMillan Audio for the review copies of The Pairing by Casey McQuiston. This queer-inclusive, second-chance, friends-to-lovers story is rich with detail about wine, food, and Europe... but it didn’t quite work for me. I am not leaving a star rating for this as I am not sure what to rate it, I think the stars for this book won't be a useful way to share my thoughts.

I’ve loved McQuiston’s previous books—the sapphic YA Shara Wheeler, the charming and endearing Red, White & Royal Blue, and the magical One Last Stop. In those stories, I felt the characters' connections, their desire to be understood, and the undeniable chemistry between them. I reveled in the joy of loving the characters, rooting for their relationships, and enjoying their banter. Unfortunately, I never reached that point with The Pairing.

While I appreciated the richness of the setting, I struggled to understand the attraction between Kit and Theo. Much of the writing made me feel disconnected from them, as I found them somewhat whiny, unlikable, and misguided in their pursuits. It might just be me, but this one didn’t land—and I’m heartbroken over that. For me, this book didn’t have the signature McQuiston style and character dynamics that I’ve come to adore.

Regarding the audiobook, I usually appreciate voice acting, even when a book doesn’t fully resonate with me. However, in this case, I found the narration distracting. It didn't help me connect with or appreciate the writing or the characters, which might be because I was already struggling to engage with the book itself.

I’m sure The Pairing will be a big win for many others, and I recognize its potential significance as an important, valuable, and needed read for queer and bisexual identities. I plan to read other reviews to see if there are themes and aspects I may have missed, in hopes of understanding who connected with this book and perhaps reconsidering it for a reread.

Theo (f/nb) and Kit (m) have been best friends since they were kids. Both bisexual, they fell in love as they got older, but broke up before they could take a whirlwind three-week European trip they paid for. Four years later, they both unknowingly re-book the trip vouchers for the same time frame and are forced to reconnect. But will it be just as friends, or as much more?

This was a very horny romp through France, Spain, and Italy! I think I’m on the more conservative end of the spice preference scale, so some parts in this one had me and I feel like I’ve read a lot, especially LGBTQ+ fiction! There were MANY long descriptions of food, pastries, wine, cocktails, historical markers, and places visited. While that part was nice, I think the book could have been edited to cut down some of those because the middle dragged for me. By the end I really was happy I read it. Just get those pearls ready for clutching!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and St. Martin's Griffith for this advanced copy! You can pick up The Pairing now.

I know I haven't been in a romance mood lately, so it's definitely partially my fault that I didn't love this one. But I wish there'd been SOMETHING to keep me more invested throughout the book. I struggled to connect to these characters despite their emotional turmoil propelling so much of the story, and I found the writing to be... a bit clunky? Or maybe too quirky for my taste?

I can see why others might enjoy this one -- second chance, queer, international escapades, etc -- but for me it was a miss.

If you can’t travel this summer but wish you could, The Pairing is the perfect vicarious way to experience Europe in all its sensual glory while also immersing yourself in a heartfelt, funny, steamy childhood-friends-to-lovers-to-exes romance. I loved the exploration of Kit and Theo’s relationship, both past and present. There was so much love, hurt, anger, longing, lust, and so much more. This story is a beautiful exploration of friendship, love, expectations, and finding happiness.

Red White and Royal Blue is one of my favorite books of all time. I think Casey McQuiston is a beautiful writer but the story didn't work for me in this case. I didn't like that the two main characters repeatedly slept with other people and the plot started to feel repetitive as well as the food descriptions. I did really enjoy the insight into identifying as non binary. I think non romance readers might enjoy this more. It doesn't really feel like a romance to me.