Member Reviews
I will not be providing feedback for this title in solidarity with the Speak Up St Martin’s Press protest due to SMP’s refusal to correct their employee’s Islamophobic and anti Palestinian comments and actions. SMP is not a safe employer or publisher until they speak out and make the proper reparations.
Like other readers, I'm not usually a fan of second chance romances, but The Pairing has me rethinking that. There was delightful tension and a lot of spice, and it added up to a really enjoyable read for me. We have already ordered a couple copies of the book for the collection and I know it'll be a hit at our library.
My favorite read of July 2024! I was obsessed with this book and I loved how the POV switched halfway through. I loved the humor, the spice, and the heart.
What a fun horny romp around Europe. The food porn was exquisite. If this book doesn’t make you start planning your own international tour I don’t know if we can be friends.
For those still unsure of the book I would describe it as the Gen Z “People We Meet on Vacation” and like most McQuiston books had me tearing up at the end. It’s dense but oh so good.
Casey McQuiston often has premises that feel like they shouldn't work for me. That's true of The Pairing, where Kit and Theo accidentally book the same food and wine tour of Europe after their messy break up and, in an effort to ease the awkwardness of being forced back into each other lives, come up with a who-can-have-the-most-sex competition. I tend to not like second chance romances (you broke up for a reason) and I am a One True Pairing reader at heart, who doesn't want to see the main couple with other people. BUT despite this, McQuiston draws me in every time. There's something about their writing and they way they treat even the side characters with incredible empathy that I just eat up. I read this book in two days--devoured, might be a more appropriate term.
One thing I loved was that instead of choosing to do alternating POV chapters, McQuiston split the book in half. The first half we have Theo, and we get into their head and (at least in my case) fully on board with the undeniable fact that they have been wronged and Kit is a unfeeling jerk (a sexy jerk, but a jerk all the same). And then that beautiful perspective switch where we find out that Kit has actually been a pining loser who loves poetry almost as much as he loves Theo this whole time. I think if the POV had been alternating early on, this would have had much less of an impact so I think it was a smart choice on McQuiston's part.
I mentioned earlier that I like McQuiston's treatment of the side characters, but I want to talk about it more. I loved how there's not really a villain of the story (maybe Kit's dad, but he's not really present enough to be a true villain, is he?). Early on, I was sure Maxine, the intimidatingly beautiful friend of Kit that we meet in Paris, was going to be a rival, villain character. But even when in emotional turmoil, Theo doesn't treat her that way, and neither does McQuiston. The two travel influencers on the trip who could be nothing but a joke are actually very sweet and smart women who get into a vague poly relationship with two men who are both named Callum (who are also not a joke, at least not really). Even the tour guide who the whole time is being set up as this flirtatious trophy that would be the ultimate prize in their sex competition turns out to be a devoted husband and genuine friend. Appearances are deceiving. Nobody is who they are at first glance--they're more and they're better and they're everything at once.
I have been a Casey McQuiston fan since Red, White, & Royal Blue.
While I didn’t love Theo and Kit as much as Alex and Henry I did enjoy this one.
Immersive reads have basically become my personality at this point but for this one I highly recommend the audio. I really enjoyed Emma Galvin and Max Meyers narration a lot and at times when the story was dragging I turned to the audio and that got me out of the slump.
I am bummed I didn't read this when I was in Europe last month. This would have been fun to read along with while I was also in Italy and France.
One of my favorite things about romance reads is getting dual POV. Theo and Kit are both characters you’re going to love for their own quirky ways. They both struggle with things we all do and it was very refreshing the way McQuiston explored those themes.
Now I want to eat all the european treats I miss so much!
Thank you @stmartinspress for the early reading copy and @macmillan.audio for the early listening copy
3.85 stars
I know there are a lot of mixed reviews on this one so far but quite honestly, I really enjoyed it. I think it isn’t necessarily being taken for what it’s meant to be: a very cliché romp through Europe. It doesn’t seem to be like it’s trying to be anything other than that and personally, I took everything at face value. I’ve said it before but I suspend my disbelief a lot for books like this. They exist in a picturesque world.
Are there very distinct stereotypes? Yes but in the same vein, it’s painting a very idealistic type picture. It’s rich in descriptions, indulgence, and passion in the place that a lot of us know to be the birthplace of such feeling. As for the sexual content, as someone who normally doesn’t like a lot of spice in my books, I didn’t find it very off putting that they were effectively sleeping around in every country. Both Kit and Theo are aware of those stakes and it’s very consensual. They’re two adults who enjoy having sex and it might not be everyone’s cup of tea in a romance, but the boundaries felt clearly drawn in the sand to me.
On a contracting hand, Kit and Theo have a whole heap of privilege and take that for granted, which did rub me the wrong way. Who has the resources to up and move to Europe? Not very many. There also could be some more diversity, not just the young and hot being the focal point. I really wish we could have stayed with Theo’s POV, because where Kit is sure and poetic, Theo is very insecure and confused and a bit bumbling. I found their perspective more satisfying and found myself wanting for it once we were in Kit’s.
Overall, I can see the criticism of this and respect it. I just also very much enjoyed it and thought it was a good contrast to everything already produced by this author.
Thank you to Casey McQuiston, Macmillan, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book - one of my most anticipated of the year!
I LOVE this book!! One of its most intoxicating qualities is that the characters and the story are unabashedly queer. I love McQuiston's kind, thoughtful treatment of sexuality and gender in all their fluidity and times of constancy/surety for Theo and for Kit. They are not universalizing 'the queer experience' and that is an easy trap to fall into with fiction. Instead, they're filling in the details of their characters' lives in a way that makes everyone the reader encounters on the page feel real.
This book isn't "political" in the colloquial sense. In fact, it feels a little out of time (or, maybe, timeless). What I appreciate about reading anything from Casey McQuiston is knowing that they're aware of the political nature of LGBTQIA+ people living our lives as ourselves and they do not shy away from being authentic in their public persona and in their published works.
The sincerity and authenticity McQuiston lends to their characters extends into the setting and plot as well. It feels very plausible that both Kit and Theo would wait to use their tour tickets until the last possible moment and end up running into each other because of that. Every single time I picked up this book to read, I wanted an artisanal pastry! Every food market, cramped restaurant, kitchen, bedroom, bus seat felt lifelike; the text transported me to every place Theo and Kit visited. I don't drink or particularly care about wine pairings and yet I got caught up in Theo's enthusiasm on the subject.
At the same time that I was feeling immersed in this book and its world, I also felt a sense of fantastical unreality, a heady giddiness that I think the reader at times shares with Theo and Kit. Do I think I could pull a new hottie in every city I visit? Absolutely not. Do I believe that Kit and Theo could? Absolutely. Both protagonists progress both geographically and metaphysically as the story does and I appreciate that they worked through some issues but remain imperfect at the end, realistic but satisfying.
I love romance. I think it gets a bad rap from a perception of trope-heavy plots and flat or static characters - this book has none of that and all of the good shit! Sex scenes that serve the reader's pleasure and the plot, two main characters you root for (and not always for them to be with each other!), food scenes that make you salivate, and a consistent celebration of desire. I fell in and out of love with all these characters a dozen times over, and I loved every second of it.
spoilery thoughts after this line:
- I usually hate the miscommunication trope but in this story it was used well and prompts a reexamination of assumptions and rigid thinking for both Kit and Theo. I also think the fact that the breakup occurred somewhat "off the page" for the reader also made it more believable and approachable for me
- The peach scene can and should supplant the scene formerly known as the peach scene and take the crown as the ultimate peach scene
I could go on forever about this book. It's already my favorite book of the year and I think it'll stay at the top of my list, despite having half a year of reading left to do. I can also see myself returning to this book when I need a warm hug, a kick in the pants, or both.
Hey Siri, play The Alchemy by Taylor Swift.
Sadly for me, The Pairing was a bit of a disappointment. This beyond lengthy second-chance romance became just a bit too much and I ended up skimming much of the book just to get to the end. Which I hate to do but I didn't want to dnf a book by the wonderful Casey McQuiston since she's such a great storyteller. Usually, that is.
Kit and Theo kept avoiding the obvious as they took a long-planned food and wine tour of Europe they had booked before they broke up 4 years prior. They were clearly still in love with one another but, of course, it took them most of the book to finally have that conversation to clear the air as to why they weren't still together. They became friends again and had this ridiculous bet to see who could bed the most people before the tour was over. That part was just so dumb but thankfully became a way for them to truly realize they missed the other fiercely.
This is also a story about Theo's acceptance of who they truly were and the life they needed and really wanted to live. They were very clueless most of the time and felt like the one person in their very successful family who couldn't find a true career path. I was glad to see that Theo found their way as the book ended and that Kit would finally be the most important part of their life.
Kit is a keeper but Theo grated on my nerves at their overzealous nature which wasn't charming, it was merely annoying. The book was a hard one to get through and only picked up in the last 10 percent or so. I will say that the author did her research wrt wine and food in France, Italy and Spain and I did enjoy getting a first-hand look at how these characters enjoyed themselves as they ate and drank their way through this 3-week tour.
In the end, it would be hard to fully recommend this book. It was way too long. Way too wordy. And the love story really didn't exist. It was more about the food, the drink and the ill-will between two long-time friends and lovers.
2.5 stars.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5
This book was perfect. Food and drinks and love and traveling and characters finding themselves and lots of smut.
Second chance romances make me nervous and I generally don’t love them, because if you broke up you broke up for a reason. This book expertly navigated a miscommunication where I genuinely understood why they got where they did, and the four years of growth made me excited for them to reconnect.
The side characters all had beautiful stories that made me laugh out loud, and I loved them! Fabrizio can officiate my wedding if he wants!!
🚨woop woop🚨
Call in the horny police! (They don’t arrest anyone, bc ACAB.) The SMUT! There was so much and it was delightful! I love a book where they sleep with not the main love interest because I think it shows connection with others and takes shame away from having a history or a separate life. The sex Theo and Kit had?! I WAS SWEATING. 🥵 Casey, you can’t tell two characters they can have every sex except for penetrative and expect they won’t get hornier for each other!!! It was beautiful and incredible and I’ll think about the Good Boy moment until I die!
Five Emojis to Describe This Book: 🥐🍷🧺🌊🧡💙 (yeah I did six, IT DESERVES IT.)
More than any other book so far, this felt like the book Casey McQuiston was meant to write. Their heart and soul is poured into every page. They took the concept of being “too much” in all things and turned it into a battle cry. Well done!
This is a stand-out book. Not just for McQuiston, whose talent for cutting emotional depth mixed with biting millennial banter really shines here, but for anybody looking for compelling LGBTQ+ fiction written by a queer author. I was so excited to get an ARC of this one, and it delivered on all of its promises.
For the story itself, McQuiston makes masterful use of dual perspectives. It’s become quite common to switch between two protagonists’ POVs, but this book does it so cleverly, using the hard shift from Theo to Kit to help unlock the fluid layers of Theo’s gender identity, but also as an ode to queer sex. I’m glad McQuiston has returned to adult fiction, and I hope to see more like this from them.
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston is an enjoyable read! I have read other books by the author and loved every one. McQuiston is the best at banter, and this really shines in this book! The main characters lack of communication did get frustrating towards the end, but I still enjoyed their characters. I will be recommending this book!
I really enjoyed The Pairing by Casey McQuiston. I had only read one of their backlist (One Last Stop) before starting this one but it definitely made me want to check out their older books as well!
I really liked getting to know both Kit and Theo and found I liked the story from Theo’s perspective more than when it was told by Kit. It was a bit jarring when the book changed perspectives halfway through and I’m not sure it really added much to the story to do this but it was an interesting way to tell the story.
This one has really descriptive sex scenes, so if that is something you don’t like, this one might not be for you. As someone who reads a decent amount of romance, even I was like “wow there is A LOT of very descriptive sex.” So be prepared for that.
I did really like the author’s writing style and how she told the story. The food descriptions were amazing and made me want to go to each of the locations and enjoy all the meals. I think the book could have benefited from a bit more editing as it felt kinda long to me.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.
The words that took me on a trip across europe and the love that made my heart ache. Oh casey thank you!😭 I felt like I was part of the group following kit and theo. The tension, the flirtation, the will they won’t they. My poor heart reading Palermo and Paris Again. Thank you for the 3 week tour.
Theo and Kit were best friends, then lovers, and then a trip to Paris ruins everything they've had. Now four years later the vouchers for that cancelled trip are expiring and Theo and Kit find themselves inexplicably together again after four years of no contact.
This book is...really hard to review. Did I love it? Yes. Did I hate it at times? Yes. Did I text a friend also reading it and did that conversation devolve into drunken debauchery stories from college and just after college because this whole book just reminded us of that time? Yes.
Basically, this book is one long drawn out 3rd act breakup--it's a second chance romance and I generally...do not like second chance romances. This book did not change my mind on those for sure. (Ma'am, you're telling yourself right now, you rated this book 5 stars. And yes, I did). So back to the 3rd act breakup, we're basically living the breakup in real time, and I know that these characters are only 26 and are still growing and learning who they are but OMG if these ROMANCE BOOKS don't stop RELYING ON PEOPLE NOT TALKING TO EACH OTHER I am going to die. For real.
But that complaint aside, the food descriptions were sinful--I am a hugely picky eater and I wanted to eat like everything on the pages. Snails and Sea Bream and tomatoes and garlic and olives and really everything I hate? It all sounded so good. And then the food porn bled into actual porn, because there is just so much sex in this book. I'm used to Casey McQuiston fade to black leave something to the imagination, and the beginning of this book is like that, but about halfway through, all bets (and clothes) are off and we get to read every single detail--it almost got to the point where the amount of sex (yes, we get it, these are very free with their love, bodies, and sex people) almost interfered with the pace of the book.
But I loved it. I loved it a lot, even if there were times where I just wanted to shake Theo, and then Kit senseless because they both just needed to USE THEIR WORDS.
I really hope this is my last romance for a while because it's been a whole summer of it and I really need to get back to my thrillers and horrors, thank you.
Absolutely delightful.
Red White and Royal Blue is very sacred and special to me; I read it at a time where it really connected with me on a deeply personal level unlike any book I had read before, and I'll never take that for granted. While Alex and Henry have an all-encompassing, vicious pull on me to this day, this book is Casey at their absolute best. Beautifully written, immaculately executed themes, and such a strong, unapologetic grasp on its own identity and wit. This book is as brashly confident as Theo, as delicately loving as Kit, and together those ingredients are perfectly paired.
I'm so honored to have received an early copy of this, I'm so grateful to have read it where I am in my life now in comparison to the the 20-year-old who stumbled across RWRB and whose life was forever changed, and ultimately, I'm just so excited for the rest of the world to meet Theo and Kit. You should be so proud of this one, Casey.
Giving this second chance romance a solid 4.5⭐️! When Theo and Kit broke up in the airport before the trip of a lifetime they never thought they'd see each other again...when both select the same tour they are flung back together for 3 weeks!
This book made me laugh and cry! As someone who loves to travel and drink wine, I knew this book would be a hit for me. Add in two great main characters who are so in love with each other but can't seem to tell the other and I've got myself a fantastic romcom to read! The spicy scenes were definitely SPICY and the details of the tour and what Kit & Theo saw definitely makes me long to travel to Europe!
Another great read from Casey McQuiston! Thank you St. Martin's Press for the advance copy!
My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a pretty relaxing and quick read. The relationship and issues between the two main characters were believable and relatable. Another good one by this author!
I am smiling with pleasure after reading this book. I want to go on this food and wine tour! Wonderful scenery, fabulous food, rich wines are all the background for two people who love each other but are afraid to admit it. They broke up because of miscommunication and lack of communication. Can they swallow their fear and be together again? I loved the characters of Kit and Theo, the tourists, and Fabrizio and Orla, the tour guide and driver. Pure joy and frustration.