Who doesn't love a Casey McQuiston title? I loved the premise of our two characters breaking up after a long distance travel and both stubbornly not letting the trip go to waste. Forced proximity?? Yes please!! Another wonderful read by a go-to author of mine.

This is a really good example of a book I started, “punished” by ignoring it for awhile, picked it back up still feeling so-so on it, and then ended up iking by the end? One thing is for sure, I will definitely remember the vibes of The Pairing which I believe is McQuiston’s overall intent. File under super slutty travel bisexual book with tons of food and beverage references.

So why the mixed feelings? This one was slow to start for me. As an ALC I knew I would get dual narration, but the first half is single POV from Theo Flowerday, and it wasn’t until I got Kit’s POV that I felt the story took a more romantic turn. I think with travel novels, there’s always a bit of repetition or at least it can be difficult to be inventive with the plot and the food/drink pairing with each locale helped tell more of the story as I read more. Initially I was turned off by the idea of two exes entering an almost competition-like race to see who can hook up more. Maybe that’s my age, but it didn’t seem like the best way to get over someone, and I started out not liking Theo. McQuiston, however, worked their magic and amped up the chemistry between Kit and Theo as they spent more time together, creating a love story slowly simmering under all those messy feelings.

I also now have to thank McQuiston for a scene with a peach that will live rent free in my head, and some of the hottest orgasm-giving without kissing or penetrating—when Theo makes a rule, Kit knows how to follow it to a T. So if you’re looking for lots of open creativity with your MCs, plenty of food and drink, a cast of characters where everyone’s queer and it might not be a surprise that your tour guide would want to sleep with you, you’ll probably enjoy the way this book tries to do something new. McQuiston after all, knows how to write romance that challenges the genre. I received an early copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I think I respected this book more than I personally enjoyed it. I appreciated the gender plot line/character development and how it was structured in the book. I did enjoy Kit’s POV much more than I did Theo’s but I think there is absolutely going to be an audience out there that will love this book and the main characters, even if I didn’t have that experience. I will say I enjoyed the actual tour portion of the story in terms of setting and food descriptions. I also found myself rooting for Theo and Kit by the end, but their journey was a bit too messy/adventurous for my personal taste.

3.5

Thank you to the publisher for the eArc.

I was so excited for this book and no one is sadder than me when I say I think I was a little disappointed. While I appreciate the research that went into this book, I found a good chunk of it just read like a travel diary or guide book rather than the romance I was looking for. For me there was just too much of a focus on describing every aspect and every food and everything. As a result, it made the romance feel a little distant and not as gripping. Overall, there was still moments that I loved with writing that I expect from Casey Mcquiston, but the overall tone of the book fell a bit flat for me.

Such a fun summer read …

I really enjoyed getting to travel around with these two characters and their tension. 🙃 The side characters in the group and those we meet along the way are a fun way to learn more about these two and their past/current relationship and goals. And while I don’t usually love a miscommunication trope, this one actually made sense to me. Loved getting to pick this up during my travel-less summer!

Casey McQuiston is back with THE PAIRING - I was so excited for this second chance romance from one of my favorite auto buy authors. I loved the dual POV - it always makes second chance romances that much stronger. I loved the setting and following along Theo and Kit’s journey. Fans of RED WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE and ONE LAST STOP will love THE PAIRING!

truly one of my favorite reads of the year. from the whimsical and lyrical writing to the pining and yearning you can feel oozing off the pages. I adore theo and kit, their relationship was so beautiful to watch fall apart and reconnect. this has the perfect balance of pov and flashbacks.

This was a lot of fun but felt VERY chaotic at times! There was a lot going on. I enjoyed all the food and wine details, it felt like I was the one on vacation. The second chance romance didn't really have me in my feelings, I think the competition distracted me too much but also a lot of detail happened off page, like we as the reader were just supposed to assume the feelings even though we don't get to see them. Overall this was fun but just okay for me.

This book is the embodiment of my favorite emoji: 😛😛😛😛😛

There were a couple plot points I wished were elaborated on, but overall this was a delight.

"The Pairing" was a beautiful book. However, I sometimes felt that the romance took a backseat to the descriptions of European locations and food in McQuinston's voice, which really shone.

I want to emphasize that I think my lack of interest in the romance was a personal problem. I'm not a fan of the second chance trope, especially when the couple broke up as an adult. Despite this, I thought the romance was well developed and well written. I thought that both Theo and Kit were really well developed and interesting characters.

McQuinston's writing is so beautiful and their descriptions of the locations the group was visiting and the food they were eating were so evocative. I'm seriously ready to book a trip to Europe. They could write a description of a suburban gas station and I'm sure they could convince me to go.

Overall, while I recognize that this was a fantastic book, I don't think every element of it was for me. And that's ok.

3 stars

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I didn't love it. I've never been a fan of second chance romances and this, unfortunately, was not an exception. I was waiting to fall in love with the characters and it never happened. So sadly this just fell a little flat to me.

Ooof. Red, White & Royal Blue is one of my favorite romances ever, and I think Casey McQuiston is a fantastic writer. I went into this novel expecting to love it, so I was disappointed to find that The Pairing is three things: long, self-indulgent, and more about sex than love and romance. This is even more of a bummer for me to have to say because second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes. As I was reading, reading, and then skimming this book, all I could think was "Dear God, did an editor actually read beyond the first 50 pages?"

I will first say that the premise in and of itself is fun. It sets up a great frame for slow burn, sexual tension, deepening emotional connection, and exotic settings in which our characters will have unique opportunities to rediscover each other four years after a painful break up. I did enjoy the many European destinations. I also fell in love with Theo and Kit and the story of their pure and guileless childhood devotion that blossomed into love when they were in high school. I loved the secondary characters in their tour group too, Stig, the Aussies, the Travel influencers, and of course, the tour guide.

It was what the author did with all of these ingredients that should have made a great novel that spelled its doom.

I saw another reviewer refer to The Pairing as the author's "sluttiest book" and therein lies one of its problems. Theo and Kit are slutty for no reason other than to be slutty. Neither one enjoys their hook ups with other people in a vain attempt to put their former relationship behind them. So why have them be slutty? The result is that both characters (especially Theo) read as emotionally stunted people who haven't progressed beyond the young-dumb-and full of come teenager stage of sexual development. Theo and Kit aren't learning about each other, about themselves with these random hook ups, and they certainly don't move the narrative forward in any meaningful way as they don't bring the two characters together.

The spicy scenes between Kit and Theo also get bogged down in details about sexual preferences instead of their emotional and physical connection. These two spend so much time choreographing their intercourse both before and during that I kept waiting for one of them to pull out a checklist. We know that these two love and adore each other, but they're so concerned about how to have sex that the mechanics push the emotional connection to the background of the page.

Unless the reader is a food and wine connoisseur, or has spent a lot of time watching Top Chef, a significant portion of the narrative is going to be lost to them. There are, not exaggerating, page long descriptions of the meals, desserts, and wine pairings enjoyed by the characters through their entire tasting tour. The average romance reader is not going to have any idea what anyone is eating or drinking without consulting Google, and even then, if the reader hasn't even tasted most of this gourmet food and wine it isn't going to resonate with them. I think it's amazing that the author loves and appreciates food and wine, and knows a lot about them, but it really gets repetitive (and a bit obnoxious, if I'm being honest) after the first 100 pages. Different city, more exquisite meals that only 1% of readers will ever eat.

As I said, I have to look to the editor here. A very large red pen would not have gone amiss.

a huge departure from some of McQuiston's prior works but I loved the food tour around Europe. It's rare to enjoy a second chance romance where you don't always think they deserve a second chance but some how McQuiston writes in a way that you end up buying into Kit and Theo's second chance and are cheering them along for all their past and present mistakes.

I have enjoyed all of the Casey McQuiston books that I’ve read, except for this one. The two main characters just felt very un-relatable and pretentious. They sort of talked about themselves as if they knew they were super attractive and important and could get anyone they wanted and they just felt extremely off-putting. Felt like two characters that just had a lot of growing up to do.

The story itself was also extremely slow and boring. I didn’t care about what was happening. Lots of fancy food and drink talk that I wasn’t interested in. I can definitely see this being some people’s cup of tea but it just wasn’t mine.

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

I really liked this book, but sitting down to write a review has been hard for me. Maybe that's because I can't decide what I want to talk about. There's so many things in this book that have made me laugh, cry, want to do a food tour through Europe, hug Kit and Theo, and slap them for being so stupid.

As you can see, it's a journey. (Literally).
Through truly delicious sounding descriptions of food and drink, paired (haha, get it?) with beautiful locations and scenery, we get to know Theo and Kit as they are now, interspersed with bits of information about who they were when they were dating. And as the POV switches around the halfway point, we even get to see them through each other's eyes.
The characters have a beautiful connection, which they have to manage with their now complicated relationship, and we see them interact with so many different people and in so many different places and situations.

But apart from the personal journeys, this is also a book about being queer, about being young and finding your way, and about making mistakes. And yes, it is also wildly horny.

I truly loved to get to know these people and places and just taking my time with every stop on the tour.

It gets only four out of five stars from me, because the pacing felt a little off throughout the book. It wasn't boring and it's also wasn't really dragging, but there were a few lulls throughout the story.

I just finished The Pairing last night, and I’m very conflicted about it? On one hand, I liked the usage of the European trip a lot. I enjoyed watching them travel to new locations, I enjoyed all the food and drink descriptions, and I found the changing setting to be dynamic and exciting.

I didn’t mind the dual POVs, but I did find the abrupt switch very jarring. I also felt like not going back to Theo’s POV until the very end limited their character development. They discuss a lot of things they need to work on in the beginning (aka all their nepo baby problems *insert eye roll here*), but we never see how they resolve any of them because we are suddenly not in their head anymore. I will say, I actually liked Kit’s POV a lot more, so I didn’t hate it being focused on his story, but I felt like narratively the choice didn’t really work because there was no growth.

To be honest, in general the character development is seriously lacking. We never see them fall in love so we don’t know why they are so attached - other than they have great sex? And Kit buys Theo cake? I mean, some relationships are based on less, but I felt like something was missing here. I didn’t understand why they were supposedly meant to be.

Also, frankly, none of the other side characters were developed at all. They just existed to be hot and to flirt with/bang the MCs. I had heard this book described as “horny in Europe,” and yes, it is definitely that and that’s fine, but I wish all the sex hadn’t replaced any romantic or personality development.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Pairing is out tomorrow!

I noticed several less than favorable reviews. This is a Queer ROMANCE novel - it’s not supposed to be heavy and serious. This is a FUN book. I laughed out loud several times during the first half (and again in the second). I think one of McQuiston’s strengths is dialogue, especially witty repartee and flirting. The spicy scenes are definitely more spicy than RWRB (their most recent novel). I enjoyed the relationship being told from both Theo and Kit’s perspectives, and McQuiston did a great job writing each section in a different voice. I also enjoyed reading about the food/drink, but that's because I'm a frustrated foodie.

"Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other's lives once and for all.

Time apart has done them good. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. Sure, nothing really compares to what they had, and life stretches out long and lonely ahead of them, but—yeah. It's in the past.

All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately.

It's not until they board the tour bus that they discover they've both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they're trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain, and Italy. It's fine. There's nothing left between them. So much nothing that, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is totally game. And why stop there? Why not a full-on European hookup competition?

But sometimes a taste of everything only makes you crave what you can't have."

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

This book is releasing tomorrow, August 6th, 2024. I will be RUNNING to my local bookstore to purchase this and have the physical book in my hands. I need to be able to hug this book, and lay my head on it while I stare up at the ceiling from my spot on the floor. The pages must be highlighted, annotated, and be stained by my tears.

The story of Theo and Kit was devastatingly heartbreaking. This type of angst is the kind that breaks my heart into tiny fissures. My heart ached so much during each chapter. The yearning was written so beautifully, truly a work of art in the way that these two had so much love and respect for each other. I can only imagine this type of love...one that feels like each other is the reflection of their own souls. It was a wonder how these two even breathed without each other for the 4 years they weren't in each other's close orbits. A story like Theo and Kit could convince me that soulmates exist or that their love would go beyond multiple lives or different universes.

Theo's POV of Kit left me with no doubts that Kit is someone who I would have fallen in love with. Kit has this natural charm and ease. People like Kit leave everyone in such wonder of how someone like him exists. Kit's existence is fascinating. Theo's thoughts and ways of navigating life is one that I think most people will find relatable. Theo is desperately trying to search for belonging and purpose, but at the same time has really grown into the person that they have worked so hard to become and are satisfied with where they are. Theo's POV left me holding my breath for when we would switch to Kit's POV of Theo. I just knew that Kit was going to only have the most poetic things to say about Theo. And let me tell you there are no string of words that I can put together for the beauty that are Kit's thoughts and perceptions of Theo. Kit's love for Theo is the only type of love that should ever be worth longing for.

Not only was this a story filled with love that is two halves of one soul, it was a story with stunning views and delicious eats. My wanderlust is only partly satiated due to this book. I need to go through this book and write down every location, food, drink, artwork, and activity that was mentioned. I would love to just walk in the same places where Theo and Kit were and maybe feel a bit of their magic in the air. I also would like to imagine that I could have totally random strangers be infatuated with me and have a hot witty tour guide like Fabrizio on this trip!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Casey McQuiston, and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Casey McQuiston has done it again!!! Seriously, how do their books continue to get better and better?! From the start, McQuiston has been very transparent that this is a book about slutty bisexuals, and this is definitely a book about Slutty Bisexuals lmao. From the jump, the reader can tell this book was written by a queer author about queer characters for queer readers, and I greatly appreciate that!! Casey's writing through the voices of Kit and Theo rings so authentically true in a beautiful way. I wanted to eat this book up, as the descriptions of setting, food, and drink were truly delectable. Everything leapt off the page and had me yearning to visit Europe again. Taking a break from my gushing for a second, I will be fully transparent and say that this is not my favorite of McQuiston's book, mainly because the miscommunication was a bit too much for me throughout. I was not able to connect with Theo as much as I had hoped and personally enjoyed the second half of the book more, as it is told from Kit's perspective. However, back to praise: the way that Theo's journey of self-identity is represented in the book is absolutely beautiful, as is Kit's full, unabashed love and acceptance of Theo being non-binary. It was truly written in again such an authentic way and in a joyous way celebrating non-binary people that I loved seeing this representation. I already cannot wait for whatever McQuiston has in store next because I can't get enough of their writing!!!!!

I loved this one! The description of the different European locations, the food, and the drinks made me want to take a European vacation immediately. I usually hate second chance romances but this one was written in a way where I fully understood the past relationship which made me love the current relationship exploration even more. Kit and Theo were both messy, realistic characters that I was rooting for the entire time. I was also pleasantly surprised when 50% in we switched from Theo's POV to Kit's POV. This really helped round out the story and create a fully story. I highly recommend this one looking for a fun, deep, steamy read!