I just don’t know that this book was for me. I didn’t hate it. There were definitely moments that made me emotional, but overall it felt a little childish. Theo and Kit clearly cared for each other and it just felt ridiculous for them to traipse through Europe trying to sleep with as many other people as possible. The side characters and some of the hookups felt more mature than they were, and for a story where they are supposed to have grown to a point that they could now be together and make it work, I just wanted to shake them. I did like Kit’s perspective much more than Theo’s. It felt healthier, but not by a lot. Like I said, I didn’t hate it, but this was not really what I wanted out of this story.

I thoroughly loved this sun-drenched and decadent second-chance romance. Kit and Theo are reunited on a food and wine tour of Europe five years after their relationship imploded and left them living on different continents. They have both grown and changed in different ways, and I enjoyed how they found their way back to each other while trying a little too hard pretending that they were over it.

Casey McQuiston is an auto-buy author for me, and I have genuinely loved everything that they have written. Thankfully, The Pairing was no different. Highly recommend this one and can't wait to see what Casey writes next.

The Pairing is a queer romance from author Casey McQuiston that captures the magic of food, travel, and love!

This was such an interesting book! Making it all take place on a food tour in Europe made me want to travel! I could almost taste some of the dishes they had, though I don't drink so a lot of the wine content was not interesting for me. But overall these were two very different people who grew into themselves as they had to look back at what went wrong in their past relationship. I'm usually not a fan of second chance romances, but I'm glad I gave this a chance!

The one thing I didn't understand was why the book started with the past, but then stuck to present for the rest of the book. Just seemed to interrupt the flow and I think it would have worked better as flashbacks within the present.

Still, overall this was a fantastic queer love story!

ARC provided by Netgalley.

The Pairing was so fun and cute. I recommend it for fans of Casey McQuiston, romantic comedies, and stories full of queer characters.

Dull as dishwater, but I can see how others will eat it up. The story feels paper thin with no actual stakes for the characters.

This was a DNF for me as I accidentally downloaded an e-book instead of an audiobook. Thus, I cannot give any feedback.

I will read everything Casey writes. This is a love letter to food and travel told through a steamy romance. What could be better? This book will make you laugh out loud. Casey;s character development is second to none, not only for the main characters, but all the side characters. I wanted to go on the tour with the them.

Thank you for the opportunity to review! Really enjoyed getting to read this, have loved everything from this author. Creative and inspiring - looking forward to more.

At its core, The Pairing is a book about two endearing idiots who take their sweet time realizing that they still love each other. The chemistry between Theo and Kit is simply off the charts. Watching them dance around their feelings, with that ever-present tension, is nothing short of a delightful agony.

McQuiston takes us on a sumptuous tour through Europe’s most iconic cities, offering a culinary experience that would make even Anthony Bourdain envious. The vivid descriptions of food and the passionate way it’s woven into the story add a rich layer to the narrative, making you want to book the next flight out and embark on your own edible adventure.

Compared to McQuiston’s previous works, The Pairing feels fuller of body, with a more mature and complex narrative.
One of the novel’s standout features is the dual perspective. Getting to see through both Theo and Kit's eyes deepens the emotional impact. The way Kit thinks about Theo? Absolutely staggering. It’s a masterclass in capturing the longing and affection between two characters.

On a personal note, this book inspired me to seek out a similar tour of places I’ve always wanted to visit. And yes, I’m absolutely trying to make agrodolce now—I’m a sucker for a good sour/sweet condiment!

If this book were a dessert, it’d be a mille-feuille—delicious, complex, and bittersweet. The Pairing is a feast for the senses and the heart, and I’d absolutely watch the movie adaptation.

Hmm.. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one. I fell absolutely head over heels in love with Alex and Henry when I read Red White and Royal Blue. I’ve read every other book Casey McQuiston has written since then in the hopes of being swept away the same way I was with their first book. Unfortunately, nothing has quite lived up to that for me. I had high hopes at the start of this book. Theo and Kit‘s fun sassy banter had me hooked. But the book just kind of fizzled from there. The big focus on the hook up competition took away from the swoony romance I was hoping it was building up to. And the ending had my head spinning, but I can’t say too much without giving it away. Overall, I thought it had a lot of potential but fell flat.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This is somewhere between a 3 & 4 star, but I’m rounding up because I love Casey.
I really enjoyed getting the two different POV & definitely thought it was interested that we switch POVs halfway in - not by chapter. My main hesitation with this, was Kit’s POV. I know he is supposed to be this art history, baker, in touch with his emotions, whatever guy… but oh my god it was so WORDY. I seriously skipped multiple pages of his just to get back to the story.
In Theo’s POV we get just a very horny story and know they’re struggling with their emotions and in Kit’s we just get so many words describing some painting or sculpture or architecture that I really don’t care about…
BUT - that doesn’t take away that I still really enjoyed this story. I loved them finding themselves and the second chance.

I honestly don’t have words for how much I loved this. Easily my favorite book of the year. Horny bisexuals with a messy past on a European food and wine tour? This is my DREAM book. I’m not sure how anything is ever supposed to top this. The POV change almost killed me (in a good way). Hearing how Theo THINKS Kit feels about them compared to hearing how Kit actually feels about them? Fling me right into the sun. Throw me down the stairs. I cried through the whole first chapter of Kit’s POV and then was actually snotty sobbing through the entire last hour of the book. I’m obsessed. This book ruined me and I plan on letting it do it again. I already want to re-read. I love them SO MUCH I feel like my heart will burst. What a perfect perfect beautiful fun sexy time. I actually made myself read slower because I did not want it to be over. I’m going to go smile real big and also cry some more thinking back on it. This is my whole personality now. Would give it 6 stars if I could.

I hate to say it, but this was my least favorite Casey McQuiston book so far. I've really enjoyed all their other books and they will remain one of my must read authors, but this book didn't really work for me.

The settings were great in this book and the main relationship was really cute. I liked the characters, but I didn't love them. I'd even say they were unlikable at times. I was also disappointed that I didn't really care about the secondary characters this time.

I feel like this is the kind of book that might grow on me with time. I might flip through it one day and wonder why I was so disappointed. For now though, it was all a bit meh. A pleasant, well-written meh but meh nonetheless.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

As a fan of Casey McQuiston I was always going to read The Pairing, though I became a bit worried heading into it due to some of the mixed reviews. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking it. I felt more drawn in by the narrator of the second half, but I enjoyed the whole thing. One of the main gripes I noticed was due to it being too overtly sexual. While this was definitely a horny book, I never found it to be offensively explicit as some others seem to have found.

2.5 stars. ummm what was this book? I love love love love Casey's books but this one was not good. From the description this book should be every thing I like, but oh my god the first half of half of the book is boring and oh my god Theo is the worst person on the planet. I am honestly grateful for the ambiguous ending because I can choose to believe they don't end up together. I was hoping this book would make me excited for my trip to France this fall, but it only made me mad.

The Pairing was so beautifully written that I fell in love with this book even though I didn't enjoy the plot. Romance readers tend to root for their heroes in certain situations and don't tend to enjoy reading about people they're supposed to be rooting for in situations that don't contain the love interest. This was kind of the case for me here. Although Kit and Theo's relationship is always evolving in its forms, I was disappointed with how the hookup competition came about and its reasoning. There was a certain ending to this book that might have given me more leniency with my feelings about the hookup competition and that ending was not the written one so I just struggled rooting for Kit or Theo individually.

More onto what I loved about this book though, I think Casey McQuiston's writing in The Pairing was the best I've read from them. Everything was lyrical and beautiful, from the location descriptions to the food and drink to how Kit and Theo described their surroundings. I wish I had thought to annotate my copy more so I'll have to reread it in the future, purely because of this writing. It felt like a step up from some of the writing in Red, White, and Royal Blue and One Last Stop, the two other adult romances I've read by McQuiston. I also thought the way the dual POVs here was done. I'm not completely sold on if I enjoyed it, mostly because I preferred Kit's POV to Theo's and if they were interspersed more, would I have enjoyed the book more? I thought it was innovative though and I applaud them for that. Plus the chapter intros and pairings where a super nice tie-in with the book title and our characters' respective passions.

This review has been temporarily removed to align with the SMP boycott. Content and links will go live whenever the situation changes.

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston is a book with a lot of potential, but it fell short in a few critical areas for me. McQuiston’s signature wit and flair for creating lively, relatable characters are present, and moments of charm and humor reminded me why I enjoy their work. The premise was intriguing, and I appreciated the diverse representation in the characters.

However, the first half of the book was a major struggle for me. I found it almost impossible to connect with Theo, whose mindset seemed overly fixated on the concept of a "body count bet. " This hyperfocus made their character feel vapid and uninteresting, making it challenging to invest in the story's emotional stakes. The pacing also felt uneven, with some sections dragging on while others were rushed.

However, the second half of the story improved significantly when it switched to Kit's point of view. Kit's perspective brought a depth that I found more relatable and engaging. The moment in the kitchen toward the end of the book was a standout, capturing the warmth and emotional resonance that I had been missing earlier. This shift helped me feel more connected to the story, even if it came a bit late.

The dialogue, while witty, occasionally felt over the top and distracted from the story rather than enhancing it. I also noticed that some plot points were left unresolved or didn’t have the expected impact, leaving me with a sense of incompletion by the end.

Overall, The Pairing has its moments of enjoyment, particularly in the latter half, but it didn’t fully meet my expectations. If you’re a fan of McQuiston’s previous work, you might find some redeeming qualities here, but it wasn’t quite the hit I hoped for.

This was one of my favorite books of the year. Absolutely obsessed. All of the descriptions of food and wine and the trip truly made me feel like I was there with the characters.

So, going in, I didn't quite know what to expect from this book. The summary was right on, but I was not fully ready for how much sleeping around Europe there would be in this book. I loved so much of the story and the characters (and cringed through the parts that I maybe didn't like so much). I really enjoyed each point of view for different reasons and was internally screaming at Theo and Kit's lack of communication for the majority of the book. The travel and food details were mostly lovely, but kind of got old (they were a little long winded at times). The side characters were fun (though not super dimensional). And the horniness was VERY apparent. Not that I'm complaining.