Let me start this by saying Casey McQuiston is one of my all time favorite authors and I will read ANYTHING they write. Which makes this even more difficult when I say...I did not love this book. I went into this expecting to fall in love with these bisexual foodie exes and I just didn't. Theo was borderline insufferable with their constant inability to acknowledge their privilege. Kit was more likable and I did enjoy when the POV switched but it became so repetitive that I found myself bored. It didn't show me the usual banter and wit that I normally LOVE in McQuiston's other books. The food and alcohol in such vivid detail was exciting for a while, but slowly became distracting from the main plot. I just really struggled to root for these character to even be together. I really wish I had enjoyed this more than I did.

2.5/5 rounded up to 3

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first time reading a McQuiston book, though her other works have been very popular. I really liked The Pairing! I deducted a star because the endless details of their travel, tourism, scenery, and foods got tedious and I ended up skimming a lot of those. The book's description "two bisexual exes accidentally book the same European food and wine tour and challenge each other to a hookup competition to prove they're over each other—except they're definitely not" is a bit misleading in that it trivializes Kit and Theo's journey towards reconciliation. Their competition is only a small part of the novel. The first 40% of the book is a bit slow in a boring way, and the remaining book is still a bit slow but in more of a slow burn tension where you just want to savor the characters and the journey. Both characters are flawed, complex, and quirky. You can't help but like them and root for them.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel via NetGalley.

I found the first half a little slow, but then things got much more spicy and more interesting. Overall, worth the read.

what a great summer romance!! the entire time i was reading, i was like i wish i was in europe right now sitting outside at a cafe reading. casey mcquiston does it again!!

Theo and Kit grew up together, totally in love with each other, but never knowing how the other felt. Eventually they figured it out, for a while anyway, until a fight on a plane over the Atlantic before they ever got to their European tasting tour. Four years later, they are on that tour together and learning all the ways they still love each other while watching each other fall in and out of bed with beautiful people in each new city, and still not truly knowing how the other feels.

This is the book I was looking for when I went to Italy. Immersive and rich in detail, excellent characters, and many steamy scenes make this a tasty summer read.

I was provided a complimentary arc via NetGalley by St Martins Press.

The profound queerness of this romance is only one of the reasons it's so spectacularly good.

For me, as for so many people, I enjoy romance because of the tropes - I know where a book is going, I know I don't have to stress about the ending, so I can enjoy how we get there.

This book has one of the most spectacularly hedonistic premises - pleasures of food, wine, companions, gorgeous scenery - and also manages to throw in nearly every trope you can think of and still make them funny and interesting.

But back to my original point - this isn't a romance that has gayness painted on top of a heterosexual plot. So much of it is profoundly queer, including the sex, which is steamy and delightful.

One of the best books I read this year. Highly recommend! By far the best book McQuiston has written.

I genuinely enjoyed this book, but I do think it's going to be incredibly polarizing- especially if you're familiar with McQuiston's other works. You're either going to find it pretentious, or you're going to love getting lost in the details and the yearning.

There is an abundance of detail in this book, which I feel is important to know going in. McQuiston takes the time to painstakingly describe the tour at each stop along the way, from the places they go to the monuments they see to the food they eat. It's rich and often immersive (I spent so much of this book hungry, oh my god), but a lot of it is cumbersome and unnecessary. I got the feeling McQuiston was aiming to paint a picture exactly as they wanted it to be shown in case it's ever translated to a visual medium. As a writer myself, I get that, but it felt excessive. 40% of the details could have been taken out and the rest would have been sufficient. My advice going into this book is to not get hung up on a lot of the descriptions, because you won't remember a lot of them. The goal is to create atmosphere. Lean into the fun, delicious, artistic, vacation-y vibes the descriptions create and don't overthink it.

Kit and Theo are as fun as they are frustrating, but where they shine the most is in their enthusiasm. They are the most themselves when they lean into the things that make them happy, the things they're good at and know a lot about and want to share with the world. It's this enthusiasm that they love them most in one another- mirror images reflecting in the best sense. The first half of the book is in Theo's POV, whereas the second half of the book is in Kit's POV. This sort of works in places (keeps some of the mystery alive in a way I'm not sure was super necessary), but some of the emotional punches toward the end of the book get a little undercut because the build is paced a little oddly. I think alternating POVs might have served McQuiston a little better here if only to layer the emotional build better and have a stronger impact at the end.

That being said, I did feel like I got sucker-punched in the chest toward the end, because I was constantly stopping to write down lines that got me (and once very nearly cried). Exes to lovers is easily in my top three favorite tropes of all time, so I was always bound to love this book based on that alone. Kit and Theo's love feels genuine, and I found myself rooting for them right up to the very end.

A couple of side notes:
1) Theo's nepo-baby complex really did not get the development it deserved in the back half because of this POV switch-up, which was a little disappointing.
2) This book is far less about the international hook-up competition than I think the synopsis prepares you for, but in my opinion that's a good thing. The focus is ultimately on working its way toward Kit and Theo being friends again, first, and potentially exploring the possibility of reconciliation, second.
3) The cast of secondary characters is delightful, if a little under-developed.
4) Casey, the waterboarding joke wasn't funny the first time; it's time to let it go.

[NetGalley was kind enough to provide me with an ARC for this title.]

Page references for some of my favorite lines:
285: "peace"
301: "he wanted to join her forever to history"
314: "even the parts you don't think you deserve"
317: "I never stopped"
347: "The only thing I'd regret more"
348: "with all the momentum of twenty years and a hundred thousand miles"

I genuinely wanted to finish this because I love CMQ’s work so much but found myself terribly bored halfway through because its the same thing happening every. single. chapter. and it gets old fast.

The Pairing was one of my most anticipated reads for the year, but unfortunately I didn’t love the book. All we’re told in the beginning is that Kit and Theo were friends as kids, started dating and something happened four years ago that caused them to break up. We were not given enough backstory and scenes between the two early in the book to make me understand why they should be together or why I should be rooting for them to end up together. I seriously considered DNF’ing this book about a third of the way in. Both characters felt very immature to me (despite their current ages) and their friendship after their breakup/not seeing each other for years felt strange to me (like… there are other people on this tour, you don’t have to hang out with each other). I also did not understand their rules for hooking up and I felt the majority of the book was about their hookups rather than character building or developing the plot further than eating and drinking a lot of alcohol. There was a sweet moment between the characters later in the book, but it wasn’t enough to redeem the entire story.

2.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

You know those movie screenings where they give you food and drinks represented within the film? I need that for this book. Yes, it may take days, but I will gladly sit through it. The descriptions in this book were absolutely divine throughout, but the food and drinks? I was salivating, begging, wanting to immediately hop on a plane to experience all of these myself. My Taurus heart was happy.

I loved this with every fiber of my being. I was immediately hooked by Theo's voice and storytelling, flowing between past and present. Second chance is one of my favorite tropes, but it's also one that can be a complete miss with a lack of truly feeling the history between characters; this was the absolute opposite of the case here. The way Theo absolutely ached for not just the relationship but the friendship they had with Kit bled through each page, each word, and I was aching right alongside them. The switch halfway through...even more so. I loved every step through this plot and the character development I was able to witness. I gobbled up the writing style, the way McQuiston wove this story in such fine threads that created an elaborate, detailed picture. It was beautiful, it was intimate, and it was the romance that I feel like I've always been seeking.

Mixed feelings. I loved the first half that was from Theo's POV. The shift to Kit's POV felt abrupt and unnecessary. Almost like I was starting another book. His voice didn't feel quite as developed as Theo's and I found myself imagining scenes from Theo's POV instead. Regardless, it was a sweet and tender story with way more bisexual representation than I've ever seen elsewhere.

First off, this book is a wonderfully queer friendly book with representation from the community throughout. I loved the naturalness at which queer characters were included - never just a caricature. Theo and Kit are lovely people and truly love one another. I enjoyed McQuiston's writing and attention to detail of character development. For that, this book deserves praise!

Where the book lost me was all of the meaningless sex with other people while they were clearly pining for, and in love, with one another. Maybe at first the bet was silly, albeit a bit immature, but a reflection of their insecurities around one another and not knowing the depth of the other's feelings. But once the two of them started to come together and their feelings started to be obvious to the other, the shenanigans continued and it just created an ick factor for me that I couldn't get past. I didn't enjoy read about Kit kissing another person in front of Theo and that was the name of the game for a good portion of the book. Their juvenile competition didn't make me committed to hoping they would find a happy ending together. It truly ruined the romantic notions I had for these two and their trip through Europe.

Well written and developed but just not the plot development for me.

One of the better romances I've read this year. I felt like the problems were more realistic and reasonable than past romances novels I've read. Absolutely loved the descriptions of the European cities they were in and the mouthwatering descriptions of the food. I was reliving my trip to Italy! While this was enjoyable and a great summer read, I think I still love Red White & Royal Blue the most from this author.

Casey does a good job of writing people and their mental/ emotional states. This continues with this series but still doesn't bring back the magic I felt reading red white and royal blue for the first time. Will continue to support them

Casey McQuiston has done it again! Another cute romance tale of Kit and Theo. I love how McQuiston writes with such an open and honest take on dating and romance in the modern era in the day and age of hook up culture. Another can't miss book! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press Books for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Loved this book! As always Casey McQuiston does a wonderful job of making the reader care just as much about the side characters as they would for one of the leads. It is very clear that research was done for this book, each chapter felt like a travelogue giving recommendations for each city. My notes app was constantly open writing down everything they mentioned. Can’t wait for all my friends to read this so we can plan our European food and wine tour.

I enjoyed the Pairing a lot. Although I couldn't always relate to the characters and their decisions, somehow I felt for them, a sign of good writing! Theo and Kit were childhood best friends, turned into lovers, then suddenly broke up. In the second chance romance trope, they booked a tour together and 4 years later, it was expiring, so they both separately decide to take it and reconnect. Theo and Kit are unabashedly queer, sexual, and competitive with each other, and also clearly love each other. You find out more about their pasts as the book goes on. I loved their relationship but also....how do I sign up for this tour? It's a 3 week food and drink tour through France, Spain, and Italy, and I was so jealous of every stop on this tour. The food descriptions and mouth watering. I have no idea how all these gorgeous fit people managed to eat so much. Also all the other characters on the tour were just delightful. A fun read.

This is McQuuston’s absolute best novel. The perfect summer read! there are a ton of steamy scenes and great dialogue that perfectly encapsulate love and life traveling abroad. Mcquiston teaches us so much about food, wine, culture and love! Bravo! The best non binary representation in literature this reviewer has seen yet!

I almost DNF’d a few times. There was SO MUCH description of food and scenery and art- very sensual which is the point but SO MUCH that I skimmed whole pages until I got to some dialogue. And if you are not into open door romance beware- this is open door with a pair of binoculars under a microscope. I will forevermore slice my peaches before eating them. 🤣
Main characters were developed slowly and I don’t think delved enough into them to give you a sense of connection. Side characters had so much potential but we only got a surface level intro to most.
I have read all of McQuiston’s books- and I’ll continue to read what she puts out- but nothing has quite captured the magic for me like Red, White, and Royal Blue. Also- I am not a queer person, so I realize that my perception can be skewed by that.
3 stars bc ultimately it captured my interest enough that I wanted to see how it all ended- but I don’t need to read a description of a pastry for a while.
Thank you NetGalley for my advance copy.

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 & 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝟐.𝟓 ⭐️ 𝐈 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤—𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐬 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬) 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤-𝐮𝐩—𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐜 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒇’𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔 (𝐩𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝). 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫, 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 (𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲) 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐱. 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐮𝐩 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞, 𝐬𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐱 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲.

𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 (𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐆𝐁𝐓𝐐+ 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭), 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒞𝒶𝓈𝑒𝓎 𝑀𝒸𝒬𝓊𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓃, 𝒮𝓉. 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓃'𝓈 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈, 𝑀𝒶𝒸𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒶𝓃 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.