4*

McQuiston is an expert in their field and I loved the story they brought to the table.

From the glorious cities of Europe, to food and drink and friendship and romance, they explored the stories of Theo and Kit with wit, grace, heartache and love.

I appreciate their representation of queerness in this book, of found family, and self discovery.

3.5 rounded down

After loving the author’s Red, White & Royal Blue, I was excited to read this book. However, it fell pretty flat for me. One thing I think caused part of that, was that we didn’t get to see the whole falling in love story to begin with. (Besides the couple short chapters at the beginning.) So I didn’t get a whole lot of romance from it but just pure spice. If you’re a fan of spice, this book has it in heaps. I’m a fan of it when it advances the storyline, but it didn’t feel like it added to it in this case. I felt more love being described when they ate food than anything else. I really wish I had enjoyed this one more, and I’ll still read McQuiston’s work in the future, but unfortunately I can’t give this any higher stars.

I read 65% of this book before putting it down for now. While this was not the right book for me right now, I can see it's merits and recommend it to any reader who is interested in the plot. The descriptions of food and art were exquisite, I could experience this book with so many different senses. McQuiston successfully took their reader on this journey along with the main characters. The exploration of the character's queerness and gender expression was very well done and thoughtful. The reason I could not continue with this book is that I found the main character's motivations and actions to be quite frustrating to read about and found myself getting irritated by their misunderstandings, communication, choices, and inner lives. Theo and Kit were meant to be uber charming and the way they moved through life turned me off.

Alas, this one was sadly one big disappointment for me. In part, I'm perhaps not hedonistic enough to buy into a lot of the premise, but I also found it difficult to get invested into our protagonists' POVs (Theo moreso than Kit), and also think it's funny how so much of the reader's suspension of disbelief relies on choosing to believe that Europeans dislike Americans a good bit less than I'd believe to be true.
Overall, a miss for me

I feel like the more books Casey McQuiston writes, the gayer the books are and I am HERE for this journey. The Pairing is a chaotic, queer, fever dream. At first, this was a solid 3-star read for me, but the last 25% of the book really pulled through. Also, I cried for our two dumb bisexual idiots. The dialogue, both spoken and internal, is so heartbreaking and beautiful. I had secondhand angst reading.

The book opens with Theo and Kit breaking up in an airport. Three years later, the vouchers for their canceled European food and wine tour are expiring and of course they both redeem their vouchers for the same trip. Of course, there is instant tension but also appreciation as they both realize how much the other has grown. Theo has a new kind of confidence and has really settled into their skin. Kit is still a manic panic pixie dream boy, but he is finally realizing how his actions affect others. Of course, they're both still hot and hot for each other, so out comes a friendly competition. Who can bag the most orgasms during their tour wins. Only they aren't over each other and they find themselves pulled closer and closer together. Queer chaos ensues!

The biggest reason this isn't a 5-star review for me is because I HATE the miscommunication trope and there is so much of that here. I get that it drives that tension, and it is sexy as hell in some places, but I also think it can be lazy. Theo and Kit have grown so much, and they were best friends from childhood, but they still can't communicate! Ugh.

The plot was cute though and the tension between Kit and Theo is erotic at times. The way they describe each other is swoon-worthy. Also, I love that this book describes different kinds of queer sex. Too often we get caught up in the idea of heteronormative sex and this book shows how much enjoyment two people can get out of each other without penetration. More normalization of that, please.

If you like Casey McQuiston's other novels I'm sure you'll love this!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader's copy. All opinions are my own.

So good! Very sweet. Different than Red White and Royal Blue but the same depth of character and quick witty dialogue.

Ah, friends! My streak of totally awesome June books continues with THE PAIRING, Casey McQuiston’s August 6th release.

I sorta saw this one coming. I’ve loved all McQuiston’s other books to a pretty absurd degree. We’re talking giggles and sighs and wretched sobs territory here. THAT. And yet, I’m still the best kind of surprised-delighted by how very, very screechy I am about this tale of two BFFs-turned-estranged-exes who slut their way across France, Spain, and Italy on the culinary tour they booked together four years ago and neither expected the other to actually take.

I always think I like road trip novels until I actually sit down and read a road trip novel, at which point I zonk out. THE PAIRING is the road trip (/culinary bus tour) novel I want but so seldom get. The plot actually progresses! The characters’ mistakes feel like THEM, not manufactured drama! The places they visit feel lived in, and they engage with both the environment and the locals in open, authentic ways!

It’s just so durned good, y’all.

And, being a culinary bus tour sort of road trip novel, it’s FULL OF FOOD, detailed in all its delicious glory with nary a hackneyed descriptor. No flavours burst on anyone’s tongue! (A flavour does BLOOM in Theo’s mouth once, but I’m gonna allow it.) Thank you, McQuiston, for avoiding this terrible phrase.

Thank you also for your punchy prose devoid of both performative purpleness and excessive use of the past perfect. You are the present tense writer of my heart.

And my goodness. The CHEMISTRY in play here. We feel not just the heat between Theo and Kit as they sleep their way around their feelings for each other but also the history, and the emotional ties, and the passion that goes way beyond the physical. They’re interesting on every level, separately and together.

In short: IT’S AWESOME. I LOVED IT. 5 STARS. GRAB IT AS SOON AS IT’S OUT.

Review copy provided by the publisher via via NetGalley.

Casey McQuiston made another perfect book. I love the bi representation, and wish to see more books similar in the future! I love how we as readers got to experience the change in pronouns via the narrator's POV. Overall absolutely loved the food tour and how it continually mixed up the setting.

Shwitty ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
*ARC Review*

I am not a fan of the miscommunication trope, and that was what the book really centered around. From the excerpt, I expected the sex wager to continue on further into the book than it did. Aside from those things, I did enjoy the read. The first half of the trip is from Theo's perspective, and the second is from Kit's. I loved that in the dual narrative, you could see how both of them viewed themselves and each other and the substantial differences between the two.

Casey McQuiston did it again! I love their writing and each story, I feel like has some kind of magic embedded in it. Thank you, Netgalley for this one! I had such a good time with it.

Okay, you know when you get home from a really good vacation and you feel sad because it’s over? The post-vacation-blues? That’s what I have from this book!! I loved it so much and traveled so many places with such great characters and now it’s over and ugh what a letdown - but in a good way…?

The two MC’s …….. wow just wow. The chemistry between them is unreal! I love them both so much!!!!! They both came right off the page as fully real people that I was watching live this trip of a lifetime! All of the side characters were truly fantastic, as well.

This was a banger. I know I just finished it 5 minutes ago, but I’m jealous of everybody who gets to read it for the first time.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest rating and review.

<i>I would like to thank St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.</i>

<img src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e5/ff/ea/e5ffea90ff8b1d45d5e2aa2bb08fcd2a.gif"/>
<blockquote><b><u>The Pairing</u>

PAIRS WELL WITH:

BILLIE EILISH'S <i><u>HIT ME HARD AND SOFT</i></u>, SUMMER SWEET MEMORIES OF MY FIRST TRIP ACROSS EUROPE</b>
</blockquote>
Exquisite and luscious, this was decadence through and through. A gorgeous travelogue that hit me in the "OMG I WISH" node, with tons of super juicy fking, devouring, savouring mouths feasting on everything passion calls for. Mouths filled with love and hope and words for healing pain. Bodies and hearts made for a summer of love, good food and heady drink.

And if you're like me and you've done this trip before <i>(quite a few times actually)</i> with my first at 20 <i>(I'd toured for over 3 months, solo, minus the sophisticated palate and the bisexuality)</i>, every sentence was sun drenched and sumptuous and filled me with summer sweet nostalgia for every picturesque city and ofc for all the boys who showed me the sights on motorbike! <i>sigh</i>

<img src="https://imgix.bustle.com/lovelace/uploads/26/61adb340-ed44-0132-ab1b-0acd8dfea39d.gif"/>

So yeahhhhhh THIS would not be a book for everyone, but I was only too happy to sink into such a delicious exploration of Dionysian scrumptiousness, which is MY preferred choice of oversaturation when I need to get away from it all.

So YMMV.

<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GQGyBLnXoAAKYqj.jpg:large"/>

This was perfect for my reading mood because it was pretty chill, had some mild relationship angst AND a whole lot of sexxxxxy sex, let me armchair travel a luxury food and wine tour across France, Spain and Italy, had me re-falling in love with a vibe that felt like a mash up of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE6wxDqdOV0"><b>Lana's Video Games</b></a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_AZJzYe7CU"><b>Billie's CHIHIRO</b></a>, made me research every museum and every artist and piece of art mentioned because learning is also sexxxxy and got me daydreaming about/low-key planning/high-key manifesting Euro Trip Summer '25.

<b>The Pairing</b> has been an indispensable "wonderful thought" for me since I'd devoured it and YES I DID PRE-ORDER THE <b>Special 1st Edition</b> because I thought this was marvelous and delectable AND I LOVED EVERY SENTENCE.

<img src="https://i.makeagif.com/media/4-07-2016/t_GShF.gif"/>

Theo and Kit both stole my heart! I loved that this book was a vivacious exploration of complements (beyond their relationship) that brought out the exquisiteness of all the pairings! Food, wine/cocktail, people, pastry, places...all of it read lush and generous and yearning with provocative complexity. It was a wild ride, and though Theo was a bit emo at the end there, quite a bit of this was earnest and heartfelt, even though they're all kinds of messy.

Kit was utter gorgeousness and I loved everything about him! He was perfect and sweet and brilliant with art history, drawing, poetry and French pastry. <b>#soulmate</b>

And also, with Theo being a swimmer, I really felt like I was reading aspects of myself and I legit had a deep dive "matrix" moment that probably made me love this book even more ngl!

All in all this was everything I could ever want in a sensual decadent travelogue. It was a perfect summer indulgence with a lot of inspiring and breathtaking chapters that will 100% feed my imagination and daydreams for years to come!

<img src="https://25.media.tumblr.com/016878a35311e04475be7fd749131715/tumblr_mpznnw3B4w1rtpoqbo1_500.gif"/>

I am a huge fan of Casey McQuiston and this book was no exception. Mcquiston’s descriptions of food, nature, culture, etc. made me want to hop on a plane to Europe immediately. That did slow the pace of scenes down more than I’m used to with McQuiston’s books so it took me a bit to get into the story, but once I got into it I got used to the pacing. The way the perspectives of the characters were explored was interesting and enjoyable. There was classic McQuiston humor, but also heart and deeper emotions. Also more spice than previous books by McQuiston. Most importantly, gave the classic warm and fuzzy feelings I get when reading McQuiston’s books. Recommend!

i had to give up on this one which is a shame because i've generally appreciated casey mcquiston's books in the past, but this was a mess.

we're introduced to theo, who is headed out on a dream food and wine tour of europe for the summer. when they get to the train, they run into their ex, kit, years after he left them behind. to be clear, i don't like second-chance romances because i think they're rarely done well enough to make me feel invested in a couple. i don't know why theo was the way they were about kit, but it drove me absolutely crazy. theo constantly obsesses over the break-up, assumes that a woman standing next to kit must be his girlfriend and doesn't ask for clarification, changes their drink order because they don't want kit to have the satisfaction of knowing what they like to drink. so your goal is to... be less of an authentic person out of spite? and i'm supposed to root for you? it felt so childish and strange.

and this is truly on me. i saw casey mcquiston, i clicked request. i didn't see this part of the synopsis: "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?"

i truly should have known this wouldn't be written either well or responsibility. there's an issue with how bisexuals/pansexuals are written as super hypersexual and this book truly struggles from that. that's not to say bisexual and pansexual people can't be hypersexual, but this book orchestrated random hook-ups out of thin air. everyone was attracted to everyone. everyone was sleeping with everyone. i hated that.

the other problem is a sex competition. funny, yes. but it felt pretty disgusting for two adults to make a bet over sleeping with an unaware, non-consenting adult, then after the act is done regaling each other with intimate details of the interaction in a public forum, including making jokes about straps and pegging, like the third party isn't an actual human being. it felt bro-y and gross.

i also felt theo's non-binary identity was an afterthought to sell books, really. i get that mcquiston is non-binary themselves, but i feel like nothing was made clear about theo's gender and there was some really bizarre writing that read like they were wistful to... be a woman? so that kit would be attracted to them?

this is the least of the book's problems, but still a no from me: theo is a nepo baby. a sister that's a major hollywood actor, parents in the business, etc. and theo framing themselves as "poor me, my life is so hard" was so tone deaf and weird to me. i have a long-time hatred of poor little rich kid books, so had i known this was part of the book i probably would have avoided it all together.

food descriptions were dope, though. the drinking was really excessive for me, though.

100% yes. this one was amazing! it gave me all the warm & fuzzies, and it was exactly what I hoped to get from a Casey McQuiston book.

though nothing can take the place of RW&RB in my heart, this one was a pleasant, happy read that had me in a chokehold from beginning to end! and the steam was perfecttttt

💞friends to lovers
💞second chance
💞hookup challenge
💞bi main characters

Great writing and a great storyline, as always! The character development was super engaging as well!

I was so excited for this book as I loved Red, White and Royal Blue. I loved the characters and was rooting for them the entire time. There were some cute moments and scenes that I loved. Unfortunately this book had too many travel, wine, and food references for me to really love this book!

The Pairing is a trip of a romance book. Read this on your next European vacation- it focuses on two exes who are stuck together on a European vacation years after their break up. The descriptions of the food, drinks, and places in Europe alone are enough of a reason for you to buy the book, but the love story is also excellent.

Theo and Kit are childhood friends who became a couple in university then split up in their early twenties. Now, at 28, they meet again on a wine-tasting/food tour through Europe they had booked when together but deferred for years. The story tells of their attempts at reconcilation over the course of several weeks during which they have various sexual encounters at just about every stop on their tour.

What I enjoyed about the book was the queer relationships and the way the author explored them more than superficially, which I have often experienced in novels.

Theo's character is strong and bold and I loved that about the book. The first half is from Theo's perspective, which made me like both characters and connect with them and want to see what happened in the past and how it would all turn out.

Although Kit's character seemed so interesting and sweet initially that I was looking forward to his narration, the second half from his perspective lost my interest, mostly because I felt much less sympathetic to Theo after realising just how sensitive and vulnerable Kit was.

There were many fascinating details about wine, wine tasting, food, and the European setting that would appeal to people who love food and travel. The author obviously did a lot of research to bring authenticity to the setting and the story.

The book was an entertaining read and I think many who like this author will love it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the privilege of reading the digital ARC.

I really wanted to like this one - I've always been a fan of McQuiston's work, and I LOVED the idea of this premise. A perfect summer story that takes us on a European food tour and a second-chance romance. This should have worked PERFECTLY for me.

Instead, I was pretty disappointed. 90% of this book is miscommunication and then having sex with other people to get over each other. It's also each of the two main characters saying how much they love the other person and how smart/strong/sexy that person is, but we never really see anything that is evidence to back that statement up. Ex. Kit tells us over and over how amazing Theo is and how they're the smartest and most impressive person he's ever met... except everything we see of Theo is them not committing to anything, refusing help from others when other people would KILL for an investment, and overall trying to pretend like they don't come from a rich family which will always give them a leg up in the world even if they don't want to be connected to that name.

I think Theo just annoyed me a little too much (and I say that as a 29-year old who doesn't know what her purpose is in life, which means I'm basically neck and neck with Theo), and Kit was portrayed as way too perfect most of the time. I wish we had a little more heart to more of the background characters as well - there is definitely plot there, don't get it twisted. But I just never really felt connected to any of the other characters (whereas in RWRB, June and Nora were my favorite characters).

I think some McQuiston fans will still enjoy this book, but it just wasn't up to my personal taste (and that's okay!). Here's hoping that their next novel will blow me away spectacularly.