Thank you NetGalley, and Casey McQuiston for allowing me to read the Advanced Readers Copy of The Pairing: Special 1st Edition.

The book is beautiful & so was the story. I enjoyed the plot. I recommend this book. Two thumbs up! 👍 👍

Prepare to be swept off your feet and taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions with "The Pairing" by Casey McQuiston. This book is an absolute gem, filled to the brim with humor, sensuality, and an abundance of pop culture references that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.

This book was absolutely fantastic. It was filled with so much longing and love and culture and I devoured it in two days! I happened to read it while also traveling in Italy and it totally added to the experience. I adored the main characters, they were chaotic and angsty and their love for each other was so gorgeous. McQuinston really knocked it out of the park with this one! I just finished it and I already want to read it again!!

Also it was so steamy and written so well I was literally fanning myself at times😂

🌈Queer rep: NB/M main relationship, nonbinary bi/pan protagonist, bi/pan male protagonist, NB/F and M/M relationships. Secondary FF and MM relationships.

Casey McQuiston has absolutely outdone themself! This romance is set on a European food tour, and the writing is just as decadent as the food, drink, and art the characters experience. I absolutely adored reading this book, and I can’t wait to own a physical copy.

I'm a fan of McQuinston's writing and characters and this book is no exception. The story of Theo and Kit is filled with electricity and bold sexuality even if they are picking the carnal over the emotional. They are hoping that if they stay on the surface, they don't have to revisit the hurt. But of course life doesn't work like that. The only way out is always through.

If wine and baked goods is your thing and spicy scenes are also your thing, you will love this book. Even though I was rooting for both of them the whole time, it seems I slightly prefer my novels from the inside out vs the outside in so this wasn't my super favorite of the McQuinston's novels. But I will continue to read every single thing this author writes!

with gratitude to St. Martin's Press and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I feel so complicated because of this book. I love Casey McQuiston and their previous works, but this was NOT the book for me. I was jealous on behalf of the characters like 90% of the time. This was a very well-written book, and oh man did it make me hungry. But Theo was unlikable, the side characters were forgettable, and how is it possible that EVERY person they come across is hot and queer. It doesn’t even logistically make sense. Fabrizio is the best, and Kit was sweet. Idk, I wanted to love this book so much, and it just didn’t hit right.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Theo and Kit broke up right before going on a European bus tour, but now with their vouchers for a free bus tour about to expire, they both unexpectedly end up on the same bus tour. It's told first from Theo's perspective then Kit's as they travel through France, Spain, and Italy discovering both food and all the ways they've changed over the past four years.

I really enjoyed this. I thought it was a really lovely contemporary romance between two people who are so clearly meant for each other figuring out if and how they can really be together. And I thought the perspective shift halfway through the book was a great way to get insights into both characters.

Truly went into this book with great expectations as I love other books from this author. Unfortunately this book was just not for me. It felt very slow and drawn out, and I found myself skimming a lot of the pages. The character development was subpar, and extremely underwhelming. Something else that was a turn off for me was the over explanation of every activity that the characters participated in through the book.

I knew that I was going to enjoy this book. As I have enjoyed all of Casey McQuinston's book, this was no exception. I want to say that I did struggle with the amount of hook ups that happened, but then again that is 100% me and nothing towards the author or those that honestly love it. I appreciate that we get Theo's POV and then Kit's. It is about finding one's true self and love discovery and it is fluid as they find the right fit for them.

I honestly think this hurts me more than it will hurt anyone else.

This was one of my most anticipated books for 2024. I had been following the book's creation since Casey posted themselves on Instagram visiting all of these European locations as research. Sure, when the description was released, it didn't sound like something I would pick up otherwise, but this is Casey McQuiston we are talking about here. Red, White, and Royal Blue is still one of my favorite books of all time, and I loved One Last Stop and I Kissed Shara Wheeler. Surely, if anyone can get me to read a book like this, it would be them. But alas, I fear this is the first of their books that I have really disliked.

Now, I will preface this with saying that this book is really not for me. I'm aroace, so I don't love smut. I don't know how to cook, so a food tour didn't seem like something I would click with. I haven't traveled abroad, so I can't relate to that experience. If you like any one of these things, I am sure you will find more enjoyment out of it than me. But as it is, I just didn't like it.

This book felt like it was constantly going in circles. The characters gush over food, have some wine, pretend they are totally not in love, have sex, repeat. It didn't feel like anything of relevance happened for the majority of the book because of this. That was, until, the characters made stupid decisions that made me audibly groan. Listen, I love Alex and Henry, so I am not immune to loving stupid characters, but this took it a level too far. I won't get into it because of spoilers, but about midway through the book the characters made a choice that nearly made me DNF the book. It was quite frankly infuriating, if I am being honest.

Maybe I would like this sort of book if I enjoyed the characters, but nope. I really didn't like Theo, and while I admired Kit's endless yearning, it was hard to enjoy him when I just wasn't invested in their relationship. But what really disappointed me where the side characters: I can't remember a thing about a single one. With Casey's other books, I find myself thinking about the side characters almost more than the main characters. I ADORE June and Nora, Niko and Myla, Smith and goddamned Rory. And the fact that I only remember certain characters because the two main leads talked about them a lot, and not because they gripped me in the same way the other books' side characters did... I think it honestly stings the most out of all the things this book disappointed me by.

Let me preface this again: I LOVE Casey McQuiston's other books. I honestly feel really bad leaving a review this mean because I adore them so much. But gosh, I just am really let down with this one.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.
The Pairing follows Theo and Kit who are ex's that broke up on a flight for a European food and wine tour. They went their separate ways but the vouchers they got for not going on the tour expires in 48 months. When they happen to end up on the same tour again, they're forced to reconcile with what happened.
I always get nervous when I read books from authors I love but I feel so happy that I received an ARC of this book because I absolutely LOVED it! This book was so special to read and I feel so honored to be able to read this book when I did.
I absolutely loved Theo and Kit together but also as individuals. I thought their relationship was so sweet to see how it grows and became deeper as they went on this tour with each other. I really loved that we also got perspectives from both of them and really loved being in their heads. It was so sweet watching them come together and realize how much they grew in their years apart after their breakup. They were such a great couple and I loved them.
This book was also hilarious as is to be expected. I laughed out loud a few times and once near the end I had to put the book down because I was laughing so hard. I really loved the humor and the way that Casey McQuiston knows ALL of their characters nad not just the main two.
Also if you get hungry easily, this book will definitely make you hungry. A few times when I was reading this I got super hungry. The descriptions were as good as I'm sure the food was.
Overall, I adored this book and I am so excited to pick up a copy when it comes out. I cannot express how much I loved this and how happy I was to get an ARC. Please pick this book up when it comes out as it is 100% worth the read.

Oh my God, what to say about this book? This book is everything to me. Kit & Theo are so precious. This book has changed the way I think about life, about love, about risks. It's made me want to live a more expansive, experiential life. And yes, it is HORNY. My god, is it horny. This book is delectable. I loved it so much.

Casey McQuiston is back and better than ever with their horniest book yet, and I love them for it! 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Spicy times aside, I appreciated the backdrop of a sun-soaked tour of the food and drink of France and Italy (though it did make me wish I’d waited until I was a little closer to my next European vacation to read The Pairing so I didn’t have to have such FOMO).

I want to eat a French pastry while on a euro food and wine tour STAT!! The food descriptions and location descriptions were decadent

I've loved Casey McQuiston's previous books and expected to love this one as well, but I couldn't connect to either Theo or Kit. The book read very upper class, which also turned me off a bit. Would recommend for readers who enjoy a slow and literary romance with lots of descriptions of food.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

I don’t know if this was a case of too high expectations and being so excited for this book or if I still wouldn’t have loved it if my expectations were none existent.

It’s second chance romance: Theo and Kit end up on this incredible all over Europe tour for the summer and they are childhood besties turned lovers turned exes but still have been pining over each other for the last 4 years.

What did work for me was the quick quippy fun conversations they would have when they would talk, the descriptions of the food and drinks, the side characters and how sex positive everyone was.

What didn’t work for me was first and foremost second chance isn’t my favorite but I like it when the reason for breaking up makes sense and the character growth and communication shows that a hea is achievable… I didn’t see the character growth that I was hoping for. And probably should have dnfed around halfway when I got bored.

I did the audiobook and I liked the narrator for Theo just fine but the narrator for Kit wasn’t a new favorite-quite whiney.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan audio for an alc

I don’t like wine. I spent years, in my twenties, trying to taste what everyone else seemed to taste, but though every once in a while it almost clicked—a very dry red wine on a very good Valentine’s day date with a very beautiful Valentine’s day date, a spicy-smooth bottle of Madeira (though does fortified wine even count?)—ultimately, I was wasting my time. The problem, I finally decided, is that when other people drink wine, they taste something more than overwhelming bitterness. Something subtle. Something much less like salad dressing. I say all this, because if I had even just a mild appreciation for wine, it is possible that I would have enjoyed this novel far more. It feels like an important caveat.

Casey McQuiston is a great writer. She has a way of taking a sentence where you don’t expect it that often makes me smile and sometimes makes me laugh out loud; a way of getting inside her characters so that they feel larger than life, but also like someone you used to know. And thank God she does, because frankly, just about the only thing this book has going for it is that Casey McQuiston wrote it. Two gorgeous, rich, basically insufferable 28-year-old kids on a three week luxury food and wine tour across Southern Europe. I think I would like them if they were my friends—their enthusiasm, their humor—but they're not my friends, they're characters in a novel, and I spent way too much of this book skimming endless pretentious conversations about wine and pastries and wishing they would, you know, shut up.

We see almost nothing of France, Spain, or Italy you wouldn’t see from a tour bus. Which, to be fair, is absolutely logical and realistic—but compared to what an observant author is capable of showing of a place, also utterly impoverished. When, in the second half, one of our leads starts reflexively quoting Rilke, it is almost a relief—at last, something like substantive engagement with human culture, a book actually read and loved and internalized, to enliven the never-ending parade of paintings and churches. That said, I settled in after a while, accepted the tour and novel for what they are: decadent, indulgent, shallow, capitalist, and basically realistic (if we set aside the ease with which threesomes seem to arrange themselves, at least).

No, the problem at the novel’s heart, for me, lies in the relationship, not the setting. Here, too, Casey McQuiston proves herself an exquisitely good author, equally adept at heartfelt conversations, unvoiced soliloquies, and raw, vulnerable, pleasurable sex (there’s a sex scene towards the end good enough to justify reading the book all on its own, honestly). But—and what follows could be construed as a spoiler, though I don’t think I ever really doubted it—our leads love each other on page one. They have always loved each other. They always will. Which means, in the novel, on the tour, they’re not falling in love, they’re miscommunicating. In three countries. By the end, I was more or less persuaded that their extraordinary sexual chemistry alone was grounds enough for marriage, but I spent much of the novel fending off the suspicion that they would really be better off if they just got over each other.

Four stars because almost everything I dislike about this book is contained in its premise, and honestly it’s so well executed on its own terms that I should probably be giving it five—but if I rated books based solely on how I feel about them in my heart, it might be closer to two.

Not sure how this got onto my shelf, and I would love to read and review this book. But I stand with Readers for Accountability and am withholding my reviews until SMP comes to the table and takes action to address the racism and homophobia from the employees.

I went into this reading being a fan of the author and at first I thought I was going to end up not liking this novel because the vibe felt very different from their other novels. However as I read on I fell in love with two chaos bisexuals on an European tour filled with horniness and repressed emotions.

I think this novel can be summarized in a few lines from the musical version of The Notebook.

The way we used to be
The things we'll never have

I still remember the first time we kissed.

I've even fallen in love with the way that you write a grocery list.

Two messy, horny, bisexual exes go on a food tour of Europe and quite literally fuck around and find out. That's it, that's the book.

And my God, I loved it.

This is McQuiston's most delightfully, unapologetically queer book yet. I laughed out loud multiple times while reading this, and I felt swept away to the different locations. (Warning: reading this WILL make you hungry, and all I had to eat was leftover Domino's. Which is really, truly, not the same thing.)

This book is decadent, intimate, hilarious, and breathtaking. I absolutely adored it.