"The Pairing" by Casey McQuiston is a steamy, sensual, and indulgent novel that explores themes of sexuality, identity, and the complexities of love and desire.

The story follows Theo, a nonbinary aspiring sommelier, and Kit, a pastry chef in Paris, who were once childhood best friends turned lovers before a brutal breakup four years ago. They accidentally book the same European food and wine tour, reigniting their rivalry through a flirtatious hookup competition across France, Spain, and Italy. As they navigate the forced proximity and reignited chemistry, the novel delves into their bisexual identities and the nuances of queer relationships and sexuality.

Sounds great, right? Well it wasn't. While I have really enjoyed McQuiston's previous novels - Red, White and Royal Blue, and less so, The Last Stop - I could not get on board with Theo and Kit. In fact, I fell asleep every time I started reading this book and it was a slog just to get past the 25% mark. Hoping to pick this back up at some point, bc almost every review I've has been fabulous. Are we reading the same book?

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

This book was a beautiful homage to some of my favourite things; good food, good friends, travel, history, and E. M. Forster's A Room With a View. In some ways, I think we are probably all Lucy at some point, trying to find ourselves (and in some cases, our George)

Though I am usually such a stan of short chapters, I absolutely loved how Casey broke the book up based on each city they stopped in throughout the tour! It really added to the whole experience of the book for me! This book is definitely for folks who love a good spicy book (never in my life did I think I would read a scene about making bread that I would consider spicy, but here I am)! ALSO the PEACH SCENE OH MY GOD. This book had so many good tropes (one bed, second chance love, miscommunication) and I would recommend as a good summer read for anyone looking for a deeper summer romance that involves deep descriptions of so many european cities!

I was pretty disappointed with this one. It drug on and I wasn’t into the characters at all. So sad. I loved Shara Wheeler! This book was just not it.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins for the ARC

I have had mixed feelings about McQuiston's previous work. Often, finding them to be the equivalent of reality TV wasn't the best work, but I found it fun. The Pairing does not fall into this category as the Nepo baby main character (Theo) and Eat Pray Love style journey through Europe. While the idea of turning a summer across Europe into a hook-up competition could make for a good horror or 2000s comedy, it does not make a good RomCom because you already know that Theo and Kit will end up together.
Some of my fellow reviewers have pointed out Theo as a Nepo baby who cosplays being poor who, despite being offered thousands of dollars, turns it down for the sake of the "struggle." Kit was an easier character to like mainly because they are boring and simply spend half the book pinning after Theo.

Despite the book seemingly being a vehicle for FoodNetwork, I no longer desire to cook and will order cheap takeout in the foreseeable future.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing a digital ARC for review. In Casey McQuiston’s The Pairing, Kit and Theo were on the way to Europe for a once-in-a-lifetime food and wine tour when they broke up so badly on the plane that Theo immediately went home and Kit moved to Europe. They haven’t spoken since, but four years later, they find that they both have used the expiring vouchers from their missed trip to book the same tour. As they tentatively attempt friendship to get through the tour, a bet to see who can hook up with the most strangers as they travel through France, Spain, and Italy stirs up old emotions and the misunderstandings and secrets that broke them up, causing both of them to reexamine their lives and what they want from the future.

I always love McQuiston’s talent for building believable characters and relationships and the life they bring to side characters, but the standout in this book for me were the descriptions of locations and sensory experiences. Theo and Kit are traveling through amazing places, eating delicious food, and Theo in particular has a fascinating relationship with taste and flavor both in food and wine. Sadly, I discovered that second-chance romance after a bad breakup is not a trope I enjoy when I don’t already know the characters, so I did not enjoy the romance element of the plot as much as I have in McQuiston’s previous books. I want to clarify here that it’s well written and that was kind of the problem. We get a front row seat to the angst and insecurity of being around an ex and wanting to have back the previous relationship, win the breakup, and be a functional adult who can talk to that ex without fighting all at the same time, which wasn’t a comfortable headspace for me. That said, the romance is well crafted and believable. We start the book knowing that the breakup took place, but the details of what happened and what caused the fight are doled out a smidge at a time over the course of the book, which is very effective in slowing unspooling who the characters are to one another. Overall, very well done, but the parts I enjoyed the most were the travel and the tentatively building back a friendship that had collapsed, rather than the romance elements.

Thank you so much for this advanced copy! This was one of my most anticipated reads because I adore all of McQuiston’s works. Unfortunately this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me - I didn’t love the characters and found the plot rather repetitive. Still, a decent read and I’ll still look forward to McQuiston’s future works.

I have struggled with Casey McQuiston's books since their debut, but this might be their best work yet. The Pairing is a love letter to food and wine, a beautiful exploration of sexuality, and a heartwarming journey of self-discovery and acceptance in all its forms. From the first chapter, I was enthralled by Theo and Kit, with each of them latching onto my heart in different ways. This is definitely a book I will be rereading once it comes out and recommending to everyone who is looking for a romantic and sexy trip through Europe.

While I've had the pleasure of reading a few of McQuiston's books in the past, I was so pleasantly blown away by the LOVELINESS of The Pairing. A second-chance romance is one of my favorite tropes to read, and the settings of this story were so gorgeously described via the remarkable imagery and somehow even the FLAVORS of each region we visited.

This was also the most positively sex-inclusive book I've had the pleasure of reading in quite some time, maybe ever. This inclusion, and particularly the wonderfully-written conversation about Theo's pronouns, have prompted me to recommend this book to friends as a positive example and a breath of fresh air.

I did find some of the food and wine descriptions only barely tedious, but found I could skim those when I needed to - I wouldn't even count that as a con for this book. In all, I absolutely ADORED this read for it's characters, their love story, and for making me constantly alternate between laughing and sweating.

Huge thanks to Casey McQuiston, St. Martin's Griffin, and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Im floating between 3.75 and 4 stars. This was cute and hot but it also got a bit repetitive in the middle. Still a good time though!

Wow, this was one of the most immersive books I have read in a long, long time. As a foodie, I had such a fun time reading this book. It straight up made me hungry and I felt like I was along for for the tour of Europe that Kit and Theo were on. I learned quite a bit about European wine, food, and culture and the banter was top notch. The only thing that I really hated about this book was the competition to see who could sleep with more people on the trip (when they were obviously in love with each other). Without that storyline, this book would have been near perfect--but then we also wouldn't have gotten the "that still only counts as one!" line that had me cackling. I adored the nerdy Tolkienisms and highly recommend this book!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that has touch my soul so much. Everything about this book was beautiful. Watching how Kit and Theo fell in love in their youth before even fully understanding what love was, to being completely consumed with each other in their early twenties to figuring out we’re each other fit in their new lives.

I loved the bi representation of both characters in this book while also exploring Theo’s gender and not fully being ready or willing to give up the she/her to avoid being upset by the norms but also preferring being compared to more masculine traits.

I genuinely had to take breaks while reading this book because it truly just hit on a lot of things about myself and my life that I don’t like to think about. This book is going to stick to my soul for the rest of my life I think.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC! Having read Red, White, and Royal Blue (3 stars) and One Last Stop (4 stars), I was excited for McQuiston’s next adult book! Also as a bisexual woman, I was really excited for the bi rep!! While the book was a fun read, I felt like I never really connected with any of the characters. Also, as others have stated, the bi stereotype of being a slut is definitely perpetuated here— which is fine to demonstrate sexual freedom, but it would be nice to see at least one bi character who isn’t so over sexualized.

I was blown away by the opportunity to read this ARC, and Casey’s new book did not disappoint!

I haven’t read anything quite like this before, and as a romance reader, plots, tropes and saucey scenes can start to feel a bit repetitive. I felt like this story was so unique!

All the delicious descriptions of food and cocktails made me crave booking a food tour in Europe! 🤤

I really loved that we got both characters POVs, and loved how the beginning of the book started with individual POVs of the end and the beginning. I think that the POV switching halfway through the book gave such a valuable perspective of their relationship.

Kit and Theo’s love is precious, they love each other SO fully. The way they each talk about each other in their POVs just made my heart swell.

I love that they’re each battling their own struggles, identities and desires for their lives as they realize they never stopped loving one another.

This was saucier than I expected but I loved every second and felt like the scenes we got were so creative!

I wasn’t sure how the ending was going to wrap up in the last 5-10%, and whether I was going to like it, but the ending was better than I even expected!

I wish we had gotten an epilogue from each POV but that’s just a small thing. For me, I loved the whole book but the latter half of the book was much slower paced (this very might have just been my timing / life and not the book itself).

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Move over, Lord Byron! Mamma Mia meets Call Me By Your Name in modern history's most bisexual European adventure. Theo and Kit are childhood best friends and former lovers who reunite unexpectedly on a food and wine tour of Western Europe - a tour they were meant to take together four years earlier, on the eve of their breakup. The story - the first half narrated by Theo and the second half by Kit - follows the duo's relationship as they traverse the continent on a mission to to see who can have the greatest number of love affairs (and definitely not to reconnect with each other in the process!)

The novel is a languorous, illuminated dream of Europe, ambling from Paris to San Sebastián to Naples. Combine every romanticized movie, every stunning visual, every jealousy-inducing TikTok travel compilation you've ever seen and you'll get an idea of the atmosphere McQuinston is evoking. It's a gorgeously unrealistic portrait of travel, of course - pure beauty and wonder with every harsh edge sanded off (not ONE mention of food poisoning or leg cramps or lost luggage) but it nonetheless works in the context of the warm fairy tale dream world that seems to characterize all of McQuinston's work. This is also the first book in which I've sincerely admired the beauty of their prose: McQinston is a wizard with adjectives, creating a sumptuous, sensory experience equal to each country's atmosphere and unique cuisine.

Theo and Kit are a departure from McQuinstion's typical characters - significantly more introspective, for one thing, with side characters taking enough of a backseat to allow their inner lives to leap off the page. I enjoyed living in both their heads, and even moreso enjoyed the absolutely glorious celebration of bisexuality and genderfluidity that each uniquely represents. Their romance was a delicious slowborn rife with fanfic style tropes. I only had a few gripes - firstly, the degree to which the novel fell into overly indulgent fanfic rhythms at times (I kid you not that there is an entire chapter told in the "5 times x did x....." one shot style) and secondly the scant acknowledgment of the enormous wealth and privilege funding both Theo and Kit's journeys (visibly cringed during a scene in which Theo complains about how much it sucks to be rich and refuse to take money from your movie star family).

Complaints aside, at its core the novel is an elevation of the sappy summer beach read genre - expect to roll your eyes a few times, but also to find a goofy, heartfelt character study of two people rediscovering each other and themselves.

The Pairing is the epitome of second chance romance. It also holds a lot of friends to lovers to enemies to friends to lovers again charm. The depictions are super vivid and make you feel like you’re with Theo and Kit in the moment. It was very relatable when each character showed how deeply they had allowed their perceptions to influence their feelings about their breakup. I enjoyed this book and it was a pretty easy read.

Thank you so much, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.


Theo and Kit have been best friends, crushes, in love and now exes. After a brutal breakup on a Transantlatic flight for their food and wine tour, they exited each other's lives for good.
Now after 4 years, time apart did them good. Theo is more confident in themselves, they work as bartender and studies to become a sommelier, between casual lovers, while Kit never returned to USA with them and now in Paris, he's a sex god, working in a famous restaurant. Both of them mourn what they had and fate pushes them together when they decide to use their voucher for the wine and food tour at the same time, finding themselves on the same tour. To prove they are truly over one other, they start a sexy bet, who can sleep with most people during their trip wins. Between lushious views in France, Spain and Italy, they slowly understand what happened to them years ago. And if it's possible to save anything between them.

If I say I SQUEALED like an idiot when I got the chance to read one of my most anticipated reads of 2024...it would be totally true.
I love Casey Mcquiston and every single book is perfect and this one is not an exception. Two bisexual disasters, and ex, book the same European food and wine tour and start and hookup competition to prove they are over each other. What could possibly go wrong?
This book is a whole experience. Not only it's split between Kit's version and Theo's, but beween cities and you have to believe me when I tell you it's an experience you can almost see and taste. Lushious and stunning views bring these incredibly complex characters in Spain, France and Italy tasting cannoli and French pastries and drinking wine and tasting what's inside, while flirting with waiters and the tour guide, while flirting with each other and so much more. It's lush and decadent and it melts in your mouth like a piece of chocolate.
The setting is phenomenal, hugging and supporting Theo's and Kit's journeys, from heartbroken exes to friends with benefits and more than that, in three weeks time, while they slowly grow close to understand why they broke up and if they still love one other enough to change their lives for good.

I'm not surprised to say the characterization is incredible, like in all Casey Mcquiston's book. Theo is a young person struggling to find their own way, not to be associate with the family name, to be something and someone for their own talents and Kit is trying to understand what he wants. It's nice to see both of their POVs and how Casey Mcquiston talks about their past, showing how much they have grown and, at the same time, how much they know each other, their idiosincracies and insecurities and reactions to life events.
This book is pretty layered. Not only the setting is lush and intriguing and the reader is swept into a food and wine tour and it's impossible not to be curious to taste what they are eating, between pastas and meat and pastries, while visiting churches and beaches and vineyard, but also this book is spicy and sexy and it was really good seeing how, beside the first huge misunderstanding, this trope wasn't used to propel the story forward.
Theo and Kit are an important part of each other's lives and it was unbelievably good, almost, cathartic, reading how sex became love and how able they were to talk with each other and about each other. It was like the whole tour was a build up to their conclusion, a perfect tied knot to their story.
Also nice were the other characters, like the sexy and brilliant Fabrizio, the Calums with Dakota and Montana and their exploits and how they whole food and wine tour was, at the same time, a background to Theo-and-Kit's story and integral to it.
This romantic comedy has everything you could hope for. It's tasty, sexy and funny. You can almost eat and drink with them, ride a Vespa though Rome, fall in love again and again with the food and the views and each other.
PERFECTION

Was able to read advance copy via NetGalley. I was really excited to read this for a lot of reasons. I loved Red, White, and Royal blue. I’m bisexual, married to a bisexual. I was ready for this book

While there were many things I thought were great such as insights into the queer experience that felt real, there was much that didn’t work for me relating to the queer experience. The main being the slutty bisexual stereotype. It’s hard enough for society to understand that bisexuals can and often are monogamous, but this book both pushed the must bring in a third as a bisexual and the must sleep with any thing that flirts idea. A challenge to sleep with the most people as the push to get them back together? There was so much more potential there.

There were a lot of awkward scenes as well. A weird obsession with fruit, especially on sexual ways. It also seemed to lack the depth for many of the characters. With all the people they were sleeping with, related to, on the tour with, and/or worked with, it was hard to keep track of all these people. There were times I forgot who the main character was.

The depth of the main characters was lacking too. Switching narrators is not a new thing in romance, but it was weird to switch midway, and it didn’t really make sense why other than to make it seem like Kit’s reveal as gender queer was a big deal. Maybe it was, but it was pretty clear from the beginning to me. Because we only get glimpses of their past, and much of the present is focused on who each person is sleeping with on the tour, it’s hard to feel that connection to their relationship. What little we have is almost solely focused on physical. Then it sort of seemed to rush to the end once they started giving in to their “love.”

It’s entirely possibly my expectations were too high going in, but I didn’t get the same satisfaction I had hoped for. Was it a fun read? Sure. Do I regret reading? No. But in terms of other books I’ve read recently, it was rather middle of the road. Still adore the author though. 💜

I was really excited for this and enjoyed it but not as much as I had hoped to. Other books by McQuiston practically changed my brain chemistry (Hello, I’m talking to you One Last Stop) and this, while lovely in many regards, didn't wow me. The beginning grabbed me and I knew we were in for a ride while we watched Theo and Kit get back together. I just wanted more. I loved the slow reveal of Theos self awareness. I wanted more. I ached for them when they couldn't just get it together and be together. I enjoyed the foodie aspects but wanted more about them and less about the food. The angst was good, the tender moments were so sweet. It just felt like it took them forever to realize what we all knew and then it was over.

Theo's travel voucher for their dream trip through France, Italy and Spain is about to expire, so they book the trip they were supposed to take with their previous partner Kit. Kit having moved to France after their break up, was the last thing to cross Theo's mind until they find the last seat available on the bus and finds Kit seated beside them.

This is novel was absolutely everything I look for in a romance; second chances, forced proximity, Europe. It did not disappoint. The book was easy to read and had some heartfelt hilarious moments and also some parts that had me on the brink of tears. Needless to say Casey McQuiston is an auto buy author for me and will continue to remain so!