Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Overall, I thought this book was fun. I loved all the descriptions of each place the characters went to, the food they tried, and the wine they drank. Theo and Kit were also interesting people, but sometimes I felt like they stood in their own way too much. The first half of the novel had me hooked. But then, after reading Kit's perspective of their break-up, and the miscommunication that happened (where there were likely many opportunities for it to have been saved before it was too late), the story kind of lost me. I am very happy the tour descriptions were present, because that is what kept me hooked. I am happy for both characters and their resolution because of the growth they went through, however I did feel like there was a lot of immaturity on both of their parts for a large duration of the novel. This would be a great summer read, especially if you happen to find yourself on the beach in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, or some other beach, dreaming about any of the places Theo and Kit visited.

“If I can give my whole heart to love without fearing the cost, I will regret nothing.”

this story follows kit and theo, two exes that are on a european food and wine tour while trying to avoid their feelings towards each other.

i loved this story, as i have all of cmq’s work. i can see when it can come off as repetitive or ‘too much’ to other readers, but i have noticed that cmq puts so much detail and information in their books that it can come across as filler to the wrong reader. this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was an incredible read and a beautiful story to follow.

check content warnings before reading!

i am so thankful to have received an arc for this story from netgalley! thank you!

RATING: 2.75/5 STARS

This is a difficult review for me to write because it's one of very few books that I have finished through to the end while actively disliking its core elements, the plot, almost everything about it... I will start by saying I have loved Casey McQuiston's previous books RW&RB and IKSW. There was an earnest and refreshing quality about those books that I connected with. Even ONE LAST STOP I didn't consider a favorite but I didn't dislike it either. I think some readers are going to enjoy THE PAIRING, but here more details on the aspects that irked me and why:

1) The characters in THE PAIRING were so pretentious. The most pretentious I have ever read. And that is saying something because THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY is one of my five star books. The entire plot of this book relies on miscommunication which I fully acknowledge is often necessary to create tension, and I don't hate it as a trope, but the miscommunication + snobbishness of the leads was too much for me personally. I wanted to like them, I really did. Reading their dialogue felt dry to me, full of references that were supposed to make them seem cool but just kind of alienated them from me as a reader.

2) The name dropping of random European food, and wine, and more wine, and more food... At times this book felt more like a dramatic food catalogue than an actual work of fiction. I like immersive European atmospheres as much as the next person, but this felt like a tacky recreation of a European food tour with random concepts just mashed together. I found myself thinking what the purpose of all of it was? Besides to just be pretentious (reference point 1).

3) The side characters were caricatures who occasionally made or were the subject of crass jokes... For a book mostly about the two romantic leads having flings with everyone BUT each other, none of the other characters they interacted with were actually three dimensional. They felt like they were plucked out of a cartoon about French and Italian people? I don't think many Europeans will like this book. I had heard that this book was giving Emily In Paris, but less endearing, and I totally agree.

There was a reason I finished this book, though. If you filter through the asphyxiating fluff there were some really genuine moments between Theo and Kit as they reconnected and Theo's nonbinary identity was explored. Those scenes demonstrated what I enjoy about CMQ's writing.

Read if you like:
✨Non-binary representation
✨ Queer Rom-coms
✨ Adult Fiction
✨ Art & Wine
✨ A hookup competition

I'm going to start this review with a personal snippet, I am non-binary. Reading a book with a non-binary MC that has struggled, felt, and dealt with their coming out in similar ways, this really really hit home with me.

Okay first up, what is this about? Theo and Kit have been everything to each other at one point in time or another, childhood best friends, lovers, and now exes. After years apart, of course they would both book the same trip for at the same time, the trip they were supposed to take 4 years ago together. 3 weeks of wine and food and art, it's fine, there's nothing left for them to hold on to so of course they start up a hookup competition to see who can sleep with the most people across Europe. Nothing bad ever happens when you do that.

And if you can't tell, I adore this book whole heartedly. The romance, the banter, the questioning and honesty. The way the author creates such a visceral emotion to wine and food and art and passion and romance and language. I felt as if I had been on that trip myself, seeing the sights and hearing the sounds and tasting the food, it was a magical journey that I am so thankful I took. And if I have anything to say about the supporting characters, they are a hoot and I loved each and every one of them.

Huge thank you to NetGalley, Casey McQuiston, and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

So, I just finished reading "The Pairing" and let me tell you, it's like diving headfirst into a gourmet meal. The atmosphere is so rich and vivid, that you can practically taste the dishes described on the pages. But here's the thing, around the 100-page mark, I started feeling like maybe I'd eaten a bit too much, if you catch my drift.

Despite that, the descriptions of food made my stomach growl constantly.

And Theo? Oh man, even when the point of view switched, Theo was still the one steering the relationship ship. It was like they had this magnetic pull that kept everything moving forward. One thing I really appreciated was the bi representation. It felt genuine, which was so refreshing to read. Thank you to the publisher for hooking me up with the advanced reader copy. Overall, "The Pairing" was a tasty read, even if it lingered at the table a bit longer than necessary.

Where do I even begin with this one?!? Casey McQuiston has cemented themselves as one of my top authors with their fourth outstanding novel, The Pairing. I laughed, I cried, I reflected on life, and I got really really hungry while absolutely devouring every page. Theo is a person you can’t help but to fall for and their dynamic with Kit is one people spend lifetimes chasing. With a wildly lovable ensamble of characters met along the way, you get to follow Theo and Kit as they discover the joys that can be found off the beaten path and in low lit bar in the wall or two. There is humor, lust, love, art, history, pastries, wine, and all the delicious food you could ever imagine in these pages and it makes for a simply gorgeous story. This is one that should find its way to every summer reading pile this year!

Rating 3.5 stars.

This book is best described by a quote from one of the main characters: "They wanted to be loved, and eat good food, and make art, and f*ck." I don't think I could summarize this book any more succinctly than that. With 2 bi MCs, The Pairing's premise does the least to debunk the promiscuous bisexual stereotype. Apparently, we're taking the slut pride/sex-positive route instead and I'm still here for it.

The Pairing was an ode to many of life's sensual pleasures: fluid gender, fluid sexuality, art, food, wine, beautiful settings, beautiful people... it was debauchery and gluttony on a level that would have made the Ancient Romans proud. According to Kit and Theo's story, everyone in Europe is bonkers hot and 100% DTF at all times. **books plane ticket**

I loved the first half from Theo's perspective, but once we switched to Kit's perspective halfway through the middle dragged for me. The storyline took a while to build back up again after the switch. Although the food, drink, and European description was beautiful there was A LOT of it... it got in the way of the MCs storyline a bit. I started to feel like I was reading a Frommer's Travel Guide to Europe. (Not that that's not a good read. It just wasn't what I was there for).

Anyway -- This book was beautifully written: a thoroughly stunning exploration of gender and sexual fluidity, food, and drink. The setting is GENEROUSLY described sometimes at the expense of pushing the story along. If you're short on cash but want to go on a sexy European vacay... this is your book!

I received an ARC of this book so will strive for an honest and fair review.

The Pairing wasn't my favorite Casey McQuiston novel but there were plenty of things to love about it!

Kit and Theo are a pair of bi disasters who broke up due to the wrong time, wrong place and a whole lot of miscommunication. Oops. They feel real, relatable, and wonderfully queer and human.

There are plenty of misadventures, romps across European restaurants, and tantalizing steamy scenes. Casey has always written tension with sizzle!

A lot of this book was spent describing food and tastes and atmospheres, and while it suited the characters it bored me quickly. That said, I have a hankering for a grand European tour someday soon.

Things stall and stagnate a bunch, and it feels like the same scenes are repeating over and over even as the tension builds. This is a great instance where simply talking about what went wrong would have fixed things immediately which always makes me throw my hands in the air.

There is a beautiful scene where a character reveals their nonbinary identity that is handled with such care from page 1 that it only feels right, true, and respected when revealed. This scene and buildup was art.

As the end approached I was actually excited for the idea of a bittersweet parting - there was a time for a Kit and Theo love story but it was no longer now - and was disappointed when they rushed into each other's arms. I know the romance genre is pretty anti-no HEA but there's something beautiful about having shared something unbearably special with someone and having grown up and into yourselfin different directions. One of the gayest parts of queer culture is how we cheer our exes on from afar, and I wouldn't have minded that for them.

I am ultimately always looking for the next RW&RB, but I continue to love reading the direction Casey's work is growing towards, too. They never write the same book twice which is a hard-won challenge, so even if these weren't my favorite characters or plot, they remain special and a wonderful addition to the CMQ canon.

So, I went into this book not knowing very much.

For quite a while, I assumed Theo was a male as the beginning had been from their perspective. Still, this didn't detract from the narrative in any way. I appreciated Theo being non-binary and how easily Kit just accepted it (not to mention how he easily adjusted Theo's pronouns). It felt refreshing, and the way that Theo felt about their identity felt very real and, personally, relatable.

The book was overindulgent, in a good way. The locations were described beautifully, as well as the food & drinks. Sure, I didn't know what half of the things were but they sounded amazing. The chemistry between Theo and Kit was quite electric. When I had first started reading, I wondered if they'd spend more time "fighting:" about the break up but I'm glad that they took the more civilized route, by trying to just coexist while on the tour.

The rom-com vibes this gave off were perfect, and not to mention the spicier scenes had me feeling nervous as I read them on my lunch break. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and how it unfolded. It makes me wish that I could afford to do such a trip, but at least I got to experience it as I read this book.

Towards the end, I was getting Theo and Kit confused and had to reread parts before realizing who was doing what but that could have just been me being tired.

Oh boy...I love Casey McQuiston's stories. LOVE. But maybe, maybe I just don't love food enough for this book to have really hit in the way I wanted it to? Maybe foodie-themed books aren't my thing? Especially ones that star nepo-baby life struggles? Because OOF I struggled and barely finished this book. Barely. In fact I'm not even sure I did. On to the next one.

It pains me to leave a one-star review on a Casey McQuiston book but here we are. The second half of the story was better, but I found Theo's part shallow. The way Europe was portrayed as a playground for wealthy, sexually adventurous young people didn't feel real to me. Theo's struggle with wealth seemed fake considering their family's support. The second-chance romance lacked depth and felt rushed. Despite its queer representation, the book lacked substance and authenticity in storytelling and character development.

I've been happily married for 20 years, and I'd leave my spouse in a hot minute for Kit Fairchild! Friends, Casey McQuiston has done it again!

This sexy romance follows Theo and Kit, childhood best friends- turned lovers- turned exes, who find themselves booked on the same European food and wine tour a few years after their dramatic breakup.

The first half of the book is told from Theo's POV. Theo is a boisterous, bisexual chaos demon who masks their feeling of inadequacies through humor. They are the "wine" in this pairing, studying to be a sommelier and knowing their way around mixed drinks. The "food" pairing here being Kit. He's a pastry chef in France, living what he thinks is his dream, but not being truly happy since their breakup. Kit is EVERYTHING: witty, sexy, cute, and hella romantic. When the book switches to his POV in the second half, his flowery, poetic way of describing his love for Theo hits all the feels. Of course, he could never tell Theo! So instead, they play this "who can hook with the most locals" game to try to rebuild their friendship. I loved the sex-positive representation in this book! Two passionate bisexuals having fun! Casual (safe) sex with no shame! But when the two do reconnect? Fireworks. Absolute fireworks.

If you enjoyed One Last Stop and Red, White, and Royal Blue, you won't regret reading The Pairing when it comes out in August!

AMAZING EVENT IDEA FOR MY STORE, please ask us about it!!

A love letter to food, wine, and sluts.

The Pairing is Casey McQuiston's best novel to date. It hits every single one of your senses, grabbing you by the throat (sensually) and forcing you to experience all the magic and wonder of a European vacation. The detailed narration of the European landscapes create a feast for your eyes, and the mouth-watering descriptions give you cravings for food you've never even heard of.

Paired with full-bodied prose and McQuiston's memorably imperfect characters, there's no choice but to fall in love with this book.

Y’all. The bar is high, but this is everything you could ever want in a McQuiston rom com. I think it may be my favorite, & trust me I’ve read them all! It’s fizzy, it’s emotional, it’s full of witty banter & descriptions of hot people trying not to stare at each other burningly over tiny desserts in Europe. Come for the exquisite yearning, stay for the SNACK MENU. Good god this book made me so hungry! 10/10, McQ. No notes.

Big fan of this author, and while this one is great, "Red, White and Royal Blue" and "One Last Stop" are still my top two by this author. This book has messy relatable characters who had really good character development throughout the book. While I loved reading about both characters, I ultimately enjoyed Kit a bit more, mostly because of his baking skills!

The pacing was really good, and I really enjoyed that we got dual POVs for the entire book instead of just at the end as a bonus chapter. I really really felt for Kit throughout this book and definitely did not like Theo at points during this book. This time the side characters were just okay, and usually I love the side characters just as much as the main characters.

Since a lot of it takes place it Europe, this would be so much fun to read in Europe or on your way to Europe!

Thank you netgalley, the publisher and author for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A pastry chef and a sommelier- two chaotic bisexuals- get a second chance in this MNB romance in which they compete to see who can fuck the most people on the European vacation they accidentally re-met on.

This entire book is a revelation.

Listen. The best media is one in which everyone is flagrantly bisexual and this is the case here. Was one of my favorite scenes one in which the two of them compete to flirt with a French farmhand? It was. All the scenes of them competing is such a vibe, honestly.

This is a foodie love letter. I felt like I could taste the food and drink as Casey was writing about it. Frankly, within the first 100 pages I needed to go sate my appetites with a worthy meal. Casey, I was not equipped to need this much takeout/fine dining for this book. But I am not upset. GIVE ME MORE. I need more tasting notes, more descriptions of pâtisserie. My life was lacking this book and they provided.

I really enjoyed the coming out scene in this, and maybe I just don’t read enough trans characters (okay. I KNOW I don’t read enough trans characters) but I just think everyone should read this coming out scene.

This is what we call prose. On a particularly contemplative portion, my eyes were wet with tears. I fully cried when they confessed their love for each other. I ended this book wanting to go read poetry and leaving with the feeling of being in love with love. The whimsy this book creates is beautiful. I know this takes place in Europe but as I read I honestly felt like I could have that much wonder in my life if I simply took the time.

This is McQuiston at their best, and I’m shocked that I could ever love something more than RWRB but here we are.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
POV: Dual 1st

This was a cute book, a bit confusing though. I thought the main characters were male-male, it wasn't until about 30 pages in that I realized the couple is male-female.

I think I will look into the other books from this author, as the writing was enjoyable.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me an e-arc of this novel.

I have always been a massive Casey McQuiston fan, and I absolutely adored Red, White and Royal Blue and One Last Stop. Anything that she writes, I devour it. Although I jumped on this ARC (which I'm so grateful for!), I can easily say that this isn't my favorite book by McQuiston. I definitely still enjoyed it, but I struggled with the whole "let's see how many people we can bang even though we love each other still." It felt kind of icky to me and I'm not sure how they both just breeze past that in the end? Theo and Kit have been best friends since their childhood, growing up together and then became romantically involved. Through a massive misunderstanding and miscommunication, Kit and Theo break up, with Kit living in Paris and Theo living in California. Eventually, they both end up on a tour of Europe that they had originally planned with one another and despite their reluctance, they decide to still go on the tour, and as the tour progresses and they continue to go on adventures with one another and they realize they still love each other.

Aside from the constant hook-ups, I thoroughly enjoyed McQuiston's writing and the level of detail that she carried throughout the book, and you could tell that she put a lot of thought and work into this book and creating the scenes for her readers. Again, this one wasn't my favorite book by Casey McQuiston, but I still enjoyed and appreciate her work. Thank you SO much for the early copy!

I went into this book certain I was going to love it. This has been one of my most anticipated reads for 2024 since seeing it announced. When I got approved for an ARC on Net Galley I couldn’t have been more stoked.

Unfortunately, I hated nearly everything about this book. Were it not for the fact that I was reading this as an ARC, there are so many moments I would have DNF’ed. It’s a painful book that inspired such rage that the below like five page essay of ranting is somehow my abbreviated review:

Justice for Kit for accidentally falling in love with the world’s worst person at the age of 8 and not ever learning his lesson despite constant proof how utterly shit Theo is. Grow a spine, buddy, and run away from the terror that is Theo. I believe in you. At a certain point I was convinced he wants to be a tortured poet and a self harmed by convincing himself he loves Theo.

This book makes me feel like a character from the tv show The Good Place (spoiler alert for the show) where I went in thinking I was in the good place (a perfect book by McQuiston) but was secretly in the bad place in disguise the whole time (whatever this book was).

It’s an unbearable exploration of 2 people sexing it up across Europe as a replacement for therapy and a handful of honest conversations. Not to mention, the ending couldn’t feel less earned because they act like messy college freshmen the entire story and I’m supposed to believe they settle into a lovely HEA in the French countryside after? Mhm, okay. I give them 6 more months tops before spiraling into relationship-dooming chaos.

Theo’s self-obsessed, woe is me attitude combined with their utter unwillingness to question their continually wrong assumptions drove me bonkers throughout the first half. Their continual ability to manage to make the absolute worst choice possible in every given situation was frustrating, and their incredible main character energy was draining to suffer through. I would hate to interact with Theo IRL.

Though I found Theo insufferable before the plot even began (and even more once it did), at least I clung onto the fact that Kit messed up enough to cause the breakup ONLY to find out that Theo yet again was such a useless person that they were actually the cause of the breakup. When I found out they had booked a flight back to America for both MCs, sent what they thought was Kit’s ticket but was actually their own, then fucking blocked Kit when he didn’t show up without ever fact checking or having a single conversation with him, I was about to throw my kindle out the window. I had finally started to turn the corner on the book a few pages before because I was enjoying the periphery so much, but nope. Not after that. I refuse.

Kit deserves better. Theo is a useless trash person who deserves way more pain and suffering than they experienced over the four years apart. When Theo asked Kit “does that sound like something I would do?” (About breaking up with just a photo of a plane ticket) and Kit replied “honestly, yes.” I cheered. Like fuck yeah, call Theo out! But like call them out and never forgive them. I don’t begin to understand what evil Kit did in past lives to deserve to be in love with Theo. Late in the story Theo has this whole breakdown about how they are such a fuckup and instead of being moving and powerful I was just cheering going “yes you are!! Now get over yourself and also maybe get out of Kit’s life”. Theo consistently stands in their own way, whines about it, and then despises anyone who tries to help. So fuck off. It’s really hard to be sympathetic to them (especially when taking into account the whole Nepo baby element that I am not even touching in this review).

Despite my hatred of what we learn in the breakup conversation, at least I thought we were finally getting somewhere in the relationship and yet 3% later Theo was already avoiding conversations and self growth by trying to find someone else to fuck. I hate it here. All facets of Theo’s character taken into account, I can’t fathom what remotely Kit sees in Theo to make him love them.

Kit’s character fell flat at times with his breezy yet quirky perfection. His was a little too “manic pixie dream Mary sue”, a cardboard cutout instead of a dimensional and engaging character. But by comparison to Theo, I couldn’t complain.

Beyond Theo’s utter garbage personality/decision making/behavior, I didn’t even enjoy the plot of the story. Dear god. This book gave me so much second-hand anxiety, I couldn’t stop putting the book down to take a lap. It’s a car crash I could only watch through the cracks of my fingers.

The sex bet of the premise that had sounded fun as a blurb came across as the worst kind of disgusting objectification and made me pity all the innocent bystanders impacted by Kit-and-Theo’s sex by proxy. I felt uncomfortable and anxious the entire time, and I honestly wish Theo had made good on their threat at the start of the book to jump into the Seine.

Often McQuiston’s writing felt tailor made for me, which sort of made everything so much worse because it spotlighted every issue I had with the plot. In the scene setting descriptions and little moments where we just lived with the characters, I found myself loving the writing so much it reminded me why I was originally so amped to read this. Then we’d return this bacchanalia “everyone is hot and wants to have sex with everyone else” plot and I’d be reminded how much I don’t care for Theo and especially how little I care for Theo and Kit to get back together.

(Side note - I don’t understand why everyone in the world is so DTF literally everyone else. And how the MCs are so sexually appealing that literally everyone in the world wants to fuck them.)

Every time I felt like the book finally was about to progress, Theo managed to do something to make me despise the plot even more. This was rough in the first half, but even more heartbreaking when it happens in Kit’s POV. I wish this book was all Kit POV, with the same premise but about him finding someone who deserves him. Someone new or maybe Maxine - she seemed wonderful. Hell, I’d even read a book solely from Theo’s POV watching Kit fall in love with someone else. I’d enjoy their pain and suffering at least.

Even beyond the absolute mess of a plot, I don’t entirely believe them as a couple. I don’t understand why they should end up together. This book relies too much on “just trust me bro” that the friends to lovers made sense in the past, and therefore I should want a second chance romance to succeed. But this book neither builds the rekindled romance nor fully shows the journey of friends to lovers of the past beyond “we were both in love with each other and didn’t want to admit it but then one night got tipsy and kissed, then we were in a perfect relationship”. Unless they’ve regressed significantly over the course of their breakup, there’s no way their previous relationship could’ve been healthy. It obviously sustained itself on sex and codependence.

To make matters worse, it’s like McQuiston heard the cries for more smut and completely missed the point. So thanks, but hard no thanks. I’m not here to read about their constant horny and kind of demeaning never-ending sex adventures with others unless it actually felt like there was a point. I’ve read some far wilder smut, but the moment it struck me the MCs first time back together was going to be in a threesome with what was supposed to be a suave, worldly rich man (but who actually came across as a creep), I was tense AF over the development especially since the story up to that point didn’t exactly build my trust that it would be handled well. Despite not actually having the aforementioned threesome, somehow it was worse than my fears. (Tbf I think it might’ve been actually better if they had the threesome, since sex seems like the only way Theo knows how to communicate). Instead we had to suffer through the fucking peach moment!!! And our reward for suffering through that scene was Kit taking the relationship 2 steps forward, one step back then Theo slamming their progress into yet another brick wall.

(Brb throwing up over the phrase “Kit laps at the peach’s livid center.” This book might have managed to put me off smut (and peaches) for a long while. Impressive since I really thought I was immune after the number of the insane things I’ve seen authors throw in smut.)

To be positive about one element of the story beyond McQuiston’s engaging writing, was my love and appreciation for how every once in a while we would dip into explorations of gender that felt poignant and meaningful. Kit recognizing so much of Theo’s identity before being told was a beautiful moment showing how much he truly SAW Theo.

A second positive is that I really loved Palermo Day One (though not Day Two). Too little, too late for the relationship to feel earned, but there was so much heart and romance tinged with almost bittersweet vulnerability that is McQuiston’s writing at its finest, underscored by smutty smut I didn’t expect from them (though with a jump scare reminder of the peach scene tossed it). If this chapter was the thesis for the book, this could’ve been a solid 4 star read for me. But its beauty instead underscored just how much the rest of the book WASN’T this.

TL;DR - 1.5 stars rounded down because this felt like an exercise in masochism to finish, but dear god do I still love Casey McQuiston’s authorial voice.

I’ve always considered myself a big CMQ fan and have a huge bar for their work and damn did this completely demolish any expectations I had. This is not just the best of their work, but one of the best books in this genre I have ever read (and I’ve read many). The Pairing is remarkably nuanced, told through the lens of two deeply developed characters. The entire world comes to life through McQuiston’s vivid sensory depictions and characterizations. It made me feel all the things from grief to joy to love to hunger to wanderlust. Five stars, ten out of ten call it what you want this book is absolutely fantastic.

I thought Theo was incredibly well developed, not just falling on the trope of thinking about everything as food but also by viewing the world through cinema. While erudite, neither character was insufferable. Each POV was unique in its style and clearly distinguishable and the switch was a delightful twist that helped keep things interesting. Even background characters were well defined and given vivid descriptions. These characters aren’t perfect but that just made me love them that much more.