If you’re looking for a new RWRB, this is not the book. But that’s not a bad thing, because even if it’s completely different, this book is SOOOO good. It’s a lot of fun and sexy and casey have the ability to make you feel like you’re the one traveling europe in this tour. The construction of the characters is next level, is impossible not to fall in love with them (Kit could be the love of my love I’m pretty sure).
Casey have done it again. Definitely a must read.

In The Pairing, McQuiston's wit and flair for contemporary dialogue shine, delivering moments of humor and emotions . As well as, the chemistry between the protagonists is apparent!

However, the pacing feels inconsistent, with some plot points overly drawn out while others are rushed. While the book keeps McQuiston’s charm, it lacks the pull of their earlier works like Red, White & Royal Blue.

**2.25 stars**

So totally not for me.

(P.S.: I’ve never been to Europe but I am pretty damn sure that 99% of the population there is not dtf everyone they see and mega rich)

That was fun! I don't read a lot of romance, but the idea of a hookup off set in Italy appealed to me. The writing is frothy and fun- McQuistion will continue to be an author I keep my eye on!

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Getting to know yourself romances hit such nostalgic feelings and this one doesn’t disappoint.

I do feel that a reread would need to involve a lot of cheese.

Rating: 4.25; Enough travel, delicious food, and creative drinks to make anyone envious; The Pairing has got it all when it comes to a sunshine European romcom.

This book was SO FUN. Casey McQuiston wrote cities and towns bright and full of charming characters; it was almost enough to convince me to put the book down and buy a plane ticket right then and there. You can see the intensive research in the way that the cities felt tangible and very distinct.

The food and drink descriptions were plentiful, but that is where the book lost my interest. There were SO MANY descriptions. And, duh, this book is literally called The Pairing. I hate when food and drink take a spotlight in a book, so the fact that I consider this to still be fantastic speaks volumes about how great everything else was. If you like food and drink descriptions, you'll LOVE this.

The romance was very fun and, as usual, McQuiston totally delivered in the comedy aspect too. It was on the steamy side, pretty typical of a CMQ book. If you're looking for a true summer romcom, look no further. This is it.

I loved this! I haven’t been a huge fan of their previous books but this one really worked for me. I loved the queerness of both the characters, and it just felt like something different to what I have read before. I would highly recommend!

I am a fan of Casey McQuiston so I was excited to be able to read and review her new book.

That being said, this was not my vibe. I enjoyed the travel aspect and the way these two people find their way back to each other. I found both our leads to be interesting flawed and earnest characters who made me want to root for them. McQuiston found a way to bring them together in the little unforgettable moments of travel. It made the story more special.

My favorite was them diving into their breakup while riding in a car to Rome; while the driver, who does not speak much English, points out cows. Perfection.

I was just not a fan of the way the intimacy was written. I read a healthy amount of spicy books and I have found that I am particular about how I want them written. No I will not go into detail because there is nothing wrong with the scenes they just crossed a few of my personal ick lines. There is also a lot of intimacy scenes, which might be a pro for some potential readers.

That should not stop someone from reading this book. It was fun, it was adventurous, and it will make you pine for the perfect wine. the perfect pastry, and the perfect person. If I could rate it on story alone it would be a 4.25. But alas I need to rate the whole book so. 3.0 it is.

I really enjoyed reading this book! Kit and Theo have a once in a lifetime kind of love...until they get into a brutal fight on a flight to their month-long European vacation. Kit abandons Theo at the airport and Theo flies home alone. 47 months later, they both unknowingly cash in their non-refundable voucher and end up on the same month-long food and wine tour. Kit & Theo spend the trip trying to prove to one another (and themselves) that they are over what happened four years ago....but are they?

As a fan of Casey McQuiston's work, I was so happy when I was accepted to receive an e-ARC of The Pairing. I was excited for what I expected to be another witty, fun romance, but unfortunately, The Pairing fell short of those expectations. It left me feeling disconnected from both characters and, overall, uninterested.

The premise and plot of the novel were what originally drew me in—a second-chance romance on a European food & wine tour. That sounded fun! Exciting! However, I found the execution of the romance lacked the heart I’ve enjoyed in McQuiston’s other work. The emotional relationship between the two characters took a back seat to the physical, and I struggled to invest in either character.

I really loved the food tour element and the idea of traveling around Europe. The descriptions of the scenery, food, and pairings were great. Unfortunately, here’s another "however" from me: sometimes it was just too much. For example, the detailed explanation of what "tannins" are is not something I want in a romance novel. A lot of the explanations felt like overkill.

I believe one reason the chapters were extremely (almost unbearably) long was due to the over-explaining. The character development and plot progression simply didn’t happen on every page—or even on every other page. For a romance reader who is focused on the romance and relationship, much of this novel is easily skimmable.

Something I both love and hate about this novel is the 'Free Love' theme everywhere. Everyone was so willing to have sex with everyone at all times. It felt extremely unrealistic, but also sparked some great, thought-provoking conversations during book club about orientation and sexuality.

Go into this knowing you’re getting something unique—not just in McQuiston’s writing, but in subject matter as well. I can understand the high ratings, but I did find it extremely boring due to the disconnect I felt with the characters.

2.5 stars.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. All opinions are my own.

Casey McQuiston is a favorite, go-to author for me and The Pairing was a no brainer to read. Queer love is a big theme in The Pairing and the characters were quite interesting in this novel. It is set up differently than many novels where one character narrated the first part of the book and another the seconda part. This left it feeling a bit one sided in parts. However the love story itself was exciting, dramatic and creatively written.

Kit and Theo are childhood soulmates and sweethearts. They have fallen in love and have a beautiful vacation planned. Then they break up. Unknowingly they both embark on the food and wine filled trip individually and of course are pushed together, at least specially. The fun and chaos that ensues is wild, a little crazy and a whole lot of fun!

While not a typical McQuiston style in regard to writing, it is still a wonderful read! Characters are fun and if you like queer romance this one is for you!

I love Casey McQuinston but sadly this one just didn’t work for me. It seemed like I would love it because I love books about travel and food, but just didn’t quite connect with the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Queer romance that is more of a cookbook than a love story. Thinks it’s sex-positive, but is lowkey just some emotionally stunted abusers headed for bankruptcy and a breakup within a year of their happily ever after.

Pre-reading:
Not exactly a November book, but I’m trying to read down my arcs.

(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
Dunno how Kit became a hot boy name, but goddamn, is it.

This is me nitpicking smut again, but I don’t think the phrase face buried between legs works for male characters, and you can Samantha, what about eating ass me all you like. I’d say that’s between cheeks then, not legs, and as for the other bit, there's a pointy, pokey problem in the way, now isn't there? (Everyone who read the blurb can just laugh.)

I’m reading this at work, and I didn’t bring headphones like a dumbass, and my boss walks in right as it says there’s a dildo on the luggage carousel, so that’s how my day is going.

Why would you reclaim it? Literally just let it be. That’s not yours anymore. That’s the airport’s now.

Also, don’t Samantha, you're being homophobic me, but this reads like a female main character. This does not read like a man. (Let her cook.)

I don’t like this, I fear.

This reads like bad fanfiction.

me: man, she really reads like a girl
the book: it’s because she is a girl, you absolute fucking dumbass. (For now.)

The perineum from memory just made me ew out loud.

His nose just does that? Like Coke. Like he’s a Coke addict? (Book says no, Sam says yes.)

Take a shot every time this book says Steve Irwin.

I’m already like they should not get back together. If you’re gonna watch a TV show with someone else and cheat on them with it? Absolutely not. Dead to me.

I do not think this book will be able to convince me that they should get back together. (It couldn't!)

Not a good point at all. You can contact the sister and have her reach out if you genuinely wanted to. Also, you had every opportunity to communicate before she blocked your number, fuck off.

As someone who can’t smell at all, this is wild.

I'm Dakota.

I know this book pitches itself as a food romcom, but there’s nothing I hate more than the unnecessary food descriptions in romcoms. I’m like either write a cookbook or write me a romance. I also hate celebrity romcoms and this is just close enough. I also hate second-chance romances because I never believe that they should get back together. Like this book really isn’t set up for me to like it. (And I won’t!)

I don’t understand any of these references.

He stiffed you on rent, babes. You hold onto that anger.

This book is taking disaster bisexuals to the extreme.

It’s a lot like that You, Again romcom.

This book is mistaking crassness for humor.

Maybe she can get over getting stiffed for rent, but my Capricorn could never.

Oh no, people are not objects for you to fuck. This is gross and weird and toxic and deeply harmful. This is predatory and abusive.

This feels like sharing people's nudes without their consent after you coerce them into giving you them. No likey.

But like he's still on the lease? He still knew rent was due. He can still Venmo you for rent even if you've blocked his phone number. I'm so hung up on this.

Asking someone else’s sister to pay your rent for you is not a solution. I don’t care if she’s a multimillionaire and she’s your friend. She does not have to do that. You should pay your own way.

Also, I don’t like them together. I don’t think they should go back together.

Oh hello, are we finally getting good banter?

Take a shot every time this book mentions a food being dick shaped.

This book is making me so hungry.

I love a one-bed trope.

Not a pony, but you can still ride me, eh? I'll go.

They're really lucky none of these people are murderers or have STDs and somehow they're all gorgeous and gay and nice.

This is NOT healthy, but the toxic pervert in me SAT up.

In a Marlon Brando way like that’s not one of the hottest men to ever live, fuck off.

Also, what do you mean he’s blonde then?? Honey.

My eyebrows shot sky high. Mainstream publishing you dirty, dirty girl. (Such a tease!)

Call me by their name lmao.

What is happening? What am I reading? Dear lord 😂

You know, she might be winning me over. But also, I don’t think either of these two children is healthy and should be together, but they should definitely smash.

Switching perspectives is so rude actually.

Also, whenever they say Theodora, I only think of that lady from Haunting of Hill House because she was so pretty, but like that is a very different vibe from this book.

What the fuck is it with romcom men and surprising their partners with unwanted real estate? Stop doing this!

I don’t know what the romcom trend is with the submissive men, but they’re not for me, and I know this dynamic is different and it’s also not for me, but like no part of me wants this love interest.

Gimmie the boat guy. I'll take the boat guy.

I don’t have time for a man to be this chronically stupid this often in this book.

Uh, I'll stop you right there, bud. No one ever deserves to be bullied. Take your degradation kink back to therapy where it belongs.

I mostly think this book is horny, gay trash, but that was a bar.

It’s like being a stupid anime boy. What do you mean?

Audiobook narrator man is doing the most with the pleading.

This book is much longer than it needs to be.

I’m sorry, no matter how many pretty descriptions they write, they will not be able to convince me that someone being able to taste wine is a useful job or sexy.

You know what? I don’t like that this book goes on and on about people’s taught bodies and then features them going on this food tour and being such foodies and never having to work out but eating stuff in inches of butter. It might be the eating disorder talking, but that doesn’t sit right with me. (Or like it’s just skinny privilege because no one has any problem with skinny people gorging themselves and being gluttonous but heaven forbid someone even mildly overweight did this.)

It’s the way my dumbass thought he was talking about pointer dogs.

I don’t like this book.

I find it very hypocritical that it thinks it’s being sex-positive and giving its characters room to grow, but this is not that. There’s some weird unhealthy Dom sub shit going on here.

You’re just gonna sleep in your lube and splooge? Ew

If this book just ends with them being diagnosed with ADHD and like somehow that solves all their problems, I’m gonna be pissed. (We’re safe, but also their detrimental chaos never gets fixed.)

I feel like romances require some self-insertion or at least desire for the characters, and I’m like I don’t want either of these people. I don’t want them together. Like there’s nothing here for me.

I'm bored.

Shoutout to this book’s happy ending only working because they have family money.

Post-reading:
If I had stopped to read the blurb, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up. Instead, this got sold to me as the horny romance of the summer. And while it’s definitely a summer book, the horny did not work for me.

This book had so many tropes that I hate. I‘m a hard sell on second-chance romances at the best of times. This was not the best of times. I don’t like the miscommunication trope. I hate when it breaks characters up because if they weren’t able to communicate the first time around and they don’t work through those communication issues, then they’re definitely not gonna last. Also, despite very much being a foodie, I hate when romcoms read like a cookbook. It never feels cozy to me. It always just feels out of place. I don’t love celebrity romances because I find them hard to relate to or so over-the-top that they’re unbelievable.

So given that this is a second chance romance about two famous adjacent people going on a food and wine tour… hell was gonna have to freeze over for me to like this. Stranger things have happened, but Satan‘s asshole is still toasty.

I didn’t like the characters. I found them incredibly immature and did not think they were ever ready to be in a serious relationship. Their issues never really get worked out. It’s just kind of an I assumed you would let me use my family money to buy you an easy life, and that was wrong of me, so now that we’ve reiterated that we love each other exactly how we are, let me use my family money to buy you an easy life. But like the one character definitely seems to have undiagnosed ADHD that’s detrimentally impacting them and that never gets addressed. Also, it’s 1000% the Capricorn in me, but there was no way I was ever going to get over the fact that this man skipped out on rent.

Objectively it was written well enough, but it’s pretty shit on the personal enjoyment front. There were a lot of pop culture references in this book that went completely over my head, but I have to pretty much be the target age demographic for this book. People much older than me are not going to want to read about disaster bisexuals in their mid-20s.

It had some pacing issues. All the food descriptions got repetitive very quickly. It’s way, way too long for the cheeky little story that it is. There's some Wattpad, fanfictiony vibes to the writing style. It mistakes crassness for humor a lot, and that’s coming from me who sprinkles fucks into her sentences like they’re table salt.

The side characters are one-note and overused stereotypes. Reading this feels a lot like watching an episode of Emily in Paris.

It also bothers me that this book clearly thinks of itself as sex-positive. You can have sexually liberated characters without having them view other people as objects to fuck. I don’t think you can ethically have a body count competition. It was playing a little fast and loose with consent. The characters were not upfront with their partners that there was a bet going on and definitely didn’t get their permission to kiss and tell. That soured me on this book a lot.

This book requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, and I know that’s kind of a staple to have a happy romance, but it was a little too convenient for me that everyone they ran into was nice and gorgeous and gay. Like the odds of them sleeping around Europe and not running into a predator or a homophobe or an STD? Be so for real.

So it’s not romantic, it’s not horny, and it’s not cozy. It’s just kind of there. It’s not bad enough to go on my do not read list, but I don’t believe for a second that this couple is going to make it long-term.

Who should read this:
No thoughts just vibes readers
Abby Jimenez girlies
Foodie romance fans
Nonbinary rep fans
Disaster bisexuals fans

Ideal reading time:
Summer

Do I want to reread this:
Nope.

Would I buy this:
Nope.

Similar books:
* People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry-friends to lovers, second chance travel romance
* You, Again by Kate Goldbeck-disaster bisexuals, romance movie retelling, this couple is definitely breaking up later
* Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez-toxic positivity rom-com, family drama
* Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly-lit fic querr romance, character studies, family drama
* The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary-holiday rom-com, miscommunication trope
* Happy Place by Emily Henry-second chance fake dating romance
* Off the Map by Trish Doller-travel romance
* For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa-cooking fake dating romance
* Float Plan by Trish Doller-bittersweet travel romance
* Seven Days in June by Tia Williams-second chance romance
* The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas-workplace rom-com, fake dating, travel
* The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch-queer holiday romance
* The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton-like it's not but if you want a rom-com romp about two people traveling around not!Europe, cozy fantasy, camp as hell
* Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree-like it's not but it is a queer cooking romance, cozy fantasy

When you choose a wine to match a meal, you’re not declaring all other wines invalid. Pairings are binary but also boundless: More than two possibilities exist, but selecting only two highlights something about each. This truth is hornily illustrated in Casey McQuiston’s very adult, very queer romance, THE PAIRING (St. Martin’s Griffin, 411 pp., paperback, $20).

Theo and Kit are childhood soul mates who fall in love, move in together, and break up just before a three-week European food and wine tour. Now the nonrefundable tour tickets are about to expire, and Theo (they/them) has decided to embark on the trip solo. Unfortunately, Kit has the same idea.

With their hearts still shattered, they immediately launch a hookup competition, flirting (and more) with various guides, sommeliers and attractive locals in a nonstop bisexual smorgasboard.

Theo narrates the book’s first half, so we see all their flaws magnified while admiring Kit’s charisma. Then we switch to Kit, and suddenly it’s Theo who’s bold and fascinating. Soon our duo is back to their old game batting improvised cocktail and dessert recipes back and forth, bonding over imaginary dishes as they eat and drink and et cetera in every city of the journey — until they finally end up where they truly want to be.

The Pairing was definitely a bit different from Casey's other books but no less delightful to read. It was an excellent upbeat and fun summer read. I'm almost never a fan of miscommunication but this is one of the few times I think it really worked in the favour of the characters. Younger kit and Theo were definitely "right person wrong time" and their time apart worked in their favour and led them back together at the right time. Their time apart really helped them grow as individuals and truly figure out who they are and getting to read them meet the new version of one another was beautiful. I also liked that the story had a bit of a casual feel in a way. I would've liked to see a bit more significant conversations between them but the more casual feel did I think make it easier for Kit and Theo to get to know each other again.
It was kind of nice reading something a but different from Casey's other books while still feeling like it was obviously written by them. I'm excited to see what Casey has in-store for their next book!

The Pairing is exactly what I want in a romance novel. It's funny, it's sexy, and it's exciting. The sweetness made me fly through the book and I enjoyed the trip. I can't wait to have everyone I know read this.

I enjoyed this book. It was fun. This book mostly made me hungry and want to go to Europe. This is a second chance romance for Kit and Theo who reconnect on a European tour they were supposed to go on before their breakup.

I loved Kit’s POV but didn’t really enjoy Theo’s. This book was also much longer than it probably needed to be. The side characters were more compelling at times.

*Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Netgalley, and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Even though this book was good, it wasn't quite up to Casey McQuiston's usual standard for me. The characters rang a bit flat, and I found myself more interested in the food than the story. Still a fun trip around Europe! Just not on par with One Last Stop, which is my favorite of their books

McQuiston writes some of my favorite romcoms - they're hilarious and endearing (and sometimes spicy). I enjoyed Theo and Kit's adventures across Europe, even though they left me craving pastries and wishing for a cocktail or a glass of wine. The first half of the book is first-person from Theo's perspective and I love that we get to know Theo so well but never find out what Theo's pronouns are. We get to know who Theo is and when we find out Theo's pronouns halfway through, it truly adds to our understanding of who Theo is instead of being a core descriptor that sets the tone for everything else. The second half of the book is from Kit's perspective and I enjoyed that part but not as much as Theo's, I think. The characters are nuanced and getting to know them was almost as fun as their second chance love story. I could have done without the miscommunication elements and the contest, but that's generally a me problem and not something I'd consider a negative about the book. This one had me laughing out loud as I listen to Theo and Kit's adventures, and I was sad to say goodbye to them.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Casey never misses! Another incredible book. I read this right before I went on a trip to Europe and it inspired me so much. The characters were so fun and I love a good second -hance-friends-to-lovers romance