Member Reviews
This book made me crave two things: the ability to travel on a tour like the one McQuiston wrote, and to find a relationship, romantic or not, like the one between Theo and Kit. Their friendship alone is one that most people don’t get to witness in their lifetime. They loved each other from the beginning, and those feelings were almost palpable throughout the entire novel. McQuiston not only writes an amazing romance novel full of heart, but the descriptions that were put into the food, wine, landscapes, historical sites. It made me hungry for everything.. I absolutely adored this book.
I've had the pleasure of receiving ARCs of Casey McQuiston's previous two books and have been a fan since RWRB. Between RWRB and OLS to IKSW to The Pairing, CMQ has shown their ability to write for different audiences, and do so very well. The Pairing is a culmination of all their hard work and highlights the growth in their writing craft. With every novel, they outdo themselves, and it shows in The Pairing. It's funnier, sluttier, and better than their previous 3 novels, which I didn't think was possible. It's like if the movie My Life in Ruins was made by queer folks. I loved the complexities of Kit and Theo's relationship and all of the secondary characters we meet along the way. I can't wait for everyone else to squeal over this book.
Be sure to have good wine and a fruit and cheeseboard close by!
This story follows ex-partners Kit and Theo as they unexpectedly find they have separately booked the same food and wine tour. We follow the pair around to several stops throughout France, Spain, and Italy as they eat fine food paired with wines from each region. As they both struggle with coming to terms with how they feel about themselves and well as the other, they place a little bet on who can make the most ‘connections’ throughout the trip. The two find their way back to being friends but eventually are faced with the realization that they will have to address their sudden break up and the ways they have changed during their time apart. Will they be able to maintain their friendship outside of the dream European tour? Is it possible they still have more than friendship between them?
Casey McQuiston pours an incredible amount of knowledge and description into the food and wines throughout the book. I was transported to each stop along the tour through the exceptionally vivid words they use. It was truly an experience within the pages of this book. Along with the beautifully crafted settings and tastings, McQuiston tackles the subject of gender and sexuality in a wonderfully creative way. They use the dual POV aspect of this book to really help the reader understand each of the characters’ own understanding of their gender and sexuality. This book will leave you hungry, horny, and hurriedly booking a European food and wine tour.
Very grateful arc reader, absolutely adore this book, but will refrain from posting review until St. Martin's Press boycott ends!
In Casey McQuiston's third adult novel, The Pairing, you meet Theo and Kit, two exes bound by childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood memories, who happen to be on the same European food & wine trip they were supposed to take together all those years ago. However, a bet is created to see who can sleep with the most people to prove to each other that they're over the other. Nothing like a little competition, right?
Like any meal, McQuiston quickly delves into the meat of the problem and wastes no time to get to know Theo and Kit. Through clear points of view of both protagonists, you learn the ins and outs of each of them through their thoughts, but also through the lens of the other person. What makes this book so special, is that you are truly rooting for the two of them, whether as individuals or a unit. It's like seeing two of your best friends find their way to themselves or each other.
In terms of sexuality and gender identity, McQuiston hit the nail on the head with Theo's inner conflict of their gender identity and what it means to be themselves living in the body they were born with, and how that could affect their dynamic with Kit. However, their bisexuality wasn't a big deal in this book, it just happened to be something these characters were and that's all, which was a breath of fresh air for a queer romance.
McQuiston also did not skim on the European details. Everything mentioned was extremely easy to Google to get the extra visual I needed sometimes. I also do not recommend reading this book on an empty stomach. The food and drinks described were top-tier, especially when described through Theo and Kit's professional foodie eyes, mouths, and noses. Also, they did not shy away from the explicit scenes and easily became some of my favorites compared to their other adult novels.
Overall, this book had me frozen in place, gasping at reveals, and crying and screaming at the ups and downs. I hope everyone who is on the fence about this book, picks it up in August when it is released. This will become your new favorite summer read, and make you want to book a European food & wine tour for the following year..
This is going to be a very "you loved it or you hated it" kinda thing based on the reviews so far, but looks like I'm in Camp Whomp-Whomp.
The story centered around a bisexual ex-couple (Kit: he/him & Theo: They/them (sometimes she/her to outsiders they don't care to educate) who havent seen or spoken to each other in 4 years. They find themselves on the same food and wine tour and come up with a (completely stupid) competition about who could sleep with the most people while they're there. It sounds immature, but these characters are emotionally stunted late 20 year olds who have yet to learn how to communicate with each other despite knowing one another since childhood.
There is a LOT of travel talk and a LOT of foreign food and wine talk. You can tell the author did a ton of research in that area but wowee was i bored by it all.
There was of course also a lot of (cringey imo) sex happening. Like, most of the time, a book can be given an extra star alone for having some hot sex scenes but these called for a retraction of one. And this is coming from someone who has a wide range of taste for some incredibly spicy books. I didn't particularly like either of these main characters, I never rooted for them to figure it out and get back together, and there were zero side characters that made me feel, well... anything. There also wasn't much of a plot. It was just the same thing over and over again.
So here we go with my Casey McQuiston ratings:
RWRB - 5 stars (obviously)
Last Stop - 3.5 stars
I Kissed Shara Wheeler - 2 stars
The Pairing - 2 stars
This was one of my most anticipated reads and I was absolutely giddy to be able to read an advanced copy thanks to Saint Martin's Press (who have published many of my all time favorite reads) and NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback and review. Unfortunately, I just can't recommend this one to anyone I know.
Signing off from Camp Whomp-Whomp.
Slutty, bisexual disasters living your foodie dreams in Europe. I LOVED this book and everything about it was a love letter to food and the queer community and just being a slut if you want. I laughed, I cried, and I fell in love with every character in this book. I am also obsessed with how the book is divided by location and the food and drink pairings to go with each (even if I was too busy reading to try any of the pairings, I’m excited to read it again after it’s out and to try some).
I finished this book hours ago and I can't stop thinking about it. I also can't seem to adequately describe all the thoughts and feelings I had while I was reading. I've loved CMQ's other books and have been waiting impatiently for this one since the first hints and it did not disappoint. But it's difficult to sum up what I liked about this book without risking spoilers, so here's a list of words that describe the story, the characters, and my feelings when I was reading it. (in absolutely no particular order and without context.)
Love
Friendship
Funny
Sweet
Sad
Idiots
Chemistry
Decadent
Hungry (in every sense)
Emotional
Charismatic
Competition
Temptation
Dimensional
Characters
Heartbreaking
Hopeful
Tropey (but in a good way!)
Introspective
Carnal
Immersive
Slutty
Wanderlust
So Much Food
Family Stuff
Intelligent
Angsty
Lovable
Not likeable
Self-Discovery
Unlearning
This book was a love letter directly to Europe and the food, love, and drinks found there. The story of two bisexual exes meeting up on a tour they booked prior to breaking up was too good to not want to read!
Things I enjoyed about this book:
How the story was told in dual first person, with half the book being Theo and the other half being Kit. I audibly groaned when the POV switched.
I will say - I liked reading Kit’s POV more than Theo’s.
Loved the discussion of food and drink, it was clearly something that tied our two leads together
I loved Theo’s journey to self discovery.
I highlighted a LOT of passages in this that made my heart pound.
The frank discussions of sex and the casualness of it was jarring at first but then I realized how fresh it felt to read!
Kit’s endearing love, and how he realized he was pouring his love for Theo into everyone else.
The kisses!!! They were hot and sweet - especially those first ones.
The sweet and lovely ending.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book is everything I wanted it to be and more. I've been a big fan of McQuiston's works since 2020 and this is my favourite one of their books yet. I found myself laughing and crying along with Kit and Theo. This book is so much more than "just" a romcom.
Casey McQuiston truly takes readers on a European journey in this book! The amount of detail describing the landscape, the locals, and of course the food & drink made it an immersive experience that had me wishing for travel plans.
Personally, the amount of explicit scenes and level of graphic details was a little beyond my comfort level- but they were so well done and added emotional layers to Theo and Kit’s story. I’m glad I didn’t realize how many explicit scenes there were because I would probably have skipped this read which was incredibly lovely!
I was so excited to get a ARC for this book and I am so glad!
It is a deliciously stunning book filled with beautiful imagery of Europe. The story is about Theo, a sommelier, and Kit, a pastry chef. Theo and Kit met during their youth when Kit moved from Paris to California and slowly fell in love as they aged, only to break up while on their way to a vacation they planned together. The story truly begins when Theo decides to finally go on that vacation but by themself four years after their break up which coincidentally is also Kit’s plan.
I think this story at core gives very pretentious western european in the best way possible. The prose is gorgeous with the scenic backdrop of Europe and food but I will say unless you are super into food you won’t understand most of what Theo/Kit are speaking of without having to look it up, they are THOSE pretentious foodies.
I am a character reader at heart which perhaps is the saving grace for this book. I will read anything if there is a character I can root for. In this book I fell in love with Kit, Sloane (Theo’s sister), and Fabrizio, their eccentric tour guide. Kit is so annoyingly good hearted, he loves so deeply and he takes the world on his shoulders for Theo. He is absolutely a babygirl that I want to cuddle and protect. Sloane is the voice of reason that keeps her siblings in line and is probably most representative of me in the text, I can relate to her so much as a eldest child even though she is not the eldest in her family. Finally, Fabrizio is perhaps a bit stereotypical frenchmen in his mannerisms but he is a sweetheart and the comedic heart in the series, I adore every moment that he shows up.
The problem arises with Theo. The first half of the book is in Theo’s perspective, and initially their extreme insecurity is so relatable and lovable but that quickly changes as the story progresses. You soon realize Theo is overly self sabotaging for absolutely no reason, they have this nepotism baby complex that made my eyes want to roll out of my head. Somehow by the end of Theo’s perspective, I was actively disliking them. Theo was a contradiction of themself at every corner of the plot. That dislike only worsened when l got to Kit’s pov and realized what a sweetheart he is.
½ way into the book, the plot kind of reaches a stalemate. We know all the troubles Theo has, and Europe is still beautiful but the story is just repeating the same thing over and over with slight side character variations. The whole casual sex trope also doesn’t really work here because of the execution. I love a slut era but here, it’s a lot of borderline unhealthy sex for the sake of petty issues. It is not a ‘let’s sleep around because it is fun’, it is a 'let's sleep around because I want to show off to my ex while I’m suppressing my emotions’ situation. It left me feeling icky.
Overall, I did enjoy the book a lot, it's very picturesque, almost like an arthouse movie but in text. Even the romantic plot, I enjoyed to a degree. Theo and Kit just didn’t click for me. I am a sucker for happy endings and here we have it but I wish it had been a bittersweet ending. My heart was left aching and yearning for something more (and better) for Kit who is the only reason I am going so high with the rating.
This book has some of the most lovable characters I've encountered in fiction. I want to be Theo AND Kit when I grow up. This has all the usual things I expect about a McQuiston book: Queer joy, hilarious dialogue, and some beautiful and tender love scenes. What I wasn't expecting, despite ample heads-up on the topic, was how DECADENT this book is. It is meant to be tasted, savoured, and experienced, and so I got in the spirit of the thing and did just that. Rather than inhale this book in one sitting (as is my usual MO when new CMQ art is on the table), I read, enjoyed, and put it down to pick it back up later with intentionality and anticipation both. This love story is going to stay with me.
I honestly had high hopes for this book, and I was not disappointed. Such a decadent summer romance novel with some of my favorite tropes revisioned in a way that was both refreshing and fun to read. Theo and Kit were so detailed and nuanced that they they felt alive. It's difficult to find novels that explore gender and queerness. But this book did an excellent job addressing and challenging society’s ideas about gender and gender essentialism.
As The Pairing continued to dive deeper into innermost workings of Theo and Kit and their deeply complex and realistic relationship they have with one another and themselves, I found myself finding bits and pieces of myself within each of them and ultimately falling more in love with them.
McQuiston's storytelling in this book is so vivid. It honestly felt as if I was traveling Europe alongside the group. It is clear so much love and passion was put into the research of this book. Thank you so much St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC. I can't wait to reread it in the summer.
After searching like crazy for an ARC of this book, one finally became available on NetGalley and I cannot believe I got the chance to read this.
Casey, you absolute genius.
I will be sitting with this story for a very long time and probably won’t be able to read anything else.
I was fully immersed in my European summer fantasy. My mind’s eye kept working overtime in the most magnificent way possible. Everything was so exquisitely detailed: from the art to the scenery, from intimate moments to moments of disconnect. I was enthralled by every. single. detail. There was never a line skipped or unappreciated.
I loved getting to know Theo and Kit. We get to know the way they see the world.
This book took my heart, stomped it on the ground, then picked it back up and nurtured it.
I will provide an in depth review once the book releases because I have so many thoughts.
I enjoyed McQuiston's The Pairing, though it wasn’t without its flaws.
The positives: the beginning was wonderful. I've previously had issues with pacing in McQuiston's other books but this book starts fast and the first half really had a nice flow. Some of this fell apart in the second half and I felt some things were dragging on but overall a solid job on the pacing front. Another thing I loved was the ending. While some things about the relationship felt vague and untold (see my negatives), the ending does the best possible job of wrapping up the the whole story.
The negatives: both main characters felt very one dimensional. While the notes of their love were sprinkled through every chapter and every page, their relationship was never explained beyond "they were childhood friends who fell in love." I wish we got to know them on a bit of a deeper level, it would have made it easier to really get invested in their story. The sex also felt a bit subpar — I wouldn’t say bad but for a book where so much of the plot is about sex, I expected better.
One note that I will make, as someone who is from one of the countries they visited on tour in the book, is that McQuiston's descriptions of locations and their approach to writing their European characters felt obnoxiously American. This might not be an issue for American readers and I'm sure many other will be able to get past it but for me, personally, it made things quite distracting at a few points in the book.
Overall, this is a decent book. There were parts I enjoyed immensely and parts that simply didn't work for me. If you are a McQuiston fan, certainly give it a go!
I think this is my favorite of McQuiston's books yet. The only word to describe this book is LUSH. The writing is sumptuous and made me desperately want to be in Europe in the summer. Quite the feat for winter loving, sweat hating me. With descriptions of food that make your mouth water and descriptions of feelings that make your heart clench while you laugh. It's McQuiston at their finest. No one writes heart like them and this book is chock full of it. I loved the way they structured the dual POV, and I would die for Kit. I can't wait to have a physical copy of this in my hands to cherish and read again and again.
I was SO excited to receive an ARC for this book, one of my most anticipated of the year, and I'm pleased to say it mostly-pretty-much-completely held up to my hopes for it!
I really enjoyed it -- I thought the writing was beautiful and Casey's REALLY levelled up their sex scene chops (I really didn't think that at first, but I'm guessing it was intentional that the sex Theo has with other people is really nondescript compared to when they and Kit start hooking up). If there's one thing a CMQ book is gonna bring, it's The Vibes, so Europe + Food + Wine + Sex was, like, the best possible combination for them.
What I didn't love: the sex-as-food descriptions had a tendency to edge toward cheesy (pun intended), I thought it was a bit weird that we're IMMEDIATELY told Theo's full name and assigned gender despite the point of this book being... the opposite of that, and I think this book suffers from The CMQ Problem, which is that all of their books could very easily be 50 pages shorter than they are.
(Also, this is nit-picky and I'm really not in the business of yucking yums here, but the concept of calling somebody "good bottom" is one of the least sexy things I've ever encountered.)
From the moment CMQ started teasing this book, I knew I was gonna enjoy it. And as a long-time fan, I hoped I was going to love it. I've been begging the universe to help me somehow get an ARC of this book and I was fortunate enough to get it from NetGalley.
Now for the review (without any spoilers): The book is divided into two sections, the first half from Theo's POV and the second from Kit's. Both characters' voices were so strong, the characters so tridimensional that it's hard not to connect with them in some form, I found myself constantly wondering throughout the book the centuries-old bisexual question: Do I wanna be them or be with them? Maybe both. I enjoyed reading Theo's chapters, their chaotic energy and himbo vibes were incredibly entertaining, but Kit's chapters... Man, I don't think I've ever highlighted a book more than this one. The second half of this book is a love letter to nb people everywhere, a sexy, slutty, validating love letter that has completely filled my heart with hope and that I cannot stop gushing about.
This book is an immersive experience that will ignite all of your 5 senses and I wish I could experience it for the first time over and over again. Cheers to slutty bisexuals everywhere!
I can’t wait to reread this in the summer because that’s exactly the feeling this book invokes. It’s luxuriating in the sun while lazily sipping a spritz (meanwhile, I was sitting inside, shivering under several layers while reading this time). A book that revels in its appreciation for life’s most decadent, indulgent, yet often simple pleasures. Lush descriptions of food, drinks, and sex. Hedonism: The Novel.
Celebrating sluts while traipsing across France, Spain, and Italy on a food and wine tour? I mean sign me up. A play on the “bisexuals are sluts” stereotype that just says and what if we were? What’s so bad about that? Why not allow yourself to indulge in all of life’s pleasures?
I thought I wasn’t fully invested in the romance, but then I almost started tearing up during the last chapter so…who knows? I did appreciate Theo and Kit’s second-chance romance and that the first time around is portrayed less as a failure and more as an aperitif. Something that primed each of their palates for their later experiences. It may have been bitter at first but it opened them up to discoveries and experiences they only could have had after knowing and loving each other. It opened them up to a deeper, richer, all-consuming love for each other than they realized they could even experience.
Some gorgeous writing, sensuality at every turn, and of course McQuiston’s wonderful humor.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.