Casey McQuiston always gives us fun. I had heard varying degrees of reviews prior to digging into this and now I will firmly say that the people who gave this negative reviews for the sexual content have either A. Never read queer fiction or B. Only read inspirational/cozy romances. This book does have spice but it is by far from the worst thing I've read this year. The characters have a wonderful dynamic that I enjoyed seeing go back and forth. I really did hope this was going to be another wlw, but was pleasantly surprised by diverse representation from both characters. I am personally a huge fan of second chance romance, especially the soul mate trope, so this was a great pick for me.
As far as read-alikes are concerned, if you read Emily Henry's Happy Place and wished it was gayer, this is the book for you.

The Pairing is a very specific type of story for very specific type of people. Its spicy, flirty, vibrant and well researched in both the locations and food/drink mentioned throughout. You can tell the author really sunk their teeth in to this one to get all the little details just right for the tour and character's experiences to feel real to the reader.

I'm not one to shy away from spice by any means and going in to this book from the summary it was obvious it would be spicy. My issue is that there isnt enough character depth or plot to back it up. Things, while beautiful, felt hollow. Our characters go through the story living this fantasy tour which realistically only works because theyre both attractive and wealthy. There are a lot of things in this story that you cant think too hard about because it just wouldnt ever really make sense or happen the way they do. But for a fun and sexy romance book we can go with the flow for the most part!

Rounding up my final rating to 4 stars.

Very cute, I think this a really clever way to show the flexibility of queer relationships and bisexuality. Very fun premise. I love the travel aspect. I will definitely recommend.

The Pairing was sensual, tantalizing good fun. Casey’s writing is as fabulous and funny as ever, and the foodie inspired world travels of the two main characters made me want to eat and drink my way thru this rom com. Cinematic, sexual, hungry for more!

I really enjoyed the premise of this book, and I have always been a big fan of Casey McQuiston's other novels. However, I was a little confused when the narrator shifted halfway through the book and we never returned back to the point of view of Theo. I think the book itself would have flowed much more smoothly for the audience had the character shifted back and forth between the two characters instead of one drastic shift halfway through.

That being said, I did enjoy the audiobook narrators of this book and I thought that the story was fun and charming.

Casey McQuiston was so descriptive with not only the sights and sounds of Theo & Kit's European tour, but also the food and wine. Listening to this book made me so hungry in the best way.

Emma Galvin is one of my favorite narrators, so I enjoyed her part of reading the Theo half of the book, even though Theo was a bit of a downer by constantly putting themselves down. The narrator for Kit (Max Meyers) was also enjoyable, and the Kit chapters were a lot more uplifting than Theo's.

Overall, this was a great queer romance, but it was very spicy. So if that's your thing, this book would be great. And if it's not, it might be one to skip as there is nothing tame or closed-door about this book. It had a slower pace and did take a bit to get into, but it was worth the listen/read to me.

3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen and review!

I enjoyed this audiobook but I’m undecided if I could recommend listening versus reading. The narrator for the first half of the book was horrible. Once you switch POVs in the second half, the new narrator is amazing.

As for the story, it took me a while to get invested but I ended up really enjoying it.

The audiobook narrators were good but I was overall disappointed with the book. I don't like how it basically started over halfway to give the other POV. I know this was marketed as a horny book, but it was too horny for my tastes.

Cute, easy read. Narration utilizes different voices well to create a fun experience. Will be keeping an eye out for more from this author.

Very slow pacing. Almost DNF. Found the first Main Character very whiny and annoying. I lmost didn't like the very likable second one, just because he liked them.

The second half of the book was much better than the first. This book will make you want to quit your life and just travel and ear. It was a bit spicier than I expected, but that made it more intersting.

I really enjoyed the setting of the story. It was everything I could have hoped for! I'm a big fan of anything food-related, and in this story, the food almost felt like a character to me.

However, I found the characters to be somewhat flat when they should have been more intriguing and dynamic. I wish the side characters, especially the ones on the tour with Theo and Kit, had been more developed. I found Theo annoying, and their baby's behavior was eye-rolling and also annoying. They seemed self-centered and not very self-aware, although this was somewhat addressed in the story.

One of my favorite parts was Kit's character development. When the point of view changed to Kit, I really started to enjoy the book because his emotions felt genuine and believable.

I DNFed this one. I enjoyed Casey McQuiston's other books, but this one really felt like it moved too slowly for me. I wanted to like it, so I'm up to give it another try in the future.

This was a struggle for me to get through. It was difficult being in Theo’s head for the first half (the negativity and constant self-censure was not a great place to be living in). When we could be in Kit’s head for the second half, things greatly improved and I started to really blow through the remainder of the book. However, I credit part of that to switching to the audiobook.

Ultimately, I couldn’t get behind the inherently objectifying premise of competing with your ex to get laid with as many people as possible as you travel across a continent. There was something extremely icky about how they used real people as pawns in their one-upsmanship without ever cluing them in on it. All that aside, I’m also not one who reads romance for the smut, or the horny escalation toward it. And this book had a lot of that.

Truly, though, if any of this sounds like it wouldn’t bother you, this will probably be a five star read for you. The writing was strong; I felt the ache and the longing that both characters experienced toward one another. That was the shining beacon among the myriad of things that personally didn’t appeal to me. It’s also the reason this gets two stars for me instead of one. I didn’t hate this book; I just felt very dispassionate about it throughout the whole reading experience and afterward.

Definitely just wasn’t my cup of tea.

This was a quintessential McQuiston novel. It had everything you could want - queer romance, travel, and amazing food with McQuiston's signature banter and rememberable characters. I wouldn't say I liked this one as much as RWRB, but I still enjoyed it. I would love to know if this was an actual European food tour that McQuiston went on because I would LOVE to take this trip. All of the stops, restaurants, food, and experiences sounded marvelous. The narration/POV was also super unique with this one. Switching the POV and narrators halfway through the book was so interesting. It kept you on your toes. The narration was superb, and I like that McQuiston got to do the chapter intros.

This was fine. The setting was by far the best part but I struggled with the immaturity of the characters so much of the plot hinged on these two just being honest with eachother and it got frustrating and my enjoyment waned.

I will always be a McQuiston fan because of Red White and Royal Blue.

Thank you to the publishers for the audio arc all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC. I was not a fan of this book. I have enjoyed McQuiston's prior works but found this one to be a slog to get through for multiple reasons. I did not appreciate the perpetuation of harmful bisexual stereotypes nor the overall plot of using others for a sex competition. I found this in poor taste and while I loved the setting I didn't love the story.

I REALLY wanted to loved this one. I loved Red, White, and Royal Blue and was very excited to have the opportunity to read another work by Casey McQuiston. Unfortunately, it was a big miss for me. I never connected with Theo and Kit. As a bi woman myself, I expected to love this bi-bi romance, but so much of it seemed stereotypical. I wish they hadn't felt the need to sleep with everyone across Europe constantly, while they liked each other. I also felt like it was a pretty stereotypical view of European culture. The idea of the food and wine tour was great. I love food romances, but none of the characters felt very developed, and it was a struggle to finish this one.

I appreciate what was tried here, and the cover illustration is gorgeous. Unfortunately, I won't be picking this one back up. Thanks to Netgalley, Casey McQuiston, and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read and review! Please still give it a chance if you are on the fence. It wasn't for me, but I'm just one opinion!

I enjoyed this book. I found the two main characters charming and cute. They both had their struggles and were relatable. I usually dont like the miscommunication trope very much but thought that this one was done well enough. I was rooting for them and their relationship to work out. The spice was great.

Two bisexual exes accidentally rebook the same European food tour four years after a devastating breakup. Instead of communicating about what went wrong (which, honestly, is hard work), they challenge each other - who can hook up with the most people during the tour? Note - this is not the book for you if you don’t like it when the leads hook up with other people!

The first half was very slow for me to get into, but the second half picked up! For me, this was better to read (vs. audio) because of all the detailed food, wine, European travel descriptions. The narrators, Emma Galvin and Max Meyers, did an excellent job, this was just the kind of book my eyes do a better job with than my ears.

“‘Hmm. Hold on.’ Theo studies the fountain more closely. ‘I know this place. It’s in the seminal rom-com—‘ ‘Roman Holiday,’ I say at the same time Theo finishes, ‘The Lizzie McGuire Movie,’ and we laugh.”

Any book that references The Lizzie McGuire movie automatically gets extra cool points.

“I lean in and give Theo a solid, deep kiss. They taste of coffee and pistachio and sunscreen, like the love of my life.”

The ending was very full circle and satisfying to read. Fans of messy exes, food, wine, travel, and hookups are sure to love this one!

I received an advanced reading copy, receipt of which did not impact my review.

100% yes. This book is something that you read and then you want to re-read it again for the first time. its cute. its queer. its lovely.