I've come to learn that no CM book will ever comepare to RWRB. While I loved the premise of The Pairing, the actual execution did not work for me. I wanted to like the MCs more than I did.

I have a hard time with self-sabotaging characters. That's why for the first 2/3 of the book, my favorite character in The Pairing is actually the setting. The food/travel porn is *chefs kiss* and I adored how the chapters were destination-specific. It was like I got to travel without leaving my house!

I enjoyed the romance the last 1/3 of the book, and the ending was very satisfying. I appreciated the dual POV but I didn't enjoy the audiobook narrators - both had an overdramatic vibe that made the tone a little soapy and took you out of the story every now and then.

Red White and Royal Blue is still my favorite from Casey McQuiston. But there were some one-liners in this one that did really move me. And it definitely made me hungry for a traveling foodie romance of my own!

I was very excited for this book to be released but the expectations and the hype didn’t match what I was expecting with this story.

*Spoilers*
The first half of the book was great, and I enjoyed hearing Theo’s narrative and loved the food and wine throughout the book. Once we hit halfway, and it turned into Kit’s narrative, it lost me. His voice for Theo was frustrating and wasn’t the Theo we knew from the first half of the book. It made it seem like two completely different stories and two different narrative completely.

The second half of the book also became a sex crazed book and it seemed like that’s all it was about. I’m all for a sex positive book but after a while it becomes too much. It seemed crazy to me that every single person they ran into was willing to have sex with them.

Maybe if I read the book I would have a different approach to it but by listening to the audio, it lost me by the end. I had no connection with these characters are the second half and it was a little disappointing.

Sometimes you're lucky enough to find an author that seems to write just for you. For me, that's Casey McQuiston. They truly do not miss.

This book is Eurotrip: Slutty Bi Edition and I mean that in the best possible way. The journey through countries, food and wine is such a delightful escape. The leads are absolutely lovely and flawed in their own unique ways. Their actions are incredibly frustrating at times, but in ways that are realistic to who they are.

It's a heartwarming journey to watch them grow both as people and as a couple and always with McQuiston's trademark charm and wit. And the spice? BOY OH BOY such excellent spice.

If you are someone who hates seeing a main character have relations with a third party this will NOT be the book for you, but if you're willing to accept the journey for the chaotic mess that it is you're going to have a great time.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel!

I love Casey McQuiston's writing. Their characters and writing style always just work for me and make for a really satisfying read.

This is a hazy, lust-fueled few weeks of European food & wine tour with lavishly described decadent food and desserts, drinks, and hookups.

I loved Theo and Kit. I loved how they were coming back together after breaking up. I didn't love the stupid misunderstanding but it was maybe necessary for both of them to do some growing. I had a little trouble with their falling back in love via a hookup competition but that's a personal style thing. It did allow for a heck of a lot of mutual pining. I did love how easily they fell back together and picked up all the little quirks of a long-standing best-friendship that had evolved into love long ago.

I also loved how Theo deals with coming out as nonbinary and how Kit is immediately on board with it.

All of the characters were quirky and endearing. Literally everyone was bisexual and hooking up with everyone else. It was a lot, but in an endearing way.

I thought it was a really interesting choice to tell the first half of the book from Theo's point of view and then switch to Kit for the second half. The audiobook narrators switch halfway through as well. This is a little jarring at first, but it's written really smoothly so it didn't bother me much. I can see that it allowed McQuiston to drag out the misunderstanding / getting back together for as long as possible while highlighting the mutual pining.

I recommend the audiobook because it was really well done and also makes the hazy, decadent, lust-filled setting really immersive. Both narrators did a fabulous job bringing the characters to life and the transition between them was really smooth and not jarring at all.

Even though it's not my favorite McQuiston novel, it's still excellent and I highly recommend it.

*Thanks to St. Martin's Griffin and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

I’m going to be really honest. It’s pretty clear that “Red, White, and Royal Blue” was written to appeal to a wide audience, while the books since have been a lot more niche. And that’s fine. I believe authors should write what they’re passionate about. But it’s also clear that I’m not part of the niche audience the author is targeting.

The first three chapters of the book felt like the openings of three different books. For me it was like being stranded in the ocean and buffeted by the waves, without anything to tether me to shore. And I hate that feeling. So I’m not going to finish this book, and I’m not going to start any more books by this author. We’re not a good fit.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

I didn’t love this book by this author as much as her others. I loved the traveling and food discussions. I found the love story a little odd. How do you break up on a plane and never know the truth for four years. Not that I care if a book is believable, but it was hard to connect to.

Unfortunately I think this was not for me. I hold some blame for that, though, because the concept of exes holding in tension and having a f**k contest seemed fun but in actuality I found it quite immature and hard to get through as they were both holding in a million feelings instead of simply communicating.

It grew a bit for me over time as the dual perspective from Theo and Kit (and the ending of the f**k contest) gave me more empathy towards each of them and their reasoning for holding stuff in. I did fully believe these two were meant to be and was ultimately happy with their ending.

Lastly, I think this was about 100 pages too long. While I enjoyed the imagery of the Euro vacation, this easily could have been condensed down into something more concise that had the same impact.

2.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the eAudiobook ARC! In Casey McQuiston's latest work, exes Kit and Theo used to be best friends and then lovers, but their romance ended with a sudden fight and a continental separation. Now, years later the two are thrown back into each other's lives when they both choose to go on the European trip that they had planned together, but never took. The two decide to show just how over the other they are and how they can totally be friends again by entering a wager to see who can hook up with the most partners on the tour. But are things really that simple? Are the two destined to be just friends or could this be their chance to find love again. The Pairing is a messy and complicated second-chance romance. Theo and Kit will frustrate readers with their lack of honest communication, but their honest feelings will also have them rooting to give their love one more try.

I loved RW&RB and I was incredibly excited to receive this ALC after being declined for an eARC. This was such an amazing adventure of a listen and I loved it so much!

The Pairing is such a beautiful, scenic, rich love letter to European culture, art, food & drink. It made me feel nostalgic for places I’ve never been, yet long to desperately.
I loved that as we explore different parts of Europe we also get to experience personal developments and transformations of the characters. This book was such a beautiful depiction of the nuances of gender and sexuality. It was also so much fun and hilarious at times in addition to being heartfelt and tragic.

I loved everything about this book, it was an incredible listen and I preordered a copy to read again since I’d love to be able to see a lot of the foreign language words after hearing them.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and the author for my gifted ALC through NetGalley.
Publication date 8/6/24

2.25 stars.
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Summary:
Theo and Kit have not spoken or seen each other since their messy breakup four years previously, right before their planned European Food & Wine tour. In fact, Theo has done their very best to avoid any hint of Kit in their life considering how thoroughly he broke their heart. But now the window to use their rescheduled trip voucher is reaching its end, and Theo decides that the best way they can prove once and for all that they're over Kit is by going on the tour alone. So, of course, when Theo gets on the bus, somehow Kit is already there, having accidentally booked the exact same replacement tour.

Trapped together for three weeks of beautiful cities, incredible food, and fantastic wine is a special kind of torment, but it's fine. They're totally over the past. In fact, what better way to prove it than with a friendly hookup competition to see who can sleep with the most locals in each city they visit?
Sleeping with other people should be the perfect way to bury their past together once and for all.

But the passion and romance of European food and wine is infectious, and it's hard to bury something that's still alive.
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First of all, thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

And honestly, I've had a hard time trying to decide how to rate this book. Was it objectively good? I think so. Some parts of it were a lot of fun, and there were some really enjoyable side characters. But I also found it to be such an infuriating read on a person level that I couldn't actually enjoy it. It was very much not the right book for me, but it did make me FEEL a lot of things (though mostly irritation), and it left me with a LOT of thoughts. And I generally don't write ranting reviews, but I just can't help it this time!

I had high hopes for this book going in. I DNF'd Red, White, and Royal Blue, but I really loved One Last Stop, so I was optimistic about this one, and the premise sounded like a lot of fun! Unfortunately, though, it did not live up to my expectations. While some parts were enjoyable (Casey McQuiston writes well in general), the whole thing got bogged down by being just way too long and frustrating. And it would be one thing if there was a lot happening plotwise, but instead, all the length came from way too much detail about food and wine, repetitive conversations, repeated backwards steps as the characters REFUSED to communicate properly, and, honestly, way too many (kinda weird) sex scenes for my personal preference. Now, all of that said, there are people out there who would LOVE this book. As a prolific fanfiction reader and writer, there are so many well beloved tropes in this book that were popular for a reason. Forced proximity, only one bed, competition/rivals dynamic, etc. I was just not the right audience, and, as such, I found it all very tedious and irritating, and I am realizing only after finishing the book, that I kind of hated it, mainly because it was just TOO FREAKING LONG for a book where the only real plot was miscommunication, eating and drinking in fancy locations, and sex.

The audiobook version of this novel is over 14 hours long, which is long for a book to begin with, and made even longer when all I could think about for the last 6 hours of it, is that this book could have been half the length and twice as good if Kit and Theo had just TALKED to each other!! Now, to be fair, extended miscommunication is a trope I hate, so I probably was not the ideal audience for this book to begin with, but even so. 14 hours of misunderstanding, miscommunication, refusals to talk to each other, and just willful ignorance of all possible signs of returned affection was painfully long, especially considering the fact that we had a perspective shift half way through the book, which means that for the last SEVEN HOURS we knew with 100% CERTAINTY how both characters felt and we still just had to watch them be infuriatingly obtuse. While also sitting through a kind of absurd number of sex scenes. And way too much food p*rn. It just got really tedious and frustrating, and I was basically just rage listening by the end. That said, the ending itself was pretty cute and I enjoyed the final 20-ish minutes of the audiobook!

What I liked:
- The side characters.
- The nonbinary representation.
- Positive bisexual representation.
- The ending was cute and ultimately satisfying.

What I didn't like:
- The main characters were so infuriatingly bad at communication, to the point where I didn't even want them together because it doesn't seem like a healthy match.
- I did not like either of the main characters. They were fine, but they were also both embodiments of Rich, White, and Privileged, and the vast majority of their character struggles and turmoil were just so petty and entitled??
- I did not like the narrators voices for the main characters. I might not have liked Theo anyway, but the narrators made me actively dislike them because their voice was especially annoying to me.
- This book was too long for what it is, which leads to...
- Waaaay too much food and wine talk. I get that they are on a food and wine tour, but I did not need that much content, it just got really boring, especially with how wordy Kit's perspective was in general.
- Both characters have way too much irrelevant inner thought. It made the book drag so much, especially when we went on for extended periods of time about a specific art piece that is not actually relevant to the plot.
- Honestly, too much sex. I get that this might be a positive for some people, but it felt like every other scene in the 2nd half of the book was just a long sex scene, and it got really repetitive and boring after awhile, especially since each scene just added to my frustration over them not talking to each other. Also, a lot of the sex scenes felt very kinky in a way that did not click for me and just left me feeling kinda weird and uncomfortable to the point where I ended up skipping most of the final scenes.

TLDR: This book just really did not work for me. However, for people who enjoy the miscommunication trope, really love European art and food, have any degree of a food kink, or just really love slutty, indulgent stories, this could be a really fun ride!

This book is a total VIBE! I’m a huge McQuiston fan and they do not disappoint in this newest novel coming out August 6th!! Theo and Kit each narrate — Theo for the first half and Kit for the second half. Getting to hear things from both perspectives is amazing and while there is definitely miscommunication… it’s actually more of a “what if” sort of feel and learning. I love the way McQuiston incorporates descriptions of food, wine and places! It was so easy to picture and even imagine how things would taste! This book is definitely SPICY!! I spent a lot of time smiling and chuckling while reading this!

I was very excited to review a book with LGBTQ+ representation and I had heard wonderful things about this one. Ultimately, I was disappointed. The narrators were hard to like, and I could not get into it. I found them insufferable and immature.

It took quite a while for me to begin to enjoy this book. The second half was much better than the beginning. Definitely my least fave of CMQs books so far but overall still ended up being a decent read.

The narrator for Theo narrates a lot of YA books, so I felt like I was listening to a teenager. It was much better once the POV switched and we got Kits narrator. Nothing against the narrator for Theo, the listening history I have just took me out of the book.

I’m not a big fan of a miscommunication trope, but with Theo & Kit, they were young and full of dreams and I didn’t mind the forced-apart-ness for them to find themselves. And at first I was turned off by the “hook up bet” premise as I’m about 8 years removed from my slutty-bi-era, but the descriptions of locations and drinks and meals on their tour were truly beautifully done and I found myself sucked in. I don’t love when past connections are made off-page and I’m just expected to believe a couples immense compatibility, but the banter and sexiness was obvious and fun.
I didn’t love Theo’s nepo baby plot line. The whole poor-little-rich-kid-doesn’t-want-family-money act feels tone-deaf in the current climate of rising inflation and struggling to make ends meet, but I suppose I could suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy these characters and their European tour otherwise.
Lastly, this is SPICY, so just be wanted. If you’re a closed-door reader, it’s probably not for you.

I really enjoy Casey McQuiston books. I always know they are going to be good. That being said, this is my least favorite. I enjoyed the second half much more than the first half which is really boosting this rating. I think it just felt a little too repetitive? Go to new city, eat, drink, hook-up, repeat. I like the idea more than the execution. But Theo and Kit are sweet and complicated and flawed and very human.

Both voice actors did great!

I had no idea what to expect with this books besides I’m trying to read more Queer reads, and The Pairing definitely fit the bill. I had the eBook and audio and read both ways. I liked how it was split into both POVs. I did find it weird that each character had their own narrator but then used that narrator to pretend to be them too. I didn’t really care for their voices either.
I did find the story super fun and I love the idea of travelling and doing foodie tours, it made me hungry and want to do the same tour. I enjoyed the enemies to lovers slow burn story. I enjoyed the no reservations, let loose vacation that resulted in our characters figuring out what they need in life.
I’d recommend this to other readers.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for my copies.

This was adorable with amazing narration! Casey c
can do no wrong in my opinion! This pairing was one for the ages! It had me swooning so hard! From the cover of this book to the end, I enjoyed it!!!!

Okay, this may be a bit of a harsh review but I did not enjoy this book AT ALL. Maybe I shouldn't have gone in with such high expectations. Red, White and Royal Blue was a charming little romance and I expected something similar from this. There was NOT the same charm whatsoever. In fact, I found these characters to be immature, vapid, and just overall annoying. It's got the second chance trope, the exes both end up booking the same trip they had bought together before they split, and instead of maybe discussing what happened (yup, miscommunication trope too) they decide to make a bet on who can sleep with more people on the trip. I found it to be just shallow and void of any good character. About half way through the view point changes and it gets a liiiiittle better, but still not great.

Now for my critiques with the audiobook. The Mario voice the narrator uses for an Italian was so insanely over the top I could not even understand a word because I was too busy cringing. Later, the narrator pulls out a Dracula voice, once again making me wish I wasn't trying to listen to it at work because all my coworkers were about to think I was having a mental breakdown with all my cackling.

**Possible spoiler** and the part that really sold me on a firm "no" for this book, was when the two horn dogs are invited back to someone's home in Italy and instead of enjoying the experience and being excited to make a new friend, they automatically assume this man wants to have group s*x with them??? It was absolutely insane. I couldn't imagine these characters as real people.

Two stars for managing to get this published, I guess?

DNF at 20%.

I went into this mistakenly thinking that it was a YA book (based off of the cover), and that's on me. That being said, I just really wasn't invested in these main characters. I'm all for bisexual disasters, but for whatever reason, this just wasn't it.