I completely devoured this book. Each book by Casey McQuiston pulls me in and has me believing in love, even through the lens of imperfect people. I was rooting for Kit and Theo the entire story,

Theo and Kit were best friends growing up, next came the crushes and then the relationship. They break up after a disastrous trip to Europe. Years later they accidentally reconnect on another tour. This was a bit of a bummer for me. I really have loved Casey's other books. There is a lot here to like in the conversations about gender and sexual identify. I liked both of the characters on their own but never really connected with the romance between the two. The miscommunication was so heavy handed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the perfect summer read! It is beautiful, both in it's writing and it's backdrop of Europe. This story is filled with longing, desire, and love. Watching the characters fall back in love with each other was beautiful. The spice in this book was top tier as well! I am such a fan of Casey McQuiston and loved seeing her writing in the adult genre. I look forward to what she writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for an Advanced Listeners Copy of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the European travel aspect of this book and especially reminiscing about my own trip to Italy while Kit and Theo were there. However, I wish I would have read the synopsis before requesting this book. The premise of the “hookup competition” did not appeal to me. I ended up stopping the book at 60% because the spicy scenes just seemed gratuitous at that point and weren’t adding to the story, in my opinion.

I don’t know if this was a case of too high expectations and being so excited for this book or if I still wouldn’t have loved it if my expectations were none existent.

It’s second chance romance: Theo and Kit end up on this incredible all over Europe tour for the summer and they are childhood besties turned lovers turned exes but still have been pining over each other for the last 4 years.

What did work for me was the quick quippy fun conversations they would have when they would talk, the descriptions of the food and drinks, the side characters and how sex positive everyone was.

What didn’t work for me was first and foremost second chance isn’t my favorite but I like it when the reason for breaking up makes sense and the character growth and communication shows that a hea is achievable… I didn’t see the character growth that I was hoping for. And probably should have dnfed around halfway when I got bored.

I did the audiobook and I liked the narrator for Theo just fine but the narrator for Kit wasn’t a new favorite-quite whiney.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan audio for an alc

What I loved:
Binary representation
Bi rep
All the travel
Cocktails and wine in detail (however went into extreme detail ad nauseam

What didn’t work:
The length of this book. Cut it down
It was a little too spicy for me

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of the ebook and audiobook.

This wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. Exes who go on a sexual conquest bender across Europe to prove how over the other they are when they find themselves on the same trip sounded like catnip to me. This ended up not being quite right. I don't know if this was an audiobook problem for me but Theo's narration started feeling very manic in the first half.

I'm wildly annoyed that the initial breakup and years lost amounted to a miscommunication from two people who talk constantly and are relatively decent at having the hard conversations. The time apart was good for them but come on.

I loved that the minute Theo had a conversation with Kit about pronouns and their identity, that was it. All the 'she's' used in the story to that point are retconned and that's all they wrote on the matter.

This is an unfortunate occurrence.

STORYTELLING

I would think that at the highest level of publishing, something like this wouldn't pass muster. Let's forget the line edits needed and think more broadly. Structurally, this narrative is…off.

I appreciate the symmetry of telling the story of childhood, early relationship, breakup, then present day first from Theo’s POV and then Kit’s. However, inherent in that structure is overlap that can lead to repetition.

Also at issue is the fact that we’ve come so far with Theo that starting all over again from the beginning with Kit feels more like a setback than an interesting storytelling device.

WHO EVEN IS THEO?

A deliberate choice was made to obscure Theo’s gender identity. Unfortunately, this led to an unknowable blank space of a character that I could not relate to, especially as the character devolved into something grotesque, so often treating Kit like trash and forever wanting to be congratulated for choosing to make life harder for themselves.

But make no mistake, it's not Theo’s gender in and of itself that's key here. It’s that understanding how Theo identifies would have gone a long way to understanding the character.

What does it mean when Theo looks at Kit hitting on a femme woman and says to themselves, “she’s the woman I’ll never be?”

How does Theo experience and interact with the world? What motivates Theo? What challenges is Theo facing? If this was a book about gender exploration, there would be so much here for me, an agender person, to relate to and maybe even identify with. Instead, we get a nothing of a character. A blank space, forcing the reader to search for context clues and make assumptions.

And, as a corollary, Theo has got to be the only non-binary person in the known universe who simply does not think about gender. At all. Ever. Head empty. No thoughts. Of course we can be comfortable in our own skin when it comes to our gender identity, but being comfortable doesn’t mean we cease to think about the way we experience the world. Though, to be fair, Theo isn’t exactly the kind of character you rely on for introspection. As I said. Head empty. No thoughts.

THE BISEXUAL BACCHANALIA

I see in the reviews that many people took issue with the parade of conquests, as well as the fact that every single European in this book is bisexual and DTF. Sure. Fine. Okay.

More than that though, what got me was that even when these MCs figured out, individually, that they were in love with the other one and wanted to get back together, rather than, you know, talking about it, they continued to have sex with other people who they didn’t actually want to have sex with.

I know this kind of thing is not unrealistic, but I certainly could not relate to this part of the story..

NARRATION

This is written in first person, with each MC being voiced by a different narrator. By the time we got to Kit’s first person POV, I already loathed Theo, so it's unfortunate that the narrator voicing Kit bumped it up a notch and made Theo well and truly the worst via their narration. Probably the narrator wasn't trying to push Theo even further up my No Thanks list, but they did it anyway. Oops.

4.75⭐️ SHUT UP! THIS WAS EVERYTHING TO ME.

I didn't think I would love it this much, and I'm very happy to have been wrong.

The writing was easy to read, beautiful (I barely made it through Kits POV as I was pausing every 30 seconds to crumple up and die), fun, silly and just overall what I love from this author.

The characters, although a little hard to like at first, really really grow on you. To the point where I was mourning Theos POV when the switchover happened. The relationship between the main characters as well as the relationships they make with the side characters were super well done. Although, I think we could've used a little more side character action as there are so many of them that I did start to forget who certain people were by the end.

Even though it was more smut heavy than what I personally like to read, I can't say that it wasn't well written!! Like, go off! I think if I wasn't listening to the audio narrators moaning into my ears, I might've been less adverse to the number of scenes.

My only reason for it not being a five-star is that at one point, it did feel like it was going on forever. It gets pretty repetitive towards the end, which really makes it feel much longer than it is. I kept expecting to be at the last chapter only to discover that I had hours left to read.

I hope we continue to get books that are this much fun in the future!!

Thank you to Netgalley for the Audio Arc❤️

Foodie, fun and escapist, although the fact that his feels aggressively Gen Z may be off putting to McQuiston's older fans. A recommended purchase for collections where contemporary romance is popular.

Sadly I have to say I found this book to be flat and unexciting for the most part. I was interested in the beginning but I didn't really love either character so that didn't help me stay invested. I almost DNF this one but stuck with it hoping the author who I normally really enjoy would pull a rabbit out of their hat and surprise me.

Theo was very immature, insecure and just didn't endear me to this "love" story. Kit was more likeable but I felt was also very naïve when it came to Theo. This relationship just didn't feel like love to me and maybe that is because the falling in love happened before the book started and so it felt like they were just saying they were in love. I didn't feel the chemistry and the sex scenes were a bit unexciting. I did enjoy a lot of the side characters, the witty banter & the setting. I didn't hate this book but I just found it a fell a little flat for me.

The narration was good. I enjoyed Emma Galvin but Max Meyers just didn't fit the voice I had in my head for Kit when we finally get Kit's POV.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

I literally cannot imagine what a better romance novel would be like or how it could exist. In the first stretch I was asking myself “is Theo a Mary Sue or do I just relate so deeply it shakes me to my core?” and by the last stretch I knew this was one of my favorite things I’ve ever read. I can’t help but resort to clichés: this is a sumptuous feast for every sense - erotic and emotional and absolutely astounding. I hope CMQ takes over the world.

4⭐ (audio) The narrators for this were fine. I listen to tons of audiobooks, and these narrators did a good job telling the story without pulling me out of it.

3.5⭐ (story) Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other's lives once and for all. Time apart has done them good. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. Sure, nothing really compares to what they had, and life stretches out long and lonely ahead of them, but—yeah. It's in the past.

All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately. It's not until they board the tour bus that they discover they've both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they're trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain, and Italy. It's fine. There's nothing left between them. So much nothing that, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is totally game.

I really wanted to love this one. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as the other McQuiston books I've loved. I felt like the plot was mostly missing. I liked Kit, but Theo was annoying to me, and the food p*rn was a little over the top for me. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I feel like it could have been so much better!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced audio copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

This is the book to read if you love books about food and wine. Each stop on the tour, the author talks so vividly about all the flavor notes in the wines and what ingredients go into the food. This book is about friendship, about love, about not giving up on someone, and sometimes no matter what happens or how much time goes by, some people are just meant to be.

Thanks Netgalley for the advanced audiobook!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for audio

Although the story itself wasn’t my favorite I did enjoy the narrators and audiobook!

Synopsis: Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other's lives once and for all.

Time apart has done them good. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. Sure, nothing really compares to what they had, and life stretches out long and lonely ahead of them, but—yeah. It's in the past.

All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately.

It's not until they board the tour bus that they discover they've both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they're trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain, and Italy. It's fine. There's nothing left between them. So much nothing that, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is totally game. And why stop there? Why not a full-on European hookup competition?

But sometimes a taste of everything only makes you crave what you can't have.

Review: This was hands down my favorite read so far this year. Not a single question in my mind. It made me cry 5 minutes and 33 seconds into the audiobook and it basically didn't stop pulling on my heart strings from there. I listened to about 30% and then read the other 70% in a single sitting. Just like RWRB, I could not put this book down. This is, in my opinion, Casey's best book. And yes, I've read them all. Just for an idea of this book, the quote five minutes in that made me cry: "Every person I take to bed from now on will be fighting his ghost for my attention." So, yeah. This book is a masterpiece.

Casey McQuiston is a force to be reckoned with in queer romance, and The Pairing delivers. Exes Kit and Theo run into each other on a tour of Europe two years after their split. Even after they clear up the misunderstanding that broke them up, it's still a journey for them to get back together.. In romance, you know the couple ends up together, and it's HOW that happens that keeps you reading. In McQuston's hands, these two prickly characters come together in unexpected and delightful ways. Truly a treat.

Theo was one of the most insufferable, whiney main characters I have ever encountered. The flip to Kit's perspective somewhat saved the book for me, but he was also incredibly frustrating.

Kit and Theo were supposed to be in their late 20s but this read like they were 18. I wanted to take both of them by the shoulders and shake them into reality. An abroad moment was supposed to make for a really romantic, unexpected reuniting but they turned it into a challenge to see who could sleep with more people while undoubtedly hurting each other further while doing it instead of just talking to each other?

OH AND this all started because they broke up and didn't speak for four years because of a stupid miscommunication that somehow was never addressed among mutual friends the entire time? Gotta go get my eyes checked from all the eye rolling I've done.

The audiobook narrators for both Theo and Kit were not it for me.

I already had a shaky experience with this author's One Stop Love. I wanted to like that one, but I just never fully clicked with it. Still, I was open to giving her a second chance and that's why I requested this book, but I clicked with The Pairing even less than I did with One Stop Love if that's even possible.

I just didn't like the romance or the characters, and I didn't care about what was happening at all. I liked some aspects of it but not the execution. For example, the whole traveling through Europe being horny af could've been fun, but it was just soooooo... cliché and every European character is a stereotype of their particular culture, which I think is so shallow. I mean, come on...

I don't know, I just didn't like this and while I appreciate how queer it is and people may find themselves in these characters, it just wasn't for me. I enjoyed nothing about it. 2 stars for effort.

Years after a terrible breakup on what was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, Theo cashes in on the European excursion before it expires…only to arrive and find their ex Kit *also* booked the same re-do trip. Both have their own lives now - Theo a hustling bartender and aspiring sommelier, Kit a pastry chef in Paris — but somehow this trip brings back old feelings and the two must grapple with either reuniting and letting the past go, or stick to their separate paths.
I enjoyed the setting and could easily picture the settings throughout Europe. However i found the MCs somewhat unlikable. Grown adults lacking basic communication skills and found Theo to be immature and annoying…and the “nepo baby” of it all didn’t click. I would’ve loved more of Kit’s backstory. The audio production was great, however, and loved their portrayals, as well as the musical transitions between chapters.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.