Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Pairing is a second chance romance between Kit, a Parisian pâtissier and Theo a Sommelier. Kit and Theo met as friends and finally confessed their love in their teens and dated until breaking up in their early twenties. The trip that ended up being the final straw in their relationship is what ultimately brings them together again when they both choose to use their vouchers in the last available month. They then travel Europe tasting food, drinking good wine and getting to know each other again.

This is a duel POV but instead of alternating chapters, it is Theo's perspective for the first half of the book and Kit's for the second. The story of their relationship ending unfolds throughout the book while you see them realizing they never fell out of love. You get to meet a cast of really fun characters and if you love food and wine descriptions in your books, you are going to love this! This book is also very LGBTQIA friendly and VERY sex positive if those are things you're seeking!

Unfortunately, I did not love it. The belabored descriptors of food and wine felt like an obnoxious interruption to the story rather than something that added to it. You also get the impression at the start of the book that Kit has done something unforgivable and terrible with the way Theo is responding to them. But you soon figure out that Theo is honestly just immature. Or that's how they read to me. The chip they carried on their shoulder about being a nepo baby while also hyper-fixating on how terrible and irresponsible they are did not make for a fun reading experience. I didn't crave Theo finding a partner, I craved them finding a therapist.

While Kit was more enjoyable as a human his chapters were almost too sappy. McQuiston really leaded in to all the Italian art theme because Kit's chapter long internal dialogues about how amazing and perfect Theo was after readying them from their perspective did not read as accurate.

I'm already not the biggest fan of second chance romance but when your relationship ends basically due to a miscommunication, I am going to have a lot of opinions. Theo's pride kept them from ever talking to Kit after their breakup due to one tiny thing and that was a wild thing for me to wrap my head around. While trying to be friends at the start of the tour they also agree on a 'sex bet' (you read that right) where they would each try to sleep with more people than the other and maybe I am too precious about my romance because my god, I hated that. I don't like reading about characters banging characters that they aren't in love with.

Finally, the ending felt so rushed. They were never fully in their happy moment of the book, they were always trying to sabotage themselves until randomly at the very end Kit sees a goofy note his mom left her brother and that's when he decided a relationship should be fought for. At that point I honestly thought they both deserved better.

This was the audiobook version, so I wanted to make some notes about the production. I hated the weird musical interludes between chapters. It felt like another way the book was trying to be all 'look at me, I am so artsy'. I also hated Kit's voice actor. Sorry to that person but they spoke with this weird affect that would be more like a formal royal announcer than a cool, super hot, bisexual Parisian man. I ended up switching to the physical copy about 75% through because I hated his voice for that character.

This book was a fun vacation, second chance at love romance. I super enjoyed the setting and descriptions of all of the amazing food and drinks. However, both characters annoyed me a bit at times because they acted so childish. This took me out of the story and then it took me a while to get back into it. Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

What I loved:
The alternating points of view of this novel.
The pairings of alcohol/food and cities.
The foodie tour.
The awkwardness of two people who broke up after a miscommunication who wind up on the same tour bus.
Fabricio - he was delicious and the plot twist with him was delightful.
The bus driver - adorable.

I absolutely liked this novel until the end. I would have liked it without the bow that tied it all together. BUT! It was a fun journey through wine and food and love.

𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞. 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫, 𝐭𝐨𝐨, 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐞—𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐨, 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭.

I listened to an audio ALC of this book as well as an E-ARC and I have to praise the amazing narrators. The Narrator for Kit especially is so phenomenal and I really enjoyed both of their performances.

I am so conflicted with my rating for this book and let me tell you why.

It's beautifully written. Like, viscerally, soul achingly beautiful. You can see and taste and smell and feel every location that travel to, everything they eat and drink. You can feel the emotions from at least one character to the marrow of their bones, and it makes your chest ache.

Now, part of why I'm so conflicted is that the set up of this book is miscommunication. And then it devolves into other miscommunications as they travel around. It's also second chance, friends to lovers and I don't like any of those tropes.

I struggled with the first half of this book which is told by Theo's POV. The first half of this book the two MCs meet again after having broken up years ago and going on this trip around France, Spain, and Italy on a tour bus. They are eating, drinking and fucking their way around the countries.

However, where Kit seems to be conflicted and almost heartbroken around Theo, Theo treats the first half of the book like a vapid horny teenager. Literally everyone finds everyone attractive and Theo gets whatever they want in the way of women, men, and getting on yachts. It just didn't endear Theo to me at all and it tends to drag with conquest after conquest.

The second part of the book is told by Kit's POV and this is definitely where it picks up because he's utterly infatuated with Theo. There is pining and romance and tenderness and love and it made me want to root for them. Unfortunately every time Theo opened their mouth in response to something sweet he said or some tender moment with self deprecating humor it really took me out of those scenes and made me not like Theo at all.

Even towards the end Theo says "I love how good he is to me. I love how good I am to myself when he's around." but Theo never says that they are good to HIM. Because they are not.

I believe this book could have easily been 100 pages shorter, as it drags on a bit, even though I did enjoy all the places they visited. The book made me hungry with all the amazing descriptions of the food and all the gorgeous architecture and art.

There was so much to enjoy and yet so much that also feel flat for me. So I think I'm giving it 3 stars. Maybe 3.5. I just wish Theo met Kit with the kind of incredible compassion and love that Kit brought to Theo and I would have rated higher. I'm just kind of bummed because the writing is seriously so beautiful.

The audiobook was really well read. But I was not a fan of the book. I am not impressed by conflicts that only exist because two characters spend 400 pages not admitting that they like each other.

"The Pairing" by Casey McQuiston offers a mix of romance, humor, and the most incredible food descriptions you have ever read. This book tells the story of two bisexual exes who accidentally book the same European food and wine tour and create a competition to hook up with people to prove they’re over each other, even though they definitely are not. This book has five-star sexual tension and was much spicier than I expected. I enjoyed the way the characters cared for each other throughout the story and how they came to terms with their feelings.

If you loved Casey McQuiston's other works, "Red, White & Royal Blue" and "One Last Stop," this is just as good. I also loved the pansexual, bisexual, and non-binary representation that was portrayed with kindness and even humor.

Thanks you NetGalley for the ARC audiobook!

It's hard to rate a Casey McQuiston so low but for a long time my rating was even lower. I really hated Theo for the longest time and I think what made me dislike them so much was the fact that we spent the entire first half in their perspective and the entire second half in Kit's when things were arguably getting better. Theo's POV spent a long time in the spiteful, self-hatred, despair while Kit got to spend it in the "I'm still in love with you" hopeful side of things so the relationship to the reader felt very unbalanced. For the longest time I kept wondering why these two loved each other because we were never shown that from their earlier relationship and I guess since it's a second chance romance, we get to see the second part but the other problem for me was EVERYTHING was about sex. Even when they have the big confession scene, what's the first thing to be done? Sex. So many conversations were about this that I just didn't connect because that's not a reality for me at least and I was left just annoyed with how horny everyone was all of the time and barely doing or thinking about anything else. I loved RWARB and One Last Stop and Shara Wheeler so much because they made me feel the feels for the characters both in their relationship and in their own character arcs but this just didn't hit the same. I still enjoyed it a lot but I can't even justify 4 stars right now because of how long it actually took me to give a damn about them, especially Theo which sucks because by the second half I understood Theo so much more but that's only because I was experiencing it from Kit's side, not Theo's, which is not how I feel like I should have related. Their desire to not be the family screw-up is something I really resonate with and I wish we had experienced their true feelings more on their povs. So I feel like this book would have been a lot better if we had been switching POVs throughout, rather than a first and second half. I feel like that alone would have made this another McQuiston 5 star for me but it wasn't.

Ok soooo. I don't love it but I don't absolutely hate it.
I can't exactly point out what it was that makes this a 3 star. I just wasn't as invested in this romance as I have been in her others.
Maybe it was all the miscommunication or maybe the fact that hook ups were of extreme importance. Wasn't for me but it may be for you.
I did love the pansexual, bisexual and non binary representation though

I’ve read all four of McQuiston’s books and I believe this one just dethroned Red White & Royal Blue as my favorite. Casey can’t write a bad book, I’m convinced.

The pairing tells the story of two bisexual exes that accidentally book the same European food and wine tour and create a competition to hookup with people to prove they’re over each other even though they definitely are not.

In this story, we follow Kit and Theo as they navigate their feelings for the other despite their history and watch as tensions grow. This book has 5 star sexual tension and was much spicier than I expected. It also has great bisexual and queer representation and I enjoyed the way the characters cared for each other throughout the story and how they came to terms with their feelings.

This was an angsty bisexual sex-fest! With an array of sexual orientations and gender expressions being represented, this book really took the explicit content and ran with it (and did so every which way you can imagine!). It made sex empowering in a way you don’t see in many mainstream books. I can’t recall the last time I read something so sex positive and lacking shame. But it’s not just the sex that shines through, it also depicts an honest and sincere love of food, drink, and exploration. It felt romantic, indulgent, and almost gluttonous.

Having been to many of the locations in this book, my enjoyment and experience reading this was greatly enhanced by having been there. But that’s not to say that you have to have visited Europe to understand the book. CM does a great job of setting the scene, giving historical information and context of the locales, and richly describing the atmosphere, food and culture.

As usual, McQuiston’s writing was fun and plucky, with lots of witty banter. The opening MC, Theo, was everything I hoped for from a book like this—weird, imperfect, insecure and totally badass, all rolled into one layered and complex human. At the halfway point we switch to Kit’s POV, and this is where things started to fall apart for me, and it started to feel a little dull and repetitive. It went like this: New city. Will they or won’t they? Miscommunication. Food, booze, sex, repeat. Frankly, I was bored.

Kit’s voice didn’t really ring true for me either. He felt exaggerated and contrived. He didn’t feel REAL. (I did this on audio and I still haven’t determined if it was the way he was written or the way the narrator performed it, but either way I didn’t enjoy this as much as the first half.)

Overall, despite it being about 100 pages too long, this book felt solid to me. With an over-the-top plot that was somehow made very credible (McQuiston’s specialty), and very genuine observations about love, loss, failure, and the difficulties of navigating relationships and adulthood, this book did what it came to do. I liked it, but didn’t LOVE it.

I could eat this book for lunch. CMQ has created a portal to a European holiday. This book is scrumptious, decadent…. Exquisite. From the sweet pining plot, to the rich descriptions, to the cast of lovable characters- this book is a delight from beginning to end. I love bisexual representation where the characters actually have on page queer relationships. I also think Mcquinston did a really great job of exploring Theo’s gender and creating conversations about gender identity throughout the book. I’ve never read a dual perspective book where the perspective switches halfway through but I really liked that. Another banger from CMQ!

Thank you so much to MacMillan Audio for an advance copy of this book!

If you are looking for a book to take you into another place, this may be the one for you. McQuiston is able to use their talent of words to make you feel as if you are traveling throughout Europe. Oh and the food. How I want to eat so many of the meals that were describe. You could tell that McQuiston did their research and likely travelled to all the locations mentioned just to make sure that it felt authentic.

I thought the format of this book was unique compared to not only other books they have done but other contemporary romances. The first half of the book is told from Theo's point of view and the second half is told from Kit's point of view. And I love how the chapters were broken up by different pairings with the city they are in. With that being said, the chapters are very long as they broken up by the time spent in country. As much as I was happy that it was descripted it just felt like it was taking forever.

"It's not just that I want him. It's that he taught me what wanting was. Anyone would have a weakness for that."

Also what I found so fascinating and I even was asking about this in a buddy read I did on this book, is how open everyone was with hooking up. They would each meet these people and suddenly they were being whisked away to go make out or more. I am not judging or anything but I just thinking are they not going to get to know each other, is the consent implied, is the nature of the relationship implied? It also made me chuckle that Theo agreed to do this competition when we knew that they were so in love with Kit. Heck even one of the conquests picked up on it. I felt bad for Theo as they just had no idea how Kit felt while they were thrust together on this trip.

Once we got to Kit's point of view, I could not believe how in love that boy was with Theo. I love the way McQuiston did a quick flashback to the start of the trip and picked up in real time. Kit's love for Theo was so unconditional. He loved Theo for who they were and did not want them to change. ""They showed me the galaxy then made me feel it. That's one of Theo's natural gifts, the way beauty moves through them like stained glass. It illuminates them and they transform it in kind." As much as I felt like I related to Theo more, I think my favorite chapters were told from Kit's point of view.

I paired my reading with the audio and I thought both narrators were SO good! Emma Galvin voiced paired perfectly for Theo and Max Meyers had the tone of voice that made Kit sounds so incredibly cool. I know McQuiston provided notes for both Emma & Max to help nail down their inflexions and cadence. Especially when Kit would talk about his love for Theo, those tender moments came out so beautifully from Max.

I believe this is McQuiston's spiciest book and it was so beautiful written. Overall I really enjoyed this book and think that McQuiston has this special talent of writing love between two characters. They also are SO good at side characters! In each of the books I have read by them, you find those side characters that will make you laugh and you just will want more of them on page. In this book was no exception.

Theo and Kit have split up. For good it seems, after being childhood besties, friends, and then in love together, they are over. In a dramatic fight on their way to an opulent European food/wine tour, they go their separate ways.
But the tickets were non-refundable, but... could be rescheduled. And so when the tour vouchers are about to expire, they both decide they better use 'em or lose 'em.
At the same time. On the same tour.
There was a lot I enjoyed about this book- the food/wine descriptions were opulent.. delightful.. made me want to go wander Italy, meeting people and enjoying new meals at different restaurants every day.
Fabio's enthusiasm for showing his tour guests around was fun to read.
Kit and Theo... not as much. They spent a lot of time getting in their own way.. self doubt, self sabotage... instead of just ignoring the emails from a demanding client and then throwing in the town, how about being upfront and saying I will be out of town for these dates.. and perhaps having cancellation fees etc in the contract esp for materials already purchased? They were not ready to run a business, and could have used family advice, even if they refused the money.
Kit was a little better, but still indulged in the bet about having more partners on their tour, but we really didn't get much from him until the second half of the book, and it was all intense longing for Theo.
It wasn't bad, it was a fun read overall, but it was not my favorite of McQuiston's titles.

HANDS DOWN MY FAVORITE @casey.mcquiston EVER!!!

The atmosphere, the tension, the love, the quips…JUST EVERYTHING!!

Also listening to it via audio was seriously the way to go 1.) because it added a whole additional layer to the story and 2.) it ft. the author (which is secretly my favorite thing that happens in the audiobook world. A fun little Easter egg if you will)!!!

5✨

Thank you @macmillan.audio for the complimentary advance listening copy of this book!!! #MacAudio2024

Genre: contemporary romance

Before Kit and Theo split up, they had planned to take a multi-week food tour of western Europe. 4 years later, and at the end of the limit of the travel voucher, Theo takes a risk and hops on a plane, only to find Kit doing the same. Theo, the daughter of famous movie producers and sister of two movie stars, finds their own life a series of failures and is looking to reclaim joy through food. Kit has been working in Paris since he finished pastry school, but is looking for another spark. While it seems as though the only way these exes can get along is in direct competition sleeping with the attractive men and women of France, Spain, and Italy, their trajectory will inevitably bring them back together.

There's a lot going on in this book (in a good way) so there are a lot of components to unpack. I love Casey McQuiston's adult books, and this feels the most mature and most exploratory (both with the food tour plot literally, but also with experimenting with gender and sexuality and expression of self). It's both a comfortable and also a challenging read, because of the topics it tackles. The rich descriptions of food and wine are amazing, and I dare you to read it and not want to grab a fresh baguette with cheese and a glass of French wine.

The relationship between Kit and Theo is messy... it's second chance, and they are still so young, but it's fully believable. The reason for their breakup was a little tough to swallow, but its aftermath is very very realistic. I kind of love how this book breaks the cardinal rule of most romances - Kit and Theo spend a lot of time sleeping with other people -on page- in direct competition with one another to see who can get laid more on this food tour. And yet, it works, because of the type of people they are and the type of romance they have.

The Pairing is a very queer bi4bi M/NB romance with beautiful expressions of love, sex, and romance. And food. Truly, the food is the third character in this relationship, and it works well.

I read the ebook and listened to the audio. They are both excellent! The two narrators do a great job bringing to life Kit and Theo, and I love Casey's parts at the begiining of each chapter. The bits of music are also a nice touch.

The at times heart-breaking love story, descriptions of food and drinks and places, authentic LGBTQ+ representation, spicy bits, and characters that pulled me in created an experience I won't soon forget.

I've already ordered it in print, ebook, and audiobook for my library!

ONE BILLION STARS!!!⭐️

Holy shit I’m going to need to catch my breath real quick. This book was so horny, and yet, so romantic. This book was gluttonous in the best way. Bright colors, big feels, mouth watering food/drinks, stunning sights, so, so, SO GAY, and did I mention big feels? The hate, the lust, the LONGING! THE LOVE!!!
God this book was so beautifully crafted. Not a. Single. Flaw.

The Pairing swept me away on a whirlwind trip through Europe. I could taste the food and wine and picture the amazing views. And I made friends along the way.

We follow Theo and Kit, two exes who end up on a whirlwind trip through France, Spain and Italy together. They don't know whether to ignore each other, or hook up, or be friends. So they settle on the decision to have a hook up competition, like you do.

I ate up this book. If someone was to plan this exact trip to a tee I would be on it so fast. I really loved picturing all the scenery and galivanting through Europe. It brought me back to trips I've taken in the past in the best way.

I also loved getting to know the other folks on the trip, and that Kit and Theo met along the way. This is my favorite part of traveling and this book captured it perfectly.

Theo and Kit's relationship was an interesting one to watch. I liked that both characters felt very fleshed out and really did identify with both of them. I felt like their fellow travelers, cheering for them along the way and hoping these two crazy kids finally see what they feel for each other.

The perspective switch half way through was an interesting choice. Part of me feels like I wished there was perspective switches every chapter or two, but this did make for a different story telling technique which I enjoyed.

5 stars!

I had high hopes for this one, but I really struggled to get through it. If you detest miscommunication/lack of communication/lying as tropes then I would definitely skip this one. The second half was a bit better than the first half, but overall I was glad to be finished. I absolutely loved the European setting, and the background of wine and pastries......but the plot and character development just did not wow me. Maybe I will enjoy McQuiston's next one better.