📚 r e v i e w 📚
the pairing - casey mcquiston

this book in a nutshell: chaos bisexuals who used to date end up on the same food and drink tour around europe and decide to do a hook up competition cos the best way to get over someone is to get with someone else right?

ngl this book made me hungry for food i hadn’t even heard of and made me want to tour europe looking at pretty people. this book also made me just want to bash theo and kit’s heads together because deep down i am a hopeless romantic and i just want them to kiss each other not the pretty europeans. seriously though, where are all these sexually free europeans?! i know none of them and i am european adjacent! also this book is hugely frustrating (not only in that way!) - kit is the exact tortured poet type i like, but theo. theo, babe, you need therapy.

anyway, this is just a bunch of horny people enjoying indulgent food and i am here for it. it’s like call me by your name and eat pray love had a baby and that baby decided to do a coach tour around the continent.
this book isn’t going to be for everyone, i’m not even sure it’s for me (rw&rb will forever be my fave) but it’s fun and hey, if i can’t afford to go on the most homoerotic food and drink tour around europe in existence then i will live vicariously through those who can!

the pairing is out in august. thank you @netgalley for the early copy.
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What a disappointment. I was so excited for Casey's new book after reading RWRB. But there was no life to this story. The side characters were bland and only existed to either have sex with or to fulfill a stereotype of the country’s locals.
The book is mainly descriptions of each country but to be honest, I wasn’t drawn in. I was tired of paragraphs upon paragraphs of food and wine. And then the other half was just sex.

I found in irritating that almost every character is good looking and straight away willing to have sex with either character, or even both. It made the “competition” too easy but it really reduced what should be an in depth person- to a person whose only purpose is to pleasure either Kit or Theo.

I preferred Kit’s half a little more than Theo. He was the one that really showed that he still loved Theo, and was hurt the most from the breakup. But I still found this book irksome and I’m mad I wasted my time reading it

I can't think of a better way to put this. This book is pornography. Let me be clear, there's a lot of sex and it is just as well written as ever despite the increased frequency, but the entire book feels like voyeurism. The descriptions of places, food, drink, people- all of it is as sensuous as the actual intimate scenes. I feel like I should be reading this entire book between my fingers. Now that is absolutely a huge selling point for some people, but I will admit it made it hard going at times. I am not a seeker of "spice" and the increased level here made it a bit much. This will certainly be a 5 star for a lot of people, even if it didn't land for me.

When it comes down to it though, this wasn't a problem, just a mismatch of tastes. The real falling down point for me was the reason for the break up. I despise miscommunication as a trope at the best of times and I don't think this was a particularly great example. The characters are certainly consistent in this level of idiocy based on how obviously they're still hung up on each other and how long this book remains after that particular revelation, but it makes for infuriating reading. And it is a shame because both characters seem to have really developed and worked on themselves since the break up and it would have been fascinating to see them learn how they fit together in their newest editions rather than trying to cram back into the old shape, but that's where the narrative preoccupation with sensuality falls down. We're in our feelings, our senses, and not so much in our grey matter. We get more focus on food and general horniness for anything and everything than we do the complicated emotional nuances of still being hot for your ex you broke up with for mindnumbingly stupid reasons. We do get glimpses of more towards the end and in the epilogue but after 300+ pages of nonsense it is not enough to turn things around.

I think my biggest problem with this was that it would have been under 100 pages if people would just communicate. Idiot plot can only sustain for so long before the contrivances become frustrating. For two people who have been friends since childhood Kit and Theo have apparently never learned how to talk to each other. "We can't keep doing this" Kit says to himself about yet another bout of misunderstanding/ miscommunication/ mishap, and yet they do. The appearance of tropes like the "only one bed" could have felt like a nod to a knowing audience if both the characters and the narrative were a little more self aware of their own nonsense, but they aren't so it's just another example of extreme convenience in a conga line of drunken wish fulfillment.

Essentially what this all comes down to is this is a book as rich and saccharine as the food and drink of the tour. It is a gluttonous paradise of excess in fulfillment of desires, just don't expect to plumb the same depths with character development or motivation. If you're just here to enjoy the ride you're going to have a good time.

(Also Sloane the nepo baby actress can claim all she wants that she gets what she gets because she's talented but be so hecking for real Sloane: "Do you think I have what I have because of Mom and Dad?" Hecking of course you do. Theo absolutely has a nepo chip on her shoulder but so does Sloane and it's all kinds of ridiculous.)

I’ve been a massive fan of Casey’s work since I read their first book many years ago and they are an auto-buy author for me. As soon as I saw this was available for request, I knew I needed to read it NOW.

The premise of the book sounded exciting and new. I was so excited to jump into this book, but found I wanted the skim the majority of it. I guess if I cared more about food/wine, the book would have a bigger hit with me. But as I’m not, the continuous paragraphs and dialogue about the pair made me want to give up.

I found the relationship between Kit and Theo to be one of beauty. I wanted to see more from them, but I think the book got carried away on other parts. I felt like I was constantly waiting to get back to them being together and rebuilding their relationship after so many years apart.

The dual narrative was a really nice touch to the plot of this story. Getting to read the story and see it through both of their eyes makes you love them even more. The yearning love between the two was beautifully written. It was so pure I wanted to swim in it.

Also, seeing how much Theo grew into themselves and figuring out who they were was a brilliant journey to be a part of.

I think this is definitely a book that could have done with less on the food/wine and more on the love.

This book wasn't for me. It felt like I was reading a fanfic tagged with PWP. When reading the description, I knew what i signed up for, but I expected that there would be more plot than sex. It was overall incredibly boring.

Now, I couldn't care less about both main characters. I didn't find them interesting, so it made reading 400 pages about them a living hell. I also found the romance between them a little flat. I didn't really feel any chemistry between them and i truly didn't care if they got together or not. When they eventually got together, I wish it were a lot earlier instead of the last 30 pages of the book.

The one thing I did like was the tour through Europe. I loved watching them visit a different place every chapter and get to know more about the culture.

Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Do you love romance? Do you love LGBTQIA romance? Do you adore fast paced addictive novel? if the answer to these is yes then this is your jam. Right from the very start of this book we are immersed in the story, its insightful, romantic, humourous and cultured.

I received an early e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big Casey McQuiston fan so I had high hopes for this book, and it didn't disappoint! The Pairing is a fun romp through Europe, with 2 bisexual exes on a food & wine tour. The book has a really fun cast of characters. I found Theo a bit annoying at times, but Kit is an absolute sweetheart. It starts off pretty awkward, but I really enjoyed how their relationship developed as they found friendship again. This book is spicier than Casey's previous books, so be aware of that going in.

I really enjoyed this book! The writing was fab and I found it a nice, laid-back easy read. I don't recommend reading this book while hungry though, as the descriptions of food will leave you salivating!

.Second chance
.Eurotrip
.Childhood friends
.One bed
.Mutual pinning

If there's one specific trope that always wins me over, it's the childhood friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers. Rare as it is, when I stumble upon it, I'm instantly hooked. And this book nails it. Someone needs to adapt this into a movie, and convince Luca Guadagnino to direct it. I just need the nostalgic feel of his films to translate this book into reality.

Now, onto the critique. While I truly enjoyed this book, it does lean a tad too heavily on European stereotypes. I know this author is from the US, and this book’s target audience is mostly for the US, but as someone who lives in Italy and has had the pleasure of travelling to most of the book's settings, I can vouch for the fact that it romanticises European culture a bit too much for my taste.

Speaking of Guadagnino, it's hard not to draw parallels to "Call Me by Your Name." Our protagonist, Kit, feels like a Timothy Chalamet doppelganger, and yes, there's even a peach scene.

But let's focus on the positives. I loved our two main characters and the way that they experience and thrive in their sexuality. The side characters serve as the perfect comedic relief, balancing out the narrative beautifully.

Now, if you're expecting the next "Red, White & Royal Blue," you might be disappointed. This story dives deep into themes like art and architecture, with a richly researched backdrop. By the time you're done, you'll feel like you've earned a master's degree in the subject, and that's the kind of depth I enjoy in my romance reads. When it’s not only the love story that remains, but also everything else.

Casey Mcquiston writes yearning and angst so well in this book. I loved our 2 main characters i just wish they didn't spent half the book hooking up with other people

This book was a struggle and I really can't find the words as to why this didn't work for me. It just felt... incomplete to me. There was too much lacking in plot and characterisation to really pull me in. The descriptions of food were a little much for me, especially when the word count could have gone towards actual plot and character development and the relationships and the dynamics within said relationships - you know the actual supposed focus of the novel.

But I know certain demographics will eat this up and enjoy it in a way that I sadly couldn't.

this just didn't grab me, the book was poorly formatted, and i don't think anything manages to continue mquiston's debut success. the characters were unlikeable but not in a fun way, and it all felt like a poorly written version of vile bodies!

I really enjoyed this to start with, but it got rather repetitive rather quickly. It could have benefited from being 100 pages shorter. Lots of funny bits as per CMQ usual

I’m not going to agonise and think about this review. I just want it to be fresh out of my head.

I live in Europe. Smallish island with ideas above its station. You know the one I mean. I adore being European. The food, the languages, the people. This book hit home because I adore the continent I live in. Ignore the fools who decided leaving the EU was a good idea.

The journey this book takes is beautiful. From the north of France to the toe of Italy. From the crisp, dry white wine of Chablis to the dark fruits of a red chianti. I love wine. I tasted this book from lavender, orange blossom, sea salt, dark chocolate. Didn’t taste the leather chaps though; pitty!

It’s not just about a journey through Europe though. It’s about how Theo and Kit rediscover a friendship that was always meant to be grander than that. Their souls were meant to be together.

They became best friends as children. They fought a connection. Loved the living daylights out of each other. Then ended spectacularly. They are thrown together on a bus trip through Europe to experience food and wine and the beautiful scenery of France, Spain and Italy. They compete to see who can hook up the most.

I went to bed last night 50% ish done. I was in bits. Agonising about smacking Theo and Kit about their heads. My dreams were filled with wine glasses filled with rose wine and smashed up cake. I was so anxious. I hate rose.

I loved the rediscovery of a perfect connection. Love is love. My type of love. Your type of love. Any type of love.

Please can I go back to Italy and walk the Uffizi museum again? Husband ran around it like it was a race. I just wanted to stop and look at the naked bodies. I want to eat all of the food. The juicy tomatoes that taste like sunshine. The panino eaten on the streets of Florence washed down with a glass of wine from a wine window. This book brought all of that back, I could almost taste it.

“Out here the sun hangs wonderfully fat in the sky, but it doesn’t scorch. It soaks into the hills like oil into thick well-risen bread, and we spread ourselves across them like happy little figs.”

This is coming close to being my favourite romance novel of all time. It took such precise aim at my heart and soul. I’m a huge McQuiston fan – they have such an effortless knack for characterisation, and I always find their books to have an inherently queer sensibility that makes the stories come absolutely alive.
For me, this is McQuiston’s best yet. It’s a masterpiece of specificity with a genuinely original cast of characters - especially the two leads and the lovely, complex topography of their relationship, which slowly reveals itself throughout the book. There’s a palpable delight in the novel’s setting and detail. It’s a gorgeously hedonistic book – all good food, great wine, sparkling conversation, sun-warm skin, open linen shirts and blue, blue sky. It's cheeky and chaotic and thirsty and so, so delicious.
Mediterranean sunlight flows through these pages and while I can’t imagine a more perfect summer read, I know it’ll also be a warm, sweet harbour for me to return to in winter. It’s good to be reminded that second chances can be wonderful, and that the weather is always nice somewhere! I don’t reread romances very often, but this is one I want to keep with me forever.
If you want a wry, heartfelt, swoony, authentically queer love story to grab you by the hand and take you somewhere beautiful, it’s probably the one for you too.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me a reading copy.

After finishing Red, White & Royal Blue in two days, I jumped at the chance to read this new release by Casey McQuiston. I had hoped to review The Pairing on its own merit, without comparing it to McQuiston's most famous work, but it simply didn't hold my interest. I managed to get about a quarter of the way through before I decided that this book just isn't for me.

The Pairing follows the Kit and Theo on a food and wine tour through Europe, inevitably made awkward by their brutal breakup two years ago. As the trip goes on, they are able to gradually rebuild the bridge between them and enjoy each other's company. Their eyes are frequently drawn to the same people and Theo eventually proposes a competition to sleep with a local in each city on the tour. What could go wrong?

Unfortunately, nothing leading up to this point made me invested enough to care. While McQuiston's writing style is generally enjoyable, the characters failed to capture my attention. The Pairing might still be an enjoyable read for someone wanting a fun and easy read but the execution of a promising premise fell flat for me.

Whenever I read a CMQ book I’m always afraid it isn’t going to live up to RWRB. And honestly, the first half of this book was a slog - but holy heck the second half? The second half really pulled it back and although I don’t think it reaches the lofty heights of RWRB for me, I did love it in the end.

Theo Flowerday is the daughter of famous Hollywood types and sister of two actors. Kit is a half French/half American son of a writer and a horticulturalist. The first half of the book is from Theo’s POV and the second is from Kit’s - I loved when Theo comes out to Kit as non-binary and the text seamlessly changes from ‘she’ to ‘they’… it’s interesting as in Theo’s POV you get the ‘they’ vibe from them already, but with Kit’s POV you can see the switchover.

I found the first half of this book slow… it’s angsty. Two people who were madly in love who broke up in flames over a misunderstanding. Kit and Theo are clearly still in love with each other, but in the first half it just felt stilted and frustrating (which I guess is the point). They start a competition to see who can sleep with the most strangers on the European wine & food tour they are taking and idk… it all just felt very dehumanising for everyone involved. There were long descriptions of foods and wines and places and eh… not for me and I was worried this book was gonna be a 2 or 3 star read.

But the second half? Omg. When we find out what happened to break Kit and Theo up, when they finally admit they still love each other, when they finally stop trying to sleep with strangers and focus on each other? Ugh, loved it. Still lots of chat about food and wine but with the context of them having a second-chance romance, beauuuuutiful.

Loved the cast of side characters that accompanied the tour as well as the assortment of characters they met along the way. This book still gets 4 stars from me for the rocky start, but I promise that if you push through to the second half, it’s worth it! Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

The Pairing is the perfect summer romance and has got me desperately wanting to explore Europe.

Theo and Kit's culinary adventure was a wild ride and I had so much fun following them on their journey.

The narration is split between the POV of both main characters and I loved how clear each of their personalities were. I particularly liked Kit's poeticism after Theo's sass and humour.

I liked how the change in POV, along with flashbacks throughout, showed the characters growth across their entire relationship and what really stuck with me is how much they grew in their time apart.

I find the miscommunication trope infuriating and yet find myself constantly drawn to books that use it. The miscommunication in this had me wanting to throw my kindle and scream at them to just talk to each other. I must say though that the miscommunication surrounding the initial break up was a new spin on the trope for me and I liked it.


I didn't think McQuiston could top RWRB but the more I think about it, the more I am realising I was mistaken.

Delicious. Decadent. Devastating.

Those were the words that came to mind as I read the final pages of The Pairing, tears rolling down my cheeks. Not that the end itself broke my heart, but more that the journey I had been on with these characters was over. It had been three weeks in their world and only three days in mine, but it felt like a lifetime that I spent with Theo and Kit, and it still wasn't enough.

The story takes us on a journey across Europe with two accidentally reconnected ex-lovers, sampling the art and the food through McQuiston's rich prose. Though their use of language and the characters they created could easily be mistaken for pretentious, somehow the author manages to balance on the knife-edge of relatable and aspirational by sprinkling dirty jokes, humility and humanity into these perfectly imperfect protagonists like sea salt on a rich chocolate dessert.

One side of The Pairing's second-chance slow-burn couple is Theo Flowerday, the eldest daughter of a famous Hollywood power couple, and the only daughter who didn't choose to follow in the family business. Instead, Theo has thrown themselves into almost anything else. They are just as likely to fix a broken-down bus as they are to identify the exact grape used for a 2014 Italian Red. After their break-up with the elven prince Kit Fairfield, they also throw themselves into a range of men and women, tasting them all just to discover that none of them feel familiar.

Kit is the kind of man that searches for beauty in all things. He is an expertly trained Parisian pastry chef who loves classic art, ancient architecture and tortured poetry. Honestly, if I saw someone like Kit on a dating app, I wouldn't be able to swipe left fast enough. But, I would be missing out. As I got to know Kit through his narrative in the second half of the novel, I understood why Theo was so in love with him. I found that beneath the dazzling exterior lay a man who was afraid of making a mistake, so afraid to lose that which he loved that he was willing to lose himself in the process.

It's been a long time since a book has made me feel so much. At times it was maddeningly, achingly, unbearably frustrating watching Theo and Kit dance around their feelings for each other. At other points, I was laughing out loud at double entendres. A lot of the time I was swept away by the emotions intertwined with the erotica.

This book was laden with sex, which isn't something I'd usually go for but there's something about the way that Casey McQuiston writes sex that makes me want more of it. It reads like poetry; intimate and true. What's more, the sex actually drives the plot forward, and draws us deeper into Theo and Kit's world, meaning none of it felt gratuitous or tacky (Even though there was A LOT of it).

I already can't wait to read this book again in the summer when I'm off on my own tour of Italy. I'll use it as a guide to remind me of all the beautiful things I need to pay attention to, all of the tastes I need to savour and all of the wines I need to drink.

Thank you so much to Pan MacMillan for giving me access to this title before its release in August in exchange for an honest review. And thank you to Casey McQuiston for bringing Theo and Kit into this world and sharing their story with us.

DNF @ 17%

I've loved McQuiston's previous books but I just couldn't get into this one which is a shame.

McQuiston can always be trusted to write an authentic LGBTQ+ story. The characters in this book are believable and so is their story. I did like the POV change half way through but think this would have worked better if it would have swapped more frequently. I also found the extensive descriptions of places and food a little tedious after a while but understood their importance to the story.