I've loved Casey McQuiston's previous novels and also loved the sound of everything they've been saying about The Pairing on Instagram. And I was not disappointed. McQuiston takes us on an escapist gastronomic tour of Europe with bisexual exes Kit and Theo and it's hedonistic, sensual and deeply horny. The characters leap off the page (all of them, not just Theo and Kit; tour guide Fabrizio was a particular favourite) and the descriptions - of the cities, the food, and, yes, the sex - are mouthwatering. I really loved it.

‘The Pairing’ by Casey McQuiston stars bisexual exes Theo and Kit as they accidentally end up using their refund vouchers for the same European food and wine tour, four years after their cataclysmic break-up en route… To keep things interesting, and to suppress their still-burning feelings for each other, they decide to compete as to which one of them can hook up with the most locals as they traverse continental culinary hotspots. Despite their sexual liberation and the allure of finally moving on, will they find themselves drawn back together?

My absolute favourite thing about this book was the way it genuinely took the reader on the trip across France, Spain and Italy… I could taste the delicate Parisienne pastries, feel the awe as I took in the whimsy and grandeur of the Sagrada Família, and visualise the white marble of Michelangelo’s David and the blended brushstrokes of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. I found the scene where Kit pondered the concept of gender relative to these seminal artworks following an eye-opening conversation with Theo very moving and appreciated the themes of acceptance and celebration throughout the novel.

As a wine-lover, though perhaps with a less skilled palette than Theo’s, I adored the description of the vineyards and full glasses, and as a foodie the ingredients game played by the leads sounded delicious as they imagined fantastically creative recipes with exotic flavours. Talking of food, I may not be able to look at a peach the same way again… because boy was this book spicy! The freedom of the characters made for a fun read, and the Kit/Theo scenes were especially hot because of the emotional connection that was obviously present despite the lovers’ denials.

Do I wish the chapters alternated POV instead of the first-half-Theo, second-half-Kit structure? Yes. Will that stop me giving this gorgeous book with flawed yet supremely lovable characters five stars? No! Read this book!

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Pan MacMillan via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc in return for an honest review <3

hot as fuck bisexual exes traverse europe and fall in love all over again? perfection!!!!!

casey mcquiston took all the beautiful queer joy from one last stop and sprinkled in descriptions of incredible european culture, from the food to the history to the people and their stories! this was so rich in every way, and i just had the best time exploring europe with theo and kit!

the romance was sexy and real!! kit waxing poetic about theo had me on the floor.

sped through this in like a day and a half despite having a flare up and if that doesn’t say i loved it, then I FUCKING LOVED IT!

I've always been a sucker for Casey McQuiston so no surprise here that I love their newest book, but I'd forgotten just how much I fell in love with their characters every single time.

I cared about Kit and Theo very deeply in all their awkward, miscommunicating, bisexual, horny, glory and I loved watching them find their feet together again. Every step they took towards reuniting was lovely to read, despite it taking a pretty unconventional route for a romance novel, and involving a heavy dose of angst as they face their mistakes. There's a lot here that probably shouldn't work for me; the writing is sometimes flowery enough to be cheesy, second chance romance is not easy to pull off, and I honestly thought sommeliers were scammers but somehow I just stayed absolutely hooked by the heart here. This book believes deeply in good people, not just in the protagonists but in every side-character along the way. The Pairing is in some ways their simplest romance novel, no politics, princes, teens or time-travel, but it still feels ambitious in representing characters who absolutely revel in being their messy, queer, and completely normal selves.

I am devastated to report that this book... ugh, it just wasn't for me.
McQuiston delivers their usual fun, dialogue-heavy, fanfiction-leadning writing filled with lots and lots of pop culture references, and I think I might have just grown out of this particular writing style? I enjoyed it in RWRB on the first read, but noticed my growing annoyance on a reread. For fans of McQuiston's previous books, "The Pairing" might still be the perfect fit.
Though, admittedly, it wasn't just the writing style for me. I was so excited for this book, mainly because it has both two bisexual protagonists and one of them is nonbinary. And the book did have some nice moments exploring Theo's gender and what it means for either of them - though I was a little confused as to why most of this exploration took place during Kit's pov chapters. But generally I just could not connect to Theo or Kit at all. They were both so... dull and uninteresting, and their initial challenge to find out who could manage to bed more people on their wine and dine tour through Europe was such a weird concept with these particular two characters. It just.... didn't work at all for them? I can't quite put my finger on it. I loved the general idea and the concept as such is a really fun one, but here it felt forced more than anything. I also felt no chemistry whatsoever between the two lovebirds, so I didn't care if they got together or not.
Also, is Kit supposed to be a Timothée Chalamet insert or am I seing things? He even has a friggin Peach Scene. I was so confused by this.

The plot, if you can even call it that, is also not exactly exciting. It's basically just one scene after the next scene of nothing really happening, but there's food and wine and sex and plenty of miscommunication (my least favourite romance trope). Even the sex scenes kind of bored me, and they are written in a very flowery way (which is, admittedly, just McQuiston's usual style) that took all the sexiness out of them for me personally. Quite frankly, I started to skim read this at about 50% and refused to dnf it only because I like the author, but that's probably a stupid reason. If I had to summarize my issues with "The Pairing" in one short sentence, it's probably this one: The book lacked the most important ingredient in a McQuiston book, which is heart.

Mind you, mine is definitely an unpopular opinion and I absolutely think this book will appeal to a lot of people. I'm just not among them.

in the pairing, theo talks about wanting to create a restaurant that feels like an experience, not just food, or drinks, but an entire atmospherical journey that takes you right into the heart of any number of beautiful places. that’s exactly what casey mcquiston does in this book - gives you an entire experience, a journey that you feel like you’re living yourself. yes, kit and theo are incredible main characters, and the romance is next level, and i was screaming at them to just sort themselves out in the best way, but that was so much more enhanced by the sheer thought and consideration put into every other detail. have i ever been to anywhere theo and kit went on the food and wine tour apart from paris? no! do i feel like i have now? hell yeah! i’ll admit i did find it slightly difficult to get into the details of different food and drink, but looking back i can appreciate that that sets the tone incredibly well, and i feel way smarter about food and drink stuff now?? like. there was so much care put into the tiny details that i would never have even thought to think about, and that made the story all the more enriching. now, lets talk romance because. holy. shit. casey was not lying when they said this book was slutty!!! as much as i was rooting for theo and kit to get together, i was also weirdly rooting for them to get with other people. i think each of their encounters just shows how they’re actually meant for each other, and the main characters being with lots of other people instead of each other was something i’d never encountered in a book before, but totally loved. the pov switch is EVERYTHING (you guys seriously aren’t ready) and i could not believe the complete lover boy vibes kit was bringing. the chemistry was, as ever in a cmq novel, burning hot and honestly, i was blushing at times. this review is probably completely nonsensical, probably because i don’t know how to describe the absolute experience this book is. i cried and laughed and Lived along with theo and kit, and i expected nothing less than such an incredible feeling from my favourite author

I loved Red, White & Royal Blue and wanted to read more by Casey McQuiston so I was very excited for this one. Overall I really enjoyed the book, I enjoyed being able to see the journey and relationships develop.

I loved this, the piniiiiing *swoon*, and whilst I wasn't sure about the competition they had on, I felt it was needed to keep the two MC's in orbit of one another. Initially I wasn't sure about the 50% of the way switchover to Kit from Theo, but after a couple of chapters I was absolutely on board, The descriptions of the locations, food and wine made me want to sack off work and jump straight on a plane, I didn't think CMQ could get better after RWRB (a personal fave) but I really felt that you could see the elevation in their writing in this one. (Although RWRB still holds spot no.1 in my heart)

CASEY MCQUISTON DID IT AGAIN. I loved The Pairing so so much; it’s filled with Casey’s beautiful prose, humour and wit as well as telling a lovely story about second chances and figuring out who you are and how you fit into the world. I was literally pacing whilst reading as I got closer to the ending and I finished it with a tear streaked face. I wish I could experience it for the first time all over again

I wholeheartedly LOVED The Pairing. It might even be as good as RWRB, both of which I gobbled up in a few days. I absolutely loved the storyline and the way CMQ intertwined the technical food/drink elements into real tourist experiences across Europe.
** spoilers below **
The description of Theo and their journey with being NB felt authentic and warmed my heart. This is one of the most diverse books I’ve read in terms of spicy scenes and I loved to read see true bi/pan representation through the book. It was fun, heartwarming, and real all at the same time. I am SO excited to read it again when it’s released in August! A top read of the year for me

The Pairing is a romantic comedy novel about two bisexual childhood best friends, now exes, who find themselves on the same European food and wine tour. Theo and Kit broke up spectacularly just before they went on their dream European holiday, but now they're both using up their voucher at the same time. Shocked, they struggle to navigate their new dynamic, until they start a competition to see who can sleep with the most local people during their tour. Will holiday hookups help them work out how they feel about each other now?

My short review of The Pairing is that I had a great time reading it—I read it entirely on a train, which suits it perfectly, and I loved the combination of sumptuous food and locations with a messy yet sweet story of what if you know someone so well, but broke up. Of course, most of the things about it are ridiculous—Theo is the outsider in a Hollywood family, both Theo and Kit are ridiculously good with wine and pastry respectively, everyone in every European destination is bi and wants to sleep with tourists—but you don't need to be picking it up looking for realism. Sometimes you just want a book that combines pretentious descriptions of eating and drinking with references to John Wick (especially for me as a fan of action films, trying food, and travelling).

One of the characters is non-binary, though they only come out to the other protagonist later into the book (but there's plenty of hints in the narrative before this), and I liked how this was done, showing someone who is still working out all the details of how they are non-binary in the world, but also who has had time to develop as a person, even if they are still learning about what they want to be and do. As a non-binary person myself, it's nice to have books that feature different non-binary experiences, and this one really focuses on what makes you feel good. Both Theo and Kit are flawed characters who don't always make good choices (as you'd tend to expect from characters in a romance novel), but there's also a sense throughout the book of the ways they have and still need to grow, and even that breaking up was what they needed to work out who they were separately before they could be together again.

As the premise might suggest, there is a lot of sex in this book, and I imagine that their hookup competition will put off some readers who only want the protagonists in a romance novel to be interested in or sleep with each other. I liked what it brought to the book, playing with the classic idea that you need to prove you're in a better place sexually and romantically than an ex.

The Pairing is probably the McQuiston books I've enjoyed the most, as a lot of the elements were things up my street, like the food and drink tour, film references, best friends turned lovers turned exes, and the ways queerness fit into everything. Yes, it's ridiculous and unrealistic, but that makes for a fun book that's ideal to get engrossed in whilst travelling or as an escape, and it also has a message about needing to work out who you are as an adult and what you actually want that I liked alongside this.

Casey McQuiston's best yet. I loved the descriptions of the food and settings. I was more invested in Theo's story than Kit's so the POV switch halfway through felt a little jarring, but overall, this was a beautifully written and wonderfully escapist novel that left me wanting a sequel!

I loved everything about this book. I'm a bit biased cause I absolutely love cmq and would even rate their grocery list 5 stars, but still I cannot recommend this book enough. I felt like I was watching a 2000s rom com, which is something cmq always manages to make me feel.

I usually don't like the exes-to-lovers trope, but this book changed my mind a little, seeing the history Theo and Kit had and the angst of the breakup, that was everything. Kit made me emotional everytime he talked about Theo, there was no reason for this silly rom com to make me want to cry like that.

I’m disappointed I didn’t enjoy this one but to keep it short and sweet, I found the writing and storytelling quite crinegy, I didn’t really like our main character Kit and Theo (they were obnoxious, petty and gratuitous) and there was just too much sex my god. We get it, y’all like to have sex… with other people and each other. And the other people stuff was not my cup of tea— I knew their hookup competition was part of the book but I didn’t think they’d actually sleep with other people :/

Just a no from me, sadly.

I'm always excited to read a new Casey McQuiston so I was delighted to be able to read this ARC.

What an absolutely gorgeous book it was. There was a fun dynamic between Kit and Theo as they travel through Europe and it was easy to root for both characters.

Their tour across Europe... I can't explain how much I enjoyed reading about it. It made me so nostalgic for my own time travelling (and made me deeply regret skipping Saint Jean de Luz) and all the descriptions of the food and drink and the cities and towns and villages they explored were just stunning. It makes it so easy to feel like you're exploring these places too and it's so fun - it'd be perfect as a holiday read.

However, some parts just didn't totally work for me. The hook-up competition as mentioned in the description of the book makes it obvious that the book is McQuiston's ~spiciest~ book yet and honestly I think the book relied on it too much. It started to feel repetitive - new European city, new hot people, not really any actual depth to the plot. A lot of the side characters also felt really one dimensional too which was a shame because they absolutely had unexplored potential.

All in all, a fun book for summer without a doubt. Just not McQuiston's best (which is One Last Stop imo). Couldn't quite decide between 3 and 4 stars but I'll round up.

I loved this! In some ways it felt exactly what you would expect from Casey McQuiston but in other ways it felt like a real development in their writing style.
This book was deep. And I don't say that lightly. The characters were beautifully written, the setting, oh my goodness the setting. Good food, wine, history, travelling across Europe. It was glorious.
If you've enjoyed the other books by this author you'll probably love this and if you didn't love the other books I would suggest giving this one a go anyway.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, Pan MacMillan for a free eARC of this book.

obvious and boring to say but casey mcquiston is writing at the top of this genre in ways other contemporary authors can't even BEGIN to access. they do things that make other romance books seem annoying - miscommunication, dumb decisions, obliviousness - in ways that feel frustratingly delicious. don't even really know how. just know that i'm a series of exclamation marks all the way through the books they write.

loved these guys. loved the expansive way this interacted with queerness and romance. loved the side characters. love how the tone felt malleable and elastic based on POV and place. lush and romantic, silly and funny, sexy and salicious, gorgeous and readable by turns.

CM i will read everything u write. ty x

Leave it to Casey McQuiston to absolutely love a book with my least favourite trope. This book had me screaming and giggling and kicking my feet in the best ways possible. The characters felt so real and I adored their story right from the start. Two times I nearly threw my ipad away because it made me feel SO MUCH (in the middle and near the end iykyk). Thank you for providing me with this great arc! Will definitely recommend the book to every single person who comes into our store looking for romance from auguste on.

Casey McQuiston is back.

Already there are some 1-star reviews cropping up, and all I have to say is: ignore them, and try this novel out for yourself. The Pairing is not RW&RB, but it doesn't need to be; instead, we get to see McQuiston once again work their magic to create two characters who are larger than life - charismatic, enigmatic, and full to the brim with flaws that make them so wonderfully relatable. Theo is a non-binary aspiring sommelier with a curious mixture of confidence and self-doubt; Kit is an up-and-coming pastry chef who walks around with his heart on his sleeve; and both are complete and utter bisexual disasters, which is the only information I really needed to become hooked.

The plot itself is pretty straightforward: best friends turned lovers turned exes are forced into close quarters when they book themselves on the same European food and wine tour, and are desperate to show the other that they have grown up and moved on. There isn't really much else to the story than that - but I felt like it worked really well, because McQuiston focuses their attention on drawing out the complex dynamics between the two protagonists, whilst also vividly describing their interactions with the beautiful setting around them. If you're a reader who needs an intensive plot to enjoy a book, this may not be for you - but if you're like me and could read 400 pages that are full of miscommunication, angst, and will-they-won't-they drama, then I implore you to pre-order this ASAP, as you won't be disappointed.

The bisexual representation is also chef's kiss. Whilst McQuiston may lean a bit too heavily on some stereotypical bisexual tropes (which usually really, really annoy me), I could forgive them due to own voices, and the fact that some of the representation really nicely highlighted the fluidity and beauty of a bisexual relationship - I haven't really seen such a celebratory depiction of bisexual love in a book before, and that really did secure an extra star rating for me. Overall, I am so so so thrilled that I can still consider McQuiston a favouriter author.

Casey McQuiston continues their reign as the undefeated champion of fast-paced, fun romance with a big beating heart. I loved reading about Kit and Theo's second chance at love--this book is a delicious treat.