Loved the fact this book has not one but TWO bi characters! And laced through are super nerdy comments about food and wine (yes, I now want to go on this tour). I would have loved if the POVs switched each chapter, but otherwise, a great fun read especially for summer!

Another amazing read by Casey McQuiston. The story of 2 exes who both end up on a trip together where they inevitably are drawn to one another again. McQuiston has managed once again to create a beautiful, sexy, funny and heartfelt queer romance. While this was entertaining, it was not my favourite and some parts made me cringe but I will always be excited to see what this author does next.

I was so excited to get around to another Casey McQuiston book after previously loving One Last Stop, Red White and Royal Blue, and I Kissed Shara Wheeler. While I think this book is a perfect summer read, especially if you’re on holiday, it just didn’t land for me unfortunately. I did enjoy the switch of the POVs, I found the writing to be engaging and the characters so solid and real. The descriptions of food were amazing (it’s just unfortunate I’m not a wine drinker and nor do I care for a lot of the foods mentioned). My main issue I was having was that I struggled to connect with the main characters and not much was happening to keep me engaged in it, I wasn’t fully invested in their relationship and thought they’d probably would out better as friends. Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for the review copy!

A delicious read! I was nervous at first because of the mixed reviews and my mixed feelings about McQuinston’s other books. I loved the cast of characters and plot in One Last Stop but felt that Red White and Royal Blue was too long.

Loved the plot and character development for the two main characters in The Pairing. So many steamy moments! I have a newfound appreciation for how erotic food and drink consumption is.

I also appreciated the writing style (funny one-liners throughout) and that the narrator changes halfway through. While I did find the second narrator a bit pretentious and tortured poet-esque, the writing matched that character’s personality and it was interesting to understand his POV.

I thought this book would be a quick breezy read, but the level of detail about the food and wine and sightseeing coupled with the plot development made me want to savor the reading experience.

If you’re in the fence about reading The Pairing, I would recommend giving it a try!

I am so sad that I couldn't find a reason to write this book. RWRB and IKSW are two of my favourite queer reads and The Pairing was chaotic and not in a good way. This book felt clunky, rushed and just over-all a rough read.

The Pairing is a love affair to Europe, travel, and all things pastry. Full of longing and emotion, I fell in love with Kit and Theo and absolutely devoured this. The raunchiest of Casey's novels, The Pairing explores sexuality and gender in the hot European sun. This book is one for the senses and would make a perfect summer romcom tv show!

This was not written well enough to be the "f**k you" i think it was meant to be.
Some of it was just in poor taste like the sex competition.

The Pairing was provided by Pan Macmillan through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. It was my first Casey McQuiston novel, but it certainly won't be my last !

The Pairing is like a rollercoaster of fun surprises, discoveries, sprinkled with mouth watering depictions of food and wine tasting. It was the novel of firsts times for me !

✈️ First time a book makes me so hungry I'm kind of mad that the food doesn't come with the book. I love how the sights, the smells, the tastes, the texture of everything is described on every single page. It makes the story so much more tangible.

I love how real the characters feel, both main and secondary. Shoutout to Fabrizio for being one of my new favourite book character of all time !

Theo and Kit especially feel real to me, I love them so much. I loved discovering them and their relationship through Theo's eyes, then get a whole new perspective through Kit's eyes.
I identify to Kit because I'm also French, I live in Paris, I love baking, and I'm a Tolkien nerd. We're basically the same 🥐
I wanted to hug Theo and swear to them that everything was going to be fine, so often ! The way Theo feels like they keep f*cking up things that they see everyone else do so easily, through no fault of their own, made me wonder if they have adhd.

✈️ First time I read a romance novel where both characters are bisexual. I was so happy when I realised, and they are so well written ❤️

✈️ First time I read a romance novel where one of the main character is enby. I didn't read the synopsis of The Pairing before requesting it on NetGalley, so it kind of took me a few chapters to get everyone's gender right 😂
- I assumed it would be a sapphic romance based on the cover, and what I've heard about One Last Stop.
- When I started the book, I thought Theo and Kit were men, because of their names.
- After a few chapters, I learned that Theo is short for Theodora, so I assumed Theo was a woman. I briefly thought I had been tricked into reading a straight romance 😂
- Then I finally realised that Theo is non-binary !

✈️ First time I don't entirely skip the spicy scenes. I tend to skip it because all it does for me, is make me bored or cringe super bad. I actually read it this time and I think those who enjoy spice will enjoy this. I like how Casey McQuiston focuses on feelings and sensations, instead of doing the usual gross nicknaming of body parts and awkward position descriptions that I tend to skip.

📚 When I recommend this book to people, I either do or don't tell them that there are non-binary and bisexuel main characters, depending on who I'm talking to. I know that some of my friend are looking for books where they see themselves represented in such a wonderful way. And I also know that some of them will be so happy to discover it like i did, like a surprise, through Theo and Kit's eyes.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I absolutely LOVED this novel. Theo and Kit are completely developed and realistic characters, and I love a coming back together story more than an original love story (Persuasion always was my favourite Austen!). It's a great portrayal of personal growth and how sometimes it takes some time by yourself to realise who you truly are. I also adored all the secondary characters. This book is touching, hilarious, cringeworthy and absolutely adorable. Favourite romance book of the year, hands down.

Unfortunately I didn't finish The Pairing. I've loved so many of McQuinston's books but I struggled with the structure here. I think there's something about a romance with two leads that already have an established relationship that never quite works for me. I felt like the two mains had this history of emotion that as a reader I was never let in on and therefore struggled to relate to them or be invested.

Though I have enjoyed Casey McQuiston’s writing in the past I think my tastes have changed. The Pairing was very repetitive and to me, cringey. If you’re really into descriptions of wine and food, you might love this but sadly I do not. A lot of the side characters and dialogue was written like they’re robots, I don’t know how else to explain it. They felt very much like convenient tools to use to make one of the MC’s jealous etc rather than a well-rounded character whose life they’re dropping into briefly. I just didn’t care for either of the main characters so trying to invest in their love story felt like a chore instead of a joy.

🖇️🥯The Pairing, sadly, didn’t do it for me!

On one hand, the setup is interesting: Kit and Theo, childhood best friends and former lovers, find themselves on a wine tour together after a messy breakup four years ago. The unexpected reunion sets the stage for rekindled feelings and a “who can move on faster” challenge, which adds some initial excitement.

However, despite this promising premise, I struggled with both the plot and characters. Theo, a non-binary character, felt frustratingly self-sabotaging. They refused to use their abundant resources, which seemed more like a forced conflict than a genuine flaw. While their portrayal of non-binary identity was a highlight, their overall character development felt incomplete. Kit, on the other hand, came across as more of a passive figure, spending most of his time pining over Theo without much depth to his personality. The chemistry between them didn’t hold up beyond lust, and I found their relationship lacking emotional complexity.

The pacing was uneven as well. The first half was packed with tension, but the second half felt drawn out, with repetitive interactions and a conflict that wrapped up too early. Even the “sex competition” plotline lost its charm as it became stale over time.

In the end, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒚 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒚 𝑴𝒄𝑸𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏 had its moments, especially with the portrayal of queerness and the initial tension between Theo and Kit. But overall, it felt flat, repetitive, and lacking the humor and emotional depth I’ve come to expect from McQuiston's books.

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

Kit and Theo, childhood best friends whose romance blossomed into something deeper, have been estranged for four years following a bitter airport break-up. Now, as the anniversary of their split approaches, fate throws them back together. They had once planned a food and wine tour, which they cancelled after their breakup. Although they couldn’t get a refund, the vouchers remained valid for another 48 months.

As the deadline looms, it’s no surprise that both Kit and Theo independently decide to use their vouchers and embark on the tour—albeit separately. However, their plans collide when they discover they’ll be on the same tour bus. Neither is willing to forgo their much-anticipated adventure, so they find themselves sharing the experience despite their lingering feelings.

What follows is a playful game of one-upmanship and unresolved tension as they try to prove just how over each other they are. The tour becomes a stage for them to navigate their complex emotions, rekindle old sparks, and confront their past, all while enjoying a journey full of food, wine, and unexpected revelations.

3.5/5.

http://thesecretbookreview.co.uk

I actually ended up listening to the audiobook of this once it came out because the Kindle formatting was a bit funny, and I also listen to books like this a lot faster – I got through the whole audiobook in a couple of days. It's strange because I flew through the story and didn't want to put it down, but I didn't feel the love for it as I did for McQuiston's other books, particularly One Last Stop.

The focus of this is largely on the sex the characters have, either with others or with each other, and that isn't something I particularly vibe with as an ace person so a lot of it was a little much. The characters were great though – not only the two main characters, but all the side characters too.

The descriptions of all the locations and the food were impeccable and I'm so envious of the European tour they went on, and definitely want to do it myself. Mixed feelings – I enjoyed it, but didn't love it!

3.5 stars.

‘“So crazy how two thousand years ago, they were feeling all the same human things we feel,” Theo muses. “They wanted to be loved, and eat good food, and make art, and fuck.”’
And that’s all this book is. (Emphasis on the food and the fucking).

This was not the book for me. Each chapter of The Pairing follows a strict formula of: European place + fancy food and wine + random European bisexual who only exists for one of the protagonists to fuck. This is until, of course, Theo and Kit admit that they still love each other, even after being broken up for many years.

My problem, as it was with the last Casey McQuiston book I read (Shara Wheeler), is that I am not rooting for the characters to be together. At all. This is a second chance romance, however seventy five percent of the way through the book they are still having the same argument that broke them up in the first place. As they spend the majority of the book angry at each other or trying to make the other jealous, any sort of development and falling in love is only alluded to, as it all happened off-page and a decade in the past. Them having all this history just isn’t enough for me to want them to get back together.

If you don’t take romance way too seriously and ruin it for yourself and are someone who actually would enjoy a luxury European food and wine tour, you probably won’t have the same issues I had while reading this book.

(Also, in all honestly, I saw the cover art and the lgbt tag on goodreads and assumed that this was sapphic. It is decidedly not, though that’s my fault for setting myself up for disappointment)

I've really loved other books by Casey McQuiston, however I could not get into this book and found that it lacked a lot of the elements and rom-com vibes that this authors previous book gave me and therefore I guess it just wasn't the book for me.

This is THE PERFECT summer read, especially if you're traveling across Europe! As each chapter is dedicated to a different city and a different country, it would be amazing to recreate the same trip. Loved the queerness, the banter, the yearning, the discussions of gender and sexuality, and can we take a moment to appreciate the peach scene in Monaco?!

Hmmmm...I have really enjoyed the other titles from this author so I am not sure what happened here. But this wasn't the queer love story that this author is capable of writing.

I am obsessed with Casey McQuiston's writing! This book was really atmospheric, and I just loved reading all the descriptions of the food and wine. I adored the main character, and I am always one for a good second-chance romance. I would recommend xx.