I went into The Pairing ready to love it, especially as I’m obsessed with Red, White and Royal Blue, but I have to admit, my high expectations were not met. I really didn’t enjoy reading it, and I just found it lacking any warmth or interest.

Kit and Theo were childhood best friends turned lovers before breaking up at the airport on their way to a European Food and Wine tour. Theo returns to America and spends the next four years working on themself, becoming more confident and figuring out who they are. Kit moves to Paris and is successfully working in one of Paris’ finest restaurants. The voucher for the abandoned Food and Wine tour is about to run out, so unsurprisingly, they both end up on it together. Will it bring them back together or have they both moved on?

The book is hugely predictable; that being said, no one goes into a romance read not knowing the ending, we’re there for the good time of seeing how the characters get their ‘happily ever after’, only with this one, I wasn’t really that bothered, I just wish they got there sooner so it would actually end.

Firstly, I really didn’t warm to Theo, so found their half of the book an actual slow drag; it was difficult to have any sympathy for someone whose financial ‘struggle’ could have been solved in multiple ways as they were a nepo baby. It hardly endeared them sympathy wise and honestly, they were just rather irritating. Kit was more likeable; however, this was simply in comparison so I’m not sure of how much of a compliment it is. Yet, it did mean his half of the tale was slightly more palpable, but in honesty, both characters needed to grow up and stop being so whiny and self-indulgent.

The book is very well researched, and I have to applaud the work gone into developing ideas about location/food/wine content. However, this was all the book was… and it made it stilted and dare I say it, verging on the boring. I wanted well developed side-characters and romance and all I got was fancy cheese and froufrou wine that in no way advanced the plot. The book was stuffed with clichés and stereotypes, which surprised me with this author, but maybe some Americans just have an unrealistic and romantic ideas of what European tours are actually like, because let me tell you, they’re not like The Pairing. Also their reason for breaking up? Ridiculous, and not worth the overly long wait.

I also found it hard to believe the following:

1. Everyone is sex obsessed and ready to instantly sleep with so many random strangers.

2. Everyone is completely fluid and willing to sleep with anyone regardless of gender (lovely idea but hardly realistic).

3. Everyone fancies one or both of the lead characters and want to immediately leap into bed with them.

4. Everyone you meet in Europe is young, gorgeous and bullet one through 3.

It just all became a bit tedious and dull and anything that could have been poignant or have real meaning, was lost in boring description. I also just didn’t buy their relationship. I was repeatedly told that they have this amazing love story, but I didn’t see it, so I didn’t feel anything… it left me cold. It seriously lacked chemistry, romance and water. (Seriously, how did people not have hangovers as all they drank was alcohol?)

What I loved about Red, White and Royal Blue, is that the two main protagonists were incredibly privileged and so specifically famous that they boarded on being unattainable and unrealistic in terms of relating to their worlds. But what McQuiston managed to do was write them as really deep and layered human beings that were grounded in realism… they were believable as characters, they were believable as people. Not only did I fall deeply for their romance, I also fell deeply in love with Alex and Henry as people; I cared about what they were feeling and I cared about what happened to them.

However, this is completely missing from The Pairing. I had no connections to Theo and Kit; I didn’t think they were developed and grounded characters and I couldn’t have cared less about their over privileged unappreciated selves. I imagine if I met them as real people, I’d find them as unlikeable in person as I did in the book; arrogant, egotistical and shallow.

I wanted plot and structure, and humour and romance. I wanted to feel something, but it was sadly just monotonous bore.

I am a huge fan of 'Red, White and Royal Blue', but every Casey McQuiston novel since has failed to live up to that standard for me. Disappointingly, once again I was left wanting by her newest offering 'The Pairing'. This is a second chance romance between Theo and Kit who bump into each other after years of separation on a food and wine tour of Europe. The perfect setting to fall in love again!

The main flaw of this novel is that it is 100 pages too long and absolutely feels it. Theo and Kit put together a wager about who can sleep with the most people on tour (not including each other of course who are off limits). Cue, hundreds of pages of descriptions of food, an absurd amount of wine and sex with hundreds of people in each city (because of course everyone is immediately attracted to Theo and/ or Kit). I was impatient for the couple to inevitably get back together and I was tired of them by the time they did.

In short, stick to Henry and Alex. 2.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc!

I wanted to love this so much but I think it was the set up of it. I felt like it took a very long time for them to get back together because you could just tell it was going to happen but for so long it just seem physical and kissing the past and not getting to know each other again.

I felt like it could’ve been shorter than it was by 50-100 pages.

It was okay and I did enjoy some parts but I feel it was definitely dragged out

A heartfelt and romantic second chance romance following Theo and Kit as they take a journey through the cities of Europe on a food and wine tour and try to convince themselves that they’re definitely over each other.

I loved how this story was told from both povs, however unlike most books the povs didn’t alternate and instead each of the two protagonists got a chunk of the book with Theo starting the story and Kit taking the second half.

If you love a romantic, swoony book with a cast of great supporting characters then I highly recommend McQuiston’s latest!

🍷 second chance
🍷 non binary and bisexual main characters
🍷 road trip
🍷 there was only one bed
🍷 dual pov
🍷 so much pining

This book was filled with everything that I wanted and expected. It did not disappoint. Great relationships, well developed characters, good food, good wine and amazing locations. I wanted to book a tour of Europe straight after reading this. I laughed, I cried and kicked my feet with happiness.

"The Pairing" is a deliciously stunning read that will leave you craving more. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone in search of a heartwarming romance filled with laughter, love, and plenty of delicious treats. Trust me, you won't be able to resist falling head over heels for Theo and Kit's enchanting journey.

Thank you #netgalley for the eARC in return for an honest review.

Four years after Theo and Kit broke up on a flight to the UK for a European food tour, they find themselves on that tour together and have to endure being in each others company.

Sexy food, sexy scenery, sexy people.
Every mention of food made me hungry for tasty European goods. Closest I'm going to get at the moment is a pain au chocolat from Lidl, but that will do.
I was routing for Theo and Kit the whole way through. Their cheeky friendship and competition was something I can imagine some people thinking up. The perspective flip halfway through made it heartwarming and the ending rather predictable and cheesy, but sometimes you need that in a book!
I read a 1 star review the other day which said it was unrealistic. I'm pretty sure this isn't meant to be a realistic portrayal of a food tour? It's escapism, pure hedonistic, beautiful, glorious escapism and I am totally here for it.

I very much love everything Casey McQuiston touches and this is no different. What a delight to find an author who continuously writes such great books!

**2.5 Stars**

I have SUCH mixed feelings about this one, I think I did like it a little more than I kissed Shara Wheeler, but I do think it's time I admit that Casey McQuinston has fallen off for me. I enjoyed RWRB and I LOVED One Last Stop but these last two releases have just been meh to me.

The first half of this book was harder to get through than the second, I just didn't vibe with being in Theo's head, they were just a little bit insufferable and idk I do understand being a nepo baby has it's difficulties but the woe is me thing got a bit much. However, once the book shifted to Kit's Pov it vastly improved, it was kinda crazy how different Kit was to how Theo perceived him and I liked being in his head much more. So perhaps alternating chapters would have worked better?

The whole miscommunication was silly and the plot ended up being pretty predictable.

However, I think my biggest issue is probably 'travel writing'. There were times when I enjoyed it because it did conjure a vivid picture of France, Spain and Italy but it ended up feeling like 60% of every chapter was just flowery descriptions of the locations, foods etc and It honestly gave me the vibe of when you're friend comes back from overseas gives these over the top recollections of their trip for the next decade. It just felt like it took up wayy too much space in the book.

All in all, I think a lot of people will love this book, it's definitely not objectively bad - it just really wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgally and Pan Macmillan for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, I can't decide if the travel tour in this sounds amazing because you go so many places or like hell because you're in a different bed every night 😅

This is...OK. I think an alternating pov throughout would have made the characters more likeable, I couldn't stand either of them.

The tour seemed to drag but the cast of background characters was great and I liked the calm and realistic way Theo's gender journey was written.

The Pairing is an exquisite sumptuous feast of a book. I cackled out loud, I wept, I wanted to sweep all of th characters up in a massive hug. It was a visceral experience of a book that made me feel hungry and sunburnt in the best way.
Put simply, I adored it. It is their best work, and I say that as someone who adores all of their books.
This is a delicious treat of a novel that absolutely wrecked me, and I will be pushing it gently into people's faces the moment it is a released and demanding they read it immediately.

Prepare to be swept off your feet and taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions with "The Pairing" by Casey McQuiston. This book is an absolute gem, filled to the brim with humor, sensuality, and an abundance of pop culture references that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.

I loved this book! I truly felt the indulgence of a European summer trip. The characters, as usual with Casey Mcquiston books, really jumped off the page, and I would love to read more about the main and side characters. I also laughed out loud with the humor.
The romance was lovely, even though the ending and some parts of the plot were predictable and the middle became a bit anti climatic.
Also, the formatting for Kindle devices was all wrong. There were random paragraph breaks in the middle of sentences and I couldn’t see the beautiful art at the beginning of each chapter (I could see it from the NetGalley app).
Overall a great read! But it needs to have the format fixed for future e-book readers.

Welcome to the sluttiest food and wine tour of the summer! I have been a long time fan of Casey Mcquiston's works and The Pairing is no exception. This book is the perfect summer romance, full of wit and charm and journey to self discovery.

I adored everything from the setting, the rich history of each stop of the tour and the explosive flavours - I’m not a wine drinker but I never craved a glass of wine as much as I do now. The way Casey described everything from the food, flavours and scents made me feel like I was a part of this tour. Every sentence of this book was full of passion and emotions - and was also very gay & slutty!

I am utterly obsessed with both Kit and Theo, I thoroughly enjoyed getting both of their POV’s. First half we start off with Theo’s POV, their utterly witty mind and the second half we get Kits, sweet and so deeply romantic (and slightly tragic). These characters felt so easy to love & seeing them learn to love eachother again was pure magic! PLUS one of the best ensemble of side characters, each character had so much depth and personality, it was fantastic.

I always say I am not a fan of second chance romances but I think my mind has been swayed, after seeing these two characters rediscover their passions for art, food, wine and each other. It was a love letter to identity and gender.

If you read one book this summer, please make it this one!!

The first book that have really struggled with, I just couldn't connect with this book. I managed 30% before I started feeling like I wanted to skip chapters. I was getting really frustrated with Theo as a character, they were so flat, unrealistic and I was completely unable to connect to them. Kit was my favourite character throughout and I like that the book was also told from his perspective it round the characters out a bit more, rather than just seeing them from Theos perspective. The plot or lack of really was pointless, and felt really undeveloped, like the main focus was to include as much information on food and drink and their pairings, which was a cute nod to the books title and chapter titles, and also was quite educational and easy to envision in places. I hadn't completely finished the book but I predicted that after the competition both MCs get back together because they had a suddenly realisation to how much they mean to each other, and was not surprised when this happened, although the epilogue was really cute and I loved how all the characters throughout had met up. Overall I'm sorry but this is my least favourite book by Casey, and I am so disappointed as it breaks my heart to say that, this book was just lacking in comparison to their other work.

If you aren’t interested in travel, food or wine, then I would probs skip this book… Theo and Kit broke up before going on a pre-paid European tour, accepting vouchers to take the holliday at a later date. Of course they end up booking onto the tour at the same time unknowingly, four years after they broke up.
The whole story is pretty boujee, like they’re portrayed as having little money but who the hell can afford this and get the time off work? I’m outrageously jealous of all the food and wine they tried. Plus, any book that references the Lizzie McGuire movie is a winner for me 🫶🏻
The book started off from Theo’s POV, which frustrated me pretty quickly. I wouldn’t say for any reason other than I hate miscommunication tropes and that’s a big part of this plot ; why doesn’t anyone voice their feelings???? The book swaps to Kit’s POV at a pretty important plot point (their first reconciliatory kiss), at which point we get thrown back into the past BUT when it returns to present day, the kiss isn’t mentioned? 
The insight into their romance before was minimal, which meant there was little to root for? The throwbacks we do glimpse are arguments, which for a pair that have known each other since childhood, was just kinda sad. I wanted to see them back together, but I didn’t feel connected to their story because their actual break-up wasn’t explained until I was about 75% into the story.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC, this was such a summer read!

It is with a heavy heart I say this book was simply not my vibe. I am still of an age where I think tortellini and mascarpone saucefrom tesco and eclairs from the reduced section are the height of sophistication so I found it hard to find any common ground with this book.
It's not that I think I should be able to relate to every character I read about, but with this book there was not one single thing or interest I had in common with the characters.
I thought this book was very well written, decadent and seductive. I liked the fact that we got the story from the perspectives of Kit and Theo ... although I did enjoy one more than the other.

The Pairing was just not for me, sadly, but I do think a lot of people will enjoy this.

Can't beleive I got to read the new Casey McQuiston early!! Beyond thankful to Pan Macmillan for approving my request 🥰
I loved it so much. I haven't read that many books with non-binary rep, and Casey McQuiston did such an amazing job with Theo.
The second chance romance was so well done, It was really interesting that we get to see Theo's perspective of the break-up and what follows - all that heartbreak, and anger and thinking Kit didn't care that much about them. And then switching to Kit's and getting a more clear picture of what happened, it kind of broke my heart to read how much they missed Theo.
It was such a good story, I loved the slow build up to the reconciliation, I savoured it, they way Theo and Kit savoured all that amazing food!!
And I gotta say, the way Theo's and Kit's attraction to people is decribed is so refreshing and charming. Its just so full enjoyment and admiration for the beauty they see in others.
That part when they both think they're about to hook up with Fabrizio, to then have his wife opening the door, AND inmidiatly switching gears to 'she's really HOT' and they'll both be willing to entertain the idea of hooking up with hervas well, that killed me!😂
I've never laughed that much.

This is definitely my favourite Casey McQuiston novel!
Theo is instantly such an enigmatic character and I was drawn into their narration immediately. The story is cliche, flowery and cheesy, but the way it is written Almost makes you gloss over it (almost) and turns it into a heated rollercoaster of a romance and I loved it.
McQuiston knows their characters and always has done, but Theo and Kit feel especially well created.
Theo narrates the first half in their perspective whilst Kit narrates the second through his, both have a unique character voice and are fun to read and draw you in.
As I said, it’s cheesy, so the ending was expected, but it didn’t make it any less romantic! I honestly just adored the characters, from Theo and Kit to the background characters we meet once or twice.
McQuiston has written a great, queer romance.


Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the ARC!

Probably a 3.5 for me.
Lots of mixed feelings.

I liked the characters and the big bi energy! There was lots of fun banter and they both sounded gorgeous.

Enjoyed all the focus on food and different European places, though sometimes that was a bit too detailed. Like there’s A LOT of food descriptions.

I didn’t mind the casual sex, I mean they’re young single people on a European tour. But some of it felt a bit cringe (mainly that gross peach scene/almost threesome…). I think it was meant to be sexy but just gave me the ick. Most of the other spicy scenes were great though. The chemistry between Theo and Kit was stunning.

On the whole I liked it. I enjoy friends to lovers and second chance love tropes. Just had a few niggles with the lack of communicating. It was kinda stupid they broke up and stopped talking to each other in the first place… but then there wouldn’t be a story.