Hmm.. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one. I fell absolutely head over heels in love with Alex and Henry when I read Red White and Royal Blue. I’ve read every other book Casey McQuiston has written since then in the hopes of being swept away the same way I was with their first book. Unfortunately, nothing has quite lived up to that for me. I had high hopes at the start of this book. Theo and Kit‘s fun sassy banter had me hooked. But the book just kind of fizzled from there. The big focus on the hook up competition took away from the swoony romance I was hoping it was building up to. And the ending had my head spinning, but I can’t say too much without giving it away. Overall, I thought it had a lot of potential but fell flat.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This is somewhere between a 3 & 4 star, but I’m rounding up because I love Casey.
I really enjoyed getting the two different POV & definitely thought it was interested that we switch POVs halfway in - not by chapter. My main hesitation with this, was Kit’s POV. I know he is supposed to be this art history, baker, in touch with his emotions, whatever guy… but oh my god it was so WORDY. I seriously skipped multiple pages of his just to get back to the story.
In Theo’s POV we get just a very horny story and know they’re struggling with their emotions and in Kit’s we just get so many words describing some painting or sculpture or architecture that I really don’t care about…
BUT - that doesn’t take away that I still really enjoyed this story. I loved them finding themselves and the second chance.

I honestly don’t have words for how much I loved this. Easily my favorite book of the year. Horny bisexuals with a messy past on a European food and wine tour? This is my DREAM book. I’m not sure how anything is ever supposed to top this. The POV change almost killed me (in a good way). Hearing how Theo THINKS Kit feels about them compared to hearing how Kit actually feels about them? Fling me right into the sun. Throw me down the stairs. I cried through the whole first chapter of Kit’s POV and then was actually snotty sobbing through the entire last hour of the book. I’m obsessed. This book ruined me and I plan on letting it do it again. I already want to re-read. I love them SO MUCH I feel like my heart will burst. What a perfect perfect beautiful fun sexy time. I actually made myself read slower because I did not want it to be over. I’m going to go smile real big and also cry some more thinking back on it. This is my whole personality now. Would give it 6 stars if I could.

I hate to say it, but this was my least favorite Casey McQuiston book so far. I've really enjoyed all their other books and they will remain one of my must read authors, but this book didn't really work for me.

The settings were great in this book and the main relationship was really cute. I liked the characters, but I didn't love them. I'd even say they were unlikable at times. I was also disappointed that I didn't really care about the secondary characters this time.

I feel like this is the kind of book that might grow on me with time. I might flip through it one day and wonder why I was so disappointed. For now though, it was all a bit meh. A pleasant, well-written meh but meh nonetheless.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

As a fan of Casey McQuiston I was always going to read The Pairing, though I became a bit worried heading into it due to some of the mixed reviews. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking it. I felt more drawn in by the narrator of the second half, but I enjoyed the whole thing. One of the main gripes I noticed was due to it being too overtly sexual. While this was definitely a horny book, I never found it to be offensively explicit as some others seem to have found.

2.5 stars. ummm what was this book? I love love love love Casey's books but this one was not good. From the description this book should be every thing I like, but oh my god the first half of half of the book is boring and oh my god Theo is the worst person on the planet. I am honestly grateful for the ambiguous ending because I can choose to believe they don't end up together. I was hoping this book would make me excited for my trip to France this fall, but it only made me mad.

The Pairing was so beautifully written that I fell in love with this book even though I didn't enjoy the plot. Romance readers tend to root for their heroes in certain situations and don't tend to enjoy reading about people they're supposed to be rooting for in situations that don't contain the love interest. This was kind of the case for me here. Although Kit and Theo's relationship is always evolving in its forms, I was disappointed with how the hookup competition came about and its reasoning. There was a certain ending to this book that might have given me more leniency with my feelings about the hookup competition and that ending was not the written one so I just struggled rooting for Kit or Theo individually.

More onto what I loved about this book though, I think Casey McQuiston's writing in The Pairing was the best I've read from them. Everything was lyrical and beautiful, from the location descriptions to the food and drink to how Kit and Theo described their surroundings. I wish I had thought to annotate my copy more so I'll have to reread it in the future, purely because of this writing. It felt like a step up from some of the writing in Red, White, and Royal Blue and One Last Stop, the two other adult romances I've read by McQuiston. I also thought the way the dual POVs here was done. I'm not completely sold on if I enjoyed it, mostly because I preferred Kit's POV to Theo's and if they were interspersed more, would I have enjoyed the book more? I thought it was innovative though and I applaud them for that. Plus the chapter intros and pairings where a super nice tie-in with the book title and our characters' respective passions.

This review has been temporarily removed to align with the SMP boycott. Content and links will go live whenever the situation changes.

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston is a book with a lot of potential, but it fell short in a few critical areas for me. McQuiston’s signature wit and flair for creating lively, relatable characters are present, and moments of charm and humor reminded me why I enjoy their work. The premise was intriguing, and I appreciated the diverse representation in the characters.

However, the first half of the book was a major struggle for me. I found it almost impossible to connect with Theo, whose mindset seemed overly fixated on the concept of a "body count bet. " This hyperfocus made their character feel vapid and uninteresting, making it challenging to invest in the story's emotional stakes. The pacing also felt uneven, with some sections dragging on while others were rushed.

However, the second half of the story improved significantly when it switched to Kit's point of view. Kit's perspective brought a depth that I found more relatable and engaging. The moment in the kitchen toward the end of the book was a standout, capturing the warmth and emotional resonance that I had been missing earlier. This shift helped me feel more connected to the story, even if it came a bit late.

The dialogue, while witty, occasionally felt over the top and distracted from the story rather than enhancing it. I also noticed that some plot points were left unresolved or didn’t have the expected impact, leaving me with a sense of incompletion by the end.

Overall, The Pairing has its moments of enjoyment, particularly in the latter half, but it didn’t fully meet my expectations. If you’re a fan of McQuiston’s previous work, you might find some redeeming qualities here, but it wasn’t quite the hit I hoped for.

This was one of my favorite books of the year. Absolutely obsessed. All of the descriptions of food and wine and the trip truly made me feel like I was there with the characters.

So, going in, I didn't quite know what to expect from this book. The summary was right on, but I was not fully ready for how much sleeping around Europe there would be in this book. I loved so much of the story and the characters (and cringed through the parts that I maybe didn't like so much). I really enjoyed each point of view for different reasons and was internally screaming at Theo and Kit's lack of communication for the majority of the book. The travel and food details were mostly lovely, but kind of got old (they were a little long winded at times). The side characters were fun (though not super dimensional). And the horniness was VERY apparent. Not that I'm complaining.

This book was both deliciously horny and overwhelmingly heartwarming at the same time. This dual POV contemporary romance takes place on a lush food and wine tour across Europe where exes Kit and Theo accidentally end up on the same tour. Kit and Theo explore themselves as individuals and their experiences as friends and as a couple. I thoroughly enjoyed The Pairing - I got to feel all the feelings with Kit and Theo and learn about wine and pastry on a jaunt through France, Spain, and Italy.

This was a great book! Ex best friends and lovers meet again on a food and wine tour through Europe. Nothing like a glass of Malbec to bring old feelings to the surface.

This book was a really fun time with our two main characters on a food and wine tour of Europe. I enjoyed the story and the side characters a lot. My biggest issue with this book was I felt like I didn’t really know who the characters were and how they saw themselves. It felt like everything we learned about the characters was what the other character was saying about them.

This book starts with a couple breaking up, then four years later they meet again on a trip they planned together. This book takes you on a journey through Europe as two exes try to find common ground again so they can both enjoy this trip.
Anything Casey writes I will devour and this book was no different. I found the beginning of the book to be slow then it did start picking up. I loved that each place they went it said what it paired well with, it was a nice touch. Overall I found this book to be good, the ending was nice and did keep me on the edge there for a minute. At moments in the book it did feel like I was there with them travelling through Europe. I did find this book to be a bit spicy than her others, but I loved it!

Thanks to Net Galley and SMP for this advanced copy.

Unfortunately, I think this is more of a Me Problem, but I couldn’t connect with this one. The language and constant mentions of food aimed for immersive but went over my head most of the time, and I found myself wanting a little bit more of Theo and Kit’s backstory a bit earlier on. I think if I’d had this nearly the beginning of summer instead of the end, I might have enjoyed it more. And because I love Casey’s writing, I can see myself giving this another fair shot one day.

The Pairing is about two exes, Kit and Theo, who end up on the same tour of Europe they were supposed to go on together before they broke up. Part of how they interact as friends again is a competition to see who can have more hookups across Europe, but I was really there for the travel descriptions. Casey McQuiston does an excellent job with the setting and the food and drink descriptions along the way. I wanted to be on the journey along with them. This romance IS a dual-POV - it start's with Theo, then switches to Kit about halfway through (as opposed to the typical switching off every other chapter or so).

Its 4 stars instead of 5 for me, because so much of their travel experience revolved around sex, but in a very shallow way. (see: hookup competition) It just didn't fit for me with the second-chance romance of people who have known each other forever and are meant to be kind of romance plot we have going on here.

I'll read anything Casey McQuiston publishes, and I was very excited about the opportunity to read this book as an ARC through NetGalley.

I have been a fan of Casey McQuiston since Red, White and Royal Blue. They are the crem de la crem of queer writing. Until The Pairing. I’m so sorry 🫣

I absolutely believe that this book will have a massive fan base. There will be readers who eat this book up. I just am not it. I loved the gastronomic exploration through Europe. It made me want to travel the world through food for days after. I’m also not a wine fan but after reading this…I might try again.

The romance in this book was lacking. It felt more like lust. I felt that the sexual conquest competition between Theo and Kit was a bit immature and had a hard time caring for the characters after that. It was just a bit jarring. I am all for free love and living your best self but that didn’t really lend to the friendship they were trying to build. I want to open my own van bar after reading Theos idea. I’ve seen things like that around instagram and it is such a fun idea. I would totally hire Theo to work my wedding.

In the end I didn’t really care whether Theo and Kit wound up together but, while The Pairing didn’t quite hit the spot for me, I know others are really going to love it. I actually have already recommended it to a couple friends I think it’s great for. So for that I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️. Cause the plot may not be for me but the writing was great.

CASEY DOES IT AGAIN! first off, thank you for this arc! i literally loved every second of this book and can’t wait for my physical copy!! please read this and read queer all year long!

Casey McQuiston is one of the few romance writers that I enjoy reading and as always, her book did not disappoint. This story follows Theo and Kit, childhood best friends and now estranged exes who find themselves on the same European food and wine tour, an experience they'd booked together years prior but didn't think the other would be on at the same time.

The set up? Ridiculous, I love it. It's a very sort-of cute and corny way to introduce the characters and their personalities. I instantly loved both of them and really enjoyed getting their backstories of what they'd done throughout their years apart to bring them to the present in Europe. Also I just have to say, I started reading this book HOME from my trip to Italy (I never read book synopses before I start them) and this whole story made me just want to get on a flight back to Europe immediately.

This book is spicy! I hate spice without plot, but luckily that was never the case here. Theo and Kit were so complicated and had so much depth, I loved watching them grow and learn throughout this book. The side characters were also very fun (albeit a little over-the-top) but I think they really added some light-hearted energy to the story. This was the perfect summer romance read and I really enjoyed it!