Truly went into this book with great expectations as I love other books from this author. Unfortunately this book was just not for me. It felt very slow and drawn out, and I found myself skimming a lot of the pages. The character development was subpar, and extremely underwhelming. Something else that was a turn off for me was the over explanation of every activity that the characters participated in through the book.

I knew that I was going to enjoy this book. As I have enjoyed all of Casey McQuinston's book, this was no exception. I want to say that I did struggle with the amount of hook ups that happened, but then again that is 100% me and nothing towards the author or those that honestly love it. I appreciate that we get Theo's POV and then Kit's. It is about finding one's true self and love discovery and it is fluid as they find the right fit for them.

I honestly think this hurts me more than it will hurt anyone else.

This was one of my most anticipated books for 2024. I had been following the book's creation since Casey posted themselves on Instagram visiting all of these European locations as research. Sure, when the description was released, it didn't sound like something I would pick up otherwise, but this is Casey McQuiston we are talking about here. Red, White, and Royal Blue is still one of my favorite books of all time, and I loved One Last Stop and I Kissed Shara Wheeler. Surely, if anyone can get me to read a book like this, it would be them. But alas, I fear this is the first of their books that I have really disliked.

Now, I will preface this with saying that this book is really not for me. I'm aroace, so I don't love smut. I don't know how to cook, so a food tour didn't seem like something I would click with. I haven't traveled abroad, so I can't relate to that experience. If you like any one of these things, I am sure you will find more enjoyment out of it than me. But as it is, I just didn't like it.

This book felt like it was constantly going in circles. The characters gush over food, have some wine, pretend they are totally not in love, have sex, repeat. It didn't feel like anything of relevance happened for the majority of the book because of this. That was, until, the characters made stupid decisions that made me audibly groan. Listen, I love Alex and Henry, so I am not immune to loving stupid characters, but this took it a level too far. I won't get into it because of spoilers, but about midway through the book the characters made a choice that nearly made me DNF the book. It was quite frankly infuriating, if I am being honest.

Maybe I would like this sort of book if I enjoyed the characters, but nope. I really didn't like Theo, and while I admired Kit's endless yearning, it was hard to enjoy him when I just wasn't invested in their relationship. But what really disappointed me where the side characters: I can't remember a thing about a single one. With Casey's other books, I find myself thinking about the side characters almost more than the main characters. I ADORE June and Nora, Niko and Myla, Smith and goddamned Rory. And the fact that I only remember certain characters because the two main leads talked about them a lot, and not because they gripped me in the same way the other books' side characters did... I think it honestly stings the most out of all the things this book disappointed me by.

Let me preface this again: I LOVE Casey McQuiston's other books. I honestly feel really bad leaving a review this mean because I adore them so much. But gosh, I just am really let down with this one.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.
The Pairing follows Theo and Kit who are ex's that broke up on a flight for a European food and wine tour. They went their separate ways but the vouchers they got for not going on the tour expires in 48 months. When they happen to end up on the same tour again, they're forced to reconcile with what happened.
I always get nervous when I read books from authors I love but I feel so happy that I received an ARC of this book because I absolutely LOVED it! This book was so special to read and I feel so honored to be able to read this book when I did.
I absolutely loved Theo and Kit together but also as individuals. I thought their relationship was so sweet to see how it grows and became deeper as they went on this tour with each other. I really loved that we also got perspectives from both of them and really loved being in their heads. It was so sweet watching them come together and realize how much they grew in their years apart after their breakup. They were such a great couple and I loved them.
This book was also hilarious as is to be expected. I laughed out loud a few times and once near the end I had to put the book down because I was laughing so hard. I really loved the humor and the way that Casey McQuiston knows ALL of their characters nad not just the main two.
Also if you get hungry easily, this book will definitely make you hungry. A few times when I was reading this I got super hungry. The descriptions were as good as I'm sure the food was.
Overall, I adored this book and I am so excited to pick up a copy when it comes out. I cannot express how much I loved this and how happy I was to get an ARC. Please pick this book up when it comes out as it is 100% worth the read.

Oh my God, what to say about this book? This book is everything to me. Kit & Theo are so precious. This book has changed the way I think about life, about love, about risks. It's made me want to live a more expansive, experiential life. And yes, it is HORNY. My god, is it horny. This book is delectable. I loved it so much.

Casey McQuiston is back and better than ever with their horniest book yet, and I love them for it! 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Spicy times aside, I appreciated the backdrop of a sun-soaked tour of the food and drink of France and Italy (though it did make me wish I’d waited until I was a little closer to my next European vacation to read The Pairing so I didn’t have to have such FOMO).

I want to eat a French pastry while on a euro food and wine tour STAT!! The food descriptions and location descriptions were decadent

I've loved Casey McQuiston's previous books and expected to love this one as well, but I couldn't connect to either Theo or Kit. The book read very upper class, which also turned me off a bit. Would recommend for readers who enjoy a slow and literary romance with lots of descriptions of food.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

I don’t know if this was a case of too high expectations and being so excited for this book or if I still wouldn’t have loved it if my expectations were none existent.

It’s second chance romance: Theo and Kit end up on this incredible all over Europe tour for the summer and they are childhood besties turned lovers turned exes but still have been pining over each other for the last 4 years.

What did work for me was the quick quippy fun conversations they would have when they would talk, the descriptions of the food and drinks, the side characters and how sex positive everyone was.

What didn’t work for me was first and foremost second chance isn’t my favorite but I like it when the reason for breaking up makes sense and the character growth and communication shows that a hea is achievable… I didn’t see the character growth that I was hoping for. And probably should have dnfed around halfway when I got bored.

I did the audiobook and I liked the narrator for Theo just fine but the narrator for Kit wasn’t a new favorite-quite whiney.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan audio for an alc

I don’t like wine. I spent years, in my twenties, trying to taste what everyone else seemed to taste, but though every once in a while it almost clicked—a very dry red wine on a very good Valentine’s day date with a very beautiful Valentine’s day date, a spicy-smooth bottle of Madeira (though does fortified wine even count?)—ultimately, I was wasting my time. The problem, I finally decided, is that when other people drink wine, they taste something more than overwhelming bitterness. Something subtle. Something much less like salad dressing. I say all this, because if I had even just a mild appreciation for wine, it is possible that I would have enjoyed this novel far more. It feels like an important caveat.

Casey McQuiston is a great writer. She has a way of taking a sentence where you don’t expect it that often makes me smile and sometimes makes me laugh out loud; a way of getting inside her characters so that they feel larger than life, but also like someone you used to know. And thank God she does, because frankly, just about the only thing this book has going for it is that Casey McQuiston wrote it. Two gorgeous, rich, basically insufferable 28-year-old kids on a three week luxury food and wine tour across Southern Europe. I think I would like them if they were my friends—their enthusiasm, their humor—but they're not my friends, they're characters in a novel, and I spent way too much of this book skimming endless pretentious conversations about wine and pastries and wishing they would, you know, shut up.

We see almost nothing of France, Spain, or Italy you wouldn’t see from a tour bus. Which, to be fair, is absolutely logical and realistic—but compared to what an observant author is capable of showing of a place, also utterly impoverished. When, in the second half, one of our leads starts reflexively quoting Rilke, it is almost a relief—at last, something like substantive engagement with human culture, a book actually read and loved and internalized, to enliven the never-ending parade of paintings and churches. That said, I settled in after a while, accepted the tour and novel for what they are: decadent, indulgent, shallow, capitalist, and basically realistic (if we set aside the ease with which threesomes seem to arrange themselves, at least).

No, the problem at the novel’s heart, for me, lies in the relationship, not the setting. Here, too, Casey McQuiston proves herself an exquisitely good author, equally adept at heartfelt conversations, unvoiced soliloquies, and raw, vulnerable, pleasurable sex (there’s a sex scene towards the end good enough to justify reading the book all on its own, honestly). But—and what follows could be construed as a spoiler, though I don’t think I ever really doubted it—our leads love each other on page one. They have always loved each other. They always will. Which means, in the novel, on the tour, they’re not falling in love, they’re miscommunicating. In three countries. By the end, I was more or less persuaded that their extraordinary sexual chemistry alone was grounds enough for marriage, but I spent much of the novel fending off the suspicion that they would really be better off if they just got over each other.

Four stars because almost everything I dislike about this book is contained in its premise, and honestly it’s so well executed on its own terms that I should probably be giving it five—but if I rated books based solely on how I feel about them in my heart, it might be closer to two.

Not sure how this got onto my shelf, and I would love to read and review this book. But I stand with Readers for Accountability and am withholding my reviews until SMP comes to the table and takes action to address the racism and homophobia from the employees.

I went into this reading being a fan of the author and at first I thought I was going to end up not liking this novel because the vibe felt very different from their other novels. However as I read on I fell in love with two chaos bisexuals on an European tour filled with horniness and repressed emotions.

I think this novel can be summarized in a few lines from the musical version of The Notebook.

The way we used to be
The things we'll never have

I still remember the first time we kissed.

I've even fallen in love with the way that you write a grocery list.

Two messy, horny, bisexual exes go on a food tour of Europe and quite literally fuck around and find out. That's it, that's the book.

And my God, I loved it.

This is McQuiston's most delightfully, unapologetically queer book yet. I laughed out loud multiple times while reading this, and I felt swept away to the different locations. (Warning: reading this WILL make you hungry, and all I had to eat was leftover Domino's. Which is really, truly, not the same thing.)

This book is decadent, intimate, hilarious, and breathtaking. I absolutely adored it.

2.5/5 Stars

I really enjoyed previous books by this author, but this one was a miss for me personally. I felt like I was having a tough time staying invested in the characters and relationship. I also was a bit thrown off about the switch in the POV midway through the book, I feel like I would have enjoyed this more if it were alternating from the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of the ebook and audiobook.

This wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. Exes who go on a sexual conquest bender across Europe to prove how over the other they are when they find themselves on the same trip sounded like catnip to me. This ended up not being quite right. I don't know if this was an audiobook problem for me but Theo's narration started feeling very manic in the first half.

I'm wildly annoyed that the initial breakup and years lost amounted to a miscommunication from two people who talk constantly and are relatively decent at having the hard conversations. The time apart was good for them but come on.

I loved that the minute Theo had a conversation with Kit about pronouns and their identity, that was it. All the 'she's' used in the story to that point are retconned and that's all they wrote on the matter.

2.5 / 5 stars !

this book, being that it is written by casey, was one of my most anticipated and looked forward to books of the year, and for me, it disappointed severely.

the chapters are long and drawn out, a lot of what goes on seems to be repetitive, and the two mcs are very one dimensional to me, the only thing that they have is their one respective interests and that's sort of their entire personality.. if you don't share those interests, frankly you're bored like i was.

thank you to the publishers and netgalley for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Casey McQuiston is usually hot or miss for me and I'm happy to report The Pairing was a mostly a hit! I found the book a little difficult to get into initially but once I found my groove I enjoyed the story.

Kit and Theo were in love and then they broke up and then they ended up on a European bus tour together. Theo's character was kind of hard to love - they are stubborn and the world's worst communicator. Kit isn't much better - it's no wonder they ended up splitting. There's some spice but not a crazy amount so if you enjoy that and the miscommunication trope or love to read beautiful descriptions of Europe and food you'll like The Pairing..

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Casey McQuiston does it again, brining us the perfect summer getaway read!

This book is filled with all the delicacies life has to offer while still brining that emotional whirlwind that makes the story feel more real. I absolutely devoured this and while the changing of the character’s POV did throw me out of the book for a hot second, I got sucked into this just like any other of McQuiston’s previous books. I’ve never read another romance book quite like this one and while it probably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s worth the read just to hear about Theo and Kit’s trip through Europe while you sit at home wishing you were there too!

I will be withholding my review of this book in solidarity with the <a href="https://r4acollective.org/">St. Martin's Press boycott</a>.

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin

2/5 Stars. This one just was not for me.

I've read everything Casey McQuiston has ever put out into the universe, but this one just hit all the things I'm not a fan of unfortunately.

Two exes find they've accidentally booked the same overseas wine and food tour and decide to slut their way across Europe in a competition that should also serve to prove HOW over each other they are.

As the great Sally Owens once said, "Since when is being a slut a crime in this family?"

I mean this book was a complete and unrepentant sexual romp. A bunch of young, rich, privileged kids who have nothing better to do than run a train on each other and eat good food. I mean, I love that for them honestly. That wasn't even my issue with the book.

My problem was that I didn't care about the main pairing. Granted, I am not generally a fan of "second-chance" romances or even the "friends to lovers" trope. I find it often boring, and weirdly expectant of at least one party. But this is CM, and as I said, I've read all of their published works. I enjoy their humor, their irreverence. I'm always down to give anything a shot once. But I couldn't connect to Kit, and Theo was. A lot. to deal with. And not in the good way. It seemed more about a couple of spoiled brats more than it was about a great love reconnecting through trial and error.

I don't know. Maybe I wasn't in the headspace for this. Maybe I just really do not like the tropes displayed here. But I slogged through this book for months, missing the fun that I usually get from one of Casey's books. I'm sure plenty of people will love this. It is queer indulgence in book form, I will give it that.