Thank you so much for this advanced copy! This was one of my most anticipated reads because I adore all of McQuiston’s works. Unfortunately this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me - I didn’t love the characters and found the plot rather repetitive. Still, a decent read and I’ll still look forward to McQuiston’s future works.

I have struggled with Casey McQuiston's books since their debut, but this might be their best work yet. The Pairing is a love letter to food and wine, a beautiful exploration of sexuality, and a heartwarming journey of self-discovery and acceptance in all its forms. From the first chapter, I was enthralled by Theo and Kit, with each of them latching onto my heart in different ways. This is definitely a book I will be rereading once it comes out and recommending to everyone who is looking for a romantic and sexy trip through Europe.

While I've had the pleasure of reading a few of McQuiston's books in the past, I was so pleasantly blown away by the LOVELINESS of The Pairing. A second-chance romance is one of my favorite tropes to read, and the settings of this story were so gorgeously described via the remarkable imagery and somehow even the FLAVORS of each region we visited.

This was also the most positively sex-inclusive book I've had the pleasure of reading in quite some time, maybe ever. This inclusion, and particularly the wonderfully-written conversation about Theo's pronouns, have prompted me to recommend this book to friends as a positive example and a breath of fresh air.

I did find some of the food and wine descriptions only barely tedious, but found I could skim those when I needed to - I wouldn't even count that as a con for this book. In all, I absolutely ADORED this read for it's characters, their love story, and for making me constantly alternate between laughing and sweating.

Huge thanks to Casey McQuiston, St. Martin's Griffin, and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Im floating between 3.75 and 4 stars. This was cute and hot but it also got a bit repetitive in the middle. Still a good time though!

Wow, this was one of the most immersive books I have read in a long, long time. As a foodie, I had such a fun time reading this book. It straight up made me hungry and I felt like I was along for for the tour of Europe that Kit and Theo were on. I learned quite a bit about European wine, food, and culture and the banter was top notch. The only thing that I really hated about this book was the competition to see who could sleep with more people on the trip (when they were obviously in love with each other). Without that storyline, this book would have been near perfect--but then we also wouldn't have gotten the "that still only counts as one!" line that had me cackling. I adored the nerdy Tolkienisms and highly recommend this book!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that has touch my soul so much. Everything about this book was beautiful. Watching how Kit and Theo fell in love in their youth before even fully understanding what love was, to being completely consumed with each other in their early twenties to figuring out we’re each other fit in their new lives.

I loved the bi representation of both characters in this book while also exploring Theo’s gender and not fully being ready or willing to give up the she/her to avoid being upset by the norms but also preferring being compared to more masculine traits.

I genuinely had to take breaks while reading this book because it truly just hit on a lot of things about myself and my life that I don’t like to think about. This book is going to stick to my soul for the rest of my life I think.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC! Having read Red, White, and Royal Blue (3 stars) and One Last Stop (4 stars), I was excited for McQuiston’s next adult book! Also as a bisexual woman, I was really excited for the bi rep!! While the book was a fun read, I felt like I never really connected with any of the characters. Also, as others have stated, the bi stereotype of being a slut is definitely perpetuated here— which is fine to demonstrate sexual freedom, but it would be nice to see at least one bi character who isn’t so over sexualized.

I was blown away by the opportunity to read this ARC, and Casey’s new book did not disappoint!

I haven’t read anything quite like this before, and as a romance reader, plots, tropes and saucey scenes can start to feel a bit repetitive. I felt like this story was so unique!

All the delicious descriptions of food and cocktails made me crave booking a food tour in Europe! 🤤

I really loved that we got both characters POVs, and loved how the beginning of the book started with individual POVs of the end and the beginning. I think that the POV switching halfway through the book gave such a valuable perspective of their relationship.

Kit and Theo’s love is precious, they love each other SO fully. The way they each talk about each other in their POVs just made my heart swell.

I love that they’re each battling their own struggles, identities and desires for their lives as they realize they never stopped loving one another.

This was saucier than I expected but I loved every second and felt like the scenes we got were so creative!

I wasn’t sure how the ending was going to wrap up in the last 5-10%, and whether I was going to like it, but the ending was better than I even expected!

I wish we had gotten an epilogue from each POV but that’s just a small thing. For me, I loved the whole book but the latter half of the book was much slower paced (this very might have just been my timing / life and not the book itself).

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Move over, Lord Byron! Mamma Mia meets Call Me By Your Name in modern history's most bisexual European adventure. Theo and Kit are childhood best friends and former lovers who reunite unexpectedly on a food and wine tour of Western Europe - a tour they were meant to take together four years earlier, on the eve of their breakup. The story - the first half narrated by Theo and the second half by Kit - follows the duo's relationship as they traverse the continent on a mission to to see who can have the greatest number of love affairs (and definitely not to reconnect with each other in the process!)

The novel is a languorous, illuminated dream of Europe, ambling from Paris to San Sebastián to Naples. Combine every romanticized movie, every stunning visual, every jealousy-inducing TikTok travel compilation you've ever seen and you'll get an idea of the atmosphere McQuinston is evoking. It's a gorgeously unrealistic portrait of travel, of course - pure beauty and wonder with every harsh edge sanded off (not ONE mention of food poisoning or leg cramps or lost luggage) but it nonetheless works in the context of the warm fairy tale dream world that seems to characterize all of McQuinston's work. This is also the first book in which I've sincerely admired the beauty of their prose: McQinston is a wizard with adjectives, creating a sumptuous, sensory experience equal to each country's atmosphere and unique cuisine.

Theo and Kit are a departure from McQuinstion's typical characters - significantly more introspective, for one thing, with side characters taking enough of a backseat to allow their inner lives to leap off the page. I enjoyed living in both their heads, and even moreso enjoyed the absolutely glorious celebration of bisexuality and genderfluidity that each uniquely represents. Their romance was a delicious slowborn rife with fanfic style tropes. I only had a few gripes - firstly, the degree to which the novel fell into overly indulgent fanfic rhythms at times (I kid you not that there is an entire chapter told in the "5 times x did x....." one shot style) and secondly the scant acknowledgment of the enormous wealth and privilege funding both Theo and Kit's journeys (visibly cringed during a scene in which Theo complains about how much it sucks to be rich and refuse to take money from your movie star family).

Complaints aside, at its core the novel is an elevation of the sappy summer beach read genre - expect to roll your eyes a few times, but also to find a goofy, heartfelt character study of two people rediscovering each other and themselves.

The Pairing is the epitome of second chance romance. It also holds a lot of friends to lovers to enemies to friends to lovers again charm. The depictions are super vivid and make you feel like you’re with Theo and Kit in the moment. It was very relatable when each character showed how deeply they had allowed their perceptions to influence their feelings about their breakup. I enjoyed this book and it was a pretty easy read.

Thank you so much, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.


Theo and Kit have been best friends, crushes, in love and now exes. After a brutal breakup on a Transantlatic flight for their food and wine tour, they exited each other's lives for good.
Now after 4 years, time apart did them good. Theo is more confident in themselves, they work as bartender and studies to become a sommelier, between casual lovers, while Kit never returned to USA with them and now in Paris, he's a sex god, working in a famous restaurant. Both of them mourn what they had and fate pushes them together when they decide to use their voucher for the wine and food tour at the same time, finding themselves on the same tour. To prove they are truly over one other, they start a sexy bet, who can sleep with most people during their trip wins. Between lushious views in France, Spain and Italy, they slowly understand what happened to them years ago. And if it's possible to save anything between them.

If I say I SQUEALED like an idiot when I got the chance to read one of my most anticipated reads of 2024...it would be totally true.
I love Casey Mcquiston and every single book is perfect and this one is not an exception. Two bisexual disasters, and ex, book the same European food and wine tour and start and hookup competition to prove they are over each other. What could possibly go wrong?
This book is a whole experience. Not only it's split between Kit's version and Theo's, but beween cities and you have to believe me when I tell you it's an experience you can almost see and taste. Lushious and stunning views bring these incredibly complex characters in Spain, France and Italy tasting cannoli and French pastries and drinking wine and tasting what's inside, while flirting with waiters and the tour guide, while flirting with each other and so much more. It's lush and decadent and it melts in your mouth like a piece of chocolate.
The setting is phenomenal, hugging and supporting Theo's and Kit's journeys, from heartbroken exes to friends with benefits and more than that, in three weeks time, while they slowly grow close to understand why they broke up and if they still love one other enough to change their lives for good.

I'm not surprised to say the characterization is incredible, like in all Casey Mcquiston's book. Theo is a young person struggling to find their own way, not to be associate with the family name, to be something and someone for their own talents and Kit is trying to understand what he wants. It's nice to see both of their POVs and how Casey Mcquiston talks about their past, showing how much they have grown and, at the same time, how much they know each other, their idiosincracies and insecurities and reactions to life events.
This book is pretty layered. Not only the setting is lush and intriguing and the reader is swept into a food and wine tour and it's impossible not to be curious to taste what they are eating, between pastas and meat and pastries, while visiting churches and beaches and vineyard, but also this book is spicy and sexy and it was really good seeing how, beside the first huge misunderstanding, this trope wasn't used to propel the story forward.
Theo and Kit are an important part of each other's lives and it was unbelievably good, almost, cathartic, reading how sex became love and how able they were to talk with each other and about each other. It was like the whole tour was a build up to their conclusion, a perfect tied knot to their story.
Also nice were the other characters, like the sexy and brilliant Fabrizio, the Calums with Dakota and Montana and their exploits and how they whole food and wine tour was, at the same time, a background to Theo-and-Kit's story and integral to it.
This romantic comedy has everything you could hope for. It's tasty, sexy and funny. You can almost eat and drink with them, ride a Vespa though Rome, fall in love again and again with the food and the views and each other.
PERFECTION

Was able to read advance copy via NetGalley. I was really excited to read this for a lot of reasons. I loved Red, White, and Royal blue. I’m bisexual, married to a bisexual. I was ready for this book

While there were many things I thought were great such as insights into the queer experience that felt real, there was much that didn’t work for me relating to the queer experience. The main being the slutty bisexual stereotype. It’s hard enough for society to understand that bisexuals can and often are monogamous, but this book both pushed the must bring in a third as a bisexual and the must sleep with any thing that flirts idea. A challenge to sleep with the most people as the push to get them back together? There was so much more potential there.

There were a lot of awkward scenes as well. A weird obsession with fruit, especially on sexual ways. It also seemed to lack the depth for many of the characters. With all the people they were sleeping with, related to, on the tour with, and/or worked with, it was hard to keep track of all these people. There were times I forgot who the main character was.

The depth of the main characters was lacking too. Switching narrators is not a new thing in romance, but it was weird to switch midway, and it didn’t really make sense why other than to make it seem like Kit’s reveal as gender queer was a big deal. Maybe it was, but it was pretty clear from the beginning to me. Because we only get glimpses of their past, and much of the present is focused on who each person is sleeping with on the tour, it’s hard to feel that connection to their relationship. What little we have is almost solely focused on physical. Then it sort of seemed to rush to the end once they started giving in to their “love.”

It’s entirely possibly my expectations were too high going in, but I didn’t get the same satisfaction I had hoped for. Was it a fun read? Sure. Do I regret reading? No. But in terms of other books I’ve read recently, it was rather middle of the road. Still adore the author though. 💜

I was really excited for this and enjoyed it but not as much as I had hoped to. Other books by McQuiston practically changed my brain chemistry (Hello, I’m talking to you One Last Stop) and this, while lovely in many regards, didn't wow me. The beginning grabbed me and I knew we were in for a ride while we watched Theo and Kit get back together. I just wanted more. I loved the slow reveal of Theos self awareness. I wanted more. I ached for them when they couldn't just get it together and be together. I enjoyed the foodie aspects but wanted more about them and less about the food. The angst was good, the tender moments were so sweet. It just felt like it took them forever to realize what we all knew and then it was over.

Theo's travel voucher for their dream trip through France, Italy and Spain is about to expire, so they book the trip they were supposed to take with their previous partner Kit. Kit having moved to France after their break up, was the last thing to cross Theo's mind until they find the last seat available on the bus and finds Kit seated beside them.

This is novel was absolutely everything I look for in a romance; second chances, forced proximity, Europe. It did not disappoint. The book was easy to read and had some heartfelt hilarious moments and also some parts that had me on the brink of tears. Needless to say Casey McQuiston is an auto buy author for me and will continue to remain so!

This is the third book I’ve read by this author and the beginning just was too much. It felt like it was trying really hard to be scandalous and I wasnt into it. Hopefully other people will love it!

Casey McQuiston has done it again! I laughed, I cried, I loved every second of this. McQuiston is a master of creating characters you can’t help but love but still real. Kit and Theo are perfect and so is the story. This is their best one since the breakout star Red, White, and Royal Blue!

I got an early copy of this book to read for in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to see that I was excited to receive "The Pairing" by Casey McQuiston. I have been such a fan of their writing from the first of their books I read and second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes. There is something about the yearning and miscommunication that I can't seem to get enough of.

At first, I was really enjoying the story and getting to know the characters. McQuiston's voice and banter were on point, like usual. But the more the story went on, the less I enjoyed it. I wish we had been able to read more flashbacks to get acquainted with Theo and Kit's relationship from BEFORE so that their actions and tension made a little more sense and felt a little more impactful in the PRESENT.

While I did like Theo and Kit, I just felt a little annoyed by the end and wished their story had wrapped up several chapters before it did. The sex competition was silly and sexy at first, but then it got repetitive and I just wished they'd TALK to each other about everything that happened instead of having sex with other people about it.

Overall, "The Pairing" had its moments, and McQuiston's writing style is still something I love. However, it didn't quite hit the mark for me this time around. I’m still looking forward to what McQuiston comes up with next!

Fun, cheeky little story about characters that I think just have more growing up to do. A lot of their behavior was hard for me to read, but at the core of this book is a fun read that promises all the warm, fuzzy feelings in the end.

The whole time I was reading this book it felt like my willpower was being tested. I wanted to DNF so many times, but since I got the arc I told myself I was going to push through and finish it even if it cost me my sanity.

It didn’t fully dawn on me how much I hated this book until I was nearly finished it. My thoughts going through were mostly “I have to finish this” and for awhile that was it. But somewhere around the 90% mark I could feel a smile taking over my face, not because the ending was happy or cute, no, because I was almost finished.

I’ll get the positives out of the way first. It had a nice summer vibe to it. Sometimes. And I guess things picked up a bit when we got Kit’s point of view since he was less annoying. Ok, that’s all, moving on to what I didn’t like.

This was a struggle for me from beginning to end. I didn’t feel a connection to the characters, I didn’t feel their chemistry, all so felt was their never ending HORNINESS for 363 pages. I seriously can’t stress it enough, whatever level you’re expecting going into the story needs to be multiplied by 10. At least. I never really understood why they originally loved each other and I definitely didn’t get when they fell back in love since all they did was hookup. I never understood them individually either since the most developed part about them was their hormones.

The plot also got really redundant really fast. They go to this city, drink, meet hot people, sleep with them, sometimes have a moment and then repeat. And repeat and repeat. Even when the plot shifted a bit, it wasn’t much, it just became go to this city, drink, meet hot people, mess around with each other and then repeat. Had I cared about the characters or their relationship maybe the repetitiveness wouldn’t have gotten to me so much, but the characters were annoying and so was their “relationship” so it got stale fast.

The reasoning behind their breakup being a miscommunication also annoyed me. That’s all I really have to say about that but it couldn’t go without mentioning since it was one of the million things that had me rolling my eyes.

Overall, I can definitely see this working for some people, but everything about it grated my nerves.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!


~Rating: ★ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰.75~

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Never in a million years did i think i would get an arc for a new Casey McQuiston release but here we are! I am beyond grateful to St. Martin's press for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review. In all honesty, this was not my favorite Casey McQuiston. In the middle of the book, the plot seemed to come to a screeching halt and then dragged for a decent amount. That being said, I still love McQuiston's writing. I loved the atmosphere of this book and navigating Kit ad Theo's complex relationship. I will definitely be buying a copy upon release, but I do have to admit, this was not my favorite.