I am hard to please when it comes to second chance romances. This one didn’t convince me the characters should be back together and I wasn’t very invested in their relationship.

I have loved Casey McQuiston's book, so I was highly anticipating The Pairing. I had to make multiple attempts to finish this book. I had a hard time liking or even caring about the main characters. I will not be posting about this on my social media accounts, as I reserve those spaces for positive reviews only.

Thank you to the publisher for an ALC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

DNF at 60%

This book is about 2 slutty bisexuals realizing they're both terrible at communication, still in love with each other, and really into every single European stereotype you can imagine.

This book is way too long for what it is. At the 58% mark I was just over it. It's not that serious.

Also, if you're a nepo baby with money, stop trying to cosplay being a "normal person not living off Mommy and Daddy's money." It's annoying. Just spread the wealth.

Ughhh I'm so so sad about this, but I'm DNFing. I'm just bored and not really connected to either character. I'm also really struggling with the other characters, all the horniness, and how many times I'm hearing the word "f*ck." Also, I can't with miscommunication. Grateful for the ARC, but this one isn't for me.

"I'm a speakeasy person. I love a brilliant secret."

This book was all about secrets and what they do and do not do. The tension was good and the banter was actually funny and sometimes sweet. I was annoyed with the main character on occasion, but I think overall the book was as good as I'd hoped having read (and loved) other Casey McQuiston stuff.

DNF @15%

I need more yearning. I think where The Pairing shines is in the youthful joy of drinking too much and flirting with everyone around you. And I love that this book exists for people who want to experience that through the pages of this book. It is not, however, for me.

I am normally not a huge fan of MM/MM books but I just adored The Pairing. I was amazed at the reviews because I thought it was cute! I mean they both had their issues but the whole point is to work through them and get to the good stuff.

The Pairing follows Theo and Kit, exes who are thrown together on a European food and wine tour. The chemistry between them is undeniable, but unresolved feelings complicate things. While I enjoyed the book for its charm and setting, it didn’t quite capture me the way Red, White & Royal Blue did. The characters’ dynamic felt a little repetitive at times, but it’s still a fun and engaging read for fans of second-chance romance.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

I am so conflicted about this book. Starting with the personal likes and dislikes, this book was way more about sex than I thought it was going to be. That's my bad tbh, who wouldn't have thought about a hookup competition as being heavily about sex? Apparently me.

I also wished that I could have seen more of Theo's point of view instead of just a split from first half being Theo and second half being Kit. I wanted so badly to see Theo's growth and how they developed self-love and confidence, but of course Kit's POV couldn't give the depth of that. I think it would have made the romance stronger for me, because it felt like the book was essentially Theo being upset about feeling like they are a failure and then Kit just randomly being obsessed with them. Kit had more growth than anyone, right at the end, but I wanted more depth from that.

I did love the nonbinary representation and the support that Theo gets on so many levels. There was a depth to that that felt like the most genuine thing in the book, which I really appreciated.

I just wanted *more* from this book than what it had to give.

*MANY SPOILERS AHEAD, BEWARE!*

I did not really enjoy this book. To be honest, it felt like ‘what if CMQ rewrote Call Me By Your Name and Timothée Chalemet was actually in the book’. Kit was basically a bisexual Chalemet and there was even a “sexy” peach scene.

I didn’t particularly like either character, Theo or Kit. The first half of the book is from Theo’s POV and it’s fairly insufferable, I did not enjoy being in their head. Then we switch to Kit’s POV and he’s just so fucking sappy and pretentious.

I don’t like second chance romances usually, I’m not sure that I’ve ever actually read one that I enjoyed, so I guess I should have known that going into this. We have two people who are super horny for each other, but rather than use their words and tell each other how they feel, they have a sex contest, to see who can sleep with the most people during their food and wine tour. So, it had the second chance romance trope, which I dislike, *and* the lack of/miscommunication trope, which I also very much dislike. And I’m certainly not a prude, but I just found the sex contest to be so… dumb? And, mildly harmful? Like, I don’t even know…

Usually when I read a book that heavily features food or wine I end up wanting to try all the things. I am very easily influenced by food and drink in books. And I am currently having zero interest in anything mentioned in this book. I tried Horlicks because it was mentioned in a book (even though the character admits that he doesn’t even really like it). So the fact that I’m not even having a craving for a pain au chocolat or a nice glass of red wine is really weird for me. I think maybe that there was just too much in terms of the wine and drink? Maybe? And nothing was really all that compelling, despite the extravagant descriptions. And, okay, I know that sommeliers have a wildly sensitive sense of taste, but I’m sorry, I don’t want to be consuming anything that has *hints of saddle leather*.

And overall, I just don’t know that I believe in Theo and Kit’s love story. There was so much pining throughout almost the whole book, but then they make really dumb choices, but oh look, we’re together in the end!

And, another thing I just could not with, was Kit’s whole nosebleed situation. Like, he gets emotional nosebleeds? And then Theo is so overcome with how romantic it is, that they kiss him while he’s having a nosebleed? *contains strong notes of fucking nose blood* 🤮

I feel like I was supposed to really love this book, but it just did not at all work for me. It just came across as two obnoxious Americans being obnoxious on a European food and wine tour.

Another deeply compelling romantic tale from Casey McQuiston that takes us all across Europe. I didn't love the main characters at first, but they grew on me a lot and I thoroughly enjoyed the breadth of their adventures across the continent as they fell back in love.

This was really cute.

The audio book was decently done, but I hated the intros to every chapter.

I also had trouble buying into an almost sommelier spending time in Bordeaux at la cité du vin 🍷 as a former resident, #BordeauxMaVille this is implausible.

This book is one big miscommunication. It was a second chance romance between two queer characters. I enjoyed the representation and the variety in the characters but I did not love how everything centered around the miscommunication. The characters encounter one another on a trip they were meant to take together 4 years prior before a break up that neither knew they initiated. Theo was a bit of a powerhouse with little care about others feelings. They initiate the hook up competition that they later acknowledge was out of SPITE and Jealousy. I preferred reading from Kitts perspective. He seemed more developed as a character with more solid feelings and opinions. I think that a lot of the issues could have been avoided if they actually spoke to one another. I did not enjoy their transition to hooking up with each other "casually" while neither acknowledged their feelings. It felt very uncomfortable and sad, like they were both using each other without ever admitting to hoe they felt.
What I did like was how both characters came into themselves and loved themselves for who they are now and not who they were.
Kitt was so accepting of Theos identity and I enjoyed getting to read about a non binary person from the perspective of someone who loved them.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC.

This is a story about traveling the world to find your home.

There were parts of this I really enjoyed, and it made me laugh out loud. The travel abroad vibes and second chance romance elements were really fun and as always Casey nails the queer rep. The nepo baby struggles made me roll my eyes a bit, and it felt verrrrry long but it was overall still a cute book.
3.5. 1 rounded to 4.

Thank you so much Netgalley St. Martin's Griffin and Macmillan audio for the copy!

I wanted to love this one so much.. and maybe it’s me hyping it up, after obsessing over how much I loved Red, White & Royal Blue, and One Last Stop… but it was just okay for me.

I paired the book with the audio format, and thought the banter was great, and definitely came to life by narrator Emma Galvin and Max Meyers.

*many thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

I really wanted to love this book, but something fell flat. I came really close to DNFing about halfway through. I think for me it was mostly in the dialogue, and this could have been something with the audiobook, but I just didn't feel it like I wanted to. I also usually love a book centered around food, but again, something fell flat that I can't quite put my finger on. I didn't feel immersed in the world and story like I wanted to. Maybe part of it is that I tend to gravitate more towards plot driven books, if I’m going to read a character driven book I need to be really invested in the characters and the world, and with this one I just really wasn’t invested.

Thank you NetGalley for the audio version of this book. The story was a sweet second chance romance with delicious food and wine pairings.
I did not really enjoy the narrator’s. They both needed to do accents that neither could pull off at all and it made me cringe.

I have read all of Casey McQuiston's books, and this is definitely a close favorite! (Red, White and Royal Blue will always be my favorite book!) I loved the characters and their journey. I felt like I was right there traveling with them, and now I need a European vacation, stat! :D

Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

I love Casey and this book was no exception! It was such a fun concept and I felt like I was on the tour right along with the characters.

I wasn't the biggest fan of this book. The first half of the book was engaging and kept me wanting more, but by the middle of the book I was bored. It just seemed too long of a story that could've easily been condensed.