I’m not sure I understand the relationship between our two main characters. I get that they’re in their 20’s…that things are still being figured out…but why is miscommunication even happening?! There is too much history to not ask questions.

Crazy, toxic relationship woes aside. I enjoyed this book for its representation and exploration of food, wine, and friends! I liked the unconventional vulnerability as it reminds the reader that even strong willed people can find love and understanding. Ultimately, it made me want to simplify my life to only enjoy good food, good wine, and good books.

The audiobook narrated by Emma Galvin and Max Meyers provided a level of personality that probably would not have come across on the page. I appreciate the language pronunciations as well. Both are easily understood at faster speeds.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, St Martin’s Press, and author Casey McQuiston for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Casey McQuiston is one of my favorite authors. They write something, I read it. It's that easy. While their books aren't really on my list of all time favorites, the reason I love them as an author, is that I've always found their books to be quite enjoyable. I can pick them up and devour them. They've written 4 books at the time of The Pairing's publication and this sits at number 4 on my list and while that may be technically last place, this is a list made up of books that don't miss.

McQuiston has a skill of having this novels with great representation for the LGBTQIA+ community but without being ham-handed about it. They write so genuine about the community and it's not just because they're part of it, it's just their skill as a writer.

This was a cute story with mostly likeable characters. I found the two leads to be insufferable at certain points of the book and I even yelled at the pages a couple times because the trope of miscommunication is so prominent. But that aside, I really enjoyed this book. McQuiston made me want to drink more wine, eat fancier food, and go on a vacation across Europe. But I'm poor so I'll just stick to the wine.

This was also the most sexually explicit of her books and while it's not pornographic by any means, it's worth noting that the characters do get down and dirty a few times.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This had an interesting premise when I read the synopsis, I enjoyed Kit's POV. Theo came off whiny and especially when the reveal of why they broke up happens. All I'll say is, I don't care much for that trope (rhymes with schmishcommunication😅). These MCs are hella horny. The steamy scenes were there, but also not really with anyone other than with the MCs together. As far as the plot of them having a "sex competition", seemed very much overshadowed by all the angst. I don't know if I would've considered this a romance genre-wise, maybe just fiction.
The food descriptions in this book are so good! 😋
The European trip aspect seems very much like a movie, the other characters also taking the trip gave a very 'My Life in Ruins' vibe. All that being said I did enjoy Kit's character, he seemed to genuinely care for Theo. Theo seemed a bit more self-absorbed and not really trying to be up front with Kit about what they were going through. I might need to read this one physically to get more out of it.


Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC audiobook copy!

I really liked this book, the combo of travelogue, foodie nonsense, and queer culture was a winner. I feel like this is the first McQuiston where the characters aren’t discovering their sexuality, they’re more adult and comfortable in their queer identities. The one narrator, for the second half, almost turned me off the whole book though.

This one began with great promise, featuring an appealing premise of a European food and wine tour.

I primarily listened to the audiobook companion, and Emma Galvin and Max Meyers did a fantastic job narrating. I absolutely loved their portrayed accents!

McQuiston is a leading voice in LGBTQ+ representation in their writing, and naturally, this one was filled with plenty of spice and sensuality, embracing all the promiscuity.

This ultimately fell a bit flat for me, as I never fully connected with the characters, but I absolutely enjoyed the rich culture, scenic setting, and all the food and wine!

3.5 rounded to 4 for Goodreads

Everyone is hot, and everyone is horny. And there are many, many miscommunications that made me want to scream. The book's pacing was slow and there was next to no growth from either main character.

I loved this return to McQuiston's writing, and the deft handling of complicated queer identities. I can tell this either went through several sensitivity readings or that McQuistion has excelled at doing her homework to properly represent the demographics her characters are emblematic of. There is only support and understanding for all life choices therein. This was my first 'spicy' book by McQuistin and that was handled with such delightful aplomb and skill writing as well. The fascination with food, travel, love, and self-possession as well as self-identity absolutely runs this one.

The narrator's are as delight as well, infusing much warmth and feeling into the characters. I absolutely forgot they were not those voices and they became the characters I was falling in love with and rooting for. They have my supreme vote of confidence in the job they did.

Casey McQuiston always gives us fun. I had heard varying degrees of reviews prior to digging into this and now I will firmly say that the people who gave this negative reviews for the sexual content have either A. Never read queer fiction or B. Only read inspirational/cozy romances. This book does have spice but it is by far from the worst thing I've read this year. The characters have a wonderful dynamic that I enjoyed seeing go back and forth. I really did hope this was going to be another wlw, but was pleasantly surprised by diverse representation from both characters. I am personally a huge fan of second chance romance, especially the soul mate trope, so this was a great pick for me.
As far as read-alikes are concerned, if you read Emily Henry's Happy Place and wished it was gayer, this is the book for you.

The Pairing is a very specific type of story for very specific type of people. Its spicy, flirty, vibrant and well researched in both the locations and food/drink mentioned throughout. You can tell the author really sunk their teeth in to this one to get all the little details just right for the tour and character's experiences to feel real to the reader.

I'm not one to shy away from spice by any means and going in to this book from the summary it was obvious it would be spicy. My issue is that there isnt enough character depth or plot to back it up. Things, while beautiful, felt hollow. Our characters go through the story living this fantasy tour which realistically only works because theyre both attractive and wealthy. There are a lot of things in this story that you cant think too hard about because it just wouldnt ever really make sense or happen the way they do. But for a fun and sexy romance book we can go with the flow for the most part!

Rounding up my final rating to 4 stars.

Very cute, I think this a really clever way to show the flexibility of queer relationships and bisexuality. Very fun premise. I love the travel aspect. I will definitely recommend.

The Pairing was sensual, tantalizing good fun. Casey’s writing is as fabulous and funny as ever, and the foodie inspired world travels of the two main characters made me want to eat and drink my way thru this rom com. Cinematic, sexual, hungry for more!

I really enjoyed the premise of this book, and I have always been a big fan of Casey McQuiston's other novels. However, I was a little confused when the narrator shifted halfway through the book and we never returned back to the point of view of Theo. I think the book itself would have flowed much more smoothly for the audience had the character shifted back and forth between the two characters instead of one drastic shift halfway through.

That being said, I did enjoy the audiobook narrators of this book and I thought that the story was fun and charming.

Casey McQuiston was so descriptive with not only the sights and sounds of Theo & Kit's European tour, but also the food and wine. Listening to this book made me so hungry in the best way.

Emma Galvin is one of my favorite narrators, so I enjoyed her part of reading the Theo half of the book, even though Theo was a bit of a downer by constantly putting themselves down. The narrator for Kit (Max Meyers) was also enjoyable, and the Kit chapters were a lot more uplifting than Theo's.

Overall, this was a great queer romance, but it was very spicy. So if that's your thing, this book would be great. And if it's not, it might be one to skip as there is nothing tame or closed-door about this book. It had a slower pace and did take a bit to get into, but it was worth the listen/read to me.

3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen and review!

I enjoyed this audiobook but I’m undecided if I could recommend listening versus reading. The narrator for the first half of the book was horrible. Once you switch POVs in the second half, the new narrator is amazing.

As for the story, it took me a while to get invested but I ended up really enjoying it.

The audiobook narrators were good but I was overall disappointed with the book. I don't like how it basically started over halfway to give the other POV. I know this was marketed as a horny book, but it was too horny for my tastes.

Cute, easy read. Narration utilizes different voices well to create a fun experience. Will be keeping an eye out for more from this author.

Very slow pacing. Almost DNF. Found the first Main Character very whiny and annoying. I lmost didn't like the very likable second one, just because he liked them.

The second half of the book was much better than the first. This book will make you want to quit your life and just travel and ear. It was a bit spicier than I expected, but that made it more intersting.

I really enjoyed the setting of the story. It was everything I could have hoped for! I'm a big fan of anything food-related, and in this story, the food almost felt like a character to me.

However, I found the characters to be somewhat flat when they should have been more intriguing and dynamic. I wish the side characters, especially the ones on the tour with Theo and Kit, had been more developed. I found Theo annoying, and their baby's behavior was eye-rolling and also annoying. They seemed self-centered and not very self-aware, although this was somewhat addressed in the story.

One of my favorite parts was Kit's character development. When the point of view changed to Kit, I really started to enjoy the book because his emotions felt genuine and believable.

I DNFed this one. I enjoyed Casey McQuiston's other books, but this one really felt like it moved too slowly for me. I wanted to like it, so I'm up to give it another try in the future.

This was a struggle for me to get through. It was difficult being in Theo’s head for the first half (the negativity and constant self-censure was not a great place to be living in). When we could be in Kit’s head for the second half, things greatly improved and I started to really blow through the remainder of the book. However, I credit part of that to switching to the audiobook.

Ultimately, I couldn’t get behind the inherently objectifying premise of competing with your ex to get laid with as many people as possible as you travel across a continent. There was something extremely icky about how they used real people as pawns in their one-upsmanship without ever cluing them in on it. All that aside, I’m also not one who reads romance for the smut, or the horny escalation toward it. And this book had a lot of that.

Truly, though, if any of this sounds like it wouldn’t bother you, this will probably be a five star read for you. The writing was strong; I felt the ache and the longing that both characters experienced toward one another. That was the shining beacon among the myriad of things that personally didn’t appeal to me. It’s also the reason this gets two stars for me instead of one. I didn’t hate this book; I just felt very dispassionate about it throughout the whole reading experience and afterward.

Definitely just wasn’t my cup of tea.