Reviews

The Pairing was a second chance romance about two lifelong friends/exes who accidentally book the same European food tour. As the only two single people on the tour, they’re forced to interact for three straight weeks all while pretending they’re not still in love with each other.

This book was HORNY with a capital H. Double underlined. Italicized. Both main characters were just always doubled horned up on a Tuesday. The whole time I kept thinking “aren’t they TIRED???? Aren’t they HUNGOVER???? How do they have so much ENERGY for this???” The food and drink descriptions were really interesting and I did really like the secondary characters. Second chance romances aren’t my favorite and Theo wasn’t my favorite character. I found them sort of annoying and pretty crass often, but maybe I’m just a hater. I really love Casey mcquiston’s books and this one was unfortunately my least favorite so far. I still enjoyed it, but compared to her others I just didn’t love it.

3.75⭐️

gabrielastbr's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

larah2's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

shawnbakergibson's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was easily one of my most anticipated books of the year. Red, White, and Royal Blue and One Last Stop are two of my favorite comfort books to revisit, and Casey McQuiston's writing is always witty and an absolute romp.

The Pairing did not disappoint in delivering McQuiston's trademark banter and loveable characters. Our main characters, Kit and Theo, and the rest of the cast of characters we meet at every stop on this friends-to-lovers-to-enemies second-chance-romance adventure are truly a delight. The characters are complex and fleshed-out, and you just can't help but want to have them as your friends.

I loved seeing Kit and Theo's story unfold throughout their European tour, inspired and propelled by the people they met. However, about two-thirds of the way through the book, the story began to drag and get repetitive for me. I started to lose track of which city we were in and what had happened in previous cities when referenced. If this had been about 50-75 pages shorter and the story a little tighter, it could have been perfect for me.

Casey McQuiston is absolutely at the top of my favorite author list. They're writing voice is so distinct and just a joy to read. I'm grabbing a finished copy when this is released and giving this another read in the future.

books_coffee_cornwall's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thank you #netgalley for the eARC in return for an honest review.

Four years after Theo and Kit broke up on a flight to the UK for a European food tour, they find themselves on that tour together and have to endure being in each others company.

Sexy food, sexy scenery, sexy people.

Every mention of food made me hungry for tasty European goods. Closest I'm going to get at the moment is a pain au chocolat from Lidl, but that will do.

I was routing for Theo and Kit the whole way through. Their cheeky friendship and competition was something I can imagine some people thinking up. The perspective flip halfway through made it heartwarming and the ending rather predictable and cheesy, but sometimes you need that in a book!

I read a 1 star review the other day which said it was unrealistic. I'm pretty sure this isn't meant to be a realistic portrayal of a food tour? It's escapism, pure headonistic, beautiful, glorious escapism and I am totally here for it.

booksbybrady's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

isaac_badger's review against another edition

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3.0

Realistically 2.5⭐️

I liked the queer aspects, there were way more sex scenes than McQuinston’s other books but they weren’t jarring and didn’t necessarily feel spicy just romantic

But… I didn’t really care???

This book is the definition of rich people problems and it makes it hard to actually feel bad for the characters when the issues they have are baffling and kind of immature. Theo was insufferable in places and Kit was mostly okay but I’d still deck him if given the chance. I dunno, was just kind of disappointing.

It got me in a summery mood at least

Also I refuse to believe McQuinston has ever been to Europe because everyone was bi, everyone wanted to sleep with the main characters, and they were all way too friendly to Americans

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