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uranaishi's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, and Gaslighting
elderwoodreads's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Decided to keep going with this while I waited on my library holds. If it wasn't for that I probably would've DNF'd. The second half of the book is a lot better than the first, I found Theo really unlikable to the point that the second half of the book and Kit's perspective to be almost like a whole separate book. also for a book focused on a sex game I felt like a lot was held back and the book imo was not particularly sexy until near the very end. McQuiston's books are really all over the board for me in terms of quality but I probably will keep trying them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Blood and Dysphoria
spuriousdiphthongs's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Ahh, I wanted to love it and it just kind of fell flat. If you love food and romance, you'd probably enjoy this but it didn't work for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment
tigertheory's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Don’t read this if you know French, Spanish or Italian or have been to any of the places in the book, it’s painful and makes no sense. Thank god I’m neither into wine nor baking.
As for the story, it’s alright I guess?? Found myself skipping ahead because I just didn’t care about the characters and was annoyed with them. Also skimmed through most of the sex scenes because they made me uncomfortable? I’m fine with a queer spicy read but these were weird (it’s adult literature, you can say cock, come on) and there were so many of them.
As for the story, it’s alright I guess?? Found myself skipping ahead because I just didn’t care about the characters and was annoyed with them. Also skimmed through most of the sex scenes because they made me uncomfortable? I’m fine with a queer spicy read but these were weird (it’s adult literature, you can say cock, come on) and there were so many of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying and Xenophobia
jefferz's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
With beautiful rose-tinted postcard snapshots of various European locals, an endless array of food porn-worthy food and beverages, and two attractive horny bisexual ex’s (technically leaning more towards pansexual but I digress) stuck on a dream vacation itinerary, Casey McQuiston’s The Pairing has a stellar recipe on paper. And if I were to compare this novel to pastry on display, it certainly looks exquisite and intricately decorated in presentation (please bear with me and let me run with this bit). Unfortunately, once you cut the cake and start tasting it, it quickly becomes evident that there was too much literal (Theo) salt in the batter and maybe the cake was a bit burnt in places. My experience with reading The Pairing was similar to this poor hypothetical and metaphorical pastry in that the elements were good but a few crucial elements made this book difficult to enjoy. My biggest gripe was despite McQuiston pushing really hard to sell this as a past ex’s enemies to second chance loves trope, the enemies arc leaves a lot to be desired and the relationship dynamic between Theo and Kit has a dry and acidic aftertaste. I feel like this story would’ve worked considerably better had it been conceptualized as an ex’s friends to second chance lovers trope and the plot didn’t try to push the hot hookup angle so hard (it never really worked for me personally). While there were some wonderful details and some great backstory ingredients in the mixing bowl, their limited use and ratio resulted in them being barely noticeable in the final taste test to a food/reading critic judge and even less appreciated by a general customer. Despite all the great flavor notes that were incorporated in theory, unfortunately no amount of buttercream frosting and decorative details are enough to compensate for the unpleasant, or to me, underwhelming base dessert (a dessert I fully finished eating I might add unlike majority of the top-listed Goodreads reviews that DNF-ed it, you need to finish it in order to review it properly imo).
(Thank you for rolling with my bit, now on to a proper book review)
A lot of other people have already reviewed and noted how insufferable Theo is and how trying it is to get through their half of the book, so I’m not going to beat a dead horse as I share similar sentiments. However, what I will comment on is the relevance of Theo’s mentality and McQuiston’s good execution of it despite how unbearable it is to read about. Theo’s psyche of “this is my comeback and fierce era” is one that’s completely on-brand with a lot of younger millennials/genZ’s and the mentality of being strong and not needing family and partners are verbatim things I’ve heard from friends. Theo’s arc of trying to impress Kit once they run into each other on the makeup tour booking purposely boasting and showing off is a perfectly crafted example of “winning the breakup” younger people are obsessed with, so really Theo’s entire personality and outlook is technically very well done.
Unfortunately where I feel McQuiston went a bit wrong was with the post-breakup dynamic between Theo and Kit and balancing their two personalities with their character flaws. In order for the enemies to lovers trope to work well, I believe that both parties need to show clear inherent flaws to avoid villainizing one of the characters and to encourage the reader to root for their reconciliation. The issue with The Pairing is Theo's perspective is first, and their personality comes in hot with a lot of overblown reactions, lots of immature whining, and some questionably toxic tendencies (all very in-character for the current generation I might add). So much effort is spent stressing how terrible Kit is and how much better Theo has become without really explaining what made Kit so horrible to them, quickly causing Theo to lose credit. When Kit finally makes his first appearance at the food and wine tour, he unquestionably makes a far better and mature first impression which only stresses how crazy Theo is by comparison. The book's enemies arc consistently felt contrived and all of the early conflicts felt obviously manufactured and unbelievable. Despite being portrayed as heartless by Theo, I think most readers still see Kit more favorably in the first half which is a bad sign before the book flips to Kit’s perspective. After experiencing their relationship, breakup, and reunion from Kit’s perspective in the 2nd half of the book, what little flaws Kit had seem even smaller, maybe even justified compared to Theo's. With his biggest flaws including a self-sacrificial tendency and a super hero complex, Theo looks even worse which sharply contrasts Kit’s blind infatuation and devotion to them. This clear disconnect caused me to feel ambivalent about Kit’s perspective (despite being more pleasant to read) which was only exacerbated by side details about art and some of his interests that ultimately felt like unnecessary fluff to pad out his half. His backstory involving his mother’s marriage and her influence on him were great, but they were incorporated so late just before the resolution, it felt like it was too little too late and tonally out of place with the rest of this book's content.
Apart from the clear unbalance between Theo and Kit’s characters, I felt like The Pairing didn’t quite pull off whatever it was trying to do. It wasn’t funny enough to be a dramedy, not ambitious enough to be a good character-driven story, not spicy enough to be romance erotica, it was caught in the middle without doing anything particularly well. With questionable chemistry, the main pairing didn’t interest me at all which leaves little else to read about in this book beyond food porn (and unfortunately I am also not really a foodie). The author’s preface note is “For your pleasure” and compared to McQuiston’s past novels, it’s clear that this one is meant to be a more casual, fun novel with a lot of fancy food/wine and sex rather than a big character narrative. Despite its obviously unhinged tone, I found it slow to read and didn’t find its attempt at humor to be very amusing. I can tell McQustion was trying and I think it might work better for more rom-com/dramedy-focused readers, but it didn’t work for me. There’s only so many jokes you can make about classical art and sculptures being inherently horny before it all starts sounding tired and repetitive. The book is also filled with sexual innuendos that I think were supposed to be hot, but I found them to be eye-rollingly try-hard or worse, completely out of place contextually. And until about half-way through the book, there’s surprisingly very little actual spice. In my opinion, the book failed its own premise of trying to hook up with their tour guide or European locals. Both Theo and Kit make barely any attempt on Fabrizio until the very end (and it really just falls into their laps) and their “game” feels like it kicks in far too late to make sense narratively. The only spice present is inevitably and unfortunately between Theo and Kit (any other pairing is handled off-page only), which are good in isolation, but defeat the book’s own selling point. The dramatic breakup also uses the miscommunication trope (as expected) but the disagreement comes off as silly rather than the world-shattering scope both characters make it out to be. The eventual resolution to the problem can be chalked up to character growth and time but the character growth didn’t feel like it was earned; Theo doing a sudden 180 from the Theo > Kit perspective shift and Kit suddenly experiencing enlightenment in one chapter, the aforementioned Mother backstory that is good on paper, but severely underdeveloped.
I don’t feel like I’m knowledgeable enough to judge the portrayals and accuracy of the various European locales and cultures, but McQuiston’s lively and romantic visuals were one of the highlights to me compared to the questionable plot and character choices. Although it’s advertised as a food and wine tour, Theo and Kit’s vacation is just as much a tourist trip and I liked the descriptions of the non-food items possibly more than the culinary experiences. The food, pastries, wine were also one of the stronger elements of the novel, though I do think that the trip was a bit too long and dragged in places. Apart from the different names and tourist highlights, some of the middle destinations started to blend together for me outside of those associated with Kit or the supporting characters. On the plus side, I do feel like McQuiston’s writing has improved considerably from some of their earlier works. I have yet to read Red, White & Royal Blue, but I found The Pairing’s writing style and inner reflections to be critically stronger and more accomplished compared to earlier works that felt a bit juvenile. Each scene and part felt far more cohesive and realized than what I’ve read in the past, it’s just unfortunate that the subjective content makes this improvement less noticeable. I mainly noticed and critiqued it as I was so disinterested in the main story itself and needed something to focus on.
So like the pastry in the fridge display- just kidding, I’m not going back to the bit. So at the end of the day, this one was unfortunately a swing and a miss for me but not for the reason most other readers disliked this book. Theo tried my patience but I was more than willing to give them a free pass because of how committed and technically well done McQuiston wrote their character. But even overlooking Theo’s character voice, The Pairing wasn’t ever able to ever win my interest and I quickly shifted away from enjoyment reading mode to critical reading mode in order to keep going; and even that is not the most flattering light for The Pairing. Despite the great premise and ingredients in the sauce- I mean the batter, I can really only see readers who empathize with Theo actually enjoying this book. The wandering bisexual eyes, food visuals, and tourist stops are decent but are far from being able to carry the book if you don’t care about the, ahem, Pairing. Although the objective qualities of this book are somewhere around a 3-4 star rating, I cannot in good faith rate it that high based on how disinterested I was reading this subjectively. Unfortunately, this means that I’m now 0/2 with McQuiston’s books which is a sign I should probably stop reading them, though I do still have a purchased ebook of Red, White, & Royal Blue which I’ve heard I might like. Oh well, on to the next one to cleanse my palette- (sorry I don’t know what I’m on, this review is kind of a disaster lol)
(Thank you for rolling with my bit, now on to a proper book review)
A lot of other people have already reviewed and noted how insufferable Theo is and how trying it is to get through their half of the book, so I’m not going to beat a dead horse as I share similar sentiments. However, what I will comment on is the relevance of Theo’s mentality and McQuiston’s good execution of it despite how unbearable it is to read about. Theo’s psyche of “this is my comeback and fierce era” is one that’s completely on-brand with a lot of younger millennials/genZ’s and the mentality of being strong and not needing family and partners are verbatim things I’ve heard from friends. Theo’s arc of trying to impress Kit once they run into each other on the makeup tour booking purposely boasting and showing off is a perfectly crafted example of “winning the breakup” younger people are obsessed with, so really Theo’s entire personality and outlook is technically very well done.
Unfortunately where I feel McQuiston went a bit wrong was with the post-breakup dynamic between Theo and Kit and balancing their two personalities with their character flaws. In order for the enemies to lovers trope to work well, I believe that both parties need to show clear inherent flaws to avoid villainizing one of the characters and to encourage the reader to root for their reconciliation. The issue with The Pairing is Theo's perspective is first, and their personality comes in hot with a lot of overblown reactions, lots of immature whining, and some questionably toxic tendencies (all very in-character for the current generation I might add). So much effort is spent stressing how terrible Kit is and how much better Theo has become without really explaining what made Kit so horrible to them, quickly causing Theo to lose credit. When Kit finally makes his first appearance at the food and wine tour, he unquestionably makes a far better and mature first impression which only stresses how crazy Theo is by comparison. The book's enemies arc consistently felt contrived and all of the early conflicts felt obviously manufactured and unbelievable. Despite being portrayed as heartless by Theo, I think most readers still see Kit more favorably in the first half which is a bad sign before the book flips to Kit’s perspective. After experiencing their relationship, breakup, and reunion from Kit’s perspective in the 2nd half of the book, what little flaws Kit had seem even smaller, maybe even justified compared to Theo's. With his biggest flaws including a self-sacrificial tendency and a super hero complex, Theo looks even worse which sharply contrasts Kit’s blind infatuation and devotion to them. This clear disconnect caused me to feel ambivalent about Kit’s perspective (despite being more pleasant to read) which was only exacerbated by side details about art and some of his interests that ultimately felt like unnecessary fluff to pad out his half. His backstory involving his mother’s marriage and her influence on him were great, but they were incorporated so late just before the resolution, it felt like it was too little too late and tonally out of place with the rest of this book's content.
Apart from the clear unbalance between Theo and Kit’s characters, I felt like The Pairing didn’t quite pull off whatever it was trying to do. It wasn’t funny enough to be a dramedy, not ambitious enough to be a good character-driven story, not spicy enough to be romance erotica, it was caught in the middle without doing anything particularly well. With questionable chemistry, the main pairing didn’t interest me at all which leaves little else to read about in this book beyond food porn (and unfortunately I am also not really a foodie). The author’s preface note is “For your pleasure” and compared to McQuiston’s past novels, it’s clear that this one is meant to be a more casual, fun novel with a lot of fancy food/wine and sex rather than a big character narrative. Despite its obviously unhinged tone, I found it slow to read and didn’t find its attempt at humor to be very amusing. I can tell McQustion was trying and I think it might work better for more rom-com/dramedy-focused readers, but it didn’t work for me. There’s only so many jokes you can make about classical art and sculptures being inherently horny before it all starts sounding tired and repetitive. The book is also filled with sexual innuendos that I think were supposed to be hot, but I found them to be eye-rollingly try-hard or worse, completely out of place contextually. And until about half-way through the book, there’s surprisingly very little actual spice. In my opinion, the book failed its own premise of trying to hook up with their tour guide or European locals. Both Theo and Kit make barely any attempt on Fabrizio until the very end (and it really just falls into their laps) and their “game” feels like it kicks in far too late to make sense narratively. The only spice present is inevitably and unfortunately between Theo and Kit (any other pairing is handled off-page only), which are good in isolation, but defeat the book’s own selling point. The dramatic breakup also uses the miscommunication trope (as expected) but the disagreement comes off as silly rather than the world-shattering scope both characters make it out to be. The eventual resolution to the problem can be chalked up to character growth and time but the character growth didn’t feel like it was earned; Theo doing a sudden 180 from the Theo > Kit perspective shift and Kit suddenly experiencing enlightenment in one chapter, the aforementioned Mother backstory that is good on paper, but severely underdeveloped.
I don’t feel like I’m knowledgeable enough to judge the portrayals and accuracy of the various European locales and cultures, but McQuiston’s lively and romantic visuals were one of the highlights to me compared to the questionable plot and character choices. Although it’s advertised as a food and wine tour, Theo and Kit’s vacation is just as much a tourist trip and I liked the descriptions of the non-food items possibly more than the culinary experiences. The food, pastries, wine were also one of the stronger elements of the novel, though I do think that the trip was a bit too long and dragged in places. Apart from the different names and tourist highlights, some of the middle destinations started to blend together for me outside of those associated with Kit or the supporting characters. On the plus side, I do feel like McQuiston’s writing has improved considerably from some of their earlier works. I have yet to read Red, White & Royal Blue, but I found The Pairing’s writing style and inner reflections to be critically stronger and more accomplished compared to earlier works that felt a bit juvenile. Each scene and part felt far more cohesive and realized than what I’ve read in the past, it’s just unfortunate that the subjective content makes this improvement less noticeable. I mainly noticed and critiqued it as I was so disinterested in the main story itself and needed something to focus on.
So like the pastry in the fridge display- just kidding, I’m not going back to the bit. So at the end of the day, this one was unfortunately a swing and a miss for me but not for the reason most other readers disliked this book. Theo tried my patience but I was more than willing to give them a free pass because of how committed and technically well done McQuiston wrote their character. But even overlooking Theo’s character voice, The Pairing wasn’t ever able to ever win my interest and I quickly shifted away from enjoyment reading mode to critical reading mode in order to keep going; and even that is not the most flattering light for The Pairing. Despite the great premise and ingredients in the sauce- I mean the batter, I can really only see readers who empathize with Theo actually enjoying this book. The wandering bisexual eyes, food visuals, and tourist stops are decent but are far from being able to carry the book if you don’t care about the, ahem, Pairing. Although the objective qualities of this book are somewhere around a 3-4 star rating, I cannot in good faith rate it that high based on how disinterested I was reading this subjectively. Unfortunately, this means that I’m now 0/2 with McQuiston’s books which is a sign I should probably stop reading them, though I do still have a purchased ebook of Red, White, & Royal Blue which I’ve heard I might like. Oh well, on to the next one to cleanse my palette- (sorry I don’t know what I’m on, this review is kind of a disaster lol)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing and Dysphoria
melinasreads's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-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
5.0
I should probably start by saying that I have loved everything CMQ has ever published. This is no exception. I love these little queer people with all of my heart.
When I was looking for inspiration for this review, I was really taken aback by how much criticism this book is getting. Let me be clear: if you are not okay with the main characters having sex with other people, or proudly sleeping their way across Europe, this is not for you! And that is okay! But the book literally starts with an epigraph that says “Initiating slut mode,” so if you continued to read after that and then hated that they were sluts, that’s on you.
Anyways. I was obsessed with the characters in this story. As a nonbinary person, I felt so very deeply seen in Theo, and as a person who is a mess, I felt very deeply seen in their mess. Kit, my little elf prince, is a beautiful bottom. And this is by far the best supporting cast that CMQ has ever written, topping even the roommates in OLS. I want to meet the Callums? And they aren’t even real people?
The European tour aspect was something I was excited for, but I didn’t realize how much it would shape the events of the story. I felt like I could taste each stop on my tongue as it was being described — even though what I could really taste was the cheap wine I paired with this book.
I actually have no notes for this book. I loved it, and I can’t wait for my reread. Sluts forever!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Blood and Death of parent
wardenred's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
“I—I can’t believe you would—” I shake my head. “Kit, does that sound like something I would do?”
“Honestly, yes.”
So, I really, really loved Casey McQuiston’s RWRB and One Last Stop. Absolutely loved them. A big fan. And then I expected something just as good from I Kissed Shara Wheeler, but it turned out to be profoundly meh for me. I hoped it was just a hiccup. Surely McQuiston’s next book will stun me again with the perfect vibes, and all will get better.
*dramatic sigh* Reader, it got worse.
Honestly, it’s so hard for me to dial down the snark when I even think about this book. Normally, I really try to be objective in my reviews and to remember that anyone’s one-star disappointment can be someone else’s five-star favorite (or vise versa). But this one is just so acutely baffling!
First of all, I feel like this is a second chance romance done wrong. I love this trope. I love second chance romances that remember to show me what it was like between the leads the first time around, and why it didn’t work, and what has changed to make it possible now. Here, though, I have so little idea of Theo and Kit’s past relationship, beyond “they were friends, then they hooked up, then they had lots and lots of great sex, and then they had a big dramatic misunderstanding that could have been solved by healthy communication.“ And then in the present, they continue to avoid actual communication like a plague, and if it kind of happens by accident, they immediately take 10 steps back to create another misunderstanding as if it’s been their goal all along??? So what’s changed, what am I rooting for here?
Next, I love dual POVs in romance. It’s always fun to see each romantic lead through the other’s eyes, to figure out where and why they misread each other, what it takes for them to open up/empathize without prejudice. Here, though, it’s so odd. There are no alternating chapters, just a switch from Theo to Kit smack in the middle of the book. And like, the first half was all about Theo, Theo, Theo. They kind of idealized Kit, but also kind of didn’t treat him as anything other than accessory to their own life and heartbreak. For the most part, their observations and recollections revolved around two things:
And I suppose I should have known I would’ve have some issue with a book whose premise is literally, “Two bi exes on a tour through Europe challenge each other to a ‘who can hook up with more people’ competition.“ To ace for that shit and all that. But honestly, I can imagine at least five ways to execute this premise that would be super interesting and perhaps non-straightforwardly relatable for me. What I got, thought, just… I don’t want to say it was bad, because these things are subjective and yadda yadda yadda, but I definitely feel it was bad. The characters just created miscommunications on top of miscommunications. They weren’t being fair to their partners in these flings. And the partners in question may as well have been made of cardboard. They didn’t feel like their own characters, they were just there to be conveniently charmed by the MCs.
Which brings me to another point: one of the things I’ve always enjoyed about Casey McQuiston’s books are the fun, varied casts. Even the Shara Wheeler one that was mostly a disappointment still had a bunch of great side characters. This one, though? A Theo and Kit show through and through. I finished the book like an hour ago and I already have trouble recalling specific characters. Nobody was memorable. Nobody made me care. And then there’s the setting, too—just one the most vapid, surface-level, stereotypical depictions of Europe through an American tourist’s eye that I’ve ever seen.
Also, can I just say, Theo’s whole
In an effort to be objective, I will affirm the book does have a few worthwhile moments scattered around. I really liked the nonbinary rep. The coming out scene was super touching. There were some fun, vibrant food descriptions and some cool moments of banter when the author didn’t seem to try too hard. But overall, damn. This was one of the 2024 releases I was looking forward to the most, and it turned out to be my biggest bookish disappointment of the year :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, and Alcohol
estellec13's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Death of parent
meganana's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
Minor: Blood and Abandonment
dandeliongirl's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent