Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Pairing

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

39 reviews

nxclx's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted

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

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this book early in exchange for my honest review.

4/5 *s

Second chance romance, with steam up to your ears, and also, it makes you hungry.

Theo and Kit broke up four years ago on their way to a European food and wine tour, and have not spoken since. They cancelled their excursion and each got a voucher to go on the tour later. Well, now that voucher is about to expire, and Theo figures it’s better to use it than let that happen. Unfortunately Kit has the same idea, and now they’re both in Europe, on the same tour together, with no escape. What entails on this tour is indulgence to it’s highest level, with so much pining and amazing descriptions accompanying it.

Favorite Quotes

“I came to drink champagne and eat tortellini until I throw up.”

“Kiss me, haunt me, handle me recklessly.”

Review

Casey McQuiston is my favorite author, and they did not disappoint with this new novel. From the start of the novel, I got that signature writing style and humor that I’ve been missing in my life. I loved the plot lined and the way the story was structured, and to me it lent well to the over all narrative. I ordered this book on presale back in December and I’m glad I did. I’m already so excited to reread this with a glass of wine and some delicious baked breads, cheeses, jams, everything. The description of the food and the locations is amazing, though I have to admit I am not familiar with a lot of the food words/flavors/descriptions, so some of it went over my head, but what I got was sublime. The flirting, the banter, the connections, all fantastic. This is the second book I’ve read that is second chance romance, and I can’t believe I’ve been sleeping on it. The second half of the book is probably my favorite, and connected me to the story more than the first half.

(Spoliers below)

I love how Theo’s gender was handled, and how Kit responded to it both in day to day and when they were intimate. Their growth over the tour was believable and realistic, and I love how they overcame their issues and communicated.

My main complaint about this book (besides be being too ignorant about food and wine) is the miscommunication that led to the characters break up four years ago. Miscommunication is very hard to pull off right, thus a lot of people hating it, but if it’s done right it works well. In this book, it simply didn’t work for me. Thats what stopped it from being 5 stars, but other than that it’s an amazing read.

Content Warnings

Alcohol, Blood, Misgendering, Sexually explicit scenes

Annotation Guide

Green - Positive Notes

Red - Critiques

Yellow - General reactions/commentary

Blue - Gramatical/Plot related notes

Content Warnings

ee1000's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-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

4.75

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you may come across a book that is perfectly written for you. A book that fits perfectly with your interests and what you’re looking for that you just get lost in it while you read. This book was that to me.

I loved Red, White and Royal Blue and I enjoyed One Last Stop so having the opportunity to read and review Casey’s new book was a delight. I was thrilled to find a book so beautify written that charm and warmth oozed from every page.

First, this book is a love letter to food, wine, and art. For someone who did study art history and then went to Europe and visited a lot of places that Theo and Kit visited, this book is also a trip down memory lane reminding me of places I’ve been before. (A fond memory of mine is eating in Florence, this book took me right back there.)

The love for each of these subjects is apparent in every page. You can feel the sun and imagine the taste of every dish. I walked away from this book missing Europe most of all and wanting to take a trip like Theo and Kit did desperately.

Of course, our main couple is the star of the book and I loved both Kit and Theo. I’m glad that we got to hear from both of them, and the point of view switch timing was innovative, surprising, and such a smart move. I love that we get to know Theo and then get to see Kit learn about how they’ve changed over the years and embrace their identity. Brilliant planning and writing.

As far as second chance romances go, I believed in Theo and Kit so much. They truly belonged with each other, there wasn’t any other way for them to move forward other than together. I did get frustrated with them every so often because they just needed to hash things out. But at the same time, I get where the fear of losing each other again came from. (It did drive me a little mad though so that’s where the .25 star was deducted.)

I loved the humor and friendships that developed through the book. This book is less found family and more reconnecting with family, but those family relationships also felt authentic and I loved how they grew through the book too.

Overall, this is a book I’ll be thinking about for a long time, and when I dream tonight, you’ll find me on the shores of Italy, glass of wine in hand and sun on my face wishing to wake up in Europe tomorrow…

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an ARC in exchange for a review.

Content Warnings

casey_sunshine's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

This book killed me. It’s Casey McQuiston’s best, by far.

No shade to RWRB, but this book is on another planet.

Thanks, NetGalley and the author, for the ARC.

Content Warnings

madscientistcat's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.75

Content Warnings

hmatt's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

CMQ knocked it out of the park. Wow, I love this and am working on describing how much.

For the first third or so of the book, I was telling friends it's a fun romp of a Eurotrip. After that, it's not that it becomes any less of a romp, but things get deeper and we really get to know Kit and Theo (and their baggage). And I love Kit and Theo and their baggage and Fabrizio and the Callums, etc. etc. I feel very mushy and privileged about getting the opportunity to meet these characters ahead of publication - it feels like I've had a private moment to get to know them before the (warranted) buzz surrounding this novel picks up.

I would challenge anyone who says there's any other book quite like this out there. Somehow it rolls some pretty advanced gender and sexuality discourse into a wild ride of a rom-com, but also there's an element of self-discovery, and AND there's a lot of hot smut. Also, discussions of medieval architecture. Like, well done. Round of applause.

When I remember to document my favourite passages, I like to share some. So here are a few:

“I like reading E. M. Forster because it’s always gay, even though this one is about a man and a woman,” he says. “Do you know how sometimes when you read or watch or listen to something, there’s a . . . resonant homosexual flavor? Not even in anything the characters are explicitly doing or saying, but in the voice, or how the flowers are described or a character looks at a painting, or the way they see the world. Like when Legolas and Gimli walk into Minas Tirith and immediately start criticizing the landscaping."

For me, it’s more that I like different genders from within different parts of me. Like I turn to face the light from a different direction every time.

Theo is just—Theo is cool. I’m so proud to know them, to have the privilege of being important to a person like them. I want to be by their side forever. I want to build something with them. Something new, something we could only make now. I want to invent it with them and trust them with it.

I tell her everything that happened on the trip—even the horny parts, which are more interesting to her than the parts where I experience new heights of human emotion while staring at old churches.

Content Warnings

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-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? Yes

5.0

First, huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve never met a Casey McQuiston book I haven’t gone absolutely feral for, and this book takes it to the next level.

“The Pairing” is about two exes, Theo and Kit, who had the fairytale romance of the century - until they break up on their way to their trip of a lifetime, where they’re going to eat and drink their way across Europe. Years later, both armed with a voucher for that missed trip, they find each other back on that same tour, each changed and having grown from years apart. Both still obviously have feelings for each other and maybe more than a little bit of trauma over how things ended the last go around, so they do the only logical thing: challenge each other to a hook up competition. Whoever has bedded more people in more cities by the end of the tour wins.

As I already mentioned, I’m a huge CMQ fan. But they really outdid themselves with the Pairing. What a sexy, fun romp. This is the most fun I’ve had reading a book in a long while - I truly didn’t want it to end. Each page left me giggling - and googling the food, beverages, and locations I didn’t recognize. The Pairing was somehow sneaky educational - I learned so much about the history, architecture, and culture of so many cities. McQuiston’s descriptions of the scenery, food, beverages, and architecture made me truly feel like I could reach out and run my fingers along the rim of the glass of white wine or across the bumpy stone of the old Tuscan villa. The writing is beautifully descriptive without being overly flowery or precious.

McQuiston has a true gift for creating characters that feel so real and honest that you swear you’ve known them your whole life. The dialogue they craft is truly unmatched. They are able to examine and tackle complex issues like grief, gender expression, sexuality, and loss in a way that feels true and authentic.

Anyway, back to the plot - is it slightly unrealistic that everyone Theo and Kit meet on their travels are both sexually fluid and always ~down for a good time~? Maybe. But there’s always an element of suspended disbelief in romantic comedies, and wow am I willing to suspend my disbelief for this story.

Yes the book is sexy (like, really sexy, blush-worthy sexy even for a non-prude) but it’s also wildly sweet and written in such a believable way that somehow it’s not overboard or cloying.

I want to live in Casey McQuiston’s world. This book was magic. It is indulgent and seductive. It is the book equivalent of the first ripe peach of summer (yes that’s a reference to a very specific scene…), the expensive bottle of wine, the morsel of dark chocolate melting in your mouth. I would read a million sequels about Theo and Kit.

Content Warnings

sarahdittmore's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny 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

Gayest, horniest book I’ve ever read. A truly Bacchanalian romp across Europe.

Content Warnings

skudiklier's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-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

I keep wanting to say this is my favorite of Casey McQuiston's books, but I know that it's been a couple years since I've read their other ones, and I'm biased by the fact that this is the one currently making me feel A Lot of Things. But that said!! This book was amazing. McQuiston has done it again.

There are so many things about this book that I loved. The friendship. The heartbreak. The different kinds of love and relationships and sex and closeness. The queerness of it all. The way it shifted perspectives at the best times. The way it handles Theo's gender. The way even when I thought I could see a problem coming, it always managed to surprise me instead.

This book made me feel so many things. It made me tell my partner that he's my best friend. It made me want to go back and reread McQuiston's other books. It made me want to taste everything and see everything and experience everything (and it made me very excited for my upcoming trip to Europe haha). I don't know how to compare this to their other books, since again, it's been a couple years since I read those. But The Pairing exceeded my expectations and I can't wait for my friends to read it so I can talk about it with them.

(My only complaint that isn't a standard romance "why didn't you talk to each other ugh" is so minor I hesitate to include it, but I will here just to get it off my chest, and so people who know me don't read this and think I loved this part of the book too: oh my god the rich white people vibes of this book. Any time all their bougie LA nepo baby shit came up I was struggling not to roll my eyes. In some ways the book addresses and makes up for this, but in some ways it doesn't. But. Again. I'm still giving the book five stars, so. Take all that as lightly as possible!!)

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Content Warnings

jennikreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.75

Content Warnings

angelanoelle's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

casey mcquiston really put everything i’ve ever loved or wanted—LOTR references! devastating rilke quotes! a european food and wine tour with chaotic bisexual exes!—into a blender, added a bottle of champagne, and wrote THE book of the summer. beautiful, devastating, hilarious, un-put-downable; i loved it and i’ll be dreaming of kit and theo until i can get my hands on a physical copy in august.

*advance e-book copy provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Content Warnings

More...