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bran_the_muffin_man 's review for:
The Pairing
by Casey McQuiston
Content warnings for grief (childhood loss of a parent), copious amounts of alcohol consumption without any discussion of alcoholism of addiction.
This book was bumped up to five stars for me because of the acknowledgements section. I've wanted a fiction book that includes a list of sources for a while, and this book of all books was the first to deliver in this much detail.
Romance books are affected more by personal taste than any other genre. This is an exes-to-lovers story about two white masc bisexuals on a food and wine tour across Europe. It's an adult romance and, while far from erotica, it's very horny. If that doesn't sound like your vibe, you won't enjoy this book, even if you usually like Casey McQuiston. (Although, Red, White, and Royal Blue has a very similar vibe, so if you are a Casey McQuiston fan you will probably enjoy the vibe.) I personally thought Kit was unlovable once we switched to his perspective, but he's a specific type of person that I hate.
Casey McQuiston is considered *the* mainstream queer romance author for a reason. In addition to solid pacing and evocative descriptions, this book does a few very hard-to-pull-off things well: Even as someone who has never had wine and doesn't know the names for more than three pastries, I felt the descriptions of food and beverages were interesting and evocative. With Theo, Casey McQuiston also manages to write a character who has some executive functioning difficulties and occasionally exaggerates or lies in a way that felt believable and sympathetic.
My biggest complaint, to my surprise, was the non-binary representation. (Minor Spoilers:)
I would only ding this book one star for this, because it feels like the result of a last-minute edit that has a wider impact than intended. It's totally valid to have a non-binary character who doesn't feel the need to talk about their gender all the time or justify their gender. If McQuiston switched to Kit's perspective later, had Theo come out to him earlier, or even started with Kit's perspective first and then switched to Theo's, I think it would have worked much better.
Ultimately, a five star book for me isn't one that is technically perfect, but one that is very good and has a significant impact on me. This book inspired me to get back into writing. While I think the non-binary representation could be much better, it's close enough to good and the Acknowledgement section sources list is something I've been looking for for so long that this book rounds up to 5 stars for me.
This book was bumped up to five stars for me because of the acknowledgements section. I've wanted a fiction book that includes a list of sources for a while, and this book of all books was the first to deliver in this much detail.
Romance books are affected more by personal taste than any other genre. This is an exes-to-lovers story about two white masc bisexuals on a food and wine tour across Europe. It's an adult romance and, while far from erotica, it's very horny. If that doesn't sound like your vibe, you won't enjoy this book, even if you usually like Casey McQuiston. (Although, Red, White, and Royal Blue has a very similar vibe, so if you are a Casey McQuiston fan you will probably enjoy the vibe.) I personally thought Kit was unlovable once we switched to his perspective, but he's a specific type of person that I hate.
Casey McQuiston is considered *the* mainstream queer romance author for a reason. In addition to solid pacing and evocative descriptions, this book does a few very hard-to-pull-off things well: Even as someone who has never had wine and doesn't know the names for more than three pastries, I felt the descriptions of food and beverages were interesting and evocative. With Theo, Casey McQuiston also manages to write a character who has some executive functioning difficulties and occasionally exaggerates or lies in a way that felt believable and sympathetic.
My biggest complaint, to my surprise, was the non-binary representation. (Minor Spoilers:)
Spoiler
The first half of the book is told from the non-binary character Theo's perspective, but they don't talk about their identity much. They don't come out to Kit until 20 or so pages *after* we switch to Kit's perspective. This means, after half a book of very few pronouns for Theo, we get 20 pages of she/her every third sentence. Kit also talks about Theo's gender journey much more than Theo themself does, which makes it feel like either Kit or the author believes a non-binary character's gender identity requires external validation.I would only ding this book one star for this, because it feels like the result of a last-minute edit that has a wider impact than intended. It's totally valid to have a non-binary character who doesn't feel the need to talk about their gender all the time or justify their gender. If McQuiston switched to Kit's perspective later, had Theo come out to him earlier, or even started with Kit's perspective first and then switched to Theo's, I think it would have worked much better.
Ultimately, a five star book for me isn't one that is technically perfect, but one that is very good and has a significant impact on me. This book inspired me to get back into writing. While I think the non-binary representation could be much better, it's close enough to good and the Acknowledgement section sources list is something I've been looking for for so long that this book rounds up to 5 stars for me.