Review: The Pairing

Title: The Pairing
Author: Casey McQuiston
Genre: Romance, LGBTQ, Contemporary
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: August 6, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Casey McQuiston’s latest romantic comedy, two bisexual exes accidentally book the same European food and wine tour and challenge each other to a hookup competition to prove they’re over each other—except they’re definitely not.

Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other’s lives once and for all.

Time apart has done them good. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. Sure, nothing really compares to what they had, and life stretches out long and lonely ahead of them, but—yeah. It’s in the past.

All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately.

It’s not until they board the tour bus that they discover they’ve both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they’re trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain, and Italy. It’s fine. There’s nothing left between them. So much nothing that, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is totally game. And why stop there? Why not a full-on European hookup competition?

But sometimes a taste of everything only makes you crave what you can’t have.

Review:

Theo and Kit were childhood best friends and eventually became partners when they finally acknowledged their feelings for each other. Then they had a sudden break up on a plane to Europe and they didn’t see each other again. Now, it’s four years later, and Theo has decided to use the tickets for a European food and drink tour that they were meant to take together just before they broke up. When she gets on the bus in London, Kit is sitting there. Kit also had the same idea to use the tour tickets before they expired, so Kit and Theo are stuck on the tour together for three weeks. Neither one of them wants to acknowledge their lingering feelings for each other, so they decide to have a competition to see who can hook up with the most people on the tour. However, it isn’t easy seeing the person you love with other people. Theo and Kit must decide if they confront these feelings or continue with their single lives.

This book is the perfect summer read! I felt like I had traveled on this trip with Theo and Kit because it was so descriptive. They had a lot of delicious food and drinks, which made me so hungry while reading. It was also quite a steamy read. Both Kit and Theo were bisexual and hooked up with men and women. There was also some nonbinary representation, as one of the characters was still learning how they felt in their body.

The Pairing is a great summer read!

Content warnings: death of parent (off page)

Have you read The Pairing? What did you think of it?