Thank you very much to the publishers for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have since purchased my own finished copy of this book.
Theo and Kit have been childhood best friends, crushes, lovers and, after a brutal breakup four years ago, estranged exes.
It’s not until Theo and Kit are trapped on board a tour bus that they discover that they’ve each had the same idea: to take their dream European food and wine tour – alone. And now they’re stuck with each other for three weeks of the most romantic sights and sensuous flavours of France, Spain, and Italy. But it’ll be fine. They’re absolutely over each other.
So, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is game. In fact, 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.
Have you ever wanted to travel around Europe tasting all the food and drink on offer whilst also falling in love? Then, The Pairing is the book for you. It is a joy of a book that is full of humour, charismatic characters and beautiful settings.
The Pairing has been at the top of my anticipated releases list for the majority of the year and for good reason. Casey McQuiston has once again written a spectacular novel that you can’t help but fall in love with.
Theo and Kit have been best friends, crushes, lovers and for the past fours years, estranged exes. It isn’t until Theo and Kit are trapped on board a tour bus that they discover they’ve both had the same idea. That is the dream to take a European food and wine tour. They planned on doing this alone but now they’re stuck together for three weeks traveling through France, Spain and Italy. It’s fine though, they are absolutely over each other.
So, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot tour guide first, Kit is game. In fact, why stop there? Why not have a full-on hookup competition? But, it makes them crave the one thing they can’t have.
I loved that this book is told from dual POVs. The first half of the story is told from Theo’s perspective and then the second half, from Kit’s perspective which I enjoyed. I loved them both. We get to see Kit discover who they are and what they want from life. Then, we get to see how Theo starts the book feeling out of place and goes on a journey to find their place in the world.
There are so many different themes in this book which are weaved together excellently. These include found family, childhood friendship, finding yourself, self-sabotage amongst many others. All of these add depth and an element of complexity to the story which I thoroughly enjoyed. Plus, there is incredible representation of non-binary and bisexual characters and this representation is done with care and is realistic.
On top of all of this, I loved the plot. It was a lot of fun to go on a road trip around stunning parts of Europe. Not only that but we have a sommelier and a pastry chef at the centre of the story which allows for the descriptions of the food and the drinks to be next level. Every time I finished a section of this book I was hungry.
Casey McQuiston is still one of my favourite authors out there. Their books are always incredible and such fun reads. Their writing is so easy to immerse yourself into and makes it impossible to put the book down.
Overall, The Pairing is an excellent book to read if you are dreaming of a road trip. It is full of joy, humour, beautiful settings and a lovely romance. I would highly recommend it!
Loisreadsbooks 