ARC Review: The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
10:00
Series: None
Author: Casey McQuiston
Published August 6th 2024 by St. Martin's Griffin
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.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
Finally going on the trip of a lifetime, Theo never expects to find the person who broke her heart - and who she was supposed to go on the original trip with - sat next to the only available seat on the bus. Kit had been her best friend, and partner, and broke her heart. Now trapped for three weeks on a romantic European wine and food tour, they have to make the best of a bad situation, and try and come out the other side with their hearts intact.
I've been putting off writing this review for so long. Like the rest of the world, I loved Red, White and Royal Blue, and found I Kissed Shara Wheeler enjoyable too. So I was expecting that The Paiing would be as good too, but I found I was forcing myself to finish the book, and was just pushing myself to the end so I didn't have to DNF it. I mean, the book wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either, at least in my opinion. I found this book so frustrating. It was the biggest case of miscommunication and dramatic actions that I've read in a long time, and both Theo and Kit were characters I found lacking, and I wasn't engaging with them. I found myself not bothered about their love story, or even if they got together in the end. Not something I would expect from this author, and I'm not wary on reading another of her books in the future.
Dates Read:
July 24-30 2024
Rating
3 Stars
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