The Pairing by Casey McQuiston | Book Review

How many book clubs is too many? Asking for a friend.

Why I read it: My nearest indie bookstore started up a romance book club, so of course I had to participate. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston was the pick for September. I’ve not read McQuiston before, though I do own a copy of Red, White, and Royal Blue.

Review #insixwords: It's a decadent and horny book.

More:

• If you looked at the cover and were like, “Hey, this looks like a messy bisexual book,” you would be correct.

• There is also nonbinary rep, with gender identity as a theme, but not in a way that was central to the plot. It was there, it was wonderful.

• Lots of quality, top-notch tropes here: second-chance romance, road trip, forced proximity, childhood friends . . . maybe only one bed.

• Two exes end up on the same food and wine tour of Europe that they were supposed to take together years ago, clearly nothing will go wrong.

• Do you need to shrug and say, “Romance reasons”? Maybe. Doesn’t matter. The setup is a delight.

• To prove that they’re absolutely, totally, definitely over each other, Theo and Kit make a wager to see who can sleep with the most people during the trip. (Do they sleep with other people? Yes. Do they still catch feelings for each other? Also yes.)

• Theo is our narrator the first half the book, Kit the second. Because Theo is a sommelier and has a very good sense of smell and taste, their POV is incredibly decadent, with lots of descriptions about the food and drinks they’re having. Sliding into Kit’s POV halfway through the book . . . I wanted to scream. In a good way.

• Theo read very neurodivergent (ADHD) coded to me. There’s some insecurity and rejection sensitivity happening that made some of the book club members frustrated with Theo, but I felt that their reactions seemed more neurodivergent than immature.

• I picked this up one day, intending to get a start on it, and had to finish the book in one go. Make of that what you will.

Recommendation: Had this not been a book club pick, I likely would not have read it. (Because I tend to avoid hyped books and authors more than any specific reason.) But this is why I love having book club: I’m glad I read the book. It was fun. There was so much food and wine I don’t know how Theo and Kit had time for sexy things, but that’s why it’s a book. And if you are a McQuiston fan, the book club members who had read McQuiston before said that this book is different than their other books, especially Red, White, and Royal Blue . . . and there were mixed reactions as to whether they enjoyed this one. (But I enjoyed it. And that counts for something. Probably.)

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