Review by Booklist Review
Theo Flowerday and Kit Fairfield, childhood best friends-turned-lovers, broke up right before they were supposed to embark on a three-week food and wine tour of France, Spain, and Italy. Four years later, the two separately decide to finally take the tour before the vouchers expire. They've each changed. Theo is an aspiring sommelier with a converted VW cocktail bus; Kit is a pastry chef in Paris. But old feelings die hard, so to prove that they are absolutely over each other, Theo suggests a friendly competition: see who can seduce the most people as they travel from city to city. McQuiston's latest (after the YA novel I Kissed Shara Wheeler, 2022) is a hedonistic delight, with gorgeous descriptions of the scent and mouthfeel of the food and wine the group consumes, the scenery of Bordeaux, Monaco, and Florence, among other destinations, and very sexy love scenes. As always, the characters here are all fully realized, from the two Australian Callums on the trip to a sexy fishmonger in Spain to, of course, Theo and Kit, who are appealingly frustrating and brainy and completely in denial about their feelings. Sensual and unabashedly queer, The Pairing cements McQuiston's place as our premier chronicler of millennial romance.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: McQuiston's star has been rising since their debut, Red, White & Royal Blue (2019), and we are predicting lots of late-summer interest in this pitch-perfect romance.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The latest from bestseller McQuiston (Red White and Royal Blue) delivers all the hallmarks their readers will expect with lovable queer heroes and zany side characters aplenty. Childhood best friends turned lovers turned exes, aspiring sommelier Theo and pastry chef Kit reunite while cashing in the vouchers for the European food and wine tour they initially purchased while still together. Because they each waited until the last minute before the vouchers expired to use them, they must now spend the next several weeks in close company on the tour, taking in the sights, smells, and tastes of France, Spain, and Italy. It's a fun and silly conceit with plenty of room for scenic travelogue and mounting sexual tension, marred only by the fact that Theo, who is nonbinary, is not identified as such until more than halfway through, meaning they are misgendered by other characters and readers alike until that point--a distraction from what is otherwise a near-utopian vision of queerness in which almost every character proves to be something other than heterosexual. Despite this quibble, it's a mouthwatering feast. Agent: Sara Megibow, KT Literary. (Aug.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Four years ago, Kit and Theo were on their way to their dream European food and wine tour, but after their brutal breakup on the flight, they were both left heartbroken at the airport without their longtime best friend-turned-lover, but with a voucher for the now-canceled tour. Now Kit is a pastry chef in Paris, and Theo is an aspiring sommelier in California. They haven't spoken since their breakup, but then they discover that they've each cashed in their respective vouchers for the tour on the same date. Forced to spend three weeks together on a bus, Kit and Theo launch a hookup competition to prove that they're over each other, are able to date others, and can go back to being friends. Because they can definitely be just friends, right? VERDICT Lush scenery, well-drawn secondary characters, and believable, grounded conflicts lead to a sweet and satisfying ending for Kit and Theo in McQuiston's (I Kissed Shara Wheeler) funniest, sexiest novel to date, here in a special edition with painted edges.--Whitney Kramer
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Two exes reunite on a food tour of Europe and attempt to prove to each other--and themselves--that they've moved on. Theo and Kit were childhood best friends who eventually became a couple--until a disastrous breakup on the flight to a European food and wine tour. They haven't spoken in several years, and both have found success, if not happiness, in their chosen fields. Kit made a life for himself in Paris, where he's a pastry chef. Theo is a bartender with an encyclopedic knowledge of wine and dreams of being a sommelier. Their abandoned European tour gave them a voucher that would expire in 48 months, and right at the end of that window Theo decides to redeem it, never dreaming that Kit would decide to use his voucher on the same exact trip. But, of course, he does, meaning the two of them are stuck together for three weeks, alongside a flirtatious tour guide named Fabrizio and a cast of adventurous travelers and eaters. Kit and Theo strike an uneasy truce to get along for the duration of the trip, but in an effort to prove they're totally over each other--and to burn off the sexual tension that's radiating between them--they make a "sex wager": Whoever hooks up with the most people while on the tour wins. Kit and Theo are both bisexual, which gives them a wide pool of applicants--and, in a slightly unbelievable turn, seemingly everyone they meet is attracted to them. The emphasis on Kit and Theo's physical conquests does add to the atmosphere of their booze-filled, hedonistic summer trip, but at times it also detracts from the romance. Kit and Theo's long, often tumultuous relationship is the beating heart of the book, and the story is most successful when it focuses on their emotional and physical bonds. Bestselling author McQuiston creates well-rounded characters in Kit and Theo, and, crucially, shows how they've changed since their initial romance to make the possibility of a second chance feel earned. The story is packed with enough detail to make readers feel like they, too, are on the tour--there are lengthy descriptions of the art Kit and Theo see, as well as the food they eat and the endless amounts of wine they drink. An evocative summer romance that will take readers on a journey filled with food, wine, and sex. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
