The Pairing

By: Casey McQuiston

Narrated by: Emma Galvin, Max Meyers

Two bisexual exes, one unforgettably hot summer . . .

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 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.

'The summer's best romance novel.' Rolling Stone

'Spicy, sexy and absolutely delicious.' People

'Move over "hot girl summer" – "hot bisexual summer" is ready for its moment and Casey McQuiston’s new novel The Pairing is here to usher it in.' USA Today

©2024 Casey McQuiston (P)2024 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Critic reviews

Fresh, funny, exhilarating and outrageously sexy, Casey McQuiston is unparalleled in writing queer rom coms with heart, warmth and wit. (Laura Kay, bestselling author of The Split)

McQuiston’s horniest romcom yet! Greedy bisexuals rejoice – even the most hedonistic readers will be full from The Pairing's abundance of fine wine, food, and sexual promiscuity. (Lily Lindon, bestselling author of Double Booked)

this book is incredible (this review contains spoilers)

i have read this book two times already (once as arc, once after it was released on august 6th) and then i decided to listen to it as well, because i love it and i don't want to put it away yet. the story is wonderfully written, casey mcquinston reached their climax as an author with this one; i'm unsure if they can top this (but i'll be pleased if they do).
now, for what concerns the audiobook, i have to say that i am a little disappointed in how the voice actors have approached the parts not in english in this book. as an italian, i was very curious to hear how they would tackle my language, and especially fabrizio, but it was very much hit or miss.
fabrizio sounds like super mario or any other stereotypical italian who doesn't know any english at all, and it's sad that a man who has spent many years doing tours in english - and whose wife is an english teacher - is portrayed in such way. yes, the italian accent should absolutely be there, but he doesn't need to sound like a caricature.
another thing that disappointed me was the mispronounciation of many italian words. i wondered if the voice actors did some research before or just went in blindly and hoped for the best, and every mistake they made took me out of the listening experience.
other than that, the portrayal of theo and kit's emotions and feelings was wonderful, and i liked how they paced the story!