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A review by icedviennalatte
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
3.0
I have a lot of opinions about The Pairing! I'll start off with what I enjoyed:
-The food and drink descriptions are DIVINE. Casey McQuiston did her research on these foods and it shows! Her ability to describe foods and the beautiful sceneries of Europe is incredible.
-I love how bi this book is. Literally everyone is bi. It feels a little unrealistic that everyone they meet is bi and down to hook up instantly, but it's fiction, and it's fun.
-Nonbinary main character
-I like the overall story of two exes finding their way back together on a fun European Food & Wine tour.
-Kit's love for Theo is sooo sweet.
My criticisms:
-The Pairing feels way longer than it needs to be. I found myself bored during many portions of the story.
-The plot doesn't feel strong and it's muddled in a lot of rambling internal monologue. This story is definitely more character-driven, which is totally fine, but it just feels a little too exhausting.
-Theo and Kit's actions don't quite make sense to me when they are so obviously in love with each other. At the beginning, the hooking up with other people thing wasn't too bad, but after a certain point, it did not make sense why they were still entertaining other people. I found them to be incredibly frustrating for most of the book.
-There are a lot of side characters who feel like caricatures and just add nothing to the story, aside from being people Theo and Kit hook up with or want to hook up with. I kept mixing up characters, but that could just be a me problem.
-I love the nonbinary character representation in a romance (very hard to find), but Theo really got on my nerves. The way they handle almost every situation feels incredibly immature to me. I also have a hard time relating to- and sympathizing with- Theo's struggles as a nepo baby. I totally understand them wanting to build their career on their own, but they are so incredibly whiny about things going poorly. Them acting like they aren't privileged feels like a huge slap in the face.
I do think that The Pairing could be super fun as a movie! Everything is described so beautifully and vividly, I can just see this as a movie in my head. I truly appreciate the opportunity to read The Pairing early. Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
-The food and drink descriptions are DIVINE. Casey McQuiston did her research on these foods and it shows! Her ability to describe foods and the beautiful sceneries of Europe is incredible.
-I love how bi this book is. Literally everyone is bi. It feels a little unrealistic that everyone they meet is bi and down to hook up instantly, but it's fiction, and it's fun.
-Nonbinary main character
-I like the overall story of two exes finding their way back together on a fun European Food & Wine tour.
-Kit's love for Theo is sooo sweet.
My criticisms:
-The Pairing feels way longer than it needs to be. I found myself bored during many portions of the story.
-The plot doesn't feel strong and it's muddled in a lot of rambling internal monologue. This story is definitely more character-driven, which is totally fine, but it just feels a little too exhausting.
-Theo and Kit's actions don't quite make sense to me when they are so obviously in love with each other. At the beginning, the hooking up with other people thing wasn't too bad, but after a certain point, it did not make sense why they were still entertaining other people. I found them to be incredibly frustrating for most of the book.
-There are a lot of side characters who feel like caricatures and just add nothing to the story, aside from being people Theo and Kit hook up with or want to hook up with. I kept mixing up characters, but that could just be a me problem.
-I love the nonbinary character representation in a romance (very hard to find), but Theo really got on my nerves. The way they handle almost every situation feels incredibly immature to me. I also have a hard time relating to- and sympathizing with- Theo's struggles as a nepo baby. I totally understand them wanting to build their career on their own, but they are so incredibly whiny about things going poorly. Them acting like they aren't privileged feels like a huge slap in the face.
I do think that The Pairing could be super fun as a movie! Everything is described so beautifully and vividly, I can just see this as a movie in my head. I truly appreciate the opportunity to read The Pairing early. Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!