The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
Kit and Theo were childhood best friends, whose relationship finally blossomed to more as young adults. They were in love, but that was 4-years ago.
After a vicious break-up, in the airport, of all places, Kit and Theo went their separate ways and have been estranged ever since. Until now. Things are about to shake up…
At the time of their break-up, they had a food and wine tour planned, which they subsequently canceled. They couldn’t get their money back, but the vouchers were good to use for another 48-months. Separately. Alone.
As the 4-year mark approaches though, it’s unsurprising that they’d both come up with the same idea. It’s time to cash in the vouchers, and take that tour.
Unfortunately, they don’t discover that still think very much alike until they are actually boarding the tour bus. Oh, hello.
Neither one of them has any intentions of giving up the tour though, so it looks like they’ll just have to play nice. And play they do, a little hook-up game to prove just how over one another they really are.
I’m sure you can imagine what that entails…
Sadly, The Pairing was a bit of a mixed bag for me. It’s a good story, but IMHO, it’s not at the level I am used to seeing from McQuiston. This hurts to say.
For me, it lacked the humor I’m used to from them. I wasn’t attached to either MC and I didn’t care if they ended up together or not. I actually preferred not.
Additionally, the side characters had no real development, and in the past, some of the SC have been my favorites. I know that sounds harsh, I’m not trying to be, but it is the overall feeling I walked away with.
To be fair though, I did like the beginning, I was pulled in fairly quickly, and then I really enjoyed like the last 10%. It was just the in-between bits where I felt bored and like I was struggling to finish.
Both Theo and Kit felt flat for me compared to characters that I have read from McQuiston in the past. I wasn’t crazy about the structure they chose either; as in, the way we were given the different perspectives. I would have preferred a more even back-and-forth.
The thing that caused their break-up, I felt like that was resolved around the 65% mark and for me, the whole thing felt wrapped-up at that point. What are we even doing here after that? It was just like a couple fighting versus anything I cared to tune for.
I didn’t feel any tension, or real angst after that. And frankly, I do semi-agree with Theo’s sister, they do seem to intentionally make their lives harder, especially when it came to Kit!
That’s all well and good though. I don’t need to agree with a character’s actions or decisions, but I don’t want to be bored while I’m trying to figure out where they are going with their choices. Theo was frustrating.
The sex competition was fun at first, but then it just started to feel repetitive as time went on. Nothing really beat the couple themselves hooking up though when it came to repetitive. It just felt like the same thing over and over, just in a different place. Stale.
Honestly, I was so ready for this to be over and felt more relieved than anything when it was done. Although, I will say, I did think it had a lovely ending.
At the end of the day, while McQuiston will continue to be a must-read author for me, I’m NGL, this was a little disappointing and definitely my least favorite of their work.
I’ve read other reviews though, and know that a lot of Readers are LOVING it. So, just because it didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. If it sounds interesting, give it a go.
Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin’s Griffin, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m excited to see what McQuiston serves us next!