A review by kazoo
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I had fun reading this helped get me out of a little depression slump/reading slump. 

pros: I liked the characters. I liked how they talked about Theo's gender. I liked the second chance romance, but I've always been a fan of that. the ✨️drama✨️ I liked all the different ways they had sex too which a weird thing to say but I feel like so much smut written is very much 'penis goes in hole lol' and that's it. 

cons: I was confused a lot but mostly because I refused to Google anything I didn't know so I just kept refusing to Google different places they were visiting even though it probably would've made this more enjoyable, this is a me problem. biggest con for me was sometimes in sex scenes just say cock of clit like for the love of God, which is a theme in Casey McQuiston's writing so I should've expected it. I saw this advertised as being sexy and it wasn't really? it wasn't not sexy but I feell like it could've committed better, sincerely an ace nonbinary person. also the dirty talk was almost laughable at times?? maybe its because im really not into that but it wasnt for me at all. 

ive read a lot of romance set around baking and just cooking in general and I think im done for the foreseeable future. 

also just as a note, for the 2 other books I've read from this author I thought the side characters were well developed in those other ones than this one, like it kept wanting to go deeper but it just couldn't? because of the pov it was in or another reason. it has been a while since I've read both rwrb and ols so who's to say if that's actually a true thing. 

as another pro it is quite a funny book like rwrb, ols, it  has its moments where I thought it was funny not laugh out loud but still. 

its now 3 am nearly 4 so I'm gonna stop.