A review by wardenred
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

“I—I can’t believe you would—” I shake my head. “Kit, does that sound like something I would do?”
“Honestly, yes.”

So, I really, really loved Casey McQuiston’s RWRB and One Last Stop. Absolutely loved them. A big fan. And then I expected something just as good from I Kissed Shara Wheeler, but it turned out to be profoundly meh for me. I hoped it was just a hiccup. Surely McQuiston’s next book will stun me again with the perfect vibes, and all will get better.

*dramatic sigh* Reader, it got worse.

Honestly, it’s so hard for me to dial down the snark when I even think about this book. Normally, I really try to be objective in my reviews and to remember that anyone’s one-star disappointment can be someone else’s five-star favorite (or vise versa). But this one is just so acutely baffling!

First of all, I feel like this is a second chance romance done wrong. I love this trope. I love second chance romances that remember to show me what it was like between the leads the first time around, and why it didn’t work, and what has changed to make it possible now. Here, though, I have so little idea of Theo and Kit’s past relationship, beyond “they were friends, then they hooked up, then they had lots and lots of great sex, and then they had a big dramatic misunderstanding that could have been solved by healthy communication.“ And then in the present, they continue to avoid actual communication like a plague, and if it kind of happens by accident, they immediately take 10 steps back to create another misunderstanding as if it’s been their goal all along??? So what’s changed, what am I rooting for here?

Next, I love dual POVs in romance. It’s always fun to see each romantic lead through the other’s eyes, to figure out where and why they misread each other, what it takes for them to open up/empathize without prejudice. Here, though, it’s so odd. There are no alternating chapters, just a switch from Theo to Kit smack in the middle of the book. And like, the first half was all about Theo, Theo, Theo. They kind of idealized Kit, but also kind of didn’t treat him as anything other than accessory to their own life and heartbreak. For the most part, their observations and recollections revolved around two things:
1) when they used to be together, Kit made their life easier; and 2) sex with Kit is great. They were actually pissed whenever Kit seemed happy, and whenever they heard/thought of Kit’s accomplishments, they seemed to feel like it was a competition and Kit took something from them by doing well.
That… doesn’t sound super romantic to me, tbh, but whatever. So when the narrator changed, I thought, great, maybe now I’ll get to know Kit better + learn more of his perspective. But it was still
all about Theo, now in absurdly purple prose, because there wasn’t a single thought in Kit’s head that wasn’t all about obsessing about Theo. Altogether, it painted a picture of a selfish, pretentious person who just wants the other to make their life more pleasurable, and a dramatic, pretentious person who wants nothing more but to obsess unhealthily.
Reeeeeeally not my drug of choice. The book kept telling me these two people were good for each other, but it showed me the complete opposite.

And I suppose I should have known I would’ve have some issue with a book whose premise is literally, “Two bi exes on a tour through Europe challenge each other to a ‘who can hook up with more people’ competition.“ To ace for that shit and all that. But honestly, I can imagine at least five ways to execute this premise that would be super interesting and perhaps non-straightforwardly relatable for me. What I got, thought, just… I don’t want to say it was bad, because these things are subjective and yadda yadda yadda, but I definitely feel it was bad. The characters just created miscommunications on top of miscommunications. They weren’t being fair to their partners in these flings. And the partners in question may as well have been made of cardboard. They didn’t feel like their own characters, they were just there to be conveniently charmed by the MCs.

Which brings me to another point: one of the things I’ve always enjoyed about Casey McQuiston’s books are the fun, varied casts. Even the Shara Wheeler one that was mostly a disappointment still had a bunch of great side characters. This one, though? A Theo and Kit show through and through. I finished the book like an hour ago and I already have trouble recalling specific characters. Nobody was memorable. Nobody made me care. And then there’s the setting, too—just one the most vapid, surface-level, stereotypical depictions of Europe through an American tourist’s eye that I’ve ever seen. 

Also, can I just say, Theo’s whole
nepo baby angst was so frustrating. Maybe instead of playacting at being poor or something just take the resources available to you and use them to help actual poor people instead of angsting around?


In an effort to be objective, I will affirm the book does have a few worthwhile moments scattered around. I really liked the nonbinary rep. The coming out scene was super touching. There were some fun, vibrant food descriptions and some cool moments of banter when the author didn’t seem to try too hard. But overall, damn. This was one of the 2024 releases I was looking forward to the most, and it turned out to be my biggest bookish disappointment of the year :(
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