The Pairing (2024) -Casey McQuiston
Those who obsessed over Red, White, and Royal Blue in high school have now grown up and so has Casey McQuiston
Content Warnings: Mentions of death, sexual content, dysphoria
Representation: Nonbinary, trans, bisexual, nblm
Favorite Quote: “It’s not just that I want him. It’s that he taught me what wanting was.”
Sometimes a book is great not because it does anything that’s never been done before but because it’s easy and familiar and comes at the right time. This book was exactly that sort of feel-good read that I needed to build momentum in my reading. Unlike McQuiston’s past books, this one does not rely on iffy politics or convoluted fantasy elements. It is a simple love story and it lands.
The Pairing follows two childhood best friends, Kit and Theo, who realize they’ve been in love with each other for a long time and finally confess this truth in their young adulthoods. The book could have been just that. It could have been a slow-burn, friends-to-lovers that ends there, but instead it was a second-chance romance that picks up years after that supposed happy ending fell apart.
After being abandoned by Kit in an airport just before they planned to attend a food and wine tour across Western Europe together, Theo returned alone to their home in California while Kit made a new life for himself in Paris. Years later, they each make the decision to return to this tour alone, unaware that they will end up face to face with the other, reopening wounds they’d been nursing since their sudden breakup.
Naturally, there are aspects of the breakup neither of them fully understood and they need each other to find closure, all the while both refuse to admit the impact the breakup had had on them. Now they’re side-by-side, enjoying all Europe has to offer for food, drink, and hookups, no longer being given the luxury of their ex living in another continent.
Both main characters, as well as many interesting side characters, are so easy to like and root for. They’re each brilliant at their own passions and have the flirtatious wit needed to make a great romance novel. Theo is a particular favorite of mine. From their bantering dialogue to their relatability, Theo is the exact character I can fall in love with. Ultimately, yes, this book is tropey and largely predictable, but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy every minute of it.