In #1 New York Times bestselling author Casey McQuiston's latest romantic comedy, two bisexual exes accidentally book the same European food and wine tour and challenge each other to a hookup competition to prove they're over each other—except they're definitely not.
Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other's lives once and for all.
Time apart has done them good. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. Sure, nothing really compares to what they had, and life stretches out long and lonely ahead of them, but—yeah. It's in the past.
All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately.
It's not until they board the tour bus that they discover they've both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they're trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain, and Italy. It's fine. There's nothing left between them. So much nothing that, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is totally game. And why stop there? Why not a full-on European hookup competition?
But sometimes a taste of everything only makes you crave what you can't have.
2 of 5 copies available
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 6, 2024 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781250864055
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781250864055
- File size: 5135 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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April 15, 2024
The latest from bestseller McQuiston (Red White and Royal Blue) delivers all the hallmarks their readers will expect with lovable queer heroes and zany side characters aplenty. Childhood best friends turned lovers turned exes, aspiring sommelier Theo and pastry chef Kit reunite while cashing in the vouchers for the European food and wine tour they initially purchased while still together. Because they each waited until the last minute before the vouchers expired to use them, they must now spend the next several weeks in close company on the tour, taking in the sights, smells, and tastes of France, Spain, and Italy. It’s a fun and silly conceit with plenty of room for scenic travelogue and mounting sexual tension, marred only by the fact that Theo, who is nonbinary, is not identified as such until more than halfway through, meaning they are misgendered by other characters and readers alike until that point—a distraction from what is otherwise a near-utopian vision of queerness in which almost every character proves to be something other than heterosexual. Despite this quibble, it’s a mouthwatering feast. Agent: Sara Megibow, KT Literary. -
Starred review from July 1, 2024
Theo Flowerday and Kit Fairfield, childhood best friends-turned-lovers, broke up right before they were supposed to embark on a three-week food and wine tour of France, Spain, and Italy. Four years later, the two separately decide to finally take the tour before the vouchers expire. They've each changed. Theo is an aspiring sommelier with a converted VW cocktail bus; Kit is a pastry chef in Paris. But old feelings die hard, so to prove that they are absolutely over each other, Theo suggests a friendly competition: see who can seduce the most people as they travel from city to city. McQuiston's latest (after the YA novel I Kissed Shara Wheeler, 2022) is a hedonistic delight, with gorgeous descriptions of the scent and mouthfeel of the food and wine the group consumes, the scenery of Bordeaux, Monaco, and Florence, among other destinations, and very sexy love scenes. As always, the characters here are all fully realized, from the two Australian Callums on the trip to a sexy fishmonger in Spain to, of course, Theo and Kit, who are appealingly frustrating and brainy and completely in denial about their feelings. Sensual and unabashedly queer, The Pairing cements McQuiston's place as our premier chronicler of millennial romance.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: McQuiston's star has been rising since their debut, Red, White & Royal Blue (2019), and we are predicting lots of late-summer interest in this pitch-perfect romance.COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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