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The Pairing

By: Casey McQuiston
Narrated by: Emma Galvin, Max Meyers
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Publisher's summary

"The Pairing is just a delight, thanks to both Galvin’s and Meyers’s game narration—whether in Italian and French accents or in the bedroom."—Vulture

"Emma Galvin is an appealing anchor for the performance while Max Meyers brings emotional depth as the two find their way back to love."—AudioFile

This program features special appearances by the author at the beginning of each chapter.

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2024 Casey McQuiston (P)2024 Macmillan Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: LGBTQ+

Critic reviews

Goodreads, "Readers' Most Anticipated New Romances for 2024"

Queerty, "The top 10 LGBTQ+ books to look out for in 2024"

Fangirlish, "24 Books We’re Looking Forward To Reading In 2024"

"Two exes. On the same food and wine tour of Europe. By Casey McQuiston. Is there anything else to say? Fine: McQuiston is one of our finest purveyors of rom-coms working today, capable of delivering pure joy and happy tears alike, and people will be screaming about this book from its release until the end of 2024."—BookPage, "Our most anticipated books of 2024"

What listeners say about The Pairing

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Hungry and Horny!

Casey McQuiston does it again!! Another stunning romance, full of food, friends, and eroticism!! I love all these characters more than I can say, and enjoyed every second of their journey!!

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Kept me engaged.

Ugh, soooo gooooodddd!!!!! This book was amazing and I really hope I can find more like it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The way they just get each other…

The way they just get each other’s references without having to over explain… even when the other doesn’t get it… telling them is the fun part. And they just get why it’s funny to you. Plus Face Off reference is everything. The love story is sweet and heartbreaking and heartwarming. I absolutely loved it!

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An Ode to Worldly Joy

McQuiston explores pleasure, love, and gender expression so beautifully throughout The Pairing. It's a tale of what joy can look like in all it's ways. It also shows just how travel can influence the human perspective.

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If this book is a feast CMQ is the ultimate sommelier

honestly I'm in no condition to dwell on words, i might need some business days to recover and let all these emotions sink in. But what I can say is that this whole experience of hearing this book is both everything and so much more of what I was expecting, Such a beautiful story, all the richness and lust and finding each other all over again. What a journey of laughter tears and so much love. Thank you KING

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it's ok

I was so excited for this book, I usually like if not love casey Mcquiston work and for what I knew about this one I was sure to love it.I didn't.. it was a little less than ok,
overall is boring and whiny and again this miss communication thing than make no sense. can't adults be adults for ones and talk frankly? it wasn't exciting or funny, or engaging I just don't care enough for this couple or any of flat side characters.
the tour and the food and drinks descriptions was very good though.
Theo's narrator was good, Kit's narrator was bad, make Kit felt like he was crying the whole time

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Delicious

A beautiful story basted in the best of Europe and every flavor of heartbreak, growth, love and life. So well done.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Satisfying vacation of a book

Loved the relationships, art and food. Full of delicious details. A vacation in a book!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

predictable and dull but sweet ending

The reading of the book starts out with the voice of one main lead. The voice actor and the dialog are whiny and hard to listen to. Once the second lead and voice actor takes over the store begins to get it's footing and settle into a rhythm that's nice to listen to and easy to digest. Many odd sex scenes. I will say the nice thing about the authors take is that it credits different definitions of sexual relations and queer sex.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Steamy and Delicious with a little bitterness

Casey McQuiston’s witty and joyful queer characters never fail to bring a smile to my face. I adores reading/listening to the sexy and funny dialogue, as well as the detailed food and drink descriptions. This book is your queer European fantasy waiting to be devoured. What bisexual doesn’t dream about a European summer traveling around, drinking, eating, and f***ing to their hearts content? Is the fact that Kit and Theo somehow manage to find 3-6 hot, kinky, bisexuals dtf in every city they visit slightly unbelievable…? Yes! But it’s entertaining as hell.

I LOVED Theo’s part, narrated by Emma Galvin. The yearning, humor, and attitude are exactly what I expect from Casey. Emma did an amazing job bringing Theo to life, and I was sad when their section ended!
I had a much harder time connecting to and enjoying Kit’s section, narrated by Max Meyers. The accents, enunciation, and emotion just Did Not Work for me. Tooooo sing-songy and breathy. I’ve heard Max’s work before and I think that he’s a talented narrator, but he got the tone of this character totally wrong.

Overall, if I were to consume this piece of deliciously queer romantic content again, I’d probably read the book instead of listen. I don’t like feeling like I have to push through a narrator I don’t enjoy just to get to the end of the book 😢

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