Kayleigh | Welsh Book Fairy's Reviews > The Pairing

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐜𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 | 𝟑*

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭:
⟡ LGBTQ+ romance
⟡ Non-binary MC
⟡ Told in two halves
⟡ European food and wine tour
⟡ Childhood best friends to lovers to exes
⟡ Second chance romance
⟡ Miscommunication trope
⟡ A sex competition 😩😂

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
Um. Wow. 😂

What I love about CM romances is that her characters invest so fully in their love interests, their emotionally vulnerable and yet heart-eyed descriptions of each other genuinely make me yearn for the same experiences and usually endears me to the characters.

The best way I can describe this book is a European bisexual bonk-fest that is defiant of traditional gender ideals. The writing is as gorgeous as ever, full of poignancy, completely beguiling and with sparks of humour to finish a prose that is captivating. I’ve also never craved wine and pastries so much whilst reading a book before. However, I had some issues which tapered my enjoyment.

The two main characters, Theo and Kit, oscillate ridiculously from anguish to arousal constantly. This is encouraged by an entire character cast that is perpetually horny. The characters would visit a European setting, describe the food and drink in wonderful in-depth ways, then go and have sex with other people, each other, and sometimes each other AND other people. All whilst mutually pining for the other.

I felt that 1. Somebody needed to throw a bucket of cold water over the two. 2. I found it hard to feel the chemistry between Theo and Kit when they’re giving all this passion away to every single person they meet on tour. I actually kind of wish the main romantic pairing was platonic which is never good to wish for in a romance.

The story was really repetitive. Visit somewhere - eat good food - drink good wine - bonk everyone - move on. It was also so much more explicit than I expected. I typically love steamy romance but even I draw the line at licking buttholes 😂. This is the kind of filthy romance that makes me feel like I’ll never be clean again.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:
𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘢𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘰𝘯𝘦-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰.
𝘙𝘪𝘭𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦, “𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴?”

“𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵.”

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