Perfect Pairing: A Canadian Road Trip Romance
It Happened Up North #6
by Daisy Landish
Published: July 28, 2026
Publisher: Beaches and Trails Publishing
Genre: Romance, Romantic Comedy
Blurb:
A control-obsessed wine marketer. A laid-back cheesemaker with a pet hedgehog. One retrofitted school bus, a relentless PR team… and the road trip that's about to go viral.
Marnie Cole lives by her color-coded spreadsheets—especially when it comes to her career. So when she's chosen to represent Ontario's wine industry on a cross-provincial tasting tour, she's ready to impress with laminated schedules and backup plans for her backup plans.
Then she meets Gabriel Bouchard.
He's a fourth-generation Québécois cheesemaker who thinks plans are optional, carries emergency cheese in his pockets, and has an annoying habit of being right when he challenges her perfectly organized pairings. Worse? They're not in separate branded vans as promised—they're sharing a teal school bus with bunk beds, a shared kitchenette, and a social media team convinced their banter is "couple goals."
As their tour winds from Niagara to Tadoussac—through viral TikToks, wine-stained disasters, an unwelcome ex-boyfriend, and one very judgmental chicken named Henrietta—Marnie and Gabriel must figure out if they're playing up the chemistry for the cameras… or falling for real.
Clean, cozy, and laugh-out-loud funny, Perfect Pairing is a heartwarming road trip rom-com about finding love where you least expect it—somewhere between the cheddar and the Chardonnay.
Perfect Pairing is part of It Happened Up North, a laugh-out-loud romantic comedy series where each story follows a new couple hitting the road across Canada, and stumbling headfirst into mishaps, misadventures, and maybe… true love.
My Review:
Perfect Pairing by Daisy Landish is a delightful addition to the It Happened Up North Series, where each tale revolves around a unique couple crafted by a different author. This particular story follows Marnie Cole and Gabriel Bouchard as they embark on a wine and cheese tasting tour across Canada aboard a school bus.
Marnie has been selected to represent Ontario's wine industry, while Gabriel is a fourth-generation cheesemaker from Quebec. However, their road trip turns out to be less than ideal, challenging Marnie's expectations as a control-freak wine marketer.
The title, Perfect Pairing, is particularly fitting since the narrative revolves around the art of pairing cheese and wine. The visuals throughout the story are captivating and complement the theme beautifully. While the title suggests that Marnie and Gabriel might be the perfect match, the reality seems quite different.
In my view, they appear to be the opposite of a perfect couple. Gabriel's easy-going nature as a cheesemaker contrasts sharply with Marnie's obsessive control as a wine marketer, highlighting their many differences.
Despite this, I found myself eagerly turning the pages to discover whether they would indeed become the perfect pair. Their bus journey across Canada was a joy to experience. I could vividly picture Marnie and Gabriel sitting at a table during a TikTok interview, their expressions animated as they responded to questions about one another, almost as if they were already a couple.
The setting—a beautifully renovated school bus complete with a small kitchenette—serves as a character in its own right within this delightful road trip romance.
Perfect Pairing is a captivating and heartwarming tale that is bound to leave an indelible impression on readers in various ways. It is a story that will linger in your memory long after you finish it. I eagerly anticipate reading more installments in the It Happened Up North series.
I wholeheartedly recommend diving into Perfect Pairing and joining Marnie and Gabriel on their unforgettable road trip across Canada in their made-over school bus. Grab your copy of Perfect Pairing today for an adventure you won't forget!
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