I love survivor so I was really excited for this premise! I thought the romance was good as well it just was more YA leaning then I initially thought it would be. The use of confessionals / reality TV nods were very fun if that is something that you already like! It's a quick fun read if you are looking for your next book!

If I am being perfectly honest, I almost DNF'd this book at about the 30-40% mark. I ended up at a 3-star rating.

This book is about Orie, a 23-year-old yoga social media influencer, going on a survivor like show called attached at the hip that is a mix between survivor and a dating show.

What I liked: The show and competition aspect was definitely fun. I enjoyed the challenges, the character interviews, and relationships being formed. This was the main aspect of the book to draw me in in the first place as someone too obsessed with reality tv shows. Although, I do not watch survivor specifically, I still really enjoyed that aspect of it.

I also enjoyed the Forced Proximity aspect of this book. As characters take turns being literally attached to each other and the only 2 people on a beach together, they have that time to work together and get to know each other. As a lover of forced proximity, that was a fun aspect to the story. We really got the chance to see relationships being developed.

What I disliked: I went into this book thinking it was adult. It reads very YA, but through more research I discovered it is YA. However, our main character is 23 but acts like a 16-year-old. She is very immature most of the time. That and the insta-love that happened in the beginning had me about to quit. However, I liked the game show aspect so much that I pushed on. Toward the end of the book our character seems to grow up some, but majority of the story she reads very young. Kudos to growth, but the immaturity almost lost me before we got there. I felt like the author knew I would experience this feeling because at one point in the story our FMC has an entire conversation about how she is very much a young adult, and more YA books need people her age.

At one point in time one of the characters ask our FMC, Orie, "Does everything you ever experience trigger a pop culture reference?" And this is exactly what I would like to ask the author because a few pop culture references, sure. I'm down. But man. I felt a little bombarded with them.

At the end of the day, this book ended up being a fun read. However, it probably won't be rememberable. I will definitely be on the lookout for more books with a TV show setting.

Part survivor, part dating show. I’m not a reality tv watcher, but I do see how much fans enjoy the shows and get into them. I liked the main character and had a love interest that I wanted to win. Orie has a lot of growth throughout the story. She’s awkward and insecure but she’s also smart and strong. It’s a realistic mix.

The main character was funny—fresh out of college, unsure of what’s next, and suddenly thrown into chaos on a romantic island… but with cameras everywhere. I didn't think I would like the reality tv trope but it was cute. This got a couple of chuckles out of me.

An adventurous and humorous YA romcom, the Survivor meets Bachelor gameshow makes a fun backdrop for the love triangle Orie finds herself in. This was a quick, enjoyable read that I can see being really popular amongst my high schoolers.

This was so fun!!! I love books like this where it’s kind of like survivor but also like the bachelor. It was so atmospheric with the beach vibes. The banter was fun and flirty. It’s a perfect summer vacation read!

The beginning felt rushed, and I struggled to connect with the FMC. The literal tether tried to filled the “forced proximity” trope, but I felt it forced.

Unfortunately, This was a no from me. I could not get down with the premise and the FMC did not mesh well with me. Maybe if I was a reality tv watcher?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A chaotic, funny rom-com set on a reality show where anxious, quirky Orie is forced to fake-date her high school crush. The concept is fresh, the humor is bold, and there’s real emotional growth beneath the chaos. While the pop culture overload and over-the-top narration won’t work for everyone, fans of energetic, Gen Z–style romance will find it fun and binge-worthy.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this book. Christine is someone I’ve watched on YouTube for a long time so I was excited I could read an arc of her book. While I enjoyed her other works more, I still had a fun time. I know Shes a huge fan of survivor and that was obviously a big inspiration for this book. I’ve never watched the show nor do I watch any reality tv but it was fine! I plan on reading any of her books in the future because I want to support her.

✨️ Ｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ ✨️

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Attached At The Hip
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Christine Riccio
𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬: 400

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐬:
• Summer Romance
• Reality Show - Survivor meets The Bachelor
• A chance to win $1 Million dollars and love!
• Forced Proximity
• Love Triangle
• New Adult Romance
• Quirky FMC
• Lots of twists and turns

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: Orie has recently graduated from college. She is struggling on where to go from here. She doesn't feel that she fits in with her family. She doesn’t have a job so she applies to be on a reality tv show similar to Survivor. Once she is accepted to the show, she finds out that it is a romance edition - think Survivor mixed with The Bachelor. There were challenges where you had to rotate partners for more of a speed dating type feel.

I thought this was a really cute read. I am not the intended audience for this book so I felt like the FMC was annoying at times. She felt immature and liked to stir up drama. But I enjoyed the plot itself. I am not typically a fan of a love triangle but I did enjoy this one. Honestly, both of the guys had good qualities but I like the history of Remy being her high school crush.

I would definitely read more by this author!

A book about a competitive reality TV show where Bachelor meets Survivor? Sign me up! This book was so fun and I enjoyed every page. The characters were interesting and amusing. I loved the connections that Orie made. My favorite aspect of the book, however, is that it doesn't end exactly how you think it is going to end. It was a nice change from a predictable novel. This was such a fun ride, 10/10 no notes.

I DNFed this one at 15%. While normally I’m fine with a bit of immaturity in YA, our main character seemed a bit too old to be acting how she was in the book. Her behavior screamed high schooler, but she was actually post-college aged. Every time she brought up the ridiculous nickname she wanted people to call her by I couldn’t take her seriously. It’s almost like she was characterized as quirky like Phoebe from Friends, but we didn’t have enough backstory as a reader for her quirks to make sense or be likable. I loved the Survivor turned dating/compatibility show aspect. I thought that the premise was great, but I was a bit confused about the genre since some of it seemed more YA than others. I think others may enjoy this book, but it wasn’t for me.

Pick up if you like…
💜 reality TV
💜 YA set post college
💜 MCs finding themselves
💜 unique settings

Thank you Wednesday Books for my eARC!

Reader’s Notes:

– this is told from Orie’s point of view

-there are about 137 curse words (most of them the ‘f’ word or the ‘s’ word)

-kisses briefly mentioned tongue (multiple kisses)

-it is mentioned once that the main character would typically have intimacy (sex) with her boyfriend (does not happen on page at all – past events)

-some make outs/kisses had characters taking off each other’s shirts (mainly the guy’s as she’d already be in her sports bra as part of her acrobatic yoga outfits); some also had characters’ hands roaming under shirts/edges of her sports bra/under her dress onto her legs

-this book has the characters on a show that’s a mix of dating show & Survivor – so for the most part they only have the clothes on their back to work with and sometimes go to their underwear in order to bath more properly

– it is mentioned that some side characters either are in a same gender relationship or wouldn’t be opposed to being in one

Review:

This was more like a 3.5 star read for me due to the amount of cursing in the book and the way the kisses/makeouts were portrayed. But for sites that only take full star ratings I chose to round up due to how much I enjoyed the story otherwise.

I really enjoyed the story’s concept of a dating/Survivor show and how the author wrote it out. I liked seeing everything from Orie’s point of view with only a few interviews included to give a better view at some of the other characters. There are two possible love interests, but as the story progresses only one is going to be the obvious choice due to situations that come up. I don’t want to spoil the who for new readers, but I really loved the guy Orie ends up with and loved seeing the connections they had that they were unaware of until something popped up. I loved that this was as much a romance as it was Orie figuring out who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do with her life moving forward. It made it easier to feel connected to Orie throughout the story!

Summary:

Orie thought she had her life all figured out, but now none of the pieces seem to fit the way she thought they would. From her guaranteed happily ever after with her high school sweetheart losing it’s luster to her partnership with her sister in their AcroYoga social media accounts causing tension between them things just aren’t right anymore.

On a whim, Orie decides to make a change and apply for what she thinks is the next season of Survivor. Only when she makes it on set she finds out that it’s a romantic spinoff of the show. So instead of just making alliances as she works her way to the top, Orie might also make love connections. And with the show doing their homework when selecting contestants, Orie discovers a second chance with a missed love connection in her old high school crush Remy.

In the end, Orie will have to decide if love is worth the risk or if the prize money will be her end goal…

I think this book was such a fun time and i loved the humor and tone of this novel. It was such a unqiue read that def made me laugh outloud. I thought this book was such a quick read and i really did liekt he main characters and i loved how this book really focused on self discovery and i would def read more by this author in the futue.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance copy of this title.

I'm not a Survivor fan. I'm not sure I've ever even watched a full episode of the show in the entire time it's been on the air. So I'm not really sure what drew me to this book. Maybe the cover? It was an interesting premise--couples who have some kind of past connection are literally joined together to compete in a Survivor type of competition, possibly with a romantic twist. It was full of intrigue, alliances, plot twists...and of course some romance. I did enjoy most of the characters and the relationships they developed. In fact, I enjoyed the whole book more than I expected to, though it did not make me want to start watching reality TV!

Orie, a 20-something influencer, feels that her life has gone stale. She's just going through the motions of her job, relationship, and social life. So, she jumps at the chance to join the cast of a new Survivor spin-off show called Attached at the Hip, focused not just on surviving on an island and winning challenges, but also on forming relationships.

I really enjoyed Attached at the Hip and thought the Survivor/romcom mashup was so unique and refreshing. This novel sports a young early-20s cast, so I would say it leans more towards New Adult than Young Adult, but I still found it to be very fun to read. It was the perfect summer beach read and had me immediately searching for more Survivor-inspired romance novels. My one reservation about this book is that the main character, Orie, was extremely quirky and a little off-putting at first. However, she really grew on me while I was reading and I enjoyed the range of characters included in this novel. Overall, I would recommend this book to any YA/New Adult romance lovers out there and would especially recommend it as a fun summer read for any Survivor fans!

4.5 stars, rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

A fun, quirky YA about Orie, who signs up for a Survivor-style reality show and ends up on a journey of self-discovery, awkward alliances, and unexpected growth. Christine Riccio brings her signature humor and heart, though the pacing drags at times and some characters fall flat. Still, the premise is fresh, and Orie’s arc is satisfying enough to make it a worthwhile read for fans of messy, feel-good coming-of-age stories with a reality TV twist. 📺📚💫
#YABooks #BookReview #AttachedAtTheHip #ChristineRiccio #RealityTVVibes #SummerReads #netgalley

Hello!

It’s June! It feels like this year (even March, which usually feels like a million years) has gone by quickly. I have had a lot going on this year, but I have also been doing a lot of reading. Christine Riccio has been a booktuber for years now. I remember when I first found her channel and would watch every video (P.S. Christine, if you ever happen to read this, hi, I miss your videos!) Outside of being a booktuber, Christine also writes books. I own and enjoy all of her books (I think her first one might be a favorite of mine). I knew she had a third book coming out, and I pre-ordered a copy, but I had not yet had the chance to pick it up. I saw a copy on Libby, and with a busy week ahead, I decided I needed to treat myself to this story.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Orie and her sister have been massive Survivor fans for basically ever. They never miss an episode, and now that they are all grown up, they kind of joke that they will go on the show. But Orie is still trying to figure out her actual life. She lives with her parents and works with her sister on a social media channel that the pair started years ago, but Orie never really takes the driver’s seat on any of that. One night, when Orie is alone in her room, she decides to apply for a reality show that is supposed to be Survivor. She actually gets an interview but quickly learns that this will be a new show, and it’s a mix of a dating show and Survivor. Orie has to say she is not currently dating someone to seal her spot on the show. At the moment, Orie makes a choice to say she is single and is accepted to participate in the show. Now Orie has to break up with her boyfriend, tell her sister she is leaving and will have to do the business alone, and get herself all ready for the adventure of a lifetime.

I absolutely loved every second of this story. It’s one of my favorites by Christine and one of my favorites in general. Orie and her whole family are so amazing, and I loved seeing Orie find herself on and off the show. I think the journey with the show really showed Orie what she was capable of, and it was great to see her embrace it later in the story. I will definitely be re-reading this one for a long time to come (I think about it like daily), and I can not wait for the next book by Christine (I just saw the cover the other day)!!

Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

📚💫 Book Review: Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio 💫📚

Christine Riccio is back with a heartfelt, chaotic, and refreshingly honest story about what happens when your former best friend—the one you shared everything with—walks back into your life… on camera. 🎥

Ava and Zac were inseparable—and viral. Childhood best friends turned YouTube sensations, their bond felt unbreakable… until it wasn’t. After years of silence, a reunion video brings them face to face—and back into each other’s lives. But can old chemistry be trusted? Or are they just chasing the past?


💡 Tropes You’ll Find:
🎬 Former Best Friends
💔 Estranged Duo Reunited
🔥 Unresolved Tension
📹 Internet Fame & Found Family
🛏️ One Bed (yes, it’s there)
💬 Angst + Banter + Healing

This is messy in the most relatable way. If you’ve ever had a falling out with someone who meant everything, this book will punch you in the heart—then make you laugh about it. Packed with nostalgia, angst, and Gen Z energy, it’s a perfect read for fans of Emily Henry or anyone who grew up online.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#AttachedAtTheHip #ChristineRiccio #Bookstagram #RomComReads #SecondChanceTrope #InternetFameFiction #YouTubeDrama #FriendsToLovers #BookReview #MillennialReads #SlowBurnRomance