4 ⭐️

Attached at the Hip is a funny rom-com getting heavy inspiration from Survivor and Love is Blind. We follow Orie, a bubbly, goofy, anxiety ridden girl who lives in her sister's shadow. To prove herself, she signs up and gets accepted to be a contestant on Survivor... only she finds that it is NOT Survivor after she arrives.

We get all the dumpster fire fun of reality TV mixed with a bit of mystery and the challenges of young hot people stranded on an island. I had a good time - it wasn't extremely memorable or deep, however, I had a blast. The characters were a bit obnoxious (looking at you Orie!), but they leveled out as you saw more of their personality. Definitely a great audiobook - the narrator did a great job leaning into the emotion and I burst out laughing on more than one occasion.

★ Straight to jail for the character names ★


📖 Survivor + Love is Blind
📖 YA Contemporary Rom-Com
📖 Goofy, awkward FMC
📖 Love Triangle
📖 Lots of pop-culture references


Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, St Martin's Press & MacMillan Audio for the eARC & ALC of Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to enjoy this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly don't understand how I enjoyed this so much. I don't even like or watch reality TV, but it was so hard to put down and kept me absolutely captivated. I've been a little slow at reading lately and i zoomed through this one.

I may self disclose a bit here, but at first the main character, Orie, drove me a little crazy. I soon realized that was because we share way too many character traits. It's always so fun to see your own traits written into a character and finding that character annoying :grimacing: Either way, it ended up being more empowering than I expected from a cute romcom. As someone who is incapable of making decisions and needs advice for everything - it was nice to see the people pleaser break out of the box and grow into herself.

That being said, it was an overall fun read. I enjoyed most of the characters, I'm glad the triangle didn't triangle too much because that is not my favorite trope and it was a unique plotline that was enjoyable to read (even if the main character did annoy me at times). I found myself wanting more at the end. I always hate when books end at the start of someone becoming themselves. It makes the book feel like a prologue. Naturally, I now want a book two because I want to see what they did with themselves.

I was hooked by the description of "Survivor meets The Bachelor," and I loved Better Together by Christine Riccio! I enjoyed this one overall, but my biggest note is that it was too long. I enjoyed the premise, the plot, the characters, Orie's internal (and external) monologues 😅, the mystery of Remy, the rest of the cast (Kennedi and Osprey), etc!!!!! It just dragged for me. I think maybe aspects of the competition/days described could've been shorter. When we got to the last 15% or so, though, things picked back up! Orie is a great and entertaining MC who truly does some major soul-searching when she is on the Attached at the Hip reality show, and her growth is amazing. She is awkward and hilarious (she thinks the name "Orie" isn't unique enough for the show so she asked to be called by "Piccadilly"🤣). I'd still recommend this to folks for their summer TBRs! It publishes on 5/21!

♡𝐞𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰♡
4 🌟
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𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬 :
•survivor game vibe
•social experience
•speed dating
•rom-com
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I am a sucker for books with chapter names; love, love, love, them to infinite and beyond! If you enjoy the Survivor game, you will enjoy this book. It's definitely Survivor, meet The Bachelor. lol, it's a nice little twist on things. Orie was a very relatable character. She is searching for her happy ending . . . I mean, what girl isn't? But since she has graduated, she is wondering what she is doing with her life. Everything she has is not what quite she envisioned it to be. So she signs up for a show, and the story takes off.
The narrator did a good job with this story! I enjoy how she changes her voice for different characters to the point you know which character is which. Which is a major plus to me.
♡𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 May.21♡
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Thank you, Netgalley, MacmillanAudio for the (ALC)-Audiobook and St. Martin Press for the (eArc)-eBook for my honest review.

I got a copy of this ARC from NetGalley and was so excited- SURVIVOR BOOK! I started this book hating everything about Orie and loving everything about the set up of the book, andddd hating Remy. Then the book went on...we met Osprey, we met very over the top Kennedi...we fell in love...we no longer hated characters we hated in the beginning. We couldn't put this book down. This has all the warm fuzzies of an Amber and Rob Survivor season and I would 100% watch this as a TV series...like...for real, why isn't this a thing?

But Piccadilly? Can we just cut this whole thing from the book?

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. I absolutely adore reality shows so when I saw the opportunity to read a book that was a survivor-esque dating show... sign me up immediately. When I had to take a pause in reading this one, it was sad because I wanted to be in Fiji on Attached At The Hip with Orie, Kennedy, Osprey, and Remy. The character dynamics in this one were fantastic. Orie could be really annoying sometimes but I felt like I could see bits and pieces of myself in her and that's why she would drive me nuts. I absolutely adored Osprey and LOVED the banter between him and Orie. I had a feeling the book would pan out like it did and I love that it did. The best part about this is that it really read like you were watching a reality show. It was captivating from start to finish.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers at St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to review Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio. Reading the e-galley of this while listening to the audio book was a supreme experience. The narrator did a fantastic job! 10/10 would recommend both formats!

First time reading anything by Riccio and had a blast. Riccio's writing is engaging and accessible, with a conversational tone that makes it easy to connect with her characters. Fun and easy to read story plot. Likeable characters. A perfect summer read

Thank you Netgalley, Wednesday books and MacMillan audio for the e-Arc and alc. My opinions are being left voluntarily.. I loved this survivor style dating show esque book. Loved the characters lived the themes. Huge fan. Perfect summer beach book.

4.5/5☆

This was just not for me, unfortunately. I'm a fan of the author's podcast, "Those F%#king Fangirls", so I had hopes that I'd enjoy Attached at the Hip. As it turned out, I think I'll just stick to the podcast side of her content.

Orie, the main character, felt way overblown, more like a caricature than a fully fleshed-out person. Every emotion had to be the biggest possible, right from the start, which made the first few chapters tonally dissonant. A lot of what she said that seemed meant to be comedic or vulnerable also seemed like a voicepiece for the author. Like Orie was essentially a self-insert. Riccio has a specific kind of comedy, and you can really feel that in these pages, but in a way that sometimes made it feel more like a sketch for her YouTube channel than a heartfelt romantic comedy. Orie asking to be called Picadilly when her name is already unique feels like a fair example here - Riccio doesn't seem to grasp that the base level of things in this world is already eyebrow raising, so whenever she ups the ante it makes the entire story even less grounded.

The structure of the book was also a little off. I understand the idea behind the timeline hopping, but it didn't feel totally relevant, and at times cheapened possible reveals or emotional beats. For instance, at the beginning we don't actually see Wes, Orie's longtime boyfriend. We're told how great he is, but it's basically all in dialogue between Orie and her sister or within the narration itself. Within two chapters, Orie realizes she should break up with him. When we jump to her first day on the reality show and she reveals that she never did break up with him, instead she found out the day before she was to leave that he emotionally cheated on her. This feels like a weird place to reveal that instead of...showing us any of it. Splicing the before and during of the action is a storytelling device that can work really well, but here... it just isn't executed well enough.

Also, this book felt unsure of its own identity. I expected this to be New Adult, and there are definitely aspects that seem to lean in that direction. But the writing style, contrivances, and Orie as a main character all felt like they leaned a lot younger. The pop culture references felt very Millennial - Mean Girls and Katy Perry songs and such - but everything surrounding them felt fairly immature. If this had come out in the mid-2010s I think it would have felt less confused, but as a 2024 release it felt all over the place.

First and most importantly; I loved the main character! The author gave her so much depth making her unbelievably relatable. I love how real she was while also being flawed. Secondly; the banter! I was cracking up pretty often throughout this story. It really kept me the most interested.
As someone who has never watched survivor, the author made it so easy for me to understand. I can tell she must personally be a fan of the tv show. Which if that’s the case than what a great way to be inspired. She really kept us on our toes with this book. I love a love triangle, and I really feel like those who don’t enjoy that trope would make an exception for this one. Thank you for allowing me to read this!

I ate this book up.

I will admit, I love my fair share of reality tv shows and I would absolutely watch Attached at the Hip if it were a show.

Orie grew up loving Survivor and is pretty much attached to her sister. Shes been avoiding making her own decisions and goes along with so much… until her sister calls her out. What better way to be defiant than to apply to a casting call for Survivor?!

Only… it’s not Survivor she finds herself on. It’s Attached at the Hip. And now she’s literally attached to someone on an island and trying to survive.

Orie is a bit insufferable at times, but it feeds into her journey of finding her voice and learning what she’s capable of. I loved the majority of the supporting characters as well… especially Osprey. Not everyone was who they seemed on the surface, which is more often the case than not.

And for those who love Survivor challenges (or similar), there’s plenty of those and they are nail-biters!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. The review expresses my own opinion.

This one was fun but only okay overall. I didn't realllyyy connect with any of the characters, and both too much happened and too little. I think maybe the pacing was off? Also the games were really overexplained in complicated ways that totally took me out of the story, unfortunately. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the chance to read this early!

I am a big fan of Survivor, so I was interested in this story from its blurb, but it was such a let down for me. The main character Orie was not interesting at the start of the book, and I didn’t really believe her reasons for applying for the show in the first place. Also the nickname she insisted on was so confusing and unnecessary and drew me out of the story in a bad way.

There were moments throughout where the promise peeked through, but Orie’s behavior would ruin it every time. It wasn’t endearing, just annoying. The only thing that was well-developed was the reality show element, where it was obvious that the author knew a lot about Survivor.

Lastly, I am a little confused as to why this is labeled YA because the characters are all adults, even though the main character does act more like a teenager than someone who recently graduated college. I guess it fits in a new adult sort of category, but I would not categorize it as YA or recommend for my high school students.

I went back and forth a lot on this book because I did get interested enough to want to see what happened. But the layout of the story and character development were not it for me overall.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

4.5 stars
I’ll be honest that I went into this book with some skepticism. I’d recently listened to a book based on The Bachelor with two of the female contestants falling for each other and it just didn’t hit any marks for me. I started Attached at the Hip with trepidation because it was either going to be a hit or miss, with nothing in between. I love Survivor-based books. I’ve never watched Love Island but was ok to give the hybrid plot a chance. I’m glad that the “attached” part of this story established some questions early on (how do we go to the bathroom, etc) but otherwise didn’t let that aspect bog down the plot. The pacing was great— we got to the final core fairly quickly. I was 😒 when it looked like it would be a triangle but that whole aspect was very well handled, with lines and boundaries intact so it won’t trigger people (like me) who don’t like cheating plots. The narration was perfectly pitched so the whole thing was a definite hit for me!

If you are a fan of reality shows or rom coms, this book is for you!

Orie is beyond thrilled to be cast on the next season of a survivor-style show, but when she gets there she finds that it combines dating with island survival, oh, and her old high school crush is currently literally attached to her hip. It is the first season of a new show, and Orie and the other nine contestants participate in challenges and vote each other off, all while paired with a new partner after every vote off.

I loved the premise, loved the competition, and loved all the humor. I’d watch this reality show! The different challenges were fun (except the gross eating challenge), and seeing the characters scheme about who to kick off felt just like watching a real show.

Orie is a very young and immature 23 years old, and I had to double check that she was really in her 20s and not a teenager. From the things she said to the ways she acted, it felt a bit unrealistic for this age. She was supposed to be the oldest in the competition at one point and felt like the youngest.

The story has some heavier moments in Orie’s background story, but has plenty of humor to lighten things right back up. Overall, a solid and entertaining read!

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own,

“I am on a beach in Fiji about to be voluntarily marooned on an island to prove a point. ”
Here are reasons to read the contemporary book:

Reality Show - Orie has spent her life preparing to go on Survivor, and then she gets word that she makes it
Attached - and after a mandatory quarantine, they tell her that she is going to be on a spinoff where she is attached to someone the entire time
Challenge - which could be a challenge because it turns out to be her high School crush, Remy
Winner - but she can’t be deterred. In order to be the winner she has to build relationships and deal with her feelings

This was the third book I read in my Island books reading vlog. And it made me so happy. It’s everything I want in a book about a game: people building relationships, fun challenges that are spelled out and a really intense ending. Does the romance side of it get a little predictable? Yes kind of, but this book is so much more fun and the perfect one for a sum

Thank you so much @wednesdaybooks, @XTineMay, and @netgalley for the eARC of Attachec at the Hip. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

You know that feeling you get when you start reading a book and you KNOW it’s going to be a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read? That’s exactly how I felt at the end of chapter one of Attached at the Hip. 🥳

I absolutely loved the premise of the book. The Survivor meets reality dating show plot was so fun and so well thought out. I was nervous reading about every challenge, at the edge of my seat for each elimination, and in fits of laughter reading about Orie trying to figure out how bathroom breaks would work while literally attached at the hip of a super hot cast member. 😂

I also felt that Orie was a really relatable character. She’s a 23 year old who’s just trying to go with the flow, while at the same time, not challenging herself to figure out what she wants. Her personal journey throughout the book was so satisfying and I couldn’t help but cheer as she created a way forward for herself. 👏

Perhaps one of the most addictive parts of the book for me was that I was trying to figure out all the other cast members motivations/end game plans along with Orie. I was constantly trying to predict who was being real and who was the low key reality tv show villain! 🦹

If you love reality tv and new adult romance, you should absolutely put Attached At The Hip on your tbr!

In the pages you will find:

🌴 Survivor meets reality dating
❤️ Romance (clean, just kissing)
🎶 Music and movie references
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Strong family bonds
🧘‍♀️ Acroyoga
😳 Awkward moments
💪 Reality TV show challenges
♟️ Alliances
🏖️ A perfect read for the summer!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

You guys, YOU GUYS. I flew through this book - like FLEW through the audio. I haven't watched Survivor since the early days (back when I used to watch it with my dad in his newly divorced bachelor pad), but this book made me want to give it another shot! I forgot the premise, and therefore the gameplay. You never know who is actually your friend, who actually cares, and who will turn on you the moment you no longer serve a purpose.

And let me tell you - there was some turning!

Genre: romance, young adult
Format: audio
Pub Date: May 21, 2024
Star Rating: 4.5 STARS
Narration: 5 STARS

I absolutely loved watching Ori's journey as she went from a "go with the flow" college graduate to figuring out what she truly wanted to do with her life...and the life partner she wanted to do it with. BUT WHO IS IT? You'll have to read to find out.

Read if you like:
Reality TV
Kaitlyn Hill YA novels
Hilarious banter
Survivor but with Love
Love Triangles
No Third Act Breakup

Attached at the Hip is marketed as Survivor meets The Bachelor, which, okay — sign me up. I’ve never watched Survivor, but I am an unabashed fan of Bachelor Nation and other trashy reality TV shows. Sure, they can be overly dramatic, bordering on freaking nuts, but that’s the fun of it. I can tell that Christine Riccio had a lot of fun bringing that craziness into Attached, which made it entertaining for me as a reader.

The protagonist Orie is stuck in life and needing some spontaneity, so she hops on a plane to Fiji to star in a Survivor spinoff called Attached at the Hip — a survival game that has her literally attached by rope to a potential romantic partner. She could come out of this game with the love of her life, as well as with the grand prize of a million dollars. There are some scary challenges, some Bachelor-esque dates, and some serious tea to spill.

Christine’s characters have been a bit too loudly ~qUiRkY~ in her previous novels, but here, it totally works. I really enjoyed seeing Orie interact with this colorful cast of characters. The Asshole Chad, the Competitive but Likeable Bitch, the Surprisingly Swoony Suitor, and so on. Like your typical reality show, Attached also comes with its twists and turns, and they legitimately had me on the edge of my seat. Again, this kind of story can be pretty nuts, and the execution doesn’t always hit the mark, but it was a good time nonetheless.

Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio is an irresistible romantic adventure that captivated me from the very start and left me yearning for more.