Survivor meets The Bachelor is how I would sum up this book! I'm not a huge reality TV show person, but this is a TV show I could get on board with! Quirky Orie signs up for what she believes is competing in the famous reality TV show, Survivor, but little does she know, she's actually competing in a romance spin-off. I really loved following Orie through the show, hearing her awkward responses that left me laughing out loud while reading, to helping her find true love!!

Thank you so much NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own!

Orie thought she had everything planned out for her life but nothing is turning out that way. So she applies to be a contestant on a reality show and when she learns she gets to live her Survivor dreams for real, her life starts to be everything she definitely didn't plan on. Upon entering the show, she comes to learn that her high school crush Remy, has also been cast. She finds herself in a handful of compromising positions while on the show and starts to learn what she actually wants out of life.

I wasn't sure how this one was going to be played out but I think it worked! I kind of saw how the ending was going to play out pretty early on, but it didn't impact my thoughts at all. I thought it was super cute and I really related to Orie's anxiety and fears. This would be a great (and quick!) beach read for the summer.

Thank you St Martin's/Wednesday books and MacMillan audio for review copies of Attached at the Hip. This is a fun YA book, I loved the Survivor reality show focus and Orie was an fun character, I appreciated her character growth and the theme on having her figure out who she is independent of her family, her high school boyfriend, and perhaps free even from how she sees herself/how others tell her she is. Orie grows a lot, moving away from being someone's something (girlfriend, influencer partner) into being herself and that was what sold me. I loved the setting that allowed her to explore new friendships, people who just new her without knowing her history, and the chance for a romance that was focused on celebrating her emerging sense of self.
A greatYA book that taps into what happens when you take a chance on believing you are strong and capable.

I was surprised how much I got into Attached at the Hip! It comes out May 21, 2024 and is a great summer adventure read for fans of Survivor and reality tv dating shows.

Attached at the Hip follows Orie who is feeling a little stuck in her life. She applies for what she thinks is Survivor, after being a super fan for her whole life, gets casts, and then after reporting for the show finds out it’s actually a survivor spinoff dating show called Attached at the Hip. Contestants have to survivor while being attached at the hip literally with a rope to another contestant. Some of the contestants are love matches for each person so they are also trying to find their soulmate while surviving on a beach in Fiji.

I was surprised how much I loved this book! I really got into it and I loved the survivor aspect and twist. The action moved the book along quickly and I really liked the characters and all their complexities. Remy, Orie’s missed connection, added an air of mystery to the game and I enjoyed the evolution of that relationship. I was stressin’ at the end! I also liked how everything wrapped up!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC

Read if you like:
🏝️ Tropical Vibes
🌊 Survivor
💋 Dating Shows
🔺 Love Triangles
🧼 Clean/YA romances (only kissing)

If you love a wacky MC, Orie is your girl! She was definitely wacky, especially with her nervous talk and nickname requests, but that also made her a lovable weirdo!

I really enjoyed the slow burn aspect to the book and how it was written to experience from pre to post show with the days of filming included in the meat of the story.

I also loved how the love triangle worked out and how the ending wasn’t super obvious like many romances where you know exactly who the MC will end up with.

I had so much fun reading this it makes me want to start watching Survivor again and some of the beach dating shows to scratch the itch this book is giving for those vibes.

Thank you so much to Wednesday books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This Survivor meets Bachelor In Paradise but make it YA had me laughing at loud with some of its antics. MC Orie was fun and hilarious to follow as she learned to stand on her own as a person and navigate the new terrain of her life- figuratively and literally. I had an issue with some of the pacing- this is one book that would have benefited from flashbacks- and therefore had some trouble connecting with what was going in with Orie's life back home.

My biggest query was who the target audience is for this read as although it read very young adult and the characters lack emotional insight and maturity, in fact the characters were all 18+ with some in their mid-twenties. And there were SO MANY pop culture references, it just felt really young and definitely not for an older reader. I'm also not entirely sure this book had a point... it was a little bit like a reality TV show fanfic and the author didn't know how to end it. So did the book know where it was going? No. Did I enjoy the ride? For the most part. Was the premise unique? Absolutely. Did this story need to be 400 pages? Absolutely not. Not gonna say don't read it but not gonna say read it either...

A great new-adult exploration of family, love, and competition

Many thanks to #NetGalley for the eARC.

Such a fun read. Christine Riccio has swiftly become and auto-read for me. Her story telling continues to fully engage me in the characters and the action. Attached at the Hip is a cute take on the reality competition show. We've got Orie, the main character, who is basically coasting through her life right now. She's got great things going for her, but nothing really inspires her or brings her joy and passion. So when her sister, Lark, calls her out on all the inaction n her life, Orie basically revenge-applies to be a contestant on Survivor.

And suddenly, she's got a call from a producer and she's been chose as a contestant. But in the time leading up to her departure for a remote beach in Fiji, her life at home implodes. Her dad apparently has a gambling problem and is going into a program. Her boyfriend of 10 years and her break up and she finds out that he's been cheating on her. She's vulnerable, overwhelmed, and unprepared for the final twist. When she arrives ready to survive the elements, she finds out this is actually a Survivor spin-off with a romantic twist: Attached at the Hip.

She arrives on the island blindfolded and attached to someone by a long cord at their waist. She can hardly believe her eyes when her first castmate turns out to be Remy Orlando Lasorsa, a dreamy boy from high school that always caught her eye and left her tongue-tied. After her initial surprise and confusion, they hit it off. It seems perfect, a fairytale romance she's always dreamed of come to life. But they can't stay partners forever and after each group challenge the cast is paired off to a different contestant. Orie is able to form deep bonds and learns so much about herself throughout her time on the island.

The setting being a reality tv show is great, but it allows for so many great metaphors that seem relatable even when they really, really, aren't. In one part Orie is in isolation and she has to fend for herself. It makes her confront the idea that she might lean on codependency and forces her to physically and mentally count on herself.

The book is not without it's twists and turns. The whole concept of the show "Attached at the Hip" is to build relationships and bonds and we get to see our characters do that in beautiful ways. I loved the story from start to finish!

This was fun, i found myself laughing on more than one occasion and enjoyed my time listening to it. I loved the main characters growth and journey. The narrator did an amazing job! I really like how for different characters she changes her voice. I did enjoy the audiobook more than the ebook.

Title: Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio
Publication Date- 05/21/24
Publisher- MacMillan
Overall Rating- 5 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The way I went to write this review and noticed it’s filed under YA, I was surprised. This very much feels adult or at least new adult. Not because there is any explicit content, it just felt way more new adult, in a positive way. I really enjoyed my time with this story. More so than most romances these days, this book holds up to exactly what it sets out to do. We actually get a game show, and tasks for the contestants to complete. The characters are so relatable, entertaining and hilarious. I have never read anything by Christine Riccio but this will not be my last. The characters were well developed, this is the story of an experienced writer.

If you enjoy reality tv or that as a setup for a book, you don’t want to miss this one. The writing is fun, the main character is fun, it’s just such an enjoyable story. Also, there are heavy hitting topics that are believable, don’t feel like too much for a romance novel, and just make the story even more complete. The characters do things that make sense, I didn’t find it cringey at all (this has been a recent problem for me and romance novels). I really, really enjoyed this story. I can’t wait for her next novel.

I never knew that I was missing a Survivor themed romance novel in my life, but I guess I was! Growing up, I was OBSESSED with Survivor, to the point where I would yell at the tv during challenges and jump up and down when my favorite contestant won. As soon as I read the description for this book, I knew I needed to read it. Young adult isn't typically my genre, as it tends to read a little cheesy for me, but I was thoroughly surprised by how much I loved this book. There were some moments of cheese, like pretty much every moment Orie sees a spider, but other than that, it was easy to fall into this book.

Besides the whole concept of the novel, what I loved about this book was how unpredictable it was. I wasn't sure where the author was going to take things and it made me captivated. I read a majority of this late one night and couldn't put it down once I hit the halfway point. I was speeding through the paragraphs during the challenges and holding my breath just like I used to do when I watched the show on TV. I love how she talked about those days after the show and how much of an adjustment it was. I loved Orie's journey into becoming her own person and how you could really see a difference in her character at the end. Speaking of the end, that finale was WILD and the wrap up of the book was really cute.

Overall, this was a super fun summer read that surprised me in the best ways! I give it 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 stars for Netgalley and Goodreads.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for my advanced electronic version via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Orie Lennox is having trouble figuring out who she is in her early 20s. To be fair, she always has. For fear of not being good enough, she has played it safe in love, in her studies, and in work. But after a confrontation by her sister, she decides she's going to prove she can go it alone and applies for the next season of Survivor. What she doesn't realize is that it's actually a spin-off: a social experiment aimed at forging and testing platonic and romantic bonds by dropping couples off on a deserted island and putting them through a series of challenges--all while tied together at the hip. What ensues is a hilarious, thought-provoking ride through survival, reality TV, and finding who you are.

This was the book I didn't know I needed, but couldn't put it down once I started. I treasure my sleep, but this one kept me up past bedtime (not my normal!) as I flew through it. It was relatable in so many ways--self-doubt plagues us all, and our coping strategies aren't always healthy. I saw Orie as wanting to start from scratch and figure out who she was, and all the excitement, freedom, and fear that comes with that. But there are things about oneself that cannot be escaped, and when you find your people, that's OK. Trying to be true to yourself while trying to simultaneously find yourself is what young adulthood is all about! I really appreciated how sex-positive (yet closed door) the book is, with a portrayal of romance and sexuality as fluid along a spectrum. I'm definitely going to check out more of Riccio's stuff having read this!

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☆