Thank you SO much netgalley for providing me with an arc, that not only made my week but also got me out of a reading slump!:D

I...... I loved this.

I loved the main character.
I love how these 400 pages I breezed through because that's how addictive this was.
I love how quirky she is without being devoid of a personality
How she's good while being flawed.
How her family life feels realistic and complicated.
How the cast of characters is complicated. People want to win the game, and sometimes strategize against the FMC to do so as well. And the author portrays that as just the reality of how survivor works without making said characters appear evil for trynna get their bag and win.
I loved the HUMOUR. I was going berserk giggling at this constantly PLEASE the banter in this book is hilarious 😭
How the show aspect was incorporated in the book. Christine Riccio is a huge fan of survivor and other reality show games, and her dedication to every little detail surrounding the challenges of the game along with the conditions and difficulties the contestants have to overcome physically and mentally in the game was impressive. The romantic spin to it while on the very front in no way took away from the survivor aspect. I had SO much fun reading the challenges?? I was clenching my tablet like my life DEPENDED on it, making abnormal sounds and having to take breaks to calm down.
And while we are on the " this book stressed me out, and I was delighted by that" part of the review, let me mention that the twist was INSANE. No spoilers obviously but my God I was going feral.
Also the love triangle? Oh I love it when a book has a love triangle that isn't annoying, please take notes everyone.
I'd also REALLY like to take a moment and appreciate the fact that Christine is well..... A fangirl at her very core. She loves media. And this love pours out in the book which feels like a love letter to both hopeless romantics, and pop culture. Movies,books and songs are nearly constantly referenced which while I know it's an aspect some heavily dislike, I simply am obsessed with it. The references Orie makes make me feel closer to her which makes me so happy, considering how much I adore her character. :')


I have no ways of accurately describing to you the roller coaster of emotions I went through reading this. Curiosity, apprehensiveness, joy that kept getting deeper chapter by chapter, sadness, desperation and frustration when things seemed to be going against the FMC, giddiness at the happy ever after she got. Literally every emotion under the sun. Please, just PLEASE do yourself a favour and pick this one up if you need a ridiculously funny romcom that will fill you with joy and happiness and remind you of true loves existence ( and the fact that you're painfully single).

this was so cute!!! i fell in love with Orie so much! you feel so connected to her story throughout the entire book. great writing!

For everyone who’s ever sat and thought “real life is too hard, I’ll read a book”- this one’s for you. Orie is 23 and struggles to make decisions for herself regarding her goals and aspirations. But she does love love and she loves Survivor. When she’s suddenly presented with the opportunity to compete on a Survivor spin-off dating reality show she does what any super fan would do- competes. Anyone who watched PolandBananasBooks in the 2010s needs this book, Christine has written a main character for those of us who have favorite quotes and speak only in pop culture references.

3.5 stars

The first two thirds were really compelling, I really liked Orie as a protagonist, but that finally third the pacing felt way off and knocked this down half a star.

I wasn’t sure that I was going to love all the Survivor bits but it was actually pretty fun and there’s a pretty big twist that was fun. I also really connected to Orie, and really came into herself and it was refreshing to see someone who showed this much growth.

I will say that our protagonist is 23 but this read a lot more like YA and I actually thought it was YA until she mentioned her age. It’s by Wednesday, but it seems like it should be more new adult? Idk it’s a bit confusing to be honest.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this books! I could not out it down. Christine has done it again!! I loved all the main characters. I honestly couldn’t have anticipated all the twist in this book. 4/5 stars. One of the best books of 2024

This is a cute, funny story with a fun reality TV twist. As a big reality TV fan, I liked the whole premise of it and read it fairly quickly over a couple days. There are absolutely some hilarious, laugh out loud moments, and several very clever one liners. But, there are also quite a few sections that drag out and I started skimming. Overall, the writing style and quality does read like a first draft. A solid 50-100 pages could be cut here and it would only make the story better. For the rest of my thoughts, I’ve decided to list them stream of consciousness style - in homage to the writing style of this book:

- I don’t understand the Piccadilly thing. Do I need to be a Survivor fan to get that? I don’t get it.
- What is with the names in this book? Lark, Orie, Osprey, Quintin. They’re so unusual, even the author spells them wrong sometimes.
- I don’t understand a decade long relationship with someone you’re not attracted to at that age. I taught teenagers and they have extremely short attention spans. One of them would’ve gotten bored and moved on.
- Some of the conversations are very odd and super unrealistic. Skim, skim, skim.
- She has tons of quotes tattooed on her body? Huh? The girl who can't make any decisions on her own went and did that starting at 16? Nope.
- Orie’s obsessed with words and quotes, yet has a consistent issue with not being able to use them intelligently. Major diarrhea of the mouth.
- The ending with the leading male character (no spoilers here) is very strange and gave me friend vibes, but we're clearly not supposed to be getting friend vibes.
- Way too much time and attention is spent on her very strange family and their issues. The more details that come out, the stranger it gets. Really weighed down the whole rom com.

Overall, I think with some developmental editing, this could be something really great. At this point, it's cute, but kind of a mess, which is really how I would describe Orie.

2.5 stars *ੈ𑁍༘⋆
⤿ umm. i’m very conflicted

🎀‌ 𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒕 🎀

this book is about orie, who also for some unknown reason likes to be referred to as “piccadilly” because her name is apparently not unique enough

anyways she and this sister have grown up loving this show, survivor, where you compete in challenges and tasks in order to.. well survive. so she signs up for the both of them and gets in alone.

so she attends and they tell her it’s actually a dating show. they changed it and it’s like a special edition or whatever. which i found so strange bc what if people are not single??
anyways it’s now this show called “attached at the hip” where you are quite literally attached to another person for 72 hours and do crap together. 😴

🏕️ 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔 🏕️

➵ friends to lovers
➵ tv romance?? is that a thing
➵ love triangle

😽 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 😽

the 2.5 stars are literally only for the reality show aspect. that’s the part i was most excited for and I guess it kinda delivered ?? like I enjoyed reading about the games and challenges and the scripts that was the highlight of the book it’s unlike anything ive read before <33

also very refreshing reading something with a unique plot. like reality tv but make it A BOOK!?? ATEEE 💅💅
but in england we have the iconic love island and im a celeb so i had high standards 😌

👎🏼 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚 👎🏼

this book was just really… goofy?
if i had to describe it in one word, this would be it. this book really tried to be quirky. and they were definitely trying to make the characters “hilarious and unique” but i was just getting “weird and.. wtf”. case in point:

“𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫?”
“𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢,” 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬. “𝐖𝐡𝐲?”

…um???? pardon?

“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐥𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫. ”

they had the audacity to call this banter?? no wonder they didn’t end up together I could have more chemistry with a brick.

another peeve of mine was the endless pop culture references. when i say endless i’m not even exaggerating there was WAYYY tooo many. here’s a few that particularly annoyed me:

➵ ʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ɴᴏʀᴍᴀʟ-ᴛᴇᴇɴᴀɢᴇʀ-ᴡʜᴏ-sᴡɪᴍs ᴍᴜsᴄᴜʟᴀʀ, ɴᴏᴡ ʜᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋs ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴛᴇᴇɴᴀɢᴇʀ ᴏɴ ʀɪᴠᴇʀᴅᴀʟᴇ.

➵ “ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴡᴇ ᴋɪssᴇᴅ, ɪ ғᴇʟᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ ғɪʀᴇᴡᴏʀᴋ! ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴋᴀᴛʏ ᴘᴇʀʀʏ sᴏɴɢ, ‘ғɪʀᴇᴡᴏʀᴋ.’”

➵ ɪs ᴛʜɪs ʟɪᴋᴇ ɪɴ ᴍᴇᴀɴ ɢɪʀʟs ᴡʜᴇɴ sʜᴇ sᴀʏs “ʏᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ, ʟɪᴋᴇ, ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴛʏ” ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɴ ᴄᴀᴅʏ sᴀʏs “ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ” ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇɢɪɴᴀ’s ʟɪᴋᴇ, “sᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɢʀᴇᴇ? ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴛʏ?”

plz make it stop 😐😐😐

there’s more but i think that’s enough bc writing them out was too painful😭

💋 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆 💋

the bottom line is if you read it for the reality tv, challenges, games aspect you’ll probably enjoy it more than going in with the expectation of romance. bc it’s not that huge or swoonworthy.

ORR we have complete opposite opinions and you actually adore this + the pop culture references in which case im very happy for you 💗💗

i wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this however i’ve read worse. 🥰

thank you netgalley and the publisher for providing me this arc in exchange for an honest review!!

I really enjoyed this young adult romance. I loved the Survivor spin-off show setting. I liked the characters and appreciated that the characters were more college aged which you don’t come across much in young adult reads. This book was very well written and had a great story. There were a few times where the dialogue annoyed me, but overall I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the early ARC of this title.
As a long time "Challenge" MTV fan, I found the premise of this book intriguing. This book is marketed as YA, but the lead characters are actually more college aged or older.
The premise is a dating show meets Survivor. Our female protaganist, Orey, struggles with being codependent. She is a social media yoga influencer with her older sister. She tends to take the backseat in her own life and lets everyone else make decisions for her. She has been in a long term relationship that she no longer has any interest in. She stays because it is safe and comfortable. Complacent is the story of Orey's life.
Orey signs up for the reality show thinking this will force her to be on her own and come into her own person.
Orey is quick witted and instantly wins over the attention of her fellow contestants. She is forced to make decisions and work for what she wants. I laughed so many times at Orey's banter with fellow castmates.
There is a bit of a love triangle and 2 men biding for her attention. As in any reality TV show, Orey must figure out who is being honest and who is manipulating her for their own leverage in the game.
There were some family issues woven throughout the book that felt a little bit unnecessary and didn't really add much to the story line. The story didn't really need any family drama to weigh down the fun of this book.

I loved the direction the author took the love triangle and the ending was satisfying.

Clean, fun read. Ideal for reality TV fans

This book is so fun. Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio is a fun contemporary romance that centers around the protagonist, Orie, as she ends up on a Survivor-type TV show that also serves as a show centering around relationships (both romantic and platonic). It is a lighthearted and emotional story of Orie finding out how to be her own, individual person while also falling in love with another person.

The story follows Orie primarily, who is such a fantastic protagonist. I will say, at the beginning especially, I found Orie to be a little annoying with her inability to be alone and independent. This is the point of the story though as she does have to learn to be her own person, and her character arc is absolutely fantastic. I adored her as a character. I also loved the background characters and some of the supporting characters.

The plot of this story is fun too and not something I have read before. To me, the game show that they are on seems like a mix between Big Brother, Survivor, and Love Island. The book follows Orie as she goes through this show and it is really great and super entertaining. There were so many unexpected twists and turns and I could not anticipate what was going to happen. It is well written and the pacing is a good speed for the story.

Overall, I would give this story 4/5 stars. It is unique, well-written, and I was absolutely hooked from the beginning.It is a fantastic beach read and I recommend it to anyone who likes contemporary romance. It is probably one of my favorite ARCs I’ve read in a while.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Unfortunately this was super disappointing. I loved the premise but found the characters so unrealistic to the point of being unreadable. I don’t need them to be relatable but just people that would actually exist.

If you like Survivor, The Bachelor, Love Island. You will absolutely love this book. I’m loving the fact that I’m reading a reality show. It’s actually really good! So funny! The challenges, the twist and turns of relationships, having to deal with all the different personalities. 5/5 stars.

No but I have so much in common with her I am terrified. I feel like I’m being called out.
I think this book concept is so great.
It’s about Orie who is told she is too dependent on people, doesn’t know how to make decisions for herself, and needs to have a life of her own. She applied for Survivor because she loves the show however she got told right before she was casted for a spin off show. Stranded on an island with 10 strangers who were paired up based on compatibility who are literally attached at the hip. They will compete for money but have the opportunity to build friendships, trust, and find love or take all the money. They have challenges and with challenges come surprises. Everyone has the chance to get to know everyone to find new bonds and create alliances. This story is so fun and exciting. I like how you are getting know other characters and getting to know how and what they think of Orie and other characters. You will seriously be rooting for Piccadilly. You are rooting for everyone, some to fail and some to conquer. There’s BETRAYAL. ANGST. TENSION. You get to know each character and form different connections with them as Orie goes through challenges and is partnered with them or sometimes separated. Watching Orie grow during the show and after the show is so satisfying and amazing. I love her. Her dad that whole plot was so good I got really emotional. I cried. I’m so upset this book isn’t out because I want the paperback now. I can’t wait until I can get it to reread and annotate.

Thank you Christine Roccio you did such an amazing job writing this book. You really outdid yourself. I’m so exited to see what is next. Thank you Netgalley for approving this arc for me. Thank you Wednesday Books as well.

I will post on my tiktok. I will post and talk about this book at the of march for my march reads. I posted on my instagram, storygraph, and goodreads. I will be posting on amazon and barnes and noble today 3/8/24.

Attached at the Hip is a romance story that takes place during a Survivor type
competition. I like romance books that have other story lines, problems or
characters that add more depth to the book. This was one of those books. The
supporting characters were some of my favorite parts (Osprey
Kennedi).
I enjoyed Attached at the Hip and highly recommend it for a fast, lighthearted read
Stars: 4.25/5
Spice: 1/5
Thank you to St. Martin Press, NetGalley, and Christine Riccio for allowing me
to read and review an advance copy of this book.

Super cute, YA rom com about Orie, who applys for survivor on a whim after a fight with her sister. She gets approved to be a contestant, but for a survivor spin off show with a dating twist. She just broke up with her boyfriend of 10 years and runs into the guy she secretly had a crush on growing up.

I really enjoyed Ories quirky, awkwardness. If you’re a survivor fan, you’ll enjoy this. I could hear Jeff’s, i mean Jamie’s, commentary clear as day during the challenges in my head while reading. Despite It being over 400 pages, i read It pretty quickly.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Attached at the Hip! The idea of the Bachelor meets Survivor definitely made me want to read this book. Orie is pushed into stepping outside her comfort zone and applies to be on Survivor. Little did she know she was cast for a Survivor like show, but with a a little twist… She would be attached to another contestant. The first contestant she was attached to happen to be a crush from her past.

As a fan of Survivor, it was easy to imagine everything Orie was going through, from comps to voting people out to the social aspect of the game. And in the end, Orie got her happily ever after! Over all the was a great read!

I’ll start by saying I myself am also a huge fan of the TV show Survivor and was super excited to read a book about a spin off of that. I think it’s a cool, unique concept which I could see playing out on TV. Definitely structured a bit different, but I could see it.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted (free) ARC

I struggled with the genre of this book. Is it YA? Is it an adult romance? It leaned very YA feeling for me, especially with the repeated mentions of restroom use. Sorry, I don’t need to see that represented in a book. We know all the characters must use the restroom at some point, but I as a reader am not annoyed by that being left to my imagination. I prefer it.

Orie, the MC, is also very immature. Further pulling me into a YA feeling read.

I think with any fiction book there comes a time when there are too many real world things inserted into the story. I don’t need a gazillion pop culture references to understand the plot or the characters. It doesn’t add anything for me, it just takes me out of the book itself.

I haven’t read the authors other works, but I have watched her YouTube channel for eleven years off and on. It does feel like she draws a lot of her own life experiences or feelings into the character. Which of course each character is apart of the author, but I don’t necessarily think that also means the author is/should be apart of the character.

Overall, I wouldn’t discourage the read. But I won’t be adding it to my list of recs.

I really enjoyed this book. I am a big Survivor fan and loved this take on a Survivor spin off. Orie is trying to branch out on her own and is cast on Survivor. When she starts filming the show, she is surprised to find out it is a Survivor spin off with a romantic element called Attached at the Hip. I did not see the ending coming and I enjoyed it.

I am going to start off by saying I did not finish this book. I DNF’ed at around 42% because I knew I wouldn’t enjoy it. While I will not be rating this book (only on Netgalley because I have to give some sort of rating), I do want to talk about some of the issues I had. I DO think this book has an audience, but if you have issues with what I talk about, I’d suggest skipping this one.

THE PLOT
- One of my FAVORITE plots in a romance is when the characters are on reality TV shows. I don’t even watch reality TV shows in real life but in a book? The tension makes the romance so much better. This was part of the reason I requested this book. A Survivor / The Bachelor mash-up? Say less. Sadly, I just didn’t understand the concept of the show. I thought I was starting to figure out the logistics, but then something else would happen that would make me confused again.
- The biggest reason I did not connect with this book was Orie, the main character. While I can definitely see how some can relate to her, she was just a little too much for me. I think a lot of that had to do with the writing style though, which I will get into down below.
- Also, the name Orie is so cool…she wanted to be called Piccadilly? Y’all, this book is so unserious.

THE WRITING
- While I appreciated the attempt at giving the character personality, Orie’s inner thoughts were so scattered and choppy. I also think there was too much inner monologue. I really think if the book were cut down (I’m talking 50 less pages), it would have been a lot stronger. I think Orie could have been such a strong character if she had had a little more mystery and growth to her.
- The story jumps around a lot, leaving out information that I think would have made the story a lot stronger. For example, when Orie and Remy win the first challenge, we don’t get to see it. How did they react? It would’ve been such a good time to develop their tension. Instead, it just said after the fact, “We won! We’re one of the two teams that won! We’re going to eat!” This also confused me because does no one else get to eat??
- I do not mind cultural references here and there (and I mind even less when I understand them), but even though I knew a lot of the references, there were just SO MANY OF THEM. One I couldn’t stop thinking about was “I’m Blake Lively in that random movie with a shark.” What?? How many people actually understand that reference? Was this a necessary metaphor?
There were so many words capitalized. I CAN’T FEEL COMFORTABLE READING A BOOK WHEN IT KEEPS SHOUTING AT ME OVER AND OVER (this might be a pet peeve of mine, but it did take me out of the book a lot).

OVERALL THOUGHTS
While I enjoyed Christine’s first book, the last two books haven’t been for me. I can see why some people would enjoy this book, but sadly, I could not finish it. I have seen in other reviews that the plot gets stronger towards the end, so if none of the things I talked about bother you, I think you should give the book a try.

Those are all of my thoughts on Attached at the Hip. I am so bummed I didn’t enjoy this one, but I hope Christine continues to write and grow. I am a big fan, and she has some fun ideas!

*Review will be posted to my blog April 22nd

This was so different! It was fun and I enjoyed every second of it. It kept you guessing and I really liked the message it sent about following your dreams and going after what you want. I loved the side characters. Where is the Kennedi spin off?? I wanted to learn more about Rick and Leo! and Osprey.. oh sweet Osprey!

loved this romance and learning about oneself. I loved that she figured out more about herself and made some friends along the way and even found love while being on a survivor like game and finding love. Loved the family and her sister and that she figured out some lying and exposed the liar. great story and will read this author again.