🎧Attached at the Hip🎧
By: Christine Riccio
Narrated By: Brittany Pressley
Review Score: 3 1/2 Stars

Why Was This Book “Just Ok”?
I loved the idea of this book. A Survivor like show that is centered on Romance, with characters LITERALLY tied together? Sounds hilarious. In the end, though, this book was too disjointed for me. Orie is too “quirky” for me, and honestly, I find her ability to survive in a game like that hard to believe. Additionally, the book was way too long. The ending also felt unnecessary, as there was a more natural end point to the story that would have been better.

Do I still recommend it?
Yes, I think it is a good beach read that others will enjoy.

————

When we meet Orie, she is a bit lost, aimlessly following in her sister’s shadow, dating a guy she doesn’t really love, and not knowing what she wants to do in life. She then applies for the show Survivor, and gets accepted.

All of this sounds like fun to me, but it just didn’t come together for me. I think others would like it, but it just wasn’t what I was hoping for.

So when the first words of the synopsis were “Survivor meets The Bachelor”, I was ready for chaos.

I devoured this almost entirely in 1 day. Was the FMC nuts? Yes, but in an endearing way. Did she make up the most hilarious nickname for herself? Yes. But us Survivor fans know that nothing will ever be as bad as Dragon Slayer and therefore this book had me cackling 😂

Internal dialogue is so hit or miss for me - but it was some of the funniest parts of the book in this case. She actually had me laughing out loud at Target at one point! And as a regular of that establishment, I wouldn’t make a fool of myself for just anything. I had no idea which way it was going, all I knew is that I was rooting for Orie (Piccadilly) the whole time.

Read this if you love:
🏝️Survivor
🌹The Bachelor (think, Survivor themed one-on-ones)
🏝️reality TV shows
🏝️pseudo love-triangles
🏝️endearing FMCs
🏝️character growth 👌🏼
🏝️beach settings

🎧 You absolutely must listen to this one! Brittany Pressley has probably never voiced a character so perfectly - and she is one of my favorite audiobook narrators so now you know how good it is. If I had read with my eyeballs, there is no doubt I wouldn’t have been as enamored with Orie - she really was the perfect narrator for this book!

🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

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!

Orie Lennox is feeling stuck after graduating college. She doesn’t feel like she’s fitting in and that aspects of her life are not what had hoped they would be. As a Survivor superfan, she applied for a casting call and was shocked to get a callback. She agreed to join, only later discovering that it’s actually a spin-off dating series! Think Survivor meets The Bachelor. There’s competitions, alliances, perfect matches, and liars. How far will Orie get?

This was SO fun! I love reality tv competition shows, so I knew I had to check this one out. One thing I will say is that this is posed as a YA Romance, and while romance was not the focus, I still very much enjoyed it! I felt like I was listening to a real reality show. I usually struggle with audiobooks, but I could not put this down. The narrator was fantastic and kept me engaged the whole way through! And the live finale at the end? Sheeeesh, this was a fun one! Super quick listen, I basically binged in one day.

I don’t think I could have loved this book more. The narrator was amazing. I think she made the book even better because I don’t think I would have gotten Orie’s aloofness. It made her freakouts so much more entertaining. And the book in general is already entertaining and, oh, so funny. The whole time, I truly felt like I was watching someone on a reality show. Thinking to myself, “There are cameras and microphones!" It truly captured everything so freaking well. The reality TV aspect. The love triangle. The drama. The not-knowing part of life. Absolutely amazing! I am absolutely buying this for my shelf.

A pleasant surprise that was utterly ridiculous but OH SO FUN!

Survivor meets The Bachelor, follow influencer Orie Lennox as she embarks on an adventure of a lifetime on a reality tv show where she finds a little love, a little fun, and a little bit of herself

I truly did not expect much from this read, but boy was I WRONG! This was delightfully fun.
Yes, there is some suspending belief, but honestly, I was wrapped in this fictional drama from start to finish and HIGHLY recommend the audiobook which sold this story even more.

Orie has to be the more naive and ridiculous FMC I've encountered in the beginning, but she's endearing and funny and her growth throughout the book is admirable and realistic. She's quirky and young and just figuring it out and I can get behind that!

I found the reality tv plot to be fun and engaging. The cast of crazy contestants were a great addition and each brought their own individuality to the story. The romance aspect in this kept me on my toes. I truly did NOT know how it was going to end. Truly a roller coaster, but well worth the ride.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. Go in blind if you can and enjoy the ride!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for my ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I loveeee a good reality dating show story and this was no exception especially with the survivor aspect thrown in there. Orie thinks she is going on survivor when she ends up on a new show called Attached at the Hip. This show has similar storylines to survivor with it basically being a human chess game, but the kick is, each contestant has a missed love connection from their past and other people they are compatible with competing. Her high school crush, Remy, has been cast as well and they end up forming a great bond but she starts to wonder if everything he is saying is true when things start to not line up. Will she be able to spot the truth from the lies and how will she fit in with the other contestants?

Orie wanted to prove to her sister that she could be on her own and find her purpose and this show was perfect for that. There was a love triangle with Orie, Remy, and another contestant, but I really enjoyed the way that played out. There were so many points in this story that I was laughing, and quite a few points that I was mad at Remy for just being a jerk and still thinking he did no wrong. The narration was great as well!

I loved everything about this book! I found that I related so much to Orie with her anxieties and fears. Once she got that push she needed she really thrived. Her brains getting through the competition was awesome.

I typically don't like love triangles but this was done in a way that I didn't mind. I thought the story was going in one direction just to be thrown for a loop with the little twist. I enjoyed that this book didn't really have spice but a great HEA sometimes that's just what you need.

Also, the narration was fantastic. Even though Brittany was the only narrator she did a great job bringing all of the characters personalities out there. I felt there was a clear distinction between them. Her enthusiasm was wonderful!

If you love survivor and dating reality shows this book is for you!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted advance listeners copy.

I saw that this was like Survivor meets The Bachelor, and the reality TV junkie in me had to request it immediately!!

I had both the eARC and the ALC, and spent most of my time on the audio. This was hilarious and had me laughing out loud repeatedly.

Orie and her sister are Survivor lovers and had talked about applying. She signs up and gets picked.

Once she gets there she realizes it will be a new show, Attached at the Hip. She first finds herself paired with her old high school crush, Remy Orlando Lasorsa. The fact that she called him by his entire name at all times cracked me up.

Orie is such a fun and quirky character. She decides she wants them to call her Picadilly on the show and really pushes for that. She has an unrational fear of bugs and other critters. She struggles to do things on her own and is very codependent on her family. She, like all of us, is a huge lover of books and reading. And watching her journey of growth was delightful.

There were twist and turns I didn't see coming. Founds myself doubting and disliking almost everyone, except Orie obviously. I ended up loving Osprey far more than I thought I could early on.

Definitely recommend this one, both for the humor and for Orie and her life journey.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press for an eARC and MacMillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝗽 by Christine Riccio

Thank you to @macmillanaudio and netgalley for this gifted ALC!

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆
First off, I LOVE Survivor and The Bachelor so this was a must read for me. You guys, it was SO GOOD. I don't think I've laughed this much from a book in SO long. There were survivor competitions and love interests, and I was not bored for a single second. This was my first Christine Riccio book and I am definitely going to check out more of her books!

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸
Brittany Pressley is one of my favorite narrators and she delivered this one so well! She captured every characters personality and had my laughing so hard with her delivery. I listened at 1.3x speed and the pacing was clear and easy to understand. I highly, highly recommend this on audio!

I don't think I've enjoyed a YA/New Adult romcom more than I did this one in a long time!! Survivor meets The bachelor in this reality show, forced proximity romance that sees Influencer Orley competing in a remote island competition for $1 million dollars and falling for two of the finalists. Twisty, exciting, fast-paced and AMAZING on audio narrated by my very fav, Brittany Pressley. I can't recommend this book enough! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio and digital copy in exchange for my honest revivew!

Steam level: kissing only

I enjoyed every minute of this! A Survival and Bachelor in Paradise premises in book form was so fun. I thought the narrator was perfect in the delivery of the story and each of the characters. The drama had me constantly saying OPE 👀, I thought that tv show drama carried over to the book very well. I am already planning to re-listen to this because it was that good for me, Also the “AP Chem” line was wow, iconic and one that I will always remember in a book!

Audiobooks can be a hit or miss for me because it’s easy for me to get distracted and miss stuff, but when an audiobook can keep me locked in and engaged, I can only give it 5 stars! So kudos to the author for creating a fun story and to the narrator for delivering that story so well.

I do not think CR’s writing is for me. This book was okay but I would not go out of my way to recommend it.

3.25 out of 5 stars

I have never watched survivor before. The only experience I've had with survivor is my friend explaining pieces of the show to me when I asked. I thought that this was a good glimpse into how the game, modified of course, would work. I really enjoyed reading about the characters in this story. I do think that Orie was a bit too quick with the relationship aspect of the story. I am not personally a huge fan of pop culture references in books, even though most of these worked well I still found myself pulled out of the story from time to time. I have really enjoyed the books that Christine has written so far, I do think that she has a character self insert in her stories at times. I do think that Orie was a self insert character for her, which isn't a bad thing, it just shows that she has characters that share her personality. I did enjoy reading the story and I hope to see another book from Christine soon. I also thoroughly enjoyed the narrator for this book. This narrator also did Better Together, also by Christine and I felt like her narration helped enhance the story.

Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.