I watch a lot of reality television—almost a disgusting number of shows. And they’re mostly competition shows, like The Amazing Race and Big Brother, or dating shows, like Love is Blind and The Ultimatum. So when I came across the premise for Christine Riccio’s Attached at the Hip (Survivor mixed with The Bachelor?!), I was so very in. Add to the fact that I loved Riccio’s Again, But Better and I was hoping this was going to be another highly rated book. (I think I’m finally out of my reading rut!)

Orie Lennox has spent her entire life prepping for her happily ever after—and now that she’s graduated, she’s low-key wondering when the heck is it gonna hit. Her love life, her new job, her relationship with her sister: none of it is quite what she envisioned it to be.

One evening, on a whim, she applies for a reality show where she’ll be stranded on an island with a bunch of strangers to play a game of human chess for a shot at a million dollars. What better way to force herself to break up with the things that aren’t bringing her joy, than to abandon them all on short notice to live off the grid on a beach in the South Pacific!

Orie is shocked when she ends up cast in an experimental romantic edition of the show and even more surprised to find that her old high school crush, Remy, has been cast as well. Orie’s one of ten contestants set to compete in formidable challenges while speed dating in the wilderness—without deodorant, toilets, shaving cream, or showers. (How!?)

She finds herself tied up—literally—in a game of risky alliances as she navigates ever-growing feelings for her one that got away, alongside an exciting array of budding new relationships.

I’m not a person who knows Christine Riccio outside of being a writer. I think she’s a YouTuber, and I’ve been finding a lot of people who have reviews out already are just 100% into this book because they know her from there. That is not my experience and I feel it’s important to put that out there. I also read Again, But Better five years ago, so I didn’t remember a single thing and missed out on those Easter eggs, which I guess proves you don’t need them. All that being said, I *loved* this book. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken up an entire weekend day reading—and this is how I spent my Victoria Day weekend Sunday. It’s a quick read that I think anyone who loves Survivor and The Bachelor (or any of those amazingly trashy reality TV shows) will enjoy.

What didn’t work for me

The character names: I’m noticing that the more books I read, the more outrageous the names are. Orielle is nice (Orie worked), but her thinking that it wasn’t unique enough and that she should go by Piccadilly was silly. Plus, Kennedi, Osprey, Lark… I just. I can’t. And sometimes they shortened Orie to Or and I found that hard to follow a bit.

A bit more about the game as a whole: They mentioned a few times when explaining the premise of the game that everyone had three potential matches. We quickly learn about Orie’s (if we assume Kennedi is one in a friend kind of way), but I don’t see how all the other characters could have been matched with each other. Remy, especially, seemed like an odd man out. I wish we could have seen a bit more from the other players in the game. I also really don’t believe Remy’s mom would have done what she did in real life. It seemed really rushed and random.

What I liked

The love triangle: I thought I knew where the love story was going to go—and man, was I (pleasantly) wrong! I’m so glad it didn’t go the way I thought. The love story between the two that ended up together was really sweet, and I think both characters grew a lot as they got to know each other (especially Orie).

The pop culture references: I think this is a specialty of Riccio’s, but I loved all the pop culture references—especially the books. There were only a few I didn’t know, but I wrote them down because I now want to read them. Plus, I had Katy Perry’s Firework in my head for days afterward.

4.5 STARS

“Follow your happy and see where it goes. Run after the fairy tale. That’s the only way you’re ever going to catch it.” —Christine Riccio, Attached at the Hip

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced book copy in exchange for my honest review.