Attached at the Hip

by Christine Riccio

Survivor meets The Bachelor in Attached at the Hip, an irresistible, romantic adventure by New York Times bestselling author Christine Riccio.

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's 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.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Audiobook, Young Adult, Fiction, Summer, Rom Com

400 pages, Hardcover

First published May 21, 2024

About the author

Christine Riccio has been on a quest to encourage more humans to read since the third grade. No one really listened until she started making videos about books on Youtube in 2010. Now her channel PolandbananasBOOKS has over 390,000 book-loving subscribers. She makes comedic book reviews, vlogs, sketches, and writing videos chronicling the creation of her own novel. She’s also one of the three YouTubers behind BOOKSPLOSION. Originally from New Jersey, Christine graduated from Boston University in 2012 with a degree in Film and TV and now lives in Los Angeles, CA. Other hobbies include hot yoga and oatmeal.

Reviews

[sama ୨୧ (slumping.) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars *ੈ𑁍༘⋆
⤿ i think i’m this close to giving up with arcs.

🎀‌ 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 🤡

which is stupid bc it’s not everyday you meet an orie so what’s she even worried about !!!??! this book is so weird istg

anyways she and her 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. 😴

ALSO SORRY THAT WAS LITERALLY THE WORST SUMMARY EVER LMAO. 😭✋🏼


🏕️ 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 watching the games and challenges and the scripts that was the highlight of the book

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? did I.. hear that right?!!?

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

I literally don’t know whether to laugh or cry-

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 💋

this actually doesn’t feel real did i dream this book bc???!?! like i don’t remember anything except these random out of context quotes. if you want a more accurate professional review of this book, this probably isn’t the place to be HAHAH


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!!

[sapphia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Thrice is a pattern.

I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that Christine Riccio is just not a very good writer.
Which sucks, since she keeps getting book deals handed to her on a fucking silver platter.

This review is going to be messy and not as "in-depth" as I usually go, because I finished reading this book in November and still haven't gotten this review out. I need to finish this review now so I can expunge this book from my mind.

There's also not a lot more you can say at this point about a new CR book. "It was cringy and there were self-inserts."



This book is by far the worst yet, in every way.
I don't know how old Christine is exactly but I do know she's past 30. I'm turning 30 this year and I had to remind myself constantly throughout reading this book that the author is older than me. The writing is so childish and immature, it's ridiculous.

People do not act the way the characters in this book act, especially the main character Orie. She's the apparent standard Christine Riccio protagonist, that is, a semi-self-insert "quirky" maniac. Every time she had an interaction with another character she was just spazzing out and the other character was like "wow I am endeared!".

Ories sisters name is Lark. Fucking Lark.

There is a character called Osprey Suzuki.


Whomst the fuck.

Osprey Suzuki is so fucking funny and infuriating at the same time. Every time I saw his name on the page I started laughing, because what the fuck. There are even better bird names??? And why with the bird names? Are Americans allergic to NAMES???? You can tell by the way she names her characters that she's a fan of Colleen Hoover. (DAS NASTY)

So what's the story?
The human doormat Orie applies to her favorite show, Survivor, to prove she isn't a doormat. She gets on the show and that's pretty much it. She's just on Survivor, although it's a dating show spin-off. I don't know anything about Survivor and I am happy that way. I did not enjoy the dating show aspect of it. I also did not enjoy the "romance" in this romance book. Remy is the presumed love interest but egad! He was a red herring! and the actual love interest is Osprey.

My fucking literary arch-nemesis makes many appearances in this book, James George Federov from Better Together.
The fucking cretin of a nepo-baby is one of the producers of the show. Creep-ass Zarar is another one.
When I realized the red-haired producer was Jamie I lost my fucking mind, something about this character just makes me rabid. The fact that she's a nepo baby who got her daddy to just hand her a producing job just threw fuel on the fire of my hatred for this character. FUCK Jamie.
Apparently this is the fuckin CRLU (Christine Riccio Literary Universe) and it's possibly the worst place you could be, I'd rather go to Silent Hill.

Christi- Oh, I mean Shane from Again, But Better also appears briefly at the end. And she is Ories favorite author. Can you fucking believe that. Christine made her self-insert the favorite author of her semi-self-insert.

Speaking of the ending, it's the cringiest shit I've ever read. This is apparently a thing now, that the ending of a CR book has to be super-extra cringy. It's her signature. Self-inserts and cringe.
It reads like a story from r/thathappened, and then everybody clapped!!!!

Literally.

Orie goes on a rant and exposes the villain Remy for his lies and how he played her and it's aired live on TV and everyone claps at the end because of Ories EPIC win. (From what I've gathered about Survivor Remy played the game which is what the GAME is about so I don't really get this but GIRLBOSS I guess)

It's STUPID.

I will not be reading any more of Christines books from now on, because I am trying to value my sanity going forward, and I feel like I lost a significant amount of braincells by reading this.

It makes me really sad that she keeps getting book deals, because story-telling is absolutely not her thing. Not in this medium at least.

We're three books in and the quality of her writing keeps going down with each release.

It's also sad because she seems genuinely passionate about writing. But sadly passion is not equivalent to talent.

Despite my reviews I really do not harbor any ill will towards Christine, she's annoying and cringy sure but I'm in no way a hater like some people seem to believe. I set out to read her books to see if they were actually worth being published and I have now come to the conclusion that no, they weren't. She is a published author because she is a YouTuber. Which I hate, but I do not hate Christine. She's living her dream, writing dumb and boring little books that get published. Good for her!

I am now done with her writing and me and my remaining braincells will go and continue to live our dumb and boring little life.

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Survivor. I have seen every single episode of every season, so when I saw the premise for this one, I was all in. There are some good things about the book, but other things were eye-rolling.

What I liked:

I loved the game show idea of the two being attached. The different games, challenges, and parts of the show flowed well and were very well thought-out. I could tell the author is a fan because she made those parts fun and believable.

The romance was pretty good too. Well conceived and I liked the way things played out with the potential love interests and the ultimate resolution of those storylines.

The audiobook narration and production are very well done.

What I didn't:

Everything I didn't like about this book mostly centered on Orie. I didn't like her at all, she read as if she was a sixteen-year-old, not a full grown adult. So it made this book feel like a YA book, which would have been fine, but then there's adult content, so...it was just weird. Orie is just so incredibly immature and inane sometimes. The way she gets her words turned around--I have never ever in my life heard someone do what she does (like she can't come up with the word "good" and says about 10 variations before she says it. That would never happen) And wanting to be called "Picadilly" whyyyyy? That was ridiculous.

I listened to most of this as an audiobook and once I switched to the print version I was glad I had experienced it via audio. Yes, Orie's speaking was overly dramatic out loud, but nothing like it was on the page with its over abundance of exclamation points and capital letters.

If you're a Survivor fan looking for a fun romance, then I definitely recommend this book as an audiobook. As long as you're okay with more of a YA/NA feel.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

[Bryce Rocks My Socks · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was the circle / survivor/ the ultimatum / the bachelor. basically a fluffier hunger games but more focus on the part where peeta and katniss 'fake' a relationship for votes. the love interest in this book was like a person version of the bread offered to katniss. yes it makes sense, lets move on

MISS CHRISTINE IF U ARE READING THIS (which u shouldn't bc authors shouldn't read reviews) UVE DONE IT IM SO PROUD OF U this is THE book. the book ill think of when someone mentions ur name

actually miss christine was the name of my piano tutor so lets not go there. im pretty sure my brother and i terrorized that poor woman.

anywayyyyyy 4.5 i rounded up like every good teacher should

i got this from netgalley i literally requested it today bc saw that tiktok of her telling her younger self about the book and was like I NEED TO READ THIS then i did that thing we all do which is look when its coming out and internally cry. i did not think my request would be approved so soon im so spoiled ty

[Madison Warner Fairbanks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio
Contemporary romance. New adult. Game show format Survivor meets The Bachelor.
Orie Lennox has always dreamed of a happily ever after. Orie’s long time boyfriend is more companion and friend and she doesn’t have any sexual feelings for him. Orie is a social influencer with her sister. When her sister says she doesn’t make any decisions on her own or make an effort on their platform, Orie decides to apply for a new survivor type show. She’s watched every version and episode and knows she can master the game play. When she’s called and gets on the show, she finds it’s a twist that means she’s literally attached by a rope to someone for three days at a time, as they do challenges on the island of Fiji. Her first match is a boy she had a crush on back in high school but neither could get past a hello. Winning a challenge, and a box of basic supplies they get to know each other on camera.

🎧 I alternated between an ebook and an audiobook. The narration is done by Brittany Pressley who is a pro and has done hundreds of audiobooks. She is able to do distinct and believable voices for male and female characters as well as several secondary characters in the story. Emotions are clear and make the story immersive and entertaining.
Between the audiobook and ecopy, I preferred the audiobook for this story for the survivor-esq antics.
I listened to this at my standard speed of 1.5.

Fun premise. Not sure the fourth day was the right timing for personal habits but I wouldn’t be in that situation no matter what the pay would be. The producers have said they did extensive research and that every player has at least two or three matches. So maybe that would be enough for future players.
The game play was amusing. The growth of Orie’s character is strong. The selected romance for me was too late in the story to still care although the twist was interesting and held throughout the ending. I was hoping for something different.
Amusing game play.
3.5

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio.

[Kelsey Impicciche · Rating 5 out of 5]

spectacular. give me 14 of ‘em right now.

the TWISTS! the fantastic use of confessionals! the romance. this book had me giggling in PUBLIC. as a long time survivor and romance fan, this delivered!! five stars.

[Jena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Update 06/08/24
The more i think about this book, the more I understand the crucial mistake Christine Riccio makes in her writing. I will admit, I am no author. I study literature, but I do the analysis, not the creative writing itself. I don’t know how hard it is to write a book. So while I can critique this book, I am simply a reviewer. Then again, that is where Christine herself started as well, a popular book reviewer who got a publishing deal handed to her, so maybe I am qualified to speak on this writing as I wish.
Anyways, it is clear that Christine Riccio was raised on 2010’s young adult books. From all her pop-culture references, to her character models, she is clearly trying to emulate what she loves. However, if she wants to improve her writing, she needs to separate the books she used to love from the books she’s writing. Not only does copying 2010’s YA protagonists’ personalities lend an aspect of unoriginality to Christine’s writing, but it is also just a very outdated model to style your characters after. Many of the characters she’s trying to mimic are ones that are looked back on as cringey and poorly-aged. If you are going to use character archetypes, at least try to use timeless ones.

06/07/24
2.5 stars
Although I had many issues with Christine Riccio's debut novel, Again but Better, I fell in love with the premise of Attached at the Hip and decided to give it a chance. Unfortunately, Christine Riccio's writing hasn't seemed to develop at all. While yes, the premise of this book is super fun, I had issues with just about everything else. To start, I found that the author kept over-explaining how Survivor and games shows as a whole work. Honestly, all of the pop-culture references were over-explained. I also found the ending of the book to be way to drawn out. But really, my biggest issue with this book is the main character. She is incredibly naive, both on the reality show and just in life and love in general. She's also way to quirky and childish. I know her messiness is supposed to be loveable, but more often than not I wanted to shake her and tell her to grow up. And of course, even though she's a mess, everyone is in love with her. She also is a reader, writer, and influencer, making her feel like a self-insert character for the author. So even though there were things about this book that I liked, like the use of the red herring love interest, I couldn't enjoy the book because I was stuck inside the main character's head. And now that I think about it, even though I liked the reveal that Remy was not the real love interest, the fact that Orie fell for his lies makes her look even more naive. . Overall, I liked this book marginally more than the author's others, but I still found myself disappointed.
Thank you to the publisher and Macmillan Audio for the ARCs in exchange for an honest review!

[Kasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

**ARC of this book provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review**

I do not watch reality TV. Tried couple times but it never worked for me. Yet, for some reason, I am greatly entertained by books that center around them. This one is not an exception.

The weird thing is that all I want to do about this book is to complain. I did not feel the chemistry between the heroine and love interests (prepare for triangle), FMC made me cringe really hard on more than couple occasions, the amount of typos was extremally high even for an ARC and I feel like the story was going on for longer than it needed. I am still baffled why I enjoyed it this much.

Orie Lennox is one of those quirky disney heroines that starts to talk incoherently every time she experience even a smidge of anxiety or unease. I hate this trope with burning passion, it is not funny and it gives me a second-hand embarrasement. So Orie is all innocent, goofy, bubbly and very awkward till the moment her sister snaps at her and accuses her of being co-dependent. Orie decides to prove her wrong so she applies to this reality TV show that is based on Survivor but has a romantic twist. And off she goes being awkward on the national TV, building alliances with other cast members and falling in love.

I could not stop reading it. Its a dumpster fire of a book that I just could not put down. Isn't it what you usually find in reality TV? Because I did not like even one character, it made me feel exasperated multiple times but somehow I got invested and kept coming for more.

I am not sure if I should recommend this book or not. I had fun, even quite a lot of fun but I can't really tell you why I was enjoying it. It's a fast read so you will need to find out by yourself if you like it or not.

[Books & Livvy (semi-hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars because HONESTLY people stop rating books 1 star before they come out 😠

[it’s cait · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 50%. If I read half or more of a book, I rate it.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-arc, but also, why’d you do this to me?

Anyone can tell you that I was excited for this release. Romantic comedy meets Survivor? HELL. YEAH. Sign me up.

It sucks to have your dreams crushed by a five foot something girl named Orie who is essentially this character put to paper.

Orie is RaNdOm. She doesn't talk, she squawks. She blurts. She shouts. She squeaks. She honks. She wears silly polka-dot knee high socks and wants to be called "Piccadilly" on the game show because Orie is not unique enough (I'm not kidding). She has no filter, loves 2014 YA quotes, and loves TO SHOUT IN ALL CAPS <3

Being in the headspace of this character was one of the worst experiences I've ever had while reading a book.

Not to mention the ~*romantic*~ aspects were some of the cringe-iest cringe of all time. We're talking characters making out within 24 hours of meeting (oh, I'm sorry, they actually said 'hi' in a few different languages one time in high school), picking out baby names kinda of insta-love. And the worst part is that I can't tell if this is supposed to be intentionally cringy or not, but I'm not sticking around any more to find out. I endured 200 pages of it, let me live in peace.

Characters aside, one of the biggest issues was the pacing. This is the type of story where we would've benefited from starting on the island, with flashback chapters to before she left scattered throughout. There are some things that happen between Orie and other characters that would've been better fleshed out and discussed this way. Instead we get a few random flashback chapters right at the very beginning, get to the island, and then find out some BIG things happened to her right before leaving, yet we never saw it happen? Huh?? What was the point in the flashback chapters if you're not going to show us the IMPORTANT moments before she left? It made absolutely no sense, and honestly felt lazy. Like the author didn't want to write these important scenes, so f*ck it, I'll just tell the reader they happened and move on.

It's not for fans of Survivor and it's not for modern day romance girlies, unless you're REALLY into the RaWr xD romance you swooned over in high school.

I need to wash out my eyes.

[Nicole | nikiashreads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to open this review by saying that I was sincerely excited to read Christine’s third novel, and I was intrigued by the concept. I’ve never seen Survivor—nor do I have an interest in watching it—but I am a sucker for a trope-filled book based on reality television. I always find these books have a spark to them and provide extra tension or conflict in their plots. However, this book struggled a bit when it came to the execution of that concept. And I do believe its marketing is suffering from the story’s lack of genre identity.

WHAT’S GOOD

Before I jump into my critiques, I want to start off with what I enjoyed about this novel. I did find the concept to be fun, new, and exciting! I haven’t come across many novels set in a survival reality television show setting, so that alone made it stand apart from other contemporary novels.

There were a few places where I found the story really stood on solid ground. Those places being: Chapter One, and the chapters falling between the 70-85% mark. Those chapters absolutely had me hooked, had the adrenaline pumping, and I found it difficult to tear myself away from the screen. It was probably Christine’s most compelling writing to date.

In addition to those chapters, any moments involving Osprey immediately had my attention and had me wanting more. Did I necessarily feel the romance during the moments between Orie and Osprey? Not necessarily. But in my heart of hearts, I knew I wanted to—no, had to ship them. So that drive honestly placed most of the romantic weight behind his character. (Plus, who doesn’t love a parkour king and bookworm cinnamon roll?)

THE GENRE(S)

Unfortunately, I found this book didn’t know what genre it falls into. In this case, I’m truly questioning whether this is Adult or Young Adult. (In all likelihood, it falls somewhere in the middle under the New Adult umbrella, which, unfortunately, is a genre that will likely never exist in official capacity.)

There are moments where this novel feels Adult: the plotting/general concept, the themes, and the cover. But the writing and lack of clearly defined character arc make it feel more like Young Adult. Even our characters span the ages of late teens to mid-twenties, which begs the question: Does that make this Adult? Traditionally, Young Adult cuts off around the age of seventeen to eighteen. I would argue that from those details alone, this book is an Adult novel.

There is a larger question I wish to posit as well: Is this novel fanfiction? This is something I wondered from the very first time Survivor was mentioned directly. That title and franchise is not something that falls under Creative Commons (I checked), which means it’s a copyrighted entity. Typically, when reading reality-television based stories, authors create fake names but borrow the concepts of real-life shows. To list a few: The Bachelor franchise was spoofed by The Charm Offensive, If the Shoe Fits, and Not Here to Stay Friends. There are even books that are clearly based off The Great British Bake-Off. But the key is that those books all created new names for the reality show they draw inspiration from. Why that wasn’t done here is a little baffling if I’m being honest.

THE WRITING

I want to begin this section with a minor note. I hope the chapter names are removed before this book prints. Not only were they distracting, but they often spoiled the plot coming up in the chapter. I found myself skimming over them once I realized how badly they were spoiling the plot.

As far as Christine’s writing goes, it was okay. About eighty percent of the time, I had a good idea of what the setting looked like and could sink into the sensory details she provided. The key there, however, is being when the details were provided. They were a bit inconsistent throughout the book. There were some chapters where I could imagine everything perfectly, and there were others where I felt like I was staring at a blank wall. (Specifically, the latter experience happened during Orie’s exile chapters.)

However, where the writing truly faltered relates to the character voice. Despite this novel being written in first person perspective, it lacked the emotionality to make a reader connect fully with Orie. Do we have a sense of her inner monologue? Absolutely. But I never had a true sense of what Orie was feeling in each moment. I wanted to truly lose myself to Orie’s narration, but her emotions were lost in the shuffle. Were there attempts to draw those emotions out? Absolutely. Christine had some gorgeous descriptions towards the end, especially during the Finale sequence when she kept referring to herself as feeling like sand. I just wish those emotions were drawn out more and drawn out consistently throughout the entire novel.

THE IDEA VS. EXECUTION

Christine is one of those writers who has fun, innovative ideas, but always seems to falter when it comes to the execution of them. As someone with no Survivor knowledge, she did a great job of grounding the reader into that setting and explaining it—even if it did feel info-dumpy at times. But with this novel being heralded as a rom-com, I found that subplot to be lacking. And that’s not for lack of trying! I could feel Christine having fun with drawing the characters into romantic situations, but the limitations of Attached at the Hip’s concept made it difficult to buy into the romance/love-triangle situation that was set up.

I struggled with how self-inserty the novel felt. This is a consistent issue Christine has had across all three of her novels, and it was disappointing to still see it happening here. I could see elements of herself and her sister (I’m a long-time viewer of her YouTube channel) in the characters of Orie and Lark. Now, I am a believer that every character holds a piece of the author inside them. But when a character completely feels like the author put themselves in the story? That’s when it gets to be too much. And that was the case for this novel.

Another folly of the story execution falls to the second camp of Christine’s writing issues: the pop culture references. There are simply too many pop culture references in the novel. Every single time I came across one, I was immediately taken out of the story. One or two is fine, as those details help establish the time period of a story, but the dozens that we had? It was distracting and overdone.

And as a long-time viewer of her channel and of her writing series, I know that Christine doesn’t use writing craft books. This is me begging, pleading, and hoping that someone on her editing team (or even her agent!) encourages her to pick one up. Not every craft book works for every writer—I know that; personally, I’ve read at least half a dozen at this point—but I do think any craft book would be beneficial for Christine, especially when it comes to strengthening her story execution.

THE ASEXUAL REPRESENTATION

Disclaimer: While I don’t believe Christine was intentionally trying to misrepresent asexuality—I do believe it was an accident—I do want to address it here. It is not my intention to start anything, but I do feel it’s my responsibility to mention this as a woman who identifies as ace. As always, please be kind to authors, especially when on the internet. Thank you.

I want to take a moment to address asexuality in this novel, and the idea of intent vs. impact.
I’ll be honest: I was excited at the prospect of Orie being asexual. In the first few chapters, she spoke frequently about not being attracted to her boyfriend, Wes, and having no interest in kissing or being physical with him. I thought for sure Christine was writing in an asexual main character and I was excited to see that! Asexuality has been growing in fiction and I love seeing that representation on the page.

And imagine how thrilled I was to see Kennedi mention and explain the asexual spectrum to Orie. Honestly, I did find the explanation to be okay; it could’ve gone more in-depth, considering asexuality is a spectrum and there are many nuances to it.

But where my issue lies is with Orie and her characterization.

Specifically, all Orie provides are throwaway comments about asexuality. Orie is surprised that Kennedi knows so much about asexuality; Orie mentions never being talked to about asexuality; and, Orie speaks to never thinking about Googling aceness. And that’s it. That is the last time asexuality is mentioned in this novel—in Chapter Twenty. Orie never takes time to contemplate it, and her characterization makes it clear that she isn’t ace, despite the perfect set-up Christine had to explore that sexual identity for her character.

As an ace reader, I can say there are two things happening here. The intention was to add in representation of a lesser-known sexuality, and of one that is often referred to as the “invisible sexuality.” However, the impact of this asexuality conversation (and Orie’s characterization) furthered asexual invisibility and erasure from fiction.

There is an easy solution to all of this. Orie needs to have a characterization sub-arc where she contemplates what Kennedi told her. It could be reflected in her interactions with Remy and Osprey. She could be reflecting on her reactions—physical and emotional—about her romantic interests. Even if she decides she isn’t asexual—which I don’t believe she is—the reader needs to actually see Orie come to her own conclusions about her sexuality instead of brush it off.

Obviously, I don’t know Christine’s intention here; I’m not the author of this story, nor do I know her reasoning behind bringing asexuality into the pages of this book. Do I think Christine set out to further asexual invisibility? No. Do I think this is something that needs to be addressed and fixed prior to publication? Absolutely.

In writing this, I hope this novel gets in front of a few more ace readers—perhaps even sensitivity readers—who will work with Wednesday Books and Christine to better handle asexuality in the story. Again, I would absolutely love to see it stay in here. We need more asexual representation in fiction—especially in Young Adult (Adult?) fiction. But as a member of the ace community, I do stand by needing the conversation and mention of asexuality to be handled correctly.

CONCLUSION

As someone who has read all of Christine’s books, I am always hoping for her writing and story execution to improve and grow. So far, I’ve been disappointed by her sophomore release and now this book as well. I still stand by her debut novel being her strongest book to date; but, I’m not sure if I will continue with reading her books in the future.

However, will that stop me from continuing to enjoy her “Trials and Tribulations of Writing a Book?” I gotta be honest and say no. I am a fan of her content, even if I struggle with her writing.

TW: addiction (father, gambling, off page), manipulation/mind games

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

*~*~*~*~*
Original Thoughts:
[insert Nathan Fillion speechless GIF here]

*~*~*~*~*
Connect with me on my socials!
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[Danai · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 love 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.

I love that she's good while being flawed.
I love that her family life feels realistic and complicated.

I love the fact that the cast of side 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 trying to get their bag and win.

I love the HUMOUR. I was going berserk giggling at this constantly PLEASE the banter in this book is hilarious 😭

I love 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).

[Emma Griffioen]

A Survivor themed rom-com?! 🤭😂 I didn't like this authors first book but as a Survivor superfan I need to read this!

[olivia &#x1f49f; · Rating 1 out of 5]

✩ rating: 1/5 ✩

the writing:
if the entire book was written like chapters 65 and 66, it wouldve easily been at least 4 stars for me. those chapters had me giggling and kicking my feet 🤭. but unfortunately that wasnt the case 😫
the overall premise was really good. the execution…? meh. a lot of the chapters seem lazily written, and i got the impression that the author just published the first thing she typed without editing it. the first 70% of the book was dragging, it was like we got extra detail when we didnt need it and minimal detail when it was especially needed. examples (spoilers): (orie in exile, the situation with her dad and her breakup with wes that happened right before she left and we never got to see.)

the game: i think this would actually make a great reality game show in real life. i only had one problem with it. why, for a game based on the fact that they are all attached, are they untethered for all of the challenges?!? at least one team challenge couldve been so interesting, but there was NONE😭

orie: i didnt hate her, but man was she annoying. some of her lines were really good and i resonated with a few of them, but the rest? i had to PUSH through them. i fought my way through this book and it’s her fault! i have no idea how she managed to pull one man let alone two!

ִ remy: i actually liked remy when he was introduced. i trusted him wayy more than osprey. i liked how he inspired orie to pursue a career in film. that’s it tho

osprey: i actually didnt trust him at the beginning, i thought he would for sure turn on orie. but he absolutely grew on me, i ended up loving him so much<33

thanks for the arc netgalley 😘

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

My mama told me if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Except I am a hater at my core.

This is a joke, obviously, because I've looking into Christine Riccio and she's a smaller writer who is extremely passionate and excited about what she does, and I love that for her. I cannot and will not hate on an author like that.

BUT. I sure have some feedback.

Orie reads extremely immature. I'm a twenty four year old menace, and that would make me just a year older than her, but I would dropkick this woman if I knew her in real life. This mostly shows in the dialogue, which I think was mostly just a stab at being quirky and funny, but it came off kind of childish. There's so much screaming, verbally and internally. Like, so much. And she often says common typos out loud... get my girl to speech therapy. I was cringing so much, just from the way she behaved with others.

That being said, I did love her character arc. I think a lot of us, especially in our early and mid-twenties, are guilty of maybe being hyper-dependent on others. I love that she was able to come to terms with this and improve on it without feeling intense, unnecessary shame.

This game confused the daylights out of me. Take this with a grain of salt - I've been known across the land for my stupidity as a measly jester, but WHAT was going on. I love Survivor, and I love trashy TV. I should've been able to follow this. And the game descriptions, sure. I'm with you. The overall concept, okay, I guess. But a lot of it lacked the professionality that I think a highly successful TV show like this would have. It didn't feel thoroughly researched, which is fine, but sometimes I'd be taken out of the story because I'd think, This would not happen and does not make sense. That's what fiction is for, though, I suppose.

WHO AM I ROOTING FOR??? I kept telling myself: noooo girl, this is one of those tricky misunderstandings that will be explained and it'll be fine. Nope, it's pretty cut and dry, which was somehow MORE confusing. Why would that happen? Why switch up on me? Please, I'm so small and dumb, I cannot have more than one love interest.

This is not a bad book. It is just a bit more YA than I should be reading. That's really the bottom line. There's not spice. The humor probably hits hard if you're the right demographic. The premise is truly so cool and fun, someone will really enjoy this.

[ayushi ౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was SOOOO cute!!,,! 4/5 ✰

this book follows Orie, who on a wim applies to be a contestant on her favourite show, ˗ˏˋSurvivor´ˎ˗ but with a twist! this was such an interesting concept and was so enjoyable to read. The plot was soooo fun and i’ve always imagined what it would be like being on shows like this and this book did a great job at making you feel invested! ˙✧˖°

Orie gets paired with her old highschool crush, Remy and we get to see them explore their relationship as they play this game. Orie is such a delight to follow throughout this book. She is written so well and her fears, life-goals and feelings are so understandable and you can feel her emotions though the pages. She is our everyday classic book and moving loving girl and this book was FULL of book and movie references (orie having a divergent tattoo and loving percy jackson was so me coded). Watching her navigate through the show and learn to live her life was a delight to read. ALSO the twists had me going CRAZYYYY I couldn't make up my mind on who I should believe or trust, making me really feel as if I was on my own survivor/bachelor show ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

➳ The friendships Orie builds through this book are so refreshing and heartwarming. (spoiler but i love how they all supported her at the end) OSPREY had my whole heart and definitely quickly became my favourite character ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ the way they bonded was so genuine and made me SO happy for her. The love you can feel through the friendships and relationships is so beautiful and quickly makes you feel connected with the characters. definitely pick this book up as soon as it comes out!!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!!! (my first!! ੈ♡˳)

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┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ˚★⋆｡˚ ⋆
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★⋆ ┊ . ˚
˚★

[Alaina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Pobody's Nerfect.

Attached at the Hip was hands down the best book decision I've made this week. Yes, it's only Monday, but details, people! From the very beginning, I fell in love with how adorkable our main girl, Orie Lennox, is. She's unapologetically herself, and that can land her in some hilarious situations. Her fear of spiders, and all bugs really, lives in my mind rent-free because I despise them as well. I think if she were a real person, we would become besties and try our best not to end up naming our first child Tarantula.

Besides her, I really liked the whole idea of this book. Especially with it tying in so many shows into one. Survivor meets Love Island in a way. I've never seen Love Island, so I can't really confirm or deny that, but I religiously watch Survivor. Some of the challenges were very interesting, and I enjoyed all the bonding that happened throughout the show.

Then there's the romance and friendship part. I adored all the friendships Orie made. Kennedi and Osprey were hilarious, and they just made the whole book fly by much faster. I also really enjoyed her and Osprey bonding over books, quotes, and just about everything in between. The whole drama and potential love triangle were cute, but I had a feeling they weren't going to last long.

In the end, I'm so happy with who won the game and what's going to happen next for Orie. I'm chock full of hope.

[Delaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow I absolutely devoured this book. This book is about a survivor spin-off in which characters and connected to each other and must compete to win 1 million dollars. Orie is the main character, competing with Remy, her long-lost high school crush.
Honestly this book read just like a season of a reality tv show, and for that I loved it!
I understand some people’s negative feedback of the main character, Orie, she’s kind of quirky, but it didn’t take away from the story for me! She has some moments where she says some “random” things but it wasn’t overwhelming.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book!

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Julianna Wagar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an early copy of this book in exchange for review.

I’m going to start out by saying that I was a major fan of Christine Riccio growing up. I watched her BookTube videos religiously and loved her content. I read her debut novel, Again but Better, when it released and liked it well enough. It didn’t stand out to me as incredible but it certainly wasn’t horrendous.

I’m very sad to say that Attached to the Hip was not good. I first want to say that I, like Christine, am a HUGE Survivor fan. I grew up watching the show with my parents, and I still watch with them to this day. I was thrilled to read a romance-Survivor novel!

That being said, I could barely finish this book. I absolutely hated the main character, Orie. She was probably the most insufferable character I’ve ever read, and I’ve read Fourth Wing. She was supposed to be this quirky-but-everyone-loves-her character but she was insanely annoying, extremely rude and selfish, LOUD, had no social abilities, and literally was any terrible trait you can think of wrapped up into one person. I could not STAND her. At about 10% maybe a bit more, Orie goes to Fiji and is doing the Survivor interview, and says she wants people to call her Piccadilly. I literally almost choked. Then the producer she is talking to says she loves that and wants to be called Leicester Square. Girl I’m gagged. Literally I’ve never read something more cringe, more embarrassing and that is 10% of the way through this novel. Orie also says her favourite word is “afoot.” This character is trying so hard to be quirky and different and is really just the most annoying girl you knew in high school that does not shut up. In fact, she is consistently screaming in this book, in caps lock for multiple pages in a row. Because she is SO quirky and SO different that she just cannot control her voice! I HATE THIS CHARACTER! HOW DO YOU LIKE CAPS LOCK NOW?

At about a quarter of the way through this novel I had to question if I even wanted to continue with it. The writing, the main character, and the self-insert of Riccio into this story was just ... embarrassing. I read a couple reviews on Goodreads from folks in the Ace community who also struggled with Orie's almost queer-bait of potentially being asexual that is never brought up again? I think that is one thing that should absolutely be fixed before this is published. Making Orie asexual would be great but it has to be done well and I'm not sure if Riccio is the person to write that story.

Spoiler warning: (although it is pretty obvious once you read the book what will happen)

I also had issue with the "plot-twist" that was basically hand-fed to us from the start of the Survivor portion: Remy being the Bad Guy. I did skim the ending of the book because I was so bored and so embarrassed by this book, but I think Remy was stalking Orie for some reason? I genuinely do not know WHY anyone would stalk this character, other than the fact that she is somehow famous and has an Instagram following (all thanks to her sister, Lark, who she treats terribly throughout the novel). The most unrealistic thing about this book is that any of the people on this island would like her. Sorry, Survivor is not the place where weird, annoying, cringey people thrive. Annoying people are voted out as early as possible, or they are taken to the end because they have no shot at winning. Which leads me to another insanely unrealistic portion of this novel: Orie winning Attached at the Hip. Yes, I realize (because it was spoon fed to us) that AATH is different than Survivor, but how on earth could this girl win? Half of her time with people was spent saying she was old (she's 23) and the other half was her screaming, saying cringey things, talking about Divergent or some other 2014 pop culture reference, or talking about how she cannot under any circumstance go to the bathroom 8 feet away from Remy. I genuinely could not have hated her more. I feel bad for hating her, because she is so obviously a self-insert of Christine Riccio, but sorry girl... leave 2014 in 2014 and take some writing workshops. I really like Christine as a person and content creator, but I think (as with most other Booktube authors) that these people should just read. Peace and Love<3

I sincerely hope that the publishers read the reviews and put this book through some more edits, because it is truly horrifically awful.

[noelle ! · Rating 4 out of 5]

༻❁༺ review ! ༻❁༺

༻❁༺ orie ༻❁༺
i loved her so much!! the character development was insane tbh! in a good way
she definitely picked the right person

༻❁༺ remy ༻❁༺
yeah let's not
if i met him in real life i would hit him with a hammer !!!
(pip fitz amobi core!)

༻❁༺ osprey ༻❁༺
we would be bsfs he seemed so fun !!

༻❁༺ kennedy ༻❁༺
ugh she was my favorite ilhsm !

༻❁༺ rating ༻❁༺
4-4.5 stars ! ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨

༻❁༺ i recommend ༻❁༺

[Starr ❇✌❇ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7
*Review to come*

[Esme · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ate this book up so fast! I loved it so much! I was starting to fall in a slump and this took me right out of it! You can tell when reading that this was Christine's passion project there's a lot of love behind this book. I loved everything about this! Its so fun! I have always loved Big Brother, Love Island and other shows like that and this totally had the same level of fun. The characters were great, I loved the little plot twist, the romance was so sweet. honestly 10/10 I need this to be turned into a movie or a show.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

[Jordyn Roesler | Sorry, Booked Solid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was SO. FUN. I absolutely love Survivor so I figured I'd love a romance book set on a Survivor-like reality show. It was exactly as over-the-top and addicting as I hoped it would be, plus there was a love triangle that I was caught off-guard by and surprisingly invested in. My entire time reading this book I did not want to put it down. It's definitely overly cheesy, and I see a LOT of the author inserting herself into the quirky main character, but I do think it works for the type of book this is trying to be. There are also some things within the family dynamic that I think I could nitpick if I wanted to, and are holding me back from giving a full 5 stars, but I really had so much fun with this book and would recommend it as a quick, fun, summery read to anyone who thinks the premise sounds interesting!

[Danielle Kaitlin (daniallreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am down B A D for books that feature reality shows lately.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Big honesty time, I went into "Attached at the Hip" with the mindset that it was an adult romance. Don't be me. You will enjoy this story WAY more knowing that this is YA to the core. That being said I was not a fan of this in the beginning BUT her second half makes up for EVERYTHING.

I had a H A R D time with accepting Orie. She was so wildly selfish and needy in the beginning that it was annoying. My mind was blown that Riccio could write her this aggressively immature. (Note I was still in the mindset that this was an adult fiction *wheeze* Forever confused) Her heads were so far in the clouds, she was basically on another planet. Thank goodness for her sister Lark to drop a reality bomb into her life because Orie's character arc is what makes this book SO WORTH IT!

I ended up loving her by the end of this book! Being dropped onto an island and competing on a reality show really knocked her into straight back into reality. (Thank god)

I know I am being super critical of Orie but I honestly was close to "dnfing" because I could not stand how her and another character acted. I couldn't fathom it in my brain. But I truly loved this book. I loved the show that was "Survivor" mixed with "The Bachelor." I thought experiencing all the challenges through Orie's eyes kept me at the edge of my seat. I loved meeting all the contestants on "Attached at the Hip." I really fell in love with Osprey. The moment him and Orie had a night alone is when the story changed dramatically for me. *swoony sigh*

To sum this word vomit up, I came for the fun reality show plot and will forever stay because of this swoony boy named Osprey.

🎧 Brittany Pressley made this audio experience so much fun. I was addicted to listening to this story because of her performance. I thought that she audibly portrayed the characters emotions and represented their personalities very well... On the flip side I thought that her "male" voice was meh. It could use some work. No hate though!

🎥 Survivor meets Bachelor in Paradise
🌴 Hilarious Dialogue
🥥 The BEST Character ARC moment
🎥 Influencers and Celebrities
🌴A Twist You Won't Forget

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I think about young adult as a genre, I always consider these books to have people still in their teens in them. However, based on the actual words being in the book, I would categorize Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio as YA... maybe new adult? This was a rom-com that takes Survivor and mixes it with romance. Orie is not my favorite character, she is pretty dramatic and at times rather annoying (screechy is the word that comes to mind), but her naivete felt very authentic to her age of early 20s and I still had a whole lot of fun watching this story play out.

I almost forgot the narrator for the audiobook is Brittany Pressley, maybe because I have never heard her have to narrate a character whose voice went up so many octaves, but she brought it! She completely epitomized Orie's character and I loved her for it. The drama of the TV show aspect as well as the focus on family made this such an interesting read, and I loved those elements the most. There is a little twist in here that I wasn't expecting but really enjoyed, and I was really happy with Orie's growth as well. Attached at the Hip is a great read for someone looking to escape from reality for a minute and a bonus if you enjoy pop culture references!

I received an advanced listening copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[Michaela Bergland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel it’s important to start this review with the disclaimer that I’ve watched Christine’s YouTube videos for over a decade. I like her content, I’ve met her a couple times and she’s a lovely person, and I am really rooting for her to succeed in her writing.

Unfortunately, this book, like her sophomore novel, missed the mark with me.

SELF-INSERT
Christine is a bit notorious for writing self-insert characters in her novels, and this was another instance. As someone who is familiar with Christine and her content, the parallels between Christine and Orie/Olivia and Lark were pretty easy to identify.

I will say, I appreciate that there were less silly substitutes for swearing in this book, compared to the amount in BETTER TOGETHER. But there was still Christine’s excessive use of caps lock and exclamation points.

When it comes to exclamation points, I always think of a rule I was taught in college—exclamation marks should be used so sparingly, there should only be 1 or 2 per 50,000 words. When they’re used too frequently, they lose their meaning, and it starts to feel like being shouted at, in combination with the all-caps.

“SURVIVOR”?
I was glad the show Orie ended up on was a “spin-off” of Survivor, but I can’t help but wish Survivor wasn’t mentioned in the story at all; I wish it was just Attached at the Hip, and we could pick up on the Survivor connections from there, as other books have done in creating fictional versions of The Bachelor, etc.

Every time Survivor was mentioned, it pulled me out of the story, more so even than the other pop culture references that were made. And as other reviewers have mentioned, I’m not sure how it was allowed to be used, as it’s not in the Creative Commons.

Attached at the Hip, the show, frames itself as being a romantic take on SURVIVOR, and while romance seemed to be a side effect of being physically attached to another human being, I didn’t really feel that romance angle much. Sure, the partners were often provided with dates upon new pairings, but I feel like a couple’s prize (like on Love Island) would’ve made more sense than it still being an individual competition. The two ideas just didn’t quite mesh for me.

ASEXUALITY
I want to preface this section by saying that we don’t know how Christine identifies, and the last thing anyone should do is force an author to come out to “justify” writing the story they did (i.e. what happened to Becky Albertalli).

And while I can say with confidence that Christine did not intentionally misrepresent the ace community, it did unfortunately happen.

Initially, I perked up when I read about Orie’s mind wandering when she would kiss her boyfriend and how she wondered if she felt romantic or sexual attraction at all. Orie and Kennedi’s conversation about asexuality piqued my interest, but I was disappointed to continue the book and find that the discussion began and ended there.

Not only that, but Orie very clearly feels both romantic and sexual attraction toward both Remy and Osprey, which made the discussion feel like a moot point anyway. There’s a HUGE misconception that asexual people aren’t really asexual and “will want to have sex with someone if they meet the right person.” And that’s just not how it works, but I fear it may be a takeaway from this novel.

THE ENDING
While I was obviously happy that Orie won in the end, it all seemed to fall into place a bit too perfectly for me to find it believable.

After Orie wins the million dollars, she’s offered not one but TWO job offers in film/TV production. Though it’s undeniable that opportunities do arise from appearing on a show like this, I found it hard to believe that an Oscar-winning director and even the executive producer of Attached at the Hip were so eager to have Orie join their teams, given that she has no actual experience in the industry.

And while I did ship Orie and Osprey, their ending felt rushed as well. Though I appreciated that they weren’t moving in together, they were still moving across the entire country just to live in the same state and date each other. Not to mention, there was a last-minute conflict with Osprey being unsure if he even wanted to be with Orie, given how she was all-in on Remy for so long, but that was resolved almost immediately.

I love a happy ending in a story, but it means more when that happy ending feels earned rather than just something that’s convenient.

WRITING CRAFT
To Christine’s credit, I stand by that I think she writes tension well—she has across all of her books. The first chapter and the chapters centering around Remy’s secrets and suspicious behavior were my favorites—the tension was palpable, and I flew through those sections, curious to see what would happen next.

However, I would be remiss if I didn’t implore Christine to pick up a writing craft book. She’s repeatedly admitted to not using them, and I know firsthand that they’re not all winners, but I really think her storytelling would benefit from a book like SAVE THE CAT WRITES A NOVEL (or SAVE THE CAT YA), which examines different story structures and provides examples from popular books.

Overall, unfortunately, I was disappointed in this book, and a lot of that disappointment stems from how much I loved Christine’s debut, AGAIN BUT BETTER. It was such a strong story, and I know she’s capable of more than what she demonstrated in this story.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Zoey Mclean · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 🌟’s

While the idea of this book was incredibly alluring and made me immediately interested in picking it up, I felt like execution of the novel was a little bit weak.

This felt a bit like a poor retelling of a tv show with some tough dialogue and characters that I just really could not root for.

The setting was whimsical and the I enjoy parts of this book for sure but it probably isn’t something I would recommend