E-galley Review: Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio
Published by Wednesday Books on May 21, 2024
Genres: NA Contemporary Romance
Pages: 400
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:

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.

My Review

This book came out at the perfect time. Right at the end of the latest season of Survivor, one of my favorite reality shows! And I was hooked on this book! Now it is billed as a YA/Teen story, but it’s more new adult, as the characters are mostly college grads. Yes there are one or two high school age, but I still am classifying it as new adult. Not that it was crazy steamy or anything like that, I’m just going on age of characters and that it’s not a YA story. I saw some reviews saying it was totally YA in how the characters acted, but then I want to know if those people watch Surivor? Because the behavior and alliances were just like those people.

So much of the story had me laughing out loud, but also totally understanding some of the things and ways that Orie was feeling. The challenges of the game were totally over the top for some of the comparisons to the real tv show. But of course you’d need that for a fictional story! The story had me wondering who to really like and feel like Orie could trust. I loved the shipping and all the alliances as I said as well. Even having the romantic interests fall out the way they did was perfect.

I’ll just say if you like Survivor and a bit of romance, you will enjoy this book in my opinion. My only complaint is not knowing what exactly the final “villain” meant when they said they got what they came for at the end. But anyway, loved this, and can’t wait to read more from this author! (As well as for the next season of Survivor after the crazy season we just finished where I finally was thrilled with the winner!)