Attached at the Hip is marketed as Survivor meets The Bachelor, which, okay — sign me up. I’ve never watched Survivor, but I am an unabashed fan of Bachelor Nation and other trashy reality TV shows. Sure, they can be overly dramatic, bordering on freaking nuts, but that’s the fun of it. I can tell that Christine Riccio had a lot of fun bringing that craziness into Attached, which made it entertaining for me as a reader.
The protagonist Orie is stuck in life and needing some spontaneity, so she hops on a plane to Fiji to star in a Survivor spinoff called Attached at the Hip — a survival game that has her literally attached by rope to a potential romantic partner. She could come out of this game with the love of her life, as well as with the grand prize of a million dollars. There are some scary challenges, some Bachelor-esque dates, and some serious tea to spill.
Christine’s characters have been a bit too loudly ~qUiRkY~ in her previous novels, but here, it totally works. I really enjoyed seeing Orie interact with this colorful cast of characters. The Asshole Chad, the Competitive but Likeable Bitch, the Surprisingly Swoony Suitor, and so on. Like your typical reality show, Attached also comes with its twists and turns, and they legitimately had me on the edge of my seat. Again, this kind of story can be pretty nuts, and the execution doesn’t always hit the mark, but it was a good time nonetheless.
**Much thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Attached at the Hip will be released on May 21.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Sara Bechtol 