Attached at the Hip

Gr 9 Up–Orie Lennox and her older sister, Lark, are social media influencers. Orie lives with her parents, has a longtime boyfriend who grew up across the street, and believes she should be content with her life. When she sees her sister get engaged to her girlfriend, she realizes she’s not thrilled with things the way they are. On a whim, Orie signs her sister and herself up for the reality show Survivor, one they’ve always loved. She gets the acceptance call—but they only want her. When her family members encourage her to do it, she flies to the island of Fiji. Her excitement turns to shock when she’s told that the show she’ll be on is a dating game show where the contestants are physically attached to each other for days at a time. Orie struggles through storms, cave sleeping, and other situations previously unimaginable to her. She complains about her situation but in the end winds up learning more about herself than she expected. With an original plot and quirky characters, this romantic comedy is entertaining and light. Riccio covers serious issues like gambling and addiction, but the tone of her writing is humorous, especially when the characters are fighting to win the reality game. There’s lots of snappy dialogue, funny one-liners, and some parts are written as a reality show transcript of the producers interviewing the contestants.