Samantha Young

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Impossible Vastness of Us and the On Dublin Street series comes a heartfelt and beautiful new young adult fiction novel, set in Scotland, about daring to dream and embracing who you are.

The Fragile Ordinary

Molly Witt

Hi all!

One of my favorite activities to do is read. The written word is one of my favorite things. My mom was a middle school reading teacher and so growing up, books were a constant. I remember where I was when my mom handed me my first copy of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird or that moment when I figured out who did it in Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game. Or, I can help but think about how I feel it would benefit everyone if they read Todd Strasser's The Wave.

Long story short...I love to read. I could have a post about all the books I love, and that post would go on for a VERY long time. But I'm not here to talk about all of the books I have read, I'm here to talk about one specific one; The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young.

I will start by saying that Samantha Young is one of my favorite contemporary authors. She knows how to tell a story. I have been known to buy her book and her audiobook of the same book so I can always be transported to wherever she is taking me; Hartwell, DE, Boston, Mass., or in this case Edinburgh, Scotland.

We meet Comet Caldwell, a painfully shy teenager in a high school in Edinburgh. She hates her name, and when I read that, I had the thoughts of the time that I too hated my name. I personally wanted to be named Jem...but my mom was having none of it. Anyway...back to the book. It seemed from the first paragraph that she was like many other high school students, ready to graduate, go out and find themselves, their parents didn't understand them, etc. But when we actually start to meet her parents, we immediately learn that Comet's life is the way it is for a reason.

The year starts out like any other in school and Comet is just trying to get by.  She survives with her anonymous poetry blog, the only way that she is able to really let her thoughts free. Comet's norm is completely shaken up when Tobias King, an American, starts at her school and immediately earns the 'bad boy' persona.  She can't get him out of her headspace, and things get worse when they are partnered up for a school assignment and she learned that there is more to this American than what is on the surface...much like herself. Tobias gets under Comet's skin and Comet gets a lesson in life and love.

Samantha Young has done it again with The Fragile Ordinary. The character development of the main characters and the supporting characters makes you feel like you are back in high school with Comet. The way she describes Comet's friends; I definitely found myself saying, oh I had a friend like that. Samantha has a way of writing characters that are so real you almost swear you have already met them.

I also absolutely love that Samantha Young writes growth, realistic growth, with the main character. And it is with that growth that this story sticks to you.

The plot is always moving, never a down moment, which is how I was able to finish this in a day...I literally couldn't put it down; I also didn't get any sleep, but it was completely worth it.

This book has come out at the perfect time because it is the perfect summer read for YA and the YA at heart. Please check out the links below for where you can purchase this wonderful story.

Candyce Kirk

This is such a beautiful story with a relatable main character. This isn't a fluffy book and deals with some heavy subjects. It's so worth the read though. I didn't want it to end.

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Despite being a huge fan of Samantha Young's new adult and adult romances, I'd yet to make time to read any of her young adult books. I'm so glad I started with The Fragile Ordinary. What a beautiful book. Now, I know I absolutely need to go back and binge her YA backlist ASAP. This book gave me all the feels. Holy cow. I swear, I start to get emotional just thinking about these characters and everything that happened during this book. 

I should probably apologize for the number of quotes I shared below, but I'm not even a bit sorry. Truthfully, I highlighted quite a few more while reading, but figured I shouldn't include half the book in quotes. Samantha's writing is absolutely gorgeous and got right into my heart. Right along with these characters and every part of their stories — the good, bad and ugly. 

I related to Comet on a deep level. I suspect a lot of bookworms like myself probably will. Despite the age difference, I certainly found a lot of myself in her character, particularly when it came to her decision to spend more time in bookish worlds than the real world. While I've found a slightly better balance at my age, I still have days or even weeks where I too prefer to shut out the real world and go somewhere more magical, uncomplicated or romantic. (Or a combination of all of the above!) It could probably go without saying, but I loved this girl right from the start.

Tobias, on the other hand, took a little longer to grow on me. And, if I'm being perfectly honest, I was a little anti-Tobias just because I was afraid he was THAT GUY. You know the one. The one that would totally crush amazing, but vulnerable, Comet. Thankfully this was not that story and it didn't take all that long for me to see who Tobias really was. It feels a little weird to call a high school aged character swoony at my age, but don't judge me. He was just that. 

I'm happy to talk about how The Fragile Ordinary made me feel for hours. (Maybe even longer.) But what I don't want to do is give away anything that could spoil the book for you. It was a beautiful book, a lovely first love story that wasn't without some heartbreak along the way. Tears were certainly shed. Parts of this book took me by total surprise, even though they probably shouldn't have. Between the romance, the friendships and the seriously strained familial relationships, this book took ahold of me and wouldn't let go. These characters are definitely under my skin. I don't expect them to go anywhere for quite awhile. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

FAVORITE QUOTES

Why would I put myself in an uncomfortable position, go to a party that would make me insecure and miserable, when I could be reading a book that made me feel giddy with anticipation?

I was an accident, and not a happy one. My parents were too much in love with their art and each other to have any love left to spare for me.

No matter what was happening in my life, in my room, I had over eight hundred worlds to disappear into, and over a thousand others on the e-reader on my nightstand. Worlds that were better than this one. Worlds where there were people I understood, and who if they knew me would understand me.

Much to my disturbance, I discovered that just because you tell yourself you can't possibly be attracted to a Neanderthal, doesn't mean you suddenly stop being attracted to a Neanderthal.

It was like I'd been sleepwalking for the last sixteen years, and now I was awake. Really, truly, awake for the first time.

"Stop hiding in these." He shook the book. "Be in the moment. You never know when it might disappear."

My anchor, he pulled me back to myself, to him, and slowly, but surely, I began to breathe again.

What most people never learned is that sometimes what would make us happy the most also scares us the most. Sometimes being happy meant being brave. I aimed to be brave every second of every day.

noelle

Emily Hara

I am Comet Caldwell. And I sort of, kind of, absolutely hate my name. People expect extraordinary things from a girl named Comet. That she’ll be effortlessly cool and light up a room the way a comet blazes across the sky. But from the shyness that makes her book-character friends more appealing than real people to the parents whose indifference hurts more than an open wound, Comet has never wanted to be the center of attention. She can’t wait to graduate from her high school in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the only place she ever feels truly herself is on her anonymous poetry blog. But surely that will change once she leaves to attend university somewhere far, far away. When new student Tobias King blazes in from America and shakes up the school, Comet thinks she’s got the bad boy figured out. Until they’re thrown together for a class assignment and begin to form an unlikely connection. Everything shifts in Comet’s ordinary world. Tobias has a dark past and runs with a tough crowd—and none of them are happy about his interest in Comet. Targeted by bullies and thrown into the spotlight, Comet and Tobias can go their separate ways…or take a risk on something extraordinary. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Impossible Vastness of Us and the On Dublin Street series comes a heartfelt and beautiful new young adult novel, set in Scotland, about daring to dream and embracing who you are.

The Fragile Ordinary

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