Since it has been about a week since I have read The Fragile Ordinary, I have been trying to come up with the right words to express the enormity of this book. This book...THIS BOOK... I mean.. I couldn't put it down. I was so captivated from the very beginning as we meet Comet. She is so eccentric and so many could connect with her today. I mean, come on, who doesn't just want to shut the world out and curl up with a book and escape inside that world?
But, Comet taught us so much more than just settling and hiding. She showed us that being ourselves and living every moment to the fullest can be just as adventurous and amazing.
Don't get me wrong. This story captures so many struggles of our teens today. From bullying, self-assurance, drugs, associations within certain groups, to friendships and romantic love.
Samantha Young tackles these issues within this story of Comet brilliantly. You become Comet and journey through this epic tale feeling her hopes and fears. You experience her joys and heartaches...*sighs*...She is just amazing!!
While I am talking about Comet, I need to mention the other person that we fall for and that is Tobias. Young couldn't have written a more imperfect love interest. And I mean that in the most perfect way. I loved how Comet had this picture in her mind from what a "book boyfriend" would be and how Tobias would destroy that dream. But this brought us to how much this story was epic. Each and every moment that we spent with Comet and Tobias was genuine and real. I LOVED their relationship and I totally FELT each emotion they went through...
All this brings me to the ingenious, talented brilliance that Samantha Young has given us in The Fragile Ordinary.
A truly epic coming of age tale that is a must read for all!!

MY RATING: 3.75 stars

MY THOUGHTS: I wish books like The Fragile Ordinary existed when I was in high school! Samantha Young delivers a compelling coming-of-age story that’s relatable and gives so many feels.

Young has a very smooth writing style, and she isn’t afraid to tackle tough topics. This is a quick read because it’s utterly endearing and should resonate with a wide range of readers. I LOVE when a book elicits memories and emotions from my younger years! I can only imagine that a Young Adult Contemporary like this would be evocative for a teenager of today.

The Fragile Ordinary follows Comet, a unique girl used to blending in despite her loud fashion sense till she strikes a chord with the new American at her school. A blooming relationship with Tobias King makes it all but impossible for Comet to remain invisible. Comet and Tobias experience ups and downs, together and separately. Drama of every variety unfolds, and they are left to tackle their issues or fall apart trying.

The thing I like most about contemporaries is the realism. Sometimes it’s hard to recognize that you’re struggling until you see a similar situation from the outside looking in. Contemporaries are like a window to real life, and The Fragile Ordinary is no exception. Anyone who has ever felt neglected by family or friends, those faced with tough choices, people with self doubt or confidence issues, etc. will be able to look to Comet, Tobias, and the supporting cast of characters to see how certain situations can be handled or how some decisions can affect us.

I loved a lot of the plot, and I thoroughly enjoyed how everything came together in the end. However, at times, I felt like TOO much was being thrown at our characters. A LOT happened in the characters’ lives, and the longer the story went on, the more I questioned if some of that could have been left out. It also took a little away from my enjoyment of the characters themselves, turning them a bit whiny or seemingly over-dramatic.

Comet and Tobias are such great characters! Their development is so good, and I enjoyed seeing their flaws as much as I enjoyed seeing their best traits. Comet is quirky and an introvert. She prefers fictional worlds to reality. I’m pretty sure the book community can easily understand her. Tobias is a tough guy with a heart of gold. He is the type of character that grew on me as the story unfolded. I loved him in the end!

Overall, I’d absolutely recommend The Fragile Ordinary. Is it perfect? No way! Is it worth the read? I think so! Not to mention, this has one of the most stunning covers I have ever seen! YA Contemporary fans will enjoy it, I believe.

People always expect extraordinary things from a girl named Comet. I know I did and Samantha Young did not disappoint one tiny bit.

This book was just what I didn't know I was looking for. The Fragile Ordinary is anything but it's name, ordinary. This was a book that will take you soaring into the sky with the bright young girl. Comet is just trying to find her place in a world that expects such extraordinary things from her. This YA romance was so heart warming and magnifying just as you would expect from an incredible author like Samantha Young.

This book was real time, showing us the issues that students and teens deal with in their everyday high school settings, the peer pressures and cliques that are formed and this was such a beautiful tale of how Comet navigated her world.

When I started this story, I couldn't put it down. This was my second YA book from Sam Young, with the first The Impossible Vastness of Us being my favorite read of 2017, and I sure hope this won't be my last. I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN. So well written. If this isn't normally your genre, take a chance. Because I promise you won't be disappointed.

The Fragile Ordinary is a sweet young adult romance about two teens who don't appear to have a lot in common, but underneath they do. Comet Caldwell lives in Edinburgh, Scotland,  and has felt alone all her life. Her parents are practically non existing in her life, especially her mother. They always come before Comet, leaving her on her own most of the time. Comet never feels really connected with other people, not even her two best friends. Tobis King is a new student from America who all the girls want, but he hangs out with the bad boys. When Tobis and Comet have to work on a project together, they get to know each other. I could not put this book down once I started to read it. I liked both of the main characters and was rooting for them. I recommend this book for all those who love YA romances with challenges.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Fragile Ordinary was a lovely contemporary YA novel. I found Comet to be very relatable and I think readers young and older will enjoy her story.

Review: I was really excited to read this, but it was a bit of a slow start and took me a while to get into the story. But once I did, I got really into it. I thought the main character Comet was very well developed, she showed great depth and changed as a person as the story plot progressed. This is a big thing to me when reading because I like to see the main character grow with the story, especially when their identities expand and change (as the person themselves grow). Comet’s family dynamic was on I have not read or seen before, with her parents not sparring much thought to her. Almost as if she did not matter or was there at all. Although this was great in the story plot and added more to who Comet was, I can’t help but also see it as an easy way out for the author to do what she needs to with Comet (parents not caring= no rules or restrictions for Comet). I also really love Comet’s name, but back to the review…

What I loved and liked- If you haven’t seen my favorite quotes part yet, what I loved was Comet’s poetry. It really showed her deeper feelings in certain moments (problems with parents, fear of getting out of her shell, friends, love interest), but it also made me a bit emotional. Okay, I got choked up and totally related to her poems, I LOVED THEM. Um, can I just get a book of her poetry please! Moving on to what I liked was Comet and Tobias’s relationship, although its a bit rocky at first and had me cranky for the first half of the book. I really liked them together because I though that they had a good way dealing with their challenging past and present. They just were healthy when dealing with challenges they had to face as a couple.

All except for one instance… which leads me to what I did not like. There is something big that happens toward the end of the novel (I will not spoil it!) , and Tobias does not handle it in a good way. I do understand his feelings but I just really thought he was dumb the whole time for being an ass, and even though he kind of gets through it? I did not like him again in the novel and could care less about him (maybe I’m just stone cold, or just too old for teenage drama…). The other thing that I did not like, but really let me down was the lackluster ending to the novel. I’ve read many of Samantha Young’s novel (young adult and new adult) and there is always sweet punch in the gut feeling I get after reading a novel (although it was missing in her other YA novel too). Though the ending to The Fragile Ordinary wasn’t really noteworthy, it was still cute.



Favorite quote: I had a whole bunch that I really loved!

Shakespeare said it best, To thine own self be true.

To his wisdom, I attest,

So I’ll be me, you be you.-cc


For the longest, loneliest time, I thought it was me, not you. So I tried to see it in rhyme, Work out what was real and true.

For years there have been secrets, Hidden in those distant eyes. Truths that are your weakness because you want to keep them lies.

It doesn’t make me feel better, knowing you’re so messed up. I thought it would free me of your fetters, but here I am still locked up.

some would say I need empathy, for the pain you’ve had to endure. but for you I’ve run out of sympathy, you’re my villain… and there is no cure.


Hope,

They say it dies last.

There’s a cruelty in its stubbornness. Hope,

I hope it dies fast.

Or it could be the end of us.-CC


Once there was a cold man in a dark hole,

And he offered a boy a choice.

I’ll destroy your pain in exchange for your soul,

Or live your days down here with no voice.-CC


Time to tell that star goodbye,

too much wishing blew its spark.

So tonight I’ll watch that star die,

Watch it disappear into the dark.-CC


Today I was a bird, the sky my vast stage. Free not just a word,

As I left behind my cage.-CC


Sometimes being happy meant being brave. I aimed to be brave every second of everyday.

June's been a great month for me as far as YA reads are concerned, and Samantha Young's latest standalone lands rather comfortably among those very few and select novels that I loved and left a positive and lasting impression on me. There were aspects about Comet's personality and her own story that brought to mind my own memories back in high school and as a teen trying to find my own place in the sun. My heart went out to her--for the lack of attention from her parents and the almost awkward way that she was among her peers. And while Tobias was the boy who would change her world, he's not necessarily the boy-next-door type of guy. But see, that's what I loved about this book. Neither Comet nor Tobias are flawless and idealistic individuals just a couple of years from adulthood. They're young, impressionable, and already have cracks in their psyches. However, throughout this tale, it's Comet's resilience and later self-confidence that shines brightest, showing she is indeed extraordinary, as we are all capable of being if only we allow ourselves to be who we truly are. Five-plus stars for The Fragile Ordinary. ♥

Oh my God. That was such an emotional read. I absolutely loved every moment of it, but it was painful, because I relate so much to Comet. The Fragile Ordinary was such a beautiful, heart-wrenching, heart-breaking story. It will take quite some time for me to get over that, because this book was truly something else.

Comet… I don’t even know what to say about her, because I loved her so much. She prefers spending her time with fictional characters, she’s not great at the social stuff, she’s often left out… But she’s a sweetheart, caring and really sweet. She has some serious issues with her parents, who’ve neglected her her entire life. And she goes through such character development throughout the book! She grew so much, and it was just incredible to get to see. But it was also super painful, and I was an emotional wreck, because Comet is seriously me eight years ago. If it’s possible for a character to be too relatable, Comet was it. Because my heart just broke for her.

The romance was great. I absolutely love friends-to-lovers stories, so of course I loved reading about Comet and Tobias. Seeing them get to know each other, become friends and eventually more than that did stuff to my heart. It was truly heart-warming and I loved it. Comet and Tobias are just so cute together, it’s so obvious how much they care about each other and they’re there for each other and… just super cute. And there’s so much chemistry between them.

The plot was interesting and well-paced, and I really liked it, but I have to say, the focus was more on the characters. While plot is important, what made this book amazing was the characters. They were all so well-developed and layered, and even the secondary characters were important for the story and really well thought-out. They all helped move the plot forward in a really great way.

I also really liked many of the themes in the book. It was serious, and definitely heart-breaking, but I liked it. Bullying, addiction, it hurts to read about, but these are real issues that are important to talk about, so I always get happy when I see them in books. And I loved how the author wasn’t afraid of dealing with these tough subjects and scenes.

The Fragile Ordinary was heart-breaking, heart-wrenching and heart-mending. It was an unforgettable, beautifully written story about the intricacies of friendship, the excitement of first love, and the trouble of finding your own voice. It will take you on an emotional trip like nothing you’ve ever experienced. Just be prepared for all the feels and tons of tears.

The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young is my TOP YA pick for the year, and an all-time favorite read. Young completely blew me away.

“...the real beauty of life is in the fragile ordinary.”


Comet was a girl so many of us can relate to, I know I can. She is beautiful, sweet, and so intelligent. She feels like she can never fit in with her peers it seems, so she does what she can to make herself invisible. She is so afraid to take any kind of step outside of her comfort zone that is until new student, Tobias, enters her world. He is unlike anyone she has ever encountered, making her feel things she has only felt toward her heroes in the novels she reads. He was no ordinary cute boy, In her words, he looked a teen Viking. I loved how her imagination would get away with her. He was hero in one of her dystopian novels, and she was the heroine. Some of that infatuation falls away when she realizes he isn’t a hero. He’s disrespectful to his teachers and hangs around with the wrong crowd. However, she can’t get him completely out of her mind.

We only get Comet’s POV in this book, so what I discovered about Tobias is what I learned through Comet’s eyes. I, like her, thought her was a troublemaker, but as I would soon learn, like Comet, appearances can be deceiving. You can’t always judge a book by its cover. There is a lot more to Tobias than meets the eye. Turns out he is more like one of the heroes out of her books than she thought.

As you can imagine, there is some angst and drama. I mean we are talking about teenagers who are full of drama. What these two kids endure is something no one should. Young does a fantastic job of addressing issues that face teens every day, and she does it in a wonderful but very realistic way. Comet and Tobias do have some trust issues as would be normal with their relationships they have with their parents, especially Comet’s parents. They both have to learn how to move past those, risking their hearts.

“What most people never learned was that sometimes what would make us happy the most also scares us the most.”

I could go on and on about this book. It would be so easy too. It was so well-written with very well-developed and multi-dimensional characters. Young left nothing out, even creating a beautiful setting. As I have written in past reviews, being able to envision the setting makes me feel like I’m a part of it. The little seaside town was so charming and added so much to the book. I have had to step back and consider what I needed to do to make others see how very special this book is. I just hope I gave you a little glimpse of why I adored this book! If I had to recommend one book this year, The Fragile Ordinary is it!!! I’m just so curious to see what kind of wonderful adults she and Tobias have grown into!

I loved this book. Strong likeable characters, good plot. Good resolution. I did think the ending was a little predictable and kind of preachy, but other that that it was fantastic.

This is a story about a shy teenage girl coming to grips with who she is, who she wants to be, what things her life is, and what things she should be hoping for and working for. It is also a romance.

The book is set in Edinburgh and its surrounding towns, and as an American currently traveling in Scotlans, I have to admit that the setting held a lot of appeal for me. It was really fun to read about Scottish teenagers and compare their lives and relationships, both with friends as well as with teachers and parents, to the lives of American teenagers. I thought the author did a really great job of providing details on the setting, particularly that brooding and stormy Scottish weather, and I felt the interplay between the setting and the plot was really well done. She gets an A+ for setting from me!

I also really liked the characters, especially our main character Comet. She is quirky and shy, and at the beginning of the book, she chooses books at home over going out and socializing with her peers. I could really relate to that teenager, for sure! I won’t say too much for fear of spoilers, but Comet’s development over the course of the book, and the well-written narration of her inner battles, turmoil, and determination are all really well developed. I felt like she grew in realistic and interesting ways. I also adored her love interest, Tobias, and her two besties, Vicki and Steph.

I would have maybe liked a little more fleshing out and character development for some of the side characters–for example, I think we are told more than shown that Comet’s mom is a self-absorbed jerk–but I realize this is YA and that tends to not involve quite so much development outside of the main characters.

The only other gripe with the characters I had was that they sometimes acted a little too adult for me, in their level of rational decision-making and abilities of self-examination. But that said, many of the plot turns and misunderstanding occur precisely because of a believable amount of emotional immaturity in the face of difficult life events, so this gripe isn’t major. I think it mainly had to do with a depth and complexity to the dialogue at times that seemed a little much for supposed 16-year-olds. However, I really loved the dialogue and interaction, so I can’t really complain too much.

This book made me laugh, made me wistful for my teenage days and for that whirlwind feeling of being in love for the first time, and it made me cry a few times too. I’ll miss Comet and her friends, and I am not likely to forget this story quickly. Overall, I highly recommend it if you enjoy contemporary YA.

I loved this story. Comet and Tobias are simply wonderful. It's such an inspiring and beautiful story. I definitely recommend this book and this author.

Super cute story - I grew to really love the character over the course of the novel. They are so unique and relatable that it felt like spending time with friends. There are just so many moments where my heart just felt like cartwheeling because of all the feels.

Samatha Young writes amazing YA. She has moved to my auto buy list. This book gave me ALL THE FEELINGS. Loved it.

The Fragile Ordinary is absolutely fantastic and it is definitely worth the read! Reading this book was like taking a trip down memory lane for me. It took me to the days of my youth and I enjoyed the experience! I fell in love with the characters and the story! TFO is one of my favorite reads this summer!

Samantha young has a talent for writing books that make you never want to stop reading. Comet is a strong and fragile character who wants to be loved and in a way accepted. Her friends are likeable and as with all of Samantha’s books there are little gems of characters dotted through the book. Even tho this is a young teen book aimed at the younger readers I am 35 and loved it. The Scottish link in Samantha’s books make me love them all the more. I’m yet to read a Samantha Young book I don’t like. I’m away to reread this book! LOVED IT!

This is the second novel I have read by Samantha Young, and it is another novel with a heartfelt story and strong character development. The main character, Comet, is at an awkward time in her life as a high school student trying to figure out where she fits in. She feels lost with her friends and spends more time alone reading and getting lost in her own imaginary world. Throughout the novel, we watch Comet grow and develop in unexpected ways. I feel that Comet is a character everyone can relate to because everyone has felt lost or out of place at some point in their lives. I would definitely recommend this book!

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

Once again Sam Young blows me away. If I didn’t love her adult romance novels so much, I would plead for her to only write YA, but she is one of the rare authors that can pull off both exquisitely.

I didn’t read the blurb, I never do with Sam’s books, because I know that she’ll take care of me. That she’ll deliver a beautifully heartbreaking story that will tear me apart and put me back together. And this was yet another success.

Comet is an unusual name for no ordinary girl. Shielding herself from reality, Comet isolates herself in her world of imagination by escaping to her room and the fantasies created by her books. Because real life is disappointing and hurtful. Especially when it comes to her relationship, or lack there of, with her parents.

See, Comet was never wanted. She was a mistake. And now she’s just biding her time until she can finally leave her current life behind. She has her sights set on college in the States. She wants to get as far away from her parents as possible. Maybe that way she can actually be invisible to them instead of a constant reminder of their begrudged commitment.

Sam has this incredible ability to make you feel the hardship, hurt and hollowness that Comet experiences with the lack of care of her parents. It brings tears to your eyes and makes your heart ache with longing. It’s what pulls me in every. single. time.

But there is some light in Comet’s life. Vicki and Steph understand what Comet’s life is like at home, but they would love nothing more than for her to put herself out there more. The more they try to push Comet out of her comfort zone, they more that she fears that they will tire of her hermit ways and forget about her just like her parents.

If I kept refusing to hang out with them if it involved hanging with other people, would Vicki and Steph one day give up on me?

Comet is constantly concerned with what people think of her, and that is no different when there’s a new boy in school, Tobias King. And Tobias changes everything for Comet. For the first time her life Comet feels what it’s like to be wanted, loved and a part of a family. But she also learns what she has to lose with living life to it’s fullest.

We loved each other. This was real love, I decided as he hugged me close to his side. It had to be. Because nothing had ever felt more real in my entire life.

If you are a fan of a great coming of age YA, then you will fall in love with The Fragile Ordinary. Sam’s poetry was astonishing and had me seeking it out with each chapter. The Fragile Ordinary is brilliant, beautiful and it will make your heart hurt and pitter patter all at the same time.

Never in a million years had I ever imagined finding my place in high school. I’d always accepted the fact that I’d have to wait for university and hope that I found my niche there. However, it turned out that maybe I didn’t need to wait to be found. Finally, surprisingly, I was no longer lost here.

Quinn

This was a great coming of age story with a lot of relatable characters and issues one might face in high school. I have read about absentee parents but never like this - as a parent myself this was frustrating to read! I did love reading about her romantic relationship and her friendships in the book. I appreciated the respect she had for her teachers as well. Good book! Love this author!

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I remember how hard it was to be a teenage and I have been out of my teens for sometime now. There is just something about Comet that wants you to go along with her on her journey. I understand wanting to find your place in it all and doing that sometimes causes pain, misery and self-doubt, but it could also lead to beautiful things. I was not all that sure about Tobias. We all have a soft spot for the bad boy. This story pulled me in and would not let go of me. That is the kind of books that I love to read.