The Fragile Ordinary

by Samantha Young Narrated by Elle Newlands

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile

Elle Newlands narrates this engaging story of young love and the pains of growing up in a small Scottish suburb. Despite her attention-grabbing name, Comet Caldwell has always been shy and introverted. She is completely overwhelmed by her feelings for the new American boy in school, Tobias. It’s even worse that he hangs out with the local bad boys. Newlands’s sensitive narration of Comet’s inner monologue connects the listener to the prickly teenager. We hear in her own words, including the poetry she’s too afraid to recite, how much she longs for attention, affection, and true love. Newlands also excels at using accents to highlight the class differences that may tear Comet and Tobias apart just when they finally come together. N.M. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

"Young understands the young lovers and describes their physical relationship gently and tenderly. Events twist and turn, revealing much about the multilayered realities of modern teens...A powerful roller-coaster ride of emotions and self-awareness."-Kirkus Reviews

"Samantha Young shines! THE FRAGILE ORDINARY is heart wrenching and beautiful. Exquisitely done."-Addison Moore, New York Times bestselling author

"The Fragile Ordinary is a perfect read. First it made me swoon, then it broke me and put me back together again. For those who feel like they don't quite fit in anywhere, Comet's character shows you can be true to yourself and still find your place in life and love." -Miranda Kenneally, author of Catching Jordan

"I deeply loved this emotional, beautifully told story. Samantha Young is a master craftsman when it comes to creating complicated and lovable characters. I can't recommend The Fragile Ordinary enough!"-Rachel Higginson, bestselling author of The Five Stages of Falling in Love

"The Fragile Ordinary is a five-star book for me. Samantha Young writes a poignant coming-of-age story and explores significant issues with finesse and a deep-seated understanding of human nature. Do yourself a favor and add this novel to your library." -Amy A. Bartol, USA Today bestselling author of The Premonition Series

"Samantha Young writes amazing and emotional characters who steal my heart."-Katie McGarry, author of Pushing the Limits and Say You'll Remember Me

"Endearing and relatable, Comet-the girl who is searching for her place in this world-will shoot through the sky and into your heart." -#1 New York Times bestselling author Erin Watt

"Young understands teen turmoil and writes with sensitivity, honesty, and respect. This coming-of-age story will shatter the reader's heart, restore it, and bring it to the brink of breaking again." -Booklist

"This deeply imagined story with its fully developed cast of characters invites readers to examine their own lives and relationships as they root for Comet and her friends...for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jandy Nelson."
-School Library Journal

School Library Journal

05/01/2018
Gr 9 Up—Sixteen-year-old Comet Caldwell is the least likely heroine she can imagine. She has an estranged relationship with her upper middle class artist parents, and—despite her two best friends' efforts—going to parties causes her anxiety. Comet would rather spend weekends reading books, writing poetry, or walking along the ocean in Portobello, the coastal suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, where she lives. That all changes when she is assigned to work with Tobias King, the brilliant new kid from the U.S. who hates school and who couldn't be any more unlike her. As she spends more time with Tobias and with his cousin, Stevie, she learns about Tobias's troubled past, and about Stevie's difficult, working class circumstances. But as Comet and Tobias fall hard for each other, everything else seems to fall apart. Stevie falls in line with drug dealers, and the couple faces jealousy at school. This deeply imagined story with its fully developed cast of characters invites readers to examine their own lives and relationships as they root for Comet and her friends. VERDICT Buy it for any teen fiction section; suggested for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jandy Nelson.—Erica Ruscio, Rockport Public Library, MA

AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile

Elle Newlands narrates this engaging story of young love and the pains of growing up in a small Scottish suburb. Despite her attention-grabbing name, Comet Caldwell has always been shy and introverted. She is completely overwhelmed by her feelings for the new American boy in school, Tobias. It’s even worse that he hangs out with the local bad boys. Newlands’s sensitive narration of Comet’s inner monologue connects the listener to the prickly teenager. We hear in her own words, including the poetry she’s too afraid to recite, how much she longs for attention, affection, and true love. Newlands also excels at using accents to highlight the class differences that may tear Comet and Tobias apart just when they finally come together. N.M. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2018-03-20
Intensely shy, 16-year-old Comet Caldwell hates her name: She is nothing like a comet.The white Edinburgh, Scotland, teen hides in her room, writing poetry and reading. Her self-absorbed parents generally ignore her, and at school, she is either bullied or made to feel invisible. When not in school uniform, she expresses her creativity through an eclectic mix of vintage clothes. Comet attends poetry readings but never dares to read her own work. Her friends Vicki, who is of white and black Caribbean descent, and Steph, who is pale and blonde, are fully developed characters who are staunchly loyal and sympathetic. Comet narrates her story in the first person, riddled with self-doubt and fear of real or imagined pitfalls and dangers. Enter the new American boy, Tobias, and everything begins to change in tiny, tentative increments, as with many backward steps, she questions her worthiness of their growing love. Further complications ensue when Tobias' cousin, Stevie, facing devastating problems of his own, becomes involved with a dangerous gang, leading to heartbreaking tragedy. Young (The Impossible Vastness of Us, 2017, etc.) understands the young lovers and describes their physical relationship gently and tenderly. Events twist and turn, revealing much about the multilayered realities of modern teens. Readers will sometimes be frustrated with Comet, but they will also laugh and cry with her and cheer her on.A powerful roller-coaster ride of emotions and self-awareness. (Fiction. 14-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170356737
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/26/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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