The Fragile Ordinary - Hardcover

"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

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.