Thursday, June 28, 2018

Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway: The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young

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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. Order your copy of THE FRAGILE ORDINARY today!

   

About THE FRAGILE ORDINARY:

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.

 

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“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

             




       


EXCERPT

Tobias had offered to spend Christmas Eve with me alone, considering what had just occurred between me and Kyle. Yes, I was devastated by the brief conversation. I was also confused by my reaction, because Kyle hadn’t told me anything I didn’t already know. To hear him confess his own weak will when it came to Carrie, to hear from his own mouth that yes, he did love her more than me and that he’d choose her over me no matter what was painful. I didn’t know if his fears about Carrie’s issues were founded. Maybe. I guess I didn’t know the woman who was my mother well at all. She’d never been verbally unkind to me, though. Her cruelty had always been in her indifference.

Those were my thoughts, going around and around like they were stuck on some twisted, hellish merry-go-round, when I walked into Tobias’s new house.

I tried to focus on Lena. I discovered, however, as I followed her through the narrow hallway of the three-bedroom house in the more affluent area of Porty that Tobias did take after his father in looks. There was a photo hanging on the wall in the hallway of a younger Tobias standing in between Lena and a man I knew must have been his dad. They stood outside a huge white house that reminded me of the wealthy homes featured in John Hughes’s movies. Like Tobias, his dad was extremely tall, broad-shouldered, with fair good looks.

I’d slowed down to look at the photo, and Tobias turned around to see what was keeping me.

“Your dad?”

His eyes flicked to the photo, and I hated the pain that shimmered in his gaze. He nodded and I squeezed his hand.

“Would you like something to drink, Comet?” Lena called from the kitchen. “We have water, Coke, orange juice. Or I could make us all hot chocolate.”

I tugged Tobias away from the photo. There was no need for us both to be a sad, wallowing mess today. “Yes, Mrs. King, hot chocolate sounds lovely.” We wandered into the small, modern kitchen to find her waiting on us.

“I thought I told you to call me Lena.”

“Of course, sorry.” I gave her a smile, trying to ignore the fact that she was raking her eyes over my outfit like she had the last time I saw her.

It was Christmas, so I’d decided on a burgundy long-sleeved thermal with gold sparkles through it, matched with a short burgundy velvet skirt with a dark red tulle underskirt that stuck out rock-chick style from the skirt. I wore thick, black tights and Irregular Choice burgundy suede ankle boots in the Victorian style. They seemed simple until I turned around—they had a huge gold jacquard bow pinned to back of the ankle.

I’d added a bunch of chunky gold bracelets up both arms so I jingled when I moved.

I’d considered toning my clothes down but this was me, and Tobias knew this was me and all that mattered was that he loved me, loud fashion sense and all. Still, I smoothed my hands down my skirt nervously until Tobias captured one of them in his own.

Glancing up at him in question, I found myself caught by the tender reassurance in his eyes. He drew my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to it while his gaze held mine, and I felt like he was silently reminding me not to worry what she thought of me because he thought I was perfect.

The sound of a throat clearing broke our moment and we turned to find his mum staring at us wearing a huge smile. “Hot chocolate.” She gestured to the mugs in front of us.

Her assessment of my appearance ceased and instead she studied my interactions with her son. In fact, she watched everything Tobias did, and she did it in a way that made me think she missed him. I knew they’d talked and he was attempting to repair the damage to their relationship, but I perceived a wariness in Lena’s behavior. Like she was scared of making the wrong move—one that might cause him to shut her out again.




Samantha Young’s’ THE FRAGILE ORDINARY – Review & Excerpt Tour Schedule:
June 25th
Book Freak – Review
For The Love of Fictional Worlds – Review & Excerpt
Garden of REden – Review
June 26th
Blog of Books – Review
Bookalicious Babes Blog – Review & Excerpt
Kick Back & Review – Review & Excerpt
liber_lady – Review
Miss Riki – Review & Excerpt
Read more sleep less – Review & Excerpt
White Hot Reads – Review
June 27th
A Literary Perusal – Review & Excerpt
Book Bitches Blog – Review
LoveFades – Review
Smut Book Junkie Reviews – Review & Excerpt
June 28th
Catty Jane Book Lovers – Review & Excerpt
Novel Addiction – Review & Excerpt
the lovely teacher addictions – Review & Excerpt
Smokin' Hot Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
The Reading Faery – Review & Excerpt
June 29th
Ali's Reviews and More – Review & Excerpt
Bookish Proclivity – Review & Excerpt
Confessions of a Pinay Bookaholic – Review & Excerpt
Ficwishes – Review & Excerpt
Read Love Blog – Review & Excerpt
The Bookish Sisters – Review & Excerpt
June 30th
Lisa Loves Literature – Review & Excerpt
Nose Stuck in a Book – Review & Excerpt
Pervy Ladies Books – Review & Excerpt
Read. Eat. Love. – Review & Excerpt
The Escapist Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
July 1st
KDRBCK – Review & Excerpt
Once Upon A Page – Review & Excerpt
The Coffeeholic Bookworm – Review & Excerpt
July 2nd
Alpha Book Club – Review
Book Babes Unite – Review
Crazii Bitches Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
Rad Babes Read – Review & Excerpt
Spellbound Stories – Review
The Book Dutchesses – Review & Excerpt
July 3rd
Book Lovers Hangout – Review & Excerpt
gata leitora – Review & Excerpt
KM Sultry Reads – Review & Excerpt
Relentless Romance – Review & Excerpt
Sweet Red Reads – Review & Excerpt
July 4th
Bookaholic Confessions – Review & Excerpt
Margaux – Excerpt
Sofia Loves Books – Review
Sultry Sirens Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
Tales of the Ravenous Reader – Review & Excerpt
July 5th
After Dark Book Lovers – Review & Excerpt
Literary Misfit – Excerpt
More Books Than Livros – Review & Excerpt
July 6th
mustreadbooksordie – Review & Excerpt
Romance Schmomance – Review & Excerpt
Sentranced Jem – Review


   


About Samantha Young: 

 Samantha Young is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of adult contemporary romances, including the On Dublin Street series and Hero, as well as the New Adult duology Into the Deep and Out of the Shallows. Every Little Thing, the second book in her new Hart’s Boardwalk series, will be published by Berkley in March 2017. Before turning to contemporary fiction, she wrote several young adult paranormal and fantasy series, including the amazon bestselling Tale of Lunarmorte trilogy. Samantha’s debut YA contemporary novel The Impossible Vastness of Us will be published by Harlequin TEEN in ebook & hardback June 2017 Samantha has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award 2012 for Best Author and Best Romance for On Dublin Street, Best Romance 2014 for Before Jamaica Lane, and Best Romance 2015 for Hero. On Dublin Street, a #1 bestseller in Germany, was the Bronze Award Winner in the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2013, Before Jamaica Lane the Gold Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2014 and Echoes of Scotland Street the Bronze Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2015. Samantha is currently published in 30 countries and is a #1 international bestselling author.  

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

 

REVIEW


The Fragile OrdinaryThe Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



It's not difficult to understand how I immediately connected to the heroine in The Fragile Ordinary and empathized with her internal conflict. She's a book lover who loves to write, loves to dream, and escapes into the fictional worlds that capture her heart and imagination. The narrative is that of a young woman on the fringes of discovering her own self-confidence, and finding a better understanding of her own identity. It's a coming of age story that explores the effect of emotionally absent parents, the thrill and angst of first love, bullying, loss and grief, and believing in yourself.

Very much an introvert, she prefers her own company and a good book to attending parties and chasing boys like many sixteen-year-olds. The fear of being judged and found wanting, and her innate shyness is something that's holding her back from experiencing life to its fullest.

    Courage wasn’t something you found at the bottom of a hot chocolate or in a few words of encouragement from your favorite teacher. Courage was clearly something I needed to find, but how was I supposed to when there was a big part of me that didn’t mind the fact I hadn’t discovered it?

It's not just a matter of being shy, however. A cruel teacher in her younger years paired with her parents' inattention and indifference have caused her to retreat inside herself where no one can hurt her. She finds the ability to express herself through her love of poetry, but isn't confident enough to share that deeply personal side of herself with anyone. Many of her poems captured the uncertainty of young love, and the pain of loneliness so eloquently. That was one of the things that drew me to the story when reading the synopsis, and it was just as wonderful as I was hoping it would be. It's easy to identify with her feelings of loneliness and desperation to move on to bigger and brighter things. It's almost as if you're in limbo during these years. Waiting to become an adult, but not quite a child anymore.

Tobias King is the new boy in school, and he slides right into the role of bad boy with a chip on his shoulder with ease. At first, she has no interest in getting to know him, especially since he runs with a very bad crowd and shows a total lack of respect to the teachers in the school. Comet is that good girl you used to know. The one who likes to sit up front in class, raises her hand, and wouldn't dare think of talking back to an adult. She's an old soul who feels closer to her elderly neighbor than most of her classmates. When she's forced to work on a project with him, and sees him outside of school, she realizes that there's a lot more to him than the image he projects.

Struggling with his own private heartache, he lashes out by rebelling at school, and covering his pain with cold indifference. To be honest, I wasn't sure what she saw in him for some time, because even after they became friends, there were times that he treated her abominably and really hurt her. I understood that he was trying to shield her from the crowd that he was running with, and for good reason. I just think his protection could have been handled in a much more mature way, especially as it took him so long to be honest with her about his true feelings. His behavior at the end had me feeling extremely angry towards him. Yes, he was experiencing devastation and crippling guilt, but his treatment of her was selfish.

    That was the thing about living in the now and accepting that most people weren’t heroic storybook characters. They could be extraordinary, but most days they were f lawed and ordinary. And ordinary people had wounds that sometimes never healed.

On the other hand, neither character was perfect when it comes down to it. She was closed off, irrational, and very secretive and unfair to her two friends. He made a lot of (almost irreparable) mistakes, and hurt her in the process. But I think the angst of it all was true to their ages. As frustrating as their actions could be, they made sense for who they were in that moment.

I enjoyed seeing Comet's growth, and her realization that she was far from the ordinary girl who was misrepresenting her extraordinary name. Many readers will be able to closely relate to the uncertainty and emotional self-reflection she goes through. Through the pages of the book, she goes through a metamorphosis, and when she spreads her wings and flies it's a beautiful sight to behold.


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