Send Me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt

Goodreads Blurb

Mia is always looking for signs. A sign that she should get serious with her soccer-captain boyfriend. A sign that she’ll get the grades to make it into an Ivy-league school. One sign she didn’t expect to look for was: “Will I survive cancer?” It’s a question her friends would never understand, prompting Mia to keep her illness a secret. The only one who knows is her lifelong best friend, Gyver, who is poised to be so much more. Mia is determined to survive, but when you have so much going your way, there is so much more to lose. From debut author Tiffany Schmidt comes a heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting story of one girl’s search for signs of life in the face of death.

I’ve read so many heartbreaking stories this year, you guys know that, but Send Me a Sign…heartbreaking is a total understatement. A mind-blowing story made of heartbreaks, and breakups, hope and understanding.

The amazing thing about this debut us that, if you hadn’t read the story, skipping to the tear-jerking parts, you would be completely dry-eyed. Using her writing talents, Tiffany Schmidt deftly creates characters that you learn to care about, tight, unbreakable bonds that you feel, not read, and a subtle romance that’s all too endearing.

“I make my own luck.”

The romance was definitely one of my favorite parts. There was Ryan, Mia’s perfect, popular, sort-of boyfriend who’s sweeter than he seems, and then there’s Gyver, her best-friend-nest door who’s been there through thick and thin. But he’s strictly a friend. Right?

The romance was so sweet, both interests caring and protective. While it wasn’t a live triangle, per say, it was definitely more than Ryan’s old reputation that made Mia hesitate in dating him. I honestly had no idea who Mia would end up with in the end, but the guy I rooted for in the beginning…let’s just say he totally lost my vote. Then gained it. Then lost it.

“I wouldn’t know until I went inside.”

The characters. Oh. My. Goodness gracious. I completely fell in love with them. They each had their own distinct personalities, their own flaws, and I loved them for it.

Mia seems like a shallow girl at first, I admit, but when you got to actually know her, she was sweet and kind and a bit insecure. She refused to tell her closest friends, and look read at how that turned out. I loved how her character (and her friends’ characters) really did fit “their season”. Mia was sunny but she got her own summer showers once in a while, and she was always there to cheer her friends up.

Out of all of Mia’s friends, I really didn’t like Lauren. She was that girl who told secrets behind a person’s back, the one who was always asking for reassurances, and made me feel as if she was just fishing for compliments daily, even when Mia had cancer. No. Just no.

“I didn’t want to know anymore.”

What I didn’t like was that Mia was so secluded. I mean, I get why she wanted to keep her cancer a secret, but instead of weaving all these lies (knowing her friends were bound to find out), she could’ve just told them and saved herself from a lot of suffering. I also wonder: if Hil, Ally, and Lauren were such good friends, why hadn’t they noticed that Mia was never as active and that all these sudden things were happening? It made no sense, they didn’t question it. There were just a few holes in the thinking, but all in all, it was an amazing read that all contemp lovers should read!

“At the hospital, it was the first time I realized I might not beat this. I might die.”

 

Pages: 384

Series: Stand alone

Genre: Contemporary/Romance

Publisher: Walker Children Books

Release Date: October 2

Rating: 7 stars