Review: Send Me a Sign

Send Me a Sign
By:Tiffany Schmidt
Release Date: October 2, 2012

Description:
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.

Review:
Let me start by saying that I love emotional books, about sickness or death or bullying because it helps me to appreciate the things and life I have and I love reading books about these subjects as it helps me better to understand other people and their situations.  I can completely sympathise with anyone because of great books like these.

We meet Mia right away with a secret she's keeping from her friends.  She has cancer, leukemia to be exact.  She's also very superstitious and because of this she is constantly on the lookout for signs for the things she should and shouldn't do.  For example if she hears a certain song she won't tell anyone anything.  But if she sees a sign that it's good she will tell her friends she has cancer.  Of course it just so happens that before her chemo treatments she's with her friends and they start discussing how bad hospitals are and how gross everything could be.  She takes this as a sign not to say anything. 

She goes into chemo with her parents and her neighbors along with her long child hood friend Gyver (which is short for McGuvyer which I think is fabulous).  He is at her bedside the entire time and still her friends have no clue what is going on with her, they think she is off helping her grandparents.  Throughout the entire treatment, sure she goes through the typical side effects of having chemo but still I feel as if she's in denial about the whole thing.  And her neighbor's mom sees this in her.  Of course her mother is no better because she is trying to act like everything is normal, when obviously it's not.  Her dad on the other hand is a complete numbers guy and is always making charts and doing research.

It's almost as if they completely ignore her and what she's truly feeling, but she won't show them this as she tries to be the perfect daughter they have always known and loved.  Even though she is truly scared.  The only person who can see right through her is Gyver, not even her boyfriends/sort of Ryan knows about this.  It's all very off putting on her part, but I guess I can see why she did this.

Throughout the book she learns who her real friends are, with battles that were unnecessary if she had just spoken the truth to begin with.  It's in the little things that count and that's what matters most.  It's the little things that if gone in the end you will also miss the most.  Especially when she gets into this big argument with Gyver who has been there with her since the beginning.  Yes it's a little predictable about this subject but the fun is getting there.  They so obviously belong together, even if other people don't see them because she's miss perfect and he's a loner musician.  Isn't it always that way, but again it's getting there that is the fun part.

I read this book very quickly and enjoyed every minute of it.  It was sweet, tough, heartbreaking and eye opening.  The characters, every single one of them have gone through so much from beginning to end it was great to experience every little bump with them.  I was really sad when the book ended because I was hoping to be reading some more.  But overall this book was great, go buy it, go read it and enjoy the relationship that is blossoming or has always been there, depends on how you see it I guess.  Also struggle along with the family as they try and deal with their daughter's sickness. Great read.


Disclaimer:
I received this book from NetGalley and Bloomsbury Children's Books so that I may give my honest opinion and a review. Whether it is good or not please do not let it discourage you from purchasing/reading the book yourself and forming your own opinion. What might be good for me may not be good for you and vice versa. With that said, Happy Reading Everyone!!!