SEND ME A SIGN by Tiffany Schmidt was another of those books that I randomly selected, based only on the cover or the title, without having read any reviews or heard any plot or character descriptions. It can be refreshing to start a book without any preconceived ideas, which can be difficult when you read and watch as many reviews as I do, but I was excited to give this one a try when I saw it on NetGalley. 
 Starting with the plot. Mia is a high school student who definitely understands what it's like to be a perfectionist. Her parents are always stressing the importance of maintaining the perfect grades.. the perfect popular friends.. the perfect "almost" boyfriend (who ALL the high school girls wish was their own!).. right down to the perfect hair style and the perfect athletic skills (on the cheerleading squad, at least). Consumed with her quest to always seek the ideal, Mia has fallen into an obsessive compulsive fixation on superstitions. Making most of her decisions based on a system of self-imposed rules, Mia has very little experience with really knowing what SHE wants out of life. 
 Everything changes overnight when Mia learns that she has an aggressive form of leukemia. She must spend at least a month in the hospital and her mother urges her to keep her illness a secret, deciding that her popular friends and her perfect "almost" boyfriend might misunderstand or judge her based on her present weakness. Alone and afraid, Mia has nobody to console her outside of her best friend Gyver, a guy so far from their vision of perfection that Mia's parents barely know he exists. So, they think nothing of the situation when it seems that Gyver is wanting more than friendship from their daughter... 
 Mia feels that the signs and the superstitions are definitely not in her favor, and it seems much easier to just give up the fight than to try to maintain her grades, friends, boyfriend, and hair -- oh yeah, and she also has to fight cancer. Can Gyver get her attention enough to teach her how to look inside herself and find the strength to see beyond her fears? 
 I thought this story was really adorable and I definitely enjoyed the read. Although it dealt with a heavy, depressing subject, the book itself really didn't feel overly burdened or drawn out the way I might have expected from a novel dealing with a potentially life threatening illness. I'm really not generally a fan of romantic triangles, but the characters felt relatable and realistic enough to make it work in this story, I think. Sure, it seemed pretty obvious who Mia would ultimately choose by the end of the book, but the focus on self-discovery and the emphasis on personal strength was enough to overcome any weaknesses on the romantic side. 
 I think I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good, realistic, contemporary young adult novel. If you like a little bit of love, a side of rebellion, and a lot of courage, give SEND ME A SIGN a shot. It was a quick easy read and I'm glad I had the chance to review this story!