Kirkus
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A teen facing progressive sight loss sees her friend’s ghost. Hattie Murphy’s trying to cope after her good friend Mason, who had epilepsy, drowned in a kayaking accident. Hattie sometimes dreamed they could have been more than friends. But it’s hard when her mother is so overbearing, and her father, now blind from retinitis pigmentosa, is depressed. Her increasingly steamy relationship with Richard, “the Arthur to [her] Guenevere” in their high school play,Camelot, would be a promising distraction…if she weren’t apparently competing with her co-Guenevere, Amanda, for his attention. When Hattie learns she’s inherited RP, she struggles to conceal her vision difficulties. But RP isn’t the only secret she’s keeping: Somehow, she can converse—well, banter—with Mason’s ghost. What does he want? Is he her guardian angel? Or is Hattie supposed to help him? While Mason sometimes feels more like a spectral counselor than a lost love interest, he and Hattie share some sweet moments. Korsh, who has RP, believably portrays Hattie’s misconceptions and conflicting feelings about the diagnosis, including fears of “ending up like [her] dad, defective and trapped.” Though Hattie’s tendency to misjudge others is occasionally frustrating, readers will root for the snarky teen as she comes to terms with RP and learns that people aren’t always what they seem. Most characters read white; there’s some diversity in the secondary cast. A highly original exploration of disability and grief.(Fiction. 14-18) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

In her YA debut, Korsh explores grief, disability, and the fragile beauty of first love. When Hattie’s friend—and secret crush—Mason dies, it sends shock waves through her friend group and leaves her with more grief than she can bear. But that’s not the only thing making her feel alone: none of her friends know that, just like her father, Hattie has a genetic disease that will eventually lead to total vision loss, and her drive to keep her disability a secret pushes her friends further away. Then, in the shadows of the church at Mason’s funeral, she discovers something no one else can see: Mason’s ghost. As Hattie navigates the secret of her increasing blindness and reckons with the grief of lost possibilities and words left unsaid, Korsh capably balances a lucid exploration of disability and identity with a heartening journey of self-discovery tinged with sweet romance. This raw, tender, voice-driven novel will appeal to readers who liked John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars (2012) and Dustin Thao’s You’ve Reached Sam (2021).

School Library Journal
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Gr 10 Up—A deeply emotional coming-of-age story about Hattie Murphy's challenges coping with the grief of losing her close friend, Mason, who had epilepsy and died in a tragic boating accident. On top of that, Hattie also discovers that she has inherited her father's degenerative eye condition, retinitis pigmentosa, and is starting to lose her vision. Korsh does a great job balancing typical teenage friendship and boy drama with more difficult subjects like depression, disability acceptance, and loss. In a surprise twist, Hattie starts to see Mason's ghost, who seems to show up at all the right times when Hattie is struggling most; together, the two work through their anger and learn to accept the blows life has dealt them. No sex occurs on the page, though there is a scene of a character being pressured into sexual activity and stopping it. This is a standout story that is equal parts sad and hopeful, with extremely relatable and beautiful explorations of grief, disability, and loss. VERDICT This is very highly recommended for those who enjoyed John Green's The Fault in Our Stars or Dustin Thao's You've Reached Sam.—Shannon O'Connor

Publishers Weekly
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Teenage Hattie is left reeling following her best friend Mason’s sudden drowning in this aching speculative novel about losing touch with oneself and the healing power of connection. When she starts seeing visions of Mason after his funeral, Hattie is reluctant to tell their friends or her parents. She’s even more hesitant to reveal that she’s beginning to lose her eyesight due to retinitis pigmentosa, just like her father, who struggles to manage his own diagnosis, preferring self-isolation to learning skills and acquiring tools that could help him adjust how he navigates the world. Hattie also wrestles with grief over all the things between her and Mason that were left unsaid, and her own perceived loss of future autonomy; she pulls away from her friends and finds comfort in communicating with Mason’s ghost. Hoping to regain a sense of control, Hattie throws herself into dating her costar in the school play and attempting increasingly reckless ventures, such as skiing and driving at night despite her worsening vision. Via empathetic prose and Hattie’s acerbic narration, Korsh (When Fairies Go Too Far) ruminates on the impact and different manifestations of grief, resulting in a pensive romantic drama. Main characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)