While I appreciate that this focuses on an LGBTQ relationship in high school, I just didn't connect with this book. I didn't like any of the characters and in that sense, I didn't care about the outcome that may happen for any of them. I did however think the author was good with words and look forward to other things they may write.

I found this story to be incredibly sweet, yet riddled with tension between the characters in certain points. The backdrop of basketball and the coming in to their own of the two main characters made for a great read. I liked it very much and was held captive until the end as to how things would resolve for the main characters. Definitely a good coming of age novel with an engaging story line.

The main character, Mack is unhappy - her dad drinks and gambles. Mack's mom is focused on her unrealistic view of her marriage and responsibilities. Mack comes in a distant third in Mom's list of priorities.

Mack is filled with uncertainty and a feeling of being an outsider. This is a tense, uncomfortable look at an athlete coming to terms with not always being the best player or the most wanted person in the group.

If you're looking for a feel good book, this is not it.

While this book was not for me, I know that there are people who will greatly enjoy it. My knowledge of basketball is not far above zero, so there were many parts of the book that I couldn’t visualize or relate to. I’m sure, however, that there are many who will be able to relate to the story of finding out who you are and who you love - and that it is all okay if it makes you happy.

This came completely out of nowhere in the best way. Raw and unique and yet so easy to connect to. Nothing is like this out there and I really cannot emphasize how so many young people (especially in today’s climate) need to read this. This is a big hug of a book and yet kept you on your toes (it’s not all emotional). So so good!

A Sharp Endless Need by Marisa Crane is an unflinching look at the queer teenage experience seen through the lens of a game of basketball. It is due to be published in on May 13, 2025 and I'm sure it will become a very important book for any teenager and young adult who sees their experience depicted within the pages. This is a story about grief, about identity and about love. It is a story that needed to be told with nuance and it seems that Marisa Crane was the perfect author for that challenge.

This novel is well written and well paced. The characters are distinct and have strong voices. There are a number of elements that will stay with me. I do think that it very messy and dramatic, but teenage life and even life in general can be that way. It was hard to like Mack and Liv at times, but I found myself rooting for them throughout. A Sharp Endless Need deals with a lot of difficult subjects and trigger warnings should be heeded.

While there were a few things that prevented me from giving this a full five stars (such as the amount of casual drug use depicted), I really appreciate how much respect the game of basketball was given in this story. This isn't just a novel that contains a little basketball, basketball is almost a character in itself.

I would certainly read more from this author again and recommend this book to those that need this kind of story. Thank you to Net Galley and to Random House for reaching out and providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a heartbreaking coming of age story of dealing with grief, loss, first loves, and all that's in between. Surprisingly, it had much more depth to it than a typical sports story.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book. I do not know if I would have picked it up otherwise and happy to have my introduction to Marissa Crane.

I really enjoyed this book, what an emotional journey. This novel weaves together themes of love, loss, and the complicated nature of identity with such raw vulnerability. The characters are so deeply layered, and the writing feels almost lyrical, pulling you in from the first page. It’s a beautiful exploration of what it means to be human, to face the sharp edges of our desires and regrets, and to navigate our most complex relationships. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a thought-provoking, heart-wrenching read.

Mack goes through a tough senior year of high school with the death of her father and then a new student arrives at the school. Mack and Liv fall into a more than friendship relationship which is very hot on and off the court.

This book is an aching, purple bruise. Crane’s writing is alive and intense - a front-row seat for spectators to watch the difficulty and desperation of things unsaid, unacknowledged, and unnamed. This book surprised me in all of the best ways, and it will make you feel.

I *loved* I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself - it was my favorite book of 2023 - so when I saw that Marisa Crane had a new book out, I couldn’t wait to read it. However, this just wasn’t for me. The subject matter was always going to be a stretch - I know nothing about basketball - so I can imagine this book would resonate much more with folks with some familiarity and interest in the sport. That said, I found the prose a little affected/clunky. Overall it didn’t work for me, but I am glad to see others loved it.

I unfortunately couldn’t get into this story. I knew from the synopsis that sports were a big part of the storyline, but I didn’t realize just how much. It was a little obsessive and just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, author, and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

What a gift of a novel this is, with its gorgeous prose and its heartbreaking and often heartbroken characters and its deep love for basketball--something I have never cared for that has been opened up to me in a new and beautiful way here. This book is truly special. A novel I wish everyone would read!

4.5 rounded down because I can't get myself to give this a 5, mostly because this is not one I feel super comfortable recommending to everyone (there are a select few this will resonate with). At first I was not super thrilled to read a coming out story of high school student, largely because I do not relate. Not my typical read.
But by then end, I was invested in the plot and all the hope that manifested. The organization of the chapters of the book to coincide with a basketball game was brilliant. And all the life quotes and metaphors were relatable and real. This whole book felt so close to the truth of how people actually grow up and act. All the mistakes and bad decisions and finding and losing.

Thank you to NetGallery and Penguin House for reaching out to me to give this eARC a chance. I would probably not have read it otherwise.

This is a book that on the surface is about basketball, but is really about so much more than basketball. It’s a coming of age story about grief, love, friendship, longing, and pain.

There were a lot of things that I really enjoyed about this book, and a lot of things that reminded me of my young adulthood. Being in Mack’s head was challenging at times, but she was definitely a compelling, if often frustrating, protagonist to follow.

Overall this was well done, especially the way that the framing of basketball is used to help tell this story.

I just finished a great new book. A Sharp Endless Need by Marisa Crane is a must read book. Pick this one up.

I devoured this book. This is the first book by Mac Crane that I read and what drew me to it was that it is a coming-of-age story and gay love story in a rural PA, Crane nailed the rural PA experience of getting drunk at 7-11 and in Wawa parking lots. I felt like I knew Crane and that they must have known exactly what my adolescence was like. Like perhaps we were drunk in the same bowling alley turned local nightclub--turns out we grew up in the same area so this makes sense.

This book broke my heart and also mended it. What Crane captured so well was the fallibility of adults, even those with the purest of intentions like Mack's dad and Coach Puck. They captured the longing of being a young queer person in rural America in the early 00s. If you are put off by a sports novel, don't be. I do not follow any sports let alone know anything about basketball and yet Crane's prose drew me into the world in a way that piqued my interest. This is a book I wish I had in high school but am equally as thrilled to have it now.

Every time I finish a book by Marisa Crane I feel an overwhelming urge to kneel at their feet and thank them profusely, but I think that could come across as a little weird, so I’m gonna write this review instead. This book was so good I felt sick when I finished it. Crane’s writing skills will forever keep me coming back for every single piece of writing they put out. I will admit, I have little interest in reading about high school girls (stoked for the sapphic basketball storyline though), but I knew that if Marisa Crane was writing it, it would be excellent. And I was correct. I believe it’s a testament to the writing that I am giving five stars to a book on a subject matter that I would not generally find interesting. The prose in A Sharp Endless Need is beautiful not because it’s shiny and pretentious, but because it’s gritty and real and unashamed in the way it cuts to the heart of who we are as humans. That always has been, and always will be, what I love about Marisa’s work. Grief, loss, pining, love, and growing up are so realistically yet tenderly written in a way that makes me want to have compassion for my younger self. And maybe even the current me, too. I highlighted so much of this eBook, I can’t wait to get my hands on a hardcopy to annotate.

Thank you so much to The Dial Press for this eBook ARC.

I’m not really sure how to feel about this book. To start out, there were plenty of things I loved. I thought the tension and chemistry between Mack and Liv was really well done, and their relationship felt accurate to what it feels like to be a gay teen crushing on a best friend. I also really appreciated the characterization of Mack, as well as her internal monologue. It felt very true to being a senior in high school with all the scary, unknown feelings of the future that come with it.

However, I also struggled with this book a lot. It felt slow at times, and it made it hard for me to get excited for what comes next. I also was really confused for much of the basketball matches/sections; as someone who’s never been into sports or known much about it, a lot of the language in these parts were really baffling to me. I appreciate what this book did and captured within Mack’s character and storyline, but I’m not sure it was totally for me, which is a shame because it has so many thematic elements I usually love.

This is the first book of Marisa Crane’s I’ve read and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew it was about basketball but I didn’t expect to love all of the scenes during games, practices, etc as much as I did. I loved how connected Mack felt to Liv through basketball and how spot on all the technical parts of the basketball scenes were. Crane’s deep knowledge of basketball really shines. Other than the basketball, I was invested in Mack getting to know herself as a queer person. I loved that Crane included elements of being curious about gender/gender presentation. Most of the book though I really had a hard time with. The extent to which Mack was constantly binge drinking and taking drugs was very extreme for a junior in high school with no apparent consequences. Being able to perform at an elite level on the court but be constantly drunk and high off the court seemed unreasonable. I understand the author was painting the picture of Mack’s depression and grief around her dad’s death but it didn’t quite work for me. Mack got away health wise, socially, with her mom, with the police with being constantly reckless. I appreciated the nuance of Mack’s relationship either Liv but I couldn’t get past the recklessness.