3 1/2 Stars

A Sharp Endless Need is a coming of age book about a relationship between two basketball teammates. Set in the early 2000's Mack is a high school basketball player heading towards college D1 sports. Shortly before her season, her father unexpectedly dies and a new teammate, Liv, enters her life as a member of her team.

Told in the first person from Mack, the story really captures the angst and confusion of this time for a youth, especially one struggling with their sexuality. Mack doesn't feel whole anywhere but the basketball court and it shows.

The writing was beautiful throughout and I think the author really captured the overall feeling she was going for. I detested the ending of the book. As other readers have noted, the depiction of drug and alcohol use of all the characters was questionable. I wasn't an athlete at that time, but I was a teen and maybe I'm naïve, but I do not think it was a realistic portrait of that time. I did love how Crane captured just the absolute wild nature of that time period - something a little feral that you can't put your finger on.

Thank you to The Dial Press for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Basketball, small towns, discoveries, this book has it all. The writing was well done for a quick and meaningful read.

A Sharp Endless Need is such a great coming-of-age story. A basketball queer love story? Yes please. I really enjoyed following Mack as she worked through grief, identity, and first love while dealing with small-town expectations and the intensity of high school sports. The writing felt honest and emotional, and the connection between Mack and Liv was believable and tender. This one stuck with me in the best way.

I read Exoskeletons last year and absolutely loved it, so when i found out Crane had a new book coming out this year I was desperate for an early copy and I'm so thankful Dial approved me.
Sharp Endless Need is another searing exploration of grief, but this time through the lens of Mack a teen basketball player wrestling with her father's unexpected passing and her own struggles with her identity in a small town. Sharp Endless Need has more of Crane's evocative and present prose that I loved so much in Exoskeletons - their mastery of communicating emotional turmoil makes the book a gut wrenching read as you accompany Mack on her spiral.
The book is also an incredible portrait of what i remember being a teenager is like - the big emotions, the way a crush can feel all consuming in a debilitating way, the looming and unknowable future that is both exciting and scary and haunts all of your time.
Basketball is the real heart of this story and Crane uses it to every advantage to build Mack and Liv's relationship. And while i don't think you need to know a ton about basketball in order to enjoy this one (I certainly don't - i was using context clues about much of the terminology) i think you'll get the most out of this if you have at least a good understanding of the game.
This book has solidified Crane as an autobuy author for me.

Unfortunately I accepted this Netgalley arc from the publisher right BEFORE reading Marisa Cranes debut novel. If I had read it first I would have known that her style of writing is not for me. A Sharp Endless Need has beautiful prose, it's well written, it's an objectively good book... I just didn't like it. I just didn't find it particularly engaging and I didn't really relate to the story.

If you liked I Keep My Exoskeletons To Myself, and if you are interested in an intense sapphic sports romance, you will most likely enjoy it and I recommend giving it a try.

2.5 stars rounded up

This is a coming of age story about Mack and Liv, basketball teammates who are trying to find themselves and who they really are with their already established identities of basketball players. I love an angsty coming of age story and this one was written beautifully. The the concept was there and it was well written, it felt long and short at the same time, short in that I wish there had been more to the story or the supporting characters had been a bit more developed. It was relatively short for a novel but still dragged a bit.

I was hoping for more at the end, I was invested in Liv and Mack but didn't fell like I got closure on their stories, or even on that chapter of their journey.

Thank you to the publishers for the ARC! This book follows Mack as she navigates grief, identity, and first love at the end of high school. She deals with more challenges than your average teen at a time of life that is already so difficult, and following her through it really resonated with me. I’m not a big basketball fan, but the way the sport was written was so poetic and made me look at it in a new light. It was a very well-written and engaging read.

“A Sharp Endless Need” by Marisa Crane immerses readers in the early 2000s in a small Pennsylvania conservative town's stifling atmosphere, a backdrop to a compelling story about basketball and self-discovery. Despite my unfamiliarity with the sport, Crane expertly blends sports commentary with vivid imagery, creating scenes that resonate even with those less versed in basketball—a testament to the author’s engaging writing.

At the heart of the story is a complicated exploration of Mack and Liv's passionate yet tragic love. Their relationship is marked by intense longing, depicted through a slow burn that evokes sadness and desire. The suffocating environment they inhabit amplifies their struggle to be together, and the escapist fantasies they share serve as bittersweet reminders of their reality. The build-up of their feelings culminates in an unavoidable climax, capturing the intricacies of young love in a constrained setting.

Mack emerges as a rich, multifaceted character wrestling with significant challenges—grappling with the pressures of adolescence, the loss of her father, and her sexuality. His death serves as a pivotal moment that shapes the narrative. The subtle yet poignant exploration of grief is woven throughout her experiences, particularly in her fraught relationships with her mother and coach. A decisive moment reveals her mother’s indifference to her struggles, further deepening Mack’s emotional turmoil.

The story unfolds from the perspective of a future Mack, who occasionally offers insights that enhance the narrative while intensifying key moments. This choice of narration allows the past to feel immediate and relevant.

Liv is equally compelling, with a home life marred by her father’s departure and her mother’s coldness. The complexity of her feelings for Mack leads to moments of vulnerability, as her fear of being seen becomes a chaotic backdrop to their relationship. While Liv’s actions sometimes elicit frustration—pushing Mack away yet yearning for closeness—they ultimately foster empathy, revealing a young woman struggling for acceptance in an unwelcoming environment. A profound revelation about her family dynamics brings depth to her character, making her journey of self-discovery resonate.

Katrina is a strong side character, initially perceived as unlikeable but evolving through her narrative arc. However, some other secondary characters felt a bit underdeveloped, lacking the influence they could have had on the larger story.

Overall, the book is a powerful examination of love, grief, and the struggle for identity within the confines of societal expectations, making it a profoundly moving read.

Expected publication Date is May 13, 2025

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group—Random House | The Dial Press for providing an e-arc through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. I was under no obligation to provide a review.

This was another slam dunk by this author! The tension and longing and banter was top tier and I wish I could dive into this all over again for the first time. I cannot ever say enough good things about this author and their work. They are an auto buy author until forever!

Thank you Net Galley for this arc! I really wanted to like this book, considering I absolutely adored Marissa Crane’s previous book I keep my exoskeletons to myself. I felt like this book was just okay. I like basketball enough to know some lingo and such. I did love the yearning between the two main characters and how it’s hard to come to realize one’s sexuality. I also felt like it wasn’t a complete ending. It felt a bit rushed. Overall, an okay book for me.

Wow. This has been the maddest of Marches. Marisa Crane knocked it out of the park with this one. I keep trying and utterly failing to write a coherent review. I feel nauseous. No really, I’m going to throw up. A dizzying kaleidoscope of queer adolescence, of those unmoored years where external expectations and internal confusions and terrifying desires all threaten to tear you apart (but also, all ultimately are what mold you at your core).

I don’t really know how to talk about the basketball of it all — it feels both utterly central to these characters' identities yet also utterly interchangeable with any other intensely committed practice. I know everyone has already said “challengers but for lesbians,” but in case there are any goodreads algorithms out there listening, it’s worth repeating.

I have many mini gripes (some fuzzy story threads, an ending I didn’t quite think was fitting, sections that could use tighter editing), but they are all outweighed by the sheer intensity of the journey this book took me on. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow. Love, basketball, obsession, angst: we’ve got it all here, folks! This book was an addicting, propulsive coming-of-age story full of obsession, struggles of all kinds, and most importantly, basketball. You don’t have to like basketball to like this book, but if you do, you’re in for a real treat. I loved everything about this.

Thank you to the publisher, The Dial Press, for providing this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Star point guard Mack Morris’s senior year of high school begins with twin cataclysms: the death of her father and the arrival of transfer student Liv Cooper. On the court, Mack and Liv discover an electrifying, game-winning chemistry; off the court, they fall into an equally intoxicating more-than-friendship that is out-of-bounds for their small Pennsylvania town in 2004, and for Liv’s conservative mother. As Mack’s desire and grief collide with drugs, sex, and the looming college signing deadline, she is forced to reckon with the disconnect between her past and her future—and fight for the life she wants for herself, whether or not Liv will be on the court beside her.

Thoughts
I could see why this was written this way, it was poetic, but it wasn’t for me. I also get how this was probably a perfect portrayal of the angst and the confusion of coming of age and self discovery especially as a queer high school athlete. It just read too long for me, for a book that was under 300 pages, it took me too long to get through. The story was original and well thought out but I just didn’t love it.

A Sharp and Endless Need opens with the dance of basketball. The prose has a cadence that gives it an almost musical quality and the story that follows - the give and take between two young athletes - perfectly choreographs the dance within it.

Mack’s senior year is approaching and her dreams of DI athlete “stardom” quickly turn from passion to necessity after a family secret comes to light and she looks for an out to her small town life. Pressure is rising and the introduction of a new face on the team, Liv, brings about an undeniably fierce chemistry between the two girls both on and off the court.

Idling in parking lots indulging on whatever delicacies your pocket change affords you, how the sticky heat of a summer night can peel open your vulnerability like a fruit, AIM!!! — Crane captures the teen years with all of its bitter nostalgia and dramatics, made all the more intense by the grittiness of queer coming-of-age and the uniquely American fanaticism of high school athletics.

Thank you to Netgalley and The Dial Press for an eARC of this title!

I can only hope that no one picks up this novel thinking it is an erotic lesbian porn tale. It certainly can be read that way but is is actually a basketball themed love story. Marisa Crane is writing from both experiences, but their intention is to take you inside the mind and body of a 17-year-old falling in love for the first time. It is a love story about basketball and first deep love.

Basketball is a mystery to me, never having played it, watched it, or followed it. I kept needing to ask, "What does a point guard do?" and "What is a screen?" I also had difficulty identifying various alcoholic drinks with strange names and those of street drugs and their effects. And I wondered whether athletes like Mack could function at such high levels of the game while drinking and taking E and smoking pot.

So I'd advise you to stop asking dumb questions which really don't dilute the reality of adolescent grief, discovery of sexuality and first love and just read this book..

Thanks to Net Galley and Dial Press for letting me read and review this ARC.

Thank you netgalley for the e arc! I’ve been anticipating this one so I was so happy to be able to read this, and I was not disappointed! A Sharp Endless Need is a very real and raw portrayal of high school girls and queerness in the mid 2000s. There was definitely a lot of basketball content, and I’m not usually a fan of sports books, but the way the basketball scenes were written did not hinder my reading experience at all. I loved this book very much!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A queer basketball romance written like lit-fic? Okay, sign me up. Like some other reviewers, I really liked this book when I started it, but got lost a little towards the end (which I did NOT see coming, by the way!) There's a lot of different emotions portrayed through these characters (grief, love, pain, sadness, guilt, etc.) and even though I haven't had the same lived experience as Mac or Liv, I can relate to the feelings they had, especially when it comes to the complicated emotions surrounding loss. You don't have to know basketball to be into this book - Marisa Crane does a great job of explaining the game in a way that's easy to follow.

I underestimated how much this would be about basketball. It was so boring and I just bought into it at all.

easy to read young adult literary fiction
queer
sports
mental health
grief


surprised to see the author posting across social media about readers mischaracterizing and unfairly reviewing the book

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book. I eagerly anticipated Marisa Crane's new novel, A SHARP ENDLESS NEED, after thoroughly enjoying their debut I KEEP MY EXOSKELETONS TO MYSELF. This propulsive novel lives in the heat and sweat and shoe-squeaks of the basketball court and the liminal spaces where teen romances evolve. I loved how gay and fervent and aching it was, how Crane balances the concerns of teens exploring their sexual orientation with the overwhelming joy that exploration engenders. Though I know very little about basketball, I would not characterize this as a "basketball novel"—more as a novel full of characters whose hearts and minds are most focused and exuberant on the court. Loved it. Definitely recommend it. Can't wait for Crane's next book!