This a beautifully written book. I am not an athlete, so I loved the insight into what it feels like to be a gifted athlete--feeling dominant on the court, the pressure in all parts of life, relationships with teammates, the struggle to decide on next steps after high school. I felt the characters' pain in trying to work through their longing for women and their place in the world. This author's writing is full of emotion and desire while also being realistic. I wish that alcohol and drugs weren't such a big part of the lives of these young characters. Even though it reflects a different experience than I know/hope for, the author fleshed out the characters so that I understood their choices. With this book and "I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself," Marisa Crane is a must-read author for me. In both books, she brought me into a world that I didn't know, introduced me to interesting characters, broke my heart, and gave me hope.

Thank you to Dial Press for reaching out and offering the opportunity to read this book. They were right, it was right up my alley.
I love a good basketball story, and that this one was focused on female basketball players was a bonus. Crane wrote with authenticity, having played herself. I enjoyed the story and the developing relationship. I just wish there was more of it!

Just absolutely gorgeous. Heart-wrenching. Full of want and dread and pain and reaching, reaching, reaching. It ruined my night. It made my life. It made me feel forever. A new favorite; Mac Crane is a talent of our time.

Not quite sure what to do with this one. Really emotional writing but kind of misses for me.

It is all first person so you can't look away, at all. It starts with tremendous energy on the basketball court and off, then the middle gets really messy (but life is messy?), and the end comes out of nowhere. A small thing, but the epilogue starts with "we" for the first paragraph, so I thought it was about two people. But it seems to be a "royal we" for some sort of effect. I had to re-read the epilogue a couple of times to figure out what was going on.

Throughout, there is barely enough information to figure out what is happening with the other people. That is a side effect of the really tight first person, but it feels claustrophobic and confusing a fair amount of the time. Again, maybe life is like that?

Not your normal romance, that is for sure.

The Dial Press was kind enough to provide me with an advanced reading copy via NetGalley for an honest review.

Half way through and I’m really struggling to finish. The background about basketball is foreign for me so I find it super boring. The characters are not real likable and most are dysfunctional. So many 5 star reviews, clearly I missed the message or something just didn’t click for me.

Just finished and I’m so disappointed with this entire book. The book did get more interesting in the second half and up until this point I hung in there if for no other reason but to discover what happens at the end, only to discover there is no end. What college does she go to? Does she go? Does she play professionally? What happens to her and Liv? What was the connection with their dads? I need closure to feel satisfied with a book. Is that the point? I would have given this book 3 stars but the ending just frustrated the hell out of me.

Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book.

i'm going to try to write a review about this one without screaming at the top of my lungs. thank you to Random House, The Dial Press, and NetGalley for making an advanced digital copy happen for me.

i have read it and i have it preordered in three different formats. i'm not kidding, i'm about to get really annoying about this book.

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i never know how to talk about books that i so deeply love.

this is a book with some of the most beautifully written prose and some of the most accurate depictions of lesbian longing that i've ever read. i think about this book and i feel it physically in my body. just the memory of reading it inspires a specific longing in me, as though i'm being pulled to something like a magnet. it's that good - it's given me a visceral reaction.

first off - if you're scared of sports, don't be. yes, this is a queer basketball romance. yes, there's basketball, but it's written in a way that doesn't make it too difficult to grasp what's going on, but the basketball scenes really aren't about basketball, anyway. this book is a wild testament to the love between teammates, the difficulties of unraveling your own identity in the moments you're trying to decide who you want to be. this book is about grief as much as it is about the grief of losing your youth, the grief of decision, and the perils of indecision. this book is about wild love.

we have mack, sports star. her dad dies. left with a ton of debt from credit cards he'd taken out in their names, her mom can't really be a mom. and even in this, you realize that the people we regard as the ones that are meant to protect us and take care of us are just people, too. there's this word - "sonder" - and it's a feeling of realizing that everyone has a life as complex and full as your own. that was what this book felt like.

liv transfers in. mack and liv connect on the court in that once-in-a-lifetime way that makes you desperately want to latch on to it, because you understand you may never have that feeling again. mack pines, even as we're introduced to liv's utterly disgusting boyfriend.

they both turn over stones, looking for the answers to their future. both courted by college scouts, both pushing their bodies to the limit at the expense of their futures, you realize what a specific snowglobe of a moment youth can feel like when you're in it. how much you don't want to leave that feeling of not being sure, because decision means mapping out who you want to be. it means your eventual death, too. this book made me feel immortal in that feeling.

this feels like a poet's novel, the prose is that gorgeous and lyrical. it unravels lust and love, but also sexuality, homophobia - both internalized and not, and gender. the feeling of being you, but not being able to communicate that to the world.

there are very few books that i feel like have fundamentally changed me, but this is one. thank you to mac crane for delivering to me the novel of my heart.

i can say with certainty this is my favorite book of all time.

Surprisingly very good, the true core of this book is coming of age in the most heart wrenching of ways. I just loved this.

I would’ve ATE THIS UP as a high schooler tbh.

A love letter to lesbians and basketball, and I ate it up. The characters were compelling, and I couldn't put it down. This is for all the girls (and guys) out there who have ever fallen for a teammate, as the dedication says. The fact that this is being released right before the start of the WNBA season is very fitting. 4.75/5

As someone who last played high school basketball in 1998, this book took me back. As a CIS white female it made me look into things I noticed between teammates of mine who are now out of the closet. A great read!

A Sharp Endless Need by Marisa Crane is a poignant and raw coming-of-age novel that explores identity, first love, and grief against the backdrop of rural Pennsylvania in the early 2000s. The story follows Mack, a fierce but flawed high school basketball player, as she navigates her connection with teammate Liv amidst societal pressures, family struggles, and personal insecurities. Crane’s poetic prose captures the intensity of youth, the artistry of basketball, and the quiet rebellion of queer love. While the basketball focus may alienate some readers, the emotional depth and authentic representation make this a powerful, unforgettable read.

liv and mack's relationship was really interesting to read. i dont know much about basketball so i didnt understand what any of the characters were talking about half of the time but i still enjoyed this!

This was terrible. I made it 20% and had to stop. I had no connection to the characters. The banter was awful. The drug and alcohol use was just stupid. This is high school - yes it happens but come on. Getting drunk at a funeral held in high school gym- no just no. When I realized I cared nothing for this story or these people I stopped. There are too many great books to waste time on something as terribly written as this.

Nauseating and devastating and stunning. That’s the best way I can describe A Sharp Endless Need by Marisa Crane. I knew from the start that this one was going to do a number on me, and I was absolutely correct. It’s heartbreaking and painful and beautiful all at once. The writing style is gorgeous and leaves you wanting to read everything Crane has written thus far. I don’t even enjoy basketball but the writing, and Mack in general, kept me hooked here. The story is real and visceral and so damn relatable it’ll leave you winded. Crane really manages to pack a punch with a relatively short book. Mack deserves the world and endless second chances and some way to finally get it all right. My heart aches for her and Liv and all of the other Mack’s and Liv’s of the world. The nostalgia will leave you dizzy and wanting to do it all over again. Out on May 13, 2025, make sure to check out A Sharp Endless Need! Thank you to Netgalley for access to this title.

AH wow, I have been saying for ages that I want more masc sapphic stories and this delivered! The prose is beautiful and meandering and immersive as you're dropped back in the early 2000s.

Only thing is: I wish I knew more about basketball. This requires a little bit of passion about the sport to follow it meaningfully. Without that knowledge there were a lot of scenes that felt a bit slow to me and caused the pacing to drag. I do wish the characters were a bit more interesting or had a bit more going on to counteract the slower pacing.

Overall, this is probably sitting at a 3.5 or 3.75 for me.

This may be an obscure comparison, but this felt so similar to the nostalgia, emerging queerness, and substance use in Anyone's Ghost by August Thompson. But with added sports, instead of metal music.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. It was beautifully written and heartfelt. The main character is imperfect, but understandable. What really stood out to me was how basketball, both the game itself and the love of the game was portrayed. The sport was perfectly wrapped into the novel and provided context and direction for the characters, especially how they interacted socially. This was an outstanding book and I would highly recommend it.

A Sharp Endless Need is a novel following the relationship of Mack Morris and Liv Cooper, teammates on a high school basketball team in rural Kentucky. The story is told from Mack's perspective and depicts the interaction of identity, longing and grief as the year unfolds from the start of the school year through choosing a college team to play for. Mack and Liv's relationship is complicated by self-doubt, a conservative mother, judgmental teammates, and using any means necessary to escape one's own head.

If I'm being honest, the book almost lost me after the prologue. I am admittedly not the biggest basketball fan and the initial pages gave the impression that the novel would be a wordy, poetic tribute to the game. I am, however, glad I stuck with it because everything after the prologue was fantastic. There was definitely a lot of basketball, but in ways that made sense and did not overshadow the story of the relationship. I think this novel will be a relatable story for many and is written in prose that solidly depicts the underlying complexities of coming to terms with one's self and the world around them. I read another review that commented on the frequency of substance use in teens throughout the novel - I do think it was mildly unrealistic as it was unclear where the abundance of alcohol was coming from, however the strong desire to escape from reality is as realistic as it comes when thinking about how teens (and all people, really) cope with the world.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and give it 5/5 stars (excluding the prologue).

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Good writing, boring characters. I probably would have enjoyed this more if I knew anything about basketball. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

"A Sharp Endless Need" was not the book for me. I was disappointed in the amount of underage drinking and drug use by the major characters; they seemed to spend more time getting drunk or high than doing anything else, even playing basketball, which is what the story centers around. That type of behavior is part of the high school experience for many but the prevalence of it in the story, especially in situations where it should not be happening (a professional basketball game, the funeral of a character’s father where lots of kids, parents and community figures are present) or doesn’t need to happen (when the main characters are working on their basketball skills), detracts from the overarching story and diminishes the main characters. Most of the characters were in dysfunctional relationships, whether family relationships, friendships, or romantic relationships. Many of the characters come across as sad and pathetic. There was too much homophobia and self-loathing. Not every story has to have a happily ever after (in real life, that is certainly true) but even the positive moments in the story tended to be tainted or were quickly replaced.

However, despite all my criticisms, the author does a good job of portraying the internal desire to matter, to be remembered, to really be seen by others. The author also does a great job of depicting the artistry of basketball when played by skilled players, especially players who are in sync with each other on the court.

This is such an incredible book, and I am delighted that I was able to read it. A gorgeous look at a coming of age, queer story that grapples with choosing between love of a person and love of a sport, and whether those things can truly coexist and thrive. Marisa Crane’s A Sharp Endless Need is a gut-punch of a novel that captures the raw intensity of first love, grief, and the complexities of growing up in a small town where being different can feel like a crime. Set against the backdrop of rural Pennsylvania in 2004, the story brings an almost tangible nostalgia while also tackling timeless themes of identity, loss, and resilience.

Mack Morris is a brilliantly crafted protagonist—fierce, flawed, and achingly relatable. Her journey begins with two seismic shifts: the devastating loss of her father and the electrifying arrival of Liv Cooper, a transfer student who shakes up both Mack’s basketball game and her heart. The on-court chemistry between Mack and Liv is electric, but it’s their off-court connection—full of longing, vulnerability, and danger—that propels the story forward.

The romance is tender yet charged with a quiet rebellion, as Mack and Liv navigate the precarious line between being true to themselves and surviving in their conservative town. Crane’s ability to evoke the angst and euphoria of young love is unparalleled, and the stakes feel real and urgent, especially as Liv’s controlling mother looms over their lives.

But this isn’t just a love story. It’s a deep dive into grief, identity, and the fear of an unknown future. Mack’s struggles with her father’s death, her relationship with basketball, and her reliance on drugs and sex as coping mechanisms create a layered, emotionally rich narrative. Crane’s writing is lyrical yet razor-sharp, pulling you into Mack’s headspace and keeping you there through every triumph and heartbreak.

The comparisons to Call Me By Your Name and Love & Basketball are well-earned. The novel pulses with the same lush intimacy and emotional stakes, but it also carves out its own space with Crane’s signature voice—raw, unflinching, and beautifully human.

A Sharp Endless Need isn’t just about basketball or small-town life; it’s about fighting for the future you want when everything seems to be pushing you back. It’s a stunning, unforgettable exploration of love, loss, and the resilience it takes to grow up—and grow into yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley, Marisa Crane, and Random House Publishing/The Dial Press for the eARC of this book.

Crane has crafted a beautiful and raw story that captured my attention from the first few pages. The authentic writing style and character's emotions jump off the page and grab at your heart. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I hope this becomes a book club selection. There is so much to discuss and unravel.