While sports novels aren’t my typical interest, the prose in A Sharp Endless Need was so beautiful it was hard to put down at times. Touching on many tender topics in such a beautiful way, Marisa Crane is a gorgeous writer and treats her characters with such care.
As a non-sports fan, the basketball scenes sometimes tended to drag on a bit but that was a me problem and not an author problem.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

📚: A Sharp Endless Need by Marisa Crane
⭐️: 3/5

A coming of age story that I devoured in a single evening, but somehow left me feeling a bit hallow.

Maybe it was the basketball plot and theme (it did make me wish I liked basketball more than I do), maybe I didn’t quite connect with the characters. It feels like I’m in the minority with a lower than 4 star rating, so maybe this is a case of, “it’s not the book, it’s just not the book for me.”

Thanks to Random House via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. A Sharp Endless Need is out now.

A queer coming-of-age novel set around women's basketball? I already knew Mac Crane was going to hit me right in the chest with this one. They write the kind of prose you can really sink your teeth into. Simply excellent.

A short but intense novel about queer teenage basketball players. Sports novels are admittedly not my typical read, but the premise was too compelling for me to pass up and I’m so glad I picked this one up!

This is a portrait of a talented high school basketball player in a moment of crisis. Mack’s father, who was her biggest cheerleader, dies unexpectedly early on in the novel, and then Mack’s life sort of spirals out of control after that. Her father is gone and left their family with his gambling debt. Her mother is locked in her own experience of grief. The pressure of the imminent deadline to commit to a college is overwhelming. She’s struggling with her attraction to one of her teammates (important to note that the setting is a small town in the early 2000s). It quickly becomes clear that Mack is using drugs and alcohol not just recreationally like her teammates but recklessly and as an escape. We are watching Mack hurdling self-destructively toward her uncertain future and it’s honestly a little frightening as a reader who has become endeared toward this troubled young woman over the first half of the book.

The prose in this book is just gorgeous and riveting, especially the descriptions of basketball. You don’t have to care about or understand the game to get a feel for the intensity of the game and the magic of playing it with a teammate you are deeply connected to. The fraught interactions between the characters off the court are also very well written, with so much left unsaid and conveyed only by body language. This is an instance of the author doing a really impressive job of both showing and telling with their character development. Overall, this was an extremely powerful and lyrical novel that will appeal to a lot of readers despite its very specific premise.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press | Random House Publishing for the opportunity to be an early reader of this title, which is available now!

A Sharp Endless Need is a compelling coming of age novel that covers so many emotional topics while telling the story of Mack and Liv. Grief over losing a parent, parental disapproval, parental discord, teenage drinking and drug use, bonding and also jealousy inherent in high school sports, choosing a college, interfacing with college scouts and recruiters, sexual stress/expectations between high school students, dealing with rumors, dealing with teammates and coaches, first love, and the true love of basketball are all featured throughout this emotional story. Marisa Crane brought back the joy of watching my daughters play basketball in high school. It also reminded me of what a stressful time of life high school can be for so many many reasons.
Not wanting to give much of the plot away Marisa Crane reminds us all about our first love and all the feelings evoked. Many thanks to Marisa Crane, The Dial Press, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this just published book. Three and a half stars.

I don’t think I will ever get over this. The nostalgia, the yearning, the beautiful and heart wrenching writing. This book is a gift to queer folks everywhere.

A Sharp Endless Need is a haunting and evocative tale that delves into obsession and dark desire. The writing is visceral and immersive, pulling you into its intense atmosphere. Some moments feel a bit slow, but the emotional depth keeps you engaged.

Overall, a powerful, thought-provoking read. Perfect for those who enjoy moody, character-driven stories with a touch of darkness.

This was such a beautiful story of coming into queerness in a small town Pennsylvania atmosphere. This manages to mesh the intensity of high school athletics with the uncertainty of sexuality in a small town in a way that was so intense and poignant. The book was really able to make you feel claustrophobic in a way that communicated the experiences of the main character. The relationship between Mack and Liv was so 😭😭😭😭😭. Such a beautiful and heartbreaking story of coming into queerness and navigating the uncertainties of life. I have to know if the author was a basketball player. For anyone who was a high school athlete, it really captures the pressure and intensity perfectly. Simply gorgeous!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Dial press for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A great insight into the drama and obsessions of teenagers. All the mentions to high school in the 2000s made me remember my high school days, which thankfully were not as intense as the ones in this book :)

Mackenzie Morris is a highschool senior, and is on track to be a D1 basketball player at one of the countless schools trying to recruit her. But her year starts with 2 events that will change her forever, the death of her father, the one who gave her, her love of basketball, and the arrival of a transfer student to the school and team named Liv. Liv and Mack make a killer team on the court, but off the court they wrap themselves in each other and into a very toxic back and forth. A tale of growing up, drugs, sex, grief, ambition and self destruction.

I absolutely love the concept of this book, and the topics it explores. Being a teenager is so tough and I think this book captured that time so well with the added pressure of a college sports scholarship. he writing didn't work for me personally but that does not take away from how good this story was.

A year ago I happened to read a book that intrigued me in its themes from an author I haven’t heard about before. I have absolutely fallen in love with that book and discovered a writer who’s work I’ll keep following and admiring. That was I Keep My Exosceletons To Myself by Marisa Crane. I approached A Sharp Endless Need with big expectations despite being surprised by the theme. Crane’s previous book was a mild sci-fi dystopia, and here we have a coming of age literary fiction revolving around basketball. And here comes the twist; despite tackling quite different themes and genres, Crane’s writing is hypnotizing, propulsive and stunning with truly engaging storytelling and unforgettable characters. A Sharp Endless Need follows Mack, a teenage basketball prodigy who is standing before the biggest decision of her life so far, picking a college, which can make or break her future basketball career. Life suddenly throws some curveballs as her family collapses and her paths cross with a girl who she immediately bonds with in sport and a romantic obsession. This novel is as fast and energetic as a game of basketball. There is no moment that feels too long or out of place. The characters are really vivid with interesting and complex personalities which really shine in dialogue. There is a fair amount of basketball lingo and sports terminology but not knowing it doesn’t take away from enjoyment. It is a book about girlhood and sport, obsession and perfectionism, gender and identity and the chaos of first love. To me A Sharp Endless Need stands right beside recent highly celebrated books with themes of sport like Western Lane by Chetna Maroo or Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel and I really hope it gets the recognition and praise it deserves!

Thank you to Random House, The Dial Press and NetGalley for the eARC!

I don't know shit about basketball, but still I devoured this in one sitting. It's not really written in a stream-of-consciousness style, but that's the vibe I was experiencing while reading — I really felt like I was in Mack's head. I think Crane did a great job evoking teen obsession and drama, how everything is the biggest and most important thing to ever happen to anyone, ya know? And sometimes it is, but sometimes it's not. Still, you'll think about that thing you said at that party for the rest of your life. probably. If you like sports drama, coming-of-age, and grappling with queerness as a teen, put this on your TBR ASAP.

Happy Pub Day to Marisa Crane 🥳

Ok first off though how can u hate the national anthem?! 🧐 I can't agree or like that part .

With that said wow .. I have so many emotions & feelings about this book ... 💔💀🤘❤️🥰😱💩🤯☹️
Just all the emotions really

This novel is about a teenager named Mack who's a highschool basketball star but going through all the teenage things & then some..
There was A LOT of layers to this book :
-Coming of age
-Sexual identity which regardless of your orientation we all go through this to some extent so I think everyone can relate somewhat here
- lots of teen angst which again almost everyone can relate there
- loss of a parent which just adds anger to an already confused teenage girl
-toxic friendships/relationships
- growing up in the early 2000s & omg the nostalgic references. AIM 🙃🤘 yess !!! Bring it back
- Macks obsession with basketball & her future
- drug use . Again Mack's grieving & confusion & also living in a small town with certain beliefs .. turning to drugs to escape is imo relatable. I don't think anyone ever plans to get addicted ..

There were things as a straight woman who knows little about basketball that maybe I didn't love or couldn't fully understand but with that said I could relate to so much of this book . In a way most teenagers go through a lot of the same shit .. some more than others.
Grieving & acting out I could totally relate to .. thinking you have your future mapped out & having a wrench thrown in your plans is also something I can 100% relate to.
When I started this book I thought it was a love story & in a sense yes but there's a lot more ..
The ending left me with soooo many questions & tbh I'm a tad salty it ended the way it did but you know what ? That's life. It's not always wrapped up in a pretty bow .
After writing my review I'm bumping this from a 3 ⭐ to a 4 ⭐

I absolutely adore the relationship between Mack & her coach . Coach Puck was an underrated character imo . This author writes incredible characters & managed to suck me in even through again my opinion the boring sports stuff . Congrats to this author .. I think you wrote a banger 🤘

Thank you to #Netgalley , Marisa Crane, & Dial press for this unexpected glorious read. ❤️
#ASharpEndlessNeed

What a ride! This book is gripping and full of emotion. It’s a story of obsession, navigating identity, exploring love, and grappling with life-changing decisions. This is my first book by this author, and all I can say is, well done! As a former basketball player (nowhere close to getting college offers haha) this brought back a wave of nostalgia for the sport itself, the magic of a well-oiled team, and the awe of stepping on the court in front of an infectious crowd. Great read!

This is a hard review for me to write. I was excited for this novel, and I loved certain aspects of it. The grief was raw, the friendship powerful, and the basketball intense. However, I also found it to be super slow moving and was bored at times. I do wish it had been wrapped up a bit differently, too. While it wasn’t a winner for me, I will recommend it to those that I know will appreciate this story.

Queer coming of age about high school athletes in a small town in the early 2000s? Sign me UP.

A Sharp Endless Need feels like a late August night: hot and humid and sticky and heavy with anticipation. Reading it made me think of being 17 on one of those summer nights where I'd sit on the concrete stoop of my childhood home eating endless popsicles, feeling wildly restless and itchy, simultaneously hungry for change and terrified of it.

Mack is the star of her small town Pennsylvania high school basketball team when Liv transfers for their senior season. They're immediately drawn to each other, their magnetic relationship existing both on and off the court as Mack struggles to balance ambition and self-destruction.

It feels like a love letter to sports, to being 17 and hating your hometown and loving it at the same time. It captures that all-encompassing desire to belong to something bigger than yourself, yearning, and the paralyzing fear that comes with coming of age. Crane's prose is precise and evocative, and I deeply enjoyed slowly getting lost in Mack's messy world.

A Sharp Endless Need s a realist queer/lesbian coming-of-age novel. It follows star point guard Mack Morris through senior year, right after the death of her supportive but troubled father. She navigates grief and substance abuse alongside exploring her gender identity and sexuality through a first crush on a new teammate.

Mack is both hard and soft. She’s an elite athlete in a contact sport and she’s lived a life surrounded by addictions and dishonesty and this makes her tough. She endures self harm and substance use and it’s shocking (that is if like me, you’ve never even done *a* drug) but it doesn’t feel out of place in her world. But also, she loves and grieves and yearns honestly (and teenagerly). Although the story’s heart is about grief, first love, and sexuality, my favorite parts were actually the basketball scenes and Mack’s thought process about her future as an athlete. The author clearly KNOWS BALL and their knowledge and passion shine. But also I just really love basketball.

The story is heartfelt and honest and rarely minces words, the prose is frank: precise, humorous, and real, just what you would expect from a teen like Mack. It’s like a gritty realist indie movie, think Andrea Arnold but jock.

A book about basketball and coming of age? As a child who played basketball for years, I was all for this book. I was in high school in the early 2000s, and it was so nostalgic reading this.

There were so many layers to this book and I really enjoyed Mack and Liv. There is loss and grief, and all kinds of love.

I recognized the author’s name from their debut so I requested this book without reading the blurb which sometimes works out well. Mack Morris is a star basketball player for the Hornets, a HS team in a small town in Pennsylvania around 2004. It’s pretty obvious the author was a player and is sure-handed in writing about the mechanics of the game, the running of practices, and the dynamics of a team. This basketball know-how is Mack’s language and how she expresses her thoughts and feelings to the world so it is vital to the story. But no worries to non-sports fans because it’s integrated smoothly.

Mack’s whole life seems disjointed. She drinks and gets high as much as she plays ball. Her late father had a gambling addiction but also was the person who helped her fall under the spell of her sport. Her mother is emotionally distant and seems more worried about how Mack’s decisions might affect her than caring about her daughter. Only Coach Puck and Grayson, Mack’s buddy/drug dealer, seem to be the semi-steadying forces in her life. The town itself is another strong character. Instead of it having a storybook quaintness, the author paints a picture of Mack slowly suffocating in a dead end place, knowing that her talent is her only pathway out, but also terrified of making the wrong decision and being trapped in a small, disappointing life. To discover what makes a life meaningful is a whole journey but when you’re 18, it often feels like you need to know everything right then.

Throughout the book, Mack explores her Queer identity and her attraction to girls. When the new hot shot ball player, Liv Cooper, joins the team, the pains of first love hit Mack hard, a turbulent tug of war between longing and connection.

Mack is a character I will be thinking about for a while. It’s all or nothing for her just like for a lot of young people and the author grasps those emotions and moments in a way that feels truthful and immediate, with no apologies, and for me, their lyrical telling hits home.

Crane’s first novel, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself, was my favorite book I read the year it came out and remains one of my top five of all time, so I had high expectations for their second and they were all met. This one is so different—not sci-fi, about teens instead of adults, has way more sports—but maybe it really isn’t because it’s still full of grief and longing and self-discovery. I finished it this morning and I’ve been thinking all day about the passion and ambition, the so many unsaid things about being a queer teenager, that stretch just at the end of high school when you know you’re on the brink of something and the desire to be there could almost crush you. The black hole of loss at a time like that and the all-encompassing feeling of teenage love. The title explains exactly what you will feel at the end of this book and all the way through it. I hope Crane keeps writing forever.