A beautiful meditation on love, longing, performance, and what it means to live with regrets. I finished this book in a little over twenty-four hours, I was so swept away in Crane's depiction of Mack's all-consuming hunger for not only Liv but a life that feels true and right. Pick this up if you like coming-of-age novels about love and people on the precipice of becoming themselves.

A coming-of-age story meets basketball drama meets queer love story, all set against the backdrop of a small town in the early 2000s. Star player Mack meets Liv, a talented transfer student, and the two become caught in a toxic gravitational pull throughout their senior year—equal parts love, rivalry, and self-destruction.

Crane writes vividly and creates a tension-filled atmosphere of longing, heartbreak, and the tumultuousness of being young. While I think that there is definitely an audience for this book, and I can see people absolutely loving it, it just wasn't quite for me. I appreciate the exploration of a young queer romance in a conservative town, but there was an overwhelming amount of descriptive basketball sequences that I couldn't get into. I may also be too removed from this age -- and can't at all relate to the overuse of drugs/alcohol/etc at that age -- that I struggled to see myself in any of these characters. I admire what Crane created, but didn't fully enjoy reading this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dial for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Sharp Endless Need is agonizing in the best and worst ways. Crane really captured what it was like to be queer growing up in the 2000s. I deeply relate to this book and it will be selected for a BBBC pick!

Not bad for lit fic, which too often takes itself too seriously. I was engaged by the plot and the characters, and looking forward to seeing more from this author.

The Sharp, Endless Need is a beautiful, haunting novel that will stay with you long after you've finished it. It’s a reflection on loss, love, and the sharp need to understand ourselves and the people we care about

“I want zero regrets. No, I want to marry my regrets. To find a way to adore them for their sharp endless need.”

This book does an incredible job at portraying the high octane experience of navigating your teenage years while being an athlete where sports feel like the end all be all of life. Coupled with the at times painful, tumultuous moments of being queer at that age, in an environment where it can still feel shameful. Marisa’s writing is unrelenting in a way that really throws you back into the perils of teenage life, uncomfortability and all !

there is A LOT of basketball talk in this book, not in a way that if you weren’t familiar with the terminology that you’d be thrown out of the story but definitely enough that you’d be confused. also a lot of drinking/ drug mentions/ experiences that contributes to the spin out of the teenage experience but may not be for everyone.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

This one would be a great coming to age story for anyone who is struggling with their sexuality. Filled with first love and all the heartbreaks that go along with it. I adored the authors writing and the characters were enjoyable. I’m not usually a sports book fan but this one worked for me. I wasn’t the targeted audience however so I believe if you are part of the LGBT+ community this would appeal more to you.

Mack's story was so all-consuming and relatable in so many ways. As someone with little to no relationship with basketball, I was surprised by how well I received this book. That being said, the most compelling aspects for me were Mack's struggles with gender and sexuality. Basketball provided an outlet for parts of her life that she couldn't control, and that's something that most of us can understand. However, I didn't necessarily fall in love with this book. I can appreciate its message and the need for more stories like this, and while I loved the writing style, I always felt like something was missing. The pace and intensity of Mack and Liv's bond felt a little unrealistic in the beginning, and the eagerness kind of took away the impact of Mack's feelings for me. This book could've really benefited by taking longer to flesh out the characters and relationships, but its urgency also suits how quickly, and without pause, life was hurtling at Mack. I'm grateful that this book exists, and it was a satisfying read, but I wasn't blown away. Thank you to Random House, The Dial Press, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

This book is a love story. The protagonist Mack loves basketball and she loves Liv. In the wake of her father's death, Mack's mother checks out, the debts pile up, and she is left on her own to figure out a way forward. Mack struggles as she hurtles towards adulthood - choosing where to go to college, coming to terms with her queerness, and partying just a little too hard. Liv faces struggles of her own in the form of an overbearing mother and a "good on paper" boyfriend. Over the course of a basketball season, Mack and Liv come together and fall apart as they work towards finding out who they really are.

A Sharp Endless Need did a great job capturing the uncertainty of those final moments of teenage-hood; the struggle between trying to live up to the expectations of parents, coaches, and friends, while at the same time bracing for that jump into the next stage of life where you're on your own and everything will change. The basketball scenes were especially well-written, Crane conveyed the games with a physicality I could really feel, and I'm not even a basketball fan. While I rooted for Mack and Liv both on and off the court, both characters fell a little flat for me. It's hard to describe what that means. I read a whole book about them, and still didn't feel like I really knew them on a personal level, ya know?

All in all, I do think a lot of people will love this, and it's great to have another thought-provoking 2SLGBTQ+ novel to recommend.

I am so thankful I had the chance to read this ARC, but I fear this book was not the cute queer sports romance I anticipated.

I devoured this book in about 24 hours. A Sharp Endless Need will take its rightful place on my favourites shelf, and I knew that even before I finished it. Not only was it a fantastic, heartbreaking glimpse into the world of sexuality in small town sports, but explored finding your identify outside of love, sports, and grief. And to top it off it was also just a beautifully written book.

A Sharp Endless Need is written with such emotion, longing, and honesty that I was put right back into the years of wondering who I am and why I feel the way I do as a queer girl trying to figure it all out.

I would recommend this book to everyone. But this book will take up a special place in the hearts of any queer readers who spent time just trying to fit themselves into spaces they were never met to settle into.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Publishing, and Mac (Marisa) Crane for the chance to review this ARC.

This book is EVERYTHING!! Queer romance in a small town is right up my alley. The longing in this book, the parental relationships, girlhood. It hit all the marks for me and I would recommend this to EVERYONE.

“please, tell me about me, i wanted to say. tell me who i am so i don’t have to tell myself.”

a beautiful reflection on young love and finding yourself in a world so big and vast it feels like it’s made for you but also goes against everything you are. this book really resonated with me as a kid who also went through high school sports grappling with accepting my lesbianism and navigating what it all meant. exploring the complexities of newfound sexuality is so confusing and scary but so exciting all at once. reading this shot me straight back to high school and it made my heart break for Mack, myself, and others in the same position we once were in. but it also filled me with so much pride and joy knowing we will always end up where we’re supposed to.

i really appreciate mack’s unabashed confidence in her masculinity; it’s so important to have lesbian fiction with proud masculine characters and show that masculinity can be beautiful yet confusing, normal and natural.

the more i sit with this book, the more i love it and the more i want to sob. i think this book will mean more to me than i can know right now but for now i will leave this off with my favorite quote from this book: “i liked that she loved it enough to ruin it. it’s how i wanted liv to feel about me.”

a really enjoyable read, oscillating somewhere between the intensity of Challengers and the hazy grief of Euphoria. my only gripe: I never really got Liv, narrator Mack's teammate and maybe lover. she never receives much characterization outside of her basketball talents and her repressive home life, which is a shame because she takes up so much narrative weight -- other, far more minor characters (especially Mack's friends Grayson and Katrina) are more evocatively drawn and compelling to read about. nonetheless, it's nice to read a book that deserves the hype it's getting, and I'm excited to read more from Crane in the future.

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 with Liv but I couldn’t get past the recklessness.

*3.25
“How you play is how you’re going to live.”
there was not a single part of this entire book that wasn’t deeply heartbreaking and upsetting. mack went through absolutely everything and it was so heart-shattering. absolutely lovely writing, just wish we got a little bit more of everything but especially liv because their relationship came about so randomly and i wish i understood liv better

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was a rare DNF for me. I read to 35% and just couldn't get into it. I think 20 years ago I might have felt differently. I am a basketball player and still play weekly so I was really excited but there isn't any definite reason why except it didn't grab my attention enough. The writing was beautiful and the story flowed for the most part but I just realized while reading that I wishing I was reading something else. If I could avoid a star rating I would.

Because I read it early, I might give it a month or two and pick it up again and edit my response.

As a former basketball player, I really enjoyed this story and hopefully it will connect with a lot of basketball queers. I really liked how the author explored discovering your sexuality and first love in a small town setting ridden with homophobia. I also liked how the main character questioned their gender because we don’t see enough nonbinary lesbian representation in literature. Furthermore, I appreciated how anxiety related to the future is included in the storyline since more often than not that’s not a plot-point in media that features high schoolers. Overall, this was a breath of fresh air and I’m exited to read more from this author.

A Sharp Endless Need is a poignant coming of age story about a teenager trying to figure out next steps in life while managing grief and love.

This story was beautifully written! 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 girl enters her life as a member of her team. Mack and Liv's interactions grip you and you can feel the tension and uncertainty there for Mack. I thought this story captured how hard it can be to be yourself in a world that is accepting of all pieces of you.

I really enjoyed how real this felt and how much it explored the tension that comes with trying to find your path in life. I would absolutely recommend this as a read! Thank you too The Dial Press for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Sharp Endless Need was a really good coming of age novel filled with discovery, grief, and romance.

This novel is super nostalgic as it’s set in 2004. I love the 2000s so I loved that detail. It deals with important topics like being queer relationships in a conservative area really well. I do think the relationship moved a little fast, but also that’s what happens when you’re a teenager I guess.

Overall I really liked this novel and am excited to check out Crane’s other works!

I absolutely devoured A Sharp Endless Need. As a PA native and former high school basketball player, so much of this setting and narrative was spot on. Crane’s characters are raw and real, teenagers trying to navigate big life changes and one’s own ability to steer their life for perhaps the first time. The prose and descriptors were gritty and visceral, which only adds to the realness of the narrative. I loved this story. I loved the ambiguity of the ending. Will absolutely read more of Crane’s work.