A queer coming-of-age story taking place within the world of small-town basketball felt like a hit, but ended up not connecting for me. The pacing often dragged and I struggled to hold attention.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Another great title from Marisa Crane. I think this book did a good job describing the longing and loneliness that comes with LGBT relationships.

I loved this story! It was funny but also tender. I have become a big fan of Marisa Crane's writing. This book is worth checking out.

This book was immersive. I felt like I was a high school senior in suburban Pennsylvania in the 90s for its duration and I was terribly stressed. Mack was so easy to cheer for (on and off the court) and that made watching her self-sabotage all the more heartbreaking.

The confusion and fear both she and Liv experience regarding their queerness and their outward responses to that were also so tough to read because of how true they ring. The subtitle of this book should be ‘hurt people hurt people’!

While the book wasn’t long, there were parts of it that felt prolonged, though that may have been my response to how stressful the reading was more than length of the text itself. Which is a testament to how much this book made me feel. It was a good but heartbreaking read.

Spoiler tag

but it's not really a spoiler. the whole time I was just really hoping they didn't end up being sisters. I don't know why I convinced myself this would be the reveal and I'm glad it was not the reveal. the actual reveal seemed lame to me as a result but hey I get it, it's the early 2000s, it's crazy that such a secret would be groundbreaking, it's certainly was then. I lived it.

now I guess I should stop talking hypotheticals and incest.

anyway!

I really related to Mack. I totally understood and felt the high school sports scene and how one activity encompasses you and what you are. the passion and mindset brought me back to my 18 year self and my what a scary place indeed to be transported.

I liked most of this book. I felt the ending was slightly rushed which is saying something given this is a teenage coming of age story. we were slowly working our way to the ending and then bam all kinds of shit happens and I was not prepared for it. I also do not love the title or cover. if you gave me one hundred guesses I would never have thought this was about basketball players discovering sexual identity.

anyway, thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

🏳️‍🌈Rep: Sapphic MC & LI, Gender Questioning MC

📝Tropes/Themes: First Love, Coming of Age, Basketball, Friendship, Adolescence, Growing Up, Nostalgia, Gender Exploration, Grief & Loss

Oh to be young and queer in a small town in the early 2000s… Days I remember well and don’t ever wish to repeat! It wasn’t easy to be a queer kid in those days, even if things had improved since prior generations. The first time I told a girl I had a crush on her made me never want to do it again. A Sharp Endless Needs tells Mack’s story through a somewhat nostalgic lens, looking back on her youth as an adult which was a unique story telling method I haven’t encountered before.

The book was organized like a basketball game and even had basketball themed chapter titles. There are numerous basketball themes through the book, especially as the sport is one of the biggest parts of Mack’s life and the lens through which she tries to understand the world. But don’t let that deter you if you aren’t a sports person. You don’t have to understand the game to understand what’s going on in the story.

While it’s not explicitly named and is handled in more subtle ways, Mack is most definitely going through some kind of gender exploration throughout the story. I loved those parts of the story so much. Back in the early 2000s we didn’t have the language we do now and it was harder to figure out who you were when there was no vocabulary that seemed to fit what you felt. That mixed in with all the sapphic pining and the questioning what every action and word means and whether or not the girl you have a crush feels like you do or if it’s different for them. Crane did an excellent job of capturing those emotions and that deep longing.

It took me a bit to get into this one. The writing style felt a bit clunky at times and it made it more difficult to get absorbed into the story. And while there were definitely some things I loved and enjoyed about this story and I would recommend it, it just didn’t spark anything in me or leave a lasting impression. It was still a good book and I will definitely check out Marisa Crane’s other works.

Crane tackles a lot of intense topics in this book, so please do check the TW/CW below before diving in.

⚠️TW/CW: [contains some spoilers] death of a parent, sexual content, alcohol and drug use, alcoholism, car accident, injury, attempted SA, homophobia, use of homophobic slurs, minor self harming acts

A vibrant and intimate novel about growing up, first love, and all the joy and heartbreak of competitive high school basketball.

This novel captures the turbulence of adolescence—grief, passion, and identity—all set against a backdrop of high school basketball. The writing is evocative and emotional, and Mack’s journey feels raw and authentic. But at times, the narrative wavers under the weight of its own intensity, with some plot threads feeling underdeveloped or overly dramatic. A bold debut with heart, even if it doesn’t quite sink every shot.

I was excited to read this because I loved the author's debut novel. All I knew going in was that it was a coming of age, which I love to read. What I didn't realise was how much basketball there would be. I know the main characters are on a basketball team in high school, and they view it as their ticket to getting out of their small, homophobic town. But I feel like we could have explored those themes, as well as our protagonist's feelings of not knowing who she is without the attention of being a star player without so many loooooong scenes describing basketball games, and basketball practice, and basketball warmups, and basketball moves in such great detail.

This is a coming of age story about Mack, the female main character, and her teammate Liv. They’re in high school, hoping to be professional basketball players, and the themes of the book are growing up to (hopefully) maturity, trying to figure out who they are, sexual exploration/orientation, and their interactions with adults, especially authority figures like parents.

It was a difficult read for me. The characters just weren’t very likeable, in my opinion, and they seemed to spend a lot of time doing things that are not age-appropriate, such as using alcohol and drugs. Yes, I’m aware that many kids experiment with these substances and many others, and the writer is telling us the story and that’s part of it. Some of these topics just happen to be sort of touchy for me to read about. I never could seem to engage with Mack and Liv, and by the end of the book, I still didn’t care what happened. I’m absolutely willing to say that your mileage may vary, and I can tell from reading some of the reviews that plenty of readers loved the book.

This one is three stars for me.

I received a copy of the digital ARC via the publisher and NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

It’s taken me a while to put together my thoughts for a review on this one and I think I’ve landed somewhere in the middle on this one. While I was reading I enjoyed the story and the characters, but since the days have passed, I find that a lot of it just hasn’t stuck with me. What did stick with me though was the deep nostalgia that came with this one, and unlike other books that feel very forceful with references, this one was subtle but in a way that I had to pause reading to let myself reminisce on some of the things mentioned. While I appreciated the two main characters, I don’t feel like any of the side characters were written in a memorable or lasting way. There’s a lot of deeper pieces to this one including discussions on love, sexuality, death and grief, and managing pressures as a teen. Overall, I liked and would recommend this if a slower paced, character focused book is up your alley.

I was immediately drawn into A Sharp Endless Need. The relationship between Mack and Liv felt authentic and messy. I especially appreciated how the writing balanced sharp prose with moments of vulnerability, giving weight to both the athletic and emotional stakes. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I really don’t understand basketball, but I love confused lesbians trying to navigate life. I do wish the ending was a little more fleshed out, I didn’t feel satisfied with the openness of the ending.

A gorgeous coming of age tale full of lush prose and emotion that pulled me into the pages and gripped my heart in a vice. One of those "I can't believe this is a debut" kind of books. Marisa Crane is a huge new talent and I can't wait to see what she does next.

In this coming-of-age story, a young adult, Mack Morris, experiences life as a high school jock after their dad passes away, and the arrival of a transfer student named Liv Cooper. As they play side by side for their high school basketball team, the two discover their undeniable, electric chemistry on the court. Off the court, they fall into a similar more-than-friendship relationship that is intoxicating. In a small Pennsylvania town, this relationship feels out-of-bounds. While Mack struggles between the need to be ambitious and self-destructive, the decision of what kind of life they want to fight for looms in the distance.

While this book is a coming of age story, there are some juvenile (secondary) school behavior but also some mature themes that are so real, it’s heavy. Trigger warnings for rape; drug use; parent death.

I felt like this book could be best described as a DCOM from the 2000’s but it has more HBO-esque scenes and language.

This is chock full of heavy topics (described previously) that I don’t really want to give much else away since it’s a journey.

Thank you to Random House for sending this to me. It released on May 13, 2025.

I was not ready for how bleak this story was going to be! It immediately had sapphic Euphoria vibes, with lots of basketball practices and games added. As the story progressed, there was so much trauma and tragedy. The ending was so abrupt that I had to ask my friend if we found out what happened next or if we were left with things hanging in the balance. It was shocking!

A Sharp Endless Need by Marisa Crane is beautifully written and emotionally raw novel, with a gripping queer coming-of-age story at its core. The chemistry between Mack and Liv really stands out and there’s a lot to appreciate in how it explores identity, grief, and longing. I found myself pulled in by the emotion and the honesty of the characters, and there were moments that really stuck with me. While the pacing dragged a bit at times (especially with the basketball scenes) and the drug use felt a bit over the top, I still came away feeling like it was a worthwhile, memorable read.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the review ebook. All opinions are my own.

Beautiful and so deeply sad. Incredible writing but a lot definitely went over my head. It was a really thrilling read through all the tumult.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This story is compelling and haunting and all of the self-discovery mixed with the basketball? It was so welll done and gosh the love story was beautiful. It was tragic, and passionate, and the trauma was intense and never-ending it felt like. The slow burn was evoking sadness and desire and just - gosh, it was all so damn bittersweet.

Overall this story is incredibly powerful and profoundly moving.

Crane's debut novel is one of my favorite books of all time!! However this fell a bit flat for me. It was very scenic and moody , but I feel like I couldn't fully grasp the town's vibe because we were so in the main character's head. I loved the romance of the girls but was sad how it all ended so quickly, but I see it was a metaphor. As a basketball fan, the rush I felt reading the game scenes were incredible. I loved seeing her tackle a romance and would love to see Crane write a literary fiction after this.