I soldiered on with this book in the hope that something would be resolved/redeemed/or just... anything.

No explanations were offered for Lenny or even Dave.
There were no tethers given to make you give a shit for any character, one way or another.

It was merely one big and rather boring fuck-fest, described in such a way that made it more of a yawn than watching paint dry.

The writing was stilted and choppy, and the descriptive language was trying too hard to be something it could never be.

If I were pushed to classify, it felt like an amateur attempt at a memoir-esque novel steeped in bad erotica.
It’s not romance.

Not my favorite. There was something lacking with this story. The writing was too much for me, I believe. It was faux-deep if I'm being honest.

The writing was very stilted and mediocre, something that I think could have been vastly improved by a good editor - this is surprising, because the quality of writing from this publisher is usually fantastic. The main character was also very unlikable - I do not have much sympathy for the unfaithful.

I only rated one star because it needs it in order to send review.

I wasn't able to download The Shape of the Earth to Kindle. Can't review what I have not read. Now book have been archived and is not longer available.

I read a lot of psychological thrillers so I wanted to read something different to cleanse my pallet and challenge myself as a reader.

I am very open minded and enjoy reading any kind of book that takes me on a journey and presents characters that I can get to know and understand their story. For me this book lacked depth and direction, there was way too much "cream" left right and centre which made the story too unbelievable, I didn't warm to the characters and felt the lack of direction boring. I would have preferred more emotion, more emphasis on their relationship and more honesty about the couples underlying needs rather than just sex, sex, sex. I was a bit underwhelmed by the repetitiveness.
I would like to thank Netgalley, Bold Strokes books and Gary Garth McCann for this ARC in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I really wasn't impressed with this one. The characters were horrible, the writing wasn't that great, and it was basically just smut. I do think it's a very quick and enjoyable read but, it's not anything special.

This one wasn't for me. The characters were extremely unlikeable (and not is a good way), and I just couldn't connect with any of them. I also found the writing style very frustraing, it was weird (again, not in a good way).

I did like this story, I found it to be very honest, realistic, sex positive and also positive in bringing the concept of polyamory to the fore. I also liked that the characters struggled with their emotions and their behaviour, that friendships play a part in the story and that it's also honest in accepting that a polyamorous relationship does not work for everyone (and is certainly less likely to work if the people involved are not honest and don't communicate well).
On the whole, I was quite impressed with 'The Shape of the Earth' (though I'm wondering if I've missed something as to where the title comes from!)

I really wanted to like this book, but sadly I didn't feel any sort of connection with the characters. The writing style wasn't my favorite either, I felt like it over explained everything that was happening and didn't let the scenes developed naturally.

Une lecture qui m'a rendu accro!

J'ai adoré!

Les personnages m’ont touché et l'histoire à su me captiver jusqu'à la dernière ligne.

Unexpected. Phenomenal. Challenging. Forbidden fruit meets bad behavior.

This book had me simultaneously squirming with discomfort--so much so I had to close my app, only to reopen it moments later so I could find out what happened next.

This, apparently, isn't the first time we see Lenny and Dave in print (I'm already on Gary Garth McCann's site to find out which of the publications features them) but this book begins at an opportune time in their relationship. They've been in a monogamous relationship for a number of years. Lenny moved from Baltimore after a prior break-up to pick-up where they left off. They call each other lover, always in italics denoting the apparent sincerity of their mutual feeling.

Yet, are they equals? Have similar interests? Dave--his hair boyishly tousled, natch--is often preoccupied with work and getting his next publication while Lenny seems to put in minimal effort and care into his job managing a failing bookstore but never failing to get to the gym.

Enter Ian, gorgeous and ambivalent. Around Ian, Lenny becomes predatory: Inappropriate--both because the attraction happens due to a working relationship and because the question of mutual attraction is up in the air. He starts telling lies. We are set up as observers while Lenny seduces (or does he force??) a kiss from the appealing younger man.

And so the tension builds to a point where Lenny discovers something startling: His devoted partner (Dave) is lovers with his very much harangued love interest (Ian).

This is not a romance. It is not a morality story. Nor is Lenny posited as a hero. After all, the blurb advises that Lenny is a cheater. He's not going to be entirely likable--or, depending on your point of view--likable at all.

But that's not the point.

There is a big question in this book about the value of monogamy, what happens when it's broken, and--when accompanied by a web of lies--is there any chance of recovery post-betrayal? Even beyond that, the point (as I see it, anyway) is to probe into uncomfortable spaces, to figure out a what's next in a space where most people would only see an ending.

As an ancillary, there's this question I have about how much of a role my cultural expectations of acceptable/monogamous relationships go hand-in-hand with perhaps accepting or not accepting what might be better as a relationship that would be enhanced with bringing in other lovers? When do we move beyond what is culturally acceptable (and the feelings we were taught were the right ones) into something unacceptable by most but better for 'us'? In this case, there are several examples of 'us' where solutions differ. I find this rather interesting, both in the sense of considering the question and how McCann worked this seamlessly into this book.

The sex scenes -- and there are plenty -- serve as experiments, each playing different states of 'now' ... openly consenting threesomes both with and without asymmetric attraction between lovers, developing relationships outside of a partnership, how a partnership changes while all of this is happening. And Gary Garth McCann took us through these possibilities beautifully.

Surprisingly, the first person account for this book worked. So often, first-person POV should perhaps be avoided when taking a reader to a place they wouldn't go themselves; or, at least when a reader isn't likely to identify with their bad choices. Nevertheless, McCann's writing was phenomenal. I felt appalled, humiliated, embarrassed at Lenny's behavior...but I felt it. I genuinely had the experience of feeling like this could be my life; I could have done this and, as a result, my entire life could have fallen apart as a result. He took me to places I wouldn't go on my own...and is there anything more you could ask for from a reading experience? Not for me.

The writing was stunning. I couldn't wait to read what came next. I didn't always like what came next (and sometimes I did) but I couldn't put the book down without having a running desire to pick it up again.

An interesting point on this is that I'm all of a sudden needing to pick up Andrew Sean Greer's Less for a second reading (I rated it 'meh' the first time around). What these two MC's had in common was a narration from first POV where the main character seemed to have nothing going for them. In Less' case, he was so overcome with Imposter's Syndrome as to appear to have nothing to bring to the table. In Lenny's case, he was so selfish that it was hard to see why anyone would want him. Nevertheless, in both cases, through their interactions with others, they were loved. They were considered attractive. They brought about a fondness that just shouldn't (or wouldn't?) exist if there was nothing to their character aside what was demonstrated on the page. And this, I think, is very clever.

So clever, in fact, I will read this one again and will hunt down McCann's other works now and in the future.

There is so much to this story. This is the first book I’ve read in a long time where I am beyond hating one of the main characters. In my opinion Len is the most heartless, self centered type of guy I just can’t help but dislike. He seems more like a sex addict than a guy in a relationship. He appears to want to torture Dave. How they stay together and seem to have some sort of relationship I don’t know. I will say the story kept my attention. I kept waiting for the light bulb to go on in Len. That is sure not the way it ends. I’m still shaking my head over the ending of this story. I think maybe Dave needs a light bulb to go on for him.

I wanted to love this book. I expected a complex relationship navigating difficult waters with a menage potentially thrown in. What I got was a story with rampant cheating and bitterness throughout the book. The blurb did not indicate that was the case. None of the characters were likable and the writing style was distracting. I will say the author threw in some twists and turns, however I did not feel an emotional connection between any of the characters. It was almost a DNF but I wanted to see if there was redemption for any of the characters. Sadly there was not.

Not really sure what to make of this,to be honest.

If you're only interested in Monogamy in your books this one definitely won't be for you.Personally,cheating and multiple partners don't offend me at all.....if it's relevant to the story.

Maybe I missed some deeper meaning here but a lot of this was gratuitous sex and I didn't really get the message the book trying to say.

On the plus side I couldn't put it down once I started it.

I'm not quite sure what the point of this book was. I could not figure out the age of Lenny, Dave or Ian. I wanted to know more about how they got to where they were and about the death of Lenny's friend.