Reviewed by Marissa
Book provided by NetGalley for review
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book

As I have seen so many reviewers before me say, I really wanted to like this book. A pit-shifter? That’s right up there with a beagle-shifter (in MHO). But this book just isn’t what I had thought it would be. Seems we shouldn’t judge a book by the description, either.

By the end of the first chapter I wanted to tell everyone, “If you are an animal lover, DO NOT read this book!” So fair warning, there are some harsh scenes of animal cruelty in that first chapter. Thomas Hammer, our heroic pit-shifter, is accused of a murder he did not commit. He is banished from the junkyard/dog pack where he was raised and a spell is cast over him, leaving him in dog form forever. He is then sold to a piece of scum (sorry – my opinion there) who fights dogs – and abuses them in the process.

The first chapter also left me confused. I kept thinking there must be at least one previous book as there were characters and circumstances mentioned that I had a hard time following. Come to find out, no, there are no previous books to explain the junkyard dog pack, the magic, the relationships, or B.A.R.C.S.

This leads us to thing number two – Desiree Duvall. Desiree is what I would term conceited. She’s beautiful. Okay, most romance novels feature beautiful heroines. (Personally, I preferred the flawed characters, but that’s me.) In this case, the heroine knows she’s beautiful and mentions it often. She even goes as far as to say “you look hot” and “you look yummy” while gazing at herself in a mirror. For me, that was Desiree’s biggest flaw – her vanity.

Desiree’s conceit I could deal with, but quite honestly, the writing left me disappointed. Thoughts are thrown in, coming from nowhere. In one scene, Desiree is preparing a bath for herself and suddenly stops to say, “I love sex, but I’m hoping to find love”. I actually stopped on that line wondering, “Where the hell did that come from?” Try as I might, I could find no reasonable lead-in. In direct opposition, where there could and should be more details and explanations, there are none.

There is also a lot of filler. You know, unnecessary information in order to boost word count. I think anyone reading this book would know obvious details, and if someone doesn’t they can always look it up. I am not a big fan of filler. In fact, it’s one of my pet peeves. I don’t think we, the readers, need to know that Hammer uses deodorant and brushes his teeth. Some things are just a given.

Okay, we have finally reached the good. Unfortunately, this is a small section. The good was the sex. This is an erotic novel so there is plenty of sex – gratuitous and otherwise. One scene, for example, explains in vivid, erotic detail the night of sex she once had with a former boyfriend. Very, very hot public sex. (Filler, yes, but it is sex so a little leeway is given.)

All in all, I can only recommend this book if you are looking for hot, heavy sex. Get’n Hammered is kind of like a cheap porn movie – lots of sex but the story is kind of lame and there only for a reason to have sex.