I'll review each story separately

Hard Drive I liked the best of the three. I thought the set up worked well and didn't feel like McCarthy was pigeon holing Mack or Kindra into a stereotype to fit the needs of the story. If at times I was hard pressed to remember Kindra's inexperience in reality wasn't a put-on to make Mack sweat, I ignored it in favor of Mack's reaction at the end.

User Friendly, aside from the fact that Evan is my idea of an ideal mate, this story didn't interest me overmuch. Halley was a bit much for me and I felt like Evan really could have done better. Neurotic is perhaps the word I would use for Halley, though from all the caterers I've met in the past that seems to be a requirement.

Press Any Key, worked for me. I liked Candy, despite her very ridiculous name (Jared's right, it does sound like she should have been a porn star) and I liked the fact that Jared was somewhat dense when it came to her flirting with him.

All in all they were 3 pretty decent stories, and if I understood the back cover rightly this was back when McCarthy was still fairly new to the publishing scene. ( )

Hard Drive – I'm beginning to wonder if Erin McCarthy writes better short stories than full-length novels. So far her novels have been rather hit and miss with me, but Hard Drive is the second novella in a row that I've read by her which I thought was a winner. It was a really sweet and sexy story that was a very enjoyable read.

Hard Drive is less than 100 pages, and because of its brevity, the hero and heroine don't get a lot of backstory. They've worked together at the same web design company for a year and have been very attracted to one another, but don't do anything about it until Mack catches Kindra reading an explicit email from her cyber-sex partner. He then boldly proposes to show her that in-person sex is way more fun and exciting than doing it online. Mack more than makes his point in a very hot, steamy way. I love the way he held himself in check in order to give Kindra lots of pleasure by acting out the sexy emails from her online partner. Yum!;-) I thought it was really sweet how he totally fell for Kindra and the way he wrapped up the story was just too cute. Kindra was a rather shy woman with an underlying passionate nature, just the type of gal I can relate to. Her last boyfriend was a total snooze, and she's never truly been satisfied by a man in bed. Kindra has taken to engaging in cyber-sex, because it's just easier for a reserved girl like her with some mild confidence issues. Luckily for her, Mack knows all the right buttons to push to bring that passion to the surface and make her feel like a beautiful, desirable woman. I will admit that the rapid progression of their relationship from supposed lust to madly in love within less than a day was just too quick to be believable (hence the half star reduction), but the story itself was so tender, emotional, sensuous and sweet (some of my favorite qualities for a romance) that for once, I hardly cared.

Hard Drive is the first novella in Erin McCarthy's Bowling Friends series. Kindra and her three friends, Ashley, Violet and Trish are all in a bowling league together. They share some fun banter in this story. Each of them has a very different personality, but I have a feeling shy, bookish Violet may end up being a favorite for me. These girls stories are told in each of the remaining three novellas of the series which I look forward to checking out. Star Rating: ****1/2

Press Any Key – I didn't like Press Any Key quite as well as the first novella in this anthology. For one thing, I think I simply didn't connect with the characters quite as well. Candy broke stereotype by having a brilliant mind for marketing, housed in a blond bombshell body which made it difficult for her to make friends. Men just want to ogle her, and women are jealous. She is also a divorcée who in the past has found men, including her ex, to be pretty selfish in bed, but for some reason which I never quite understood, she thought Jared would be different if only she could get him to notice her. I had mixed feelings about Jared. He certainly noticed Candy, but was disguising his lust with a prickly attitude. He had gotten himself fired from his last job for being caught dallying with the boss's secretary in the copy room, and didn't want that to happen again. This little fact was not endearing to me, and him doing it again with Candy even though she wanted it and was teasing him, brought his motives and self-control into question in my mind. Later on when they had an actual date, I liked him better, because he showed some sympathy, intuitiveness, and protectiveness toward Candy after she told him about her ex.

The progression of the relationship itself was a little more believable, because it only had them saying that they thought they might be, or could, fall in love with one another rather than outright declaring their love after only one day together. However, there just wasn't as much tender emotion, in my opinion. For both of them, it seemed like it was more about lust than love. Even though the love scenes were steamy and creative, I just didn't feel a deep connection between Jared and Candy that really made me buy into a permanent HEA. Still, Press Any Key was a generally fun novella and should be a worthwhile read for anyone who likes some good steam and isn't expecting too much. Star Rating: ***1/2

User Friendly – User Friendly was without a doubt my favorite novella this anthology. I absolutely loved the best friends finding forever love with one another theme, a favorite of mine. It reminded me in some ways of another Erin McCarthy story that was a keeper for me, You, Actually.

Evan is a hot, scrumptious computer geek, a favorite character type for me as well. I thought it was wonderful how he's so into Halley. He has been lusting after her and totally in love with her for years, but didn't want to ruin a great friendship in the event she didn't feel the same way. I loved how he just couldn't get enough of her and wanted nothing more than to pleasure her in every way possible. Halley is a determined young woman who has worked hard to build her own catering business from the ground up. She was just the right mix of a little bit daring and a little bit shy, making her very relatable for me. Halley has also had the hots for Evan for a long time and has buried her feelings out of fear of loosing him as a friend.

When these two finally got together (which didn't take too long since it is a short story;-)), it was absolutely combustible. Their relationship is full of playfulness and teasing that doesn't stop just because they get all hot and bothered. They also trust each other implicitly which is a key element for a romance to really work for me. I liked that they didn't play games with each other and communicated very well. Even when Halley started to feel awkward after all the steamy sex, Evan didn't let her run and hide. I love how they allowed themselves to become completely abandoned to their desire for one another. It made their lovemaking very hot, but at the same time, it was filled with tender emotion. Everything just came together to make User Friendly a big winner for me. The Bad Boys Online anthology appears to be Erin McCarthy's debut as an author, and I'd have to say that overall, I found it to be a pretty impressive first book. Star Rating: ***** ( )

These three steamy stories were rather short on plot but I did read them all with minimal skimming. First scenario opened with online sex, second with online questionnaire and in third story a caterers business web site is hacked into showing her naked. I like Erin's other books better.
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Bad Boys Online is a fun anthology of erotica. It's a re-issue but the themes are timeless so even though time has past and technology has advanced, the stories are still enjoyable. The first story focuses on cybersex and two co-workers. Mack shows Kindra how real sex is better than cybersex. The story manages to have a sweet ending despite the super spicy content of the majority of the story.

Intimacy is a theme for all three stories. In the second story, “Press Any Key”, two co-workers go to forced couples counseling mandated by their boss. This story is very fun and flirty. I liked the “couples” questions thrown in with the innocuous questions.

My fav story is the last story because it deals with friends who become lovers. Because of the characters' history, the sexual tension and story pulled me in a little more than the others. Overall this is a naughty treat and lots of fun to read. ( )

Contemporary romance. Perfect beach read. Quick read. Easy way to pick up a new author or catch up on existing characters. ( )