Hard Drive By: Erin McCarthy Series: Bowling Friends Book Number: 1 Star Rating: Sensuality Rating:

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Synopsis

Mack Stone and Kindra Hill have been co-workers at a computer design firm for a year, where they have both been admiring one another from afar. When Mack catches Kindra reading a "dirty" e-mail from her cyber-sex partner, he issues a challenge to her: If she will give him twelve hours, he will prove to her that in-person sex is much more fun than online sex. Kindra knows that Mack has a reputation as a playboy, but she's wanted something like this to happen for so long, she can't resist his offer. She tries to convince herself that it's only a one-night stand to let him prove his point, but when her heart gets tangled up in the mix, she knows things between them will never be the same again.

Review

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. The Bad Boys Online anthology in which Hard Drive is found also appears to be Erin McCarthy's debut as an author, and so far I'm pretty impressed.

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Erin McCarthy