Save as Draft

by Cavanaugh Lee

Overview

SAVE AS DRAFT @Readers A love triangle evolving over e-mails, texts, and Facebook messages that makes you wonder if the things we leave unsaid—or rather unsent—could change the story of our lives.
6:59 PM Feb. 14th via twitterfeed

Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011

From: Izabell

To: Reader

Subject: Save as Draft

Are we Facebook friends yet? I’m the wactress (waitress/actress) turned lawyer who lives her life online. (Don’t we all these days?)

Anyway, I’ve got this problem. . . . There’s this guy. His name’s Peter. He’s my best friend and co-worker, and we just started dating, which is potentially a huge mistake. But, that’s not all. There’s this other guy, Marty. I met him on eHarm, and he ran with the bulls in Spain. I can’t get him off my mind. What a mess. I’d love your advice if you can take a second out of your crazy, high-tech life. Shoot me an e-mail. Or text me. Or BB messenger me.

And friend me if you haven’t already! You can find me on Facebook under Save as Draft.

Izabell

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439190692
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	02/01/2011
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	9.32(w) x 6.30(h) x 1.02(d)

About the Author

Cavanaugh Lee was raised in San Francisco, and received her undergraduate degree from UCLA’s School of Theatre. After graduation, she worked steadily as a “wactress” for four years. True love (or so she thought) led her to the deep south of Mississippi, and when the relationship imploded she stuck around south and received her law degree from UNC. By day, she is a prosecutor in Savannah, Georgia and by night she is searching for true love and working on the sequel to SAVE AS DRAFT.

Read an Excerpt

JANUARY 2008: DATELESS … BUT NOT DESPERATE
Sent:Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 7:31 PMFrom:IzabellTo:ElizabethSubject:Tough Times All Around
E—

Did you know that the single guy to single girl ratio in this city is 1 to 8???!!!! Is this really true? This can’t be true. Ugh, maybe that explains my fourth consecutive month of NOT dating here in the ATL, or pseudo-dating (translation: hanging out with best guy friend who has no interest in me sexually or otherwise).

I tell ya, it’s tough times all around …

—Izzy
Sent:Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 7:35 PMFrom:ElizabethTo:IzabellSubject:Re: Tough Times All Around
Online dating. Try it.

And, FYI: your “best guy friend” has been hot for your bod for two years now—don’t fish for compliments.
Sent:Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 7:38 PMFrom:IzabellTo:ElizabethSubject:Re: Tough Times All Around
Online dating will NOT be happening. So unromantic. Not my style. And, no, on the contrary, my “best guy friend” really is just that—my “best guy friend.”

—“Idealistically Opposed to Online Dating Izzy”
Sent:Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 8:05 PMFrom:ElizabethTo:IzabellSubject:Re: Tough Times All Around
Suit yourself. My friend, Jen, met a guy on eHarmony or Match or whatever the hell and now they’re getting married this summer.
Sent:Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 8:10 PMFrom:IzabellTo:ElizabethSubject:Re: Tough Times All Around
Yeah, right, my luck, it’ll be e(DIS)Harmony or NON-Match. I would never, ever subject myself to being rejected ON-line. It’s bad enough being rejected IN-person. My computer is the only safe haven I have left.
Sent:Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 8:12 PMFrom:ElizabethTo:IzabellSubject:Re: Tough Times All Around
Methinks the lady doth protest too much …
Draft:Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 8:13 PMFrom:IzabellTo:ElizabethSubject:Re: Tough Times All Around
This e-mail was written but not sent and will save as Draft until further action.

Fine. I’ll consider it. But only to prove you wrong!
Sent:Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 11:38 PMFrom:IzabellTo:ElizabethSubject:Re: Tough Times All Around
Sorry, not gonna happen. I may be dateless, but NOT desperate.
Sent:Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 9:09 AMFrom:eHarmonyTo:IzabellSubject:eHarmony:? At a Discount–Get 2 Months FREE!
Get a 3-month subscription for the price of 1! Yes, that means “3 for 1”! Let us make it easier for you to find by giving you an extra TWO MONTHS FREE.

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(Because you asked to be notified of eHarmony Special Offers, we will send you e-mails such as this one on a periodic basis.)

(To unsubscribe from this type of e-mail, please click here within 15 days of receipt, or contact customer service.)

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© 2011 Cavanaugh Lee

Editorial Reviews

Lee, a federal prosecutor by day, makes a foray into chick lit with this autobiographical novel told entirely through e-mail, text, and Web exchanges. Tedious early chapters, during which bubbly protagonist Izabell "Izzy" Chin connects with an eHarmony hopeful named Martin, give way to a winning mix of humor and pathos. After a successful first date, Izzy dumps Martin for her best friend Peter; the two fall hard and get engaged, but the whirlwind coincides with Peter getting a demanding new job. E-mail, Facebook, or text missives show the spark fading as Peter gives in to his workaholic boss's demands and Izzy drifts back to Martin. Lee's inherently intimate format succeeds most when a character's thoughts are revealed in unsent e-mails ("save as Draft"), revealing the outcomes that could have been had more fearless actions been taken and how matters are misinterpreted and misunderstood. Lee further complicates her formal stew with comic exchanges between friends addressing online dating and the true nature of marriage with decidedly mixed results. This is an honest and oddly relatable novel that unfolds in a sometimes clunky format. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Save as Draft is a witty and page-turning look at dating mores in the internet age. It’s also filled with heart. After a bad e-harmony date, don’t despair! Come home, curl up with a glass of Cabernet, and read this book by Cavanaugh Lee. She’s great company and she’ll never de-friend you.”
—Amy Sohn, author of Prospect Park West

“Reading Save as Draft gives the vicarious thrill of peeking where one shouldn’t only to get drawn in by the warm and funny heartbeat with which Cavanaugh Lee has infused this up-to-the-second modern romance. I haven't wanted a guy to hit ‘send’ this badly since college—a truly good time!”
—Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, authors of the New York Times bestselling The Nanny Diaries

"A quick, fun debut novel involving commitment avoidance, meet-cutes and falling in love in the electronic age."
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Izabell Chin is a former struggling actress and newly minted lawyer just hired at a large Atlanta firm. As she begins life in her new city, she also makes her foray into online dating. Seemingly well matched with Marty, Izabell realizes she is interested romantically in her best friend and fellow lawyer, Peter. Presented entirely in emails, text messages, and tweets, this first novel shows the romantic dialog among Izabell, Marty, and Peter, both in what is written and sent and what is held back. Lee, also a former struggling actress-turned-lawyer, has penned a semiautobiographical novel that suffers from its very format—it feels like a gimmick that renders the story abrupt, intense, and shallow. Those who have ever viewed their own full inbox as a harrowing prospect will understand why the voyeuristic thrill wears off quickly here. VERDICT While the idea that the words we don't say—those we save to our draft folder—are the more important ones is interesting and sometimes heartbreaking, this remains a marginal story of a confused woman trying to figure out what she wants out of love.—Jennifer Beach, Rice, VA

Library Journal

Lee, a former actress turned lawyer who in real life found love in a Southern city, patternsher central character, Izabell Chin, and the story line on her own experiences.

This tale of Izabell's love life is chronicled through a series of e-mails and text messages, mostly exchanged between Izabell, Peter and her inner circle of friends, Elizabeth, Annette and Brooke. Izabell's story commences when she enrolls in a popular online-dating site and finds Martin, with whom she shares a love of movies and other mutual likes. But when Peter, her best friend from when they interned together at an Atlanta law firm, reappears, Izzy decides to take a chance and see if friendship and her attraction to Peter can lead to something deeper. They soon connect as Izzy hoped, but life and their relationship become complicated as her friends deal with their own divorces, marriages and, in buddy Annette's case, a slew of entirely inappropriate would-be suitors piling up from her personal foray into online dating. Also in the picture: Izzy's and Peter's parents, a demanding, hateful and downright unsympathetic slave driver of a boss, Rose, the ever-hopeful wannabe suitor, Marty, and one of Peter's old girlfriends. The heart of the story centers not on the e-mails sent, but those not sent. Those e-mails were written and then saved as drafts (hence the title), and that's where the characters reveal their true feelings. Lee has a genuine knack for crafting light fiction and the book is an ideal carry-along on any e-mail addict's plane ride. But for those not enamored of electronic communication, the e-mail and text approach may prove more annoying than riveting.

A quick, fun debut novel involving commitment avoidance, meet-cutes and falling in love in the electronic age.

Kirkus Reviews