A Review of 'Save as Draft' by Cavanaugh Lee

"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.  Any way, I've got this problem.  There's this guy 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 from 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 email, text me, or BBM.  And friend me if you haven't already!  You can find me on Facebook under Save as Draft.


Izabell


If that didn't tell you all that a summary should, there's also this little blurb that I felt explained the whole book concisely:


"A love triangle evolving over emails, texts, and Facebook messages that makes you wonder if the things we leave unsaid-- or rather unsent-- could change the story of our lives."


Umm... wow.  I am completely speechless (alright, obviously not completely...).  I wasn't sure what I should expect when I picked this up from the library.  Or even the night that I reserved it online.  I had never read a book that was made of email messages, text messages, and social networking notifications (those pesky things!).  For me, it was a unique format to use.

I'm a little curious, and this is just random thinking here, what did Cavanaugh Lee's manuscript look like when she first sent it to the publishers?  I can only imagine...

One thing that was really cool was that the people involved in the story, whether they were bistanders in the story or right smack-dab in the center, was that the felt real.  In fact, I think some of them might have been real, judging by the acknowledgments...

Another thing that was cool for me was having reactions so strong to what was happening in the book that they came out as words (or sounds) as opposed to formed thoughts in my head.  I have not had that with another book before.  Not that I can remember, any way.

But of course, the book isn't perfect.  There were a few things that I was confused about.  Towards the end of the book, Marty didn't seem like the same Marty.  Instead of being clever and funny like in the beginning, he turned into this creepy stalker-like guy.  He would send emails to Izabelle and they would say things like, "I LOVE YOU BABY!!!  WILL YOU MARRY ME AND BE WITH ME FOREVER AND EVER???!!!!!  I MISS YOU!!  I LOVE YOU!!!!!"  You know, that kind of thing.  I thought someone had hacked into his email account and were planting scary messages similar to the one above.  When it got to this point, I actually became afraid of Marty.

Also, why was Peter such a wuss?  The letters he wrote to his boss about needing a vacation or at least a night off seemed like very polite inquiries.  I would have sent them to my boss (that is, if I had a boss and I felt like he/she was overworking me).  My question is, why did he decide not to send them?  He was being swamped at work and his life was basically out of his hands.  Why didn't he do anything?

Rose.  Is what she did legal?  There's got to be some kind of worker's union to prevent that kind of thing... If you have read this book and you know what I'm talking about, I would love to hear from you.  I'm genuinely curious.

Overall, this was a quick but excellent read.  I give "Save as Draft":

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude