The Book
Now available in paperback!
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Sent: February 1, 2011
From: Izabell Chin
To: Reader
Subject: SAVE AS DRAFT
Dear Reader,
Are we Facebook friends yet? I'm the wactress (waitress/actress) turned lawyer who lives her life on-line. (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
Read an excerpt of SAVE AS DRAFT
Read about what happened behind the scenes of SAVE AS DRAFT
Simon & Schuster, Hardcover, February 2011, ISBN-13: 978-1439190692
Simon & Schuster Paperback, February 2012, ISBN-13: 978-1439190715
News
Checking in with...Author/prosecutor Cavanaugh Lee (Savannah Morning News)
Meet Natalie Lee, Novelist and Federal Prosecutor (Above The Law)
A Valentine to the love letter (Atlanta Journal-Constitution article mentioning Cavanaugh)
Cavanaugh on TV!
Cavanaugh gets a mention in the San Francisco Chronicle!
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Praise
"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... an honest and oddly relatable novel."
—Publishers Weekly
"Lee has a genuine knack for crafting light fiction and the book is an ideal carry-along on any email addict's plane ride... A quick fun debut novel involving committment avoidance, meet-cutes and falling in love in the electronic age."
—Kirkus Reviews
"I actually started shouting after I closed this book. But in a good way, a way that made me think. What if we were just honest with each other? What if we didn't have technology allowing us to censor our thoughts and emotions? Save As Draft is definitely on my Favorites List.... The subjects touched in this novel are actually very serious, and I appreciate how this story is told with such honesty and validity in the technology crazed world we live in. I highly recommend this book, and looks forward to more from newcomer Cavanaugh Lee."
—5 stars, Chick Lit + chicklitplus.com (read the full review)
"Save as Draft," for all of its light tone, raises valid questions about romance, and even general communication in an electronic age. A novel constructed of electronic dialogue is a new form... It works for this novel in a way that a more traditional form could not, allowing the reader to become immersed in the story's truest dimensions. Cavanuagh presents a readable and cautionary tale, revealing in the afterword that the work is based on personal experience. While she ends the novel on an up note, it isn't clear that her experience was so hopeful. She does, however, allow the reader to infer her gentle advice, delivered in an original way."
—Denver Post (read the full review)
"Bridget Jones, meet Izabell Chin. If you dare. Unlike you, "Izzy" has got it all together. The main character in a new, Atlanta-centric novel, Save as Draft, she's working in a plum first job at one of Atlanta's top law firms. Which still leaves the ubullient actress-turned-legal eagle time to hang out with friends at Tap in Midtown and Eddie's Attic in Decatur. Plus prove absolutely irresistible to two markedly different, yet highly desirable men. Whereas Bridget Jones moped about her weight, Izzy dashes off the darkly witty, "kiss my you-know-what" sort of email we all dream will someday end up in a tyrranical boss's inbox... How far Save as Draft might go toward achieving Bridget Jones' Diary status is anyone's guess. Like an email from some gossipy yet generous-hearted friend, it's a swift, almost irresistable read. And it seems tailor-made for the big Hollywood romantic comedy treatment (the part of Rose, the imperious law partner who starts sending work emails at 6:07 a.m. on the Fourth of July, has Meryl Streep's name written all over it)."
—Atlanta Journal Constituion
"Save As Draft is a fun, frothy confection to read over the weekend when you are starting your Friday afternoon or Saturday morning mani/pedi with your BFF girlfriends or Day Tripper road trips to the Beach this summer, the perfect accompaniment to your SPF 35 sunscreen... The embarrassing moments on Facebook and Twitter, exchanging text messages with someone right next to you when you are in the company of others, makes this a novel for the 21st century with an engaging tongue-in-cheek sense of humor for us all. A light page turning read, I devoured SaD in an afternoon and laughed aloud throughout. I wouldn't be surprised to see this made into a movie (think You've Got Mail 3.0 or a television series (a la Sex And The City) in the 21st century!) to follow the trials and love tribulations of Generation Text. When you crave Chick Lit confection, look no further! You've found it in Save As Draft! Enjoy!"
—April Braswell (read the full review)
"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. We 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
"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
"The way social media has transformed communication makes Save As Draft's message so topical. Too often we find ourselves and others hiding behind emails, texts and messages, editing our words and feelings or deleting them altogether. The book makes one consider what would happen if no words went unsaid (unsent) and no feelings left unrevealed."
—Date Night Magazine (read the full review)
"Save As Draft is an updated version of You've Got Mail with a healthy dose of humor and, so far, one of the best things I've read this year."
—Reads for Pleasure (read the full review)
"This book is one of the most frustrating books I've ever read, and after a long period of thought I've decided that that is both a good and bad thing, because while this is one book I wanted to yell at at times, it's also one book I couldn't put down, not even for a second. Better yet, the frustrating parts make Save as Draft memorable...very memorable, in my opinion. And memorable is what I'm looking for in book, especially when the said book is also quite witty."
—Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf (read the full review)
"Save as Draft is a heartbreakingly realistic novel that demonstrates human error in the ways we never speak what we think...and never think what we say speak either."
—Romancing-The-Book (read the full review)
"I was literally laughing out loud at home while I was reading this because Izzy reminded me SO much of myself. I love Izzy—her over thinking, her flirting, even her depressing moments remind me so much of the times I felt the same thing! Girls, I think we'll all see some of ourselves in Izzy, or even her friends. The way they exchange emails and all that feels like they were actually exchanging dialogues instead of mere emails, and it's just like how we tweet each other sometimes, haha. I think we will definitely see some of the guys we know in Peter and Marty, too."
—One More Page (read the full review)
"Save As Draft is a fast paced story told in e-mail, text, and tweet format. The reader gets a first hand look into Izzy's thoughts and dreams, hears about her broken heart, broken engagement, and endless drafts of unsent e-mails. It is a love triangle unfolding in her in-box. The book cover is brilliant, made to look like a laptop."
—BookLoons Reviews (read the full review)
"Save as Draft is a funny, heartfelt, and genuine take on the trials and triumphs of real-world relationships, and a great read for those quiet moments between emails. 5 out of 5 stars."
—Luxury Reading (read the full review)
"Lee has a very different and creative writing style."
—Fresh Fiction (read the full review)
What bloggers are saying...
"The next time you have a rainy day—or a bad night with a match.com hookup—come home and curl up with Save as Draft by Cavanaugh Lee. It's definitely worth the read."
—I Got MomPower
"[N]ot only is it unique, but it's fun to read from one situation to another and one character to the next. It was an incredibly original idea and potentially risky if done incorrectly. But Lee pulled it off and was able to create characters you fall in love with in the span of a few short emails...For me, Save as Draft is one of my top reads so far this year. I absolutely adored this book! Not only did it address some more serious issues in a light hearted way, but it had me clinging to the last pages wondering what was to become of Izabell and her beaus. I'm still dying for a sequel, and if there is to be one you can count on me to be first in line to pick it up! This will no doubt be a much loved book by Chick Lit fans everywhere and I for one am eager to see what Cavanaugh Lee does for a follow up to her debut novel. A fantastic read that all of us technology addicted Chick Lit fans will absolutely fall in love with, a must read!"
—ChickLitReviews.com
"Cavanaugh Lee, is an expert on the subject [of techno-romance]! Not only has she received a confusing text or two of her own, but her fantastically fun, timely autobiographic novel on the subject Save as Draft is coming out on February 1st, 2011. The novel's tale is shared in the form of emails, texts, and various other technological tools. Hm, kind of like our entire lives..."
—WTF Is Up With My Love Life?!
"This is a book I immediately fell in love with in one sitting... Get ready to ENJOY—I did!"
—Off the Market & In the Moment
"Love your social networking? Then Cavanaugh Lee's debut novel Save as Draft will certainly appeal."
—Chicklit Club
"This debut novel is all about dating in the digital age—a funny look at what happens when relationships are instantly created and destroyed by the stroke of a 'delete' key."
—Caribous Mom
"Being rather fond of novels written in email format... I'm really, REALLY excited about the upcoming novel Save as Draft."
—Trashionista
Chosen as a "can't-wait-to-read" selection
—Breaking the Spine
—Lu's Bloody Big Book Blog
"The brilliance of the novel is in the emails that the characters write to each other but do not send. (These are "saved as draft," which is where the title of the book is derived.) These unsent emails are the heartfelt communications that the characters SHOULD be sending... Save as Draft is a witty, well-written novel that provides valuable insight to the joys and pitfalls of dating in the internet age. It also serves as a warning for those of us who might rely too heavily on electronic forms of communication.
—Middle-Aged Babe Magnet
