When I receive an email from an independent author asking me to review their novel, to me, it is such an honor, but there are just not enough hours in the day to read all these wonderful books. But I can share them with you in hopes that you may have some time. So please help me welcome Ms. Lisa Becker to the CMash blog!!
Lisa Becker had endured her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates, many of which inspired Click: An Online Love Story. She is now happily married to a wonderful man she met online and lives in Manhattan Beach with him and their two daughters. So, if it happened for her, there’s hope for you!
You can visit with Lisa on Facebook and post comments.
Since my novel, Click: An Online Love Story first published, I’ve been asked a myriad of times, “why did you write the book entirely in emails?” Well, many years ago, I read a book called e by Matthew Beaumont which tells the story of a fictitious ad agency vying for a big account, with the story all told in emails. I remember it distinctly, because I was on an airplane from Los Angeles to New York laughing out loud and getting wildly strange looks from my fellow passengers.
After my husband and I married (we met on a popular online dating site), I was recalling some of the hilarious experiences that I had with both traditional and online dating. I decided to capture some of them in writing and from there, a novel emerged. I remembered how much I had enjoyed e and thought that narrative style would work really well for the story I wanted to tell about the online dating world. It was a modern way of storytelling that fit the topic and the times.
Click: An Online Love Story is loosely based on my real-life dating experiences, as well as stories friends have shared with me. In some cases, things are written as they actually occurred. Honestly, how could I forget a date with Pete who started every story (no joke!) with “My buddies and I were out drinking one night”?
In some cases, I’ve drawn on characteristics of people in my personal life to add depth and humor. For example, Shelly’s hilarious habit of giving nicknames to her “man du jour” was inspired by a childhood friend of mine who had a nickname for a guy in college that she admired from across the dorm cafeteria. She called him Maverick because he looked like Tom Cruise in Top Gun. Much like Shelley, she is a self-confident, gorgeous, lovely gal and it wasn’t long before they met and dated for a spell.
And finally, other Click scenarios are exaggerated for comedic affect or are completely fictionalized.
But, the result is – I hope – a fun book for anyone who has ever been in love, been dumped, been on a bad date or is searching for the one. And, as I’ve said many times before, if it happened for me, there’s hope for you.
To download a sample of Click: An Online Love Story, visit here.
Fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, dating, with a prospect or even a house full of cats, Renee Greene reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles. The story unfolds through a series of emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-retentive Mark, the overly-judgmental Gretchen and the sexed-up Shelly) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online. From the guy who starts every story with “My buddies and I were out drinking one night,” to the egotistical B celebrity looking for someone to stroke his ego, Renee endures her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates. Fraught with BCC’s, FWD’s and inadvertent Reply to All’s, readers will root for Renee to “click” with the right man.
