‘Click’ to read about the adventures of online dating in Manhattan Beach author’s debut novel
Manhattan Beach author Lisa Becker
Manhattan Beach author Lisa Becker knows a thing or two about surviving the jungle of online speed dating.
At the age of 30, a friend coaxed her into registering for a popular online dating site, and she was immediately asked out by potential suitor.
Dinner was fine, as was the conversation.
The following week, Becker received an email from the guy, a polite fellow who reminisced about the details of their date and asked her out again. Before replying, Becker opened a second email from the same man. She read the same exact words, except for one big difference.
The second email began, “Dear Jennifer” instead of “Dear Lisa.”
“It was clearly a cut and paste,” Becker laughed. “He went on the same date two days in a row with two women and then sent the same follow-up email.”
Today, Becker, 41, is a full-time mom raising two daughters with her husband, Steve, who she met online.
But her run-in with Mr. Sincerity, along with other pitfalls from her time in the virtual dating trenches, provided some of the fodder for her debut book, Click: An Online Love Story, a self-published novel that explores the good, the bad and the ugly of online dating.
However, Becker swears that the dating perils of Click’s hopelessly romantic protagonist, Renee, are much more comical than her own.
“She’s not me,” Becker said. “My life’s not that interesting.”
Similar to Becker, Renee is persuaded to date online by her anal-retentive, overly compulsive best guy friend, Mark, who is scared to try it alone. Along with Renee’s friends — sassy, slightly promiscuous Shelley and semi-judgmental Ashley – the two chronicle their comical and touching adventures in pursuit of love.
The entire book reads as a series of emails between Renee and her friends, some searching for Mr. Right while others look for Mr. Right Now.
“Have I really gotten this desperate?” reads one of Renee emails. “I know I promised myself that I would try anything if I wasn’t married, engaged, seriously dating, had a prospect or at least a house full of cats, by my 30th birthday. Well, with 25 days to go, do I dive in this way? Help.”
“It’s a very modern way of telling a story so it fits the topic of the book,” Becker said. “It enables readers to get to know the characters as one of their friends eavesdropping on their conversations.”
Becker graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and American Literature from UCSD and with a master’s degree in Public Relations from Boston University. Her online dating adventures began in 2000, when she was a public relations executive living in West L.A.
Early on, she had her fair share of dates who were all too eager and all too wrong. A man, in his introductory email, invited Becker to move with him to Israel. Another started every sentence with “So my buddies and I were out drinking one night…”
“I realized right away, ‘This is not the right guy for me,’” Becker said.
And for the record, she didn’t go to Israel.
After six weeks, Becker received an email from Steve, a graduate student who had just moved to Long Beach. A buddy had picked Lisa out of myriad profiles and proclaimed her “the one” for Steve.
A week of emails was followed by a week of phone conversations followed by the ever-so-nerve-racking first meeting.
But Becker said she knew Steve was “the one” after the first phone encounter. Steve knew as soon as she answered the door.
Whether or not Renee’s story leads to the same happy ending that Becker’s did remains to be read. Regardless, Becker suggests online dating to “widen the net of people you meet,” almost certain she wouldn’t have met Steve otherwise.
“But it’s a whole different ball game now,” Steve said. “Now you have to pay fees; people ‘poke’ other people. Some of it’s just silly. But if you find someone online, it’s worth going on some bad dates to get to the right one.”
Becker also noted the practicality of dating online.
“We’re already married to our cell phones and lap tops,” Becker said. “Why not use them to get hitched to someone else?”
Manhattan Beach author Lisa Becker will sign copies of her debut novel, Click: An Online Love Story on Thursday, June 9 at 7 p.m. at Pages: A bookstore, 904 Manhattan Ave. in Manhattan Beach, where copies of the book will be available for purchase. It is also available on Amazon.com and on wireless reading devices. A free sample of the book’s first 20 pages is available at www.clicknovel.mynetworksolutions.com. ER