The Year of Yes Book

A funny, poignant memoir recounting a year of saying yes

Like many young people everywhere, playwright Maria Headley had had her fill of terrible dates. Discouraged and looking for love, she decided the time had come for her to eliminate her own (clearly not adequately discriminating) taste from the equation. Instead -- as she vowed to her roommates one frustrated morning -- she would date every person who asked her out for an entire year, regardless of circumstances. It would be her Year of Yes.

Leaving her judgment and predispositions at the door, our heroine ventured into a world suddenly brimming with opportunity and found herself saying yes to:

• The Microsoft Millionaire who still lived with his mom.
• An actor she had previously sworn off as gay.
• And finally the significantly older man, divorced with kids, who she never would have looked at twice before the Year of Yes -- and to whom she is now happily married.

Hilariously funny and ultimately inspirational, The Year of Yes will appeal to every person who has turned down a date for the wrong reason.

Library Journal

Hoping to get out of a dating rut, twentysomething transplanted New Yorker and NYU student Headley embarked on a year of saying "yes" to anyone who asked her out, with exceptions for the drunk or obviously dangerous. Why this method resulted in months of misadventures, confusion, and heartbreak is puzzling only to herself. As a playwright, Headley's storytelling skills and ear for dialog do enliven some funny anecdotes, such as her "date" with a street mime. She clearly revels in the sheer excitement, as well as the sleaziness, of her life in New York City, dating mishaps and all. However, the story has a rambling, breathless quality as it becomes overtaken by literary references, roommate troubles, unrequited crushes, and long descriptions of hanging out with friends. With the author torturing herself with the gamut of New York City's available men, and even after she connects with her future husband, the entire zany quest seems hollow and tragic, especially for the reader. Recommended for large public libraries only.-Elizabeth Morris, Illinois Fire Svce. Inst. Lib., Champaign Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.