Jan. 16, 2006 issue - Maria Dahvana Headley grew up listening to the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign of the 1980s. As a student at New York University in the late '90s, she applied that advice to her love life, turning down most men who asked her out and dating only intellectual, literary types. Frustrated by those guys, she reversed course, resolving to spend one year responding positively to all flirting and saying yes to literally anyone who asked her out. The ensuing 150 dates included a homeless man, several non-English speakers, 10 taxi drivers, two lesbians and a mime.

Headley's memoir of the experience, "The Year of Yes," is now in bookstores, and Hollywood's already calling. She urges other people to say yes more often, despite some horrible dates. (One guy took her to a bar that, it became clear, was a strip club—and that's a tame example.)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
When Idaho-born Headley, a 20-year-old NYU drama student, laments, "I felt like I'd dated and then hated every man in Manhattan," she thinks perhaps she's too critical. So she "decided that I would say yes to every man who asked me out on a date." It sounds disastrous, even scary, though she chose to exclude the drunk, the drugged, the violent, and cheating husbands. The first date was the Puerto Rican handyman who came to fix the toilet with his daughter in tow, the second a 40-year-old who spoke only Polish. One took her to a strip joint, one wanted his penis bitten, one was a woman and one asked her to marry him on the first date. One of the nicest turned out to be the 70-year-old Latino who made obscene sucking noises and claimed to have 11 children. The one Headley got a crush on turned out to be "mostly gay." And then what happened? Believe it or not—true love. Reader, she married him. It's sheer chick fluff, but amusing, with names changed "to protect the indignant, the infantile, and, of course, the innocent."
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From Booklist
At the age of 20, Headley was already frustrated with the dating scene. An Idaho native, Headley headed to the Big Apple to study playwriting, and while Manhattan offered a wealth of men, Headley was decidedly unimpressed. After two years, she decided she had been too picky and resolved to say yes to everyone who asked her out (within reason). Despite the skepticism of her two roommates, Headley boldly began her year of yes by accepting a date with their building's maintenance man, Mario. That date was followed by an unfortunate tryst with a sleazy older classmate, who regaled their class the next day with the details of their one-night stand. Headley kept her head up and went on dates with a techno-geek, a homeless guy, and a driven career woman, among others. Just when it seemed her year of yes wasn't going to produce any success, Headley found herself unexpectedly smitten with a soon-to-be-divorced playwright. Snappy and readable, Headley's fun memoir will be sought out by singletons everywhere. Kristine Huntley
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