Just One Day

During their day in Paris, Allyson and Willem encounter a group of skinheads who terrorize two young Muslim women; Willem intervenes, and Allyson throws a heavy book at one of their faces. The man bleeds and the two of them proceed to run away from the group. As they're being pursued, Allyson is hit with a glass bottle and also starts to bleed.

Although there's only one actual sex scene in the book, the entire story hums with the sexual and emotional chemistry between Allyson (Lulu) and Willem. Very early in their interactions it's clear to the reader that they'll end up making love, so by the time they do, it's in no way a surprise. Allyson thinks about him sexually and possessively and jealously throughout the story. She wants "all of him" and frequently thinks about the "electricity" between them and about whether he's had (or would have) sex with various women he mentions or meets. Allyson and Willem have sex after one intense day together, and the scene is fairly steamy (the author talks about how they touch, tease, kiss, lick each other all over -- twice). But it should be noted that Allyson is 18 and Willem is 20, and neither of them is a virgin, so they are older and more mature than many characters featured in YA books.

Standard language for comparable YA books: the occasional "f--k," "s--t," "bitch," "asshole," "damn," "pissed off," "screw around," and a couple of Dutch swear words like "Godverdomme" (goddammit).

Allyson and Willem drink red wine, but technically it's legal in Europe for 18- and 20-year-olds to drink. Other adults and college-age people drink wine, beer, vodka, etc., but not too regularly. One character smokes cigarettes.

Parents need to know that Just One Day is a mature young adult romance about an 18-year-old high-school graduate's 24-hour relationship with a 20-year old actor she meets abroad. Like Forman's novel Where She Went and the film Before Sunrise, the central love story takes place in one long day and features a young couple's overwhelming chemistry, longing, and eventual lovemaking. In addition to the one love scene, the book includes some drinking (but in Europe the characters are of age), occasional strong language ("f--k," "s--t," "bitch," etc.), and one bout of violence (the couple stops skinheads from terrorizing two Muslim young women). While the romance can be steamy, the book is really about connection, identity, and finding your way in the world, not the one prescribed by other people.