Books That Start With the Letter Y

Book Summary

The call of the open road unites skilled pickpocket Summer and con artist Leo. They travel through California in a Land Cruiser and enjoy their freedom from ordinary life. However, they still have bills to pay, and it’s time to make some cash. 

Leo begins charming billionaire philanthropist Michael, and her efforts are rewarded with an invitation to Michaels’ exclusive private island. Summer can’t wait to hear about Leo’s night away and to see the pictures that can be sold to the paparazzi. However, Leo never returns from the island. 

Summer must now infiltrate the island to locate Summer, but with no way off the island most days, will she ever return?

Book Summary

Heart surgeon Stephen is at the top of his career, but things at home are difficult since his wife has severe dementia. When he suddenly announces to his daughters, Tully and Rachel, that he’s getting remarried, they are shocked. He’s not even divorced from their mother. 

Then they find out the new wife is younger than both of them and quickly assume she’s just after their dad’s money. Each of these 30-somethings has their own addictions and secrets, and they take turns narrating this suspenseful family drama. If you love an unreliable narrator, this should be a great pick!

Book Summary

In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. Forces press from every side as the young soldiers do everything they can to protect each other. While the insurgents attacking look like the primary threat, physical and mental fatigue are also overwhelming Bartle and Murph.

In addition to covering the perspective of the soldiers, The Yellow Birds highlights the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home. In only 226 pages, you’ll come away with a deeper feel for the real costs of war.

Book Summary

Set in post-war (1947) England, the book tells the story of a ninety-year-old woman named Marvellous Ways who lives alone along a Cornish Creek. Despite her age, she still feels young at heart. She senses she’s waiting for something and often looks down the creek with the telescope, anticipating an arrival. 

One day, she finds an injured soldier, Francis Drake, who has come to England to fulfill the last wish of a fellow soldier. As she cares for his injuries, Marvellous shares her life story and takes time to listen to him as well.

Book Summary

We’ve heard excellent things about How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents about four sisters who immigrated from the Dominican Republic to NYC. This is the follow-up book which follows one of the sisters – Yolanda – who has grown up to be a writer.

She returns to the Dominican Republic for an extended visit and then infuriates her family when she publishes a novel that reveals intimate details of their lives.

Each chapter of the book is told from a different person’s point of view – including Yo’s family members, friends, employees, and even strangers.

Book Summary

After spending a year away at college, military brat Bernadette Root returned “home” to spend the summer with her family on the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. Her father was a strict and regimented Air Force major who was balanced out by her mother’s unique brand of humor.

The expectations of base life were very specific (down to keeping the lawn just so). One misstep changed the Roots’ world forever. Even the family’s silence and the classic military method of elimination and denial couldn’t keep the wounds of the past from reemerging. And the memory of their former beloved maid, Fumiko, remians vivid.

Book Summary

After Noelle’s beloved grandmother passes away she comes across a stash of old letters and photos that hint at a forbidden love in her gram’s past. Hoping to learn more, Noelle creates a TikTok video appealing for info.

When the video goes viral, she is able to track down her grandmother’s secret love, Paul. She learns that Paul had once planned to take her gram on a honeymoon roadtrip, but they never got the chance.

Now Noell has the opportunity to take the trip instead, but Paul insists that his grandson Theo also tag along. The problem is that Theo also happens to be Noell’s handsome high-school rival. Can she survive two weeks in a car with him?

Book Summary

Data analytics intern Maya has always been awkward. She blames being busy for her lack of a love life, but really she’s not confident enough in herself to pursue a boyfriend. But that doesn’t stop her from lusting after co-worker Presley, who is appropriately Elvis-ish and dreamy. 

While Maya works to be one of only two interns offered a job at the end of her four-month stint, Presley is in his own competition with Nash in the race to acquire the most new business for the firm. Presley makes everything a game, so he bets Nash that he’ll finally top Nash’s sales numbers this year. 

And if Nash loses, he has to do anything Presley wants…and Presley wants him to grant intern Maya three wishes.

Book Summary

Looking for a lighter mass-market fiction-style read? Carolyn Brown is skilled at transporting you right into a small town and making you feel like you know all the characters. 

Desperate for her 26-year-old daughter Stella to get married, Nancy puts Stella on the church prayer list. But in Cadillac, Texas, that’s the fastest way to launch gossip. The leader of the Prayer Angels, Heather, decides the town needs a summer ball to match up Stella and the other single ladies up with dates. Stella has no interest in Heather’s matchmaking and starts scheming to sabotage the ball. 

Heads up: This one isn’t a clean read despite the talk of the prayer list. Adult language and scenes are included.

Book Summary

Set in East New Orleans, this memoir covers the author’s family history and her relationships with the house her mother purchased in the 1960s. When the family purchased the home, it was in an up-and-coming new area, near a major NASA plant that exuded postwar optimism.

Over the years, the family, home, and neighborhood struggled, including the home being swept away by Hurricane Katrina. However, much had changed before Katrina as well. 

This memoir explores class, race, inequality, and life in New Orleans outside the tourist district.

Book Summary

If you adored the Brat Pack film of the 80s, this pop culture non-fiction read includes interviews with the key players, including Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy, and John Cusack.

Through the lenses of now-classic films like Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club, the author explores the cultural themes that shaped a generation’s vision for romance, friendship, society, and success. 

Book Summary

When renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson was only three, he walked 75 miles to the nearest hospital in Ethiopia to be treated for tuberculosis, alongside his mother and sister. While he and his sister survived, their mother did not. A year later, he and his sister were adopted by a loving, middle-class white family in Sweden. His new grandmother, Helga, sparked his love of food.

From Sweden, he traveled to France and Switzerland, honing his kitchen skills as a young man. By 24, he was working in New York City and earned a coveted New York Times three-star rating as the chef at Aquavit.

His memoir is a raw look into his successes and failures in the kitchen and in life, including his journey to meet the father he never knew.