Where does one even begin with this one? I suppose I should start with a big thank you to Random House and Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy for what I know will be one of my favorite books of this year. Truly, this is my brand of strange, unhinged woman narrative and I could not put it down after I read the first chapter. Zany and delightful in the best way--long may Kate Folk reign!

It's quite bizarre and funny, while still being incredibly heartfelt and relatable.
I don't think it will be for a wide audience, but those of us who are sad little hopeless romantic weirdos, will absolutely love it. The ending was perfection.

THIS BOOK IS FOR THE GIRLIES WITH THE FLIGHTRADAR24 APP ON THEIR PHONE.

I ended up adoring this book. This is not your typical sentient object romance, but a story of true friendship and understanding. I absolutely adored Linda, and felt myself genuinely relating to her in many ways.

Every character in this book is written so complexly, while feeling as a caricature of people but also entirely truthful to humanity itself. Kate Folk has an amazing ability to actually make you understand and accept unlikable characters as they are. Incredibly heartfelt, and touching the ending had me tearing up a bit.

Just like Dave I’ll think of Linda every time I board a plane :^).

Thank you to NetGalley for proving me with an EARC.

Maybe the real plane crash was the friends we made along the way. <3
I was rooting for that little freak, Linda, and I was happy to see she had people in her life rooting for her too. In another version of this story, she would’ve been left to her own devices, alone and rejected. Not in Kate Folk’s version though, so I appreciated that. We all like to feel accepted, even weird girl fiction protagonists. It’s nice to actually read about them being accepted every once in a while.
‘Sky Daddy’ was really funny and absurd while never feeling like it was just weird for the sake of humor. Linda’s actions and decisions make logical sense for her (despite doing things in this book I’d never thought I’d read.) and I never felt like she was overly dense or infantilized.
**I’m about to vaguely talk about the ending here,** but just to say - It wasn’t for me. I hate to be left confused so I never like more ambiguous endings in general. That’s really only one paragraph though, verses enjoying the whole rest of the book so I guess it’s fine.

Also, I wanna make a vision board now.

Wow, I promise you have never read a book like this one! From the first page, I was intrigued. And then I stayed up WAY too late to finish this book BECAUSE I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! This was dark, but fascinating and I couldn't believe it. Read this book!!

I absolutely loved this book, and I give it my highest recommendation. Sky Daddy comes out next week on April 8, 2025, you can purchase HERE.

Call me Linda. My tale begins in January, when I was invited to a Vision Board Brunch hosted by my coworker Karina Carvalho. According to Karina, the vision boards, crafted from common drugstore materials, could be used to manifest anything a person wanted in life. I was receptive to the idea, as I'd always subscribed to the notion of an intelligent universe, a web of predestination in which we all were tangled. Only such a cosmic force could bring about my dream of marriage to a plane-what others vulgarly refer to as a "plane crash." I believed this was my destiny: for a plane to recognize me as his soulmate mid-flight and, overcome with passion, relinquish his grip on the sky, hurtling us to earth in a carnage that would meld our souls for eternity. I couldn't alter my fate, but perhaps, with the vision board's help, I could hasten its arrival.

I'll never look at planes the same

I have never once looked at planes with anything other indifference, but now I fear every time I fly I will think of this book. 100% great commentary on neurodivergence, grief, and lonliness, told in an extremely funny and engaging way.

But also about plane f******.

Yes yes yes!!

This is the type of literary fiction that needs to be published more often. Absolutely unhinged and commits to the bit in terms of its outlandish concept. Linda's sexualization of planes was absolutely hilarious and Dave, DAVE, DAVE is one of my favorite types of borderline lit fic villains in terms of his instability and how both of them are sort of cut from the same cloth of being stuck in a kind of adolescent stage in their lives.

Make Literary Fiction Fun and Quirky Again! This is why I loved All Fours and I think All Fours would be a perfect read after this!

I need everyone to buy copies of this book please and thank you!

Thank you Random House for this ARC! You have no idea how much this meant to me

As a flight attendant this book was so much fun for me! it follows Linda who is pretty normal except for one thing - she wants to marry a plane. I enjoyed following the story although it was honestly a lot less bonkers than I was expecting (I was thinking it would be something wild and surreal but it was a pretty straightforward story). I’ve heard great things about Folk’s short story collection for a few years so I should finally get around to that now

Sky Daddy was one of my most anticipated reads for 2025, but I unfortunately found it to be a bit bland - I wanted more weirdness!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (for sheer audacity) / ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (for my mental well-being)

So, I requested this book because my husband is an airline pilot, and I thought it would be hilarious. He’s out here flying actual planes, and I’m at home reading about a woman who wants to marry one. I will never look at an airplane the same way again.

Let’s set the scene: Linda is living the millennial dream (read: paying half her paycheck for a garage to live in) while moonlighting as the world’s most committed aviation enthusiast. But she’s not just admiring planes. No, no. She’s dating them. Emotionally. Romantically. Biblically. She has a thing for cockpit instrumentation that I simply do not have the emotional bandwidth to unpack.

Things this book made me question:
1. The structural integrity of Linda’s life choices
2. The FAA’s stance on human-plane relationships
3. My own ability to read this book with a straight face

And yet, somehow… I was riveted. It’s deeply weird but also kind of profound? Linda’s loneliness is palpable, her desire to be understood is strangely relatable, and the whole thing is just so earnestthat you almost forget she’s trying to literally wed an Airbus.

Final verdict: If you’ve ever looked at a Boeing 747 and thought, “You know what? I’d swipe right,” this one’s for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for the ARC!

This one might've been a little too much/far fetched for me. I think it was a little glorifying of a very real and sometimes debilitating condition people have in real life. I couldn't tell if it was trying to be informative or make fun of it and it didn't sit right with me.

I had a great time reading this. The narrator is a bit kooky, and the story had some surprisingly meaningful insights in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Leave any judgment at the door and fasten your seat belt for a wild ride!

Sky Daddy follows the main character, Linda, through her every day life. Which, for the most part, could be described as very average, boring almost. Linda lives in windowless garage she rents on the outskirts of San Francisco and works for a video-sharing platform moderation comments. There’s just one little thing that sets Linda apart from most people… Linda is sexually obsessed with planes.

If you love fiction that’s a little bizarre and unhinged, you should definitely add Sky Daddy to your TBR.

i'm so glad i no longer work at an airport (also, this book is coming out at the second worst time in 25 years for something plane related to be released lol)

this was so strange and yet at the same time, exactly what i needed it to be. it had me cackling and highlighting whole lines of text just because of how darkly funny it was.

so, our MC is named Linda, she works in content moderation for a modest wage, lives in a whole of an apartment, and she has a deep sexual obsession with planes. so much so that she believes her fate is to die in a fiery plane crash as that would signify a reciprocal love from this lifeless being.

that's all you really need to know before jumping into this book but it is so much bigger than that. this is a story about craving acceptance and platonic relationships and the lengths we'll go to feel fulfilled. it is such a compelling character study.

the ending was predictable but so surprising also. i love that i'm free to interpret it in different ways. i feel like i need to discuss it with someone to fully grasp what i just read.

just brilliant. i will definitely be reading this author's short story collection.

Weird girl lit-fic of the year! This follow Linda, a woman who is sexually attracted to airplanes. While obviously a silly concept (and parts of this are indeed very silly) it’s far from one note. It’s funny, moving, incredibly strange and full of insight. Anyone who has tried to conform while being so keenly aware of your differences will resonate with Linda’s character. I absolutely loved the female friendship central to the story and how their relationship progressed. Read this!

This book was kind of weird. I thought with a title like 'Sky Daddy' this might be a passenger or flight attendant crushing on a pilot or another flight attendant. It isn't I started and stopped a couple of times because I was a bit confused. I didn't think I was reading it correctly. Could this woman really have a crush on a plane? Like the metal shell that takes us to the skies? She does.

The writing is fabulous. After I got over my confusion...the story kind of flowed and it was a fun read. I had to find out what happened in Linda's life that made her want to havve a sexual relationship with a plane. That question wasn't answered, but it was good anyway. The author knows her planes and gives great backgrounds about them. As a million mile flyer...I know my planes too!

To sum it up...it was weird but fascinating.

“But no man could do for me what a plane could. What man could propel himself to a speed of 150 knots before lifting us to an altitude of 37,000 feet? What man could carry me across continents and seas, all while keeping me warm and oxygenated inside his aluminum torso? No man I’d ever chanced to meet!”

Sky Daddy follows a woman named Linda whose life goal is to get married to a plane — a phenomenon that others vulgarly refer to as a plane crash.

If the synopsis of Kate Folk’s debut novel intrigues you, you’re in for a treat. The concept is explored with a great amount of depth, and the scenes of Linda’s plane rides get… quite spicy? Additionally, there’s a surprisingly wholesome and tender friendship at the heart of this story that I fell in love with.

This is perfect for anyone who loves weird fiction. My biggest critique as a reader was that it felt a little too long and the scenes got repetitive. I think if this was 100 pages shorter or so it would’ve been an all time favorite for me, but it’s still a novel I highly recommend!

If you read the synopsis and thought to yourself, “wow, this sounds like a book I’d really love!” — pick it up and buckle your seatbelt, you are in for the ride of your life with this one.

Thank you to Random House, Netgalley, & the author for an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Review posted to Goodreads 3/24/25.

Review to be posted on Instagram on release week, and in my March monthly reading wrap up.

I am still constantly thinking about Kate Folk's short story collection Out There, so I knew her debut novel was a must read for me.
Sky Daddy is so bizarre and more than a little disturbing at times but it's also funny and endearing. Linda is sexually attracted to planes and believes that one will choose to marry her - by killing her in a plane crash. While trying to advance her relationship with a plane, she's also navigating the awkward world of friendships and human connections. Her friendship with Karina really felt like the heart of the book to me. And I just really loved Linda, crazy obsession and all.

Like Out There, Sky Daddy has stuck with me and I'm still thinking about the last line. It won't be for everyone, but if it sounds like this weird story could be for you, give it a try!

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a ride from beginning to end. It's definitely a story that will stick with you and also make you look at airplanes differently. Thank you Netgalley for the arc.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc,

I may be in the minority here, but I did not really understand this book. I thought this book was very strange and weird. Yes, I can see some people liking books that are strange/weird, but unfortunately. this book was not my cup of tea...