This is one of the weirdest books I have ever read, and I enjoyed it immensely. Linda's inner monologue was both pretentious and bizarre. I didn't like her at all. The amount of secondhand embarrassment I felt during some of the scenes had me cringing and groaning & taking breaks from reading. That being said, she was a super interesting perspective to read from. This book took itself a lot more seriously than I thought it would. This very much feels like a character study of someone mentally ill, rather than just a goofy story about someone with an odd fetish, as the title seems to let on. That, combined with the insane amount of abbreviations with no explanation of what they stood for, diminished a little of the enjoyment for me. Overall though, this was a very fun read that managed to keep my attention & portrayed a beautiful friendship between two women that anyone would be lucky to have.

This book follows Linda, a socially awkward woman with an intense obsession with planes that pretty much takes over her life and relationships. Her ultimate dream is to find a plane that will “choose” her as its soulmate and crash, sealing their fate together. Needless to say, it’s a little out there. Linda keeps to herself, avoiding close friendships and relationships because she’s quirky, and well, the fact that she’s not exactly conventional. Everything starts to shift when her coworker, Karina, invites her to a vision board brunch. Linda goes in with the goal of manifesting her plane soulmate, and that’s when things start to go totally off the rails.

This book is straight-up comedy gold. There were several moments where I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. But it’s not just funny—there’s a lot about connection, friendship, social norms, isolation, and the pressure to fit in. Linda’s a character that feels different from most of the people around her, but she’s also relatable in her own quirky way. I really enjoyed reading her story.

This book will be published on April 7th, 2025. Thank you to the publisher Random House, the author, and NetGalley for a free copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I don't think I can ever look at an airport the same way again.

Seriously. This book is the most uncomfortable I have ever felt at being on the inside of someone else's head. I went on a roadtrip while in the midst of reading this and physically cringed at the sight of an airport.

You will feel every negative emotion while reading through this, guaranteed.

While the expression is typically "like watching a train wreck", I think a plane crash is a more apt and thematic way of describing this utterly baffling book.

Okay this book is unhinged and it is so difficult to try to explain it in anyway that makes sense but here goes; Linda is a sad lady who doesn’t know how to have friends or act normal because the thing is she’s not normal. Linda is sexually attracted to airplanes. And she thinks that if she can manage to crash on one and die it will be like “marrying” the plane. ✈️ So Linda trudges along, but somewhere along the way this also becomes about friendship. So if you like really odd and unhinged female characters and even strange concepts, I’d highly recommend this one!
4.75

One of my favorite things about Kate Folk is that she is a unique storyteller. I found her collection of short stories, Out There to be brilliant and I’m happy to say her debut novel, Sky Daddy did not disappoint!

Sky Daddy tells the story of a woman named Linda. Linda has a terrible job as a content moderator for a video-streaming tech company. Her thankless corporate job only affords her a windowless in-law apartment on the outskirts of San Francisco, but while this apartment may lack windows, it makes up for it with easy public transportation access to San Francisco International Airport. Here’s the thing about Linda, she has a bit of a thing for airplanes and I don’t mean she is mesmerized by the miracle of flight. I mean she quite literally thinks she’s going to fall in love with an airplane and it is going to love her back.

I won’t provide any more details surrounding the plot because figuring out what Linda is going to do next is part of the fun of reading this wonderful novel. One of Folk’s many talents is her ability to take a premise that could easily be dismissed as absurd and make it feel genuine. I may not have the same passion for airplanes as Linda, but I was still able to relate to her due to her full range of emotions. I loved this story. It’s hilarious, one-of-a-kind, fun, real, and heartfelt. I guarantee you’ve never read anything quite like it!

Thank you Random House and Net Galley for the ARC!

Sky Daddy was one of my favourite reads of the entire year! The premise hooked me from the start and I laughed out loud often.

Will be great for anyone who is a fan of Emily Austin or likes characters with neuro-divergent main characters. I can already tell anyone who dislikes this book probably takes themselves too seriously.

This is a sharply written, funny, dark, moving voice-driven book that was hard to put down and explores what it means to share secret parts of yourself.

Sky Daddy is one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time. Kate Folk gives us a star narrator, Linda, who you can’t help but love despite some of her proclivities. While Linda does her best to navigate relationships – human and machine – Folk also delivers some smart commentary on capitalism and the internet. I particularly enjoyed Linda’s office dynamics as an online content moderator, and her difficulties securing basic, safe housing in order to stay in the city, and pursue her passion… planes.

This book has a lot of similarities to The Pisces and Convenience Store Woman. You need to know what you are getting into before picking up Sky Daddy, but it’s a wonderful ride. This one will stay with me for a long time.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was given a copy of this book to read before it was released for an honest review. I would give this book about 2.8 stars. I say this as the copy is not completely finished with edits. Once those are complete this book has the potential of being a higher star read.

The premise of this book is the reason I wanted to read it. I had never heard of a book about this. This is one of those TLC shows but in book format. I did chuckle in this book a lot. This book was a quick read for me. I felt there were moments in this book where I could relate to the main character. Other times not so much. This is a book I feel that if you need a pallet cleanse, or to read something after a real heavy to digest book. This is that book.

The only negative I have is it seems this book is a lot of run-on sentences. This is possibly due to it not being finished with edits. Other than that, I did enjoy this book. I would recommend this book to those who love reality TV and love kooky narratives.

I'm giving this book 3 stars because I love how Kate Folk portrays true friendship. I did like the way the book ended, and I'm glad I read it to the end, because I was quite disgusted by the main character, Linda.

Linda works in a media moderating company and lives alone in a tiny garage apartment in San Francisco. She is in love with airplanes, in a sort of sick way. This is the story of how Linda is unable to have normal friendships with women or men because of her intense airplane fetish. I did not want to read about this woman with such an emotional disorder, or the man that she has a "relationship" with, who was something of a pervert. I did love her girlfriends, though.

I would not recommend this book, unfortunately, to any of my friends. It was just a little too dysfunctional and unsettling.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Sky Daddy.

I read the synopsis of this Kate Folk novel and went… yep I need to see where this goes. Sky Daddy being unhinged is an understatement. Linda is in love with planes and wants to marry one which happens with a crash. Linda tries to manifest it with going to her friend’s vision board parties and has to create in a way that not everyone aware of her obsession.

This was a crazy ride and the ending was unexpected to a point and in a way wish could talk it out with someone.

Thank you Kate Folk, Random House and Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

*Sky Daddy* is a totally wild ride about a woman who's in love with planes—and I mean, actually in love with them. It's super weird, but also kind of funny and unexpectedly emotional, so if you're up for something totally offbeat, this one's a trip.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

Well, folks, we’ve officially reached cruising altitude, and Sky Daddy by Kate Folk has me questioning everything I thought I knew about love, life, and… planes? Yes, planes. Sexy, sleek, aerodynamic hunks of metal with “intelligent windscreens” and fuselages that’ll make you blush. Buckle up—this one’s a wild ride.

Linda, our fearless heroine, leads a life that’s just normal enough to fly under the radar. But behind her windowless garage door (because of course she lives in a windowless garage), she’s harboring a secret obsession: she’s in love with planes. Not the kind of “I love traveling” love. No, Linda’s love for planes is intimate, spiritual, and—let’s just say it—freaky.

Every month, she hops on a flight, not for the destination, but for the date. With the plane. The actual plane. Things escalate when she decides her ultimate destiny is to “marry” her soulmate plane in the most dramatic way possible—by dying in a crash together. Because nothing says happily ever after like eternal combustion.

Kate Folk’s writing is razor-sharp, brilliantly weird, and so hilariously deadpan that I laughed out loud more times than I’d care to admit. But beyond the absurd premise, there’s a surprising amount of heart here. Linda’s struggle to reconcile her love for something she can’t share with anyone feels both deeply relatable and completely unhinged. It’s a love story about embracing what makes us weird—and let’s face it, we’re all a little weird, just maybe not Linda weird.

Thank you to Kate Folk, Random House, and NetGalley for letting me board this absolutely bonkers flight. If you’ve ever wondered what Her would look like if Joaquin Phoenix fell in love with a Boeing 737, this book is your ticket. Just don’t read it in public unless you’re okay with people asking why you’re snorting into your Kindle.

This was unlike any book I've ever read. Definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I have to say it was quick, light, and funny. For the premise, it was well done.

I enjoyed every minute of this wild ride with delulu Linda. Folk’s writing is reminiscent of Miranda July or Melissa Broder with a touch of the Molly Shannon film Superstar. Folk’s prose is sharp, fresh, and most of all hysterical. I’ll be thinking about this for a long time.

Hilarious, wild and audacious. At the core of the oddest characters that we see is a relatable human just looking for connection in this strange life that we live. I love the bizarre books that keep my brain tripping out.

I’ve never read anything quite like this?? I started on the plane home and it was the perfect plane book. Very easy to read, funny, not too heavy.

I loved the darkish humor. So many quotes that stood out and made me laugh. I loved Linda, even though she could say and do very unusual things at times. I loved her friendship with Karina and Simon too. Also I think I want to start a VBB🤣

I’d recommend to readers looking for a light fiction book that isn’t a romance. I will never look at a plane and not think of this book. 4.25

I am sure this will do well because the premise is so outrageous, and I applaud the very fact that a whole book is committed to the bit.

But there was something about the urbane matter-of-factness about the tone of the protagonist's plane fetish that felt sanitized and a little hollow to me, lab-grown to be "craaazy" and unhinged. It's amusing, and the details and research are there, but the content moderation job and assorted setting felt like things I'd read before.

5 stars

What?! To think Folk named her last book Out There. This one is just as bonkers, if not more so. This girl gave me so much second hand anxiety. Every choice she made was choosing violence. At the heart it’s a story about friendship, jobs that shouldn’t get your energy, and men that can go right in the trash. Why do I know a dude exactly like Dave? The writing is unhinged in the best possible way, Folk really takes a concept and goes for it. I am here for every second for it- the ending made me gasp and read it four times. I need this book to come out so I have people to talk to!

Thanks to the publisher, NetGalley, and the author for an advanced copy to form opinions from.

WOW! Kate Folk did it AGAIN! Out There is one of my favorite books ever and now Sky Daddy is as well!!! Linda is such a fun character (think Fleabag) and the story itself is so weird and unique. I looooved the reading experience so much, Kate Folk is definitely an all time favorite author 😍

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group / Random House, for the ARC!