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book notes
title: Kissing the Skyauthor: Lisa Patton
published: 2.26.2026
publisher: Lake Union Publishing
source: Kindle Unlimited
genre(s): historical, romance
pages: 372
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | BookBub | BookHype | StoryGraph | Goodreads
rating:
the blurb
It’s the summer of ’69. While her peers revel in free love and rock and roll, Suzannah is home from college, sequestered inside her conservative Southern home. Her domineering father has condemned rock music and driven away her best friend. She’s counting the days until fall.
But everything changes when her free-spirited best friend, Livy, resurfaces, urging Suzannah, a talented singer, to join her for three days of peace and music in upstate New York. Fed up with her father’s rules and fearful for her brother’s fate in Vietnam, Suzannah agrees to the road trip, sneaking off without her parents’ knowledge.
Miles outside her comfort zone, the electrifying bedlam of Woodstock jolts her into a journey of self-transformation. But it’s not all incense and peppermints. Suzannah’s falling hard for Leon, a boy she meets at the festival, and the seductive bud of first love conceals a thorn of heartache. Lies uncover betrayal, and Livy’s wild behavior leads to a startling revelation.
A nostalgic trip through the turbulent ’60s, this is the story of a lovable heroine who lets go of the girl she was to embrace the woman she’s becoming while she learns to lift her voice—for herself and perhaps for the world.
a few notes
POV: 1st person
setting: Woodstock, New York
keywords/phrases: music, Woodstock, hippie movement, family, friendship
tropes: found family, multiple timelines, social constraints
spice: 2/5
language: 4/5
my review
I grew up listening to Woodstock-era music, being a feral Gen X child born in 1970, so this appealed to my sense of nostalgia. And the cover… perfection!!
This novel is set in a time of societal upheaval… the Vietnam War, the division between the hippie movement and rigid moral standards. Suzannah is the ever obedient daughter, under the thumb of her domineering father who has taken three of the things she loves most. The Beatles and rock music, her best friend Livy, and her brother, forced by her father to enlist in the military. So when Livy reappears in her life with an invitation to go to Woodstock with her, Suzannah throws caution to the wind and goes, not realizing just how much the trip will change her life.
The author captures Woodstock, and so much more, through multiple timelines… that of Suzannah at various points pre-Woodstock, that of Suzannah at Woodstock, and that of Suzannah in the present, telling the story of her time at the festival to her granddaughter. The timelines serve to highlight the nuances of that time, tackling so many of the issues that were a part of the upheaval of the era. Rebellion, complicated family relationships and expectations, differing ideologies and religious beliefs, forgiveness, freedom, self-agency, and self-discovery. It was so interesting to do this from the perspective of a main character who had never bucked authority before. A beautiful read!
favorite quote
My recommendation? Read it while listening to the Woodstock (1969) album for a full nostalgic experience.
Forgiveness is for you, so you can have peace.
About Lisa Patton
Lisa Patton, author of Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’easter, Yankee Doodle Dixie, Southern as a Second Language, and Rush, and Kissing The Sky is a Memphis, Tennessee native who spent time as a Vermont innkeeper until three sub-zero winters sent her speeding back down South. She has over twenty-five years of experience working in theater, radio, TV, and music, including a decade with Doobie Brother Michael McDonald, who, along with his wife Amy, helped Lisa cowrite and produce “If Not for You,” an original song for Kissing the Sky. A graduate of the University of Alabama, Lisa is the proud mother of two sons, eight bonus children, and twelve grandchildren. She and her husband live in the rolling hills of Nashville with their four-legged furry son named Ziggy, and furry daughter named Daisy.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2026 52 Books Reading Challenge
- 2026 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
- 2026 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge: Author Edition
- 2026 Linz the Bookworm & Logophile Reading Challenge
- 2026 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
- 2026 Wheel of the Year Reading Challenge
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