Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere tells the story of Joan Goodwin, a reserved physics professor whose lifelong fascination with the stars leads her to join NASA’s space shuttle program in 1980. As Joan trains with a diverse group of astronaut candidates, she discovers unexpected friendships, love, and a new sense of purpose—until a fateful mission changes everything.

The novel’s premise is compelling, and Joan’s character is well-drawn, but the secondary characters lack depth. I found myself wanting more subplots and complexity to fully connect with them. Despite this, Atmosphere captures the excitement of space exploration and Joan’s personal journey with emotional weight. Taylor Jenkins Reid titles are always a must-buy and this is no exception.

Wow, what an amazing book. I couldn’t put it down. It made me want to read more about astronauts. It was amazing. Highly recommend

The author’s writing has grown, weaving a romance that feels both raw and intimate, filled with moments of passion, heartbreak, and healing. The connection between the protagonists is beautiful, unfolding with a natural grace that makes every glance, every touch, and every whispered word feel profoundly meaningful. A must-read for those who crave romance that is as deep as it is breathtaking.

Thank you to NetGalley for this free copy in exchange for an honest review. This is the third book I have read by this author and I have enjoyed them all. She is a great author. This particular story was intriguing as both a forbidden love story and one with two female protagonist as potential astronauts, something you don't read about very often. And while it was wasn't always easy to understand the technical jargon, the family dynamics are familiar to anyone with a family. I would recommend this book.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an auto-read author for me, and Atmosphere only solidifies why. Her books are always well-researched, uniquely crafted, and filled with characters that feel incredibly real. I was beyond excited to dive into this one, and while the abundance of astronaut and space-related terminology felt a bit overwhelming at first, I’m so glad I stuck with it. As the characters developed and the dual timelines began to piece together, I was once again in awe of Reid’s storytelling.

Joan Goodwin has always been fascinated by the stars. As a professor of physics and astronomy, she’s settled into a quiet, content life—until she discovers an opportunity to apply for NASA’s space shuttle program. Determined to go to space, she joins an elite training program in 1980, alongside a remarkable group of astronauts who push her in ways she never expected. Through intense preparation, unexpected friendships, and an even more unexpected love, Joan begins to rethink everything she thought she knew about herself.

Then, in December of 1984, one mission changes everything. The last 10% of this book had me completely on edge, fully immersed in the high-stakes final space mission. Atmosphere is fast-paced, thrilling, and deeply emotional—is Reid at her absolute best. She crafts layered and compelling characters, and tells a powerful story of ambition, love, and resilience. I couldn’t put it down, and I can’t stop thinking about it.now, TJR remains a must-read author for me, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I am very interested in space so this book was excellent in my opinion. I’m not sure how much people will enjoy it if they have no interest in the space program. Definitely a different book for TJR, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I've loved all TJR's books, but this one didn't give me the same feeling as her others. It felt more informative, but was clearly well-researched.

It's 1980 and Joan Goodwin has gotten her dream by being selected as one of the first female astronauts for NASA, as part of their space shuttle program. With that comes the challenges of being a woman in a male dominated field, not being able to be seen as weak and dealing with varying levels of discrimination. As she works hard to prove herself she also lets her guard down to form relationships with her fellow astronauts, navigating the crazy world they've entered into.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has written an ode to the space program and space travel, but it is secondary to the emotional connections between Joan and the other characters. Reid makes the interesting choice to open up the novel with a catastrophic situation in a 1984 mission; every few chapters jumps ahead to 1984. The emotional impact is strong as often the reader knows a character is at risk or in a dangerous situation before we even know what this character means to Joan. I found it to be more of a gut punch than if the 1984 situation was left to the end of the book.

The love story between Joan and fellow astronaut Vanessa takes more time to develop, though it's obvious at the start that Joan is attracted to her. Being in the 1980's, this means their relationship is secret from pretty much everyone and they risk being fired from NASA if its discovered. The one aspect I would have liked Reid to go deeper on was a wider look at what being in a same-sex relationship would have meant for these two women, how they felt about themselves and if they would seek any community. Instead they were very much astronauts first, without really any friends outside of NASA and their only concern was being found out and losing their jobs.

Overall, Atmosphere is a beautiful story and I was immediately immersed in the 1980's. I loved it and recommend it.

I'm going to go ahead and call it: This will go down at my favorite book in 2025. From the first page, you are thrown into a world that few know little about: space and exploration. And from there the book continues to draw you in with a fantastic plot, extremely likeable characters (minus Barbara), and the very real truth of what it entailed to be a woman trying to make it into space in the 1980s, no less being a LGBTQ+ woman. Reading Joan's struggles, hopes, and fears in terms of her life, her life with Vanessa, and her life with Frances hooks you from the very beginning and doesn't let go until the very end. I would've read 300 more pages about these characters and their stories. And absolute blast to read.

Joan is a science nerd who yearns for the stars. She’s forced to take job teaching classes to bored freshmen in order to be near her spoiled sister who needs her help raising her child. Then an ad appears asking for women to join NASA- and Joan applies. Her world is about to change more than she can imagine. Remember the 80’s- when women scientists were discounted, being a good mother meant you should stay home, being gay meant you were a security risk? This novel is brilliantly executed and so very timely. Thank you Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC - my opinions are my own.

HUGE thank you to Random House and Netgalley for approving me for my most anticipated book of 2025. Taylor Jenkins Reid has easily become a favorite author of mine after reading Evelyn Hugo back in 2021 and loving everything she has written since, including her backlog before Evelyn Hugo.

Atmosphere follows Joan Goodwin, who fell in love with the stars and space at a very young age. She's content with her life as a professor at Rice University and an aunt to one of the most amazing girls out there, but she's craving something more. When a posting comes out from NASA looking for women scientists to go into space, Joan all of a sudden longs to do just that and makes it her mission to be one of the first women in space. In comes an unlikely group of friends, Top Gun pilot, Hank Redmond and scientist, John Griffin, Lydia James, a mission specialist who has worked too hard to place nice, Donna Fitzgerald who is keeping her own secrets, and Vanessa Ford, an aeronautical engineer, and one of my favorite characters throughout the book.

The book is told in two different time points, something that is happening at NASA in the present time and everything in Joan's life that leads up to this moment. I LOVED everything about this book. The setting is what had me hooked from some of the very first pages. The Johnson Space Center setting, the mention of Clear Lake in Houston, and the surrounding areas. Living in Houston for four years and living down the block from JSC made the little Houstian in me so damn happy.

Yes, this book is full of space, but within that, it weaves a strong, passionate character who struggles with her own problems, a family found within her passions, and a queer love story that will leave you rooting for them until the very last page. This book had me sobbing by the end because this story is beautifully written, making you feel like you're right there with Joan throughout the whole story. Joan's journey from a reserved academic to a powerful astronaut, to realizing she deserves to love and be loved, is inspiring. She will fight for everything she stands for and will not stop until she is satisfied. There are not many books where you fall in love with the secondary characters, but here we are. Reid throws you into this little family where she makes the secondary characters feel just as important as Joan and makes you feel like you're right beside them, struggles and all. You can tell Reid did a lot of research for this book and pours all this research into her characters where you realize they love what they would and will do anything for the job and the ones they love.

I can't wait for everyone to read this book. I can't go into it too much because I don't want to spoil anything, but I can't wait for all of you to meet Joan.

Taylor Jenkins Reid's beautiful storytelling in her newest book "Atmosphere" took my breath away. TJR creates these strong, female characters that you connect with because you see a little bit of yourself in each of them. Evelyn Hugo. Carrie Soto. Daisy Jones. Joan Goodwin is no exception. "Atmosphere" takes you inside the life of a female astronaut in the 1980s and shows you the highs and lows they face for a chance to touch the stars. This book was an absolute privilege to read. Well done, Houston. Well done.

I love all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's novelsand Atmopshere did not dissapoint. It was espcially eye-opening to read this while the current administartion is dismantling women's achievements. This is predominantly a story about women astronauts- both on the ships and behind the scenes- who ahave added so much to the NASA space program. While it is fiction, Reid has done her homework-- I learned so much about the training of the astronauts, the behind the scenes in an emergency, and stars.
She is able to roll all this "learning" into a fantastic story about Joan and her life changing story of becoming an astronaut. Plus it takes place in the 80's which is a very cool vibe. Thoroughly enjoyable- highly reccommend!

So good. Just so, so good. Finished Atmosphere a few days ago and its still lingering in my mind and on my heart. TJR is such an incredible writer. This story is a must-read. You will love it too.

First: this really didn’t feel like a Taylor Jenkins Reid book. It got way more informative than developmental. That’s not good or bad- it’s just not what I was expecting. While I took away a nugget of beautiful wisdom from what seemed like every other page, the book as a whole was my least favorite of all her books. But to be fair, I LOVE TJR.

I loved Joan and Frances and Vanessa. I could see the movie version of the book.

But I really needed Joan to make a mistake. She did these big speeches to Frances and Barbara and at about 88% of the way through the book it got rough - it felt like one of those biographies where you have to make the person a pedestal hero. It got pretty repetitive.

This was so good!! I am not especially interested in space so I wasn’t sure about the premise. What a pleasant surprise! From the very first chapter I was hooked. The suspense! The love story! It was all so good. I liked the perspective the characters shared on outer space and life in general. It’s a fictional story but TJR did a lot of research and based the story on bits and pieces of history. I was definitely putting the book down and googling the historic events that took place in space in the early ‘80s. Solid 5 star read for me.

I’d like to preface with the fact that I’ve read every single TJR book and enjoyed them all. This book just wasn’t it for me. I struggled to connect with Joan and found her to be underdeveloped. I enjoyed the multiple timeline storytelling. But overall, it felt like not a lot happened and the characters were uninteresting. I’ll pick up the next TJR book regardless.

Atmosphere tells the story of Joan, a reserved and kind woman who wants nothing more than to go to space. The book goes back and forth between timelines to tell her story, showing how she was chosen out of thousands of applicants for the Space Shuttle program in 1980 and how she is now navigating a dangerous mission in 1984. You meet Joan’s family, including her niece Frances, who Joan would do anything for, and the friends and colleagues she meets who work alongside her to all reach their ultimate goal: to be among the stars.

I absolutely loved this book. It was fast-paced, thoughtful, and very well-researched. I thought Joan was a very likable character, and I especially loved her relationship with her niece. I flew through this book because I had to know what happened with the December 1984 mission, and I loved getting to know all the characters along the way that made me care even more about the outcome. Five stars.

This was a wonderful follow-up to the Carrie Soto style of TJR books—historical, intertwining timelines, rich explorations and gender roles and love for ambitious women. The family subplot was especially heart-rending, making this book a tremendously satisfying read.

I could not put down this romantic and riveting novel that stars a brilliant female astronaut in NASA's training program during the 1980s. Remarkable depth of character, a plot that goes back and forth between high-stakes suspense, richly detailed family drama, and blossoming romance, plus a unique setting made this a 5-star read.