This book was so, so, so beautiful, and my heart hurts so bad right now.

An incredible book about Joan, a female astronaut in the 80s, along with her personal and emotional journeys through the madness of being one of the few woman in this field.

TJR writes strong female characters in such a wonderfully visceral way that you can't help but feel like your heart is beating within the pages of the book. The relationships she writes, romantic or not, transcend the pages and wrap you up in their heart.

I loved this book. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the love. So excited for the world to get their hands on this.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Random House/Ballantine Books for my gifted advanced reader copy. Atmosphere hits shelves on June 3.

Set against the awe-inspiring backdrop of the early 1980s NASA Space Shuttle program, Atmosphere tells the story of Joan Goodwin, a scientist, dreamer, and quietly fierce woman who dares to reach for the stars—literally. Joan’s journey, from astronomy professor to astronaut trainee to CAPCOM during a devastating mission, is as moving as it is unforgettable. Told in dual timelines that slowly converge around a high-stakes catastrophe in orbit, this is a novel that grips you from page one and never lets go.

Reid masterfully blends historical fiction, romance, and character-driven drama into something truly special. Yes, there’s the thrill of space travel and the systemic hurdles women faced breaking into a male-dominated field—but at its core, Atmosphere is a love story. Not just romantic love, though that storyline is breathtakingly tender, but also familial love, especially the bond between Joan and her niece Frances. Their relationship reminded me of the quiet power of being seen and loved.

Joan is another standout in Reid’s lineup of iconic female protagonists—strong and deeply human. Watching her navigate her ambition, her vulnerabilities, and her need for connection felt so intimate and real. The cast of fellow astronauts (including Lydia, Donna, and Vanessa) adds richness and diversity, showcasing the complexity of what it means to be a woman in STEM—and the sisterhood that forms under pressure.

The emotional weight of the novel builds slowly, but really builds up by the final chapters. It’s the kind of ending that leaves you staring at the last page.

Atmosphere is a soaring tribute to the bravery it takes to chase your dreams, and the even greater courage it takes to love. A must-read for fans of Reid’s past work, lovers of historical fiction, or anyone craving a story that will stay with you long after landing.

Thank you @penguinrandomhouse and @tjenkinsreid for my gifted advanced reader copy. Atmosphere is out June 3!

Joan Goodwin has always lived among the stars. She has been obsessed with space and the universe since she was little and turns it into a career teaching astronomy. But she applies one day to be a scientist for NASA and earns her way into the space shuttle program . Told during two different timelines in the 80s, it’s a fascinating look at space exploration and the male dominated field.

The book goes through their long training and discusses what sacrifices in your personal life you need to make to achieve your dreams. We get to know a handful of ASCANs and a few of them are other female astronauts. Joan finds herself in a new romance that is so beautiful and really is the main plot of the novel. Joan hasn’t had many chances in love and I loved reading as she finds who she really is. She needed to show bravery and courage in both her professional and personal lives. The very ending of the book had me all choked up. Sometimes you need to take risks for the one you love.

While I absolutely love the romance in this novel, I especially love the relationship between Joan and her niece Frances. They both understood each other and their own needs. It was difficult to read at times, and I genuinely sobbed reading one morning after one of their interactions. I’m very close with my twin nieces and now my own daughter so this part really spoke to me.

This was another classic TJR book that will definitely be in everyone’s travel bag this summer.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.

I’ve always been fascinated by flight and space, partly due to shows like Star Wars and Star Trek. But a big part of it is also due to the space shuttle program, the triumphs and the tragedies. For everyone who followed the final flights of Challenger and Columbia, Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s newest offering, is for you. It’s for everyone who looked up at the stars and wondered. It’s also a story of what it means to be human.

Joan Goodwin has always been interested in space and became a physics and astronomy professor at Rice University. One day she decides to apply to the NASA space shuttle program and surprisingly to her, she is accepted. The book continues with her relationships with the other astronauts in her group, her training in the program, her closeness with her niece and the problems with her dysfunctional sister, and going into space. There is a major tragedy that plays a big part in the story.

I love TJR books, especially her last four. Although I did enjoy her earlier books, too. Atmosphere ranks up there with her best and I will recommend it to many readers I know.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has again successfully created a world that readers will want to dive into. Emotional, interesting, and suspenseful, this one was hard to put down.

I absolutely loved this book. First read of this author's work, and I sped right through this! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers' for this early release ARC. It was such an informative and emotional read, the characters were so real, endearing, and the relationships all around were so well-developed. I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this. I learned so much about astronomy and history while fully engaged in the dramas that were taking place. I cannot wait to read the other novels this author has written from my long "Want to Read" list but I am fully a fan of Ms. Taylor Jenkin Reid!!

This book grabbed me right away. (I had planned to just read the first chapter before bed but definitely could not stop there!) I especially loved Jon's relationship with Frances (and Vanessa's relationship with Frances too). Also that ending -- I was choked up!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance ecopy of this title. Atmosphere follows whip-smart Joan who becomes one of the first women NASA accepts during its heyday. Joan, like Ginger Rogers, must do everything the male scientists and pilots do, only backwards and in high heels. Overt sexism is rampant, and the women in the program are faced with many more obstacles than the men. In addition, Joan has family responsibilities that weigh heavily on her mind. She falls in love with a fellow astronaut, but must keep it quiet. When that astronaut is in a perilous situation in space, Joan must put her emotions aside to try to steer the craft home safely.

4.5 stars.

✨I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever cried this hard at the end of a book. The last ten minutes had me sobbing my eyes out until my entire face hurt. And yes, that’s a good thing.

✨The author is a master at shaping emotionally resonant character studies set in historically significant contexts, and this is a prime example of her craft.

✨The representation of people existing in the margins of a repressive society is written with such depth and authenticity here that, at times, it took my breath away.

✨If I were offering any reasons for the 4.5 stars instead of 5, I would say that at times the narrative is very science/tech heavy which was sometimes a struggle for me. And despite, wailing like a child at the end, I was left wishing we’d had an epilogue. But perhaps TJR will allow us to revisit Joan’s life in a future novel. Fingers crossed. 🤞

✨All in all, this is another win for TJR, and fans of her work will no doubt love it as much as I do.

🌿Read if you like:
✨Strong female main characters
✨Women in STEM
✨80s nostalgia
✨NASA culture
✨Found family
✨Maternal love in all its forms
✨Character studies
✨Closed door romance

My thanks to @ballantinebooks, @randomhouse and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book before its publication date.

This is a very very good book. While the first half carefully sets up the emotional stage the second half will rip you apart. This is a love story to dreams and they were all beautiful - we should all reach for the stars no matter what others think,💭

Taylor Jenkins Reid, you just know how to pull me in and absolutely destroy me every time. I think that this one MAY dethrone MALIBU RISING as my favorite of her books (though I have loved all of the ones I've read, to be fair). This one has a lovely romance, a fantastic angle with the growth of NASA during the 80s with their shuttle program, and a tender and poignant story about hope, tragedy, love, and the expanse and unknowingness of space and life. I just adored it.

If TJR writes it, I’m gonna read it. I was thrilled to see she was coming out with another book and that it was about a female astronaut. Gotta say though that it took a bit for the story to really kick in for me. But once it did, I was super invested. I don’t want to say much to give anything away, but the last 30 or so pages had me in a tailspin. Joan, I love you. Vanessa, I adore you.

Thanks as always to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was a masterpiece in my opinion. I already love TJR and this one did not let me down. Sapphic love story, women in STEM, emotional devastation... what more do you want?

TJR is so good at world building and it was easy to become immersed in Joan's world, The character was so likable and believable and I was rooting for her every step of the way. Vanessa was such a beautiful and spunky counterpart for Joan, pulling her out of her shell and showing her that life on earth can be even better than just having her had in the stars.

I had to force myself to take breaks just to prolong the story.

I'm buying a copy for my mom as soon as it comes out.

I've loved all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's previous books, and was so excited for the opportunity to read "Atmosphere". This might be Taylor's best book yet! Wow! I loved the story and premise and couldn't put it down! The character development was fabulous and this was a 5 star read for me!

I was eager to get my hands on an ARC of this because I love TJR, and her books are always compelling and enjoyable to read. Atmosphere was no different, and after having read this from start to finish in on afternoon, it was easy to give a 5-star rating.
The blurb tells us this book is about Joan Goodwin and her trials and tribulations as part of the NASA Space Shuttle program in the early 1980s, along with both male and female teammates. For me, this book was about space, but it was about people who are united in their love of space exploration and science, while also being a study in love of both the romantic and familial kinds, and how who we love can impact our lives. There isn't all that much discussion of science, as the book definitely focuses more on the characters and their development in various situations. The book is told in dual timelines, as Joan is working as CAPCOM at NASA for a mission in 1984, as well as from 1979/80 as Joan works her way through astronaut training with other men and women. Something goes majorly awry on the 1984 mission, and the book slowly closes the gap between that catastrophe and how Joan ended up in the CAPCOM chair after her training.
I think anyone who has read TJR's previous books will enjoy this one, and it will come as no surprise that she deftly weaves a love story, as well an examination of personal growth throughout the book. From the opening chapter I did understand where the book was going to lead the reader, but I enjoyed every moment of it all the same. My only minor criticism is the rather abrupt conclusion of the book itself.
Thank you to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

TJR always does a great job researching her books and this one is stellar.

The story jumps back and forth between the date of an incident aboard a spacecraft and scenes from Joan’s personal life that led to her joining NASA and becoming the woman we meet as a Capsule Communicator.

A majority of the past scenes have to do with Joan’s relationship and family and while it is very emotional, important and sincere I had to keep stopping myself trying to skim read the romance and get back to the incredibly interesting and nerve racking incident.

I wish we could have seen more of her working with her fellow astronauts and becoming attached to them. It would have given things that happen more emotional weight. But it was still highly emotional already so maybe the less we know the better..

But what made me the most emotional in this book?
BARBARA.
WHO is the villain she based this character off of. I had to take a few breaks when reading to chill out when she’d go on one of her tangents and Joan would just apologize to placate her.
There’s a section in the story where Joan’s recalling hurtful things she and Vanessa have said to each other and one that sticks out to her is Vanessa saying “You’re a doormat to your sister.” I know that hurt because she knows she’s right. Joan’s method of dealing with disrespect seems to just be staring blankly and seething internally. She’s gonna end up with a stomach ulcer and be put on leave from NASA if she doesn’t consistently speak up like she did at one satisfying point.

The ending is bittersweet given everything that happened but Joan’s future looks bright.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

Another 5-star read from Taylor Jenkins Reid! This book really made me think about the wonder of humanity. We spend so much time looking at the stars, curious about what is out there when everything that really matters is all around us.

I liked the book overall although the ending was rather abrupt. It touched on subjects I’m sure were relevant for that time period. It kept my interest and would recommend it to others.

Taylor Jenkins Reid creates such incredible, strong female characters — Daisy Jones, Evelyn Hugo, Carrie Soto and now Joan Goodwin, a woman scientist and NASA astronaut in the 1980s.

Subtitled “A Love Story,” this is a complex, thrilling, and emotional tale of the struggles of the first women to enter the astronaut corps in the 1980s, who needed to outshine and outpace their fellow male applicants, and also needed to become a cohesive family with each other as well as an outstanding team under pressure.

Joan is at the center of the story, but it also follows her fellow Group 9 candidates: Top Gun Hank Redmond; fellow scientist John Griffin/Griff; mission specialist Harrison Moreau plus the other women who were among the first: hard-charging invincible Lydia Danes; compassionate Donna Fitzgerald; and stoic engineering genius Vanessa Ford. There’s an obvious competitiveness among this particular group of women. The story takes place mainly between 1980 and a fictional 1984 space mission. Sally Ride gets to be the first woman astronaut (“offscreen” in the book) in 1983 and the real Challenger disaster took place in 1986 (after “Atmosphere” concludes).

The author takes us through all the levels of becoming space worthy, but the main action of an impending disaster, which is revealed early, is a mission gone horribly wrong with characters we’ve gotten to know. Death is imminent and the race to save the crew is harrowing. Through Joan’s eyes, we experience what it meant to be a pioneer and how courage and love shape her character. There are gut-wrenching moments and sure tears for the reader. 5 stars for an incredible story of historical fiction!

By the way, TJR’s novel coincides with the public debut of the National Geographic award winning documentary that screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. “Sally,” about astronaut Sally Ride, will be streaming on June 16 on the NatGeo, Disney and Hulu channels, and it explores Sally’s lifelong relationship with Tam O’Shaughnessy, a real life story that will also have you in tears.

Thank you to Random House/Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!