This easily rates in my top 5 favorite books of the 2025 so far. Reid tells an emotionally gripping story of a group of astronaut candidates in the 1980's. The story primarily follows Joan and Vanessa, who develop an unbreakable, deep bond with one another. The book also highlights many of the difficulties women in this field faced during the time period and what some had to give up or hide in order to achieve their dreams. Taylor Jenkins Reid weaves a tale of family, love, dedication, and tragedy under the backdrop of 1980's space exploration. I couldn't put this one down!

Thank you so much for an advanced copy of Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid! TJR is an auto-read author for me, so I was very excited for this book.

First, I 100% understand why this book is really popular right now. It's interesting and the characters feel so real. I also think this is a unique book with the historical focus on the space program, women in STEM, etc. I think TJR did a really good job making a story about people who feel real while also tackling relevant societal issues. This is a really good historical fiction? Historical romance? I'm not sure which category it fits in TBH.

That being said...this book was a miss for me. It was too character driven in my opinion for me to latch onto the plot. It is also more in line with Evelyn Hugo than some of TJR's other books, and that probably contributed to it being a miss for me. Evelyn Hugo is my least favorite TJR book. I also just never bought into the love story aspect of this book, either, so it was just a swing and a miss all the way around for me.

I do think it will resonate with a lot of folks, though, and I think it is a good book...just not for me!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

*Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC of this title. All thoughts and opinions are my own and were in no way influenced by receiving this copy.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again. And in pride month no less. A wonderful sapphic love story about two astronaut candidates, set in the 1980s. Like. WOW. I knew it was going to be good but I didn't expect it to be this good.

I really enjoyed that our story opened in 1984 with Vanessa on the Navigator in space doing what she does. And then we flash back and learn how the people she's on the spaceship with are all connected to her or Joan in some way, how these people are like family to her up there. So it hits even harder the more we lose. Like, wow wow WOW.

The ending killed me. I'm certainly still recovering.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of this title.

I didn't think that a book could outrank Daisy Jones and the Six for me, or Maybe in Another Life, but Atmosphere has not only made it to the top of my favorites of Reid's, but it's made it into my top five favorite books of all time. A story about space and two female astronauts falling in love? I couldn't ask for me.

Spoilers ahead.

"Maybe they had not asked for too much. Maybe they would get everything they wanted." What a beautiful line, but oh what a way to end a novel. It almost felt like maybe she didn't quite know how to end the novel and just decided that there was a good place. It felt abrupt and kind of left me a little let down. I wanted to see what came of their lives. Did Joan and Vanessa get to stay at NASA? Did Lydia make a full recovery? Did Barbara try to come back for Frances? Did Joan and Vanessa ever get married? There were so many things I wanted to see and I think a good epilogue would have really tied the ending together better than an open ended sentence.

Despite that, I genuinely loved everything else about this book. It captured the nostalgia of the times, and when women were first getting up into space. I think Reid really pulled this one off. I will of course read anything she puts out, but this one is going to be a hard one for her to top.

I loved Joan, Frances, and Vanessa and their story but this was not the TJR book that I was expecting. Too many words and not enough substance and no resolution. I didn’t need a thesis on the galaxy just the deep connection and emotion that TJR offers and a love story for the ages albeit not the traditional one. But I can get behind that when it’s written greatly. This wasn’t it. Trying too hard and very disappointing. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Interesting departure from TJR, but maintains the signature bittersweetness and thoroughly-researched worldbuilding that she is known for. I think that it was a little cheesy at points, but I think it comes with the awe and exploration of space — which is admittedly not really my cup of tea. The space/NASA background was at times difficult for me to digest, but the drama of the tragedy that occurred *in* space was very captivating. I think the pacing was stilted at times with the flash back and forward from the beginning of the NASA cohort to the day of the tragedy, but the end was so good. I loved the love story and thought it was beautiful.

TJR did it again. I fell in love with these characters. Her writing is beautiful and the research behind being an astronaut is very well done. Can’t wait to recommend this to others!

Absolutely riviting! I have never read a book about astronauts and NASA and space travel and I adored this book. It was fast-paced with interesting characters and a beautiful love story. I will be buzzing this one although I doubt it needs it - TJR always is a hit!

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Reid’s books are kind of hit or miss for me - I loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but I couldn’t get into Daisy Jones. But I’m intrigued by space program stories (in spite of generally NOT enjoying outer space science fiction). This is a fictionalized account of the 80’s era of the space program - I was briefly worried I’d somehow missed that this was a Challenger story and almost dropped it! But while Joan and Vanessa and all the rest are certainly based on real folks, they’re fictional characters.

The story opens with Vanessa in space and Joan in the command center. It’s a seemingly routine day - Vanessa and Griff are releasing something from the payload bay, and they stay to watch it float away - leaving the bay doors open, which is against protocol. It’s unclear how the next part happens, if the release went awry or something else hit them, but either way there’s a small hole blown in the ship and everyone inside almost immediately gets the bends. Griff is hit by debris, so while he and Vanessa are “safe” in the airlock, he needs to get out of his suit so his injuries can be assessed. But there’s a hole in the damn ship, so they can’t go back inside and help. Joan is dealing with all of this at the command center, and the chapter ends with Vanessa speculating “I think I’m the only one left.”

It’s a banger of an opening and immediately hooked me in. From there, though, we go back and forth in time - to Joan deciding to apply for NASA, arriving and training, and her growing friendship with Vanessa. Occasionally, we’re back in the day of the crisis as things progress and both Joan and Vanessa have to make difficult decisions. I’m on the fence about using this as a framing device. I can’t decide if it would have been better with a straightly linear timeline - I feel like the crisis has the same effect whether you’re seeing it piece by piece or whether it’s the thing we’re building toward. But also, as the story goes on, you start to see Joan and Vanessa’s relationship take shape, and it does ratchet up the tension of the crisis day scenes. The problem is, I was far more interested in those chapters and I kept itching to return to them. I feel like I may have appreciated the relationship build more if I hadn’t been trying to get back to the day of the accident. And while I did enjoy Joan’s relationship with her niece Frances, I also wasn’t wild about that whole subplot with her useless sister. It was just infuriating and I felt like it took away from some of the very real and interesting issues that Joan was probably dealing with at NASA. I think maybe if we’d lost the Frances stuff (much as I liked her) and had Joan and Vanessa share narration duties, it would have been a better story (I guess we do get a bit inside Vanessa’s head during some of the accident stuff, but this is solidly Joan’s book). I think I wanted more space and less personal drama (to be clear - the stuff about how Vanessa and Joan have to hide their relationship IS interesting, and I’d include that in the “I want more space” request! I could have done less with Joan’s family nonsense).

If there is one author that I would love yo meet and see how she writes this immersive stories, it would be TJR. holy cow. Who knew I’d love space now??

This is my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid yet, and I've read them all! So happy I got a chance to check it out early. Just a TON of information here about NASA, the space program in the 70s and 80s, chasing childhood dreams into reality, featuring a moving lesbian soulmate relationship, in addition to a number of complex, meaningful friendship pairs of mixed genders and motivations. I was riveted. The ending was a tossup -- I could have gone either way and been satisfied.

5/5⭐️ 0/5🌶️ 4/5😢

Why am I surprised this book absolutely destroyed me? Taylor Jenkins Reid really knocked it out of the park with this one. Set in the 1980s, the story centers around Joan Goodwin, a professor of astronomy and physics who is accepted into NASA’s shuttle program as an astronaut candidate. The story has a dual timeline between her training, a full cast of characters by her side, and a fateful mission a few years later.

what to expect:
→ 1980s historical fiction 🔭
→ complex family dynamics 💔
→ forbidden sapphic romance 👭💕
→ NASA jargon 🚀🪐
→ fighting for equality for all 🌈
→ strong side characters 💪🏻
→ BRING YOUR TISSUES 😭😭

Thank you to Random House - Ballantine for inviting me to be part of your “Launch Team” and an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid in exchange for an honest review. I started it before it was published last week, so it’s available now and you should run to get your copy.

I absolutely adored this astonishing book. Atmosphere is probably the best novel I’ve read in the last ten years. It’s gorgeously written, exceptionally well-paced, and the characters! Set in the 1980s, the story follows Joan, a professor who is one of a handful of women accepted into the astronaut training program at NASA. Along with her fellow cadets, she competes for a chance to go to space aboard the shuttle. While her career and friendships deepen, she’s also juggling being a surrogate mom to her beloved niece, Frances.
The way the author navigates the themes of what it is to be a woman in the workplace (and the workplace is NASA), in STEM, and in a highly charged, competitive and “moral majority” setting is so skilled I nearly forgot these weren’t real people.

Run and get this book. All the stars. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Atmosphere is classic TJR brilliance—emotional, immersive, and impossible to put down. Set in the 1980s, this novel follows Joan Goodwin, one of the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. The story unfolds in an alternating timeline, with the present-day (1984) thread kicking off with a devastating catastrophe. From there, we bounce back and forth to uncover how Joan and the crew arrived at that pivotal moment.

What really stood out to me were the feminist undertones. Joan’s journey as a woman breaking into a male-dominated, high-pressure field was powerful and deeply compelling. TJR captures both the professional and personal sacrifices these women made just to be in the room.
There is also a romance at the heart of this story—one that is beautifully written and meaningful, especially given its release during PRIDE month. That said, I did find myself wanting a little less romance and a bit more focus on the day-to-day training, science, and grit of life as an astronaut. Still, that’s a minor quibble in what is otherwise a standout novel.

The present-day scenes gave me serious Apollo 13 vibes—high-stakes, edge-of-your-seat tension that had me flying through those pages. These chapters sprinkled throughout the narrative really added some urgency to find out what was going to happen to these characters.

Atmosphere was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, and it absolutely did not disappoint. It’s a powerful blend of historical fiction, feminist storytelling, and emotional depth that Taylor Jenkins Reid fans will devour.

***Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

I knew I was going to love this book before I even started it because I love the writer Taylor Jenkins Reid. What I love most about her is she is so varied in her writing style. I want to say that she doesn't even have a specific style and that is so so so hard to do and just takes so much skill but she is so good at it. All of her books are so different.This one is most similar to Carrie Soto if you are familiar with but kind of gives a little bit of Evelyn Hugo as well.

This book had me crying and I never cry in books. I was so sad to finish this one. I truly felt empty after. It's one of those books where you're like what do I read from here because it was just so amazing.

I don't want to give too much away. But it’s about a female astronaut in the eighties and it goes back and forth between 1981 & 1984 but it’s super easy to follow. It hooked me right from the beginning and the second half of the book is exceptionally amazing. I got anxiety as the pages started to dwindle because I didn’t want it to end.

It was unexpected, amazing & I think everyone will love it. I actually held my breath during some parts. No notes. Five stars.

This is a quietly powerful novel that lingers long after the final page. The story unfolds with a slow, deliberate pace, allowing the complexities of the characters grow naturally. The main characters are strong, nuanced, and human. The strong characterization contributes to l that explores the search for happiness and the deeper meaning of life.

The author weaves emotion and introspection into every chapter, creating a story full of strength and wonder. This is a beautifully written exploration of what it means to truly live and love.

Stunning. This book is stunning. I am struggling just to get my words together!

I was hooked instantly, and could. not. put. this. down. Just as she did with Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid captivated me with every single word, and I am now reduced to a ball of emotion on my couch.

This book made me consider the world, humanity, existence in new and beautiful ways. I hope everyone reads this book so that our world can grow in empathy, kindness, strength, friendship, and LOVE.

Joan has been obsessed with the idea of going into space for as long as she can remember. When she gets the opportunity to train with NASA, she jumps at the chance. Along with living her dreams, Joan makes incredible friends, falls in love, and questions everything she knows in life. But when tragedy strikes, Joan needs to decide whether love or her career is worth saving.

God, I would read TJR's grocery list. She is an auto-read for me- I do not even need to know what the book is about and I will instantly pre-order it. This book crushed me and one week later, I am STILL thinking about these characters. TJR has the insane ability to take a topic I care little about (Space? Tennis?) and makes me want to learn everything there is about it.

I LOVED every character...even Lydia. Every character is TJR writes just feels so human and realistic. Even the unlikable ones have heart and intentions that help you understand why they are the way they are and makes it hard to dislike them.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

TJR knows how to write captivating stories with amazing characters.

Joan loves all things space, so when she sees that NASA wants women astronauts, she signs right up to participate. We follow her story as she navigates spending time with her beloved niece, dealing with her temperamental sister, and having a huge workload. Joan also discovers she may be different than what others are expecting from her, which is a taboo thing in the 80's.

TJR has a non-linear timeline of an expedition to space, and the events leading up to it. I loved the back and forth timeline and getting to know these characters. This book had me tearing up on the plane!

Though it isn't my face TJR, I still loved it and love that she keeps writing these amazing female main characters! Sad that I already finished, but I'm looking forward to the next!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy.

Started off just a bit slow in terms of connecting with the characters as a reader, but things started to fall in place about halfway through the book and I began to enjoy the ride!