Wow... This book just sent me on the most amazing emotional rollercoaster. I've been staring at my wall for the past 10 minutes, just wiping my tears–the last 30 pages had me literally bawling. I became so emotionally invested in these characters and their beautiful but heartbreaking love story, I I never wanted the book to end. In fact, the ONLY thing I didn't absolutely love about this book is that there was no epilogue! However, everything else–the plot, the character development, the writing, even all of the time jumps back and forth (which I'm not normally a huge fan of)–kept me so engaged the entire time. I also really loved and appreciated the inclusive and empowering sentiments weaved seamlessly throughout which, I think, make this an incredibly important read for not only any queer person or female-identifying person, but also for any feminist or LGBTQ+ ally.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Wow did I ever love this, after Carrie Soto I was a little weary I was losing my love for TJR, I was so so wrong.

This was the perfect mash up of genres with a compelling and interesting story about women in space and falling love with your life in unexpected ways. I loved these characters, I felt like I was part of their team and I was emotionally devastated and excited in several ways.

Reid writes stories that are craveable and hold such a gravitational pull at my tear ducts.

No noted. Perfection to the lash line.

I was excited to receive a complimentary copy of Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid from NetGalley. Opinions in this review are completely my own.

I have read all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's novels and enjoyed them all. This novel was no exception. She does an amazing job of providing an interesting story within a setting that provides the reader information about a topic, this time space. This book was a bit of a departure from some of her other novels but I loved how it was talking about space and also you could see how women were viewed at NASA and in the 1980s. I felt sad that there were such expectations placed on women to be a certain way back then and that it was difficult for them to be their true selves.

I liked seeing Joan's strength to push through tragedy while putting her job at the forefront of her mind. This would have been so difficult.

Wow, what a great read from Taylor Jenkins Reid. All of her books provide a positive perspective of events and the character development.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book before the release date,

Thank you @netgalley and @Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this advanced release of TJR’s newest. This book rivals The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as my favourite TJR book. It interweaves back and forth through time to create the most heart wrenching love story. Against the backdrop of the 1980’s NASA space program and the struggles women faced in the male dominated field.
Plus, an ending that had me sobbing.

I don’t know how to feel about this one.

On the one hand, Taylor Jenkins Reid is a master at crafting characters that feel like real people. I really enjoyed Joan as our main character. I loved following her training at NASA, her figuring out her sexuality, and her relationship with her niece Frances. I also adored the cast of supportive characters and the found family of the NASA crew.

On the other hand, the pacing was a bit weird for me with its frequent time jumps to the past and the future. A more linear plotline would have made me care so much more during certain events that unfolded before we got to know and grow more attached to the characters involved in them. The ending also felt incredibly rushed and abrupt. I flipped the page back and forth a couple times before I realized I had truly finished the book.

I also felt a bit lost with the space and science jargon at times to the point of losing interest in figuring out what was actually going on. But that could just be a me problem.

Overall, I’m extremely grateful that I got to read a new TJR story, even if it has not become my new favorite of hers.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel!

What a stunning novel. Taylor Jenkins Reid does it again. I fell in love with Joan so quickly, and grew to love so many of the other characters in this novel as well. It's a beautiful, beautiful love story reminding us that we can have many, many great loves in our life and never run out of room in our hearts. I cannot recommend this book enough, it is just beautiful. No hesitation giving this one 5 stars.

I have never cared for space- so if this book had been written by anyone else, I'm not sure I would have been overly interested. But Taylor Jenkins Reid's writing speaks to me on some spiritual level and she makes me care and a lot.

Joan was such a beautiful and wholesome character, her thoughts and ideas about the universe as a whole at points made me cry. TJR wrote her to be so profound and awestruck by the universe that as a reader you can't help but catch some of her optimism. Joan's love for the stars makes me think I should go outside and look again, to learn the constellations. If there's one thing that I am susceptible to as a reader is passion and TJR always gives her characters this drive to achieve their dreams. I always feel like I am learning something new in each of her books. It reminds me why I fell in love with reading in the first place.

At one point Joan talks about how she just wants to share everything that she has ever discovered to be good and I that's how I feel about this book. I hope others pick it up and cry where I cried and learned what I learned; because at its core, Atmosphere feels like it's about shared experiences.

I’m a big TJR fan. She can do no wrong and I’ll read anything she writes. I really enjoyed this book... can’t say I’ve read anything like it. I empathized with the characters and thought the story wrapped nicely.

I did think there were too many people introduced in the first chapter and felt it was a bit slow to start but it really picked up for me at around 40%.

Would love to see this as a show or movie.

This was fantastic up until 51%.

I absolutely loved the focus on female astronauts and their journey to overcome the odds. The ‘event’ was pulse-pounding and adrenaline-fuelled. I was completely absorbed in the story.

However, the last half of the book took an unexpected turn, causing me to double-check the synopsis; there was no warning that this was a sapphic novel.

Consider me extremely disappointed.

I was gifted this copy by Penguin Random House Canada and was under no obligation to provide a review.

If Taylor Jenkins Reid writes it, I'm reading it. I was extra excited for this one because I'm a sucker for a good space story. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't love it as much as some of her other books. But even saying that it was a solid 4-star read.

What I liked: I adored Joan. And Frances. And their relationship was stunning. The jumps between past and present kept things exciting, and the parts in the preset had me holding my breath. And the last few chapters - I cried, so much.

What I didn't like: I found the first half a bit slow, but it really picked up in the second half. I found myself less connected with some of the other characters (I kept getting some of them mixed up), and there were a lot of references to God which I wasn't expecting -- it took me out of the story.

Overall, if you love TJR, definitely add this one to your list!

I LOVED THIS BOOK AND CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!

I think Jane might be my second favourite of the TJR girls (Evelyn is still my number 1). I found this book so inspiring and heartfelt, much like most of the authors backlog. However there was a new element of suspense that I really loved in this one as well.

When my preorder arrives in June I’ll be re-reading it so I can annotate my favourite passages!

“Bravery is being unafraid of something other people are afraid of. Courage is being afraid, but strong enough to do it anyway.”

“Admitting you were afraid always took more guts than pretending you weren’t. Being willing to make a mistake got you further than never trying. The world had decided that to be fallible was weak. But we are all fallible The strong ones are the ones who accept it.”

Looking back at my highlights after finishing Atmosphere, I realize that either my own personal takeaway was about bravery/courage, OR it was a big underlying theme of the book.

I’ve struggled a bit with this post, because TJR books tend to be more absorbing for me, whereas this took me longer to read, and after I finished, I was ready to pick up my next book; no book hangover here. I really liked the MC, Joan, how she wasn’t your typical heroine. She showed tenacity, loyalty, and courage in a quiet and steady way. And I love how TJR can capture the time period that she sets her novels in so believably. This one was took place between 1981 and 1984, and the NASA environment was so fascinating. If I were to compare to her other books, I’d say this was more of a Carrie Soto than an Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones.

4.5 Stars

I deeply enjoyed this book. It was a bit of a departure from the glitz and glam of Hollywood, and there was more Science jargon than I anticipated (a lot more), but even still, I think fans of TJR will enjoy her latest as much as I did. Set against the backdrop of the 1980s US space shuttle program, I think this book will bring in some new readers, while also giving Reid's existing fans a lot of what they love. Complex interpersonal relationships, messy family dynamics, beautiful and sweeping romance, and some challenging emotional stakes. I cried unexpectedly a few times in this book, and was surprised by how quickly I got swept into the story.

Joan was an interesting heroine - she was smart, interesting, and a bit complicated, but my main reason this wasn't a perfect 5+ star read for me was that she felt pretty unknowable at times, even while we were sitting there in her head. There was a disconnect with her and how she felt and acted (at least for me), that made me feel like we were only touching the surface of who she is. It felt like she wasn't fully developed, or conscious or cognizant of what she was thinking, and how she was feeling, but not in a compelling 'unreliable narrator' way, more in a cold, unattached way. I don't quite know how to explain that better. I know parts of her story (e.g. her queer identity) were unknown to her at the start as well, even if we as readers may have seen them coming, but it wasn't just that. It felt like she TOLD us a lot of what was happening, rather than being in it, or reacting to it like a real person in those scenarios.

Overall, while not exactly unpredictable (at all), this book did scratch my itch for a really compelling interpersonal story with high stakes, and a memorable side cast of characters. Emotional, dramatic, and beautiful in many ways, I really did enjoy it, and I know I will be recommending it a lot.

I always describe Taylor Jenkins Reid books as heartbreakingly beautiful and folks she’s done it again. These characters are so real and raw. This book was so beautiful but devastating.

Thank you netgalley for the arc and thank you Taylor for the tears.

A very big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!!

I'm going to come out and say that I am a fake TJR fan, having only read Daisy Jones and owning Evelyn Hugo and leaving it untouched. I requested this title on a whim, not expecting to be approved, so when I was I decided it was my moral obligation to read it until the end and of course give my honest review.

In a few words: I smelled gay and my nose was actually correct. I cant believe it.

I know the basic plot of Evelyn Hugo was that she was in love with a woman, but I quite honestly never thought TJR would write another book about queer women, and I was very pleasantly surprised! The book centers around our main character, Joan, who is a woman in the 70s/80s trying to become a part of NASAs astronaut program, which famously had only included men up until that point. TJR is a master at writing an ensemble cast while also having a handful of more prominent characters, and that still shines in this book. She effortlessly makes them feel like real people just living their lives, and dealing with the difficulties of life.

This book is chock full of Joan dealing with misogyny in her heavily male dominated field, as well as her struggles with figuring out she is in love with one of her fellow astronauts, and how that makes her life all the more difficult.

If you are a fan of TJR, you won't be disappointed with this one!

This is the sixth book I've read by Taylor Jenkins Reid. She never disappoints. I loved the combination of historical fiction (and specifically NASA history) with a romantic storyline. I also loved how the book explored the challenges faced by women who worked at NASA in the 80's and how much pressure was on them. Overall, this was a really beautiful story set in the midst of a fascinating time in history.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Since this novel wasn’t touted as part of the existing TJR universe, I expected it to feel a bit different. Silly, silly me. Despite how much we love it, the universe doesn’t matter it seems (I would have chucked if Mick Riva was somehow peripherally involved in the Challenger explosion lol) because Atmosphere was just as eloquently empowering and emotionally saturated as all her previous books.

I loved it.

The cast of female characters was stellar; a group of unapologetically intelligent badass women who showed us that all the different ways of being a woman - whether it be career woman or mother or wife (or all three)- are worthy. It reminded us that just because a woman chooses the traditional path, that doesn’t automatically make them a good mother, that it is incredibly possibly to be a dependable, loving and present working mother, and that being a mother to someone isn’t dependent on biology.

I loved the romance between Joan and Vanessa; it was beautiful and pure and their journey felt incredibly accurate for the time. I loved how it brought to light the governments stance on LGBTQ people during this time, and how dangerous it truly was to be oneself.

Honestly, I even liked the science-y bits! Leave it to TJR to make astrophysics interesting and astrology sexy!

did i finish this book or did this book finish me?

i fell in love with daisy jones and the six because of the unreliable narrators and the fact that they were so flawed they were believable. I fell in love with atmosphere because of the reliable narrators and their flaws that made them real people.

i loved this book from page one. sometimes you pick up a book and you know it’s going to alter your life in some way. this was one of those books.

i fell in love with the characters. i fell in love with the found family. i fell in love with the romance. i fell in love with space. as somebody who can’t sit through any movies that take place in space, this book made me want to learn more about what’s out there.

i can’t even write about how much i loved this book because i fear it would be a gazillion pages. but please know i loved this book so much. joan and vanessa and frances and even lydia have my whole heart. i will be thinking of each of them anytime I listen to ‘i don’t want to live on the moon’ from sesame street or ‘space oddity’ by bowie.

thank you so much to penguinrandomhouse for an ARC of this book 🔭

“To look up at the nighttime sky is to become a part of a long line of people throughout human history who looked above at that same set of stars. It is to witness time unfolding.”

Thank Penguin Random House Canada for the eARC.

Atmosphere followed Joan who has hopes of becoming and astronaut with NASA. WE MEET Joan’s sister Barbara, who’s very easy to dislike, and her niece Frances. We also meet the group of hopeful astronauts Joan is grouped with. Jenkins Reid is fabulous at writing great characters and you can’t help but like - Lydia was my fave!


It took a while before I realized what JenkinsReid was hinting at with regards to Joan and I don’t want to spoil it here. Just a really nice live story in the plot- which I thought was so sweet.

I enjoyed learning some astronaut and NASA specifics. I had no idea and it was great because it was set at a time when women were JUST being allowed to fill these roles.

I have never met a book by this author that I didn’t love but this one was hard to LOVE. It moved pretty slowly and at times it felt difficult to get through. The plot moved quite slow and not a lot of action. The action came a little too late in the story line for me.

Overall, I would give this book 2.7 stars.