If Taylor Jenkins Reid writes it, I’ll read it! She’s become one of my favorite authors and I think I only have one book to go to be caught up with her backlist. I was never much of a space fan, but Atmosphere caught my eye. Today I want to tell you about this book and what I thought.

A big thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an eARC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.

Review

Taylor Jenkins Reid quickly became one of my favorite authors after reading One True Loves and I’ve devoured her books since then. Atmosphere was another book I just couldn’t put down once I read the first page. I love how we’re pulled into the time period the book takes place in and it feels like we’re really there. It’s clear this author really takes her time and does research before writing these books.

Atmosphere starts off with a bang and that first chapter already hit me in all feels and had me kind of afraid for our characters before I even got to know them. I love seeing women following their dreams, so Joan becoming one of the first women to be accepted into NASA’s program was a big deal. I don’t know much about space, but Taylor Jenkins Reid teaches you things as you go without making it feel like you’re at school.

Besides seeing Joan go after what she loves, we jump back and forth in time while she falls in love and deals with family. In this time, two women together wouldn’t be tolerated within NASA, but Vanessa and Joan didn’t let that stop them. I loved them together and I’m glad we also got Vanessa’s POV. Both were amazing characters and I’ll be thinking about them often after reading Atmosphere.

We also have the family aspect when it comes to Joan’s story. She has a complicated relationship with her sister and plays a big part in her niece’s life. There were quite a few moments I got so annoyed with her sister and my heart broke for her niece. This part of the story also had me tearing up quite a few times. And let’s not forget the tension we get from the situation the book starts off with. The last few chapters had me on the edge of my seat and I wasn’t expecting for it to end like it did. Atmosphere will definitely be on my favorites list of 2025!

Taylor Jenkins Reid did it again and I’m curious to see what she’ll write next. Have you read anything by this author? Or do you have a favorite? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!