Another engaging historical fiction title that will be certain to be one of the most popular books of 2025.

*Atmosphere: A Love Story* by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a captivating exploration of love, loss, and self-discovery set against the backdrop of a slowly evolving relationship. Reid's writing shines as she navigates complex emotional landscapes, weaving together moments of vulnerability and tension. The characters are deeply human, flawed, and relatable, making it easy to become invested in their journey. While the plot may follow some familiar beats, Reid's talent for creating a rich, immersive atmosphere elevates the narrative, making it a compelling read for anyone who enjoys heartfelt, character-driven stories.

Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing truly soars here, rich with the beauty of friendship, the intensity of ambition, and the quiet longing of a woman seeking her place in the universe. Joan’s evolution from a reserved professor to a determined astronaut is captivating, as she faces both professional and personal challenges in a male-dominated field. The bond she forms with her fellow candidates creates a tension and warmth that makes their journey to the stars all the more thrilling. The pacing is perfect, pulling you in from the start, and the twists leave you breathless. This is more than just a story about space; it’s about how love, ambition, and loss shape who we are, even when we’re staring at the stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This sure packed a punch. I was losing interest in the beginning with so many characters being introduced, but when the author really zero's in on the main focus and story, it really sings. It was beautifully done.

ATMOSPHERE is a masterpiece. A triumph. A paragon of literature destined to be recognized as one of the best books, if not THE best book, of 2025. It is unlike anything Taylor Jenkins Reid has ever before offered her readers. The book is about science, space, spirituality, family, sisters, friends, misogyny, patriarchy, homophobia, time, self-discovery, relationships, and love. The author explores science, philosophy, and art as she makes sense of the human condition.

This historical novel is a character study, a riveting story of survival - literally and figuratively - and the most beautiful love story that I have read in a long time. I want to point out that yes, I know there is a difference between a romance and a love story. There are romantic moments in ATMOSPHERE, but above all, Taylor Jenkins Reid has written a truly elegant love story. Fans of the film Gravity and the book Love Story by Erich Segal will fall in love with ATMOSPHERE.

It should be noted that this is not only a love story between Joan Goodwin, the protagonist, and her partner Vanessa Ford. It is also a story about the love Joan has for her niece, Frances. And reader, pay close attention to the relationship between Joan and Frances, because as the niece grows into an intelligent, strong young woman, so too does Joan grow and discover things about herself that she never quite understood before. One could almost regard parts of the novel as a bildungsroman.

The novel is set in the 1980s when NASA started using the Space Transportation System (STS), the first re-usable space shuttle. On April 12, 1981, Columbia became the first space shuttle to fly into space. It was also the first re-usable spacecraft. These facts are pointed out in the text, making it especially relevant today as private space industry in 2024 is discussing ways to develop re-usable rockets.

Also, hovering beyond the book's periphery is the tragedy of January 28, 1986, when Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff. Readers old enough to remember that tragedy will find their thoughts drift to it from time to time.

I mention these details because Reid's research into NASA and space travel in the 1980s is punctilious. She incorporates NASA's lexicon into the novel with great care, bringing an air of authenticity to the story and her characters. I was reminded of the film Apollo 13 and the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon while reading.

It is also one of the author's more feminist novels as her protagonist Joan Goodwin navigates a profession dominated by men and “traditional” masculine values. For example, Reid writes,

“She was trying to prove that she could be just like a man to all of them . . . . Because the world had decided that to be soft was to be weak, even though in Joan’s experience being soft and flexible was always more durable than being hard and brittle. 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.

Joan had let men like Jimmy set the terms.

But the terms were false, even to him. He was just as scared as anybody else.
Bravery, Joan suspected, is almost always a lie. Courage is all we have.
She didn’t want to lower herself to the game men played.”

Some may be of the opinion that the author is not be breaking any new ground with this astuteness, but that is not the point. Joan is a grown woman, yet she struggles with her identity, coming to terms with who she is and what’s most important to her, ascertaining her values. How and when Joan achieves this insight - that is what is most important from this takeaway. And it is unbelievably progressive at a time when the moral majority was highly influential, especially in political circles, and Phyllis Schlafly is going around the country lecturing about traditional roles for women, not to mention the world slowly is being decimated by AIDS, a word then President Reagan would never dare utter until his second term in the White House. All of this should come to the reader’s mind as they turn page after page.

Numerous passages contain some of Reid's most sublime prose. My copy of the novel is covered in highlights. It is almost like poetry. To include any of the content here would make this already verbose review cumbersome. I will just mention - pay especially close attention to the moments when Reid writes about God and the universe. They reflect an insight that I have struggled to express my entire life. Now, I can point to many of these sections when trying to explain my own point of view.

Compared to previous novels like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising, and Carrie Soto Is Back, this book is so different. It's almost as if Reid knows what the reader expects from a standard “Taylor Jenkins Reid novel,” so she had to step away from herself while writing this book.

The book is for the most part about Joan Goodwin learning who she is. But for some reason, when I was reading, I had the sense that Taylor Jenkins Reid was also learning, or maybe re-discovering is the better word, something about herself while writing this book.

At one point, Reid writes, “Joan studied the thin, blue, hazy circle that surrounded the Earth. The atmosphere was so delicate, nearly inconsequential. But it was the very thing keeping everyone she loved alive.” At this point in the book, Joan has achieved the very goal she set out for herself. And what does she want more than anything at that moment? To be back on Earth with the people she loves.

How can something so delicate, so fragile as the atmosphere protect and destroy? The same might be said about human beings. Perhaps, that is part of what Reid is trying to convey in the book. What is the variable that determines whether something protects or destroys? Love.

I think that is a lesson we all need to be reminded of.