I know this book will be extremely well-liked, and there are good reasons for that: well-researched women in NASA, a multi-faceted LGBTQ love story, compelling ending, memorable characters. I also struggled to want to keep reading the first third, as often characters were having conversations that were clearly meant to instruct readers about astronomy or NASA details in a way that felt subtle but to me felt heavy-handed and didactic. I absolutely loved Daisy Jones, which felt like lots was happening in the hearts of the characters that we had to infer, and this book felt much more like a writer telling me what the characters were thinking and what I was expected to think about that. But it isn't often you read about an aunt relationship and I loved that here, and after Carrie Soto it was fun to read such a big-hearted and likable character as Joan. Many will love this, I'm sure.

Soooo I fell like there is really not much more a writer can do when setting a story in space. The plots seem to be predictable. Astronauts go up in space, there is some incident, and will they make it home? TJR doesn’t try to do anything new plot wise, instead she focuses her story on a love affair between two female astronauts. And it worked, I really did care more about the people in this story than the space setting.

Whoa, what a good book! Taylor can do no wrong. I fell in love with tennis with her last book, and now I have fallen in love with NASA and space travel. I appreciate how the story was framed around this specific event with Vanessa, then the history unfurled. The story was powerful, emotional, and inspirational. I had tears in my eyes for those last few pages. A+ book!

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

TJR takes us to the stars in her newest book and delivers another emotional stunner. Atmosphere introduces us to Joan who has always felt different so she looked to the sky.

As NASA is beginning their space shuttle missions in the early 1980s, they start to seek out astronauts which will include the first group of women that may go into space. Joan and the rest of the women selected understand the pressure they will be under so women can continue to engage with these space missions.

Joan also has a special bond with her niece who is far more like Joan than her sister. As her life continues to change with her career, she starts to find herself. She also begins to realize that the things and people she loves will change and affect her in ways she could no predict.

I love historical fiction that captures a very specific snapshot of a moment and this perfectly does that with the space shuttles pre-Challenger. Joan's development shows the struggles women dealt with during this period. I'm excited for everyone to travel into space with Joan!

I loved this book. I didn't know what to expect going in. I sobbed so hard I couldn't see anymore! It is so beautiful, difficult, and heart-warming. It was hard to read a love story that couldn't be like everyone else. It was stressful to watch this mission unfold with all these characters that you fell in love with.
It really rocked my socks off. I will recommend it to everyone! I can't wait for it to come out.

Who doesn't get excited for a new TJR book?!
Unfortunately, this book just didn't fully work for me. I found the pacing to be off, and the relationships between the other astronauts didn't feel as well fleshed out as I would have liked. The book shines however in the relationship between Joan and her niece. I loved the progression of the romance, it really did a good job conveying the feelings there. Overall, I was left disappointed by the book, but I think my Aerospace husband will enjoy this for all of the well done space research!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I would like to start this review by saying i am incredibly grateful to have received this ARC and i will genuinely recommend this to everyone i know.

I’m not very good at writing reviews for books but i knew i had to write one for this book. This book tore me apart. TJR knows how to elicit emotions in me i didn’t think was possible when reading a book. I always go into her books thinking it’s gonna go one way and it always goes completely different way and this one was no different with Joan and Vanessa. Their relationship was beautiful and perfect and tragic. Vanessa’s relationship with Frances broke me especially when before she thinks she is going to die in space she thinks to make sure Frances knows she tried. The ending had me sobbing and truly questioning what was going to happen. I know TJR did it to leave the ending open for interpretation but i do wish I got more of Joan and Vanessa, especially their reunion or maybe a flash forward of their lives together. But nonetheless it was a sad, beautiful, tragic love story that i hope everyone reads!

TJR’s strengths of character depth and growth truly shine in this one! I didn’t feel as emotionally attached as in some of her other books but it still packed a punch.

3 ⭐ Sad to say, Atmosphere is my least favorite TJR novel so far, which is saying a lot because I still enjoyed it quite a bit. There were many moments when I struggled to get through the book due to its repetitiveness and slowness. The transitions between scenes often felt abrupt—especially when one conversation would jump straight into another without much clarity about shifts in time or location. This lack of delineation made the flow feel jarring at points. That said, the romance element had lovely development (though as Frances likes to say, it occasionally felt cheesy in the dialogue).

My favorite parts by far were the chapters of Veronica on the shuttle—I absolutely tore through those. And I wish with all of my heart that we got to witness Joan and Veronica's reunion at the end.

TJR does it again! I am so excited for everyone to read this in a few months. Although some may not love it because of how focused it is on space, the story is at its best when the reader is with TJR’s characters. TJR knows how to pull at a reader’s heartstrings and the last 10 percent are for sure a gut punch. I do think the pacing was a bit off which made the story stall in the middle, but that is my only complaint! I now need spinoff stories for all of the side characters. I love every single one of them! I loved being immersed in the space / astronaut jargon and loved learning about NASA through the lens of a woman in the 80s training for her first time in space. Thank you PRH for the early e-ARC!

I’m always a massive fan of anything Taylor Jenkins Reid puts out and this was absolutely no exception!

Taylor Jenkins Reid can do no wrong and this book just furthers that theory. This book is amazingly beautiful and explores the journey of a woman in a man's field, also struggling with the prejudice against the LGBTQ community in that world and in that time. I couldn't stop reading this book and I felt completely immersed in Joan's story. I can't wait to handsell this title to customers so they can love it as much as I do!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Ballatine Books for giving me the opportunity to read one of my most anticipated books early!

What can I say, I loved this book so much. It made me grin, laugh, and cry. In this story, men have walked on the moon but women are only just starting to be allowed into the Space Program as astronauts. Joan is determined to make it to the stars and become a role model for little girls everywhere, especially her beloved niece. Once she is accepted into the Corps, she meets a cast of lovable characters that you love desperately as they give her the acceptance, friendship, and unconditional love she's always wanted. Vanessa becomes her closest friend, but something more may be brewing between them, although the 1980's Space Program is not a forgiving or accepting place, so they toe a dangerous line as they fight to earn a place on a mission.

Interspersed with their training and emerging relationships is a time skip to the near future where multiple lovable characters, including Vanessa, are on a mission gone wrong, and Joan is at the helm at command control responsible for their safe return. I found myself relishing the story as it unfolded, but desperate to get to the next time skip chapter to see how things were playing out for these characters. When the two timelines finally converged, I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't put the book down until I finished. The conclusion was perfect: it had me crying and smiling through the tears.

As someone who also loves to look up at the stars on a clear night and think about my place in the universe, Joan's ruminations really resonated with me. What's more, Joan's experience as a woman in a male-dominated field and her realizations around her sexuality, not only resonated with me but will be relatable to so many readers. This is a wonderful book that I will be pushing on everyone I know (also please make it into a limited series or movie, I need to see Joan and Vanessa and everyone else in action!).

Existing fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid will undoubtedly love this book, but this will sure bring in even more fans.

Taylor Jenkins Reid latest book is another great entry in her recent series of books following women in high-profile fields in different decades of recent U.S. history. I loved following Joan through her training to be an astronaut while also following the high-stress situation unfolding as she is mission control to a team of astronauts she is close to. If you loved Reid's other books, you will also love Atmosphere.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Yet again, Taylor Jenkins Reid methodically pulled me in and then stomped all over my heart. In 1981, a class of aspiring astronauts start training at NASA, all of whom are young, brilliant, and hungry for the stars. The main character is Joan Goodwin, an astronomy professor who's always stepped aside to help others, most glaringly her younger sister Barbara. When Barbara got pregnant out of wedlock, Joan was the one who stepped in as the other parent, despite her academic career. And Frances, Barb's daughter, has always been her touchpoint, the person she loves more than anyone.

In a class of scientists and military pilots, everyone is used to being the best in the room, and those personalities clash in varying ways. This class is historic, one of the first to include women. Joan, Lydia, Donna, and Vanessa come to the program with different backgrounds, but all have the same goal, and it’s up to them whether they help each other up or tear each other down. Through years of training, relationships deepen, dreams develop, and when it comes time to launch, everyone wants to be on it.

Like Reid’s other books, this moves through time, back and forth, slowly unfolding the story. She’s done the research and incorporated it without info-dumping, and the relationship I knew was coming was still a delight when revealed and explored. I expect this will be one of the big books of the summer, and I’m stoked to share it with patrons.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of Atmosphere. As with all of TJR's more historical books, I was captivated. Joan's story grabbed me right away, wondering what had transpired between her and Vanessa prior to the events at the opening of the book. I had some idea, and then I believed Reid was going a different way, but eventually we ended up where I hoped we would be.

The characters here were intense and believable. Though there were minor quibbles that I can't list here because they'd be spoilers, there was nothing that bothered me enough to knock this one down a star. I look forward to its publication date so I can encourage all of my friends, as well as our older students who have picked up other TJR books, to read it!

I have been a huge fan of this author and was so excited to see she had a new book out and that I would be able to be one of the first readers!

While I don’t think this is her best book, it drew me in and I didn’t want to put it down. I found the parts about space interesting and I can’t imagine the amount of research it took to pull off this book.

I did find Joan at times to be a bit unbelievable. It is hard to believe someone makes it into their 30’s without knowing they are a lesbian but I suppose it could happen. Overall, she was a lovable character and I was rooting for her and Vanessa.

I really loved the parts about Joan’s relationship with her niece and sister. Barbara came off as a bit one dimensional and I would have liked a bit more character development for her character in order to see where she was coming from. I loved Frances and the relationship between her and Joan.

I think if you like TJR, you will like this one. If her other books haven’t been for you I don’t imagine this book will change your mind.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Another great story by Taylor Jenkins Reid. While I haven’t enjoyed her past two books as much, I feel like she is back to writing likable charachters that I care about again! I also really enjoyed the space program aspect of this book

I loved the experience of reading Atmosphere - and could feel the amount of work that was put into crafting the characters and their relationships. I would've liked a little more info about the training itself, and to feel the physical toll of it, but I appreciated the setting and the emphasis of learning about one's priorities and home.

Pulling on my heartstrings and ripping them out just to force the pieces back together again- every TJR book