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Atmosphere
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.
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.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published June 3, 2025
45574 people are currently reading
522826 people want to read
About the author
Taylor Jenkins Reid
26 books215k followersTaylor Jenkins Reid is the New York Times bestselling author of Carrie Soto Is Back, Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, as well as four other novels. Her newest novel, Atmosphere, is out now. She lives in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35,771 reviews
July 10, 2025
Well, fuck me. This was about the most lackluster astronaut book I've ever read.
You have to understand, I'm a huge space nerd. I've read countless books on NASA, space exploration, astronauts, the shuttle program; you name it, I've read it. In fact, if we were to stack rank random topics, all my top spots would be taken up by everything space. So when I heard one of my favorite authors was writing a book about one of my favorite topics, I about fainted.
But right off the bat, I could tell something was off. We open with the most climatic, pivotal scene of the story. It should've grabbed me with the force of a thousand suns, but it didn't. It somehow was both too detailed and also not enough, throwing what seemed like twenty new characters at me in the span of two pages while lacking the technical details that would've convinced me we really were in the midst of a space mission. It left me feeling more confused than anything else.
Since this is a dual timeline, we then proceed to alternate between this climatic scene and the seven years leading up to it as Joan becomes a full-fledged astronaut. And while I did enjoy Joan's journey of finding herself and growing through her relationships, I can't help but feel that something was lacking here too. There was so little time spent on her actual astronaut training and so much time spent on her personal life, that it felt like I was reading generic women's lit instead of the singular, exciting story I was promised.
I zoned out constantly. There were so many characters (all introduced around the same time and none of whom stood out) that I had trouble keeping everyone straight in my head. And what should've been the exciting, technical, space portions of the book were replaced by seemingly endless discussions about constellations (my love for space does not extend to star configurations, it would seem) and pseudo-philosophical chitchats about the meaning of life. I was worn down.
But even the lack of an astronaut story aside, this still had the feeling of being aggressively bland while also being overly emotional. Every scene in this book—from the contents of the pivotal scene, to the intercutting of it throughout the book, to Joan's relationships with Vanessa and Frances, to all the meaning of life chats—felt like it was set up for maximum emotional hit, almost superficially so. And while I'm not opposed to being emotionally manipulated, this book did it so openly and so obviously that I can't help but cry foul.
Looking back, I should've known my expectations were too high and I was bound for disappointment. It says right there on the cover that this is "a love story" after all. But the heart wants what it wants, and mine wanted an astronaut story, damn it.
In my defense though, what was I supposed to think? Andy Weir blurbed for this book, for crying out loud! And after Carrie Soto, in which TJR managed to take the complex, technical game of tennis and make it absolutely mesmerizing to us plebs who know nothing about the game, I thought she could write anything. After all, Carrie Soto was amazing because TJR didn't shy away from including all of its technical intricacies, not in spite of it.
So of course I thought lightning would strike twice, and TJR would do so again here. I thought I would get the perfect symbiosis of astronaut and woman, technical and emotional, science and love. But instead, the astronaut part of the story was so watered down that it felt almost like an afterthought and we'd have pretty much the same story if Joan had chosen some other career.
Clearly, I wasn't the right audience for this book. My thoughts are decidedly in the minority, and I'm pretty sure my issues here are exactly why so many other readers loved it. So don't let me dissuade you. But do set your expectations correctly before going in—this is a love story, not an astronaut story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Carrie Soto Is Back
Daisy Jones & The Six
Malibu Rising
After I Do
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
You have to understand, I'm a huge space nerd. I've read countless books on NASA, space exploration, astronauts, the shuttle program; you name it, I've read it. In fact, if we were to stack rank random topics, all my top spots would be taken up by everything space. So when I heard one of my favorite authors was writing a book about one of my favorite topics, I about fainted.
But right off the bat, I could tell something was off. We open with the most climatic, pivotal scene of the story. It should've grabbed me with the force of a thousand suns, but it didn't. It somehow was both too detailed and also not enough, throwing what seemed like twenty new characters at me in the span of two pages while lacking the technical details that would've convinced me we really were in the midst of a space mission. It left me feeling more confused than anything else.
Since this is a dual timeline, we then proceed to alternate between this climatic scene and the seven years leading up to it as Joan becomes a full-fledged astronaut. And while I did enjoy Joan's journey of finding herself and growing through her relationships, I can't help but feel that something was lacking here too. There was so little time spent on her actual astronaut training and so much time spent on her personal life, that it felt like I was reading generic women's lit instead of the singular, exciting story I was promised.
I zoned out constantly. There were so many characters (all introduced around the same time and none of whom stood out) that I had trouble keeping everyone straight in my head. And what should've been the exciting, technical, space portions of the book were replaced by seemingly endless discussions about constellations (my love for space does not extend to star configurations, it would seem) and pseudo-philosophical chitchats about the meaning of life. I was worn down.
But even the lack of an astronaut story aside, this still had the feeling of being aggressively bland while also being overly emotional. Every scene in this book—from the contents of the pivotal scene, to the intercutting of it throughout the book, to Joan's relationships with Vanessa and Frances, to all the meaning of life chats—felt like it was set up for maximum emotional hit, almost superficially so. And while I'm not opposed to being emotionally manipulated, this book did it so openly and so obviously that I can't help but cry foul.
Looking back, I should've known my expectations were too high and I was bound for disappointment. It says right there on the cover that this is "a love story" after all. But the heart wants what it wants, and mine wanted an astronaut story, damn it.
In my defense though, what was I supposed to think? Andy Weir blurbed for this book, for crying out loud! And after Carrie Soto, in which TJR managed to take the complex, technical game of tennis and make it absolutely mesmerizing to us plebs who know nothing about the game, I thought she could write anything. After all, Carrie Soto was amazing because TJR didn't shy away from including all of its technical intricacies, not in spite of it.
So of course I thought lightning would strike twice, and TJR would do so again here. I thought I would get the perfect symbiosis of astronaut and woman, technical and emotional, science and love. But instead, the astronaut part of the story was so watered down that it felt almost like an afterthought and we'd have pretty much the same story if Joan had chosen some other career.
Clearly, I wasn't the right audience for this book. My thoughts are decidedly in the minority, and I'm pretty sure my issues here are exactly why so many other readers loved it. So don't let me dissuade you. But do set your expectations correctly before going in—this is a love story, not an astronaut story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Carrie Soto Is Back
Daisy Jones & The Six
Malibu Rising
After I Do
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
June 7, 2025
One of my most anticipated reads of the year turned out to be underwhelming ☹️
I preordered this book months ago, but it wasn't until my preorder showed up that I saw the book had a subtitle: "A Love Story." Romance isn't really my genre, but I reread the blurb and figured that maybe it was meant symbolically-- like a love for the universe, or for Earth. Something like that.
That's what this sounds like to me:
It wasn't. Atmosphere is maybe 20% about a woman in the 1980s space shuttle program and 80% romance.
And you know what? If you're looking for a romance with a bit of a space backdrop, then it's quite good. Very sweet. I liked both characters. Definitely cheesy sometimes, but it's hard to find vegan romance.
The beginning is the most arresting part of the whole book, and it certainly got my attention. Disaster strikes very dramatically, then we jump back in time to learn about the years leading up to this mission.
The middle of the book is where it had lots of ups and downs in terms of keeping my interest. I would become interested, but then it would get repetitive and I would just be reading to make it through that chapter. The subplot with Frances and that POS Barb had me invested-- more so than the love story, if I'm being honest. In fact, I think my interest in how this would resolve is what took the book up to 3 stars. Burning fury always speaks to me more than sweet romance, but, hey, that's enough about my issues.
The ending I won't spoil, but I will say I found it almost annoyingly predictable how everything played out.
So... written well enough, if you enjoy Reid's writing, and with a decent cast of characters. But I wanted more about Joan as one of the first female astronauts at NASA, and less about Joan as a girlfriend. I know we were warned-- it clearly says "A Love Story" on the front page of the book --but reading the blurb once again, I don't really think we were warned enough.
I preordered this book months ago, but it wasn't until my preorder showed up that I saw the book had a subtitle: "A Love Story." Romance isn't really my genre, but I reread the blurb and figured that maybe it was meant symbolically-- like a love for the universe, or for Earth. Something like that.
That's what this sounds like to me:
As the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined and begins to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe.
It wasn't. Atmosphere is maybe 20% about a woman in the 1980s space shuttle program and 80% romance.
And you know what? If you're looking for a romance with a bit of a space backdrop, then it's quite good. Very sweet. I liked both characters. Definitely cheesy sometimes, but it's hard to find vegan romance.
The beginning is the most arresting part of the whole book, and it certainly got my attention. Disaster strikes very dramatically, then we jump back in time to learn about the years leading up to this mission.
The middle of the book is where it had lots of ups and downs in terms of keeping my interest. I would become interested, but then it would get repetitive and I would just be reading to make it through that chapter. The subplot with Frances and that POS Barb had me invested-- more so than the love story, if I'm being honest. In fact, I think my interest in how this would resolve is what took the book up to 3 stars. Burning fury always speaks to me more than sweet romance, but, hey, that's enough about my issues.
The ending I won't spoil, but I will say I found it almost annoyingly predictable how everything played out.
So... written well enough, if you enjoy Reid's writing, and with a decent cast of characters. But I wanted more about Joan as one of the first female astronauts at NASA, and less about Joan as a girlfriend. I know we were warned-- it clearly says "A Love Story" on the front page of the book --but reading the blurb once again, I don't really think we were warned enough.
June 16, 2025
Oh my god I’m unwell
March 15, 2025
god dammit.
Want to read
October 30, 2024"by taylor jenkins reid" is all i need to know
June 24, 2025
And in this book, we’ll learn that Mick Riva was responsible for the Challenger explosion.
June 22, 2025
Probably my favorite after Evelyn Hugo. Picture me on my couch reading the last 9% sobbing.
June 3, 2025
4.5⭐️ I LOVE WOMENNNNNN
taylor jenkins reid simultaneously ripped out my heart and also gave me a forehead kiss, and i’m not complaining
taylor jenkins reid simultaneously ripped out my heart and also gave me a forehead kiss, and i’m not complaining
February 10, 2025
Gracias BookUp por la copia avanzada de este libro, que desde ya se vuelve de mis lecturas favoritas del 2025. Decir que no lo podía soltar se queda corto. Taylor Jenkins Reid me sorprende más y más con cada libro que saca.
Además me hizo darme cuenta de lo mucho que amo los libros sobre astronautas y el espacio. He leído muy pocos, pero de esos pocos, TODOS me han encantado. Necesito más.
Lo único que me hubiera gustado más de este libro sería un epílogo. Lo daría todo por un epílogo.
Además me hizo darme cuenta de lo mucho que amo los libros sobre astronautas y el espacio. He leído muy pocos, pero de esos pocos, TODOS me han encantado. Necesito más.
Lo único que me hubiera gustado más de este libro sería un epílogo. Lo daría todo por un epílogo.
March 17, 2025
OMGGGGGG TJR is just a treasure 🥹🤍🚀📖
this kinda wasn’t what i expected at ALL but of course i’m in awe. the last 20 pages had me so teary eyed!!!! her strong female main characters remain unmatched.
honestly i think my rating is maybe more of a 4.5 vs 5 simply because in my opinion, this doesn’t come close to DAISY JONES & THE SIX or CARRIE SOTO IS BACK which are two of my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid books but that said, it’s a great novel!
full review to come as i gather my thoughts and emotions. for now, here’s what to expect:
- dual timelines (past and present)
- strong female characters obvi, esp our girl Joan
- family themes and plots
- themes on finding and discovering yourself
- LOTS of astronaut/NASA talk… think: how much tennis talk there was in CARRIE SOTO IS BACK but maybe even more in NASA/space talk
- HEAVY on the character development! but i think that’s true to TJR anyways
- emo emo emo!!!!
- what life was like for women in the 80s… especially in a male dominated field😭
- for me, this was a combo of MALIBU RISING and THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO and CARRIE SOTO
just know—TJR never disappoints!
thank you so much to Random House for the early copy!! out in June and will be worth the wait!
this kinda wasn’t what i expected at ALL but of course i’m in awe. the last 20 pages had me so teary eyed!!!! her strong female main characters remain unmatched.
honestly i think my rating is maybe more of a 4.5 vs 5 simply because in my opinion, this doesn’t come close to DAISY JONES & THE SIX or CARRIE SOTO IS BACK which are two of my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid books but that said, it’s a great novel!
full review to come as i gather my thoughts and emotions. for now, here’s what to expect:
- dual timelines (past and present)
- strong female characters obvi, esp our girl Joan
- family themes and plots
- themes on finding and discovering yourself
- LOTS of astronaut/NASA talk… think: how much tennis talk there was in CARRIE SOTO IS BACK but maybe even more in NASA/space talk
- HEAVY on the character development! but i think that’s true to TJR anyways
- emo emo emo!!!!
- what life was like for women in the 80s… especially in a male dominated field😭
- for me, this was a combo of MALIBU RISING and THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO and CARRIE SOTO
just know—TJR never disappoints!
thank you so much to Random House for the early copy!! out in June and will be worth the wait!
July 26, 2025
"A Cosmic Symphony of Grit, Grief, and Glory"
―Siri, cue “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra☄️
Some stories don’t blaze in; they drift in like stardust — quiet, steady, unforgettable. Atmosphere is one of those. Set against the backdrop of NASA and the unreachable stars, this novel isn’t just about space — it’s about the women who dared to dream beyond the limits they were given. It’s about love that doesn’t look the way we expect, about sacrifice that no one claps for, and about the quiet, stubborn courage it takes to exist fully in a world that keeps trying to shrink you. Taylor Jenkins Reid gives us a story that feels both vast and intimate — like looking up at the sky and somehow finding yourself in it.
A sweeping, intimate novel about ambition, sacrifice, queer love, and the quiet courage it takes to reach for the stars—even when the world tries to keep you grounded.
Let’s get one thing out of the way:
This isn’t just a story about space.
This is a story about gravity—the kind that tethers you to Earth and the kind that tethers you to people.
📡 And sometimes, both feel like they're pulling you apart at once.
The first 40-50%? Honestly ,felt like scrolling through my old physics notes and def. -I was nodding along like - Radiation? Been there. Orbit mechanics? Done that.Gravity? Knew it. Constellations? Done that. Radiation shielding? Please, I’m a physics girlie — this was General Knowledge 101 for me.but also kinda good flashbacks🤍
-BUT THEN… oh.
The second half showed up like an emotional comet outta nowhere. Boom. Existential dread. Poop logistics. Uterus debates. Capitalism in orbit.
And suddenly I was wide awake, scribbling notes, questioning billionaires, rethinking reproduction ethics in off-Earth colonies and whispering:
“Wait… I love this??”
Suddenly, I was engaged. Alarmed. Emotionally invested.
Screaming “THIS IS WHY STEM NEEDS ETHICS AND WOMEN.”
This was also my first ever Taylor Jenkins Reid novel. And my first ff(sapphic) nonfiction-adjacent adventure.
Who knew space could be so gay and so grounded at the same time?
This story is so layered. We get tense, high-stakes space missions. We get grueling astronaut training. But we also get single motherhood, quiet heartbreak, complicated sisters, makeshift families, hidden romances, and all the little ways women are told to be smaller, quieter, more palatable. And still—they fight. Joan and Vanessa both carry so much: ambition, love, grief, duty. And they carry it so well.
📌Character Development→
"Astronauts, Anchors & All the Spaces Between"
“Joan Goodwin. Astronomer. CAPCOM. Sister. Mother figure. Lover. Astronaut.”– The backbone of Mission Control and a reluctant heroine...
These titles orbit her like moons, and she wears them all with a quiet, undramatic elegance that knocks you flat. She isn’t loud, but my God, she is seismic.
I have never rooted harder for someone to scream in public.
I read this as someone who’s wrestled equations into submission, fought vectors at 2 a.m., and found poetry in orbital mechanics. And let me tell you—Joan is one of us. She's the girl who whispered to the cosmos and had it whisper back. Who chose velocity over vanity, who fell in love with motion and meaning alike.
NASA here isn’t romanticized. It’s brutal. It’s sexist. It’s a labyrinth of code-switching and silence. And yet Joan walks it—not unscarred, but unbroken. She calculates her way through pain, navigates grief like it’s a launch window, and proves that intellect and tenderness can coexist at Mach 25.
Vanessa Ford– A hotshot pilot with fire in her veins and secrets in her heart. Vanessa is bold, brave, and brilliant — a woman of steel, sky, and staggering heart.
She’s the kind of girl who walks like she knows she belongs in the stars — sharp, ambitious, and unapologetically focused. An aeronautical engineer and a pilot, yes, but more than that — a daughter carrying the weight of loss, a woman trying to earn her place in a world that demands twice as much for half the credit.
On the outside, she’s cool, composed, maybe even hard to read. But inside? There’s ache. There's hunger. There's a quiet grief that shapes her drive — like she's always chasing something she can't quite reach. And then there's Joan. Vanessa’s connection with her isn’t just romantic — it’s liberating. It gives her permission to be soft, to feel deeply, without losing her edge.
And her defining moment? When she risks her life for someone else — not for glory, not for praise — but because that’s who she is. That’s what courage looks like when no one’s watching.Vanessa Ford is that rare kind of hero: brave in action, braver in love.
💬Side Characters You’ll Love (and Cry For)
Frances – Joan’s niece, a bright and curious girl raised in the shadow of shuttle launches and star maps. She represents the future—and the emotional center of Joan’s earthbound life.
Barbara Goodwin – Joan’s younger sister, whose choices leave Joan with impossible responsibilities and fierce protective love for Frances.
John Griffin, Lydia Danes, Donna Hsu– Fellow astronauts who form the backbone of the narrative’s emotional stakes. Their friendship with Joan adds warmth, banter, and, eventually, grief.
📌 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁 :
"Liftoff: The Story That Took Flight"
⟢Now playing across the universe -by The Beatles🪐
-poetic journey through endless cosmic waves...⋆⭒˚.⋆🔭
Mission Control goes silent as Navigator burns. Vanessa is stranded. Griffin is dying. Only Joan Goodwin, the voice at CAPCOM, holds the line between Earth and oblivion.
But this isn’t just a countdown to rescue. No. This is the story of the woman who got left behind—the one who was smart enough to get to space but too queer, too quiet, too principled to be chosen. We go back in time, through dusty days, brutal training camps, and whispered affections between Joan and Vanessa that burn brighter than any thruster.
🗯️ Every flashback hits like a meteorite.
📌Atmosphere & Writing:
Cinematic yet intimate — like watching stars fall in slow motion.
Science meets soul.
Prose is soft, but every few lines? A quiet gut-punch.
Dual timelines ripple like gravity—slow, haunting, beautiful.
Space becomes metaphor: for love, loss, legacy.
A tone of ache and awe — like stargazing with a bruised heart.
📌Personal Reflection
Reading Atmosphere felt like discovering a secret constellation—both deeply familiar and astonishingly new. As a fellow STEM girlie and physics enthusiast, I was drawn to the authentic depiction of NASA’s shuttle program, the science, the precision, and the passion behind every launch. But what truly captivated me was how Taylor Jenkins Reid, my very first TJR experience, wove the harsh realities of space exploration with the tenderness of human connection and queer love. It wasn’t just about rockets and stars; it was about the gravity of feeling excluded, the courage to keep reaching upward despite the weight of prejudice.—and also my first time reading a female x female love story. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel going in. I’ve never really explored that kind of narrative before, and there were moments where I felt a little out of my comfort zone. But what surprised me was how much the story still resonated. At its heart, Atmosphere isn’t just about love—it’s about dreams, sacrifice, and belonging. It’s about the ache of reaching for something more, whether that’s a place among the stars or a space in someone’s heart.
Coming from a background that often celebrates logic and numbers, I found myself surprised by how much this novel touched my heart. It read like my first fanfic—raw, emotional, full of whispered dreams and stolen moments—yet it carried the polish and power of a literary masterpiece. It reminded me that even in the most technical fields, it’s our stories, our resilience, and our chosen families that keep us grounded.
Some moments completely stole my breath. The shuttle accident. The impossible decisions in orbit. The ten-minute reentry blackout where the world is holding its breath and Joan is just… waiting. Crying. Hoping. That was one of the most emotionally intense scenes I’ve read in a long time. And the aftermath? The way love survives disaster? God, it stays with you.
Atmosphere gave me hope—not just for the future of space exploration but for all women and queer people breaking barriers in STEM. It’s a love letter to the dreamers, the fighters, and the quiet heroes who never give up. And honestly? It made me want to look up at the night sky with new wonder and say, “This is for us.”
This book might not have been my usual kind of read, but it stayed with me in ways I didn’t expect. It’s bold, tender, and deeply human. And that’s what good stories do—they expand your orbit, even just a little.
📌 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗶𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗚-𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲
✔ Women in STEM who are brilliant but overlooked
✔ Astronomy as metaphor
✔ Queer love in systems built to erase it
✔ Sacrificing motherhood, softness, self for a seat at the table
✔ The cost of ambition in a patriarchal vacuum
✔ Found family, especially between women
✔ Grief in space—grief with no gravity
📌Storytelling elements:
✦ Dual Timelines
Past and present dance till they collide. Stakes rise. Hearts break. Everything connects.
✦ CAPCOM = Heartline
Joan’s voice? Lifeline. Between Earth and stars, she holds it all—grief, love, control.
✦ Symbolism
Stars, blue, Summer Triangle. Wonder meets warning. Beauty stitched with dread.
✦ Sacrifice & Morality
No easy answers. Just impossible choices and the ache of doing what's right.
✦ Queer Love
Vanessa + Joan = joy and defiance. Love that dares, even in silence.
...Now playing: “Astronomy” by Conan Gray... -coz the cover is giving it!!🌠
👩🏻🚀S𝗧𝗘𝗠 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻, 𝗘𝗺𝗼 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁
I came for the space tech and engineering drama.
I stayed for the crushing gravitational pull of women loving women under systemic pressure.
Also?? This book said, “Who needs a man when you’ve got trauma, competence, and cosmic sapphic tension?”
Science was done. Feelings were had. Equations? Unequal.
This is not just a love story, it’s an emotional launch sequence:
Countdown: 10, 9, 8...
Panic: Initiated.
Soft pining in zero-G: Engaged.
Emotional damage: Terminal velocity.
Reentry: We cry.
Landing: Staggered. Gutted. Lit up.
My heart? Currently floating somewhere near the International Space Station. I will retrieve it later. Maybe.
📌Highlights I LIVED FOR:
🔖Actual respect for technical language without dumbing it down
🔖Realistic space mission sequences that still feel high-stakes and heart-driven
🔖Women being experts in male-dominated fields and NOT having to apologize for it
🔖Queer longing communicated through data analysis and emergency protocol exchanges...
📍Final equation: Trauma + training + tethered hearts – men + Women -mutual understanding = ✨emotional transcendence✨
📈 Plot trajectory: steady build → soul-scorching payoff
💻 Technicals: flawless
💔 Feelings: fried
🧪 STEM girl seal of approval: ABSOLUTELY
If you’ve ever been the girl solving quantum mechanics by day and writing pining fanfic by night—this book gets you.
📌The poem: I wrote while reflecting on this story tries to capture that blend of cosmic vastness!!
🚀Whispers Beyond the Stars...
In endless void where silence reigns,
A fragile shell defies the chains—
Joan’s steady voice, a beacon bright,
Guides souls through dark, relentless night.
In orbit’s cold and starry sea,
A dance of fate and destiny,
Where science meets the human heart,
And courage plays its quiet part.
Beneath the stars, ambition burns,
With every risk, the cosmos turns.
Sisters, lovers, dreams entwine—
A fragile hope, a sacred sign.
Through pressure, loss, and silent tears,
They forge their paths beyond their
fears,
For in the vast and boundless blue,
They find what’s lost, and start anew.
-maddy🤍
📌Visual Moodboard (imagine this!)
-Deep navy and glittering silver, like the endless night sky
-Soft glows of distant stars and spacecraft panels lit in muted green
-Cozy, worn spacesuits and the quiet hum of mission control
-Warm embraces under cold, infinite skies
📌Final thoughts:📡 Final Transmission...
A story of wonder, survival, and legacy, Everything We’ve Been Given asks: What does it cost to chase the stars?bThis book made me cry like liquid oxygen exposed to vacuum. Cold. Immediate. Absolute.This isn’t just about making it to space. It’s about everything that must be given up to get there...
It is a love letter to women in STEM, to those who hold family and ambition in opposing hands, and to those who’ve loved in silence because the world wasn’t ready.
For every girl who looked up and saw stars—not ceiling tiles. For every woman who whispered "yes" to wonder, even when the world said "no."For every woman who carried both love and ambition like contraband,For every STEM kid who wondered if humanity and science could coexist—
This one’s for you...
I see you. And this book? It saw us too.
📍Read this if you like slow-burns with astronaut suits.
Stay for the trauma bonding, interstellar yearning, and deeply earned kisses.
And if you love stories where women save each other in every way that matters—emotionally, professionally, cosmically—this is your orbit, babe.
4.5/5. My emotional O-rings are BURNT.
------------------
ೃ ⁀➷Pre-view:🎯
🚀 Prepare for lift-off: an astrophysicist’s journey from classroom calm to cosmic chaos. A new frontier. A fearless crew. And a mission that will change everything.
🧲What’s Pulling Me In:
📚 Women in STEM excellence
🧠 Emotionally repressed nerd x dangerously magnetic fly girl
🫀 Slow burn so intense it might combust in microgravity
⚠️ Off-limits attraction — Astronaut Rule #1? Don’t fall for your crew
🔖Heartfelt found family dynamicsFound family of misfit astronauts (read: chaotic squad energy)
🎯 Dreams vs duty—can you touch the stars without letting go of who you are?
🌒 Queer longing through the lens of science and starlight
🔭NASA history meets personal heartbreak (yes, tissues required)
🚀 Space is vast. But love? It’s a whole new universe.
🧪 Science, sisterhood, secrets—and one slow-burn that might just defy gravity.that feels authentic because I’m living it in my lectures
🌌 The vastness of space, the intimacy of love: The observable universe shrinks when feelings get this big.
🧪 History + heart: 1980s NASA, where women broke the sound barrier and the glass ceiling.
💔 One mission. One mistake. Everything changes.
---
💬 Energy Levels:
Joan: “We orbit the same star but never collide.”
Vanessa: “Then let’s change the trajectory.”
Me: 📉📈📉📈📉📉🧍♀️
---
👩🚀 Found Family Roll Call:
🛩️ Hank Redmond — Top Gun dad energy. Gives ride-or-die big brother vibes.
🧪 John Griffin — chill lab girl who deserves the world.
🔬 Lydia Danes — so competent it hurts. She cuts through BS with her voice alone.
🧡 Donna Fitzgerald — warm, wonderful, hiding secrets, deserves a novel of her own.
🛠️ Vanessa Ford — chaos pilot. Engine queen. The crush you never saw coming but now can’t shake.
They train together. Fight together. Bleed together.
And they belong together.Yesss!!🖐🏻🧘🏻♀️🍿
---
🎬 The Vibe?
Cinematic. 1980s space program.
Sweaty simulators. Star maps.
Women changing the rules, falling in love, and risking everything.
> It's the kind of book where love feels like physics: predictable in theory—
but in reality? Pure chaos.
---
🛰️ TL;DR:
If you’re a physics nerd like me, if you’ve ever loved space, science, soft longing, and found family—you’ll love Atmosphere..
It’s heartbreak in a vacuum, love under pressure, and a girl who just wanted the stars but found something even bigger: herself.
🎓 As a physics student? I’m about to devour this like it’s my last lab report before launch day.let's go!!🤸🏻♀️
―Siri, cue “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra☄️
Some stories don’t blaze in; they drift in like stardust — quiet, steady, unforgettable. Atmosphere is one of those. Set against the backdrop of NASA and the unreachable stars, this novel isn’t just about space — it’s about the women who dared to dream beyond the limits they were given. It’s about love that doesn’t look the way we expect, about sacrifice that no one claps for, and about the quiet, stubborn courage it takes to exist fully in a world that keeps trying to shrink you. Taylor Jenkins Reid gives us a story that feels both vast and intimate — like looking up at the sky and somehow finding yourself in it.
A sweeping, intimate novel about ambition, sacrifice, queer love, and the quiet courage it takes to reach for the stars—even when the world tries to keep you grounded.
Let’s get one thing out of the way:
This isn’t just a story about space.
This is a story about gravity—the kind that tethers you to Earth and the kind that tethers you to people.
📡 And sometimes, both feel like they're pulling you apart at once.
The first 40-50%? Honestly ,felt like scrolling through my old physics notes and def. -I was nodding along like - Radiation? Been there. Orbit mechanics? Done that.Gravity? Knew it. Constellations? Done that. Radiation shielding? Please, I’m a physics girlie — this was General Knowledge 101 for me.but also kinda good flashbacks🤍
-BUT THEN… oh.
The second half showed up like an emotional comet outta nowhere. Boom. Existential dread. Poop logistics. Uterus debates. Capitalism in orbit.
And suddenly I was wide awake, scribbling notes, questioning billionaires, rethinking reproduction ethics in off-Earth colonies and whispering:
“Wait… I love this??”
Suddenly, I was engaged. Alarmed. Emotionally invested.
Screaming “THIS IS WHY STEM NEEDS ETHICS AND WOMEN.”
This was also my first ever Taylor Jenkins Reid novel. And my first ff(sapphic) nonfiction-adjacent adventure.
Who knew space could be so gay and so grounded at the same time?
This story is so layered. We get tense, high-stakes space missions. We get grueling astronaut training. But we also get single motherhood, quiet heartbreak, complicated sisters, makeshift families, hidden romances, and all the little ways women are told to be smaller, quieter, more palatable. And still—they fight. Joan and Vanessa both carry so much: ambition, love, grief, duty. And they carry it so well.
“Bravery is being unafraid of something other people are afraid of. Courage is being afraid, but strong enough to do it anyway.”and "You make my life worth something"
📌Character Development→
"Astronauts, Anchors & All the Spaces Between"
“Joan Goodwin. Astronomer. CAPCOM. Sister. Mother figure. Lover. Astronaut.”– The backbone of Mission Control and a reluctant heroine...
These titles orbit her like moons, and she wears them all with a quiet, undramatic elegance that knocks you flat. She isn’t loud, but my God, she is seismic.
I have never rooted harder for someone to scream in public.
“We were told the sky was the limit. This book reminded me the real limit is fear—and she broke past it.”
I read this as someone who’s wrestled equations into submission, fought vectors at 2 a.m., and found poetry in orbital mechanics. And let me tell you—Joan is one of us. She's the girl who whispered to the cosmos and had it whisper back. Who chose velocity over vanity, who fell in love with motion and meaning alike.
NASA here isn’t romanticized. It’s brutal. It’s sexist. It’s a labyrinth of code-switching and silence. And yet Joan walks it—not unscarred, but unbroken. She calculates her way through pain, navigates grief like it’s a launch window, and proves that intellect and tenderness can coexist at Mach 25.
Vanessa Ford– A hotshot pilot with fire in her veins and secrets in her heart. Vanessa is bold, brave, and brilliant — a woman of steel, sky, and staggering heart.
She’s the kind of girl who walks like she knows she belongs in the stars — sharp, ambitious, and unapologetically focused. An aeronautical engineer and a pilot, yes, but more than that — a daughter carrying the weight of loss, a woman trying to earn her place in a world that demands twice as much for half the credit.
On the outside, she’s cool, composed, maybe even hard to read. But inside? There’s ache. There's hunger. There's a quiet grief that shapes her drive — like she's always chasing something she can't quite reach. And then there's Joan. Vanessa’s connection with her isn’t just romantic — it’s liberating. It gives her permission to be soft, to feel deeply, without losing her edge.
And her defining moment? When she risks her life for someone else — not for glory, not for praise — but because that’s who she is. That’s what courage looks like when no one’s watching.Vanessa Ford is that rare kind of hero: brave in action, braver in love.
💬Side Characters You’ll Love (and Cry For)
Frances – Joan’s niece, a bright and curious girl raised in the shadow of shuttle launches and star maps. She represents the future—and the emotional center of Joan’s earthbound life.
Barbara Goodwin – Joan’s younger sister, whose choices leave Joan with impossible responsibilities and fierce protective love for Frances.
John Griffin, Lydia Danes, Donna Hsu– Fellow astronauts who form the backbone of the narrative’s emotional stakes. Their friendship with Joan adds warmth, banter, and, eventually, grief.
📌 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁 :
"Liftoff: The Story That Took Flight"
⟢Now playing across the universe -by The Beatles🪐
-poetic journey through endless cosmic waves...⋆⭒˚.⋆🔭
Mission Control goes silent as Navigator burns. Vanessa is stranded. Griffin is dying. Only Joan Goodwin, the voice at CAPCOM, holds the line between Earth and oblivion.
But this isn’t just a countdown to rescue. No. This is the story of the woman who got left behind—the one who was smart enough to get to space but too queer, too quiet, too principled to be chosen. We go back in time, through dusty days, brutal training camps, and whispered affections between Joan and Vanessa that burn brighter than any thruster.
🗯️ Every flashback hits like a meteorite.
📌Atmosphere & Writing:
Cinematic yet intimate — like watching stars fall in slow motion.
Science meets soul.
Prose is soft, but every few lines? A quiet gut-punch.
Dual timelines ripple like gravity—slow, haunting, beautiful.
Space becomes metaphor: for love, loss, legacy.
A tone of ache and awe — like stargazing with a bruised heart.
📌Personal Reflection
Reading Atmosphere felt like discovering a secret constellation—both deeply familiar and astonishingly new. As a fellow STEM girlie and physics enthusiast, I was drawn to the authentic depiction of NASA’s shuttle program, the science, the precision, and the passion behind every launch. But what truly captivated me was how Taylor Jenkins Reid, my very first TJR experience, wove the harsh realities of space exploration with the tenderness of human connection and queer love. It wasn’t just about rockets and stars; it was about the gravity of feeling excluded, the courage to keep reaching upward despite the weight of prejudice.—and also my first time reading a female x female love story. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel going in. I’ve never really explored that kind of narrative before, and there were moments where I felt a little out of my comfort zone. But what surprised me was how much the story still resonated. At its heart, Atmosphere isn’t just about love—it’s about dreams, sacrifice, and belonging. It’s about the ache of reaching for something more, whether that’s a place among the stars or a space in someone’s heart.
Coming from a background that often celebrates logic and numbers, I found myself surprised by how much this novel touched my heart. It read like my first fanfic—raw, emotional, full of whispered dreams and stolen moments—yet it carried the polish and power of a literary masterpiece. It reminded me that even in the most technical fields, it’s our stories, our resilience, and our chosen families that keep us grounded.
Some moments completely stole my breath. The shuttle accident. The impossible decisions in orbit. The ten-minute reentry blackout where the world is holding its breath and Joan is just… waiting. Crying. Hoping. That was one of the most emotionally intense scenes I’ve read in a long time. And the aftermath? The way love survives disaster? God, it stays with you.
Atmosphere gave me hope—not just for the future of space exploration but for all women and queer people breaking barriers in STEM. It’s a love letter to the dreamers, the fighters, and the quiet heroes who never give up. And honestly? It made me want to look up at the night sky with new wonder and say, “This is for us.”
This book might not have been my usual kind of read, but it stayed with me in ways I didn’t expect. It’s bold, tender, and deeply human. And that’s what good stories do—they expand your orbit, even just a little.
📌 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗶𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗚-𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲
✔ Women in STEM who are brilliant but overlooked
✔ Astronomy as metaphor
✔ Queer love in systems built to erase it
✔ Sacrificing motherhood, softness, self for a seat at the table
✔ The cost of ambition in a patriarchal vacuum
✔ Found family, especially between women
✔ Grief in space—grief with no gravity
📌Storytelling elements:
✦ Dual Timelines
Past and present dance till they collide. Stakes rise. Hearts break. Everything connects.
✦ CAPCOM = Heartline
Joan’s voice? Lifeline. Between Earth and stars, she holds it all—grief, love, control.
✦ Symbolism
Stars, blue, Summer Triangle. Wonder meets warning. Beauty stitched with dread.
✦ Sacrifice & Morality
No easy answers. Just impossible choices and the ache of doing what's right.
✦ Queer Love
Vanessa + Joan = joy and defiance. Love that dares, even in silence.
...Now playing: “Astronomy” by Conan Gray... -coz the cover is giving it!!🌠
👩🏻🚀S𝗧𝗘𝗠 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻, 𝗘𝗺𝗼 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁
I came for the space tech and engineering drama.
I stayed for the crushing gravitational pull of women loving women under systemic pressure.
Also?? This book said, “Who needs a man when you’ve got trauma, competence, and cosmic sapphic tension?”
Science was done. Feelings were had. Equations? Unequal.
This is not just a love story, it’s an emotional launch sequence:
Countdown: 10, 9, 8...
Panic: Initiated.
Soft pining in zero-G: Engaged.
Emotional damage: Terminal velocity.
Reentry: We cry.
Landing: Staggered. Gutted. Lit up.
My heart? Currently floating somewhere near the International Space Station. I will retrieve it later. Maybe.
📌Highlights I LIVED FOR:
🔖Actual respect for technical language without dumbing it down
🔖Realistic space mission sequences that still feel high-stakes and heart-driven
🔖Women being experts in male-dominated fields and NOT having to apologize for it
🔖Queer longing communicated through data analysis and emergency protocol exchanges...
📍Final equation: Trauma + training + tethered hearts – men + Women -mutual understanding = ✨emotional transcendence✨
📈 Plot trajectory: steady build → soul-scorching payoff
💻 Technicals: flawless
💔 Feelings: fried
🧪 STEM girl seal of approval: ABSOLUTELY
If you’ve ever been the girl solving quantum mechanics by day and writing pining fanfic by night—this book gets you.
📌The poem: I wrote while reflecting on this story tries to capture that blend of cosmic vastness!!
🚀Whispers Beyond the Stars...
In endless void where silence reigns,
A fragile shell defies the chains—
Joan’s steady voice, a beacon bright,
Guides souls through dark, relentless night.
In orbit’s cold and starry sea,
A dance of fate and destiny,
Where science meets the human heart,
And courage plays its quiet part.
Beneath the stars, ambition burns,
With every risk, the cosmos turns.
Sisters, lovers, dreams entwine—
A fragile hope, a sacred sign.
Through pressure, loss, and silent tears,
They forge their paths beyond their
fears,
For in the vast and boundless blue,
They find what’s lost, and start anew.
-maddy🤍
📌Visual Moodboard (imagine this!)
-Deep navy and glittering silver, like the endless night sky
-Soft glows of distant stars and spacecraft panels lit in muted green
-Cozy, worn spacesuits and the quiet hum of mission control
-Warm embraces under cold, infinite skies
📌Final thoughts:📡 Final Transmission...
A story of wonder, survival, and legacy, Everything We’ve Been Given asks: What does it cost to chase the stars?bThis book made me cry like liquid oxygen exposed to vacuum. Cold. Immediate. Absolute.This isn’t just about making it to space. It’s about everything that must be given up to get there...
It is a love letter to women in STEM, to those who hold family and ambition in opposing hands, and to those who’ve loved in silence because the world wasn’t ready.
For every girl who looked up and saw stars—not ceiling tiles. For every woman who whispered "yes" to wonder, even when the world said "no."For every woman who carried both love and ambition like contraband,For every STEM kid who wondered if humanity and science could coexist—
This one’s for you...
I see you. And this book? It saw us too.
📍Read this if you like slow-burns with astronaut suits.
Stay for the trauma bonding, interstellar yearning, and deeply earned kisses.
And if you love stories where women save each other in every way that matters—emotionally, professionally, cosmically—this is your orbit, babe.
4.5/5. My emotional O-rings are BURNT.
------------------
ೃ ⁀➷Pre-view:🎯
🚀 Prepare for lift-off: an astrophysicist’s journey from classroom calm to cosmic chaos. A new frontier. A fearless crew. And a mission that will change everything.
🧲What’s Pulling Me In:
📚 Women in STEM excellence
🧠 Emotionally repressed nerd x dangerously magnetic fly girl
🫀 Slow burn so intense it might combust in microgravity
⚠️ Off-limits attraction — Astronaut Rule #1? Don’t fall for your crew
🔖Heartfelt found family dynamicsFound family of misfit astronauts (read: chaotic squad energy)
🎯 Dreams vs duty—can you touch the stars without letting go of who you are?
🌒 Queer longing through the lens of science and starlight
🔭NASA history meets personal heartbreak (yes, tissues required)
🚀 Space is vast. But love? It’s a whole new universe.
🧪 Science, sisterhood, secrets—and one slow-burn that might just defy gravity.that feels authentic because I’m living it in my lectures
🌌 The vastness of space, the intimacy of love: The observable universe shrinks when feelings get this big.
🧪 History + heart: 1980s NASA, where women broke the sound barrier and the glass ceiling.
💔 One mission. One mistake. Everything changes.
---
💬 Energy Levels:
Joan: “We orbit the same star but never collide.”
Vanessa: “Then let’s change the trajectory.”
Me: 📉📈📉📈📉📉🧍♀️
---
👩🚀 Found Family Roll Call:
🛩️ Hank Redmond — Top Gun dad energy. Gives ride-or-die big brother vibes.
🧪 John Griffin — chill lab girl who deserves the world.
🔬 Lydia Danes — so competent it hurts. She cuts through BS with her voice alone.
🧡 Donna Fitzgerald — warm, wonderful, hiding secrets, deserves a novel of her own.
🛠️ Vanessa Ford — chaos pilot. Engine queen. The crush you never saw coming but now can’t shake.
They train together. Fight together. Bleed together.
And they belong together.Yesss!!🖐🏻🧘🏻♀️🍿
---
🎬 The Vibe?
Cinematic. 1980s space program.
Sweaty simulators. Star maps.
Women changing the rules, falling in love, and risking everything.
> It's the kind of book where love feels like physics: predictable in theory—
but in reality? Pure chaos.
---
🛰️ TL;DR:
If you’re a physics nerd like me, if you’ve ever loved space, science, soft longing, and found family—you’ll love Atmosphere..
It’s heartbreak in a vacuum, love under pressure, and a girl who just wanted the stars but found something even bigger: herself.
🎓 As a physics student? I’m about to devour this like it’s my last lab report before launch day.let's go!!🤸🏻♀️
July 12, 2025
houston, i’m the problem.
June 23, 2025
I saw someone say that this book feels TJR is breaking your heart whilst simultaneously giving you a forehead kiss and I simply couldn't agree with that more. I couldn't put this down and when I did have to I couldn't stop thinking about it, the characters were everything to me and I already miss them SO. MUCH.
May 13, 2025
review to come once I stop crying long enough to see the screen
June 8, 2025
I loved it! Full RTC.
The other books on my current reads shelf need to step aside and make room… 🥁 here 👏🏻 I 👏🏻go! 😍
I was just thinking to myself the other day... damn it seems like it's been forever since TJR has dropped a new book.
And here we have it peeps! I can't even wait bc this gorgeous author ALWAYS SERVES! 💘
Anticipated Release- 06/03/2025
The other books on my current reads shelf need to step aside and make room… 🥁 here 👏🏻 I 👏🏻go! 😍
I was just thinking to myself the other day... damn it seems like it's been forever since TJR has dropped a new book.
And here we have it peeps! I can't even wait bc this gorgeous author ALWAYS SERVES! 💘
Anticipated Release- 06/03/2025
July 26, 2025
— 5/5 stars ☆
⤷ alexa play NASA by ariana grande.
this was my first taylor jenkins reid book, and I don’t know whether to scream in joy or grief, because atmosphere was such a goddamn masterpiece that I’m now retroactively mad at every other romance book I’ve ever read. what were they even doing? how were they allowed to publish? did they know this book was going to exist?
from the very first page, this story reached inside my chest and held me. not just in the emotional way (though, trust me, we’ll get there), but because i have been a space nerd since i was a kid, i now study in engineering and computer science but my childhood dream was to be an astronaut so trust me when i say i was pulled into this book by a different type of gravity. this book hit me on every possible frequency. I was clocking orbital mechanics, EVA protocol, payload bay logistics — and I was into it. I understood the jargon, the stakes, the language of NASA, and i adored that taylor embraced it. she made it part of the romance, part of the yearning. this wasn’t just a love story — it was an elegy to the stars, to ambition, to grief, to resilience, and to the women who’ve always had to fight like hell just to be in the room.
۫ ꣑ৎ ┊the characters -
joan goodwin is the kind of woman who burns slow and steady — an astronomer turned astronaut, a woman constantly underestimated, constantly overlooked, and so deeply brilliant it hurts. she’s not flashy, she’s the one who holds the line when everything falls apart. watching her climb through the system, get into the corps, earn her silver pin (and what it means to maybe, just maybe, earn the gold one)… god, it broke something open in me. taylor wrote her with such quiet ferocity. then there’s vanessa. vanessa fucking ford. the cool, detached aeronautical engineer with a simmering need to be seen and get out there. she’s fire to joan’s steel, and the way their relationship builds — full of restraint and gravity and so many near-misses — was more intense than any slow-burn I’ve ever read.
I couldn’t breathe during the “december 29, 1984” chapters. I know the pressure-drop alarms, I know what negative dP/dT means. and when they started listing systems going dark, when oxygen started bleeding out, when people stopped answering the loop… it felt like I was the one sitting CAPCOM. I was the one gripping the edge of my seat whispering, “Patch the damn hole, patch it, patch it—” 😭
but even more than the suspense or the spaceflight accuracy or the deeply layered characterization, what made this book unforgettable was how personal it felt. atmosphere doesn’t just explore love — it dissects it. What does it mean to love someone you’re not supposed to? to love when you’re trying so hard to keep your professional cool? to love someone in a world that still, in 1984, won’t even let you admit it out loud? every moment between joan and vanessa was electric in a way that felt honest, raw, and historically grounded.
there’s one line from joan that gutted me. she says, “If we leave the planet, we carry that with us into every room we enter for the rest of our lives.” that was about going to space, yes, but also about love. about loss. being forever changed.
now the bar for romance i’ll read next is in orbit. nothing else is gonna hit the same. I’m emotionally wrecked in the best possible way, and I might never read romance the same again. but at least I got this book. I got atmosphere. and it reminded me why I ever fell in love with stories in the first place.
the love in this book destroyed me to the tiny pieces and then glued me back together. the slow realization that these women — these strong, brilliant, terrified women — had carved out a love story in the cracks of a system that was never built for them. a love story with no guarantees. no safety nets. no room to exist in daylight. just small moments. a hand on a wrist. a voice on the comms. a choice to stay.
it’s a soul-level ache. It’s a deep, slow, burning orbit around something forbidden and fragile and life-defining. this is a love story that spans years of longing, silence, sacrifice, and all the things we don’t say because it’s the only way to survive the world we’re in. and holy hell — did I feel it. every second of it. I felt like my body couldn’t hold how much I needed these two women to just reach each other.
⤷ there’s one part of Joan’s story that hit me just as hard — maybe even harder — than the romance: her relationship with her niece, frances. I wasn’t prepared for how deeply that bond would cut me open. It’s this quiet, steady love threaded through the background of joan’s life, but it grounds everything. It’s the first relationship that shows us who Joan really is — not just the astronaut, not just the brilliant woman walking into rooms full of men who underestimate her — but the woman who drops everything to raise her sister’s child. Who teaches frances about the stars when she can’t get her to stop crying. who speaks to her in constellations and moon phases when the rest of the world is just noise.
there’s something sacred about how frances lives in Joan’s heart — how she doesn’t treat raising her as some obligation, but as a privilege. she talks about brushing her niece’s cheek like it’s this tiny, holy thing. and you realize, oh, this is the first place Joan ever let herself love without limits. without fear. It’s why she becomes the kind of astronaut who survives the impossible. It’s why she becomes the kind of woman vanessa can fall for — because she already knows what it means to love someone more than your own safety. more than your career. more than logic.
i loved that frances remains throughout the story. and in a book that’s so much about silence and restraint, their relationship is so emotionally loud — a bright, safe place where love doesn’t have to hide. It just is. It made me cry in this very specific, ache-in-the-throat kind of way. because for all the beauty in joan and vanessa’s romance, frances is the one who reminds us: love doesn’t only belong to the romantic. It belongs to whoever you’d walk through fire for. it just affected me way more than i thought.
I cried. like ugly cried. i love when books make me cry because it rarely happen. I cried because this book made me believe that love can exist even in silence. that sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is “I’ve got you,” when the whole world is falling apart. that love can be built in glances, in quiet acts of loyalty, in pressure applied to a space suit at 218 miles above earth.
— thank you Random House - Ballantine - for an ARC!!
me dropping to my knees. sobbing in relief when “—ston, this is Navigator. do you read?”
⤷ alexa play NASA by ariana grande.
this was my first taylor jenkins reid book, and I don’t know whether to scream in joy or grief, because atmosphere was such a goddamn masterpiece that I’m now retroactively mad at every other romance book I’ve ever read. what were they even doing? how were they allowed to publish? did they know this book was going to exist?
from the very first page, this story reached inside my chest and held me. not just in the emotional way (though, trust me, we’ll get there), but because i have been a space nerd since i was a kid, i now study in engineering and computer science but my childhood dream was to be an astronaut so trust me when i say i was pulled into this book by a different type of gravity. this book hit me on every possible frequency. I was clocking orbital mechanics, EVA protocol, payload bay logistics — and I was into it. I understood the jargon, the stakes, the language of NASA, and i adored that taylor embraced it. she made it part of the romance, part of the yearning. this wasn’t just a love story — it was an elegy to the stars, to ambition, to grief, to resilience, and to the women who’ve always had to fight like hell just to be in the room.
۫ ꣑ৎ ┊the characters -
joan goodwin is the kind of woman who burns slow and steady — an astronomer turned astronaut, a woman constantly underestimated, constantly overlooked, and so deeply brilliant it hurts. she’s not flashy, she’s the one who holds the line when everything falls apart. watching her climb through the system, get into the corps, earn her silver pin (and what it means to maybe, just maybe, earn the gold one)… god, it broke something open in me. taylor wrote her with such quiet ferocity. then there’s vanessa. vanessa fucking ford. the cool, detached aeronautical engineer with a simmering need to be seen and get out there. she’s fire to joan’s steel, and the way their relationship builds — full of restraint and gravity and so many near-misses — was more intense than any slow-burn I’ve ever read.
I couldn’t breathe during the “december 29, 1984” chapters. I know the pressure-drop alarms, I know what negative dP/dT means. and when they started listing systems going dark, when oxygen started bleeding out, when people stopped answering the loop… it felt like I was the one sitting CAPCOM. I was the one gripping the edge of my seat whispering, “Patch the damn hole, patch it, patch it—” 😭
but even more than the suspense or the spaceflight accuracy or the deeply layered characterization, what made this book unforgettable was how personal it felt. atmosphere doesn’t just explore love — it dissects it. What does it mean to love someone you’re not supposed to? to love when you’re trying so hard to keep your professional cool? to love someone in a world that still, in 1984, won’t even let you admit it out loud? every moment between joan and vanessa was electric in a way that felt honest, raw, and historically grounded.
there’s one line from joan that gutted me. she says, “If we leave the planet, we carry that with us into every room we enter for the rest of our lives.” that was about going to space, yes, but also about love. about loss. being forever changed.
now the bar for romance i’ll read next is in orbit. nothing else is gonna hit the same. I’m emotionally wrecked in the best possible way, and I might never read romance the same again. but at least I got this book. I got atmosphere. and it reminded me why I ever fell in love with stories in the first place.
the love in this book destroyed me to the tiny pieces and then glued me back together. the slow realization that these women — these strong, brilliant, terrified women — had carved out a love story in the cracks of a system that was never built for them. a love story with no guarantees. no safety nets. no room to exist in daylight. just small moments. a hand on a wrist. a voice on the comms. a choice to stay.
it’s a soul-level ache. It’s a deep, slow, burning orbit around something forbidden and fragile and life-defining. this is a love story that spans years of longing, silence, sacrifice, and all the things we don’t say because it’s the only way to survive the world we’re in. and holy hell — did I feel it. every second of it. I felt like my body couldn’t hold how much I needed these two women to just reach each other.
⤷ there’s one part of Joan’s story that hit me just as hard — maybe even harder — than the romance: her relationship with her niece, frances. I wasn’t prepared for how deeply that bond would cut me open. It’s this quiet, steady love threaded through the background of joan’s life, but it grounds everything. It’s the first relationship that shows us who Joan really is — not just the astronaut, not just the brilliant woman walking into rooms full of men who underestimate her — but the woman who drops everything to raise her sister’s child. Who teaches frances about the stars when she can’t get her to stop crying. who speaks to her in constellations and moon phases when the rest of the world is just noise.
there’s something sacred about how frances lives in Joan’s heart — how she doesn’t treat raising her as some obligation, but as a privilege. she talks about brushing her niece’s cheek like it’s this tiny, holy thing. and you realize, oh, this is the first place Joan ever let herself love without limits. without fear. It’s why she becomes the kind of astronaut who survives the impossible. It’s why she becomes the kind of woman vanessa can fall for — because she already knows what it means to love someone more than your own safety. more than your career. more than logic.
i loved that frances remains throughout the story. and in a book that’s so much about silence and restraint, their relationship is so emotionally loud — a bright, safe place where love doesn’t have to hide. It just is. It made me cry in this very specific, ache-in-the-throat kind of way. because for all the beauty in joan and vanessa’s romance, frances is the one who reminds us: love doesn’t only belong to the romantic. It belongs to whoever you’d walk through fire for. it just affected me way more than i thought.
I cried. like ugly cried. i love when books make me cry because it rarely happen. I cried because this book made me believe that love can exist even in silence. that sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is “I’ve got you,” when the whole world is falling apart. that love can be built in glances, in quiet acts of loyalty, in pressure applied to a space suit at 218 miles above earth.
— thank you Random House - Ballantine - for an ARC!!
me dropping to my knees. sobbing in relief when “—ston, this is Navigator. do you read?”
June 23, 2025
I think this just changed my brain chemistry
July 26, 2025
this is undeniably a love story.
its a love story between a woman and the stars she admires. its a love story regarding a friend that becomes something more. and its a love story about the special care an aunt has for her niece.
its a love story about passions, hidden touches, family bonds, and ultimately life.
its expertly written, emotionally impactful, and captivatingly courageous. its everything that makes TJRs books so remarkable.
↠ 4.5 stars
its a love story between a woman and the stars she admires. its a love story regarding a friend that becomes something more. and its a love story about the special care an aunt has for her niece.
its a love story about passions, hidden touches, family bonds, and ultimately life.
its expertly written, emotionally impactful, and captivatingly courageous. its everything that makes TJRs books so remarkable.
↠ 4.5 stars
June 22, 2025
3.5 stars
It kind of pains me to rate a TJR book this low, especially since this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I love the way she writes emotional stories, and the setup for this book felt like it had everything I’d want: a sapphic romance, a historical backdrop, and a woman breaking barriers at NASA in the 1980s.
Atmosphere follows Joan Goodwin, a reserved but brilliant physics professor who’s spent her life fascinated by the stars. When NASA puts out a call for women to join the Space Shuttle program, Joan applies almost on a whim—and ends up selected. As she trains with a group of candidates, including Vanessa Ford, she not only pursues her dream of spaceflight but also finds a love that forces her to reimagine the future she thought she wanted.
It’s a premise that sounds like it could be electric. And while there were parts of the book I really loved, I mostly ended up feeling underwhelmed.
And maybe that’s partly on me. I mean, “a love story” is literally on the cover, so I knew romance would be a big focus. But I thought it would be more than just romantic love—I expected a love story between the main character and space itself. A story about the awe of the galaxy, the pull of ambition, the love of science and discovery and risk. I thought space would be the heart of it. Instead, it felt more like the backdrop. And that mismatch between what I thought I was getting and what the book actually delivered stuck with me.
Let’s start with the romance—because that part is absolutely stunning. The love story between Joan and Vanessa is full of quiet tension, restraint, and longing. It’s slow-burn in the best way, and it felt real and earned. Their connection hit hard because it had to be hidden, especially in the context of 1980s America. Every small moment between them carried weight, and TJR really knows how to write that kind of emotional build-up. I believed in them. I rooted for them. I teared up multiple times over their relationship and was moved more than anything else in the book.
Their love is definitely the emotional centre of the novel, and if you go in wanting that, you’ll probably come away satisfied. It’s thoughtful, soft, and really beautifully done.
But here’s the thing: this is a book about one of the first women chosen for NASA’s Space Shuttle program. That’s a huge deal. There’s so much rich territory there—sexism in STEM, queerness in hyper-masculine spaces, the pressure of being “the first.” And the book does touch on those themes. You can tell TJR did her research. There are moments that hint at the challenges Joan faced as a woman, and as a queer person in that field, but it all feels like it’s happening in the background. Those layers are present, but they don’t take centre stage.
We don’t get a lot of Joan as an astronaut. We get a lot of Joan as a caretaker, a niece’s guardian, a girlfriend, a sister’s support system. These are all valid and emotional parts of her story, and some are deeply moving, but her ambition and career often feel like an afterthought. There’s a great setup for a story about chasing a dream in a world that keeps pushing you back, but that part never quite lands.
The structure doesn’t help either. The book opens with an intense, gripping scene in space—something goes wrong during a shuttle mission, and it immediately pulled me in. I thought we were in for a high-stakes, character-driven space drama. But then the narrative jumps back in time and spends most of the book slowly walking us toward that moment.
Which would be fine—except it didn’t add up because the urgency of the opening disappears for a long stretch. Some chapters do weave in urgency, and the space plot does return, but we lose focus on it quite a bit. It wasn’t enough and not as explosive as I was expecting. The story turns inward—focused more on emotional backstory than career stakes or external tension. I appreciated the emotional depth, but I kept waiting for the space plot to fully regain its momentum, and it never quite did.
And when the ending finally arrives, it felt rushed. After so much slow buildup, I was surprised by how quickly things wrapped up. It didn’t quite earn the emotional payoff it was clearly aiming for.
The writing—I mean TJR’s writing is strong, as always. She has a way of making emotional moments feel clean and honest without over-explaining. Even when I wasn’t loving the direction the story took, I still admired how well it was written. The technical parts of the space program felt researched and believable—just not as central as I’d hoped. She’s clearly done the work to understand the history and context, and I respect how she weaves real historical moments into a fictional narrative. I just wish we got more of that here.
Would I recommend it? Yes—if you go in knowing what kind of story this actually is.
If you’re looking for a romance set against the backdrop of space, you’ll probably love it. If you’re hoping for a story about a queer woman breaking barriers in a male-dominated field and fighting to get to space, you might come away a bit disappointed. That story is there, but it’s quiet—and it takes a backseat to everything else.
Overall, I liked a lot of it but I expected something bigger and bolder. Something that wasn’t just about love, but about ambition and risk and what it means to want more from life than what the world thinks you deserve.
Beautiful in parts, but ultimately not what I hoped it would be.
“Being human was such a lonely endeavour. We alone have consciousness; we are the only intelligent life force that we know of in the galaxy. We have no one but one another.”
It kind of pains me to rate a TJR book this low, especially since this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I love the way she writes emotional stories, and the setup for this book felt like it had everything I’d want: a sapphic romance, a historical backdrop, and a woman breaking barriers at NASA in the 1980s.
Atmosphere follows Joan Goodwin, a reserved but brilliant physics professor who’s spent her life fascinated by the stars. When NASA puts out a call for women to join the Space Shuttle program, Joan applies almost on a whim—and ends up selected. As she trains with a group of candidates, including Vanessa Ford, she not only pursues her dream of spaceflight but also finds a love that forces her to reimagine the future she thought she wanted.
It’s a premise that sounds like it could be electric. And while there were parts of the book I really loved, I mostly ended up feeling underwhelmed.
And maybe that’s partly on me. I mean, “a love story” is literally on the cover, so I knew romance would be a big focus. But I thought it would be more than just romantic love—I expected a love story between the main character and space itself. A story about the awe of the galaxy, the pull of ambition, the love of science and discovery and risk. I thought space would be the heart of it. Instead, it felt more like the backdrop. And that mismatch between what I thought I was getting and what the book actually delivered stuck with me.
“In all of her time spent watching others, she hadn’t picked up on this part of falling in love, that someone could look at you as if you were the very centre of everything. And even though you knew better, you’d allow yourself a moment to believe you were worthy of being revolved around, too.”
Let’s start with the romance—because that part is absolutely stunning. The love story between Joan and Vanessa is full of quiet tension, restraint, and longing. It’s slow-burn in the best way, and it felt real and earned. Their connection hit hard because it had to be hidden, especially in the context of 1980s America. Every small moment between them carried weight, and TJR really knows how to write that kind of emotional build-up. I believed in them. I rooted for them. I teared up multiple times over their relationship and was moved more than anything else in the book.
Their love is definitely the emotional centre of the novel, and if you go in wanting that, you’ll probably come away satisfied. It’s thoughtful, soft, and really beautifully done.
But here’s the thing: this is a book about one of the first women chosen for NASA’s Space Shuttle program. That’s a huge deal. There’s so much rich territory there—sexism in STEM, queerness in hyper-masculine spaces, the pressure of being “the first.” And the book does touch on those themes. You can tell TJR did her research. There are moments that hint at the challenges Joan faced as a woman, and as a queer person in that field, but it all feels like it’s happening in the background. Those layers are present, but they don’t take centre stage.
We don’t get a lot of Joan as an astronaut. We get a lot of Joan as a caretaker, a niece’s guardian, a girlfriend, a sister’s support system. These are all valid and emotional parts of her story, and some are deeply moving, but her ambition and career often feel like an afterthought. There’s a great setup for a story about chasing a dream in a world that keeps pushing you back, but that part never quite lands.
The structure doesn’t help either. The book opens with an intense, gripping scene in space—something goes wrong during a shuttle mission, and it immediately pulled me in. I thought we were in for a high-stakes, character-driven space drama. But then the narrative jumps back in time and spends most of the book slowly walking us toward that moment.
Which would be fine—except it didn’t add up because the urgency of the opening disappears for a long stretch. Some chapters do weave in urgency, and the space plot does return, but we lose focus on it quite a bit. It wasn’t enough and not as explosive as I was expecting. The story turns inward—focused more on emotional backstory than career stakes or external tension. I appreciated the emotional depth, but I kept waiting for the space plot to fully regain its momentum, and it never quite did.
And when the ending finally arrives, it felt rushed. After so much slow buildup, I was surprised by how quickly things wrapped up. It didn’t quite earn the emotional payoff it was clearly aiming for.
The writing—I mean TJR’s writing is strong, as always. She has a way of making emotional moments feel clean and honest without over-explaining. Even when I wasn’t loving the direction the story took, I still admired how well it was written. The technical parts of the space program felt researched and believable—just not as central as I’d hoped. She’s clearly done the work to understand the history and context, and I respect how she weaves real historical moments into a fictional narrative. I just wish we got more of that here.
Would I recommend it? Yes—if you go in knowing what kind of story this actually is.
If you’re looking for a romance set against the backdrop of space, you’ll probably love it. If you’re hoping for a story about a queer woman breaking barriers in a male-dominated field and fighting to get to space, you might come away a bit disappointed. That story is there, but it’s quiet—and it takes a backseat to everything else.
Overall, I liked a lot of it but I expected something bigger and bolder. Something that wasn’t just about love, but about ambition and risk and what it means to want more from life than what the world thinks you deserve.
Beautiful in parts, but ultimately not what I hoped it would be.
June 16, 2025
Ummmmmm I’m sobbing on the kitchen floor over this wtf?! Five stars- new favorite, but like also the ending didn’t have to go that hard I wasn’t BREATHING MY GOD!!!!!
July 25, 2025
It’s nearly impossible to resist devouring anything Taylor Jenkins Reid writes—she has a magic touch for crafting unforgettable, empowering heroines. Whether they’re rock stars, tennis champions, or reclusive movie legends, her women are always unforgettable. In her latest novel, we’re lucky enough to get two inspiring leads: Joan, a warm-hearted, nerdy astronomy professor, and Vanessa, a bold, free-spirited aeronautical mechanic-turned-pilot. These two trailblazers become the first women selected for NASA’s Space Shuttle program in the early 1980s—a time when glass ceilings were thick, and societal norms were even thicker.
Set against the politically charged backdrop of Reagan-era America and the rigid culture of NASA, this novel explores not only their individual dreams but also a blossoming, deeply intimate romance they’re forced to keep hidden. Their story is as much about space exploration as it is about self-discovery, sacrifice, and quiet defiance.
As with any TJR book, I was hooked. But—here’s the twist—I’m not giving this one five stars, and I’ll explain why shortly.
Let’s start with what worked beautifully: The pacing is electric. We’re immediately thrown into the heart-pounding action of the STS-LR9 shuttle mission in December 1984. We meet the ensemble of astronauts—Joan Goodwin at Mission Control, the charismatic Vanessa Ford, easygoing scientist John Griffin, ultra-competitive Lydia Danes, and gruff yet lovable Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond. There’s also Jack Katowski, the grumpy-but-wise boss, and Donna, Hank’s grounded and supportive wife. And then, suddenly, something goes terribly wrong—pulling us straight into a suspenseful unraveling.
From there, we rewind to four years earlier to witness the formation of this team—Joan teaching astronomy at Rice University while raising her precocious niece Frances, and Vanessa, a brilliant engineer with a haunted past. Their connection starts slow but simmers with tension, eventually transforming into a deep, undeniable bond that challenges societal norms and professional expectations alike.
Joan’s personal journey—especially her relationship with Frances—was one of the most heartfelt parts of the novel. Her internal awakening and her growth as both an aunt and a woman in a male-dominated field were beautifully portrayed. Vanessa, with her fiery spirit and fearless voice, offers the perfect counterbalance. Together, they’re an unforgettable duo.
Now, onto the small disappointments that held me back from giving it a perfect score:
Despite the emotional gravity of the opening chapter, I felt disconnected. We were introduced to so many characters at once, and I hadn’t had the time to fully understand or bond with them yet. That shocking beginning might have had more impact placed later in the book, once readers had time to form attachments. It felt rushed and emotionally distant, and as a screenwriter, I know the value of building emotional stakes before the big bang.
Also, the book could have used more room to breathe. I actually wanted more pages. The romance between Joan and Vanessa was poignant, but I found myself equally intrigued by the broader ensemble—especially Lydia, who I love to hate and hate to love. Her complexity made her a standout. I wanted more from her, more from Hank and Donna, and more from the group's training challenges. These were fascinating characters navigating extraordinary pressure, and their shared journey deserved more page time.
And Barbara—Joan’s sister—was a sore point. Her characterization felt exaggerated, almost cartoonishly villainous. I kept wishing for a redemption arc or at least a deeper exploration of her pain and motivations. It felt like a missed opportunity for nuance.
Finally, while the ending was powerful and satisfying, it was a bit predictable. I would have loved just one more twist to truly knock the wind out of me.
That said, this is still an excellent read. It’s thoughtful, gripping, full of heart, and a beautiful tribute to the women who broke boundaries—both in the skies and within themselves. It's not my favorite TJR book, but it’s certainly among her boldest and most emotionally resonant.
Read this for the romance, stay for the rocket science—and let it remind you that love, in any era, always finds a way.
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Set against the politically charged backdrop of Reagan-era America and the rigid culture of NASA, this novel explores not only their individual dreams but also a blossoming, deeply intimate romance they’re forced to keep hidden. Their story is as much about space exploration as it is about self-discovery, sacrifice, and quiet defiance.
As with any TJR book, I was hooked. But—here’s the twist—I’m not giving this one five stars, and I’ll explain why shortly.
Let’s start with what worked beautifully: The pacing is electric. We’re immediately thrown into the heart-pounding action of the STS-LR9 shuttle mission in December 1984. We meet the ensemble of astronauts—Joan Goodwin at Mission Control, the charismatic Vanessa Ford, easygoing scientist John Griffin, ultra-competitive Lydia Danes, and gruff yet lovable Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond. There’s also Jack Katowski, the grumpy-but-wise boss, and Donna, Hank’s grounded and supportive wife. And then, suddenly, something goes terribly wrong—pulling us straight into a suspenseful unraveling.
From there, we rewind to four years earlier to witness the formation of this team—Joan teaching astronomy at Rice University while raising her precocious niece Frances, and Vanessa, a brilliant engineer with a haunted past. Their connection starts slow but simmers with tension, eventually transforming into a deep, undeniable bond that challenges societal norms and professional expectations alike.
Joan’s personal journey—especially her relationship with Frances—was one of the most heartfelt parts of the novel. Her internal awakening and her growth as both an aunt and a woman in a male-dominated field were beautifully portrayed. Vanessa, with her fiery spirit and fearless voice, offers the perfect counterbalance. Together, they’re an unforgettable duo.
Now, onto the small disappointments that held me back from giving it a perfect score:
Despite the emotional gravity of the opening chapter, I felt disconnected. We were introduced to so many characters at once, and I hadn’t had the time to fully understand or bond with them yet. That shocking beginning might have had more impact placed later in the book, once readers had time to form attachments. It felt rushed and emotionally distant, and as a screenwriter, I know the value of building emotional stakes before the big bang.
Also, the book could have used more room to breathe. I actually wanted more pages. The romance between Joan and Vanessa was poignant, but I found myself equally intrigued by the broader ensemble—especially Lydia, who I love to hate and hate to love. Her complexity made her a standout. I wanted more from her, more from Hank and Donna, and more from the group's training challenges. These were fascinating characters navigating extraordinary pressure, and their shared journey deserved more page time.
And Barbara—Joan’s sister—was a sore point. Her characterization felt exaggerated, almost cartoonishly villainous. I kept wishing for a redemption arc or at least a deeper exploration of her pain and motivations. It felt like a missed opportunity for nuance.
Finally, while the ending was powerful and satisfying, it was a bit predictable. I would have loved just one more twist to truly knock the wind out of me.
That said, this is still an excellent read. It’s thoughtful, gripping, full of heart, and a beautiful tribute to the women who broke boundaries—both in the skies and within themselves. It's not my favorite TJR book, but it’s certainly among her boldest and most emotionally resonant.
Read this for the romance, stay for the rocket science—and let it remind you that love, in any era, always finds a way.
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
medium blog
June 9, 2025
I want to get this review right, to honor the book properly. This is not a book you leave behind. It’s a treasure that will live inside you as long as you live. I can’t remember a love story that has touched me more, shattered my heart and plastered it back together again.
Transcending space and time, perfectly illustrated by a plot about reaching for the stars and pondering big questions. It never felt trite. Instead I encountered again my childhood awe for the unknown, my thirst for knowledge and looking for what makes me happy.
There was also a wonderful sub-plot of the love between Joan and her sister’s child, their story was magical and real.
Lastly, I cried. I cried so much that I needed to take a moment to just breathe. What kind of book is able to do that ? This one.
Transcending space and time, perfectly illustrated by a plot about reaching for the stars and pondering big questions. It never felt trite. Instead I encountered again my childhood awe for the unknown, my thirst for knowledge and looking for what makes me happy.
There was also a wonderful sub-plot of the love between Joan and her sister’s child, their story was magical and real.
Lastly, I cried. I cried so much that I needed to take a moment to just breathe. What kind of book is able to do that ? This one.
Read
July 25, 2025u know the book is good if it makes u ugly cry at 3 am 🤧✋🏻
— review to come!!
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈
୨ৎ pre-read:
⤿ started - June 20, 2025
the internet won’t shut up about this book, and with TJR’s name on it, I already know I’m about to be emotionally destroyed, so let’s see how that goes 😌🤸🏻♀
— review to come!!
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈
୨ৎ pre-read:
⤿ started - June 20, 2025
the internet won’t shut up about this book, and with TJR’s name on it, I already know I’m about to be emotionally destroyed, so let’s see how that goes 😌🤸🏻♀
June 22, 2025
WOW! It’s pretty amazing how with every new book TJR writes, I’m somehow convinced I have a new favorite, and I think that pattern will hold true today, as I finish her latest and greatest. In a twist no one saw coming, I was emotionally invested before I hit the 5% mark, a true testament to just how incredibly talented she is at character development and the relationship building between the reader and those characters.
I absolutely loved the pacing of the story. We start off with a literal bang, and then return to the past— to how it all begins. Slowly but surely, we are guided through the past and present in a way that helps us to achieve maximum understanding of the characters’ dilemma and the context of their situation, while also giving us a dog in the fight. I will admit I cried quite a few times as I grew so attached to these characters, all while knowing their potential outcome. And I am pretty darn sure my heart was in my throat for the entirety of the last chapter, as the end drew near with no obvious resolution.
🎧 The audio is absolutely spectacular, and I cannot imagine a better narrating duo than Julia Whelan and Kristen DiMercurio. They were magnificent! That said, given the intricate nature of the topic and the larger cast, I really appreciated having the book to read alongside it. I highly recommend doing an immersive read of this one if you have access to both the physical/ebook and audio. It will be well worth it.
Read if you like:
▪️history of the US space program
▪️1980s setting
▪️ensemble casts
▪️strong FMCs
▪️found family
▪️sapphic romance
▪️edge-of-your-seat plot lines
▪️Kristin Hannah meets TJ Newman
This book is infinity stars but Goodreads only tracks to five. When you see the 5⭐️s, just know it’s really ♾️⭐️.
🚀 Check out my Bookstagram post here!
Thank you Ballantine and PRH for the gifted copies.
I absolutely loved the pacing of the story. We start off with a literal bang, and then return to the past— to how it all begins. Slowly but surely, we are guided through the past and present in a way that helps us to achieve maximum understanding of the characters’ dilemma and the context of their situation, while also giving us a dog in the fight. I will admit I cried quite a few times as I grew so attached to these characters, all while knowing their potential outcome. And I am pretty darn sure my heart was in my throat for the entirety of the last chapter, as the end drew near with no obvious resolution.
🎧 The audio is absolutely spectacular, and I cannot imagine a better narrating duo than Julia Whelan and Kristen DiMercurio. They were magnificent! That said, given the intricate nature of the topic and the larger cast, I really appreciated having the book to read alongside it. I highly recommend doing an immersive read of this one if you have access to both the physical/ebook and audio. It will be well worth it.
Read if you like:
▪️history of the US space program
▪️1980s setting
▪️ensemble casts
▪️strong FMCs
▪️found family
▪️sapphic romance
▪️edge-of-your-seat plot lines
▪️Kristin Hannah meets TJ Newman
This book is infinity stars but Goodreads only tracks to five. When you see the 5⭐️s, just know it’s really ♾️⭐️.
🚀 Check out my Bookstagram post here!
Thank you Ballantine and PRH for the gifted copies.
June 17, 2025
She grabbed my hair and rag-dolled me to the finish line 😭😭😭 5 stars easily 👏
rtc
——
If TJR writes it, I’m summoned to read it 🫡 I have a good feeling about this
My TJR rankings:
╰┈➤ Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - 5 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ One True Loves - 5 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ After I Do - 4.5 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Daisy Jones and the Six - 4.5 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Carrie Soto is Back - 4.25 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Malibu rising - 4 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Forever, Interrupted - 4 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Evidence of the affair - 4 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Maybe in another life - TBR
rtc
——
If TJR writes it, I’m summoned to read it 🫡 I have a good feeling about this
My TJR rankings:
╰┈➤ Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - 5 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ One True Loves - 5 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ After I Do - 4.5 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Daisy Jones and the Six - 4.5 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Carrie Soto is Back - 4.25 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Malibu rising - 4 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Forever, Interrupted - 4 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Evidence of the affair - 4 stars 🌟
╰┈➤ Maybe in another life - TBR
June 13, 2025
i was not ready for this amount of emotional distress 🥲
pre read: WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW EXCITED I AM FOR THIS BOOK (i know this will cause me an indescribable amount of emotional distress)
pre read: WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW EXCITED I AM FOR THIS BOOK (i know this will cause me an indescribable amount of emotional distress)
June 8, 2025
"You are the first woman I've ever met who I feel like understands things about me before I even say them."
my heart?? gone. shattered. scattered across the stars.
this is my third TJR book — after Malibu Rising and Daisy Jones left me confused about whether she was for me... but this? this cracked my chest open.
I listened to the audiobook, and it made the emotional gut-punch land 10x harder. the narration? absolutely stunning. kristen dimercurio & julia whelan killed it. even TJR herself added special to the mix.
joan goodwin is the type of character who doesn’t scream for attention — she pulls it.
quiet. smart. aching with ambition. she loves the stars with her whole heart, but she never expected that dream to feel so close. so real.
and when NASA opens its doors to women scientists… she walks in, carrying her doubts and dreams side by side.
and vanessa ford?? that woman is a fever dream.
aloof. sharp. magnetic in a way that feels dangerous and safe at once. her dynamic with joan was slow-burn excellence. the kind that sneaks up on you and suddenly, you’re in it.
there was no grand confession. no labels. just glances and longing and space between them that felt full.
"I would give you anything if it wouldn't cost us everything."
^ this line will live in my brain rent free until the day I die.
there’s something so soft but cutting about how TJR tells stories.
this wasn’t a flashy book. not trying to go viral. it’s slow. thoughtful. and by the end? you realize your chest has been tight for 300 pages straight.
it’s about love, yes. but it’s also about sacrifice. ambition. family. grief.
NASA wasn’t just the setting — it was a metaphor for distance, for gravity, for how we launch ourselves toward the things we want even when it terrifies us.
this is a book that lingers.
somewhere around the 70% mark, it clicks. everything you didn’t realize was building starts to bloom. the tension. the weight of joan’s choices.
by the final chapters, I was holding my breath. crying like it was personal. like I was the one in the capsule, waiting for contact.
the vibes?? immaculate.
🪐 quiet ambition
💗 sharp, simmering sapphic tension
🪐 the '80s in the background like a heartbeat
💗 found family at the edge of space
🪐 female characters written with such care and respect
💗 grief that doesn’t scream, just settles into your bones
🪐 one tiny moment that changes everything
💗 emotional devastation delivered with literary precision
not every book changes your atmosphere. this one did.
finished it and I just sat there like. okay. guess I’ll never recover from that.
would I recommend it?
yes. if you’re patient. if you love character-driven stories. if you don’t mind a little heartbreak with your ambition.
if you believe women can be everything — brilliant, broken, bold.
this book burned slow, but — when it lit up? it blazed.
June 12, 2025
Houston, I have a problem.
It’s 1984. Joan Goodwin has worked her way up in a man’s world at the Houston space centre. She’s navigating a team of astronauts on a mission who are headed for disaster. One of them being someone whom she cares for. The story dips back into the depths of that relationship.
TJR tackled many themes. Workplace and sexual discrimination; identity challenges; family dysfunction; sacrifices women make to position themselves in the corporate world. All with a cool backdrop of space exploration and some intense moments.
Yet, at times, the writing was overly gushy and repetitive. This was very much a sapphic romance. I wanted more space training! As for that ending, TJR? Why did you take that detour? That was an atmospheric bust.
Overall 3.5⭐️
It’s 1984. Joan Goodwin has worked her way up in a man’s world at the Houston space centre. She’s navigating a team of astronauts on a mission who are headed for disaster. One of them being someone whom she cares for. The story dips back into the depths of that relationship.
TJR tackled many themes. Workplace and sexual discrimination; identity challenges; family dysfunction; sacrifices women make to position themselves in the corporate world. All with a cool backdrop of space exploration and some intense moments.
Yet, at times, the writing was overly gushy and repetitive. This was very much a sapphic romance. I wanted more space training! As for that ending, TJR? Why did you take that detour? That was an atmospheric bust.
Overall 3.5⭐️
June 11, 2025
it’s a story about space, but it’s really a story about love.
my god this book consumed me.
my god this book consumed me.
July 23, 2025
She did not have enough coffee while writing this book.
Theme on glamour worked. Theme on sports worked. Theme on romance worked. Theme on music worked. Theme on love triangle worked. Theme on infidelity worked. Theme on loss worked. But this theme went right outta space.
Not even once it felt like I was reading a TJR book. I thought it might get better as it usually does with good books, but my life seemed shorter and shorter as the book got longer and longer.
Am not sorry for the rating and how much I got bored while reading the book (which took place in four different occasions). The dialogues are flat; the characters are flat and nothing much is going on. Everything IS FLAT and the boredom got worse. TJR, you are my favourite but this one is an easy miss.
Theme on glamour worked. Theme on sports worked. Theme on romance worked. Theme on music worked. Theme on love triangle worked. Theme on infidelity worked. Theme on loss worked. But this theme went right outta space.
Not even once it felt like I was reading a TJR book. I thought it might get better as it usually does with good books, but my life seemed shorter and shorter as the book got longer and longer.
Am not sorry for the rating and how much I got bored while reading the book (which took place in four different occasions). The dialogues are flat; the characters are flat and nothing much is going on. Everything IS FLAT and the boredom got worse. TJR, you are my favourite but this one is an easy miss.
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