Book Review: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Listen… at this point, if Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote a packing list for a weekend trip, I’d absolutely be adding it to my TBR list. So no, no one should be even a little surprised that I devoured Atmosphere and immediately wanted someone else to read it so we could dissect it together.
This one takes us back to the early 1980s and drops us right into NASA during a time when women were finally starting to push their way into the space program. Our main character, Joan Goodwin, walks into astronaut training carrying a whole lot of “I refuse to fail.” From day one, she finds the kind of people who feel like instant family - the ride-or-dies she’s been craving her whole life.
The book opens with Joan stepping into Mission Control as CAPCOM - the literal voice between Earth and the shuttle - while her friends are orbiting above her after a catastrophic accident. The tension is immediate. The stakes are high. My ability to blink, gone. And right when you’re fully invested in what went wrong, TJR does what TJR does best… she rewinds the entire story so you can see exactly how we got here.
We meet Joan before the astronaut dream was even a spark - back when she was working a job that’s fine-but-not-really-her until her sister calls with the news that NASA is recruiting women scientists. From there, we follow her through the grind of training, the doubt, the breakthroughs, the politics, the friendships, and the slow realization of who she actually is vs who she’s been told to be.
Let’s talk about the subtitle, A Love Story, for a second. I’ll be honest - I braced myself. Romance is not usually my genre, and I wasn’t sure how heavy-handed it would be. But this isn’t “romance” in the traditional sense. This is love in every direction:
love for your calling
love for chosen family
love between friends
love for the people who make you feel bigger, not smaller
Yes, there’s a romantic thread, but it’s gentle and natural and adds to the story instead of taking over.
The dual timeline - bouncing between 1980 and 1984 with a few stops in between - works perfectly. You get that heart-in-your-throat present-day tension paired with the slower emotional build of Joan’s past. And watching her relationship with her niece grow was one of my favorite parts. It gives us this softer, grounded side of Joan that you wouldn’t see otherwise.
This book checks every TJR box I love: layered characters, slow-building tension, emotional depth, and history woven in so effortlessly that it doesn’t even feel like learning. It’s immersive. It’s vivid. And by the end, I felt like I needed a moment to recover.
If you already love Taylor Jenkins Reid, this is a no-brainer for your TBR. If you’ve never read her before… honestly, this is a fantastic place to start.
A solid 5 stars from me. Absolutely loved it.
