Atmosphere: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Love Story
4.5 | 58,944 ratings
Price: 19.69
Last update: 01-20-2026
Top reviews from the United States
- Cori / RomancingtheReaderA top read of the year, instantly!I’ve never read a Taylor Jenkins Reid book. But something about this cover grabbed my attention. Then I went in mostly blind, and got swept up in the incredible writing storytelling of it all.
???? ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????: Atmosphere by Taylor
Jenkins Reid
???? ????????????????????????: Standalone
???? ???????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????: E-book on Kindle. Borrowed through the Libby app.
???? ????????????????????: Contemporary romance
???? ????????????????????????: Opposites attract, forbidden love.
???? ????????????????????????????????: Joan has never felt like she fit in - until she found NASA. Now as a part of their elite astronaut program, she meets Vanessa, a fellow astronaut who makes her life feel like a puzzle that finally fits together. But as they navigate the astronaut program and finally advancing women to space, it becomes clear their romance was doomed from the start.
???? ????????????????????????: This book was a roller coaster, in the best possible way.
Joan and Vanessa had the type of love everyone yearns for but few find. And then to have to hide that love and live in the shadows when you’re truly happy was heartbreaking to read. As a reader, this had moments of humanity, of swoon-worthy romance, of absolute panic and of complete devastation.
TJR wrote this as a dual timeline, expertly alternating between the “present day” of Joan attempting to motivate Vanessa home from a doomed space mission to the past and the beginnings of their relationship. I was floored, and let me tell you… when the third act breakup comes alongside the truly life and death moment, you may need a tissue (or if you’re like me, an entire box).
The characters, the camaraderie, and the vastness of space had me highlighting passages left and right. This was easily a top book of the year - get that library hold in ASAP.
????????????????????????: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
???????????????????? ????????????????????: 1/5 ???? - Claudia Hogan4-Star Review for Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins ReidWrite a 4 star review for atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins’s Reid . This book started out really slow for me but the fact that it’s set in Houston at the Johnson space center was very intriguing for me. The slow burn of Vanessa and Joan’s love story was totally worth the slow start for me. Going into it, I did not expect it to be a romance between 2 women, but as soon as Vanessa was introduced, i knew it in my gut. I knew that Joan was going to find that person to make her feel like she belonged in the world, in a world where she didn’t know how to fit in. Since this story takes place in the late 70s/ early 80s, It’s very sad to me that they had to hid their love for each other. Joan’s family dynamic was very well written and my heart yearns for Frances. I’m so glad that Frances always had Joan in her corner and the relationship Vanessa built with her even though she had no idea how to do it was beautiful. I was kind of upset that we didn’t get an epilogue. I would love to know what happened to them years later. I found myself holding my breath so much during the entire book because early on, we know kind of happens to the crew. We learn to love them through out the book because they build a found family dynamic going through the training of nasa together. At the end, I found myself crying and gasping for air at the unknown and it literally comes down to the wire and literally the last sentence of the book. Taylor Jenkins’s Reid intensive research on space and space travel and nasa in general definitely shows and I highly appreciate because she wrote it in a way that someone with absolutely no space knowledge could easily follow along with. The growing relationship between Joan and Vanessa was very well done and I could totally see this becoming a mini series that I would love to watch IRL. I saw how everything played out soo well. The story telling was very well done.
Also, intertwine a little bit of the following synopsis in the review: 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 easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted 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, it all changes in an instant.
Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars. - Julie TrotterEXCELLENT!!!!I just finished it. It made me cry. I almost never cry. Seriously. This was such a beautiful, interesting, wonderful, heartfelt read. I soooo enjoyed it! Thank you once again Taylor Jenkins Reid for your gorgeous style and writing abilities.
I read Daisy Jones and the Six back when it was released + fell in love with it. I even watched the show that was made + later reread Daisy a couple more times. I LOVE MUSIC! It has been a huge part of my life + my sanity as well. Truly. Many many of most of ours, I'm sure.
I digress. I didn't know u/she had written other books at this time or even that time. I assumed Daisy was your debut + I didn't think to look. My mistake. I should have. I normally do. If I love a book I will then read most or all of the other books by the author. Thanks to my beloved Amazon I saw this and am sooo happy that I did. What an experience, what a joyride. One of my new favs. Then I discover u have written tons of books, dammit! Said jokingly. It really is hurray, cuz now I get to buy and read
all of those. I would say much more about this amazing book, but my Kindle is dying. Plus, I don't want to reveal anything or put out spoilers. I hate when people do that + ruin a story or a film for any of us. There's no taking that back. Lastly, I am still so emotional about it right now, I want to revel in the experience and memories of it. I WILL be reading this beautiful book again and I highly and strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone! Thank u again Taylor Jenkins Reid! Oh and Amazon as well. Cheers ????????