✩｡°⋆. “Well, we are the stars," Joan said. "And the stars are us. Every atom in our bodies was once out there. Was once a part of them. To look at the night sky is to look at parts of who you once were, who you may one day be.” ⋆｡°✩
OMG. THIS. BOOK.
It kept me up way too late, filled my days, and made me feel everything. I cried so hard the pages started to wrinkle, and yet somehow, it also glued me back together. It was the kind of good cry everyone needs sometimes.
I adore Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing style — she has this rare ability to make characters breathe. But with Atmosphere, she outdid herself. The amount of research that must’ve gone into making the science feel this real? Incredible. I felt like I was reading a beautifully written documentary. I learned so much about space, and now I find myself looking up more often, wondering.
The suspense at the beginning hooked me instantly, and the time jumps? Perfectly done. They felt natural and helped the story unfold with just the right pacing.
At its core, Atmosphere is about love — deep, forbidden, transformative love. The relationship between two strong women was written with such honesty and emotional depth that it touched my soul.
How do you love someone in a world that flies to space but won’t even let you say their name out loud?
It’s a love that stays silent but resonates louder than anything.
But Joan doesn’t just love as a partner — she loves as a sister, a friend, and an aunt. Each of those relationships was so raw, so real, that I felt just as invested in them. They hit just as hard.
So yes, I loved this story. I’ll be making it my entire personality for the foreseeable future. And every time I look up at the stars, I’ll be thinking of Joan, of love, of space, of this book.
