YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

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.

I can't put this down!! I will for sure be checking back to see other's comments about this book because I have a feeling I'll read this too fast. I'm already half done!

I definitely loved the opening scene, but I remember thinking there were a lot of character names being thrown around. I thought I'd have a hard time telling them apart and knowing who was who. Now that I'm halfway through the book, I can say that I feel like I know every single one of these characters like we were friends. This is what this author does so well.

So if anyone is worried about how many names were mentioned in the first couple of chapters, don't worry...all the characters end up being important and Taylor Jenkins Reid does such a good job setting one up differently that it's very easy to know who everyone is.

30%- (view spoiler)[ I’m loving how we’re seeing the high-pressure jobs in a male dominated world through a female lens. Even with all the characters starting their friendly relationships, the competitiveness among the women is still noticeable.

I already love Joan’s character so much. (hide spoiler)]

14% (view spoiler)[ that’s so interesting about looking up at the sky and actually looking back in time. So wild and crazy to think about (hide spoiler)]

Katie wrote: "30%- I’m loving how we’re seeing the high-pressure jobs in a male dominated world through a female lens. Even with all the characters starting their friendly relationships, the competitiveness amo..."

(view spoiler)[ yes it is really cool. I really like the gender boundaries being pushed with females being chosen over males for these spots etc. and even if it’s not great circumstances, I like that Vanessa is being the pilot to bring them home. (hide spoiler)]

52%(view spoiler)[ yay, so glad Vanessa and Joan kissed! I have really liked this development of Joan understanding her feelings etc. it has been done really well (hide spoiler)]

87%(view spoiler)[ Barbara is a bitch! How can someone do this to their own child. So glad Joan is there for her (hide spoiler)]

Shae wrote: "52%[spoilers removed]"

I loved Vanessa's development throughout this book!! (view spoiler)[ The way she let Joan figure out her own sexuality was so sweet. At the beginning of the book when it said Vanessa lived further away, I thought it was going to end up being that she was homeless or living with a family that had a darker past. I bet it was so she could live in peace and love whoever she wanted and not be judged for it. (hide spoiler)]

Shae wrote: "87%[spoilers removed]"

YES!! 100% agree. (view spoiler)[ I honestly couldn't believe Barbara. So selfish. I was all for her trying to turn her life around and making a better life for Francis, but this was her going off around the world WITHOUT Francis. To give up her daughter like that for a man...Sigh... But I loved Francis and Joan's relationship so, so much! I was never close like this to my aunts, so this was such a nice relationship to see in this book. (hide spoiler)]

Finished- (view spoiler)[ I sobbed. I couldn't help it. I didn't know what was going to happen to Vanessa, and it was just so good and so emotional.

This book was beautiful. The way the author shows love through everyday experiences makes me want this for everyone. Hand holding, dancing in public, living together, and sharing sweet kisses. I want this for everyone!! I didn't see the words "A Love Story" under the title of this book when I first started this, but man, this was a beautiful love story. (hide spoiler)]

Katie wrote: "Shae wrote: "87%[spoilers removed]"

YES!! 100% agree. [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ yes I couldn't believe she was going around the world without her. Especially when she said how she always envisioned getting a father for Frances and just to choose her husband over her own daughter. (hide spoiler)]

Katie wrote: "Finished-

(view spoiler)[ I know, this was so incredible!! I honestly thought Vanessa was gone. And those conversations right before broke me. OMG amazing. So glad it turned out the way it did. This was exceptional, I love the way it also showed the time and how disadvantaged and discriminating the world was towards the LGBQT community. I liked being able to experience and understand how horrible it was. I feel like this makes a great book when it can put you into someone else's shoes and understand a perspective (slightly) that is different to your own. (hide spoiler)]