alliepiippo 's review for:

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

3.5

adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I enjoyed this but the love story felt a bit hollow and some of the feminist/progressive views of the characters felt quite anachronistic. It was never quite clear why Joan and Vanessa loved each other - Joan just suddenly realized she was a lesbian, denied it for a bit, then went all in with Vanessa because they had the same job and was hot? There were some nice moments between them, but overall their attraction 
felt underdeveloped. 

No one outwardly expressed negative opinions about the LGBT+ community throughout the book, although the characters TOLD us It was tough (SHOW DON'T TELL, TJR!). It got more realistic towards the end, I think, when Antonio told Joan she should make sure she was "morally pure" 🤮 so she wouldn't lose her job, that felt more like the 80S. But Antonio was still a bit too woke for the time period. Everyone who found out about Vanessa and Joan's relationship was totaly cool about it, except Jimmy (whoever he was?), which definitely felt anachronistic, particularly Griff's incredibly understanding reaction to getting rejected by Joan because she was falling in love with Vanessa. 

Despite these flaws, the characters were strong, and we all wanted to slap Barbara and hug Franny. There were some lovely moments between the characters, and the space stuff was cool (but did it have to be SO tragic?).