Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

Atmosphere:  A love story by Taylor Jenkins Reid was recommended by my wife after reading a review in the AARP magazine

Started: September 16, 2025
Completed: September 19, 2025
Recommendation: Mild recommendation
Recommended By: My wife

Review:

Eh.  This is a love story and I think it would be seen as an improbable love story.  A woman who thinks she is asexual falls for a woman.  Honestly, I think that Reid did a good job showing how love can sneak up on someone.  Other than that, I wasn't thrilled by the book.  The astronaut/astronomer angle was not compelling to me.  The closeted couple was, but I have no sense of how realistic it was in those times.  All in all, this wasn't a bad read, I just wasn't ever rushing to find out what happened next and I feel that the ending was telegraphed throughout the book, so the minor "maybe not" didn't go far.  The relationship after about half way through the book became flat.

Shroud, Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Started: August 26, 2025
Completed: September 5, 2025
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I think I have read enough of Tchaikovsky's books to start to discern a pattern.  He tells an adventure story.  In the process, he builds a world and explains how the main characters overcome the adversities uniquely presented by this world.  Pretty cool.  He is so smooth in his telling that it is easy to be sucked in and believe that this "other world" must exist and that the characters are real.  Wonderful.