Whether you’re a seasoned reader or a new bookworm, you’ve likely heard the name Taylor Jenkins Reid (or TJR as we’ve all adoringly taken to calling her). She has become an absolute titan of the bestseller list with mega-hits like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six. Dominating BookTok, the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list and translating these books into can’t-miss screen adaptations, she is at the top of the game. After a brief publishing hiatus since her last novel in 2022—Carrie Soto Is Back—Reid is releasing her latest novel, Atmosphere.

This 80s-era story takes place in the world of the 20th century space shuttle program. When Joan Goodman, a physics professor, gets the opportunity to live her dreams of traveling the stars and joins NASA’s program, she has no idea all the ways it will transform her. The team of characters accompanying her on the mission range from Top Gun pilots to an intriguing aeronautical engineer who will change her outlook on the universe forever.

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As the new novel hits shelves, Atmosphere has been announced as the Good Morning America pick for June 2025, Reid is coming off her TIME cover feature, and an absolutely gangbuster, 5-book publishing deal announcement. With so much going on in the TJR-verse, we’ve scoured the latest interviews to bring you all the top Taylor news as Atmosphere launches into the world.

TIME Interview on Atmosphere and Love

For anyone familiar with the publishing landscape, a female author being featured on the cover of TIME isn’t exactly an every day occurrence. An indicator of her sky high success, this striking coverage not only marks the continued reign of this fiction queen, but also shows the force with which the bookish community has taken center stage.

In 2020, as the world turned in, they turned back to books (particularly on TikTok) with stories like Evelyn Hugo being one of the top reads of the lockdown season. In that flurry, Reid’s success skyrocketed.

On Fame

In her interview with TIME, Reid expressed the strain of this superstardom, but also appreciated the gift that it is and the meaning behind it:

“It’s a lot of pressure,” Reid says. “But the thing I try to keep in mind, and that my agents certainly help me keep in mind, is that you have to keep your eye on what the actual goal is: I hope I produce work that makes people happy often enough that they’ll give my next one a chance.”

Often authors aren’t prepared for this level of success. They didn’t set out to be celebrities, having their lives dissected in the media, but with great fandom comes great exposure. With each success comes a larger spotlight and with that attention Reid has chosen to address aspects of her identity in a more public forum.

On Sexuality

Reid has, on more than one occasion, explored sapphic, bisexual and lesbian relationships within her work and Atmosphere is perhaps her deepest delve into exploring these relationships. In talking to TIME, she discussed how moving through the world as a less femme presenting woman, but also being married to a man has confused the conversation around her sexuality and even created tension in arenas of her professional and personal life. Lately, however, she’s been very intentional in discussing her bisexuality, creating necessary space around the discussion of identity, stereotyping and the many expansive ways in which love presents in the world.

In addressing this, she told TIME:

“Basically where I came down is I can talk about who I am, and then people can think about that whatever they want.”

As for her husband, she describes his loving involvement and support in this way:

“My attraction to women is a room in the house that is my identity—Alex understood this book was about me spending time in that room,” Reid says. “He was so excited for me, like, ‘What a great way for you to express this side of you.’ And he helped me get the book to be as romantic and beautiful as it could be.”

While she exposes more of her personal life, she has the comfort of a dedicated spouse who holds space for both her art and her heart.

On Atmosphere

Though this novel follows a recipe we’ve come to expect from Reid—following a highly ambitious FMC as she comes to terms with herself and the world around her—this novel takes a step back from a celebrity-centered world (Hollywood, music, professional athletics) and into the world of science and intellectual achievement.

When discussing this change of direction, she told TIME what set her on this path:

“It just felt like time for me to write a very high-stakes, dramatic love story,” she says. She asked herself: “What is my Titanic?”

With blurbs from the likes of Andy Weir (The Martian) and Kristin Hannah (The Women), this book has the potential to join the ranks of epic storytelling. Though we can anticipate Reid’s keen eye still being on the characters themselves, the scope of the project opens up her work to a galaxy of new possibilities.

Adaptation News

There’s no talking about TJR without discussing the large desire for adaptation of her work. Daisy Jones & The Six was a beloved Amazon Prime mini-series that faithfully represented the novel. One True Loves, an earlier novel of Reid’s, also found a home at Hulu. Fans are desperate for Evelyn to make its way to the screen as they dream of who will be casted to play the titular role. And the book-to-screen track shows no sign of slowing as each novel is optioned and scooped up by major studios.

For the scoop on where her adaptations stand, you can check out our full breakdown here.

In the TIME article, Reid acknowledges the necessity of adaptation as a form of reaching wider audiences and building a lifelong career publishing stories. In addition to her books migrating to TV and film, Reid and her screenwriter husband have also produced original screenplays. As if that isn’t enough, she has also produced a “jukebox Chicks musical” with her childhood friend called Goodbye, Earl that has onboarded country pop icons, The Chicks to executive produce this Thelma & Louise-style musical about friendship.

Out of This World Publishing Deal

As we dive all the way back into a new TJR world, many are wondering what will be coming next. And the answer? Plenty. It has been reported that Reid recently signed a new deal with her publisher valuing each of her five forthcoming books at 8 million a piece for a jaw-dropping $40 million deal.

But according to an interview with The New York Times, her intense ambition is no longer her fuel. Since her hiatus after Carrie Soto, she is operating with one major goal in mind:

“My goal, during my time away, was to chill out. And I think I’ve done that. There’s no particular achievement I’m looking for here. I’m just trying to spin a good yarn. And it feels good.”

Reaching the heights of the authordom elite, it would seem Reid has concluded that what started her pursuit is the very thing that will continue her forward… a deep desire to tell a great story.