Book Rating: 4/5

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book…it was unique, engaging, and had a lot of depth. As a mother, I deeply related to the main character’s struggles with mom guilt. The book did an excellent job capturing the postpartum experience, especially the overwhelming challenge of balancing family, personal needs, and a career. That aspect was definitely my favorite.

I also loved the exploration of social media and its power to shape narratives. The way it was portrayed, both how followers spread rumors and how publishers fed into them, felt very realistic. I found myself frustrated with everyone involved, including the main characters, who weren’t always as transparent as they could have been. This made for an interesting and compelling read.

My biggest critique is that the experimental pill and sci-fi elements felt underdeveloped. I was expecting a stronger thriller aspect, but it leaned more toward contemporary fiction with light sci-fi elements rather than a full-fledged sci-fi thriller. While this didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment, I did find myself wishing for a bit more depth in that area.

Despite that, the book kept me engaged, and I was eager to see how it all unfolded. If you enjoy contemporary fiction with thought-provoking themes and a touch of sci-fi, this is definitely worth the read!

This book brought up a lot of emotions for me as a new mom and definitely showcased the mom guilt that new moms often feel. Maya takes some supplements from her friend that are supposed to be guilt pills and she slowly starts to depend on them more and more. Her husband and best friend find out about the pills and she promises that she isn't taking them anymore. He lies start to threaten everything that she has worked so hard for, including her company that she is the CEO of, and then she disappears. I really enjoyed the audiobook version of this story and I found that it did bring light to issues that moms often deal with.

3.5/5 stars

After becoming addicted to experimental “supplements” (drugs) she was told were safe, CEO and new mother Maya Patel goes missing. These drugs were meant to temporarily erase any guilt that is woven into a female’s existence in order for them to succeed in ways guilt-free men are typically afforded. While this works for Maya at first, the “supplements” offered to her by a fellow business woman threaten everything Maya has built regarding her family, friendships, and career.

This book was an interesting concept, because honestly, who wouldn’t benefit from feeling a little less guilt? While the stakes increased as the story went on, they culminated in a way that felt all too brief and unsatisfying. For the amount of build up that occurred throughout the first 75% of the book, the climax really lasted only a few pages. Additionally, while the exploration of feminism, motherhood, and success were notable, I do wish that the inclusion of race in the climax was a little more purposeful and expanded upon as it is a very important topic to discuss.

I did read this via audiobook, and the single narration was fine. I do think at times the narrator slipped between voices when dialogue was quick and some character voices were difficult to distinguish between each other, but this did not impact my overall rating of the book itself.

Thank you Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the advance copy of this audiobook!

Maya is a new mom and struggling to balance the demands of parenting with those of her company, all while putting up a glossy facade on social media.

When a fellow female founder, Liz reaches out, a friendship begins to bloom. Maya finds herself networking through Liz, venting to her, and eventually choosing to take the anti guilt pills Liz and her company are developing.

They’re powerful! With them Maya can fully engage in parenting or work depending on which she chooses to focus. But as the stresses mount and she continues to up her dose, side effects begin making themselves known.

Slightly spoilery beyond this point.

As a working mom in a leadership role I deeply related to Maya and her struggles. I okay with the end, but I still found it so frustrating that there wasn’t a bigger ah ha moment for her husband, her MIL, shoot even her company or followers that they could do better. It’s so dang frustrating to hear/read a man say ‘just tell me what to do’ when he has eyes. Obviously, this one strikes a little close to home so that’s surely coloring my vibes about this one.

I gave this book a 3.5/5 ⭐️. I thought this book was entertaining and an interesting concept! It was sad watching the main character go through so much after having a baby. If anything, it’s a way to highlight the importance of postpartum mental health! I really enjoyed this one. I felt like this book dragged after the halfway point.

So I had a hard time with this one. Maybe it’s a me issue where I just didn’t “get it”. I’m not sure. I actually sat for a day before writing this to try to make sense of it.

This has a sprinkling of magical realism which generally I like but it’s more science fiction based which just didn’t jive well with me. I didn’t feel like the plot flowed very well and that could have been due to the narration, but I’m not sure.

At the 1x typical speed the narration is very very slow and the phraseology was bizarre with where the narrator Sharmila Devar chose to out pauses and inflections. It made it very hard to listen to. So I sped it up which definitely helped a bunch.

The book definitely has the deeper undertone of an exploration of mother and womanhood in society and especially the work place. So this book may be just what some readers love. It just wasn’t for me.

I am thankful to have gotten the audio ALC for free from Harlequin Audio through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

This title comes out April 15 2025 so check it out!
My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Maya is a new mom, struggling to get back to “normal” and new CEO of her company making more sustainable toiletries (I think??).

She is putting on a good face for social media and the press, but she’s struggling to keep it all together. She’s drowning in guilt and struggling with the balance of family, career, self-care, all the things !

This is when she’s introduced to the “guilt” pill, experimental medicine to erase all things mom / female guilt. Maya decides to give it a shot and initially she is the fierce woman she always desired to be ! But will getting ride of guilt lead to ruthlessness and greed ? Maya starts to lose herself

This goes from past and present, the past outlining her journey with the guilt pill and present where Maya has gone missing. Loved the podcast, new excerpts, etc type of break in the story.

Like any drug, the more she takes, the more she needs, the shorter the effects last..

The race and culture expectations and lens was engaging here. As a boss lady working mom, I related to a lot of this and thought myself, could I take a “guilt pill”???

Loved how this made me think- similar to John Mars dystopian thrillers, The Measure, etc. audiobook narration was great ! Also following the author on instagram made me love this so much more as she’s so candid about her own post partum experience and how it influenced the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. Release date 4/15/25.

3.75 stars

This is a fun read that I connected with despite not being part of mom culture, which did initially concern me (as far as my sustained interest in the book was concerned). Prospective readers who are having similar thoughts should know that while mom guilt is definitely on tap here, so is the kind of guilt/uncertainty women feel in multiple roles and stages, which makes this more relatable to the masses.

Maya is a successful entrepreneur whose company is thriving, and this matches her homelife, which includes a husband and newborn son. It also includes regular appearances (mostly in the form of intrusive thoughts) by her parents and in-laws, along with a large cast of other ancillary folks. No matter where Maya goes or how much success she finds, there seems to always be a wheedling voice telling her it's not enough and she's not enough. Fortunately, there's a pill for that!

I won't get too far into the title of this book or the role that all plays here, but unexpectedly, that was the least compelling part of this plot. Maya's development and experiences are much more interesting than anything having to do with the titular guilt pill. This, along with the didactic speeches about women's roles, were a lot at times, and I say that from the leftist of the left positions socially. The content is not the problem: just the ways in which it takes readers out of the narrative and into often long-winded narration.

Despite minor gripes, I enjoyed this and especially enjoyed the way this audio is narrated. I recommend that version when and where accessible.

Enjoyed the audio of this book. It was easy to differentiate who what speaking, especially when it came to the interviews about Maya’s disappearance.

At the beginning, it was a bit confusing to figure out what was in the past and what was current.