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.