The Guilt Pill

Ever since having my first child last year, I’ve been more interested in books about motherhood and young children. This made The Guilt Pill by Saumya Dave one of my most anticipated books this spring. When Maya Patel has her son, she finds herself struggling to balance parenting with her job as the founder and CEO of a successful startup, Medini. For her, the guilt is crippling. So when her new friend offers her a supplement to suppress the guilt, Maya finally gets the relief she’s been craving. She starts to feel better… but at what cost?

Why I Chose This Book:

I’m a mom now to a ten-month-old, and I’ve certainly felt a lot of the anxieties, overwhelm, and guilt that comes with being a parent. This made The Guilt Pill feel especially relevant to where I’m at now. Its comparisons to other books on my TBR (like The Push) also made me confident it was a book I would enjoy.

What I Liked:

• Examination of motherhood, myriad postpartum difficulties, and striving to effortlessly “do it all.” I just had a baby last year, so I’ve become very familiar with the spectrum of emotions and worries that go into raising a newborn. Like Maya, I developed anxieties and was hyper-fixated on certain fears, and only six weeks after my son was born, I was back at work. My experience has been very different so far, but even so, much of what Maya goes through here rang true for me. It’s hard to be your own person while devoting so much time to a baby; it’s hard to keep up with everything else (work, chores, relationships) when the baby needs so much time. The guilt is real, and I appreciated seeing this topic explored with such nuance and care here.
• Maya’s experiences as an Indian American woman from a poor background. Maya isn’t just a woman or mom; she’s also the daughter of immigrants from India who had to work constantly to provide for their family. Maya has a tougher time, especially as the founder of a company, than most people. And her working class background adds to her feelings of imposter syndrome.
• Mixed media, including police interviews, article excerpts, and social media discussions. Nearly every chapter ends with an extra tidbit, usually foreshadowing Maya’s ultimate disappearance and giving hints (or red herrings!) about the root cause. These were fun to read and just show how off the mark people can be, especially those who don’t actually know the person in question.
• Hint of mystery and thriller vibes. This isn’t really a thriller, but it’s set up around the disappearance of Maya, and most of the book leads up to that event. As the novel progresses, readers wonder what goes wrong… or rather, how it goes wrong. And there are so many rumors that come up about her disappearance: Was it her husband? Is it drugs? Was she cheating on her husband? When the event does finally happen, the thriller vibe amps up even more.
• Relationships with spouse, parents, and friends. Maya’s problems didn’t come from nothing, and her problems don’t only affect her. I liked seeing how her relationships with others weave into the narrative, showing how motherhood really isn’t (or shouldn’t be!) a solo endeavor.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• Not enough karma for a certain someone… but the epilogue is intriguing!

Final Thoughts

The Guilt Pill is a book I would encourage all new mothers to read. Maya’s experiences won’t mirror everyone’s; my own foray into motherhood so far hasn’t been nearly as difficult. But I think we all go through similar feelings to some degree, and it helps to understand other mothers and what they’re feeling in that first year postpartum. This is novel is emotional and powerful, and I am excited to read more from Saumya Dave.

Special thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy The Guilt Pill here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

The Guilt Pill by Saumya Dave
Audience	Adult
Genre	Contemporary Fiction
Setting	New Jersey; New York
Number of Pages	384
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	April 15, 2025
Publisher	Park Row

Official Summary

What if women could get rid of their guilt?

Maya Patel has it all—her own start-up, a sexy, doting husband, influencer status, and now, a new baby. Or does she? Because behind closed doors, Maya’s drowning. Her newborn’s taking a toll on her marriage, her best friend won’t return her calls, and her company’s hanging on by a thread. The worst part? It’s all her fault. If she could just be a better boss, mother, wife, daughter, friend… Maybe she wouldn’t feel so guilty all the time. 

Enter: #Girlboss Liz Anderson, who introduces her to the “guilt pill,” an experimental supplement that erases female guilt. At first, it’s the perfect antidote to Maya’s self-blame and imposter syndrome, and she finally becomes the unapologetic woman she’s always wanted to be. But there’s a catch: for Maya to truly “have it all,” she needs to be ready to risk it all. And as Maya falls deeper and deeper down the pill’s guilt-free rabbit hole, her growing ruthlessness could threaten everything she’s built for herself—and the family she’s worked so hard to protect.

Electric, taut, and sharply observed, The Guilt Pill is a feminist exploration of motherhood, race, ambition, and how the world treats women who dare to go after everything they want.