DESCRIPTION

For fans of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Miranda July comes a whip-smart, irresistible novel about a college senior who has 48 hours to sell her recently deceased mother's surprise stash of rare pills, or suffer the consequences.

Arvy Keening is just trying to get through the week. Tantalizingly close to leaving her college years at Westheimer University behind, all she has to do is pass her finals, pack up her life, and ship off to San Francisco for a prestigious Big Pharma internship. The problem? Arvy just found 200 hits of Molly in her dead mother's closet. And when two drug dealers come to collect what they are owed, they reveal that the pills are not Molly, but Mona--a rare pharmaceutical that induces intense orgasms. The dealers give Arvy an ultimatum: Sell 200 Monas in 48 hours or die.

To aid in her seemingly impossible quest, Arvy recruits Wolf, Westheimer's resident drug dealer who also happens to be infuriatingly charming and distractingly sexy. In a race against the clock, Arvy and Wolf barrel through their college town, leaving a series of erotic shenanigans in their wake; appealing to horny co-eds, lonely barflies, and a mysterious sorority whose sisters have their own ideas for Mona's potential uses. But if Mona has a knack for unleashing visceral reactions in the body, what will it unlock in Arvy, who has been repressing grief over her mother's death for weeks?

Unashamedly brash, bold, and blistering, 200 Monas is a truly one-of-a-kind read, a playful and honest examination of sexuality and grief, and a sharp, searing love letter on how to release all that's inside you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jan Saenz is an author, poet, and educator who lives near Houston, Texas. 200 Monas is her debut novel.

REVIEWS

The Center for Fiction 2026 First Novel Prize Longlist

"A tightrope act between high-concept smut and feminist critique...Saenz's awareness of this dynamic is what makes the sex in 200 Monas such a freaky success....[She] transcends the typical provocations of spicy-pepper-emoji BookTok romance, opting for tense, nasty, and perfectly overimaginative prose designed to actually test one's sensibilities."--Chicago Review of Books

"An unconventional slapstick adventure with the DNA of both a thriller and a romance...Over the course of Wolf and Arvy's jam-packed days together, we see them both in a variety of sexual scenarios. These don't just titillate, and they don't just advance the plot. They show Saenz's characters at their most vulnerable."--The Atlantic

"Reading this is like having a panic attack while laughing uncontrollably. Funny, tense, absurd. It is a novel to read when you think your life is awful and unmanageable. Avry's life is tossed upside down, and watching her scramble was a thrill."--Debutiful