diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fb08d01..23b61b8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,18 +8,18 @@ helpers for the common paths, with a raw escape hatch for everything else.
 `requirements.txt`:
 
 ```
-mongo @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/mongo.git@v0.1.4
+mongo @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/mongo.git@v0.1.5
 ```
 
 Direct:
 
 ```bash
-pip install "mongo @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/mongo.git@v0.1.4"
+pip install "mongo @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/mongo.git@v0.1.5"
 ```
 
 Requires `motor` and `pymongo` (pulled transitively).
 
-Drop the `@v0.1.4` suffix from the line above to install the latest unpinned.
+Drop the `@v0.1.5` suffix from the line above to install the latest unpinned.
 
 ## Usage
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 14280b2..d34189e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "mongo"
-version = "0.1.4"
+version = "0.1.5"
 description = "async mongodb wrapper over motor with a raw escape hatch"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 dependencies = [
diff --git a/src/mongo/mongo.py b/src/mongo/mongo.py
index 2cca812..bc62efd 100644
--- a/src/mongo/mongo.py
+++ b/src/mongo/mongo.py
@@ -67,7 +67,15 @@ class MongoDB:
         return self
 
     async def __aenter__(self) -> "MongoDB":
-        return await self.connect()
+        try:
+            return await self.connect()
+        except BaseException:
+            # connect()/ping failing here would otherwise leak the motor client (built
+            # eagerly in __init__ with a background topology monitor + pool) — __aexit__
+            # is not called when __aenter__ raises. close it before propagating so a
+            # retry loop against a flapping server doesn't accumulate live clients.
+            self.close()
+            raise
 
     async def __aexit__(self, exc_type, exc, tb) -> None:
         self.close()