An unusual mystery. I loved the story about a woman who has an odd form of amnesia and must figure out what is going on. I recommend.

This was another great story from Megan Goldin! Her writing is always so fantastic, and I just loved the premise of this one. Every time the MC woke up again, I was so terrified for her! I can't imagine having that happen to me. Great job by Goldin! I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

What if every time you fell asleep your memory was reset to two years ago? This is true for Liv, the protagonist in Stay Awake. Told through alternating timelines, people are found dead and clues are closing in on the killer. Can Liv remember enough to stay alive, or will she be the next victim? Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC. This is my honest review.

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is a thriller about Liv Reese, a girl who wakes up in the back of a taxi and has no idea why she's there. She sees that her hands are covered in writing, including the message: "Stay Awake." She happens to see on the local news that someone was murdered, and the same message was left at the crime scene. Did she kill someone? Why can't she remember anything? This story was very unique, and I enjoyed how fast-paced it was. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Megan goldin does it again! This book was captivating right from the start and i couldn’t help but empathize with the main character Liv. I couldn’t read it fast enough to find out what happens to her. I did have an idea of who the bad guy was fairly early on but there were still some surprises! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital advanced reader copy!









https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4595151695

I want to give this a good review because I loved it until the end. It was propulsive and fun and unlike others I really liked the back and forth and it worked for me. I felt bad for liv and although at times I was annoyed with her running away , could sympathize with her feeling alone and scared. I liked the story and the plot . Here is why I can’t give more than 5 stars. … SPOILERS….why was she drugged by the killer and why did he mess with her before the killings . I don’t get it. I get jilted lover kill the girlfriend and person she’s sleeping with trope , but why involve Liv? I just don’t get it . So for that I do 3 stars , because until I realized there was no explanation I did like it.

Thanks to NetGalley and ST Martins press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review .

I absolutely loved this book! I thought it was really good and kept me interested the whole time! I really wanted to know what attributed to the main character’s memory loss. Highly recommend this book!

Thank You to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Can you imagine doing everything in your power not to fall asleep because if you did, you would wake up with no memory of the past two years of your life. In a strange place and time, unlike anything resembling your last memory.
This is what happens to Liv Reese every time she falls asleep and upon awakening she must try and deciphering messages written on her hands and arms. Messages that she recognizes as her own handwriting, but what do they mean. While trying to figure out what is happening to her, she catches a picture of her featured on a local news cast wanted as a suspect for murder.
This storyline is full of surprises and twists that will keep you tight in its clutches until the very end. The kind of story that keeps you thinking about the ending even between reading sessions.
Recommended for anyone that loves a good suspenseful thriller.

This book wasn't for me. I wanted to like it, I just couldn't get into it. I'm sure others will enjoy this it just wasn't for me.

This was a fantastic read! This psychological thriller really messed with me. I loved it and highly recommend to anyone looking for an addicting suspense story.

WOW! This book was very hard to put down and drew me in from the first page. Excellent use of suspense as the mystery unravelled. I will definitely watch for future writings by this author!

Megan Goldin never disappoints. I was hooked from beginning to end. I definitely recommend Stay Awake.

3.5

Megan Goldin shows how precious sleep and memories are when murder is a foot:

Every time Liv falls asleep, her memory is taken away from her, but she does know where she lives. So when a Taxi drops her off at her place she knows that Amy will explain everything that is going on. But when she arrives at her house, strangers are living there and Amy is gone. She tries to find her phone but it is gone too. That is when she starts to notice writing on her hands, telling her to Stay Awake, trust no one and other messages. When she catches the news later that day, there is a murder in a building with the words Stay Awake written in a red liquid on the window, the same words on her hands, that is cannot be a coincidence. Liv cannot remember anything from the day before, but could she have murdered a man. Could this man have held the key to her memory loss. Liv needs to retrace her life and steps in order to figure it out, but there is someone who knows everything and they want to make Liv forget permanently.

This is the third book that I have read by Goldin and I liked that it is a very different concept that the other two but has the storytelling element I enjoy of two timelines getting closer and closer together. If you have seen the movie Memento (by Christopher Nolan...highly recommended movie), and this is book has very similar elements in it, with Liv loosing her memory every time she falls asleep. Due to the fact that Liv looses her memory every time she falls asleep the book can read a bit chaotic (and redundant) at times, as Liv goes through several of the same thoughts and moments each time. I am happy that Goldin decided to introduce another time frame as well as character to help balance the chaos.

I enjoyed that there were several cat and mouse aspects throughout the book; You have Liv and her memory, Liv and Det. Halliday, as well as more information is revealed to the reader you realize that there is a third cat and mouse game afoot as well. However, I did think that Goldin revealed some information too early on in the book, and I was able to predict the twists that were coming.

I really enjoyed Det. Halliday's POV. I thought that it was well thought out and her as a Det. did not want rush to any judgement, even when pushed by a more senior detective to change her mind. While Det. Halliday was pressured to make some moves that she did not think was right she always challenged the order, in a respectful way. I liked that she was not a push over. I will say the shooting scene would never ever ever happen in real life. That is not what any officer, military training or not is taught. I would read another book that had Det. Halliday either as the main character or in the mix some how.

This was a good book and I have enjoyed all three of the Goldin books that I have read so far. I am very much looking forward to what she comes up with next..

Enjoy!!!

Book Review: Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

Stay Awake is a psychological thriller about a woman whose memory resets to two years prior each time she falls asleep. When she is seen leaving a crime scene police delve into her background to try to track her down before it’s too late.

When Liv Reese wakes up in a cab it’s a completely different season, her hair is a foot longer and she doesn’t have a purse or phone. Someone new is living in her apartment and her roommate is nowhere to be found. For the next day Liv will wander the streets of New York trying to piece her life back together. Meanwhile, two Homicide detectives are trying to find the mystery woman with the long hair who left a dead man behind in an Airbnb. Since this isn’t the first time Liv has been discovered near a crime scene she immediately becomes the prime suspect. Stay Awake is told backwards by a very unreliable navigator.

Amnesia plots are probably the most frustrating devices for a reader. Each time Liv falls asleep we have to watch her start all over again trying to remember what happened to her. In the beginning it was the juicy kind of plot I enjoy but by the end I just wanted her to go use the computers at the library and Google her own name so we could end this. Once we know the killer and the motive the plot gets even more convoluted and I was ready for it to be over. I never felt like Liv was an underdog to root for or even a smart cookie that took her life back through grit and street smarts. Even in the flashback scenes before her psychological break she was kind of a sad sack that didn’t see how the people that were supposed to love her were taking advantage.

Overall, this was an average psychological thriller with nothing new to offer. There really wasn’t enough for me in either plot or character and I found it very forgettable.
3 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and Ms. Goldin kept me guessing the entire time I read the book. While I did feel like the book was too long at times, I loved the two different timelines! If you're looking for a mystery, then this book is for you. Like "The Night Swim", it does not disappoint.

Another fantastic read from Megan Goldin! She has quickly become a favorite author, and this book has really cemented that!

There were so many twists, so many turns, I had whiplash by time I was finished reading! Start to finish, I couldn't stop guessing what was happening, and of course I was still surprised at the end!

Goldin has such a solid grasp at writing dual time lines that keep you wanting more by giving just enough that you connect a couple dots, but still can't see the whole picture too soon! I think that's my favorite part of her books, and I really can't wait to see what she comes up with next!!

🙌🏻 This was an enjoyable thriller! I love when I read something that also educates me on a psychological disorder, and in Stay Awake, the main character experiences short term amnesia, so each time she falls asleep she wakes up with no recent memory. When she awakens she finds she has written notes to herself urging her to “stay awake” and other information that she’s not able to otherwise retain. How terrifying would that be, to not know what year or season it is, where you currently live…or not recognizing yourself because your typically short hair is now much longer?

📖 Typically I am not a huge fan of the unreliable narrator but Goldin executes it flawlessly in this instance. I loved the merry-go-round of emotions and uncovering the events as she did, all the way back to the night of the trauma that landed her in the dissociative fugue.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC and audiobook.


Description from NetGalley:
Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she’s dropped off at the door of her brownstone, a stranger answers—a stranger who claims to live in her apartment. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing. In its place is a bloodstained knife. Her hands are covered in scribbled messages, like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.

Two years ago, Liv was thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. Catching a glimpse of the local news, she’s horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, similar to the message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget—permanently.

A complex thriller that unfolds at a breakneck speed, Stay Awake will keep you up all night.

Oh man, I was nervous for Liv the entire time. The premise delivered on the entertainment The narrator did a good job. However, it would have been nice if the past Liv and present Liv were more distinct. The detective POV was fun. I had a good, entertaining time, which is definitely why I read thrillers.

Overall: 4/5

A super fun thriller that did keep me confused for a good chunk of it but once I figured out what was going on I really did enjoy it and had a lot of fun figuring out what was going on

Thanks netgalley for a copy for review.
Not as good as her other novels was kind of convoluted. Still like the author.