Megan Goldin continues to knock ‘em out of the park! I reallly enjoyed this one. I read this pretty quickly, mostly because I couldn’t put it down. This was a fresh take on the unreliable narrator trope and I preferred it to the normal alcoholic storyline. Liv was an intriguing MC and I enjoyed the side character of Darcy Halliday (perfect star for a sequel!)

Stay Awake messed with my mind quite a bit. I was trying to sort out why the main character seemed to be in a fog all the time.
Even after her condition was explained, it became rather redundant, like I was stuck in Groundhog Day repetitively, a movie I loathe.
I give the author credit for crafting an intricate story with lots of moving parts. I liked Halliday and Harry the bartender the best.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing team for allowing me an advanced copy for review.
I DEVOURED this book. Think Groundhog Day meets a twisty thriller whodunit.
I have read one of Megan Goldin's novels before, The Night Swim, and this blew that one (that I also loved) out of the water-pun intended.

I appreciated the psychology and detective aspect of this book. I know a crazy investigation like this could be confusing but how many times did we have to hear about her memory condition. 75% of the book was repeating the same thing talking about her amnesia. I also think this book had too many timelines that were hard to follow at times. By the end it just seemed like a quick fix that Liv was all of a sudden cured of her memory problems. I truly feel bad that I didn't like this book. Thank you to the author and Netgalley for this arc.

I was hooked very quickly with this one but once we had to keep starting over due to amnesia every time Liv falls asleep, I grew tired of it quickly. I thought that the detectives and the flashbacks would be enough to carry it along to keep it as a page turner, but overall it was just ok for me. If you enjoy "amnesia" storylines, coupled with a psychological thriller, you will likely enjoy it quite a bit. We start with Liv waking in the back of a taxi. When she gets to her destination, her apartment, she figures out she doesn't live there any more. Her next wake up is in a park on a bench, to find she no longer can reach her friends, her boyfriend and her job is no longer hers. her body is marked with pen scribblings warning her to Stay Awake. Meanwhile, there's been a murder....
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for my advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Stay Awake will be available on 8/9/22.

I inhaled this book faster than Liv could slug an espresso. My favorite Megan Goldin book by far.

Right from the start, every chapter kept me engaged and I learned something new to the mystery; I could not flip the pages fast enough to see what was next for Liv. I loved the format of the chapters and how the author took the reader from the current date to two years in the past, intertwining them to create a story of unreliability.

Some readers could get tired of the repetition as Liv attempts to reconnect to her current situation but it worked for me and is a reminder of how frustrating her life is.

There were a couple plot holes that I kept going back to and I'm still questioning, but some books are just better as surface reads and don't require thinking too deep. I'm willing to give these issues a pass because I enjoyed everything else about this book.

If you're looking for quick thriller that'll keep you awake until the last page, you need to pick this book up. This is one I wish I could read again for the first time.

This was such a good thriller! I was so anxious reading it, ha!

Liv wakes up and find strangers in her apartment. She has writing on her body telling her to stay awake and don't trust anybody but she has no idea why! Her memory from the last two years is GONE. She has no idea who to trust or what to do. At the same time, a murder has occurred and Liv is thought to be one of the suspects.

This was such a fun ride and I thought the writing was so engaging. The story line jumped around a little bit but I thought it was a perfect compliment to how the story unfolded. This book made me want to take a nap immediately, but not because it's boring but because I was so stressed for Liv and how she kept trying to stay awake!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

REVIEW: thank you @netgalley for the advanced reader copy of Stay Awake by Megan Goldin.

I loved the author’s previous novel “The Escape Room” and this novel delivered the same authenticity and thrills as the other one.

In the city that never sleeps…

“Above my knuckles are letters written in ballpoint pen. I put both fists together. The letters spell out the words STAY AWAKE.”

For Liv Reese, the protagonist, sleeping is a curse because the moment she wakes up she forgets everything that happened in her life in the last two years because of a rare memory problem.

She can’t figure out where she lives, where her friends are, or what happened to her phone and wallet. What she does find is a bloody knife and the words STAY AWAKE written in a murder victim’s blood where she used to live. The same strange message spelled out on her knuckles. What happened last night? And what happened in the last two years? The novel takes readers through a rollercoaster ride as Liv puts the pieces of her life together hoping that in the end they won’t

spell out
that she’s a…
murderer.

Stay Awake is a gripping thriller that had me hooked from start to finish. I really enjoyed not only the back and forth of timelines but the multiple POV added great layers to the story as well.
Megan Goldin created a fascinating story, between the characters & the plot twist I was completely captivated. This is a perfect psychological thriller full of mystery & suspense.
Crime fiction fans and fans of the unreliable narrator will equally appreciate this one.

As always my reviews are always spoiler free and my own honest opinion.

What a book! Imagine every time you wake , you are thrown back 2 years before. This happens every time Liz goes to sleep. So, she writes notes on her hand and arms that tell her to "Stay Awake."

When Liz wakes up, it's no longer Spring. Strange people are leaving in her apartment. The place she worked has had a facelift. People she meets seem to know her but she can't remember them.

There's a murder, (not spoiling because it happens at the beginning of the book), and Liz is seen on a CCTV camera. One detective things she is guilty. The other isn't so sure. She thinks something else is going on with this murder.

I was captured by the first page of this book. There were some red herrings, one I totally fell for. I never suspected who the culprit was, it blew me away. I suppose because this person never even entered my mind.

Why can't Liz remember stuff? What happened two years ago that caused her to have this certain kind of amnesia? Which detective will be right?

Publishes August 9, 2022.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the Kindle Version of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Reading 📚😀📚

#netgalley
#stmartinspress

4.5 well earned stars. This was captivating, and sincerely hard to put down. The past/present scenes were handled very well, easy to follow. The main character was believable and wrenched emotions from the reader throughout the novel. Can you imagine not being able to remember 2 years out of your life… amnesia caused by trauma? Can you imagine how frightening it must be not to be able to fall asleep for the fear of not remembering what happened the day before? Someone is trying to kill you, but who and why?

Megan Goldin has a talent that puts her on my automatic TBR list whenever she releases a new novel. I’ve enjoyed her past efforts and this may well be my favorite.

Thank you #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for the advance review copy. Highly recommended.

While I won't necessarily remember everything I read in Stay Awake in a year or two, this kept me thoroughly entertained. The twists were well executed and surprising, which is really all I want in a thriller.

This was a fast, fun thriller that had me wanting to stay awake to finish it! (See what I did there?)

Liv is a bit of an unreliable narrator, since she has no memory at all of what has happened to her in the last two years. Every time she falls asleep, she wakes up like a blank slate, only able to remember answering the phone at her desk two years prior. She has written various warnings and instructions all over her body, but this tends to only confuse her further as she stumbles around New York attempting to figure out what has happened to her life and her loved ones. When Liv becomes the primary suspect in a prominent murder case, she is desperate to determine what really happened before something bad happens to her as well — is she running only from the police? Or is someone more sinister after her as well?

I devoured this story, and was very pleased with it overall. The pace is fast and the chapters are short. Most are told from either the first-person POV of Liv or the second-person POV of Detective Darcy Halliday. I do so love an unreliable narrator, and I found myself rather horrified by the thought of waking up with zero memories of my recent past. Like Fifty First Dates, but without anyone there to help you through your day. The only thing that irked me about this book was the rehashing of the same things whenever Liv woke up anew, which is arguably an essential piece to the story and truthfully really short (I'm just impatient). I recommend this read for sure!

Thank you to Megan Goldin, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

I found this book compelling from the very start -- Liv Reese keeps waking up not remembering anything that has happened in the last two years. Told between alternating timelines, present day Liv and Liv in the past -- I couldn't put it down as the pieces of her story were filled in. The pace and the writing really put me in Liv's head, and I was truly able to feel how confused and frustrated she was.

This was my first book by Megan Goldin and I am excited to read her previous books and look forward to her next one! A very intriguing thriller, and I'm always a sucker for a narrator that we want to root for and trust, but also can't be too sure about.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

I don't care for books that are repetitive (in this case the main character has amnesia and doesn't remember anything when she wakes up) but Stay Awake was really good other than that aspect. The main character wasn't likeable as an unreliable narrator but the suspense was really good, everything came together in the end, and I was surprised by the reveal.

Wow! What a great ride in the engaging thriller. From the beginning it keeps you guessing about the true events & the person at fault. The main character, Liv, gains your sympathy and concern - she is terrified and confused; and you feel each emotion as well.

Liv wakes up in the back of a cab with no memory of how she got there, the words "STAY AWAKE" scribbled in black pen across her hands. When she arrives at her apartment, she finds it occupied by strangers. And then she finds the bloody knife in her pocket...

Stay Awake is a pulse-pounding, paranoid, frantic thriller chronicling one woman's life as it spirals out of control in an amnesiac fever-dream. I consciously decided not to take this one too seriously -- to not overthink the more outlandish plot elements or the sheer implausibility of the entire concept. I went into this book intending to just have fun with it, and I absolutely did.

This may be my favorite of the three Megan Goldin novels I've read. Stay Awake unfolds across a few different timelines, and the structure is so effective. And it's incredibly impressive to me that Goldin was able to keep all the threads of this complex narrative straight. Although this is a plot-forward book there's still some interesting, thoughtful character development, and the ending took me completely by surprise. 3.5 stars rounded up, simply because I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

⭐⭐/5

• Groundhog Day meets mystery
• annoying protagonist
• confusing ending

I switched off between reading the physical copy and listening to the audio. The audio narration was pretty distracting to me. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark.

🗣️ Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress and @macmillanaudio for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC and audio! All opinions are honest and my own.

🤯 HOLY 🤯 SMOKES 🤯

This book was everything I needed and more!!!  Right from the very beginning to the very very end this book is non stop! You will be in for a treat of twists and turns galore. Agh I loved it!!! The first night I picked it up I read 50% of the book. I couldn't put it down. The only reason I did make my self put the book down was because it was so good I didn't want to be sleepy while reading it. I needed to absorb and experience every word Megan wrote! I was so invested in her amnesia and what happened every time Liv wrote up.

This is one of my top 5 thrillers of the year. HANDS DOWN!!

Liv wakes up and cannot remember anything from yesterday and in fact she has lost 2 years of her life. She realizes the police are looking for her due to a murder.
Thanks go out to NetGalley for the ARC and to the publisher MacmillanSpecialMarkets.