It took me a little bit to get into this one because of the constant change in characters and also in time as well. However once I read for a bit I was hooked.
Lots of twists and turns and unexpected events.
I really enjoyed this book a lot. The author did a great job in really keeping you interested once you were sucked in.
The end was mostly a surprise to me. I kept guessing at who it could be but I was still surprised in the end.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martins Press and MacMillan Audio for gifting me the latest thriller by Megan Goldin, wonderfully narrated by Imogen Church; January LaVoy - 5 twisty stars!

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi that drops her off at her apartment, where there are strangers living. She finds a knife in her pocket instead of her cellphone and all kinds of messages written on her arms and hands - mostly Stay Awake. The last thing Liv remembers is living with her friend, Amy, dating Marco, happy at her publishing job. But nothing is adding up - and Liv comes to realize that she is being searched for as a suspect in a murder.

Told in different time periods from the voices of Liv and Detective Darcy Halliday, you will find yourself learning about Liv's past along with her. This was so wonderfully written, engrossing and twisty that I could not put it down. Go into this one as blind as possible to add to the intrigue. The characters were wonderful - you'll find yourself scared as Liv is on the run. I loved Halliday's character too - smart and confident in a man's world. The narration was spot on - when I couldn't read it, I was listening to it. Don't miss this one!

I'm not sure that this review will be very long. It's definitely best if I don't write too much and ruin anything.

Stay Awake is about a girl named Liv. She lived with her best friend, Amy, and had a boyfriend named Marco. In the present timeline, Liv is back in New York, but she has no memories from the past two years. Every time she goes to sleep, she forgets everything from the day before. Liv writes messages on her hands to stay awake, not to go to sleep, not to trust, etc. She lives on caffeine. The insomnia likely makes it worse. Liv wakes up confused and has a bloody knife in a shirt. She has no idea what happened. She goes back to her apartment but there is a couple living there. She tries calling Marco and Amy, but they don't answer. She's confused and goes around the city following messages on her hands. She goes to a bar that was written down, but she doesn't remember it. The bartender knows her and says she was there a lot.

There is a man murdered at an apartment building. The security videos from the area show a woman leaving in the middle of the night. They can't see her face well, but she has super long hair. The police start looking into who she might be and it leads them to Liv. They look into her past and talk to doctors who knew her. While they search for Liv, she's running around trying to figure out if she could have killed someone. She also wonders if someone is after her.

The pacing was great and I'm surprised that the murderer wasn't who I thought. I liked the back and forth in time.

I gave this book 5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my earc.

💭MY THOUGHTS💭
Told in dual timelines and dual perspectives, this thriller is one to add to your want to read piles to finish off the summer! Who knows it could also be a BOTM pick, as they have featured Goldin before with her book Night Swim (which is a must read too).

Stay Awake is an expertly plotted thriller! Where Goldin choose to show little glimpses of clues, the slow and precise unraveling of the clues, and the piecing together of the two timelines is done very well! The books starts out with a bang and captures your interest from the start (like any thriller should do 😜). The middle for me read like a mystery. Each new chapter gives a new hint of who Liv was or the detectives shed new light of the case and I thoroughly enjoyed trying to put all the clues together. The end brings us back to thriller speed and you biting you fingernails down as far as they go! 😬😬😬 Even though at times the novel feels a bit far fetched….like could that reeaallllly happen??? I was still sucked in and wanted to know more about who Liv was before this rare form of amnesia took over her body!

So many things about this book just creeped me out…the writing on her body, not having a person to count on, her scar, the knife, the murder in which she can’t figure out why she was there, unknown people coming into where she lives when she is sleeping, and not remembering what happened to you each and every time you fall asleep make my heart work in overdrive. As someone who loves a good rabbit hole, this one sure sent me down a few! 😜

If you enjoyed Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson and love a book with a fantastic detective (Detective Darcy Halliday is whipsmart and doesn’t let the men boss her around. I would love to see her at the center of another Goldin thriller) Stay Awake was written for you!! Enjoy!!

After loving other books by this author, I was super excited to have a chance to review an advance copy of this book. However, I think I may have liked this one more if I hadn’t had such high expectations.

Liv has a disorder where she loses her memory when she sleeps. She wakes up with a bloodstained knife in her hand with no memory of what happened, and she tries to put the pieces together before her past catches up with her.

This book was okay, but the story got a little repetitive for me. It had a few great moments surrounded by pages of just meh. If you’re new to this author, skip this one and read the Night Swim instead.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Liv Reese's memory is wiped clean every night, she is desperately trying to stay awake! She knows that she is in danger, that someone is after her...but can't remember who or why.

Because Liv has no memories, it takes a while for us as the reader to get a handle on who all the players are in this one. We are piecing things together along with Liv. I like that this book is told through dual timelines, so we can get a glimpse into the past.

This wasn't my favorite of Goldin's, I much preferred The Night Swim but this was not a total miss for me. I did like Liv and her resilience to find out what was happening to her. I liked the police investigation side of things. It was a nice break from the confusion of Liv's memories.


This book gave me major Before I Go to Sleep vibes. It is a similar concept. So if you enjoyed that book, you will enjoy this one.

🔊Song Pairing: Losin’ Sleep - Merkules

💭What I thought would happen:

Honestly Megan Goldin became an auto buy author after The Night Swim

📖What actually happens:

Liv Reece wakes up with no recent memories..but is on a park bench and it’s very chilly…odd for mid summer heat wave…but why are there fall leaves. She doesn’t live in walk up anymore…where is her cat! Why aren’t her best friend Amy and boyfriend Marco answering?!

While Liv tries to get her memories figured out, there is a murder being investigated. Very odd as on the window written in blood is STAY AWAKE. One single stab wound to the victim and no sign of struggle. What does this murder have to do with Liv?! Why is stay awake written on her knuckle?

🗯Thoughts:

I looooved The Night Swim. It was my absolute favourite thriller from the fall. This book while good didn’t give me that same feeling but it’s okay.

Stay Awake is like that person you always see at parties and like very much because they’re young, fun and beautiful. The kind of person you want to be friends with but they’re aloof; you never quite know what they’re thinking/feeling and if they would actually have your back but you’ll always think of them fondly. That’s this book. Walking chaos.

If you have anxiety, get ready…it’s going to be cranked up to 11 until you’re finished this book. I was confused many times throughout with a couple specific characters and the addition and removal of one in particular. Plus, some of the timeline had me like wtf day are we on right now?! Had me in a tizzy!

I look forward to other’s reviews. I wonder if I’d felt different if I’d read this instead of listening.

if you can suspend disbelief & just go with the old amnesia chestnut, then you could do a lot worse than this book.

i felt that, although the villain is obvious from the start, the way it is structured creates a lot of tension & the strong characterization of the secondary female protagonist was much needed to counteract a lack of depth in the amnesiac.

This is an absolute must read! When the book opens we find Liv in a taxi cab headed to her apartment. The problem is that she has no memory of how she got there or really the last two years of her life. Soon we find that a man is dead and Liv is holding the knife. The story takes off from there and we are in a for a wild ride!

What I loved:
short chapters
alternating timeframes from past to present
multiple POV's - both Liv and the detectives investigating the murder
the way the author brings us in and we unravel the pieces as Liv does - genius plot!
breadcrumbs - enough to keep you moving along but still keep you guessing

WOW!!!! Finally a thriller to get me out of my 4 star thriller slump! This was gripping, perplexing, and downright wonderful. The jumping back and forth between time lines and points of view made the book read seamlessly like a movie. I could picture every scene in my head and didn’t trust anyone.

Stay Awake follows Liv Reese as she tries to piece together pieces of her life.... every time she falls asleep and subsequently wakes up. Liv suffers from a memory disorder that causes her to lose ~2 yrs of her life every time she falls asleep. Not only would this be hard but she wakes up with a knife in her hand + blood on her shirt and a murder investigation every time she turns on the TV. Not knowing who to trust, Liv sets out to figure out what is going on, why she needs to stay awake and is she actually responsible for the murder.

I found Stay Awake to be a book that sucked me in from the beginning. The story is told from both present day and 2 years ago, the time in which Liv does actually remember. I found myself enjoying the dual timeline of this book and trying to figure out what the heck was going on with Liv and how she went from having a normal life to being on the run for a crime she did not commit.

Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

This was a very interesting take on the unreliable narrator theme, Liv, a likeable character, which made it hard to think of her as a potential killer, suffers from a memory disorder. Every time she falls asleep she forgets what has happened in the past two years. Two years ago when a trauma happened. Every detail of her life is forgotten, she writes notes to herself to remember to not sleep, to remember who to trust, everything. Did she kill or is someone very clever setting her up and as the story goes, the danger gets more and more. The story is told both in present day and in the past and we get closer and closer to the right now. It also has the perspective of the police who are trying to figure out if she is a victim or a killer. This was almost a 5 star read, rounded up from 4.5, the ending could have been stronger

This is a solid psychological thriller that’s fast-paced and unique with a premise that I haven’t read before.

With flashbacks to a traumatic event that took place 2 years ago and the present, which unfolds in a 24 hour period, the timelines were woven together seamlessly.
Everything about this storyline just WORKS. It’s a game of cat and mouse with alternating points of view from Liv and the detective, Halliday, who’s trying to find her.
I devoured this audiobook in less than 24 hours!

Megan Goldin's book Stay Awake is an intricate story with a list of suspects. To get to the details of the crime, one must suspend belief and play along. Goldin reveals a piece of the puzzle in each chapter to solve the stunning mystery. It is similar to the movie 50 First Dates, but instead of a sweet romance, it is about a woman who is accused of committing murder and can't recall whether she is guilty or not.

Synopsis:
Liv Reese suffers from a rare form of amnesia. She wakes up every day to a different reality and her memories are erased. In the last two years, Liv has no memory of what happened to her and she must piece together her life day by day. When Liv sees her picture on television linked to a crime scene, she discovers she is wanted for murder. Now she must flee for her life until she can uncover the real killer.

Stay Awake alternates between timelines, but once you are accustomed to the authors writing style it's easy to follow. As the book progresses, its pace increases resulting in a strong finish with satisfying character development. (4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin is available on August 9th.

Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin's Press, for allowing me to review this remarkable book. Your kindness is appreciated.

This is the 2nd book I’ve read by this author. The Night Swim being the 1st one and I really enjoyed that one so I was super excited for this copy!! I’m so thankful for netgalley and macmillan.audio for an advance listening copy of this gem! I went in knowing absolutely nothing and loving the unreliable main character.

An unreliable main character is one of my favorite tropes. I enjoyed the narration. But, I went into this book excited from all the hype and set my expectations wayyyy too high and feel like I let myself down. The ending was super anti-climatic and the plot holes were a many. If you’re new to thrillers this is a great book for you. I did enjoy it, so overall I rated it three stars.

Thank you to Macmillan audio and NetGalley for an ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Oh hi! Meet my favorite read by Megan Goldin!

Stay Awake will leave you with a feeling of “WHAT THE F IS GOING ON?” from page one.

I haven't been this invested in a thriller in a long time. Lately it’s been a lot of same old, same old.

But this book, oh boy! Impossible to put down. You’ll simply need to know what the heck is happening.

Imagine if you woke up and had absolutely no recollection of the last two years? Or if you went to work and everything was completely different, with different people all over? Or if you went to your apartment and the couple living these said “Yo, you don't live here”

This is what happened to Liv. And she has things like “Stay Awake” “Do not fall asleep” and “Trust no one”written all over her hands and arms.

I don't know about you, but this is enough for me to pick up a book. This is the kind of story that would pull me out of a reading slump.

Wow! I could not put this book down. From the very first pages, I was hooked on this fast-paced and thrilling story.

Brief synopsis: A man is found dead in a short-term rental apartment and the words "Wake Up" are written on the bedroom window. Police are investigating the crime scene and the only promising lead is a surveillance video of a woman with long hair leaving the building around the time of the murder. Meanwhile, Liv Reese wakes up while in a taxi unsure of where she is and how she ended up in this car. And strangely, her hands are covered in writing, including the words "Stay Awake." Her last memory is being in her office on a beautiful summer day but now it's dark and cold outside. How much time has passed and why can't Liv remember anything since that day? And more importantly, what does she have to do with the murder?

Alternating between Liv and the police investigation, this story kept me entertained and there were moments that even had my heart racing. The pace of this story was excellent and I finished it quickly since I could not put it down.

I definitely recommend this book. It's certainly one that pulled me out of a reading slump.

4.5 stars

This book is one big adrenaline rush! Holy cow! It kept me completely revisited and guessing until the very end. It starts off bang and never lets up. This book has it all; unsolved murder, amnesia, detectives etc. It is told from many points of view..2 years ago and present day (which is told through our main characters eyes and through the narrator). This is the second Megan Goldin book that I have read and I loved this one just as much.

This book is a true thriller that kept me guessing and reading until the very end. 5 stars!

📕 Book: Stay Awake
✍️ Author: Megan Goldin
📚 Genre: Psychological Thriller
🗓 Pub Day: 8-9-2022
Stars : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 My Review: What a THRILL to read! A true psychological thriller that was totally unpredictable. The story of Liv Reese with her rare form of amnesia trying to piece together her past existence daily or at least every time she goes to sleep. Told in alternating timelines between past and present with each chapter leaving you wanting to find out more. I loved the author’s character portrayals as they were relatable yet quite intriguing. An intense page turner that was impossible to put down.

This was my first Megan Goldin book & I must say the writing is fantastic. I cannot wait to read more from this author. If intense psychological thrillers are your genre then I highly recommend Stay Awake!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Megan Goldin & Macmillan Audio for this ARC. This is my honest & voluntary review.

Wow!

Megan Goldin does it again! I loved The Night Swim so was really looking forward to Stay Awake. I’m so impressed that she wrote another thriller- completely different than her last. So many authors use the same format for each book and they can get redundant. No such issue here! She provided so much suspense, excellent writing and a brand new story.

Liz Reese has no idea what has happened in the last two years of her life. She wakes up and everything has changed. Her best friend and boyfriend are missing. She no longer works at her job. Her apartment is inhabited by new people. The words STAY AWAKE are written on her hands. What is going on?

As a reader I was totally captivated. The dual timeline (now and two years ago) made for such a fast paced read. I was desperate to figure out what had happened in Liz’s life and why. I tried to stay a step ahead of the story but couldn’t figure it out- which makes for an awesome thriller.

What happens when she falls asleep? What is she capable of? What happened in those two years or what triggered this?! Is she guilty? Why must she stay awake? Who can be trusted in her life?

Mystery. Bodies. Missing timelines. Suspicious friends. Detectives.

Everything you could want in a great read!