Wow!! I had never read anything by this author before but she's going in my rotation!
This is a suspenseful mystery about Liv, our main character, who has amnesia after every time she falls asleep. The story will keep you hooked. Short chapters from two different viewpoints. You will be on the edge of your seat as Liv is accused of murder. One cop thinks she did it while the other is skeptical. Who is right? Why does Liv lose her memory? What traumatic event caused the memory loss? So many questions to keep you reading the entire book in one sitting. Although I did guess the story line with her roommate, I did not guess who the killer was (but i probably should have). This made it all worth the read. This twisty, dark novel is perfect for summer.
Highly recommend and will be reading the rest of Megan Goldins books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

WOW. I reaaaaaally liked this. It stressed me out like no other but it was exciting. I felt like I was in it and trying to solve what happened along with the main character. I seriously couldn't put it down and stay(ed) awake -hehe- way too late to finish because I couldn't go to bed not knowing what happened.

I took off one star because I found the police pov chapters to not be my favorites. Although they were interesting and important to the plot, I found myself wanting to skim to get to the juicy stuff.

I will highly recommend this book to others.

Liv can’t remember the last 2 years of her life. Such a suspenseful read trying to figure out what happened and why she has ink marks on her arms that state “stay awake”. Chapters alternate between Liv and the 2 detectives working a murder case. When she falls asleep, she wakes without any memory of events in the recent past. Liv experiences a series of repetitive fugue episodes. They begin every time Liv wakes and end every time she falls asleep. It’s a type of amnesia that has a psychological cause. It’s often caused by trauma and presents unusual characteristics such as a person trying to resume his/her old life after suffering a trauma. They don’t realize that time has passed. Liv’s fugue incidents are repetitive. They happen every time she wakes up. That puts her in a constant state of confusion and makes her extremely vulnerable. It’s as if she’s living the same day over and over again. She wakes every morning thinking her life is the way it was two years ago.

I'm so torn on how I want to rate this. On one hand, it's extremely fresh as far as the thriller genre is concerned. I've never read anything like this. (Though I haven't read tons of thrillers so maybe take that statement with a grain of salt) This book is also compulsively readable. I did not want to put it down. Those of you who hate stories told from a detective's POV may not like this one as it does switch POV's constantly from the detective to the MC who is missing her memory. I think that was necessary though because if we were just constantly waking up with the MC when she'd forgotten something new, I would've begun to get frustrated with this book much sooner. I say much sooner because eventually I did have a harder time picking this up. I think the reveal took too long and it started to feel repetitive with our MC constantly running away when we were about to get some answers. I also wanted more explanation as to why our "bad person" committed their first murder. There wasn't much explanation there. Only why eventually they were coming after our MC. Not my perfect thriller but definitely a fresh entry into the genre and I'd recommend it if the plot sounds interesting to you.

This may be one of the most enjoyable psychological thrillers I've read in quite some time.
Such a fascinating novel, and utterly terrifying to think of that happening to yourself. Imagining falling asleep to only wake with no memory of the past couple years of your life is chilling - let alone it happening every time!
I'm not always a fan of books that bounce between timeline's and characters chapter to chapter, but this was easy to navigate and was so well streamlined that it helped to paint the picture perfectly.
The author portrayed Liv's paranoia so well that you could feel it yourself while going on the journey to discover her own memories with her.
I'm usually pretty good at figuring out the big twists in books ahead of time but this one really threw me! I actually was NOT expecting that ending and that in itself made the book so much more enjoyable for me.


Thank you again to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of this ARC eBook in exchange for my honest review.

I LOVED this book! the suspense from beginning to end kept me on my toes the whole time. I love this author and have read her other books so I assumed I would enjoy this one but I REALLY enjoyed it.

I cannot imagine forgetting everything every time I fell asleep. The characters were intriguing and the mystery of finding out if Liv is a murder or not is so good.

Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

Okay. Hello, 50 First Dates meets Groundhog Day....but make it a thriller. I really enjoyed this one. It kept me on my toes and I truly was like...hmmmmm, what the heck am I missing. For the end, I really had to dispel my nagging "could this really happen" thoughts. But, that did not take away from my enjoyment of the title for sure.

Wow! What did I just read? One of the best thrillers of 2022 for sure. An interesting premise, unreliable main character and split time line story telling make this one wild ride!

Liv wakes up in a cab, disoriented. She doesn't know how she got there, where she was headed or where she was coming from. Her bag, phone and keys are all missing. But she has a bloody knife in her pocket and cryptic messages on her hands. Stay awake. Don't trust anyone. Don't answer the phone. Where did she go and what did she do?

Told in split timelines between 2 years ago and today, Liv has lost 2 years of her life. She doesn't remember anything of the last 2 years. As she starts piecing together the puzzle, police are hot on her trail. Will she be able to stay awake and remember? Or will she fall asleep and forget again?

I loved the split timelines and though I was worried about the amnesia, groundhog day aspect, it was actually done very well! 5 star read!

Stay awake. Stay alive.

I didn’t think Megan Goldin would be able to top The Night Swim but here we are! This was amazing. I was worried that the memory lapses and many wake-ups would be repetitive and get old fast but it didn’t. I think that’s a point that needs to be made upfront. We are using the science of 50 First Dates here, where it’s an actual new day, she just doesn’t remember it as opposed to Groundhog Day, which is reliving the same day lol neither are real science but this is fiction and I’m setting the story up for you!

Liv Reese wakes up pretty woozy in a cab on her way home. She has no keys or phone, just a big wad of cash and a bloody knife, so she has to ditch the knife and knock on her own door, hoping her bestie and roomie Amy will let her in. Two strangers open the door and are like, “new place, who dis?” and after checking out the place and seeing none of her things, she has nothing left to do but leave.

She sees she’s written all over her hands. Orders to stay awake, not to trust anyone, not to open the door, etc. Among the many things, she sees the address for a bar so she heads that way and people seem to know her and be legit. She catches a glimpse in the mirror behind the bar to see her hair is super long and dark. It’s like Opposite Day in here! Her bartender buddy tells her she was in there earlier with a man, had a few drinks and left.

None of this tells us anything because we find out that anytime Liv dozes off, she forgets anything that happened that day. Her brain takes her back two years to when she was at her desk at work taking a phone call. Two years is a long time for anyone but especially for Liv. Her life has changed completely and she has no idea why or how. She’s very vulnerable.

Across town, we meet two detectives. Halliday and a seasoned male detective. They’re investigating a homicide in which a message similar to the ones on Liv’s hands was scrawled at the scene in blood. Halliday is a real one and she’s not getting tunnel vision even though all signs are pointing to Liv. I didn’t think I would enjoy the buddy cop aspect but I actually really liked them.

I’m always impressed by how this author merges timelines and goes back and forth without it upsetting the story(or my feelings). This would’ve been so easy to mess up and end up as a total disaster but it clicked perfectly to me.

As Liv puts more pieces together and as the cops and her old friends and foes begin closing in on her, will she be able to prove her innocence? Is she even innocent? Who is the dead guy anyway? I definitely stayed awake to read this!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy to read and review!

This is the best thriller of 2022 without a doubt!! Thank you, Megan Goldin, for writing an exciting, riveting, mind warping book! This one has cemented Goldin as a "must read" author for me. Excellent in so many ways, this book does a perfect job with the unreliable narrator (which is easy to mess up but Goldin nails it). The story had me literally on the edge of my seat and literally questioning MY OWN memory.

Whenever Liv Reese falls asleep, her memory re-sets and she can't remember the last TWO years. She always believes it's two years ago and her last memory is always answering the phone at her job. This rare form of amnesia makes Liv a questionable character and very confused. The story is told in multiple timelines and using two main characters, Liv and Detective Halliday, who is a detective investigating an interesting murder where the murderer wrote "Wake Up" in the victim's blood. Strangely, Liv has messages such as "Stay Awake" and such written all over her hands when she does wake up.

This book has no down time. You are drawn in from the very beginning, wondering how or why Liv is involved in this murder. The author brilliantly writes the character of Liv so well that I felt her amnesia myself and was fully invested in the story. It's twisty end shocked me to the core and left me completely satisfied. 5 bold bright stars for this one.

What I loved:
▪️Unique story line - sometimes thrillers can get a little predictable and similar in plot lines. I liked that this seemed fresh and different. It’s like 50 First Dates but dark and twisty.
▪️Split timeline - I love a flashback in books to give context and more development.

What I didn’t love:
▪️The ending - it felt very anticlimactic. The reveal wasn’t exciting and it just happened. It was rushed and I never truly understood the motive of the crime.

A psychological thriller that feels at times like a fever dream. Our main character, Liv, suffers from insomnia and when she falls asleep, she forgets everything going back to a time two years ago when she was living with Amy, her physician roommate and in love with Marco, an attractive Italian dream boat. She wakes on a bench and there’s a bloody knife in her possession. She doesn’t know where she is or how she got there, but there’s writing on her hands telling her she needs to stay awake, She doesn’t know who to trust, strangers are living in her apartment, and she has no phone and no purse. She knows that if she falls asleep, she’ll forget again so she’s taking copious amounts of caffeine and stimulants to stay awake. Someone is murdered and she’s on the run trying to piece her memory together and avoid being the next one killed.

Definitely a page turner of a novel. Great summer thriller that has an atmosphere of darkness that haunts you throughout the book.

police procedural featuring a female character with memory loss, kept my attention for the most part, recommend if you just need a quick thriller.

This story really did not hold my interest. I had to keep forcing myself to read it, and was relieved when I FINALLY finished it.

I’m blown away by this book. From page one till the very end it kept me on the edge of my seat wanting more. Liv Reese, seemingly had a great life, with best friend Amy and boyfriend Marco and a job she loved. Until the night a cab ride takes her back to the apartment she shares with Amy and it’s not her apartment anymore and she has a bloody knife in her pocket. No sign of Amy and both her and Marco are unreachable by phone or through family and friends. All over her hands are scribbles, “Stay Awake”, “Trust Noone” as Liv struggles to remember what has happened to her as a murder is blasted on the news and she’s the prime suspect. On the run from the police and searching for answers Liv knows she didn’t murder anyone but it sure does look like she did and whatever happens she can’t fall asleep! This author knows how to tell a story! Great characters and I loved the dynamic between investigators Halliday and Lavelle. Liv’s discovery of new memories and wanting to find out more kept me engrossed. 5 stars, I definitely recommend this book. I’m already looking for more from this author!

This one gripped me from the beginning. I found Stay Awake to be an inventive thriller and a great book to get lost in during my plane travels this week. I think this would be a fun book to listen to if I were to read it again.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ever have a book that you just can’t put down, is engrossing, but in the end just leaves you feeling meh?

I was so excited to read this one as I loved her last book, The Night Swim, but it ultimately fell a little flat for me.
:
Liv Reese forgets everything when she falls asleep and reverts back to her life two years ago every time she wakes up. When she wakes up next to a murdered man with writing all over her hands and matching messages in blood, she has a feeling something horrible has happened…

Why you’ll love it:
🔁Dual timelines (unfolding over one day with snippets from the events two years ago)
🥸Female detective trusts an unreliable narrator and her perspective alternates with Liv’s
🔪 Fast paced thriller that keeps you wondering WTF is going on (but not scary/edge of your seat)
🤯Unpredictable ending

In the end, I found a lot of this to be overly repetitive and drawn out. I wished the characters would have been more developed but I was definitely entertained! I

I didn't enjoy Stay Awake as much as I thought it would, but it still has its moments. I'm the type of person who takes notes and likes to pay close attention to the plot, and I found this book overwhelming, repetitive and confusing at a lot of points. And while I particularly enjoy a relentless pace, Stay Awake's twists and elements didn't feel very purposeful or carry that much weight to me. There wasn't much that I could really take away from it. But I do appreciate the fun concept and one that you can definitely feel sympathy for the protagonist.

My true rating for this book is 4.5/5. I feel like this is a thriller with a story that I've not really read before which was a breath of fresh air. The chapters are short so it's easy to fly through, yet at the same time I didn't find myself dying to pick it up each day to continue reading which is why I'm giving it a 4.5 instead of 5. Once I got about halfway through and things start clicking into place, I wanted to keep going. I was 63% through it and then finished the book once I picked it up because I knew we were getting the answers as to what happened. I would absolutely recommend this to any mystery/thriller lover when it comes out in August!

I was reading this book as I quarantined from COVID, and I finished it in two days. I definitely intend to read more books by this author., I was caught up in this story about a woman, Liv, who lost her short-term memories every time she fell asleep. This rare type of amnesia was thought to have been caused by a trauma she witnessed two years ago while working at a magazine called Cultura in New York City and dating a man named Marco.

The book is told in alternating chapters from the present time to two years ago, and there are also chapters that go back two days and a day. The current time takes place in twenty-four hours and begins with Liv awakening in a cab which she doesn't remember boarding and being dropped off at a Brooklyn apartment that she shares with her friend, Amy. When she tries to enter, she realizes her purse is missing and, when she knocks, other occupants of the apartment answer and tell her that this is their place. Also missing her cell phone, Liv borrows a phone to call Amy and then Marco. Neither one answers her.

Not knowing what to do, she leaves the apartment and then realizes that she's carrying a bloody knife wrapped in a t-shirt. Dumping it in a trash bin, she notices some writing on her hand with the name of a local bar and the words, "Stay Awake." At the bar, she is greeted by the bartender who seems to know her, even though she doesn't recognize him. A news channel is showing a breaking report about a murder of an unidentified man who was stabbed in an apartment rental. A clue left at the scene were the words "Wake Up" written in the victim's blood on the window.

As the book flashes back and forth in time, readers learn that Liv is suspected of the murder that she can't remember. Her previous trauma is also described as well as the people from her past, one of whom might be framing her for the murder.

I highly recommend this excellent thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. I was stumped as to the identity of the killer until a few pages before it was revealed.