This was a well written, fast-paced thriller that kept me guessing the entire time. Everything is confusing for Liv Reese so it is for the reader as well. More confusing things keep happening and it should make everything a muddled mess but it doesn’t; it’s all introduced in a way to keep you intrigued but invested in what is going on. I loved everything about this story as I did with Night Swim, also by Megan Goldin. The only flaw from this recording is the narrator - the overacting was annoying but I learned to tune it out after a while. Highly recommended for a long weekend where you can stay up all night reading.

1.5 stars - I actually didn't finish this book. Imogene Church’s narration ruined the audio book for me. Her narration was over-acted and overly dramatic, and the plot wasn't interesting enough for me to overlook the irritation this caused me.

Liv wakes up in a cab— and has no idea how she got there. It turns out that she has no memory of the past 2 years, and every time she falls asleep she loses her memory again. Stay Awake goes back and forth between 2 years ago and the present day.

Overall, this is a great read, but the pacing does feel a bit off. Stay Awake starts out really intriguing, but loses some steam as it plows through the meat of the story. As it wraps up, the excitement returns and it becomes a page tuner again.

Another trusted author fail. What a bummer! After loving the authors last two releases I had high hopes for this one. If not for a strong history with the author I would have dnf’d this around halfway.

The audiobook narration was solid / with two of my favorite narrators keeping me locked in til about 55%. I thought when we hit the big reveal at 40% that things would pick up. Unfortunately I just found the second half of the book a drag. The ending was lackluster and predictable.

I needed a solid ending after the repetitiveness of the majority of the plot line and again this fell flat for me.

Wow what a great listen, so glad I got to listen to this book instead of read, a 5 star listen for me.. The narrators did an amazing job and I could feel the panic of certain scenes as they read. I was captivated the entire time.
The story was so well written and I enjoyed all aspects and characters the way they were portrayed. I did not put two and two together as to who was the murderer , I was so caught up in the constant chant Stay Awake .This was a wonderful thriller and I was fully engaged the entire audiobook.

I voluntarily received a free copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

I would definitely recommend this audiobook to friends and family and my book clubs.

What if you woke up one night in a taxi with a bloody knife and writing all over your hands? What if when you walk up to your apartment, you have no keys and someone else lives there now? Things have changed and you don't know what happened. If you forgot 2+ years of memories every time you fell asleep, what would you do?

Such is the case for Liv Reese in Megan Goldin's Stay Awake. She's a good person, right? She just can't remember what has happened. The writing under her knuckles reminds her to "STAY AWAKE" but the constant intake of caffeine is messing with her mind, her body, and her emotions.

This one is fantastic. It's full of twists and turns, a dual timeline, and the alternating perspectives of Liv (currently sleep-deprived and past Liv) and the detectives assigned to the case associated with the bloody knife Liv discovers. There are questions of guilt and safety and whether or not the narrators are reliable. What are the different characters' motivations? Who can Liv trust? Can she trust herself?

This one will keep you on edge.

I received an advance audiobook copy from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

I listened to the audiobook at 2x speed. That seemed to be the right fit for me. There are two narrators: one for Liv and one for the detectives. At times, I found myself wanting to speed up Liv's audio just a bit more than the chapters from the detectives' POV. Both narration styles are fitting for their subjects--Liv's slower and more drawn out due to her sleep deprivation and the detectives' with a more driven tone as they work on the case--but my mind wanted the details on Liv's to come at a faster clip.

All in all, I highly recommend this one.

After loving The Night Swim I was thrilled to be approved for Stay Awake as an ebook and audiobook on NetGalley. The book starts off with a bang and while I wasn’t sure what was going on, I was definitely intrigued. Unfortunately that turned to annoyance as things quickly felt repetitive. I was tired of hearing about her moms opinion of writing on her hands, the season (it was summer and now it isn’t!) and definitely didn’t need to hear the words stay awake, sleep or memory any more. The timelines were a bit confusing - you were constantly jumping around between the detective POV in the present and a variety of times from Liv’s POV over the last two years. The detective POVs also added to the repetitiveness given we’d watch them find out the same information we already saw through Liv’s POV and would learn little to no new information during that time making me wonder what was the point. I predicted the entire outcome and there were some major plot holes along with my dreaded Scooby Doo villain moment. I did appreciate the fast pace and short chapters along with the creative plot idea.

I did a large chunk of this on audio and while I loved January LaVoy’s narration of the detective POV, I struggled with Imogen Church’s portrayal of Liv’s POV. She bounced between whispering for internal thoughts and talking very loud for any dialog and had an overly dramatic almost singsong presentation style that didn’t work for me. I listened to the first half on audio before giving up and switching to the ebook. If you don’t mind a very dramatic narrator, you may appreciate the audiobook more than I did.

Sadly this was a miss for me, but I have seen many glowing reviews of it which I encourage you to check out!

Thanks to @stmartinspress @macmillainaudio and @netgalley for the gifted DRC.

I went into this hook with really high expectations because I have really enjoyed Megan goldins previous books. Night swim was one of my favorites. Stay awake by Megan goldin was really good just not what I expected. Definitely 4 solid stars.

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi and can't remember her own name or how she got in the back seat of the taxi. When she arrives at her house that she also does not recognize a complete stranger answers the door and has no idea who she is either. Then she watches the news and discovers she may have murdered someone. Is Liv a murderer or is some one setting her up? Why can't she remember ANYTHING? Make sure to read stay awake by Megan goldin this August

This book gives me 50 First Dates but with murder vibes and I loved it. Filled with red herrings, Liv’s memory loss and insomnia, it was hard to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. This tense psychological thriller will keep you guessing and speed reading to try to understand what on earth is going on! Goldin provides a good example of the harsh reality of how the justice systems fail so completely for victims of stalking

There were some plot points that I didn’t think were fully resolved (the art exhibit) and I wasn’t fully satisfied with the ending because I didn’t get the “why” of it all. As well, I found this a tad repetitive, with the scenes of Liv waking up kept me feeling like I accidentally rewound the audiobook, they were that similar across the story. That being said, I still would definitely recommend this book!

Pick this one up if you like your books:
⁃ Fast-paced
⁃ With an unreliable narrator
⁃ To have multiple timelines and flashes through time

Thanks again Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an advanced listening copy of this one—I absolutely could not put it down and dropped everything I was doing to speed through this audiobook. This was my first Megan Goldin and I can’t wait to read more!

Thanks Netgalley!

If you have ever watched Memento or 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Stay Awake is more of a horror/ psychological thriller setting where she doesn't know Adam Sandler is stalking her and she doesn't relive the same day over but has lost two years of time. Every time she falls asleep she goes back two years and doesn't remember anything that has happened. She thinks she may have murdered someone but she's not sure so she is trying to piece everything together without falling asleep. Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others but I would tell them to read it not listen to it. I thought the timeline was a bit confusing at times. I listened to the audio version and the sound was a bit off like there was an echo. There was no way to change the audio speed to normal which was a little frustrating.



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 now lives in her apartment and forces her out in the cold. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing, and in its place is a bloodstained knife. That’s when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.

Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, dating a new man, and 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, the same 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 as she tries to piece together the fragments of her life. There’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget―permanently.

Pleasantly surprised by this one! I have read the Night Swim by this author previously and found it rather unmemorable but I was hooked on this story from the start. What could have turned into a pretty predictable plot actually kept me on my toes and continued surprising throughout. I also think the detective point of view was handled well in this one… I often find their perspective unnecessary or boring but that wasn’t the case here. This has made me excited to continue picking up her new books, and the audio narrators were fantastic!

4.5
This might be one of the most unique premises for a thriller that I’ve ever come across. I honestly couldn’t stop listening as I tried to figure out what the heck was going on.

The alternating perspectives allowed the story to be fully formed and made it feel truly intense. The writing was really good and the big reveal was actually surprising. I really didn’t know where this was headed for a large majority of the read and I loved that!

I did a combo of audio and print and can recommend both! Add this to your list immediately!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for the arc & alc in Exchange for an honest review!

4/5 stars

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy to review!

This was my first Megan Goldin book and, as I've heard great things about her other books, my expectations were pretty high going in to it, especially when I read the synopsis. Liv Reese is just trying to get home when she shows up at her apartment to find strangers claiming to live there. Her confusion only furthers when, instead of her phone, she finds a blood stained knife in her pocket and odd messages written to herself all over harms, mostly relating to the need to STAY AWAKE. Through flashbacks to two years ago and number of confusing, present-day wake ups, Liv has to answer the abundance of questions she has, the biggest being why can't she remember anything from the past two years?!

I thought the premise for this book was so clever and I was intrigued right away. Though the way things panned out left a little to be desired in my opinion, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride there. The narrator was pleasant to listen to and easy to follow. The story unfolded across multiple timelines and the memory lapses made it difficulty to keep track of in a riveting way. I will absolutely be taking a look at Megan Goldin's back list after this one!

I enjoyed Stay Awake. I read it first and then listened to the audio – a winning combination. The storyline is unique. My interest built as things progressed. I found the first half slow and at times confusing. The second half is when Goldin hit her stride for me.

I absolutely adore Imogen and January’s narrations. The audio kept my interest and things moved along more quickly when I could envision the setting and the characters. Megan Goldin has fast become an auto buy for me. I highly recommend.

I usually dislike unreliable narrator, but the reason that the main character was unreliable was a realistic part of the story and not because she was making bad decisions. I liked learning about what had happened in the past and then trying to figure out what was going on in the present timeline. Lots of twistiness made it a compulsive read. This is my second Megan Goldin book and now I need to read her backlist!

4/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and McMillan Audio for the AudioARC of this book.

I started this book as an audio - but I couldn't handle the suspense. I finished the ebook.
This book was one of my most anticipated for this year - did not disappoint. This book's plot is compared to the movie Momento - it is not wrong.
Liv wakes up - confused an disoriented. Calling a cab, she goes home. Only to be told she doesn't live there anymore. Liv notices writing all over her hands, arms.
And the story begins.
Gripping. Creative. Ruthless suspense.
I'm counting down to Goldin's next release.

I read this one originally in Jan, so when the audiobook came out, I knew I had to request it for a story refresher pre pub date!! Narration was great and easy to follow despite the story being complex.

This was really an excellent, fast-paced amnesia thriller! There was action from page one and tons of suspense until the very end.

Premise: Every time Liv falls asleep, she wakes up with no recent memory, thinking it’s two years earlier than the current day. At the start of the book, we see her waking up in the back of a NYC taxi with the message “stay awake” on her hand. She reaches into her pocket to call for help but only finds a blood stained knife in her pocket. Meanwhile, two detectives are sent to a murder scene in Brooklyn and find a man stabbed to death with the message “Wake Up” written on the apartment window. Catching a glimpse of the local news, Liv has no idea if she is somehow connected to this murder case, where her best friend and boyfriend are, and who she can trust.

I love how the story flipped between the POVs of Liv and the two detectives solving the case along with Livs POV two years ago. These three perspectives left me wanting more as each chapter ended in suspense. The present day timeline also took place over the course of one day with each chapter noting the exact time. This made me feel part of the action. I also love how well Liv’s medical condition was discussed, making the plot seem more realistic.

I do think there were some questions left unanswered about possible suspects and the motive of the murderer, so I’m giving it 4.5 stars. Still, it truly felt like a riveting, pit in my stomach, scary thriller.

Liv Reese wakes in the back of a cab with no memory of how she got there. As the story goes along we find that she can't remember anything from the last 2 years. The last thing she remembers is being at work in the summer and receiving a phone call. Now it's fall, there are strangers living in her apartment, she has writing all over her hands, and she can't remember anything. And to top it off she may possibly be involved with a recent murder! The story goes back and forth between present time and 2 years ago as we learn about Liv. The story is also told from detective Halliday's point of view as she is trying to solve the homicide. I found this very exciting at times but also found myself getting very bored with the repetitiveness and all the back and forth. I got very frustrated with Liv when every time she could get an answer she ran the other way. I think having a different narrator for Liv may have helped as it seems like she may have been trying too hard and overdoing it. The last few chapters really flew by and got my senses up but unfortunately there are a lot of plot holes including one really big question that is left unanswered. This was suspenseful at times but other times I just couldn't take the repetition.
This book has a lot of 5 star ratings so I say give it a try and decide for yourself!

Thank you so much Netgalley and Megan Goldin for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of this story in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first story I’ve read from this author and I found it to be a quick enjoyable thriller. The beginning of the story starts off strong and really reeled me in. Our main character suffers from amnesia and wakes up not knowing where she is or what she has done.
While the beginning is strong the middle did seem to drag on for me. I found myself a little bored with the story but the ending and reveal was a great twist.
While the story was a quick paced read I do feel like it’s more of a been there/read this kinda story. Still a solid 3 star read and worth suggesting to others.

I definitely didn’t expect this story.. such a fun concept, so many thrillers play on the same themes. I enjoyed the narrator and the characters. Some things were easy to guess, but it took me way too long to catch onto the ending